Chapter 101: A Trio’s Journey

That evening, Lin Jianyuan worried that she might draw too much attention to herself, so the moment she slipped into the courtyard she dimmed the lamp in her arms.

As the milk-white flame within the lantern shrank little by little, the already gloomy courtyard grew even more spectral, as though the moonlight itself had faded in sympathy.

She could not help glancing toward the crooked old pagoda tree.

Though she knew the horrifying vision of hearts hanging from its branches had been nothing more than an illusion revealed by divine power, she still felt a lingering chill and wanted to make doubly sure the limbs were truly clean.

The branches swayed in the darkness. Nothing was amiss.

Only then did she feel a little more at ease. Holding her breath, she crept cautiously toward the woodshed, where a faint yellow candlelight still glimmered.

As she drew near, she suddenly heard voices from inside.

Her heart tightened. She quickly stilled her breathing and listened. One of the voices was a youth’s voice, and it was none other than the shopkeeper, Lu.

"...Young Master Chu is saying things I still do not understand."

Lin Jianyuan froze slightly, a thought flashing through her mind. So that elegant and handsome young master was here as well.

She thought to herself that this made sense. The two of them seemed to be on very familiar terms, and it was only reasonable that Young Master Chu would pay a late-night visit to inquire after the shopkeeper’s injuries.

But if she went in now, would she not be interrupting them?

With that in mind, she was just about to retreat soundlessly when she heard Young Master Chu’s voice again, carrying a trace of amusement from within the room:

"I’ll explain it to you properly later. For now, Brother Lu, keep your mind steady. I am about to begin."

Lin Jianyuan’s foot, already lifted, froze in midair.

"Begin... begin what?"

Her cheeks burned, and her heart began pounding for no reason at all.

She had often heard the rough men in the bureau gossip about the amorous affairs of the splendid capital, speaking of certain noble sons with strange tastes, men who shunned women and favored their own sex. They called it an unnatural predilection.

She had only ever dismissed such talk as filthy nonsense.

But hearing those words now, and recalling the unmatched beauty of Young Master Chu and the sharp, heroic brows of Shopkeeper Lu, an absurd and outrageous thought simply would not leave her alone.

Just as her mind was in turmoil, a gust of yin wind slipped through the window lattice. With a soft whoosh, it snuffed out the candle in the room.

The woodshed fell at once into darkness.

In that utter stillness, Lu Chenyuan gave a muffled groan, as though bearing some immense pain.

Lin Jianyuan’s heart lurched. Then Young Master Chu’s voice sounded again, this time with concern.

"Brother Lu, how do you feel?"

"A little pain, perhaps," Lu Chenyuan replied. Though faint, his voice remained steady. "Nothing serious. Continue."

By now, Lin Jianyuan’s face was so red it seemed it might drip blood.

An indecent, impossible scene had already formed in her mind of its own accord. It felt as though all the blood in her body had rushed to her head, and even her breathing had grown quick and shallow.

"Oh heavens... they... they really are doing that sort of... that sort of thing?"

She was still locked in a battle of mortification when she heard Shangguan Chuci say:

"It seems the candle has gone out, though I do not know why. Leave it for now."

Immediately after came Lu Chenyuan’s voice. "Young Master Chu... have you found it?"

"Not yet... Brother Lu, there is indeed something strange here. Let me try again."

At this, Lin Jianyuan could no longer restrain herself. These two were far too bold in their conduct, and their words far too explicit. It was truly unprecedented in her life.

"This... this is broad daylight and open heaven... no, it is the dead of night, but... but they still cannot be this... this ridiculous!"

Her thoughts were in utter disarray when another matter suddenly came to mind, and her wonder only deepened.

"Who would have thought that Shopkeeper Lu, who seemed so unfathomable, would in this matter actually be... the one being taken care of?"

"No, no! Why is that the point I should be focusing on? What on earth am I even thinking?"

Her heart had become a tangled skein. She subconsciously fumbled in her sleeve for the sesame candy that had already grown warm from her body heat. With no time to think, she peeled off the wrapper and stuffed it into her mouth.

The familiar sweetness melted across her tongue, and only then did it calm her restless heart a little.

She thought bitterly to herself that this world was truly terrifying. Not only were there flesh-eating demons and eerie puppets, even those elegant and gallant young masters in secret could be... Sigh. She truly should never have come here today.

While she was still lost in such wild speculation, Young Master Chu’s voice came again from the room:

"Brother Lu, I think I have found it, but it is too dark. I cannot see anything."

The words had barely fallen when there came a soft click, and a steady male voice rang out:

"Young Master, shall I light the lamp?"

Then, within the woodshed, the candle flared back to life.

"Thank you, Uncle Shen. But when I said it was dark, I did not mean the candle."

Lin Jianyuan peered through the broken hole in the window paper, and with that single glance, she stood utterly transfixed.

"Uncle Shen? There is... there is a third person?!"

Her mind went blank with a booming crash. An even more absurd thought rose from the depths of her confusion:

"This... this sort of thing can be done by three people together?! Just how chaotic are their private lives?!"

The instant that thought appeared, the milk-white flame in the lantern, which had been calm as still water, suddenly seemed to burst apart.

First it unfurled a ring of peach-petal pink, the embarrassment of a girl suddenly hearing some secret and being so ashamed she nearly covered her face and fled.

Then, before the pink had faded, a tender green like spring chives seeped from the heart of the flame, the mischief of one who had glimpsed a taboo, curiosity piqued, unable to resist looking again.

But as soon as the green was born, it was covered by a layer of deep lake-blue, the caution of reason returning, the faint unease and warning that came from knowing one ought not look upon what should not be seen.

Yet that alertness lasted only an instant before it was replaced by a bright yellow like the first light of dawn, the astonishment of someone so overwhelmed by the impossible before her that even fear was forgotten, leaving only bewilderment and confusion.

Pink, green, blue, yellow.

Four hues intertwined and shifted within the small imperial lantern, flowing without rest.

The flame flickered erratically, light and shadow flashing in rapid succession, as though seized by demonic possession. At last, there came the faintest hiss, and the riot of colors dimmed all at once.

Within the lantern, the final wisp of flame swayed three times like a dying candle, then dissolved into a thin thread of blue smoke and dispersed into nothing.

Just as the young girl was completely at a loss, Lu Chenyuan’s voice sounded once more:

"Even Young Master Chu’s strange fire cannot be of use?"

"Indeed. And as Brother Lu said, your inner sea should have some source of light."

"Even if it were your master’s remnant moon, or my stars, they ought to illuminate something. And even if all else failed, you still hold that lantern fashioned from the remains of the demonic Daoist’s fallen form. How could it be that nothing can be seen..."

"Hm?"

Only then did Lin Jianyuan wake as though from a dream and look more closely.

Inside the room, Lu Chenyuan and Young Master Chu were seated cross-legged on the bed, fully dressed and solemn of expression. Their palms were pressed together, clearly engaged in the work of healing and circulating energy. There was not the slightest trace of the impropriety she had imagined.

At last she understood: she had misunderstood everything.

Yet even through her embarrassment, her puzzlement only deepened.

"Strange fire? Inner sea? Remnant moon? Stars? And that lantern formed from the fallen body of a demonic Daoist? What... what are all these things? I do not understand a single word. Is this still the world of cultivation that I know?"

Still, if they could not shine light, perhaps I could help?

She instinctively looked down at the imperial lantern in her arms and remembered what her father had once told her: this magical instrument was of very high rank, and when combined with her special ability, it could do many things she had yet to fully bring forth.

At that moment, the woodshed door creaked open without warning.

Lin Jianyuan was startled half out of her wits and tried to retreat at once, but it was already too late.

A tall figure in black stood at the doorway. His eyes, calm and bright with hidden sharpness, rested upon her as he spoke slowly:

"So it was you lurking outside. I should have guessed it was the demon-suppressing bureau’s Lady Lin."

The girl’s cheeks burned. Thinking of the absurd notions that had just filled her head, she felt as though she had been seen through entirely.

She instinctively clutched the glazed lantern in her arms even tighter, wanting nothing more than to find a crack in the earth and hide within it. Yet beneath that tall man’s gaze, every avenue of retreat seemed sealed. There was nowhere to go.

Lin Jianyuan bit her lower lip, her lovely eyes darting about. She looked at the floor, then at the corner, and finally summoned the greatest courage of her life.

On her face, flushed scarlet with embarrassment, she forced out a smile even uglier than a cry. It sat stiffly at the corner of her mouth, awkward and innocent all at once.

Tilting her little head, she addressed the man in black, and perhaps also the two inside the room:

"I... I did not mean to eavesdrop..."

She said this, then seemed to feel that such an explanation was far too feeble. Yet the moment she remembered the utterly ridiculous things she had been thinking moments ago, her face burned even hotter, leaving her with only one thought:

Even if I die here today, they must never know what I was just thinking!

The desire to survive—no, the desire to preserve some shred of dignity—overwhelmed everything else.

In that instant of lightning-fast clarity, she suddenly recalled the mysterious words she had overheard earlier. Her eyes shifted, and with a flash of insight, she found the perfect excuse.

"I mean... I heard you speaking about that thing... the light, no, the dark... my... my lamp fire might be able to illuminate it..."

Though she had a notion in mind, nerves made her words come out in a tangle. Shen Guizhou could only sigh helplessly.

"Lady Lin, there is no need to rush. Speak slowly."

Lin Jianyuan only felt more ashamed. Two slender white fingers had already unconsciously pinched the hem of her robe, twisting the black fabric tight. Drawing a deep breath, she finally said slowly:

"Earlier I heard the two of you speaking of cultivation, and it seemed you had run into some difficulty..."

Seeing the two men in the room turn to look at her, the shopkeeper’s gaze was merely curious, but Young Master Chu’s eyes held a faint smile that made her even more uneasy.

"I... I thought perhaps... perhaps I might be able to help a little, and so... so I boldly lingered here a moment longer."

The words came haltingly, her voice as thin as a mosquito’s hum. By the end, she had lowered her head completely.

But she had forgotten that the lantern in her arms could hide nothing of its owner’s thoughts.

The pale flame within it suddenly gave a soft whoosh, and from within, pink halos spread outward in ripples, illuminating her face of shame and embarrassment until it seemed flushed with a shy, irresistible beauty.

At Lin Jianyuan’s words, both Shangguan Chuci and Lu Chenyuan’s eyes lit up at once.

The two met each other’s gaze on the bed. Not a word was spoken, yet each could see delight in the other’s eyes.

Lu Chenyuan spoke first. "Senior Shen, please invite Miss Lin inside."

Upon hearing this, the black-clad guardian Shen Guizhou shifted aside to clear the way for Lin Jianyuan. Then he withdrew quietly to the outer doorway, leaving this small space to the three young people, each burdened with their own thoughts.

Clutching the glazed imperial lantern, Lin Jianyuan finally stepped lightly into the woodshed.

The woodshed was narrow to begin with. Even on ordinary days, it felt cramped with only Lu Chenyuan living there.

With her arrival, it seemed even more crowded.

And yet, who could have imagined it?

Within this tiny woodshed had gathered a princess of the Great Zhou Immortal Dynasty, one of the highest-ranking guardians in the Condensing Wave realm, a lady envoy from the capital’s demon-suppressing bureau, and a youth whom that lady envoy secretly regarded as a great demon stirring chaos in the world.

Even the veteran carpenter who had once overseen the timber and construction would never have imagined that the shabby woodshed under his hands would one day become so unexpectedly illustrious, hiding dragons and tigers alike.

Looking at Lin Jianyuan’s pale face, tense with nervousness, Lu Chenyuan asked sincerely:

"Miss Lin said just now that she had a way to help. Was that true?"

Lin Jianyuan had only spoken in haste, without thinking, and now that she stood before the two of them, she dared not boast. She could only say timidly:

"My ability is somewhat special. It may be able to help. But... whether it can truly be of use depends on the young master’s exact situation."

At that, Lu Chenyuan understood at once.

"I had forgotten that I ought to explain my condition to you first..."

He was just about to describe, in detail, how the Dao foundation he had forcibly taken into his own sea of consciousness and the fire of his heart had come to be.

But Shangguan Chuci beat him to it with a smile.

"The actual situation is this: Brother Lu follows a path of cultivation entirely different from ours. Ordinary cultivators have a sea of consciousness, whereas Brother Lu cultivates the more mysterious inner sea."

"Tonight Brother Lu has spent a great deal of energy helping the two of us. I had originally intended to personally send some true essence to him, both to aid his healing and to probe the nature of that inner sea."

"However, the inner sea and the sea of consciousness are not the same thing after all. Though Uncle Shen’s cultivation far surpasses my own, even he could not find a path into that inner sea. As for me, I can barely perceive it by borrowing the power of heart-fire, but once my divine sense enters, it is as though it falls into endless darkness, seeing nothing at all."

As she spoke, she changed the subject and looked at the girl with curiosity.

"Lady Lin, could it be that your treasured lantern can not only reveal the illusory ghosts and monsters of the mortal world, but also illuminate a cultivator’s inner sea and sea of consciousness?"

After hearing her words, Lu Chenyuan thought to himself, Why did Young Master Chu not let me speak the truth? Was he worried that if the people of the demon-suppressing bureau learned the details of my background, disaster might follow?

This Miss Lin seems kind and pure, not like some treacherous villain. Still, one must guard against others. Young Master Chu’s explanation is indeed very appropriate. It makes the situation clear while also covering for that earth-shaking secret of mine.

He did not know that this was only one thread among many in Shangguan Chuci’s considerations.

What she cared about even more was this: if Lin Jianyuan learned the whole truth and discovered that the youth before her was merely a fox borrowing a tiger’s might, then would she never again see that amusing mixture of reverence and fear, embarrassment and fluster, on her face?

To Shangguan Chuci, the way her senior brother and Lin Jianyuan both treated Lu Chenyuan was one of the few genuine joys in this mad world. She could not allow it to vanish so easily.

So this poor young lady envoy would simply have to suffer a little longer and remain in the dark for a while yet.

Upon hearing this, Lin Jianyuan was startled again, having not expected that Young Master Lu’s cultivation method would be so unheard of. No wonder she had never been able to see through him.

And then she thought of Young Master Chu as well. The "Uncle Shen" in her mouth had inward restraint, yet even the slightest glimpse of his edge made him seem unfathomably deep. She herself could perceive the inner sea that even Uncle Shen could not find. Could her heart-fire truly be the "strange fire" she had mentioned earlier?

But was heart-fire not only divided into mortal fire, true fire, and spirit fire? Could there really be a higher grade she did not know about?

These people truly each had their own secrets. A single tidal surge of the sleeping dragon every ten years had actually gathered all these rarely seen figures in this little town of Zhenhai Chuan...

Lin Jianyuan’s thoughts wandered wildly. Seeing the two of them watching her, she hurriedly pulled herself together and said, "You two may not know this, but my imperial lantern has more than one use."

Lu Chenyuan was surprised. "It has a second use?"

Lin Jianyuan extended a delicate finger and lightly brushed the three-petaled iris mechanism above the lamp base.

"Ordinarily, when I am investigating, I only turn the lantern to extinguish the flame, and then I examine the place..."

As she spoke, the corner of her eye suddenly caught sight of the innocent yet eerie puppet doll on the bed, and her breath hitched.

Though she had already encountered this puppet several times through divine power, this was the first time she was seeing it so clearly, face to face.

The doll’s face wore only a guileless, innocent smile, but the instant Lin Jianyuan’s gaze touched it, she felt as though she were being devoured by the boundless resentment hidden behind that smile, and she could not help shivering.

The girl could not help recalling that terrifying nursery rhyme and those bizarre methods, and even the shadows in the woodshed seemed to come alive.

She did not dare imagine how much flesh and blood would be needed to nurture such a vicious thing into being.

And if Young Master Lu could toy with such a thing at will, how could he possibly be a kind and harmless soul?

Thinking of this, she felt that her role as a lady envoy of the demon-suppressing bureau had somehow become that of an accomplice to evil. It was truly the greatest irony.

Ashamed and frightened, the girl hurriedly averted her eyes and dared not look again. Only then did she say softly:

"But in truth, after the flame is extinguished, one may continue turning it downward... that is the lantern’s second use."