Yan Wei’s mind was filled with the names of Lin Qing and Lin Zhen, yet Yan Mingguang’s name always flashed through his thoughts.
Yan Mingguang was his greatest act of defiance against fate.
He was defying the greatest force within the Tower World, yet he sought a perfect solution amidst millions and one person. Lin Qing’s accident at this moment felt like a wake-up call, making him feel powerless to protect the present and uncertain about the future.
Was this a roundabout way of saying that no matter how many times it happened, these twists of fate would always push him to accept his destiny?
If so, then his unwillingness and refusal to accept fate were truly invaluable.
Lin Qing slowly raised his hand and pushed him lightly, speaking casually, “Yan Wei, your coin fell.”
Yan Wei blinked and only then noticed the two coins that had fallen into the pool of blood beside him. In his haste, he had scrambled up the steps to the side hall, not realizing when he had dropped these two coins he always carried with him.
Yan Wei moved his slightly stiffened hands from the cold, leaned over, and picked up the two coins.
In the fleeting passage of time, these two coins had accompanied him from the beginning to the end, and from the end back to the beginning. One coin had always been by his side, while the other had held his memories and data, transforming into an instance and returning to him during his second Ascension, restoring what he once had and then reverting to an ordinary coin, returning to its original form—
Yan Wei’s movements paused.
He held the coin that had once served another purpose before returning to its original state, his amber eyes suddenly blazing with a bright light.
“No, it’s not hopeless! There’s still a way!!”
After the darkest hour comes the dawn; heaven never seals off all exits.
He refused to accept fate.
Lin Qing’s body was beyond saving.
But his soul was intact. The connection between him and Lin Zhen was a link of soul and will, not closely tied to this body.
This body was beyond saving, but Lin Zhen’s body was unharmed.
As long as he could completely sever Lin Qing’s soul and place it into Lin Zhen’s body before Lin Qing’s time ran out, ensuring the two halves of the soul did not merge, he could preserve both distinct consciousnesses.
In the Ten Thousand Flowers Brothel.
Zhong Bufan was genuinely taken aback by what Ah Yu said.
At this point, both he and Yan Mingguang were well aware that Ah Yu likely harbored significant secrets. These secrets were tied to the root of Jiang Jingyun’s ghostly disturbances in Guanyin Town, and from their current perspective, they seemed to encompass the entire instance.
He had already prepared for numerous obstacles at this stage, but before he and Yan Mingguang could do anything, Ah Yu had spoken up on her own.
After an initial wave of relief, Zhong Bufan felt an inexplicable unease.
Yan Mingguang seemed to share his thoughts. The man looked down at Ah Yu, his brow slightly furrowed, silent.
For now, they could only take things one step at a time.
Zhong Bufan, on the other hand, was curious to see what tricks this legendary, deadly top-floor instance had up its sleeve. He chuckled and said, “Alright, go ahead. I’m all ears.”
Ah Yu glanced at him, then sneered, “If you don’t believe me, I won’t say anything.”
Before she could finish, Yan Mingguang, who had been standing nearby, suddenly moved. In the blink of an eye, Zhong Bufan felt a chill as Yan Mingguang grabbed Ah Yu’s shoulder and squeezed—
“Ah—!”
Ah Yu let out a hoarse cry of pain, her body collapsing to the ground. Her blood-stained face twisted in agony, completely resembling a ghost.
Only then did Zhong Bufan notice that the arm Yan Mingguang had crushed was already silently wrapped in a red ribbon. If Yan Mingguang hadn’t acted, that ribbon would have likely struck Zhong Bufan, who was closest.
Zhong Bufan began to feel a lingering fear.
Though he excelled in deduction, he was still a Player capable of reaching the top floor. His Body Index might be slightly lower than those specialized in combat within this instance, but it far surpassed most others in the Tower World. Yet, he had been completely unaware of Ah Yu’s desperate struggle.
He had initially been surprised at how quickly Ah Yu was caught, but now he realized it wasn’t that this half-human, half-ghost NPC was easy to deal with—it was that Yan Mingguang was simply too formidable.
Yan Mingguang simply released his grip and said to Ah Yu, “You should speak properly.”
Zhong Bufan sighed, “With such force, will she still be willing to talk?”
Ah Yu immediately responded, “Talk? Why wouldn’t I? Whether I can escape or not has nothing to do with whether I’m willing to speak. There’s nothing I can’t say, no secrets.”
This was perhaps the most cooperative “ghost” Zhong Bufan had ever encountered.
Perhaps realizing she couldn’t escape, or perhaps because her shoulder was completely crushed, Ah Yu now lay motionless. She didn’t look at Zhong Bufan or Yan Mingguang, her gaze drifting to the shattered mirror on the ground.
The mirror lay broken, unable to reflect her face, but she seemed content to stare at it nonetheless.
“You… you’re the ones the Guanyin Temple hired to exorcise ghosts, right?”
Zhong Bufan nearly retorted, “To exorcise you,” but seeing Ah Yu’s current state and recalling how much she had always cared about her appearance, now lying so pitifully on the ground, he figured she wouldn’t want to be associated with the dirty word “ghost.”
He didn’t dare provoke her emotions now and swallowed his words.
Ah Yu, however, continued, “Yes, not exorcise ghosts, but to suppress me. What you want to know is why I killed those people and why I turned Guanyin Town into this state? There’s no grand or earth-shattering reason, it’s just that I…”
“I liked someone. He had someone else in his heart, someone stunningly beautiful, someone I could never compare to… so I thought of a way to make myself a little more beautiful.”
Yan Mingguang said softly, “There’s no way in this world to change someone’s heart.”
Ah Yu laughed.
Her body, already riddled with injuries, convulsed with laughter, her breath hitching as if blood filled her throat.
After a long while, she said, “Yes, there are so many methods in this world, yet none can control a person’s heart. So, I had no choice but to resort to an evil method, absorbing the essence of those people to change my appearance, which he found lacking. As for those people… they fell for my wicked method of stealing their life force, so they weren’t good people either. As for those who accidentally saw me, this ‘ghost,’ killing people, I could only send them on their way or drive them mad so they could never identify me…”
“Jiang Jingyun… she’s just a name. It was Master Shen who did all those evil deeds, and in the end, he suspected the person he had killed. There’s no vengeful ghost of Jiang Jingyun.”
This woman was merely an inconspicuous servant in the Ten Thousand Flowers Brothel, living in a small room with only a bed and a dressing table, coming and going daily in this den of extravagance. She had neither the tragic fate of the brothel’s beauties nor the ability to escape this small world, appearing so ordinary that she would blend into any crowd.
Only when Yan Wei gave her the money to buy her freedom did her submissive expression change slightly, smiling at the guest and awkwardly saying, “Thank you.”
Zhong Bufan was silent for a while before slowly saying, “The resentment that has haunted Guanyin Town for five years actually stemmed from your personal desires.”
“Who is the person you liked?”
Ah Yu fell silent.
There was still a major mystery here. Zhong Bufan continued, “You said Jiang Jingyun was just a cover, that she never became a vengeful ghost, and that you were behind everything. I believe you did all this, but Jiang Jingyun… have you been to the Shen Estate?”
“Why would I go there? Master Shen was paranoid about Jiang Jingyun seeking revenge, but I’m not Jiang Jingyun. Why would I kill him? As long as he was alive, he could unknowingly help me, shifting all the blame onto Jiang Jingyun…”
Zhong Bufan sighed, “You think Jiang Jingyun was a cover, but in reality, you were the cover.”
Ah Yu was stunned.
“If you had been to the Shen Estate, you would have found that the place where Jiang Jingyun’s body lies is filled with overwhelming resentment. Fortunately, a monk sealed it, temporarily containing that resentment. We found you by tracing the source of that resentment.”
Yan Mingguang looked at Ah Yu with pity, “You were a pawn.”
Who was the one playing the game?
The evil method Ah Yu spoke of, which could change her appearance, actually absorbed the ghostly resentment of the dead and channeled it to the place where Jiang Jingyun’s body lay. She had been doing this for five years, yet her appearance hadn’t changed much, indicating that the gains hadn’t been reflected in her.
“Are you saying… the essence I absorbed…” Ah Yu’s voice trembled, “all went… to Jiang Jingyun’s body?”
“Listen, girl,” Zhong Bufan shook his head, “That wasn’t essence, it was death energy. I’ve seen that kind of resentment before. It might have made you a little more beautiful, but its main purpose certainly wasn’t that. Resentful death energy is beneficial to the dead, but for the living, it turns them into the dead.”
This girl before them might as well be a living dead thing.
Zhong Bufan was still considering how to coax the name of the person Ah Yu liked out of her—that person was likely the one who had used her to gather this death energy—but Ah Yu suddenly chuckled softly, her lips moving as she began to sing something.
He focused and recognized it as a soft, bone-chilling opera tune, carrying the last hint of warmth in its icy tone, blending into the surrounding chaos.
She sang indistinctly, and Zhong Bufan and Yan Mingguang could only vaguely recognize the familiar opera, but couldn’t make out the words clearly.
The tune rolled in Ah Yu’s throat for a few lines, then abruptly stopped.
Zhong Bufan was stunned as Ah Yu suddenly collapsed to the ground, her blood-stained cheek resting on the powdered debris, her life and the opera ending together.
Yan Mingguang concluded, “She committed suicide.”
Who knew what method Ah Yu used to end her life, but it was undoubtedly related to death energy. The accumulated death energy within her body spread throughout her in that moment. She had just died, but her body was already covered in filthy, unsightly corpse spots that rapidly spread, decaying her body.
In just a short time, the once substantial person had completely decayed before Yan Mingguang and Zhong Bufan, leaving not even bones behind. The blood-stained red dress quickly collapsed, soaked in the stinking pool of corpse water and blood.
She had spent half her life chasing beauty, only to die in such a wretched state, reduced to a pool of unsightly corpse water.
Yan Mingguang’s gaze fell on the collapsed red dress, where something seemed to protrude slightly.
Zhong Bufan noticed it too and understood that such dirty work fell to him. Without hesitation, he pinched his nose, lifted the dress, and fished out a pouch of silver coins and a book mostly soaked in corpse water and blood from the muck.
Zhong Bufan recognized the pouch—Yan Wei had given it to Ah Yu earlier, telling her to use the silver to leave the Ten Thousand Flowers Brothel and live out the rest of her life in the world of this instance.
As for the book…
“It’s the evil method,” Yan Mingguang said.
The book was wet, its contents illegible, even the title blurred beyond recognition. But despite the blur, the calligraphy was elegant and refined, the work of a master.
He glanced at Yan Mingguang, who was already heading toward the door.
“Take this and let’s regroup with Yan Wei.”
In the student dormitory of Guanyin Academy.
Yan Wei pushed open the door and stepped over the threshold, his face slightly pale in the cold wind.
Geng Liang was guarding the entrances of Guanyin Academy, and Yu Zhengqing, who had gone to inspect the surroundings, had just returned with Song Cheng’an and Yu Feizhou, waiting outside. As soon as Yan Wei emerged, Yu Feizhou stepped forward anxiously, asking, “How is it?”
Yan Wei had expended too much energy earlier, and now standing outside, he felt even colder. He tucked his hands into his sleeves, burying his chin in his collar, and said, “I used the Moon Wheel to place Lin Qing’s soul entirely into Lin Zhen’s body. They… he…”
Yan Wei paused, unsure how to address them now.
“They’ll wake up soon,” he said. “Yan Mingguang just sent me a message. There’s been significant progress regarding Jiang Jingyun’s ghost body. You should have heard the Tower’s reward for the instance’s progress. I’ll go rest in my room for a while. When they wake up and Yan Mingguang returns, we’ll decide the next steps. As for what will happen after Lin Qing and Lin Zhen wake up…”
It would depend on whether Lin Zhen’s soul could resist the temptation of merging with the other half, maintaining their separation and preventing them from becoming one again.
If Lin Zhen couldn’t resist and the souls merged, then the Lin Qing who existed before Yan Wei split the soul would simply return in a new body, and the carefree Lin Zhen and the more rational Lin Qing would cease to exist. In that case, whether it was Lin Zhen or Lin Qing, they would both become the original Lin Qing.
If Lin Zhen resisted, this body would henceforth contain two separate souls.
Although Lin Qing’s body was beyond saving, this outcome, even if the souls merged, would still preserve one life.
If the souls didn’t merge, that would be the best outcome, though the two would have to share one body. But Yan Wei also had a thought—Lin Qing and Lin Zhen were now considered two Players. If they shared one body, how would their data panels be calculated? How would their Points be tallied?
If the Tower considered them one person, Lin Qing and Lin Zhen’s combined Points would be enough to exchange for a Pandora’s Box.
Yan Wei had explained all this before leading them inside, so Yu Feizhou and the others understood the possibilities—both good and bad—clearly. The room fell into a momentary silence.
Yu Feizhou broke the silence, “Go rest. I’ll keep an eye on them.”
Yan Wei nodded, “Alright. But we can’t let our guard down. Zhuo Xidong… I have a feeling he won’t give up easily. We might need to act at any moment.”
Song Cheng’an assured him, “Don’t worry.”
Yan Wei had been preoccupied with something earlier. Now that he had done all he could for Lin Zhen and Lin Qing, he said no more and returned to his room.
The door closed, and in the darkness of the unlit room, the cold and silence were palpable, with only the faint moonlight casting shadows. Yan Wei sat on the edge of the bed, finally taking the time to change out of his bloodstained clothes and clean the two coins he had carried through the snow and blood.
The edges of the coins gleamed faintly in the moonlight. Yan Wei held them, studying them intently, remembering how they had inspired him to split Lin Qing’s soul. He didn’t put them away.
After a long while, he picked up the coin that had been with him from the beginning.
One coin had transformed into an instance, carrying everything he had gained during his first Ascension, returning to him in his second Ascension before reverting to its original form.
The other had always been with him, seemingly just a cold, lifeless object, serving no purpose.
…Did it truly have no purpose?
During his first Ascension, he had known everything, understood everything. Could he not have foreseen the accident after reaching the top? Could he not have guessed that Yan Mingguang would act on his own and hide something from him?
Yan Mingguang’s swallow pendant, being a mundane object rather than an Item, had allowed him to hide a method to restore his memories, slipping it past Yan Wei and recovering his memories first during the second instance. The coin in Yan Wei’s hand was also an ordinary object, not classified as any type of Item in the Tower World.
Yan Wei’s gaze sharpened. He held the coin in one hand and with the other, summoned the Moon Wheel.
The Moon Wheel floated in his palm, emitting a soft white light, gradually…
Splitting the coin!
In the next moment, the coin cracked open in the distortion of space, and a pitch-black box fell out from within. Along with it came a stream of replicated memories belonging to Yan Wei, flooding into his mind and seamlessly merging with the large chunk of memories from his first Ascension he had already regained.
Cause and effect filled in, and everything became clear.
