Chapter 112 Returning to the Origin "Zhou Yaren, are you addicted to spying on others' private affairs...?"

Thick cumulus clouds pressed down over Ruicheng, stretching for hundreds of miles, and did not dissipate until the next day.

Unaware of the situation, the locals thought there was another downpour. In the middle of the night, they heard thunder rumbling incessantly. The innkeeper forbade the staff from drying or washing the bedding and moved the soy sauce vats from the courtyard to the corridor.

A disheveled young man sat on the wooden stairs at the end of the corridor. His white clothes were dirty and wrinkled, as if he had rolled around on the ground several times, looking extremely filthy, as if he hadn't bothered to clean himself up. The young man sat there blankly, a broken sword lying across his lap, staring down at a bloodstained tip of the sword in his palm, as if he were delirious.

The other three fellow disciples walked over and stared at him. Wen Yi sat down next to him and asked softly with concern, "Sanmu, were you frightened?"

Lin Mu stared at the tip of the sword, offering no response.

Lian Zhao bent down: "It's alright, Sanmu, your senior brother will give you an even better sword."

In truth, they knew perfectly well that what was making their junior brother depressed and sad was not the broken sword.

Lin Mu said in a low voice, "She saved me, several times."

The three of them fell silent. They had all witnessed the scene firsthand. Bai Yuan had saved Sanmu at the last moment, which was why Sanmu was able to sit here safely, guarding Tingfengzhi's doorstep without leaving his side.

Tingfeng knew that because of the wind-blown obscuring the stars, his meridians swelled up, and he almost exploded and died.

At that time, Zhou Yaren was clutching the death umbrella, and the veins on his forehead were bulging, spreading all the way down his neck and body. The situation was dangerous. Fortunately, several teenagers were able to acupuncture his acupoints in time, which barely stabilized his meridians that were about to burst.

Lin Mu looked up: "Senior brothers, did you see that? On her body..."

Only now do these young men finally understand why Bai Yuan carries so many wronged souls. Everything has become clear: the Taiyin/Dao Body, the Ghost Office, the Execution Cauldron, the Bi'an, and this Fengling Execution Platform—why did they summon the power of the stars to summon the White Tiger for execution? Why did they use the Autumn Execution Blade to kill her?!

Even if Lin Mu were stupid, having traveled with Bai Yuan to this place and seen what she was trapped and constrained by, he could connect the dots and make a rough outline in his mind.

Just then, Li Liuyun opened the door and came out of Tingfengzhi's room.

"The so-called 'immortal spirit body'," Lin Mu looked at his senior brother, who seemed to know everything from a single sound, and asked, "is it because all those wronged souls who can never be reborn are carrying her burden? That's why she can't be reborn either?!"

Lin Mu finally realized that the evil spirits he had been clamoring about had never actually done anything heinous. What was the point of judging good and evil? And by what standards did people use to define them?

It turns out that his understanding of good and evil was as shallow as most people's.

Li Liuyun was unaware of Bai Yuan's past and origins, so naturally he had no way to answer him.

But Lin Mu stared at him expectantly: "Senior Brother Liuyun?"

"I have no idea."

"Is she really dead?" The moment Lin Mu asked the question, his eyes reddened. "I saw her... when she disappeared, she turned into an umbrella."

He didn't know how to describe it—shock or something else entirely. He couldn't process it at all, his mind was blank, because it was all too far-fetched and contrary to common sense. He saw the vengeful spirits that had devoured Bai Yuan form a phoenix-shaped vortex, which, like an umbrella, enveloped all the roaring, ferocious wronged souls within it.

At that time, not only Lin Mu, but everyone else saw it.

Li Liuyun pondered for a moment: "I think that should be her origin."

"What?" they all exclaimed in unison, their faces filled with astonishment.

Li Liuyun: "Do you remember when we were at the Jingguan, she said she had never been a human being, so how could she entrust her death to someone else?"

Of course they remembered. Lin Mutou's skin tightened: "You said she was... that umbrella?"

Li Liuyun was also guessing, not daring to be completely certain. He tried to check the umbrella, but Ting Fengzhi was holding it too tightly, not loosening his grip even when unconscious.

Li Liuyun pondered, "If that umbrella is the root of the injustice, perhaps..."

Lin Mu asked urgently, "Perhaps what?"

“Perhaps she didn’t completely perish.” Li Liuyun recalled the scene at the time, and several points could corroborate his guess: “It’s not hard to see that the wronged souls who died unjustly were all attached to Bai Yuan. Every shackle binding the wronged souls was stuck in Bai Yuan’s bones, following her like a shadow. After Bai Yuan was slaughtered by Qiu Jue’s knife, so many wronged souls were unable to break free of her shackles. It’s conceivable that the shackles between the two could not be forcibly broken. But in the end, those wronged souls were not killed along with her, but were incorporated into the umbrella.”

Lian Zhao followed his words, becoming increasingly shocked as he pondered them: "Yes."

Therefore, Li Liuyun thought: "Perhaps this umbrella is the source of the injustice. If the umbrella canopy is her skin, then the umbrella ribs are her bones. It is only because she was slaughtered that she returned to her origin."

Lin Mu became excited: "Returning to the origin, and then what? She didn't die?"

It's hard to say. After all, when a person dies, there is a corpse lying on the ground. If someone dies unjustly, then the ultimate source of death is a "corpse umbrella".

However, Li Liuyun did not say it aloud, as he vaguely felt that Ting Fengzhi's state was not quite right.

Zhou Yaren, who was fast asleep in the guest room, was clutching the death-reporting umbrella and was caught in a chaotic dream that did not belong to her.

The person in his dream had the same eyebrows and eyes as him, but their charm was very different. Of course, the person was more dashing and more spirited than him. When he asked Bai Yuan his name, the person's eyes were clear and affectionate.

While Bai Yuan was still in a daze, the umbrella he was carrying, which had been turned upside down, fell to the ground.

He picked up the umbrella used to announce his death, stared at the two seal characters engraved on the handle, and slowly read them aloud: "Bai Yuan? Is your name Bai Yuan?"

This is Sanming, which became her name from then on, and it should have been her name.

So she said, "My name is Bai Yuan."

After that, every time he died unjustly, she would come to his side with a death warrant and tell him countless times, "My name is Bai Yuan (White Wrongful Death)."

After a thousand years, she said to the living Zhou Yaren, "My name is Bai Yuan, the Bai Yuan of 'unjust grievance'."

They then engaged in a fierce battle with the Taiyin/Daoist body.

Perhaps those years were too long ago, and the memories transmitted by the Death Umbrella were like pebbles in a torrent, scattered everywhere, buried under the mud and sand. Only occasionally would the water flow break through the mud and sand, bringing up scattered fragments, making it impossible for him to distinguish when and where they happened.

The young man who had accompanied Bai Yuan on his journey was now wearing a crimson robe around his waist, carrying a black boot in one hand and two fish he had just caught in the other. He used a vine to dangle the fish by their mouths, waded barefoot across the riverbank, and walked towards Bai Yuan under the shade of a tree with a bright smile.

The fish had been gutted and scaled clean. He started a fire and grilled it, building a makeshift grill with wooden branches. He worked quite nimbly: "Where are you going?"

Bai Yuan stared at the fire and said calmly, "Xianyang."

"Visiting relatives?"

"no."

"Then what are you going to the capital for?"

"I need to take care of something."

The young man added a few more pieces of firewood to the fire, realizing that the other person might not be able to tell him, so he tactfully didn't ask any further questions.

Bai Yuan watched him lower his eyes as he added firewood: "Where are you going?"

He didn't put on his outer robe, only a snow-white undershirt, his dark hair tied high on his head, enjoying the spring breeze, and naturally answered her, "I'll see you off."

Bai Yuan paused for a moment, then said, "I killed those bandits."

He turned his head, his eyes crinkling at the corners, his gaze filled with uncertainty.

Bai Yuan met his scrutinizing gaze: "Don't believe me?"

He laughed and said, "You're really something."

Bai Yuan began, "So I..."

He preemptively said, "I still have to see you off. It's not safe for a woman to travel alone. It's better to have someone with you so you can look out for each other."

Bai Yuan originally wanted to say that she didn't need any help.

However, the man smiled at her with his eyes crinkled and said, "Xianyang is still a long way away. I'm not very good at much else, but I can grill fish for you."

Perhaps the spring sunshine was too dazzling, Bai Yuan suddenly seemed lost in thought: "...Zhao Su."

Hearing this, he stood up, dusted off his hands, walked to the shade of a tree, squatted down and looked Bai Yuan, who was sitting on the ground, at eye level: "My name is He Yan. Do I look a lot like him, so much so that you always mistake me for him?"

It's more than just a resemblance.

Bai Yuan, too lazy to answer, countered with, "Who gave you this name?"

He Yan's smile suddenly froze on his lips. He met Bai Yuan's calm gaze and felt a sudden, inexplicable panic in his heart.

Or perhaps, it wasn't He Yan who was panicking, but Zhou Yaren who had overheard this memory.

Zhou Yaren, who had taken on the persona of He Yan, heard Bai Yuan say, "You are A Zhaosu, or you can be He Yan. You can be whoever you want to be."

Zhou Yaren felt her heart tremble, a tingling, electric-like sensation followed by a sudden contraction and spasm.

Suddenly a cold wind swept in, and the biting snow swept away the gentle spring breeze. The scene changed rapidly, shifting from one thing to another.

Bai Yuan lay against A Zhaosu's tombstone for a night in the midst of wind and snow, almost completely covered by snow.

As the light peeked through the clouds, Bai Yuan opened his eyes. Several streaks hung from the cold tombstone, as if a lonely grave was weeping.

She raised her hand to touch the dripping drop, and whispered, "I know you died with your eyes wide open, your hatred unresolved..."

Bai Yuan stood up, her head already covered in snow. She stood for a moment, and before leaving, she said to the person in the grave, "Lie peacefully, I will take care of it for you."

After that, Bai Yuan traveled back and forth across the Xiaoshan Pass several times until A Zhaosu's grave was dug up. There, she unexpectedly met He Yan, who had been given a new life. They inexplicably traveled together for a while, but parted ways after arriving in Xianyang.

Bai Yuan stood quietly at the gate of Xianyang City, watching He Yan leave. Every now and then, he would turn around and back to wave goodbye to her.

At that moment, perhaps Bai Yuan was also a little reluctant to leave, otherwise why would she stand under the setting sun, gazing at the direction where He Yan disappeared for a long time without leaving?

Zhou Yaren finally managed to piece together some clues from these fragmented memories. It turned out that Bai Yuan's trip to Xianyang was to investigate A Zhaosu's wrongful conviction.

However, neither the cause of A Zhaosu's death nor the process of Bai Yuan searching for clues could be found.

Zhou Yaren soon discovered that the only trace of A Zhaosu was a solitary grave. Apart from that, there was no past or history. It was unclear whether it was deliberately concealed or for some other reason.

This is precisely why Zhou Yaren's heart was hanging in suspense, desperately wanting to understand the whole incident. He even became anxious, unconsciously clutching the death umbrella while unconscious. The more anxious he became, the more tangible the memories became, as if something was deliberately avoiding his prying eyes, not wanting him to see them.

Suddenly, he heard abrupt command: "Let go!"

Although the voice was somewhat abrupt, Zhou Yaren, who was unconscious, couldn't make out what it was, and was simply lost in this bizarre and chaotic dream. In the dream, flocks of birds would sometimes flash by, sometimes a lone plume of smoke rising from the desert, a long river and a setting sun, and then there would be withered branches and fallen leaves, and a world of ice and snow... Seeing that the beautiful scenery of the changing seasons was not effective, the dream immediately turned into a scene of gouging out eyes and pulling out tongues, tearing apart bodies by five horses, and all sorts of bloody and unjustly killed people taking turns to appear, like a sudden attack to terrify people.

But Zhou Yaren was not easily intimidated by these images.

"Haven't you seen enough?" The voice was extremely cold and sharp, transmitted to Zhou Yaren's senses through the umbrella handle. "Let go!"

Zhou Yaren, who was unconscious, did not let go; instead, she held the umbrella even tighter.

The Death Umbrella organization made a careless mistake and was exploited by intruders. Seeing that their meager resources were about to be completely exposed, they exclaimed, "Zhou Yaren, are you addicted to spying on others?!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yaren, who was in a coma, suddenly opened her eyes.