Ancient Past Forget-Worry Pavilion was exceptionally quiet.
Ba Zunan dipped his fingertip in tea and sketched a simple portrait on the tabletop.
It was a middle-aged man with thick brows, large eyes, a full head of hair cascading down his back, and a widow's peak.
Xu Xiaoshou stared at that widow's peak for a long while without speaking.
Besides the cup of tea before each of the four, there was nothing else on the tea table—save for the three items he had pushed forward earlier but Kong Yuhen had not accepted: the Apricot Realm Jade Talisman, the command token, and the Time Ancestor Shadow Staff.
Mei Suren's fan gradually fluttered faster.
When even its whooshing became grating, he abruptly stopped, then resumed with an unhurried, measured rhythm.
An air of anxiety hung within the silence.
Ba Zunan swept his palm across the table. The faint tea stains spread out, then quickly evaporated on their own.
Xu Xiaoshou smiled faintly and looked back at Kong Yuhen. "Brother Yuhen, you have many faces, don't you?"
Kong Yuhen had naturally noticed Ba Zunan's little gesture and understood what Xu Xiaoshou meant. Calmly, he said:
"A person has many faces. I may be myself, or I may not."
I may be myself, or I may not... The last time I heard that was from the Ghost Ancestor. Was it a coincidence? Xu Xiaoshou felt as though a listening device had been planted on him. Perhaps the problem lay with the Time Ancestor Shadow Staff? He did not dwell on it and continued his earlier question. "Even if a person has many faces, they generally show only one at any given time."
"The last time I saw you, this time I see you, even a breath ago and another breath later... the person I see