Chapter 121
Chapter 121
By the time Ren Xuan had reached this point in the story, Yan Zhengchu’s eyes were already red. For a moment, he no longer cared about the other man’s status as Marquis Renxuan. He pointed at him and said bitterly, “So you were the one who took Little Martial Uncle away back then!”
“After Little Martial Uncle left, he never came back!”
“It’s been fifteen years. So this was why…”
He knelt down beside Ren Yao and said slowly, “After that, Little Martial Uncle never returned, but almost every three months, supplies, money, and grain would be delivered to Mount Yunhe.”
“At first, I thought Little Martial Uncle had entrusted someone to send them, and I couldn’t understand why he still hadn’t come back.”
“One year, two years, three years, five years… As my junior brothers and I slowly grew up, I finally realized that if Martial Uncle were safe and well, how could he bear not to come see us?”
“I had countless guesses in my heart, so I went to ask Master. Master became angry and forbade me from asking about Little Martial Uncle’s whereabouts again…”
Thinking of all the longing and pain he had carried over the years, Yan Zhengchu instantly seemed to turn back into that “big child” from long ago. No matter what he did, he could not stop his tears.
Ren Xuan did not answer.
How could he not regret it?
If he had never gone to Mount Yunhe back then, if he had never let Ren Yao return to the capital with him, perhaps Ren Yao would still be free and unrestrained, wandering between heaven and earth.
Ren Fengjue did not know what to feel either.
At last, he understood why, after that night, his father had grown so angry whenever he mentioned his Little Uncle.
So his Little Uncle had ended up like this in order to save him.
And yet, he had no memory of that period at all…
Was it because he had been too young to remember?
No, that was not right either.
He had been about six years old then. He could still remember some things from even earlier than that.
Only these “strange incidents” were a complete blank.
“Father.”
Ren Fengjue instinctively glanced at his father and asked, “What illness did I have when I was young?”
Ren Xuan hesitated for a moment before saying, “Your Little Uncle once performed a divination for you. He said you were born missing one soul, and that constitution made you extremely prone to attracting evil spirits.”
“Before you were even a month old, you were haunted by ghosts and nearly lost your life…”
Hearing this, Yan Zhengchu finally managed to hold back some of his tears. He looked at Ren Fengjue in confusion and said, “But from what I can see, the Young Marquis is clearly a Pure Yang Body. Even ghosts would fear him. He doesn’t look at all like someone with an incomplete soul…”
Ren Xuan began explaining from the beginning. “From around the time you turned one month old, Ah Yao started setting up formations in the South Garden to prevent those wandering ghosts and spirits from entering and harming you.”
“But for reasons we did not know, those formations would be destroyed after some time…”
“To find out the cause, your Little Uncle stood guard in the South Garden for seven days and seven nights. Only then did he discover that every night after midnight, when the yin energy was at its strongest, a group of Yin Souls would come under the influence of a strange Baleful Qi of unknown origin and charge into the formation to destroy it.”
“At most, it would take only seven days for the formation to be breached…”
“Because of that, your Little Uncle had no choice but to strengthen the talismans. Gradually, the formation could last ten days to half a month.”
“In the end, it was still your Little Uncle who went to his master, Lingxu Zhenren, and begged for a magical artifact. He placed it by your bed to suppress them and set up the formation again. Only then did those ghosts slowly quiet down.”
At the mention of that Baleful Qi of unknown origin, Ren Fengjue’s heart tightened, and he could not help thinking of everything he had experienced recently.
From the Meng Zhiyuan case to the later incidents at Hongxiu Pavilion, Fu Tower, and even the Former Dynasty Crown Prince inside the Eastern Palace…
It seemed the strange Yin-Sha Qi had been inseparable from everything behind those cases.
Now, listening to his father’s description, he realized that the thing had already appeared when he was a child…
Ren Xuan continued, “Even so, I could never feel at ease. I was always on tenterhooks, afraid that one day I would wake up and find the formation broken again, and that even the magical artifact could no longer protect you.”
“So I discussed it with your Little Uncle and decided to make a trip to Mount Yunhe, to ask Lingxu Zhenren to step in and settle the matter once and for all.”
“What happened after that is what I already told you earlier…”
Yan Zhengchu inferred, “In other words, from that day on, the Young Marquis was safe and sound, and was never haunted by ghosts again?”
“Yes.”
Ren Xuan said in anguish, “I don’t know exactly what happened in that room that day, but the fact that my son has lived safely until now was bought with Ah Yao’s life.”
At those words, both Ren Fengjue and Yan Zhengchu fell silent.
There were far too many suspicious points in all of this.
Ren Yao had become one of the living dead.
And fifteen years later, a ghostly thing had actually slipped into the Marquis Mansion, trying to obtain his “sword.”
At that moment, the two of them spoke at almost the same time. “Then… where is that sword?”
The question left Ren Xuan momentarily stunned.
“What sword?”
Yan Zhengchu said, “Little Martial Uncle’s Jade Sword. You said just now that it flew into the room. Where did it go after that?”
Ren Xuan shook his head. “By the time I could push the door open and go in, I only saw Ah Yao lying on the floor. I never saw that sword again.”
“…”
It had simply vanished for no reason?
Ren Fengjue and Yan Zhengchu exchanged a glance, each reading the suspicion and unease in the other’s eyes.
This matter had clearly become a riddle.
Ren Yao had already become one of the living dead and had lain there for fifteen years. The chance that he might wake up and tell them the truth was exceedingly slim.
And of everyone present at the time, the only eyewitness, Ren Fengjue, had no memory of that period at all.
Had the trail gone cold here, with no answer to be found?
Ren Xuan looked toward Ren Yao on the Warm Jade Bed, pain still weighing heavily on him. Then he said to Ren Fengjue, “After such a strange incident happened in the Marquis Mansion last night, I knew I had to explain this matter to you.”
“All these years, I never mentioned your Little Uncle to you. Half of it was because of his instructions, and the other half was because… I regretted the choice I made that day.”
He glanced at Yan Zhengchu again. “If I hadn’t gone to Mount Yunhe that day, your Little Martial Uncle would probably still be alive and well.”
Yan Zhengchu sniffed, steadied his emotions, then said, “Marquis, even if you had not gone to Mount Yunhe that day, with Little Martial Uncle’s nature, he was willing to give everything for an abandoned orphan with no blood relation to him. How much more so for his own nephew?”
That was indeed true.
Ren Fengjue, however, asked Yan Zhengchu, “Daoist Master, Little Uncle has lain here for so long. Although he has no signs of life, his body still looks so lifelike. Is there any possibility that he could wake up?”
Yan Zhengchu, of course, had no answer to that.
Ren Xuan said, “Actually, after this happened, I went to Mount Yunhe again. I wanted to ask Lingxu Zhenren what method he had told Ah Yao to use to save someone that day…”
“Unfortunately, by the time I arrived at Mount Yunhe again, I learned that he had already passed on…”
Then he said to Yan Zhengchu, “I had wanted to pay a visit to the sect leader at the time as well-your master-but he refused to see me.”
Yan Zhengchu said, “After that incident, Master was unwilling to mention Martial Uncle on the mountain anymore…”
Beside him, Ren Fengjue glanced at Ren Yao, but an urgent thought had already taken root in his heart. “If there is even the slightest hope in this world, I don’t want to give up.”
Yan Zhengchu was faintly startled. “You’re not thinking of…?”
“Perhaps we need to make a trip to Mount Yunhe and request an audience with Master Tianji.”