Chapter 46 Just Friends
Xiao Hanzhou thought that what he had heard earlier was already extremely unbearable, but he did not expect that there would be even more outrageous remarks to follow.
The servant who had spoken first lowered his voice by another ten percent, as if he were talking about something secret, whispering, "What thousand-year-old Ganoderma lucidum, ten-thousand-year-old jade marrow? I think that person wants more than just those things."
The other person seemed astonished. "Isn't that enough?! If I had even one of these, I'd be laughing in my sleep."
Xiao Hanzhou's tightly clenched lips trembled, and he hissed inwardly, "How could that be enough?! How could it possibly be enough?!"
Compared to what A-Yi did for him, what he did was not even one-thousandth, one-ten-thousandth! How can we even talk about "enough"?!
Xiao Hanzhou's thoughts naturally couldn't be transmitted into the mirror. However, the servant who spoke first seemed to be amused by the other person's response. After a "tsk," he laughed and scolded, "Look at your pathetic self."
The other person wasn't annoyed. After making a few self-deprecating remarks about "such limited vision," he quickly pressed for details about what had happened.
The first man glanced around, then gestured for someone to lean in and whisper, "Last Sunday, I was passing by the patriarch's study when I saw him being chased out by the patriarch. His clothes were disheveled, and a small part of his waist was exposed... His skin was so white, and the sweat beads on it looked just like jade. Tsk tsk, it's a wonder the patriarch could hold back."
Xiao Hanzhou's face outside the mirror was already ashen.
Due to the limitations of the image displayed by the Mirror of Cause and Effect, Xiao Hanzhou could only see the vague figures on the other side, but could not see their faces. Furthermore, because of the separation between the inside and outside of the mirror, he could not even distinguish their divine senses. However, he still memorized their voices.
The servant had just mentioned "Wang Ri," and with this detailed reminder of the date, Xiao Hanzhou remembered exactly what had happened that time.
It was because A-Yi encountered an enemy while he was away that he was afflicted with the Thread-Pulling Gu.
He came that day to cure the Gu poison, but A-Yi disliked people seeing him in a disheveled state, so as soon as the Gu poison was cured, he left in a hurry despite his still weak body. It must have been at that time that he was caught off guard and was unfortunately seen by the speaker.
And Ah Yi's enemy...
This time, after revisiting the past from outside the Mirror of Cause and Effect, Xiao Hanzhou realized that the enemy was not A Yi's enemy. It was clearly his enemy! It was he who took the Phoenix Guide, which the Miao people considered theirs, right under their noses. A Yi deliberately exposed himself to help him draw away the pursuers, and from then on, he was relentlessly hunted down.
This was trouble he caused, and he should have been his enemy.
Ah Yi was just taking the blame for him.
...Not only did they suffer on his behalf, but they also had to be pointed at and gossiped about like this.
For a moment, Xiao Hanzhou couldn't tell how much of the hatred in his heart was directed at those who were gossiping, and how much was directed at himself.
The person in the mirror was unaware of Xiao Hanzhou's feelings outside.
Everyone loves gossip and excitement, especially such scandalous affairs. They were afraid of Xiao Hanzhou's authority and dared not speak directly about the family head, but they had fewer scruples when it came to Ren Yi. The two joked and said a lot of lewd things, making Xiao Hanzhou grit his teeth. When they finally finished teasing, he sighed as if it were a pity, "But his painstaking plan is destined to fail. Everyone knows that our family head is deeply in love with that young master of the Bai family. More than ten years have passed, and he still can't forget him."
Xiao Hanzhou had known about the rumors between him and Bai Jinliu for a while, but he thought they were just baseless rumors. However, he realized from the tone of the servants' conversation that this matter seemed to be a consensus in the Xiao family.
Sure enough, another person chimed in, "That's absolutely right. People had been saying before that the head of the family would bring them over, and here they are! They didn't even prepare a guest room; they just moved into the head of the family's courtyard."
"I heard that the head of the family carried the person in that day."
"...I'm afraid that in a few days, good things will be happening in this household."
"..."
The two chatted back and forth. Xiao Hanzhou hadn't expected that his attempt to conceal Bai Jinliu's injuries as a precaution would lead to such a result. Besides, if he remembered correctly, not long after Jinliu recuperated at the Xiao residence, A-Yi was supposed to return from Yuyun Township…
As soon as his thoughts turned to this point, Xiao Hanzhou froze.
The mirror of cause and effect reflects his past with A-Yi. He had never heard the conversation between the two servants, so it goes without saying who actually heard these words.
Xiao Hanzhou's expression went blank for a moment, with only his eyes slowly moving.
The image in the mirror was only so big, and no matter how unwilling Xiao Hanzhou was to admit the truth, he still saw that familiar figure in a corner of the mirror.
The thin, frail young man stood there motionless, seemingly unmoved from the very beginning, almost blending into his surroundings. Because the people and objects in the mirror could not be scanned with divine sense, Xiao Hanzhou had, like the two servants with little cultivation, previously overlooked them.
Xiao Hanzhou couldn't help but think of his own anxiety back then about whether A Yi knew about the rumor.
Now it seems that A-Yi knew far more than he thought! What he heard was a thousand times, a hundred times, more outrageous than he initially imagined!
His lips had been bitten until they bled profusely. Looking at the figure surrounded by red maple leaves, Xiao Hanzhou coughed. His spiritual energy had injured his internal organs, and blood slowly seeped from the corner of his lips.
Ren Yi was facing off against Hong Xuzi while using his alternate account, when the scene before him suddenly became distorted and dizzying.
Before he could even see his surroundings clearly, he had already sensed something was wrong. His hand, which had been resting on the hilt of his sword, ready to strike, had somehow changed position, as if he were handing something out.
The environment, which had been shrouded in mist, gradually became clearer, and Ren Yi heard the voice that had become clearer as well. The other person solemnly said, "A-Yi, I already know your feelings."
At the same time, the things in his hands were taken away by the person on the other side.
Ren Yi?
Before he could even process the situation, a thought had already popped into his head: "No, this shouldn't be happening."
Before he could think it through, the memories he had lost suddenly surged back. The sudden impact made his already confused mind even more chaotic. Fortunately, the staff at the Transmigration Bureau were very experienced in dealing with such a surge of memories. Ren Yi only needed a few breaths to quickly sort out the extra memories and at the same time figure out the chaotic timeline in the current small world. He returned to the past.
Ren Yi: "..."
Combining this with the previous incident where Yan Xiao and the other two took away the main account and Hong Xuzi held off the Sword Master's secondary account, Ren Yi finally understood the cause and effect of this situation. In order to make things easier, he had directly accepted Hong Xuzi's statement about the soul contract. Hong Xuzi thought that he was going to drag the main account's alternate account down with him, so he went through all this trouble to save the main account.
However, Ren Yi had no idea what exactly they were going to do.
Despite Hong Xuzi's unreliable appearance, he won't let slip a single word if he doesn't want to talk about something.
Ren Yi, who had been disguised as a Sword Master, had been tricked by the other party for a long time without revealing any useful information, pushing Ren Yi to the point where he was about to take action. But just as he was about to draw his sword, the person was thrown over, the timing so precise that he almost suspected that the two sides had deliberately coordinated their actions.
Ren Yi was still pondering what he was planning to do when Xiao Hanzhou spoke first, "I will immediately order people to prepare for the Dao Initiation Ceremony."
Ren Yi?
Ren Yi was stunned into silence by Xiao Hanzhou's words, while the other person remained oblivious, continuing, "A-Yi, I know everything you've done for me all these years. I was wrong before, but from now on... I will definitely treat you well..."
Ren Yi had no time to analyze the seemingly complex and profound words in the speech. In fact, he barely listened to it at all, his mind filled with the words "Grand Ceremony of Dao Initiation".
Is this the treatment a tool should receive?!
Ren Yi loudly questioned himself in his mind, but quickly calmed down, because this was indeed the treatment a tool would receive. However, the following events would likely involve either being abducted, having the engagement broken off, or some accident occurring at the ceremony; it was unlikely to go smoothly.
Revisiting this different place allowed Ren Yi to quickly understand Xiao Hanzhou's plan: he wanted to use the opportunity of forming a Daoist partnership to break the soul contract.
Ren Yi was now feeling the same worry as Hong Xuzi when he first heard Yan Shuoyun mention this method: trying to use the Heavenly Dao would not end well, and the most likely consequence of using this method was that everyone involved would be wiped out.
However, this includes a chosen one with exceptional luck, a son of destiny favored by Heaven, so the outcome is truly uncertain.
That's what he said, but Ren Yi didn't actually have any divine soul contract on him, so he wasn't too worried about Xiao Hanzhou getting into trouble. He was more concerned about the timeline right now.
The chaotic timeline within the small world, where mission takers are thrown into the past, is not the first time Ren Yi has encountered this, but no matter how many times, it is still truly frustrating. This means that he has to maintain his original character setting and go through the plot again, which also introduces an uncertain variable, such as the Chosen One in front of him who is determined to break the divine soul contract on him.
Ren Yi felt a headache coming on just thinking about it.
However, there is a shortcut available right now.
—The Mirror of Cause and Effect.
Ren Yi had spent so long in the Tai Chu Sect under a pseudonym, so he knew very well what his sect was all about. After a little thought, he guessed that Xiao Hanzhou had used the "Mirror of Cause and Effect" to return to the past.
Xiao Hanzhou's cultivation level was certainly not high enough to use it, but with Hong Xuzi's help, it was a different story.
However, even though the Mirror of Cause and Effect is a celestial artifact, it also has its own drawbacks. Even if one uses it to return to the past, the world itself has a predetermined trajectory. Once it is deduced that the current situation will produce the same future, the person in the mirror will return to the original timeline.
What Ren Yi needs to do now is to find a way to speed up this process.
The price to change the past is not just a little bit of spiritual power.
If the past truly leads to a future different from the original one, then the price that both Hong Xuzi, who activated the Causal Mirror, and Xiao Hanzhou, who entered the past, will have to pay is not just their cultivation level.
Even if it's just to avoid this consequence, Ren Yi has to quickly kick Xiao Hanzhou back from this "past".
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