Inside the room, Liu Qingshi walked up to the memorial tablet and stood quietly for a moment.
He reached out, picked up three sticks of incense, lit them from the candle flame, then solemnly placed them in the incense burner.
Thin wisps of smoke curled upward, blurring his resolute features.
"Old Jiang..."
His voice was low and hoarse, laden with barely restrained guilt and longing. "How are you doing over there?"
He fell silent for a moment, as if waiting for an answer that would never come.
"Yiyi has successfully joined the Azure Sky Sect's outer sect today."
He spoke slowly, as though making idle conversation with an old friend seated across from him. "That girl has made us proud. She'll surely go further than I ever did. If your spirit can hear me, be happy for her too."
"Zhao Gang has also broken through to Transformation Strength. He'll be bringing Shi Lei to Prefecture City to seek my help before long."
He paused, the corner of his mouth twisting into a bitter smile. "He wrote that Shi Lei really misses you... I don't even know how to reply..."
"Old Jiang..." His voice suddenly caught in his throat. His hand hanging at his side curled into a fist. "That night, I couldn't find you. I... I'm sorry."
The incense smoke curled around him, making his resolute face flicker between light and shadow.
He stood there without moving, like a stone statue, turning all his guilt and self-reproach into silent stillness.
Outside the window, Jiang Ye stood quietly in the shadows, watching the rigid silhouette inside the room, the thin smoke curling upward, and the memorial tablet engraved with his own name.
He parted his lips, but no sound came out.
In his seventy years of life, he had seen too