"How I wish I could respond!"
When Huaiqing arrived, Ji Wang was sitting on the edge of the bed, his upper body half-undone, revealing his chest wrapped with clean strips of cloth.
His face was still somewhat pale from blood loss, but his spirits were surprisingly high. He was gently swinging his legs by the bedside, smiling as he looked at the person in front of him.
However, the legendary Ghost King sat to the side, holding Ji Wang's injured right hand in his hand.
The wound had been carefully cleaned and treated. Bu Jiu was holding the soft white cloth between his fingertips, wrapping it around the wound with unusual focus.
The force applied was inconsistent, indicating a complete lack of familiarity with the technique. It was less like bandaging and more like handling a fragile porcelain vase.
"Hiss—be gentle, be gentle!" Ji Wang gasped for breath, but the corners of his mouth were still turned up. His tone didn't reveal any real pain; it sounded more like he was deliberately being coquettish.
"Okay...okay." Bu Jiu's movements became even gentler, his fingertips carefully avoiding the area around the wound as he tied the soft cloth into a slightly tight, but exceptionally secure knot.
He had just finished fastening his belt and was about to treat another wound when Ji Wang pressed his advantage: "Up there, up there, my arm hurts, my shoulder aches, and here..." He pointed to his chest, looking quite serious, "This is an internal injury."
Bu Jiu's temple throbbed, and he raised his eyes, about to erupt in anger—
"cough."
A soft cough came from the cave entrance.
The two turned their heads at the same time. They saw Huaiqing standing there, her gaze fixed on Ji Wang's bandaged upper body and the hand that Bu Jiu was carefully holding.
The cave fell silent instantly.
Ji Wang was the first to react. Far from feeling embarrassed, he seemed to have found a savior. He raised his slightly swollen hand and complained to Huai Qing, "Senior Huai Qing! You've finally arrived! Look at his bandaging skills, I suspect he's trying to cripple this hand!"
Bu Jiu didn't refute, but simply raised his hand and lightly patted Ji Wang's uninjured hand. The force was just enough to make the loud and boisterous Ji Wang hiss and pull his hand back, grimacing as he accused, "Look! He even retaliated!"
Bu Jiu ignored him and turned to Huai Qing, getting straight to the point: "Have all the hidden sentries been removed?"
Huaiqing shifted her gaze from Ji Wang's energetic face to Bu Jiu, and nodded: "The three along the way have all been cleared. They explored very deeply, almost reaching the outer edge of the waterfall."
He said with a hint of relief, "Fortunately, you repelled Ling Gu in time; otherwise, if you had been attacked from both inside and outside, the consequences would have been unimaginable."
“I’m incredibly lucky!” Ji Wang interjected, shaking his head smugly. “But Bu Jiu, you’ve already seriously injured him, why not just…” He made a throat-slitting gesture.
“Of the same kind… no.” Bu Jiu pointed to his fox ears, then to a few strands of black fur on the ground.
“I once cut off half of his tail.” Bu Jiu said as if he were talking about an old story that had nothing to do with him. “Then I was attacked by the rules of heaven and earth, my demonic power collapsed, I was seriously injured and on the verge of death, and it took me several months to recover.”
He turned his head and asked Ji Wang, "Would you like to experience what it's like to take care of a patient?"
These words were spoken calmly, but they instantly conjured up an image of Bu Jiu being seriously injured and weak in Ji Wang's mind, causing his heart to clench.
He immediately shook his head vigorously, instantly casting aside any thought of eliminating the threat completely. He subconsciously moved closer to Bu Jiu and muttered softly, "Then... then let him live. Anyway, he can't beat you."
Huai Qing spoke up at the right moment: "Apart from humans, killing each other within the same race, especially among those with the strongest cultivation, will trigger the backlash of the ancient contract. At best, it will damage their cultivation; at worst, it will destroy their entire foundation."
Ji Wang immediately flashed a slightly ingratiating smile and solemnly assured him, "I know! From now on, his life..." He patted his bandaged chest, accidentally touching his wound, but quickly reattached it after catching his breath, his tone firm, "I'll get it!"
It looked just like a cub that had just learned to hunt and was eager to show the big cat that it could support a family.
Bu Jiu didn't even spare him a glance, only saying to Huai Qing, "This place is not suitable for lingering." He pondered for a moment, "Although the Kun Yuan Formation can stabilize the mountain, the fluctuations of spiritual energy are too conspicuous."
"Ah, this formation..." Huaiqing then focused her attention on sensing the swirling light on the surrounding cave walls. "Bujiu, when did you learn this?"
"Me! It's me!" Ji Wang immediately raised his hand high, his voice rising a few decibels. "As some generation of disciple of Daoist Yun Shen, it's quite reasonable for me to know this, isn't it?"
"Xiao Bao, you? No... wait, grand-disciple?" Huai Qing's gaze swept back and forth between Ji Wang's innocent face and Bu Jiu's expressionless face, finally fixing on Bu Jiu with a puzzled look, her tone carrying just the right amount of inquiry, "This...?"
Bu Jiu finally turned his head, looked at Ji Wang's eyes which were sparkling with pride, and asked a question in a calm tone: "This formation has long been lost. Even if you are his disciple or grand-disciple, there is nowhere to learn it."
"Uh..." Ji Wang's smile froze instantly. His mind raced, trying to find a reason for this inexplicable phenomenon.
Bu Jiu sighed, no longer looking at the troubled Ji Wang, nor at the golden light flowing on the cave wall: "Let's go. Let's go home."
The word "go home" was like a warm breeze, instantly dispelling all the confusion in Ji Wang's heart. He felt that all the complicated questions he couldn't understand no longer mattered at this moment.
"Yes!" He nodded vigorously and followed a few steps to Bu Jiu, his voice filled with undisguised joy.
Huaiqing stood aside, watching Ji Wang, who was troubled by the mystery of his origins a second ago, but was easily coaxed by the word "go home" the next second. Then she looked at Bu Jiu, who had slowed down his pace and was waiting in front of her, and thought that this was fine too.
Just as Ji Wang took the last step and his feet landed firmly on the rocks, the formation that had been holding up the cave behind him quietly dissipated, as if it had completed its final mission.
A muffled groan came from inside the mountain.
Looking back, Ji saw that the cave entrance they had just left, having lost the support of the array, could no longer withstand the impact of the previous battle and the weight of time itself. Huge rocks collapsed with a crash, and the waterfall's water flowed into it even more violently, stirring up a sky full of water mist.
In just a few breaths, the entrance that carried three hundred years of memories was completely sealed off by countless rubble and broken walls, leaving no trace.
"What—" Ji Wang's heart tightened.
Bu Jiu, who was half a step ahead of him, did not even turn his head.
He stood there quietly, the rushing water from the waterfall ruffling his long hair and clothes, his figure appearing somewhat hazy in the misty air.
His voice cut through the sound of the water and reached Ji Wang's ears: "It's okay... those things don't matter anymore."
That was nothing but a dead thing left behind.
The three of them slowly walked to the foot of the mountain.
Ji Wang looked at his disheveled state and gazed at the winding, seemingly endless road, wondering how he would get back, when he heard Huai Qing say, "If I had known there would be wounded, I would have prepared a carriage. Let's go."
Following his gaze, one could see a carriage quietly parked beside the tree-lined road, with two horses leisurely snorting.
"A carriage!" Ji Wang's eyes lit up instantly, and he touched and looked at everything with great curiosity. "I've only ever seen carriages in paintings! Is it this big inside?"
He circled the carriage again, then approached Huaiqing with a grin, his tone exaggerated yet sincere: "Senior Huaiqing... what would we do without you...?"
Huaiqing laughed at his words. Bujiu, who was standing to the side, reached out and gently pulled Ji Wang by the back of his collar, pulling him back to his side from Huaiqing.
"Go inside." Bu Jiu gently pushed Ji Wang.
Ji Wang's excitement didn't last long.
As soon as the carriage started to move, the rhythmic swaying, combined with the fatigue from the injury, made me feel sleepy like a tidal wave.
At first, he forced himself to stay awake and peer out the window at the rapidly receding shadows of the trees. But after a short while, his eyelids began to droop, his head bobbed up and down, and he eventually slumped against the cushioned side of the carriage and fell into a deep sleep.
Seeing this, Huaiqing gently swayed the flower branch that had appeared in her hand.
A semi-transparent sound barrier protected Ji Wang in that small area.
The atmosphere inside the carriage suddenly became serious as the barrier fell.
Huai Qing's smile faded, and he looked at Bu Jiu, who was sitting next to Ji Wang, and said seriously, "What are you thinking?"
“Xiao Bao…maybe he’s not quite right in the head.” He glanced at Ji Wang, “But looking at him now, he’s remembering more and more things and using more and more formations. These things are definitely not accidental. How long do you intend to keep this a secret?”
Bu Jiu's gaze remained fixed on Ji Wang's sleeping face, his tone almost stubborn: "He just needs to be safe and sound..."
“That’s not what he wants!” Huaiqing interrupted him, her voice unusually urgent.
He leaned forward slightly, as if trying to see through Bu Jiu's pretense: "You know in your heart. He won't live under your wing forever. Ask yourself—are you protecting him, or are you afraid? Afraid that he'll remember everything, afraid that he'll make the same choice as the previous two times? You're playing dumb too."
“I thought it would be better if I didn’t show up. So even though I clearly sensed his reincarnation, I didn’t show myself, but he came looking for me on his own.” Bu Jiu’s voice was full of exhaustion.
“I thought that after the Xuanming Temple incident was over, I could put him in the crowd and keep an eye on him from a distance… but his aura was still tracked down.” He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, his eyes were filled with an overwhelming sense of regret.
"If I hadn't been soft-hearted time and time again, fearing that he wouldn't be able to protect himself and teaching him to draw that talisman, if I hadn't tacitly allowed him to get close, he would be... living a carefree life in the Bu Nian Temple by now."
He attributed all the crises and pain that Ji Wang was experiencing to his own appearance and his soft heart.
What he feared was never Ji Wangxi, but rather history repeating itself, making him once again the "trigger" for Ji Wangxi's death.
Inside the barrier, Ji Wang unconsciously smacked his lips in his sleep, turned over, and was completely unaware of the confrontation that would determine his future.
Bu Jiu looked out the window, and after a long while, he spoke again: "How could I not know his feelings for me? And how could I not want to reciprocate?"
This seemingly simple sentence carries immense weight.
Huaiqing pressed further, "Then why...?"
Bu Jiu's voice was filled with helplessness: "It's precisely because I know that I dare not. I fear that once I respond, these stolen days will be over. What if he remembers everything and faces the same choice again..."
"I won't hold it against you." Huaiqing interrupted him. "Look at him now. Is the person you want to respond to the shadow of the Cloud Recesses Daoist in your memory, or the living, breathing Ji Wang in front of you?"
Bu Jiu lowered his eyes, his gaze returning to Ji Wang's sleeping face.
No longer was she trying to find someone's outline through him, but truly looking at Ji Wang's unguarded, completely trusting sleeping face.
“I…” Bu Jiu’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “Whether he remembers the past or not, whether he was Ji Wang as the Dao Venerable, or Ji Wang as he is now, I…”
He didn't say the rest, but his eyes said it all.
What he loved from beginning to end was this soul.
However, this soul happens to have the past from the first two parts.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com