Chapter 5: Clouds of Doubt
In Panlong Gorge, Tuling's warriors were guarding a small group of people and walking slowly.
Xifeng and Yaye were walking in front, whispering to each other. Glenshe, with his guards, kept a lookout as they advanced, to prevent any surprise attack from the glass-winged dragons. But for some reason, his gaze seemed unfocused, as if he were distracted.
Feibai and Atlas were walking at the end. Atlas looked at him with his tail swishing non-stop, appearing to be surprisingly intimate, while Feibai smiled faintly, nodded and whispered something to him, but his eyes, which contained hidden pain and resentment, would glance forward from time to time.
──In the center of the team, Beichen was pulling Xiangying and talking to him with a bright smile on his face. The twins on the side would occasionally interrupt and make some noise. The atmosphere was so wonderful that no one else could interfere.
When they were about to leave the valley, Glenshe dismissed the guards and asked them to go back, but he himself stayed behind without saying a word and continued to follow the team.
"So, this Lahan is sometimes really strange to the point of being adorable. Although our initial acquaintance was quite unpleasant, now I just think of him as funny. Oh, and there's Li Ye, she's a very powerful magician. Once..."
As soon as the outsiders were away, Beichen would happily talk about the interesting things that happened in the past two years when Xiang Ying was away. Xiang Ying would listen silently with a faint smile, and from time to time she would use her hands to tidy his hair, or lean over to kiss her forehead, and her left hand would always be around her waist, and her actions were extremely intimate.
"Hehe, you feel unwilling. So many things happened to her in the past two years, and you didn't participate." Black Disaster laughed sourly and slapped Xiang Ying on the back. "You deserve it. Who told you to leave so irresponsibly?"
Xiang Ying was patted and paused, but his expression remained gentle and calm.
"Yeah, how could I have been so cowardly two years ago?" He smiled bitterly and shook his head, looking deeply at Beichen while tightening his grip around her waist. "But please rest assured, Master, I won't make such a childish and ridiculous mistake again. I won't do anything to make you cry again."
As he spoke, Xiang Ying touched her eyes with a look of slight annoyance and heartache.
"I still clearly remember the expression on your face the last moment before I left. What was wrong with me that I had the heart to make you look like that?"
“…”
Beichen lowered her head, breaking away from Xiangying's touch, and frowned with a complicated expression. Meanwhile, Heihuo and Sujie on the side also put away their expressions and glanced at each other.
"Master, you are blaming me, aren't you?"
Xiang Ying lowered his head and asked softly in a low voice.
"Otherwise, why don't you sign the contract with me again?"
"Yeah." Beichen bit his lower lip and looked at the ground under his feet. "Don't think I will forgive you easily. I still have a lot of debts to settle with you!"
Xiang Ying was stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing.
"Okay. I will make it up to you, Master. No matter what you ask me to do, I will do my best to satisfy you, even if it means..."
"Alright, you idiot Ying, how could that little loach be so cruel?" Su Jie patted Xiang Ying's shoulder and grinned, "I guess she just thought you just woke up and couldn't withstand the tossing and turning, so she didn't dare to let you bleed casually. If you suddenly fell asleep after bleeding, wouldn't we all be happy for nothing?"
Xiang Ying turned to look at Su Jie, was stunned for a few seconds, then suddenly let go of Beichen and reached out to hug Su Jie.
"Brother Su Jie,... and Brother Hei Huo, I'm sorry. I left you and left the front line for the past two years... Forgive me."
“Wow?!?!?”
Su Jie was so frightened by Xiang Ying's sudden and affectionate confession that his face turned green:
"Xiang Xiang Xiang Ying!? Did Xifeng sit on your crystal core while you were sleeping one day? What's the point of being so cheesy?!"
"Yeah, yeah!" Black Disaster also danced with joy, looking sullen. "We both belong to Queen Beichen, both physically and mentally! Don't tease my little brother!"
Xiang Ying let go of Su Jie, but tilted his head and smiled faintly at Hei Huo:
"Brother Black Fire, do you think I'm biased? Then come and hug me, Brother Black Fire."
"I don't want to hear that. When did you become a gigolo? Back in the forest, we were always making you lose your mind. When did the world turn upside down?"
"Yeah," Xiang Ying smiled, nodded, and winked. "I was such a coward back then. You all gave me the chance to be alone with your master, but I did nothing. I was truly unworthy of being a male warrior."
Then Heihuo suddenly stopped talking, pouted his lips, touched his nose, and looked at the tips of his shoes, not knowing what he was thinking.
Xiang Ying was a little surprised by Heihuo's abnormality, but he immediately thought that it would be a bit sad to talk about the past now, so he kept silent about it and turned around to reminisce with Beichen in a low voice.
"Speaking of which, how far has the relationship between the Master and the Twin Brothers progressed?"
"yeah?!"
Perhaps because he didn't expect Xiang Ying to ask such a question, Beichen's mouth twitched, and then his face flushed slightly as he muttered softly:
"Home base."
"Hmm?" Xiang Ying tilted his head, then suddenly seemed to understand something, revealing a sly smile. "So it's been sharpened, right?"
"Uh, um... Sorry, Xiangying."
"Why should Master apologize? I've been away for so long, it's only natural that you chose the twin brothers to sharpen your blades."
He blinked at Ying, then suddenly stretched out his arms and put them around the twins' necks.
"Brother Gemini has taken advantage of me quite a bit these past two years. However, I'll have to work tirelessly to regain Master's trust. Brother Gemini, would you mind if you invite me along when Master and I sharpen our blades next time?"
"puff!"
This time, before Beichen could vomit blood, Heihuo Sujie had already attacked.
"Stupid Ying, when did you become so heavy-handed! We're not human. Two is enough, and one more would be too much!"
"Hey, hey, hey, are you really the stupid shadow? Could it be that the stupid shadow actually has a dual personality or something?"
"What are you talking about, Gemini brothers?"
Xiang Ying looked at the twins with an incredulous expression, but his eyes were calm.
"Brother Su Jie, your question is very strange. Of course I am Xiang Ying, and I don't have a dual personality."
Following these words, Beichen and the twins fell silent. For a moment, the entire team fell into a strange silence. Xiang Ying, who was at the center of this strange atmosphere, seemed not to understand what was going on. He just frowned and looked around at everyone with a hint of confusion.
"...Is it true that I've been away for too long? I can't fit in with everyone anymore."
Finally, he murmured in an almost inaudible voice.
As a result, although Beichen said that he wanted to ask Yagard some questions immediately, in fact, his progress was very slow. He walked and stopped, chatting with the people around him, almost at the speed of sightseeing. It took him a full three days from entering Jingyuan to arriving at the imperial palace "Huichen Palace".
Xiang Ying, on the other hand, stuck to Beichen like glue, trying her best to warm up the relationship between herself and Beichen, Gemini and the others, and to eliminate the rejection in their eyes.
"It's right ahead."
Beichen refers to the towering palace built on a huge white tower in the distance.
"How is it? Pretty, right?"
"Yes." Xiang Ying said in admiration as he put his arm around her waist from behind, "Is this the center of the country that the master built with his own hands? It is indeed a unique and awe-inspiring place."
As he said this, Fei Bai behind him also looked at the white palace with a slightly emotional look, took a deep breath, and looked into the distance at the white palace with its primitive beauty and heavy pressure from the occupiers. His hands were clenched into fists, trembling slightly, as if he had a passion that he had nowhere to vent.
After entering the palace, Beichen took Xiangying with him to introduce the various facilities along the way, but he did not mention the meeting with Yagad. The two of them happily had dinner together accompanied by the twins, and then chatted for a long time about all sorts of things. It was not until the end of the first half of the night that Li Ye came over and tapped her shoulder.
"Hey, you bitch, don't be so happy just because your ex is back. You've been gone for so many days and you've already caused so much trouble. I can't handle this for much longer! Go clean up your ass!"
“Ah, but…”
"No buts." Li Ye suddenly smiled like a flower, and her gentle and dignified expression immediately frightened Beichen. "Get to work right now, and listen to my report on the schedule for the next month. Otherwise, I will tell Yagad that you hope he will come to fuck your ass★"
"...This punishment is a bit too bizarre."
"Alright, Master, please get busy." Xiang Ying hid the dejection in his eyes and gently nudged her. "I just woke up, and I'm still feeling a little uncomfortable. I want to get some Star Spirit Mineral Solution to drink. Also, my storage space is empty, so I need to quickly purchase all the supplies so that I can follow Master into the battlefield."
Beichen was stunned for more than ten seconds before he nodded: "Okay, then I'll be leaving first."
"Yes, Master, see you later."
Then, after Beichen followed Li Ye into the study, and Li Ye locked the door and embedded the spirit crystal "Explosive Flame" into the groove of the door handle, Beichen had wiped away all the gentle expressions on her face. She walked to the bookshelf with an expressionless face, activated the mechanism under the desk, and watched the bookshelf slowly move away, revealing the secret passage behind it.
"Is everyone waiting inside?"
"Well, we're all here, waiting for you."
“…Is Feibai here too?”
"exist."
"Well, okay." Beichen's face looked a little ghostly under the light of the illuminating spirit crystal. "Let's go. There are some things we need to confirm clearly."
After walking through the long underground corridor, Beichen and Li Ye came to a large and spacious room. The room was decorated like a comfortable reception room. At this time, Heihuo, Sujie, Yaye, Xifeng, Atlas, Yagard, Xiaoying and Feibai were already sitting on the sofas that were arranged in a circle.
Li Ye found an empty seat and sat down, but Beichen did not move immediately. He just turned his eyes to Atlas first.
"Atlas, I want to ask, is the one who revived really Xiang Ying?"
Everyone's expression changed - it seemed she had noticed it too. But then again, she was probably the one who knew Xiang Ying best, so it would be strange if she didn't notice such an obvious difference.
"Based on the composition of the body, there's a 97% chance it's true. However, for unknown reasons, I think..."
Atlas swung his tail, as if he couldn't find an accurate description, so he frowned anxiously.
"...Psychologically unacceptable?"
Zephyr interface, Atlas immediately nodded.
"Beichen, what do you think?" Yaye said as he adjusted his long white hair, seeming to be a little depressed. "You should have confirmed it along the way."
“…”
Beichen lowered his head with a painful expression.
"I'm afraid he's not Xiang Ying. Given Xiang Ying's personality, the first thing he would do after waking up is not to come over and hug me. He also wouldn't speak to me and Hei Huo Su Jie in that tone. Moreover, he said his storage space is empty. This is very strange. Even if Xiang Ying faked his death for a while, the storage space can't be emptied like that. So, physically speaking, where would those things go?"
"There's no such thing as a near-death space being emptied. This guy is a fake."
Xifeng spoke in a cold voice, then looked at Yagad.
"Is it technically possible to imitate a weapon?"
"..." Yagad was obviously a little absent-minded. "Ah, well, yes, it can be done. As long as it's not a Vein, it can be imitated by assembling a battle weapon."
"But, it's strange."
Beichen tilted his head.
"Then why does he have such a clear memory of Xiang Ying? Along the way, I, Hei Huo, and Su Jie deliberately mentioned some trivial things that happened during our previous trips, and he could answer them fluently. And... the most strange thing is..."
"At first, I considered the possibility that he and..." Beichen glanced at Feibai, then looked away. "I considered the possibility that he and Feibai were working together to set a trap for me. After all, it's not the first time in the past two years that they've used Xiangying as a breakthrough point to assassinate me. But then I realized it wasn't the case."
When Beichen said this, Feibai's face suddenly turned ugly. He stood up from the sofa and wanted to explain something, but after hearing Beichen's last sentence, he felt relieved and slowly sat back.
"If he really was a killer sent by another country or force, he should have tried his best to resemble Xiang Ying's personality. But now he seems... as if he doesn't find his actions strange at all. It's almost like he's... someone else who had Xiang Ying's memories transplanted into him, and naturally believes that he is Xiang Ying. So even though there are differences in personality, he doesn't doubt whether he is Xiang Ying or not."
"That makes sense." Yaye nodded. "Then the question is, how did this situation come about?"
"You'll have to ask Yagad about that."
Beichen sighed lightly, and when he looked at his knight, his eyes were a little helpless.
"Agad, let me ask you, you didn't report the results of Xiangying's treatment to me in person, but instead conveyed them through Heihuai and Sujie. Was it because—you didn't want to lie to me?"
"..." Yagard was silent for a second with a panicked look on his face, then said in a deep voice: "Yes, I'm sorry, Miss Beichen."
"So, when I asked you about Xiang Ying's condition, you suddenly knelt down and promised me that Xiang Ying would definitely come back. Was that also because of this?"
"...Yes, I'm sorry, Miss Beichen."
Beichen slapped his forehead somewhat exhaustedly.
"So, what happened to Xiang Ying?"
"...I'm so sorry, Miss Beichen!"
Yagard stood up and half-knelt in front of her, his face full of pain.
"I concealed it from you. I am incompetent and unable to save Xiang Ying...Xiang Ying is actually dead."
“…Eh.”
"……What?"
Now, not only Beichen, but even Feibai beside him murmured unconsciously and let out a slight cry of surprise.
(Please delay the update for at least one month, thank you)
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