Just a few days after the Xianyue Tavern was razed to the ground, Lou Xianyue and the Tai Xuan Dao had somehow used some sort of demonic magic to rebuild the two-and-a-half-story building exactly as it was before. The people living on this street seemed as if nothing had happened at all. When passing by, they didn't even spare it a second glance.

It wasn't a weekend or any special day, and the tavern was quite empty. Lou Xianyue was playing the zither with Luo Zhusheng from Taowu Pawnshop, spending the whole day in idleness.

The two of them were leisurely enjoying themselves with a group of little dmons from the tavern, snacking on melon seeds, drinking tea, and playing with birds. They were enjoying their leisurely life when suddenly, Xie Bai arrived, exuding an air of frost and coldness. Behind him trailed a bunch of inexplicable characters— a merman, Li Dong, and Feng Li.

Seeing this scene, Lou Xianyue was momentarily stunned. Holding her delicate and sharp voice, she exclaimed, "Oh my! What grandeur is this? What's going on? Xiao Bai, did you paint your face with ink? Your aura is all black!"

Without stopping his steps, Xie Bai walked up to her and asked, "Auntie Lou, can you help me divine the whereabouts of someone?"

Lou Xianyue blinked her almond-shaped eyes, puzzled, "Sure, aren't you going to find the person who sets up formations? Why are you back so soon?"

Her question echoed the same confusion as Li Dong's earlier inquiry. However, Xie Bai didn't have time to explain. He simply uttered an "Mm."

"This time, whose location do you want me to divine?" Lou Xianyue still couldn't keep up with his pace, bewildered.

Xie Bai replied curtly, "Yin Wushu."

Lou Xianyue scratched her ear, "I'm deaf... Who?"

"Yin Wushu." Xie Bai repeated, his expression stern, showing no sign of joking.

Lou Xianyue turned her head and glanced at Luo Zhusheng sitting beside her, then said puzzledly, "What do you want to divine his location for?"

Xie Bai succinctly stated, "Yin Wushu tampered with my compass, causing it to point in the wrong direction. I want to find him and ask him about it."

Lou Xianyue: "..."

Li Dong behind him: "..."

"It wasn't him who messed with your compass?" Lou Xianyue asked, confused.

But as soon as the question came out, she suddenly raised her eyebrows, seemingly understanding something, and said, "Oh—alright, I get it now. He's just blocking you from going. I knew he wouldn't follow through with what he said before... Let me make this clear, when you find him, ask him nicely, don't get into a fight!"

Lou Xianyue gave him a word of advice, but Xie Bai bypassed it directly, asking, "Going upstairs now?"

Lou Xianyue: "..."

Li Dong and Feng Li covered their faces from behind, silently: "..."

Lou Xianyue waved her hand and said, "No need to go upstairs. The attic is still in a mess and hasn't been cleaned up. There's nowhere to stay. I haven't tidied up yet, so let's just divine here. Hu Tao, help me bring over the box containing the divination coins."

The group of little demons in the tavern had followed Lou Xianyue for many years. At first, when they saw people from the Tai Xuan Dao, they were quite astonished, but now they had become numb to it. Hu Tao was a seemingly delicate and pretty girl who softly responded and casually swept away the melon seed shells on the table. Then, she hurriedly went to the side room and brought out a wooden box.

Lou Xianyue took the wooden box and glanced around. Then, she casually pointed to an empty table, signaling for Xie Bai to come over.

As she picked up the copper coins from the box, one by one, and handed them to Xie Bai, she said, "Think about Yin Wushu, and then toss the coins."

Xie Bai didn't even need to prepare. As soon as he received them, he scattered the copper coins directly onto the table.

Lou Xianyue: "...Looks like you've had Yin Wushu on your mind this whole time. All these coins are pointing to him. Don't end up fighting when you meet him..."

She calmed her mind and began to move the coins into position. Her hands were still extremely agile, and in just a few moves, she was done.

However, just as she placed the last coin, her brows suddenly furrowed. The six copper coins on the table began to tremble violently, and in the blink of an eye, they all split into two halves from the middle. The one she was pressing down on even shattered into pieces.

Xie Bai was stunned, and Lou Xianyue quickly withdrew her fingers, waving her hand, "It wasn't me who broke it."

"I know." Xie Bai nodded, frowning as he looked at the broken copper coins on the table.

Lou Xianyue looked puzzled for a moment, then called out, "Hu Tao, bring me my tortoise shell and candles."

Normally, when Lou Xianyue was divining, others wouldn't disturb her, so they sat quietly at their table, not making a sound or glancing over. However, when she called out, everyone at the table was stunned.

Luo Zhusheng turned his head and glanced over, "Why do you need the tortoise shell again?" He wore a pair of glasses and looked refined and gentle, speaking with a soft and slightly deep voice.

"The copper coins... broke," Lou Xianyue replied with a bitter smile.

Hu Tao hurriedly brought out another box from the side room. Inside the box was a tortoise shell with a dark shell surface.

Lou Xianyue pinched her fingers, then gently took out the tortoise shell and turned to Xie Bai, "Continue thinking about Yin Wushu." After that, she lightly pinched the tortoise shell with her left hand, quickly lit a candle with her right hand, and then used the orange-yellow candle flame to slowly burn the tortoise shell. Her lips moved silently as she rapidly recited something.

However, after a while, the flame on the candle suddenly became extremely fierce, leaping high and burning brightly. With a "boom," the tortoise shell was completely engulfed in flames. The perfectly good candle flame seemed to suddenly possess some inexplicable evil power, burning the tortoise shell to a crisp, turning half of its bone to ashes.

Xie Bai: "..."

Lou Xianyue: "...” This is just too much.

She seemed to find it unbelievable, so she personally got up and hurriedly went to the side room, quickly bringing out three more boxes, one by one, and slamming them onto the table.

Five minutes later, on the table in front of Xie Bai, in addition to the broken copper coins and the charred tortoise shell, there were also burnt-up divination grass, snapped divination sticks, and broken twigs.

Luo Zhusheng couldn't bear to watch this anymore. Finally, he stopped avoiding it, got up, and walked to the table where Xie Bai and the others were sitting. He extended his clean and slender fingers and flicked away the pile of discarded divination items on the table with a clicking sound. "Even the most powerful divination won't work when Yin Wushu doesn't want anyone to find him."

Lou Xianyue twisted her fingers, feeling sorry for the items on the table, and also a little annoyed. After a few seconds of annoyance, she suddenly remembered something and looked up at Luo Zhusheng. "Oh right! When he left Guyang Street, didn't he go to you? It was all secretive, saying he wanted you to help take care of something. What was it?"

With this reminder, Xie Bai also remembered and looked up at Luo Zhusheng.

Among those present, Luo Zhusheng was undoubtedly the person who had the longest relationship with Yin Wushu. Although he was not as 'overpowered' as Yin Wushu, his age was much older than that of Lou Xianyue and the others.

The Taowu Pawnshop he ran looked like an ordinary pawnshop but had a history dating back many years. Like many pawnshops throughout history, there was a bat-shaped sign hanging at the entrance of his shop, but the coins hanging on it were engraved with a small peach blossom.

This peach blossom served as a boundary marker, calling in people by day and spirits by night.

It was said that the Taowu Pawnshop had all kinds of strange and unheard-off treasures. If you wanted something, you could get it, but you had to exchange it for the most cherished memory. After the exchange, the relinquished memory would gradually fade from the mind of the pawnshop customer over the course of a month until it disappeared completely.

So, there were always rumors surrounding Luo Zhusheng, saying he knew the most secrets.

Only those close to him, such as Lou Xianyue and Yin Wushu, knew that memories were not something others could easily see. Only when the owner was willing to let others see them did Luo Zhusheng see the contents. If the owner subconsciously didn't want others to know, Luo Zhusheng wouldn't know a thing.

In his own words, if both parties were willing, it was fair game. If you wanted something, you had to pay a price. Moreover, since it was a pawnshop, as long as you had the ability, you could eventually redeem the relinquished memory. Taowu was like the most secure safe in the world, where nothing would be lost or scattered, making it a very profitable transaction.

So when Yin Wushu said he was asking Luo Zhusheng to take care of something, no one thought it was strange, because taking care of things was Luo Zhusheng's specialty.

Everyone thought that when Yin Wushu asked Luo Zhusheng for help, he might have given some more details, perhaps some information about his specific whereabouts.

But Luo Zhusheng shook his head. "He didn't mention his destination."

Lou Xianyue sighed, but unexpectedly, Xie Bai suddenly spoke up, "Uncle Luo, was he really asking you to take care of something?"

His pitch-black eyes had been fixed on Luo Zhusheng, and during Luo Zhusheng's speech just now, he caught a hint of hesitation, suggesting there might be something fishy going on.

Luo Zhusheng was taken aback by his question, then softly responded with a thoughtful "Hmm."

"Although I don't know where he is, my intuition tells me he won't be in a good situation," Xie Bai added.

Luo Zhusheng chuckled. "Have you forgotten? He's Yin Wushu." What kind of situation could be unfavorable to Yin Wushu? This was a joke that no one would take seriously if spoken aloud.

Xie Bai said coldly, "So what if he's Yin Wushu? He's still covered in wounds whenever it's time to get injured."

Upon hearing this, Li Dong beside him muttered, "That's true. How did he get so many bloody wounds when he was in the temple before?"

Even Luo Zhusheng furrowed his brows upon hearing this remark.

Xie Bai continued, "His behavior was extremely unusual before, as if he wouldn't come back once he left."

Luo Zhusheng sighed and waved his hand. "Alright, alright, I'll tell you. He actually came to me to exchange something."

Xie Bai was taken aback. "Exchange something?"

Even Lou Xianyue and the others were surprised, but their surprise was slightly misplaced. "Don't you have to exchange it with the most cherished memory? Where would he get such a memory?" they exclaimed.

Luo Zhusheng was speechless. "..."

"What did he exchange?" Xie Bai pressed.

Luo Zhusheng replied, "Shaking Candle Powder."

"Is there really such a thing?" Lou Xianyue widened her eyes.

Shaking Candle Powder was mentioned in an ancient book in the Demon Spirit Realm. It could modify memories, whether of gods, ghosts, demons, or ordinary people. There were many methods to manipulate memories in the world, and it seemed like any spiritual being with some knowledge of magic could do it, but the effects varied greatly. Memories were the most complicated and difficult things to alter in the world, and most spells could only blur or cause forgetfulness, leaving some traces behind. However, the effect of Shaking Candle Powder was different. It could completely change the scenes in a memory, without leaving any traces of tampering.

Most people in the Demon Spirit Realm thought this kind of thing was impossible and pure nonsense.

But Luo Zhusheng actually had it.

"There were two in total," Luo Zhusheng said.

Lou Xianyue asked, "If he exchanged one, wouldn't there be only one left? Is it the only one left in the world? Then... why not... sell it to me? I'll exchange it for a segment of memory with you."

Luo Zhusheng was speechless. "What do you need it for?"

Lou Xianyue said matter-of-factly, "To sell it! With it, I won't have to worry about the latter half of my life as a half-demon."

"Who would buy this? To put it bluntly, although the usual memory manipulation spells are rough, they are sufficient. It's not necessary to pay such a high price for such precision," Luo Zhusheng shook his head. "And besides, I don't have one now. Because Yin Wushu exchanged the other one hundreds of years ago."

Lou Xianyue: "Is he crazy?!"

Xie Bai: "..."

Just when everyone was puzzled about Yin Wushu's whereabouts, a flame suddenly ignited next to Xie Bai, and a piece of yellow paper the size of half a page popped out from the flame, landing swiftly into Xie Bai's outstretched hand.

Xie Bai held the yellow paper between his fingers and glanced at it. In one corner of the paper was a Yin guest red seal, and it was densely filled with tiny characters.

Then he remembered. This was the paper he gave to the stork demon to write the sequel to "Trivial talk by the western window."

Xie Bai quickly scanned through the extensive text on the paper. As he suspected, the content mentioned the whereabouts of the man in black clothes with the white tiger.

"Any clues?" Judging by his expression, Lou Xianyue and Luo Zhusheng guessed it was about seventy to eighty percent accurate.

Xie Bai shook the paper in his hand. "It's not Yin Wushu, but it's very likely the person I'm looking for."

"Isn't it the same thing then? Where is he?" Lou Xianyue asked eagerly.

Xie Bai read out the words on the paper expressionlessly, "The sinking of the Golden Crow, the extreme north of the earth, the vastness of the mountains, and the utmost tranquility in the human world."

Lou Xianyue spat out an old mouthful of blood and cursed, "What a load of nonsense!"

Xie Bai clenched the paper in his hand, his mind going over the nonsensical words repeatedly, almost trying to compare each place mentioned. But as he stared at the yellow paper in a daze, his mind inexplicably switched channels, and he remembered a sentence the stork demon had said to him before, "If I'm not mistaken, this red bead is blood."

He raised his head suddenly. "Tianshan Mountains!"

With that said, he pocketed the yellow paper and immediately opened a spiritual Yin gate in front of him, stepping inside without another word.

"I'll go too!" The merman saw the only familiar person about to leave and leaped to cling onto Xie Bai's leg, following him into the gate.

Perhaps it was the imposing manner of his leap, but Lou Xianyue had a moment of brain malfunction and reflexively stepped forward, squeezing in just as the spiritual Yin gate closed.

The merman: "..."

Lou Xianyue: "..."

Both of them thought the other was crazy. They stared at each other blankly in the darkness for a few seconds before following Xie Bai ahead in single file.

When they landed, they found themselves on a peak of the Tianshan Mountains. As far as the eye could see, it was all white snow, with an inexplicable sense of desolation and silence, as if all living creatures had vanished. Above, the black clouds rolled and extended for miles, extremely eerie.

When Xie Bai saw this dark cloud from Mount Guha before, he thought it was going to storm, but now, standing below it, he realized it wasn't so simple.

People who were skilled in divination were naturally endowed with an indescribable sense of perception. This sense provided Xie Bai, who was unfamiliar with the terrain, with great assistance at this moment. Lou Xianyue barely landed before pointing directly at the third cliff in the distance. "Go check over there."

As a result, Xie Bai opened another spiritual Yin gate straight to that cliff.

This time, as soon as the group emerged from the spiritual Yin gate, they were stunned by the sight before them —

They saw that the steep cliff was wrapped in a thick layer of ice, several tens of meters thick, a product of who knew how many years. Just looking at it made one feel it was indestructible and bone-chilling. Within the thick and transparent ice layer, there was a person sealed, with wide sleeves and long hair reaching the ground.

The person was extremely tall, with a straight back, but their head was lowered, and the scattered hair covered most of their face, making it almost impossible to discern their features, except for a tall and straight nose bridge and a slender chin.

Xie Bai's jet-black eyes shrank suddenly, and he blurted out, "Yin Wushu..."

 

Translator : DarNan