Mourn the Dead!

Li Yuan could not help but be startled. Could it be that he had heard everything?

"Dali Temple sent word just now. They said your father will set off tomorrow." Mr. Mo's tone was calm. "Will you go see him off?"

Li Yuan froze, then shook his head gloomily. "No need. As his son, how could I bear to watch Father suffer?"

Mr. Mo looked at him quietly without saying a word.

Li Yuan felt as though he had been seen through completely and coughed awkwardly.

"This student has prepared some silver and clothing. I would like to ask the academy to help smooth things over with the escorting guards, so they might show him a little care along the way and not deliberately humiliate him."

Mr. Mo nodded slightly. "That would at least fulfill the duties between father and son."

Li Yuan could not help letting out a breath of relief. He felt nothing but disgust for Li Chongwen, but this was, after all, a feudal society. He still had to put on a proper show and could not leave himself open to accusations of being unfilial.

In the blink of an eye, it was time for the new year's Spirit Awakening Ceremony.

This time, Li Yuan and the others were no longer anxious students beneath the stage. As seniors, they stood at the edge of the square to observe.

Looking at the sea of young boys and girls below, the members of the Pivot Star Class wore varied expressions—sentiment, reminiscence, and a faint sense of superiority.

"Do you think another level-nine monster like Brother Li will appear this year?" Jin Duoduo muttered softly.

"Level nine isn't that easy." Chu Yunhe said lazily. "You might not see one even in several decades."

The crowd discussed in low voices. Li Yuan, the center of attention, remained indifferent, though inwardly he was reviewing what he had learned yesterday, unwilling to waste even a shred of time.

"Buzz!"

Suddenly, an anomaly appeared on the Spirit-Appraising Stone.

There was no dazzling radiance, no startling phantom. The Spirit-Appraising Stone merely rippled and warped faintly, like water.

Then, a pitch-black crack abruptly split open in the space about a foot above it.

Fine silver sparks danced around the edges of the fissure, giving off a void-like aura that made hearts tremble.

Though it vanished in a flash, the pure and powerful spatial fluctuations made Su Wenyuan, Chen Shuo, and the others on the high platform rise sharply to their feet.

"Spatial talent!"

"At least level eight!"

An instructor cried out in shock.

The entire venue erupted into an uproar.

Every gaze instantly focused on that person: a thin, pale girl in black, utterly unremarkable in appearance.

Spatial talent was widely acknowledged to be one of the strongest rare talents. It involved the mysteries of space, profound and unfathomable.

Even at merely level eight, her future was still boundless.

Under the focus of countless eyes, the black-clad girl silently lowered her head. Her slender figure radiated a distant air that warned strangers away.

Li Yuan looked at the girl, his brows drawing together slightly. For some reason, he felt that she looked familiar. He searched through his memories, yet could not find anyone who matched her.

Was it an illusion? Li Yuan shook his head. The world was vast; there were countless people with similar faces. Perhaps it was simply because the girl looked too ordinary.

He did not dwell on it and returned his attention to his own cultivation.

The girl was named Ji Fanghua. She was also an orphan, and for a time, stories about her spread like wildfire. People often compared her to Li Yuan.

Fortunately, Ji Fanghua kept a sufficiently low profile and never appeared among crowds, while Li Yuan devoted himself wholly to cultivation without distraction.

As time passed, the discussions gradually died down, and the academy returned to its usual tranquility.

That day, Li Yuan was studying a basic spell in Mr. Mo's courtyard when someone knocked on the gate.

Two people stood outside. One was an academy steward responsible for delivering messages, while the other was Chen Shuo.

Chen Shuo's gaze passed over Li Yuan as he nodded to Mr. Mo.

Li Yuan thought the two had official business to discuss and was about to excuse himself when Chen Shuo called out to him.

"Li Yuan."

He took an official document bearing the seal of the Demon Suppression Bureau from his robes and handed it to Li Yuan, his expression calm.

"I have come under orders to inform you that Li Chongwen, former Vice Minister of Revenue, met with an incident while being exiled to Lingnan, in the waters of Poyang Lake."

Something had happened to Li Chongwen?

Li Yuan froze. A strange premonition rose within him. Logically, someone from Dali Temple should have come to notify him, yet the one who had come was from the Demon Suppression Bureau.

That alone was enough to show that the incident must have involved demons.

"According to the investigation, when the escort fleet entered the waters of Poyang Lake, it was attacked by an unidentified water demon. There were heavy casualties."

Chen Shuo spoke in an official tone. "After salvage operations, portions of the wreckage were found downstream. Based on identification by the accompanying guards, it has been confirmed that Li Chongwen perished."

"Because the body was severely damaged, only this was recovered."

As he spoke, he took out a square wooden box wrapped in white cloth and handed it to Li Yuan.

Li Yuan silently accepted the wooden box. It felt slightly heavy in his hands. He did not open it immediately, merely running his fingertips slowly over its rough surface.

Devoured by a water demon—this death was certainly gruesome enough. It should be enough to ease the original owner's resentment, shouldn't it?

Li Yuan sighed inwardly. He had thought Li Chongwen would die from exhaustion in Lingnan, but he had not expected him to die so swiftly. He had gotten off too easily.

He did not want to give himself away in front of the others, so he stiffly bowed to Chen Shuo.

"Thank you... Captain Chen, for informing me."

Chen Shuo's gaze fell upon his face. As a captain of the Demon Suppression Bureau, he had long grown accustomed to partings and deaths over the years, his heart hard as iron.

Although Li Yuan had done his utmost to disguise himself as grief-stricken and dazed, compared to Chen Shuo's experience, he still appeared a little too calm.

"My condolences."

"The Demon Suppression Bureau will continue investigating this case. If there are further developments, you will be notified."

After saying that, Chen Shuo nodded to Mr. Mo, then turned and left.

Li Yuan let out a breath of relief. He had no feelings for Li Chongwen and truly did not want to perform grief before others.

Mr. Mo watched him quietly for a moment, said nothing, and turned away with his wine gourd in hand.

Coming back to himself, Li Yuan opened the wooden box. Inside lay a severed finger, still wearing a jade thumb ring.

He recognized it at once. It truly was Li Chongwen's belonging.

Was he really dead?

Li Yuan picked up the finger bone, raised a brow as he examined it, then tossed it back inside. With a snap, he shut the lid.

Good. From this day onward, all the karmic ties between him and the original owner had been completely severed with Li Chongwen's death.

From this point on, he was Li Yuan.

And only Li Yuan.

He would have no more entanglements with the man named Li Chongwen. The road ahead would be controlled by him alone, and he would live only for himself.

He casually found a corner in the bamboo grove and buried the wooden box. There was neither grief nor pleasure in his heart, only clear, tranquil calm.

After that, Li Yuan continued training in silence as he always had. Every move and stance was as steady as before, without the slightest slackening.

Wu Yu hurried over after receiving the news. He stood nearby and watched silently for a while, opening his mouth several times as though he wanted to offer comfort, only to feel that any words would be pale and powerless.

He scratched his head and could only sigh in the end, standing watch from a distance without going forward to disturb him.

Shen Lian came as well. He stood at the other end of the training ground, silently practicing alongside him, trying to dispel the sorrow in Li Yuan's heart in this way.

Li Yuan found it somewhat amusing, yet warmth also welled up within him. Though the two had different temperaments, both accompanied him in their own ways.

When night fell, he stopped his movements, nodded to the two of them, thanked them, then turned and returned directly to his room, shutting himself inside.

That night, the candlelight in his room remained lit until dawn. His lonely, grief-stricken silhouette was cast upon the curtains, and many friends who cared for him watched in secret, shaking their heads with worry.