The next day, Xiao Xia woke up aching all over.
She didn’t know how much pain Ruan Zhan had accumulated on the inside. She only knew that he had hugged her without letting go. He kept trembling at first, yet although he calmed down afterwards, he still didn’t let go. She could only let him hold onto her, giving him nonverbal comfort to heal his inner turmoil.
At some point, they got tired and moved to the bed. Ruan Zhan’s limbs were wrapped around her like he was holding onto a lifeline. Thus, their first night in bed together was in such a state. Because she had remained wrapped up in his arms the entire night, Xiao Xia felt all the bones in her body were about to fall apart.
When Ruan Zhan woke up in the morning, Xiao Xia was already awake. However, she pretended to be fast asleep to avoid the awkwardness. She felt him watch her for a long while before leaving. When he left, his breathing and steps were steady. She knew he had recovered from the unexpected blow.
Because she was busy comforting him last night, she hadn’t thought about anything else. After waking up, she suddenly felt this sort of intimate feeling was familiar. She also had the smitten wish of being able to spend the rest of her life like this with him.
While she dallied around upstairs, immersed in her flights of fancy, the three men had started conversing downstairs, preparing to handle serious matters.
“Have you made up your mind?” Wan Li probed.
Ruan Zhan’s condition last night had been truly shocking. Wan Li knew he had suffered a huge blow. No one would be able to remain calm after finding out the truth about their father after the fact, let alone someone like Ruan Zhan! After so many years thinking he was quick-witted, he had actually been at a loss. Luckily Xiao Xia had run after him.
“Of course I have. You think I would bother talking to you otherwise?”
Despite being jabbed by Ruan Zhan, Wan Li was very happy. They normally conversed this way, unable to resist bickering. Now that Ruan Zhan was back to his normal way of speech, it signified he had started to accept the truth.
“Do you think Uncle’s matter is related to those fiend children?” Bao Da Tong asked.
Wan Li was startled, afraid mentioning the matter so soon would provoke Ruan Zhan again. He wanted to stop Bao Da Tong, but didn’t make it in time. He glanced at Ruan Zhan and saw no abnormal reaction. Only then did he relax.
Ruan Zhan shook his head. “Honestly, I don’t know. He had no external injuries, and had died less than two days ago. However, when I inspected his body, I felt his death…wasn’t normal. His soul leaving the body was stiff and abrupt, which is not conventional.” His expression was indifferent, as if speaking about someone else. Yet when spoke the word “death”, he still revealed that he had only calmed down, his wounds not yet healed.
Bao Da Tong nodded. “I sensed the same. However, have you thought about why he would appear at that place? Furthermore, with his abilities, even if those two fiends worked together they shouldn’t be able to easily kill him. Could there be an even more powerful fiend that has yet to appear? But there wasn’t any fiend aura nearby. There also isn’t any trace of fiend aura on his body. So how did he end up…dying?”
Could it be another trick? But with Ruan Zhan and Bao Da Tong’s current power, they shouldn’t have misjudged. The elder should have really passed away this time.
The three of them fell silent, no one able to come up with an answer. After a while, Ruan Zhan sat down, intending to go tell them everything earnestly. Truthfully, this was a mystery. Yet the old mystery had just been unraveled when this new bigger mystery appeared.
“Let’s start from the beginning.” He suppressed his violent emotions and spoke slowly. “My father passed away very suddenly, and it was under extremely strange circumstances. When I returned home for the funeral, I saw his eyes were bloodshot. I even had a vision were I saw someone with glyphs carved onto his body giving my father an invisible object. But I couldn’t see that person’s face, and also don’t know what the object was. However, after receiving the object, my father seemed to know his end was neigh and started making preparations. Then, he calmly waited for death to come. Therefore, his strange passing had always been a hangup of mine. After Si Ma Nan died, I immediately returned home and personally dug up my father’s grave!”
“Strangely, before I dug it up, I noticed someone had already done the same before me. I don’t know who it was or why they would do so, and could only continue digging. In the end, the situation was as I expected. My father’s body was gone. Now, it seems he had been faking all along. The one who came before me must have been someone with profound powers. I examined every inch of the surroundings, including the inside of the grave, but didn’t find a single trace. This means that person had used telepathy. Telepathy isn’t too difficult, but with such a distance and carrying something the size of a person, it is very difficult not to leave any traces.”
“Difficult indeed.” Bao Da Tong nodded, also furrowing his brows. Who would have thought there were so many powerful beings in the world?
“Actually, I didn’t leave empty handed. I discovered something in the coffin. It was a crystal dagger of extremely pure quality. Purer than even Duan Jin’s Yinyang Eye. It would normally be impossible to see without anything else staining it. At that time, I had cut my arm and my blood left a line on the blade’s trough that didn’t fade.” Ruan Zhan raised his arm as he spoke. Wan Li and Bao Da Tong saw a long wound. Although it wasn’t bloody, it also wasn’t fully healed. “I don’t know what the dagger is used for, but the place it cut hasn’t healed.”
“Maybe the object the person with glyphs on his body gave your father was that crystal dagger. I also think Uncle faking his death previously is a mystery, but why would you have a vision? The vision and the crystal dagger might be something he intentionally left for you.” Wan Li said.
“Is it an ordinary object?” Bao Da Tong asked.
“It appears to be. Apart from the material and also the anti-healing property, there are no other abnormalities.” Ruan Zhan paused. “However, I get the feeling it’s definitely more powerful than the bloodwood sword, tattered banner and annihilation seal. I just don’t know how to use it yet, or perhaps it isn’t the right time.”
“Let’s leave the dagger aside for now. We should first discuss the person.” Wan Li interrupted. “Why would Si Ma Nan know about these things? I feel as if there’s someone manipulating things behind the scenes.”
“It isn’t someone. It must be ‘he’ who arranged things this way.” Ruan Zhan said quietly.
Wan Li and Bao Da Tong looked at each other, knowing this blood-related matter had hurt Ruan Zhan quite a bit. It wouldn’t be so easy for him to accept it, and being able to remain calm was already pretty good. He needed time and answers to completely heal his inner wounds.
“I’m not trying to defend Uncle here since I don’t know the details of the matter. But I think he must have had his reasons for doing what he did.” Wan Li said earnestly. “Remember when we were young, we encountered those kids who forced us to play hide and seek? After you passed out, Uncle was the one who saved us. He had me swear not to tell you about it, saying he wanted to leave you with a friend. Ah Zhan, I still clearly remember his expression back then. He did love you, he loved you a lot. He loved you no less than any other father who loved his son. Him having to act this way must have been even harder for him than for you.”
“I feel the same.” Bao Da Tong joined in. “Things happened too suddenly yesterday so I wasn’t able to say anything. The fact is that although your old man only brought you to my house once, he often met with my dad by himself. His space warping spell is much more profound compared to yours. He only needs to wave his hand and point instead of drawing glyphs for half a day. I enjoyed eavesdropping on them back then. Although he appeared stern and aloof in front of you, he always looked loving when he mentioned you to my dad. I saw it with my own eyes. His eyes would shine whenever you were mentioned.”
Really? Were they telling the truth? But why did he only remember such warmth once? If he loved him, why would he let him suffer such cold and cruel treatment? Even if he didn’t have a choice, what was it that forced if father into making such a decision?!
“Stop comforting me.” His heart was a mess but he suppressed his inner turmoil, deciding to focus on the “important” matters.
“Why would I comfort you? A big dude like you. Would I get a kiss if I coaxed you a little?” Bao Da Tong jeered. “But what were those arrangements? Why involve you in them? Why you? Why not me? Is it due to your special constitution, an arrangement by fate? Or is there some other unknown reason.”
“I’m thinking there was probably no alternative. No father would want to harm his own son, unless he had no other choice. Believe me, Uncle definitely meant well.” Wan Li recalled the time they were in that desolate garden. Ruan Zhan’s father had looked over Ruan Zhan with warm eyes, subconsciously revealing his love. Perhaps he looked at his son this way when Ruan Zhan was unaware! Ruan Zhan being kept in the dark might not necessarily be a bad thing. If your relative was right in front of you but you weren’t able to reveal it, and even had to remain distant, it must have been very painful. The elder probably had a very hard time!
He had stroked Wan Li’s head at the time and said: Good child, then I’ll let you remember this matter. I don’t know when I will die. This kid needs a friend. Being all alone is too pitiful.
“Let’s first leave aside the matter of the dagger and the person.” Ruan Zhan avoided the question. Whether he had loved him or not, it wasn’t something he wanted to hear today. “Let’s first put together all the questions that need answering.”
“There seems to be a lot.” Bao Da Tong scratched his head.
“There are a lot, but there should be a thread that can link them together.” Wan Li also shifted away from the topic of the emotional relationship between Ruan Zhan and his father. “First, was Ah Zhan’s separation from his birth parents planned or accidental? The same question could be asked about his reunion with his father afterwards.”
“I’m leaning towards the idea that he abandoned me, and my return was also his arrangement.”
“You can’t be biased. Many things aren’t as we imagine them to be. There are always deeper reasons. Even the things we see and hear can be fake.” Wan Li refuted Ruan Zhan’s judgment. “The answers to this matter won’t be revealed until the end. Your snap judgments are unfair to Uncle!”
Ruan Zhan waved his hand, indicating that Wan Li was right and he agreed.
“Then who is Ah Zhan’s mother? When did his old man have him?” Bao Da Tong blurted a question.
Ruan Zhan paused. He never considered this question. All his memories after growing up were of his father. He had actually never wondered who his mother was. She definitely wasn’t the woman he lived with before he turned five. Although he was young at the time, he remembered she was just an ordinary housewife. Someone like his father wouldn’t fall in love with a woman like that. Yet when had his father become such an amazing figure in his mind, so much so that he felt a secular woman wasn’t worthy of him?
“That is included in the first question. Don’t interrupt, let me finish. Otherwise, it’ll get confusing with questions flying everywhere.” Wan Li guided the discussion back on topic. “Secondly, why did his father have to treat his own flesh and blood so coldly, yet why did he also teach him all his knowledge? Was there a purpose? If so, had he foreseen something horrifying?”
“Thirdly, why would Ah Zhan have this Calamity of Threes?”
“Fourth, why did he father fake his death? And since it was faked, why did Ah Zhan get a vision? Was he trying to tell him something? Who was the unseen person in the vision? Who was the person who dug up the grave ahead of him? Were they the same person?”
“Fifth, what is up with the crystal dagger? Why was it left for Ah Zhan, and what use does it have?”
“Sixth, why does Si Ma Nan know about these things? What was the master and disciple relationship like between him and Uncle?”
“Seventh, since he faked his death, why did he stay in the coffin the whole time? Why did he only leave after Si Ma Nan revealed things to Ah Zhan? Why did he go to Creek’s Head Inn after he left?”
“Eighth, how did he…pass away? Was it the fiend children?”
“Ninth, if he’s gone, where did his soul go? He was a powerful person, so he won’t end up like ordinary people. If his soul remains, does it count as him passing on?”
“Tenth, last of all, if everything was part of some arrangement, what part do we play in all of this? And what is the arrangement for? Why is there such an arrangement?”
Wan Li finished speaking in one go. Even he himself was surprised. It turns out they had so many questions they needed to resolve. The questions were all interlinked, seemingly all started from Ruan Zhan’s birth, or perhaps even prior to it. But what was it?
Another bout of silence.
Finally, Ruan Zhan spoke first. “Stop thinking about it. Let’s deal with the fiend children first. When I returned from my hometown and discovered the mystery surrounding my father’s death, I had assumed the unseen person was the key. Therefore, I decided to get involved in all the supernatural matters I could find. There aren’t that many people like us in the world. If I kept getting involved, I would eventually encounter them. I would get the answers then. Although it was a stupid method, it was also my only method. I didn’t expect that the very first case would result in finding out about his…death. Therefore, I think he’s either guiding me or my stupid method was correct. Then we should proceed according to that method.”
“Hopefully those two fiend children aren’t the killers. Otherwise, they are screwed.” Bao Da Tong murmured quietly. He had witnessed this emotionally damaged person getting back up again. Although the wounds were still present, he seemed to have become even tougher.
