Inside Gufung Mansion, silence pressed down like a shroud.Every flicker of light seemed to hold its breath, and even the air felt too heavy to move.
Gu Zong sat motionless, his expression frozen between disbelief and anguish.Forty-five years.Forty-five long years had passed since his death.
The moment that truth sank into him, something shattered inside. He was broken..not just by the weight of lost time,but by the cruel realization that the world had moved on without him.
Yet beneath that hollow ache, anger began to rise.A fierce, burning rage that spread through his veins like wildfire.
---
Hei Shu Yi quietly opened the small leather satchel she always carried and took out several small pouches.She placed them one by one before him on the wooden table.
“We know you don’t trust us,” she said softly,“and that’s fair. You have every right not to.But you must understand...your soul does not belong to this body.A body without its own soul is nothing more than an empty shell.This vessel… Xiao Tang’s body… will not survive long unless you keep it alive. Your spirit and this mortal form must learn balance. Until then, you must warm the body from within.”
She untied one of the pouches. A sharp, bitter smell filled the room...the heavy scent of herbs and medicines long preserved.
“You must take these daily,” Hei Shu Yi continued.“They’ll help stabilize the body until it becomes strong enough to contain your core energy.And remember, to the world, you are Xiao Tang now. Xiao Tang had a life of his own. I’ve followed him for some time...I know enough about him.He had two close friends: Mei Gui and Qing Yu.His life can serve as your cover, your mask to survive in this world again.”
Her words faded into the stillness.
Then Master Suo Jing finally spoke, his voice deep and solemn.
“Gu Zong, bringing you back was not only our decision.Fate itself chose this moment.You must understand...the Lingxiao Clan was innocent.Its destruction was the result of lies, deceit, and betrayal. Your purpose now is to prove their innocence and restore the honor they lost.We will do what we can to aid you.”
---
Gu Zong listened in silence. His face betrayed no emotion, but his eyes were sharp and cold.Trust was a language he had long forgotten.
He rose slowly, picked up the medicine pouches, and turned toward the door.
Just before leaving, he glanced back...his words cutting sharper than any blade:
“If I ever see either of you near me again…I’ll slit your throats before you can speak.From this moment on...stay away from me.”
He walked out, leaving behind a silence so heavy it could have drowned a soul.
Those words pierced both Hei Shu Yi and Suo Jing like a blade drawn across the chest.But neither of them took offense.They understood the pain he was drowning in...the pain of a man who had lost everything he’d once sworn to protect.
---
Outside, Gu Zong sat cross-legged on a stone beneath the cold night sky.He didn’t realize when the night deepened into midnight.
When he finally opened his eyes, his stomach growled loudly.
“Great,” he muttered,“now hunger too.”
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He rummaged through his robe and found a half-burnt roasted sweet root, wrapped in crumpled paper.He sniffed it once, grimaced at the bitter smell, and began chewing it reluctantly.
“So even hunger didn’t die with me,” he murmured dryly,brushing the dust from his sleeve as he stood.
He started walking, thoughts swirling like ghosts around him.
“I always suspected Han Huan, but to stoop this low…I never imagined.”
---
He had barely taken a few steps when a sudden, forceful shove struck his back, sending him stumbling forward.
He turned sharply..and there stood Qing Yu and Mei Gui, both furious, their faces flushed with anger.The push had come from Mei Gui.
Gu Zong wasn’t even surprised.He knew they had been following him.
He sighed, still chewing the last bite of the sweet root, and muttered,
“These two nuisances again…”
Without even looking back, he brushed off his robe and started walking away.
But Mei Gui’s voice rang behind him, loud and sharp:
“You idiot! Who gives threats to their friends like that?”
She mimicked his earlier tone, her face twisted in exaggerated seriousness:
“Follow me again and I’ll kill you..Oh please! If I hadn’t stopped myself that day, I’d have killed you first!You think you can scare me? Shameless fool!I pay you more than your worth and you still talk like that?”
Then, as if a wave of gentleness broke through her irritation, she sighed and gestured ahead.
“Come on.If you weren’t an orphan like us, I swear I’d have strangled you right now.Now move. I closed my shop early just for you. I have to leave at dawn.”
Gu Zong said nothing. He just walked beside her.
Qing Yu, meanwhile, as usual, wouldn’t stop talking:
“Brother Xiao Tang! How can you eat that dry root when we’ve got good wine waiting?Come home with us, man! We have to leave for the Hegong Clan tomorrow morning anyway!”
And so the three walked together down the moonlit road...bickering, laughing, and vanishing slowly into the distance toward Qing Yu’s home,far from the heart of the Yingtian Clan.
---
Meanwhile, far away…within the ruins of the Lingxiao Clan, amid the scorched land and blackened air,only one man still returned..Han Wuang Shi.
He knelt by the dried Lotus Pond, took a handful of seeds from his robe, and pressed them gently into the cracked earth.
Every visit, the same ritual.The same silent hope that this time… one lotus might bloom.
He rose slowly, dusting the ash from his palms, his eyes scanning the silent wasteland.
“How long, Gu Zong…” he whispered,“How long must I wait?”
He turned to leave, his steps heavy, reluctant.His body walked away,but his soul refused to move.
At the edge of the ruins, he stopped and looked back one last time.
“I’ve kept my promise, Gu Zong,” he said softly.“Now it’s your turn.”
Then he walked away..leaving his heart, mind, and spirit buried in the ashes of the past.
---
Elsewhere, atop Taylin Mountain, disciples were scouring the slopes under the silver moonlight.Their eyes followed the faint script on an ancient scroll held by Zao Yun.
“Moonlight Grass,” he read aloud,“it should grow somewhere nearby.Remember..it glows faintly under the moon.If it’s here, we’ll see its light.”
They searched every inch of the mountain, yet found nothing.
Just then, Han Wuang Shi appeared from the shadows, his robes dusted with ash and dirt.Despair weighed on his heart, though he showed none of it on his face.
From a distance, Ying Xia turned to speak to Zao Yun...but froze when he saw their master standing there.
“Master has returned!” he whispered.
Zao Yun turned sharply, surprise lighting his eyes.He called out for everyone to gather.
The disciples hurried to greet their revered master...but as soon as they saw his soiled, burnt robes, their smiles faded.They exchanged uneasy glances, wondering silently what their master had been through.
Before any could ask, Han Wuang Shi spoke in a low, commanding voice:
“All of you, return now.I will continue the search for the Moonlight Grass alone.”
Shock rippled through the group.
But Ying Xia, who had followed Han Wuang Shi faithfully for ten years, knew this tone.Every time the master sought something deeply personal, he sent everyone away.It was his nature..to hide his heart even when it was breaking.Ying Xia said nothing.He bowed silently and led the others back down the mountain.Han Wuang Shi stood there, unmoving, until the last of them disappeared into the mist.Only then did he let the mask slip.He looked up at the moon..its pale light bathing his tired face..and for a brief, fleeting moment,his eyes burned with a hope he no longer dared to voice.
