SS CH13

Ye Fusheng wanted to laugh, but halfway through, his eyes felt stinging and dry.

“I knocked those two fruits to the ground, but he didn’t get angry; he only asked if I hated them,” Xie Wuyi said. “Naturally, I said yes. I didn’t expect him to laugh instead, saying it was good that I understood who I hated so that I wouldn’t vent my anger on the innocent.”

The so-called “innocent” surely referred to Xie Li, who was only seven years old at the time, and his disciple Xue Chanyi, who was still traveling abroad.

Those were likely the most peaceful days of his life: sharing hardships in a confined sanctuary alongside the enemy who had stolen everything from him, living not only in peace, but surprisingly in harmony.

Perhaps, beyond a broad mind, the thing most capable of erasing love and hate was sharing the same wretched fate at the edge of the world.

At times, he couldn’t help but think that the other man was indeed far more suited to the name “Xie Min”—true to its meaning, a gentleman as pure as jade.

Yet he could not bring himself to accept it.

That night, a torrential rain fell, and the damp chill in the mountain cave made them shiver. The man took off his outer robe to give to him, moving to the cave entrance to block the wind with his own body.

He had asked: “I severed your wrist tendons; do you not hate me?”

The man smiled, saying that if he didn’t hate him, why would he have dragged him down to cushion his fall when jumping off the cliff? It was simply that after walking the line between life and death, putting himself in another’s shoes, he suddenly felt his own hatred paled in comparison to Xie Min’s unwillingness to surrender to fate.

“Brought back to Duanshui Manor at eight years old, I lived fourteen years in dark secrecy without even possessing an identity or a name, let alone freedom. All those cold slights were merely because Father still harbored a sliver of hope for you lost in the Western Regions, yet feared falling into public scandal. Thus, it wasn’t as if I lacked resentment,” the man said, rubbing his palms together. “Two days before you returned, I was actually a little afraid. I didn’t know what would happen to me once the true young master of Duanshui Manor returned. Yet I never expected…”

“Seeing me like that, you were very happy, weren’t you?”

“Of course I was happy, because I could finally replace you, possess the status and position I had long yearned for, and live openly in this world. Yet a chill inevitably rose in my heart—after all, if he could abandon you for the sake of Duanshui Manor back then, he might abandon me too in the future.”

He had sneered cold: “You certainly are clever. Makes sense; if you were a fool, Rong Cui wouldn’t have favored you. Over a decade of bond between us couldn’t compare to a fake marriage turned real after all.”

“She is a good woman—devoted to her husband, caring to her child, gentle and virtuous. I genuinely wished to spend a lifetime with her,” the man sighed. “Therefore, although her smearing poison on the blade this time lacked righteousness, I cannot help but feel touched by that devotion.”

“Then you had better kill me right now, otherwise once I return, I will demand a reckoning from her.”

“You won’t.”

“Which eye of yours sees me as some soft-hearted fool who repays malice with virtue?”

“You won’t repay malice with virtue, but neither will you repay kindness with resentment,” the man smiled gently at him. “Do you know Master Sun Minfeng of Cangxue Valley?”

“The Ghost Physician known as the ‘Rival of the Underworld King’?” He had previously used this person’s title to mock Xie Chongshan, though his knowledge of the Ghost Physician’s skills came only from Jianghu rumors.

“Mhm. A year ago, while traveling outside with Chanyi, I happened to run into him when he was ambushed and fell into trouble, so I stepped in to save him once, leaving him owing me a favor. Before heading out to this duel, I secretly sent him a letter asking him to make a swift trip to Guyang City,” the man laughed. “The poison in your body is currently only suppressed by internal energy, but the Ghost Physician will surely have a way to cure you.”

He said: “Since the Ghost Physician possesses such skill, why don’t you have him try restoring your right hand?”

“Consider this my favor to you.” The man looked down at the wound on his right wrist. “There can only be one Xie Min in the Jianghu, and I am returning everything that rightfully belongs to you.”

He couldn’t help sitting up straighter, his voice raspy: “Do you think I would appreciate such charity?”

“I said, I am returning it to you.” The man turned around and pressed his hands on his shoulders. “I am returning your identity, honor, and duty to you—isn’t that exactly what you wished to reclaim?”

“Ridiculous. If I become Xie Min again, where does that leave Rong Cui, her son, and your disciple?”

“You said it yourself—you know exactly who it is you hate.”

A thousand words choked in his throat, and he gasped several times before spitting out: “You’re a coward.”

This man did not fear revenge, yet he lacked the courage to face a life turned upside down. He preferred to abandon everything, returning to a state of having nothing at all, rather than bear the weight of his past.

He said mockingly: “I have never looked down on you as much as I do today.”

“I think I’m a coward too,” the man smiled bitterly. “So, let us make a promise.”

“What?”

“Three years. We shall meet again three years from now. In these three years, you take back everything of yours and settle the past, while I start anew and carve out my true self,” the man said. “I have never felt myself inferior to you, and I assume you feel the same. This time the duel ended without a clear victor; three years from now, we shall decide the outcome. At that time, life, death, victory, and defeat will all be in our own hands, and right or wrong will finally have a verdict. What do you say?”

He froze, then sneered: “In the end, I’m still the one taking the loss—reclaiming what’s mine, yet forced to resolve your troubles for you.”

“Then many thanks to you for taking this loss. Until we meet again in three years, I will surely treat you to a good drink… Hm? Dawn is breaking.”

Supporting himself against the cave wall, the man stood up and looked out into the distance through the veil of rain. He suddenly asked: “Do you know why I chose ‘Wuyi’ as my courtesy name?”

He shook his head, and the man continued: “Back when I entered the Jianghu riding on the fame you forged and the prestige of Duanshui Manor, taking on your past grudges and bearing the responsibilities of Duanshui Manor, living became increasingly exhausting. That initial joy gradually faded, until I couldn’t even tell who I was anymore, feeling that nowhere in the world was a place I could truly rely on. I originally wanted to take ‘Wuyi’ (無依, meaning ‘without reliance’) to mock myself, but unexpectedly met an old, disabled veteran…”

The veteran was nearly sixty years old, missing an arm and blind in one eye, yet he was still trudging toward the border pass. Unable to bear the sight, the man offered to prepare travel expenses to send the old man back to his hometown, only to be refused.

——A man has to carry many things in this life: gratitude, righteousness, country, wife, and child. An old fellow like me fought on the battlefield for most of my life, with no family left to tie me down and no skill for farming or fishing. Rather than waiting around to die, I’d rather return to the domain I guarded for decades, giving my life a proper beginning and end. You’re a kind-hearted gentleman; if so, why not give me a good blade and a flask of strong liquor—after all, in that bitter, cold land, it’s hard to get by without those two things.

“That was the first time I realized that beyond Jianghu grudges, there are far more things in this world worth giving and receiving,” the man slowly let out a long breath and quoted, “Taking ‘Wuyi’ (無衣, meaning ‘without robes’) as my courtesy name was my hope that one day I too could laugh proudly and generously like that. Now, the time has come.”

With his brows twitching, he asked: “You’re going to the border pass?”

“I want to go see the iron blood that seals the frontier battlefields…” The man lowered his head, meeting his eyes with a gentle smile. “Everything of the past is returned to you now, and I gift the courtesy name ‘Wuyi’ to you as well. From now on, you are Xie Min, and you are also Xie Wuyi.”

How can one say they have no robes? I shall share my robe with you.

The oil lamp in the room grew dimmer and dimmer. Only when this tumultuous story reached its end did Ye Fusheng realize his back felt cold and damp, his clothes soaked through with sweat.

It turned out that the grudges and affections of the world were truly a complex mix of every emotion imaginable.

Xie Wuyi said, “After that night, he quietly left leaning on a wooden staff. I was found by Xie Chongshan and his men, who hid the truth from outsiders and brought me back to Duanshui Manor. During those five days, to keep this substitution secret, any physicians brought in were silenced by Xie Chongshan afterward—until the Ghost Physician arrived… He received that man’s instructions, so he agreed to Xie Chongshan’s demands, using skin-grafting and facial alteration techniques to conceal all the sores on my body, making my appearance identical to that man’s. However, the toxic disease was deeply rooted within me; even he found it extremely tricky. He could only treat my external injuries and temporarily suppress the recurring toxicity, proposing the method of sealing my acupoints with golden needles.”

Xie Wuyi took a sip of water, a cold gleam flashing in his eyes. “Sealing the acupoints kept the toxicity at its lowest, ensuring my life would be safe over these years, though it also sealed away most of my internal energy. Since I accepted that promise, I naturally couldn’t die yet. Thus, I set a timeframe with the Ghost Physician, using that time to crush every bastard who wanted to take advantage of our crisis one by one, before freeing up my hands to deal with Xie Chongshan.”

Even the most glorious era eventually fades with age.

Xie Chongshan was old, exhausted in body and mind by consecutive blows, not to mention the unstoppable, surging force of the Thirteen Blades of Canglan.

To part the waters with a drawn blade was already overbearing, yet a roaring, swift waterfall contested for dominance with even greater fury.

He did not become a corpse beneath the blade, but he became a prisoner.

“I destroyed his martial arts, severed his leg tendons, forced dumbing poison down his throat, and took full control of Duanshui Manor. Yet watching this father unable to crawl up off the ground, beneath the thrill of vengeance fulfilled lay an even deeper sense of emptiness and loss.”

Ye Fusheng said, “Vengeance breeding vengeance was never something that brings joy in the first place.”

Just like how Xie Wuyi had finally reclaimed Duanshui Manor, yet bearing these heavy responsibilities brought him no sense of belonging or delight. It was merely that a years-long obsession was finally fulfilled; even if crushed to powder, he refused to let go again.

Those who bore immense weight were mostly like this—not out of stubborn ignorance, but simply knowing the warmth or coldness of their own path.

“Regrettably, I am not as carefree as you, settling debts cleanly without a trace of lingering grudge. Given Xie Chongshan’s past actions, locking him in the back court to live out the rest of his life in comfort is already mercy,” Xie Wuyi sneered coldly. “He could betray fatherly affection, and I have no fear of rebelling against a parent with ruthless coldness. Even if I descend to the Netherworld in the future to face a thousand slices, I will still laugh as I do today.”

“Manor Lord Xie truly distinguishes love from hate clearly,” Ye Fusheng paused. “So, even though Lady Rong Cui betrayed you and nearly caused your death, you still spared her life out of regard for that severed finger from the past, didn’t you?”

“A woman’s bias is terribly stubborn,” Xie Wuyi mocked. “I owed that man a favor, so I intended to deal with her leniently, letting her retain the title of Manor Lord’s wife to raise her son in comfort. Unfortunately, she loved her husband far more than her son; she preferred to lock herself in the forbidden grounds to pay for her mistakes rather than face me, unwilling to accept that he was gone, even leaving her son to be raised by an enemy. Heh, those two spouses truly were of a kind.”

Thinking of Xie Li, Ye Fusheng remarked, “I actually think you raised Xie Li quite well.”

Xie Wuyi smiled faintly: “I scold and beat him constantly, to the point where even the servants in the manor can’t stand to watch—yet you think it’s good?”

Ye Fusheng lowered his eyelids: “You aren’t mistreating him without cause. Putting myself in your shoes, I too would find it hard to face this child. Yet in the end, you still taught him so much, holding nothing back even with the Thirteen Blades of Canglan. Though learning these things was tough on him, it’s a hundred times better than suffering losses outside in the future. After all, not every mistake comes with a second chance to be corrected.”

Xie Wuyi rubbed the rim of his cup, his gaze turning faint and calm, smooth as still water without a single ripple.