In the blink of an eye, two months had passed.
Fanyue had already adapted to life on Shu Mountain. Wherever his sister was, he was there too.
In this world, only his sister treated him well.
He remembered how cold every winter had been, but as long as he was by his sister's side, there was nothing to fear.
As long as his sister was there...
"Aaaah!!"
Fanyue clutched his head and jolted awake from his dream.
Pain!!
It hurt too much!!
It was as though something inside his body had awakened.
I'll kill everyone!
I'll destroy the Nine Provinces. This is the path by which I will become immortal.
The sight before him made his scalp tingle, as though the entire world had fallen into the abyss of doomsday.
The earth had completely collapsed, enormous fissures like the maws of savage beasts mercilessly swallowing everything.
Raging flames swept forth with the force of a prairie fire, their blaze soaring into the heavens and dyeing the sky blood-red.
And upon this land covered in fire and ruins, corpses lay piled like mountains everywhere.
Some were missing limbs, some had faces twisted into grotesque masks. Blood had dyed the ground beneath their feet red, forming one shocking pool after another.
Countless lives vanished in this catastrophe. Their dying wails and screams intertwined like a mournful elegy, echoing through that deathly silent space.
Yet amid that hellish scene, one figure stood out with particular starkness.
Fanyue stood in the heart of the sea of flames, laughing madly. His laughter was like the shriek of a night owl—sharp, piercing, and filled with madness and delirium.
His eyes were hollow, as though he had already lost his soul, leaving behind only an obsession with destruction and the thrill it brought.
"No!!"
Fanyue opened his eyes again, gasping for breath.
He found that he had returned to Shu Mountain, returned to his sister's side.
Crying, Fanyue ran back to his sister and plunged headfirst into her embrace.
Lin Wanqing's face reddened slightly, though it vanished in an instant.
It seemed she had long since grown used to physical contact.
"What is it? Another nightmare?"
"Mm!"
Fanyue nodded through his tears.
"Be good. It's all right. Your sister is here," Lin Wanqing comforted him.
"Sister, Fanyue dreamed that he killed lots of people. What should he do? Is Fanyue a bad person?"
"Of course not. Fanyue is the kindest person under heaven. If Fanyue truly killed someone, then they must have been bad people too."
"But what if the people Fanyue killed were good people? What if they were innocent?
What if they come looking for Fanyue to take revenge? Everyone will bully Fanyue, everyone will hate Fanyue. Will Sister still like Fanyue?"
Lin Wanqing fell silent for a moment, then affectionately pinched Fanyue's nose.
"Even if... even if everyone under heaven stands against Fanyue, Sister will stand on Fanyue's side."
"Mmm, Fanyue likes Sister the most."
Fanyue hugged Lin Wanqing even tighter.
"Sister will protect Fanyue with her life," Lin Wanqing added.
"As long as Fanyue is here, he won't let anyone hurt Sister. If anyone dares touch even a single hair on Sister's head, Fanyue will slaughter everyone under heaven and avenge Sister."
Lin Wanqing smiled. "Sister didn't dote on you for nothing. All right, go to sleep."
"..."
The bond between Lin Wanqing and Fanyue grew warmer by the day.
Worried that Fanyue would become bored while she cultivated,
Lin Wanqing often found little toys around Shu Mountain to bring back for him.
This time, for instance, Lin Wanqing had bought him a Mohist Mechanical Arts puppy.
Shu Mountain had a general market where disciples gathered, and all sorts of little trinkets could be bought there.
Many disciples liked to sell things they no longer needed at the market.
This Mohist Mechanical Arts puppy had been made by a disciple of Little Qiong Peak.
Several years ago, out of personal interest, he had tried learning Mohist Mechanical Arts.
Over the years, he had made many little contraptions and often set up stalls to sell them.
The easiest items to sell were these little puppies.
So he had made a great many of them in one go.
What he did not know was that, without anyone noticing, someone had mixed one mechanical puppy among them that was no different from the others he had made.
That day, the wind was gentle and the sun shone brightly.
Fanyue was playing with the mechanical puppy alone on Silver Sword Peak.
Then, the mechanical puppy suddenly began running out of control.
Fanyue hurried after it, but the puppy only ran faster and faster.
Seeing the distance between them grow ever wider, Fanyue had no choice but to speed up.
"Don't run! Stop!"
Suddenly, a pair of wooden wings unfolded from the puppy's back, and it actually flew into the air.
It was Fanyue's first time seeing a puppy fly, and he opened his mouth wide in delight.
He wanted to chase after it, but he himself could not fly. Just as he was fretting over it,
he suddenly noticed a flock of immortal cranes passing nearby.
These were immortal cranes raised by Shu Mountain. At this time of day, they would circle around Shu Mountain in flight.
After hesitating briefly, Fanyue seized the right moment and leaped onto an immortal crane's back.
The immortal crane did not struggle. Some Shu Mountain disciples who were still at the Qi Refining Stage often liked to do this.
Some disciples accidentally fell from the cranes' backs, and the cranes would even go pull them back up.
Fanyue had once seen that big brother named Li Xuanxiao do this, so he had learned it too.
The white crane carried Fanyue soaring upward, cutting through the drifting mists.
Fanyue stood upon the white crane's back, watching one mountain peak after another pass before his eyes.
Today was Shu Mountain's annual Day of Quiet Cultivation, a rule passed down from long ago.
Though few people still observed it now, they generally tried not to leave their own mountain gates and wander about, lest they be caught by disciples of the Law Enforcement Hall and have their weaknesses seized upon.
So Fanyue saw no trace of Shu Mountain disciples along the way, nor any sign of the puppy, and he could not help growing anxious.
Just then, Fanyue's eyes lit up.
He sprang from the white crane's back.
He landed atop a mountain peak.
"Thank you," he called loudly to the white crane.
The white crane answered with a clear, ringing cry.
The wooden mechanical puppy seemed to have lost all its energy upon arriving here and fell to the ground.
Fanyue hurriedly picked it up and checked whether it had been damaged by the fall.
Only after confirming that the mechanical puppy was completely unharmed did Fanyue smile.
He lifted his head, only then noticing his surroundings.
"Where is this?"
Mist filled the surroundings, making it impossible to tell one place from another.
Every year, whenever a certain season arrived, the back mountain of Tongtian Peak would be shrouded in dense fog.
That fog rose from deep underground, enveloping the entire back mountain within it.
Within that vast mist, every trace of presence seemed completely concealed.
Whether it was the mountain breeze, the breathing of the trees, or the tracks of birds and beasts, all vanished within it without a trace.
More than once, disciples had gotten lost in the back mountain and been unable to find a way out, left with no choice but to remain inside.
Only months later, after the fog dispersed, could they leave.
Thereafter, whenever this season arrived, Shu Mountain would have Mountain Guardians stationed here to prevent disciples from entering by mistake.
Guarding the mountain was an extremely boring task, so the Mountain Guardians often liked to slip away for a drink.
Fanyue scratched his head.
Just then, the sound of a flute suddenly rose.
It was as though it were guiding the way for someone lost.
Fanyue followed the sound of the flute all the way toward it.
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