Another You in This World

The questions Ye Wuyou wanted answered now ultimately boiled down to two.

"You're asking me what the Uncanny is?"

Lu Qingshan looked perfectly at ease, unsurprised by the question. Instead, he first brewed himself a cup of tea, then another, and motioned for Ye Wuyou to sit.

The tea was excellent, but Ye Wuyou had no mind to savor it. He was in a hurry.

Still, faced with this Prison Warden who seemed so genial yet could actually kill him with a single punch, Ye Wuyou had the patience to wait.

After all, he was already here. He would get his answers eventually. What was a little more time?

A gentle breeze swept through, lifting several pages of a book. Ye Wuyou glanced over involuntarily and caught sight of several exquisite, faintly erotic illustrations.

The breeze died down, and he looked at the cover-Tianya Elegance Record: Nongyu Chapter.

Ye Wuyou swiftly withdrew his gaze and took a sip of tea, recalling the rumors that this Prison Warden had already reached forty, yet remained unmarried, with neither son nor daughter...

An old scholar in his forties or fifties still read this stuff? No wonder he couldn't find a wife.

Lu Qingshan remained perfectly calm, seemingly finding nothing embarrassing about being caught. He moved the book farther away and spoke slowly.

"Your question has two meanings. The first concerns the origins of the Uncanny. The second is what the Uncanny actually is."

Ye Wuyou had not really thought that deeply about it, but he nodded slightly and continued listening.

Lu Qingshan inclined his head and, after a moment's contemplation, said,

"'Uncanny' is merely what we call it in Great Yan. Elsewhere, some call it the Heavenly Demon Omen, while others simply call it the Undying Strange Demon. In the Resting Land, ten thousand miles away, they have a particular name for it: Siming, though a dead Siming. But judging by what I have seen through the Twelve Divine Paths, the Uncanny is merely the remnants of something."

"These things share certain traits. They have neither shape nor body, cannot be seen with the naked eye, and cannot be touched by ordinary people. They neither die nor perish, and every Uncanny possesses innate supernatural powers that ordinary people cannot rival. Even those that seem less powerful would merely be reborn elsewhere if I personally blasted them apart."

Hearing this, Ye Wuyou understood a little more, but something still felt wrong.

Neither shape nor body?

How could those damned things have neither shape nor body? At least in his eyes, and Lu Qingshan's, they certainly had physical forms.

Lu Qingshan spoke slowly, but he seemed to discern what Ye Wuyou was thinking and merely smiled.

"Don't rush. Let me finish."

"As for the origins of the Uncanny, every nation and dynasty has its own theories, with no definitive conclusion. But I once examined the Twelve Divine Path Pillars and was fortunate enough to glimpse some information. It was too complicated to put into words, however. You will have to look for yourself later. Perhaps you will gain something from it."

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. The Twelve Divine Path Pillars are products of the previous era. Since I glimpsed a few scraps of information through them, I also arrived at a conclusion."

"Whatever these Uncanny are called-remnants, Heavenly Demons, or Siming-they are relics of the previous era, just like the Twelve Divine Path Pillars."

"As I see it, the Uncanny originated in the previous era. They are remnants left after something was destroyed. Because of their peculiar nature, neither dying nor perishing, they have endured to this day."

"That is the origin of the Uncanny. Ye Wuyou, what do you think of that answer?"

What did he think?

Ye Wuyou nodded gently, recalling the scattered words of the narration.

The narration called these Uncanny Great Dao Remnants, relics of an old era. Now everything lined up.

"How long ago was the previous era?" Ye Wuyou asked.

Lu Qingshan shook his head slightly. "Great Yan was founded over seven hundred years ago. Before Great Yan came Great Qian, which spanned twenty-one hundred years. Before Qian was Southern Zhao, lasting over fourteen hundred years. After that came..."

"Historical records alone stretch back over eight thousand years, and the Uncanny already existed then."

So the previous era dated back more than ten thousand years?

Ye Wuyou really could not glean anything from that.

Moreover, Lu Qingshan was still talking, though even he knew little about history from several thousand years ago.

It all seemed to be unofficial history now. He had already reached the story of an emperor eight thousand years ago battling in bed with a woman possessed by an Uncanny.

His voice was calm and slow, making him the very image of a schoolteacher. Sitting in his chair and listening, Ye Wuyou was starting to feel sleepy.

"Stop there, Lord Lu. I don't care what happened between that emperor and the Uncanny... I just want to know whether the problem with my body can be resolved."

The origins of the Uncanny were only incidental. His own condition was what mattered most.

Ye Wuyou could even feel the corruption deepening little by little. Initially, only his left forearm and the area below it had changed, but after a day, he could tell that the ghostly blue had crept a little farther up.

Damn it.

At this rate, a year? No, six months at most, perhaps even a few months, and this Uncanny would take over his body.

In the end, he would face the fate described by the narration. If all else failed, he could only explode.

Lu Qingshan stopped abruptly, seemingly a little disappointed that no one would discuss these things with him.

He looked at Ye Wuyou and nodded.

"Of course it can."

Decisive by nature, Ye Wuyou immediately bowed down.

What did a man rely on to get by in the world? Connections and powerful backing.

With such a powerful figure within the establishment before him, one who could resolve his condition, there was nothing wrong with taking him as his master.

But Lu Qingshan stopped him.

"You want to become my disciple?"

Damn it, weren't you the one who said you wanted to take me as your disciple? Otherwise, I would already have gone to the Phoenix Arrival Tower with Senior Zhao to drink tea and listen to music.

Surprise showed in Ye Wuyou's eyes, but Lu Qingshan's expression remained placid.

"Never mind. Earlier, that girl Chun Tao grew anxious when she saw what Zhao Changhe was doing and failed to explain certain things clearly. I do intend to find a successor, but there is a prerequisite."

"You must survive."

Ye Wuyou quickly understood what he meant.

It seemed the method of resolving his condition would not be easy.

"The Twelve Divine Path Art," Lu Qingshan said without preamble.

"Though Great Yan lies on the frontier, it possesses two of the Twelve Divine Path Pillars. Each bears a Divine Path Art."

"These divine pillars are relics of the previous era, so naturally, the arts recorded on them also belong to that era."

"Others find their teachings difficult to cultivate, or even understand. Even those with exceptional talent who comprehend a fraction must pay an enormous price to use them. To most people in this world, they are merely abandoned, hard pillars."

"But people like us are different. If you can learn one of the Divine Path Arts, the price of using it will be borne not by you, but by that thing behind you."

"After all, only they are relics of that same era."

By this point, Ye Wuyou understood.

The cost of using the Divine Path Art would weaken his Uncanny, thereby establishing a balance.

"May I ask where the divine pillars are?"

"There are two. One is in the capital. The other is here, in Skywave City, in the deepest part of the Heavenly Prison."

Ye Wuyou was a little surprised.

He had already prepared himself to travel hard for days, searching for the pillar in some unknown mountain hollow. He had never expected this outcome.

For Ye Wuyou, whose life had been set to hard mode since birth, this now felt vaguely... too easy.

At that thought, Ye Wuyou considered for a moment before slowly asking,

"What supernatural power is recorded in the Divine Path Art beneath the Heavenly Prison?"

Lu Qingshan smiled and leaned back slightly. His somewhat dim eyes turned toward the window, gazing at the silent, deserted street.

Then he spoke slowly, uttering a single question.

"Ye Wuyou, can you accept that there is another you in this world?"