The absurd guess had turned out to be true, yet Xu Muchan could not smile.
His brows were practically knitted into a knot as he asked solemnly, “You… why did you become like this?”
Ever since he had been sent to the Mountain God’s cave at the age of ten and first met Brother, the other man had never appeared in human form.
Most of the time, he had been nothing more than a cold, dense mass of shadow.
Only occasionally would that mass of shadow transform into a humanoid form.
But now Brother had completely become human.
Xu Muchan’s first thought was that perhaps he had possessed someone else’s body.
“Don’t you like it?”
The corners of Wei Xilou’s lips straightened. The smile disappeared as he frowned and observed the young man’s reaction.
This reaction was somewhat different from what he had expected.
How could Xu Muchan dare say he did not like it?
What if his brother heard that and went to possess someone else’s body again?
So Xu Muchan pursed his lips and stammered, “I… I like it.”
“I knew you would like it.”
A smile returned to Wei Xilou’s face.
He reached out and stroked the young man’s exceptionally pleasant long hair.
“Are we going home today?”
Xu Muchan nodded. Since there was nothing wrong with him, it was better to be discharged and go home as soon as possible.
Only then did he notice that his hair and fingernails had grown very long. He was just thinking about finding a pair of scissors to cut off the overgrown parts when there was another knock on the hospital room door.
This time, it was Wei Jianguo who came in.
Wei Jianguo brought the property deed, keys, and a cellphone with him. “The old ancestor’s previous identity can’t be used anymore. We’ll have to pull some strings to re-register the household and get an ID card, so the house can’t be transferred into your name yet. These are the keys to the house. You can stay there for now. Once the documents are ready, we’ll go through the transfer procedures. The house is in Building 5, on the ninth floor of Jiahe Garden. There is only one household per elevator landing. Although a three-bedroom, two-living-room apartment is a little small, the community environment and location are both very good. It’s right next to Nanming, only a ten-minute walk away.”
Wei Xilou gave a slight nod. “Put them down.”
Wei Jianguo placed everything one by one on the small table beside the bed. Seeing that his expression was still fairly pleasant, he finally brought up the most important matter.
“The ceremony to recognize you as family is already being prepared. Father said this matter should be done sooner rather than later. The date has been set for the day after tomorrow. Old Ancestor, if you have the time, would you be willing to come and attend the ceremony?”
Wei Xilou refused without the slightest hesitation and began seeing him out. “If there’s nothing else, you can leave.”
Wei Jianguo: “……”
Even after crossing the river, abandoning the bridge had never been done this quickly.
But he dared not complain. He could only smile, get up, and take his leave.
Xu Muchan glanced at Wei Jianguo’s departing back. He held himself back and held himself back, but in the end he still couldn’t resist asking, “Who was that person?”
Was he a relative of this body?
Wei Xilou couldn’t be bothered to go through the Wei family’s old history, so he casually said, “Just some unimportant relatives. A-Chan doesn’t need to pay attention to them.”
Xu Muchan’s face immediately fell.
It wasn’t that he wanted to meddle, but Brother had possessed someone else’s body without saying anything, and had even extorted money from the other person’s relatives.
Xu Muchan knew about Jiahe Garden. It was an upscale residential community next to the school. There were classmates in his class who lived there. He had heard that the apartments cost forty to fifty thousand yuan per square meter.
Xu Muchan was worried and inexplicably felt a little guilty. But seeing how particularly righteous his brother looked, he could only tactfully say, “Actually, I think things were pretty good before, too. Brother, why don’t you change back……”
He clutched the blanket in his hands, frowning in hesitation. “When I was at the Wei family’s house, I met a very powerful Taoist priest. What if you get discovered like this, Brother……”
Wei Xilou looked at him intently, completely not listening to what he was saying. Instead, he suddenly reached out and scratched his chin, saying, “A-Chan is so cute.”
Xu Muchan: “……”
Xu Muchan: “……”
Xu Muchan angrily thought that this really was a case of the emperor not being anxious while the eunuch was.
Whatever. Let him do as he pleased. At least when the Taoist priest caught him later, it wouldn’t be himself.
Thinking this, Xu Muchan glared fiercely at the man beside the bed. But because his vision was still blurry, his eyes were misty, and his glare was not fierce in the slightest. Instead, he looked even cuter.
Wei Xilou wanted to touch his face again.
Before he had taken back his body, A-Chan rarely talked to him like this, rambling on and on for such a long string of words.
In his memory, the last time A-Chan had said such cute things to him was when they were children. After losing a fight, A-Chan had cried all the way home, wiped his tears, and said to him: If you could really become my older brother, that would be great. Then I’d have someone to help me.
It seemed A-Chan really did like this body of his, Wei Xilou thought with satisfaction.
These unfilial descendants of the Wei family were not completely useless, at least they had preserved his body very well.
Xu Muchan had no idea what was going through Wei Xilou’s mind. He pursed his lips and moved to the other side, putting some distance between himself and the person beside the bed so that the other man wouldn’t take the opportunity to touch him again. At the same time, he put on a serious expression.
“I have one more question to ask.”
Wei Xilou’s outstretched hand grasped nothing. Regretfully, he rubbed his fingers together, his eyes glued to Xu Muchan’s face. He absentmindedly hummed, “Mm.”
Xu Muchan touched his eyes. “I can see some things vaguely now. Is it because of that thing you fed me before?”
Only when he heard him mention his eyes did Wei Xilou gather a bit of his attention. He nodded. “That’s right.”
Xu Muchan’s eyes immediately lit up, and his body unconsciously leaned forward. The distance between the two of them, which had just been opened up again, shortened once more.
“What is it? If I keep eating it, can my eyes fully recover?”
“It’s black Tai Sui.”
Wei Xilou reached out and touched his eyelids, which still had a hint of pink. Xu Muchan’s eyesight had not yet recovered, so his reactions were a little slow, and he failed to dodge in time.
The slightly cool fingertips touched his sensitive eyelid. Xu Muchan’s eyelashes suddenly trembled and lightly brushed across the other man’s fingertip. But this time, he did not dodge. Instead, he lifted his eyelids and looked at the person opposite him with misty eyes, his voice carrying a hint of urgency.
“Brother?”
Wei Xilou’s fingertips felt itchy. He casually pinched the small, plump earlobe beside him and rubbed it affectionately. “Black Tai Sui is not easy to obtain. You just obediently go to school. I’ll find some for you.”
The earlobe was sensitive. Being rubbed made it itchy and hot, with a slight numbness. Xu Muchan resisted the urge to shrink his neck and dodge away, giving a perfunctory response. He didn’t take his words seriously at all.
When he had first lost his sight, he had also asked his brother for help. At that time, he had depended on the other person for everything—food, clothing, shelter, and transportation. He had also secretly hoped that perhaps his brother might have some way to cure his eyes.
But as time passed, he gradually sensed that his brother seemed very satisfied with his inability to see.
So later, when the Xu family sent people to look for him and his brother refused to let him leave the village, Xu Muchan secretly suspected that perhaps his brother did not want his eyesight to recover.
Therefore, Xu Muchan felt that he would have to rely on himself to find black Tai Sui. He pressed again and again, “What is black Tai Sui?”
When he had previously been forced to swallow black Tai Sui, he had only felt that the thing smelled so fishy and foul that it made him nauseous.
But now that he knew it was a miraculous medicine capable of restoring his sight, he felt that perhaps it wasn’t quite so disgusting after all. He even impatiently wanted to find some more to eat.
“Black Tai Sui is Yang Water, but it isn’t ordinary Yang Water. It comes from the Black River.”
“The Black River?”
The word awakened some memories. Xu Muchan suddenly remembered that he seemed to have seen a black river in a dream before. Above the black surface of the river hung a silver-white full moon. The water shimmered beneath it. He did not know where it came from, nor where it was going.
Xu Muchan hesitated before saying, “I think I’ve seen a black river in my dream……”
Wei Xilou’s previously casual expression turned solemn. “You saw it?”
Xu Muchan did not know whether this was a good thing or a bad thing. He nervously nodded and added, “I was hazy in the dream, too. I don’t know how, but I stepped into the river water. I almost lay down in the water.”
Wei Xilou stared at him. After a moment, he sighed and said, “If you see the Black River again, remember to stay away from it.”
“Will something bad happen if you see the Black River? Is black Tai Sui the water from the Black River?” Xu Muchan was more concerned about the black Tai Sui that could cure his eyes.
“I don’t know what the Black River really is, either. But it has existed since a very, very long time ago. The Black River is only one of its names. Some people call it the River Styx, while others call it the Wangchuan River.”
“It is said to be the source from which all things are born and grow, and the origin of the cycle of the Six Realms. Only a small number of people can see it.”
Wei Xilou rubbed the boy’s innocent-looking eyes. “The Black River itself is neither good nor bad. But living beings who see it, if their willpower isn’t firm enough, can easily be drawn in and assimilated by it, becoming a part of it. Black Tai Sui comes from this as well.”
Xu Muchan understood. Black Tai Sui was actually formed from living beings that had been assimilated by the Black River?
Later, for some reason, they had separated from the Black River. After going through who knew what, they ultimately became a part of other living creatures.
Just like that piece of black Tai Sui that had been dug out from inside Goddess Jinhua’s body.
But the moment he thought of the vast, winding river from his dream, Xu Muchan felt a chill run through him. If the water of the Black River was black Tai Sui, then how many living beings had such an enormous Black River assimilated?
Xu Muchan bit the soft flesh inside his lip and thought. “Black Tai Sui is hard to find. If I see the Black River again next time, can I just take some directly from the river—”
“A-Chan!”
Wei Xilou abruptly interrupted his slightly excited idea, his expression darkening.
“Since ancient times, there has never been a living being capable of resisting the Black River’s enormous consciousness. Do you understand? The reason you were able to return safely last time was because you were in a dream. But if you are this reckless again next time, there is a very good chance you will never come back.”
This was the first time he had ever been this fierce with Xu Muchan. Xu Muchan was stunned for a moment, and only after a long while did he softly say, “Oh.”
Afterward, he lowered his eyes in disappointment. “But if I can’t go near the Black River, where am I supposed to find black Tai Sui? When will my eyes get better?”
Wei Xilou rarely felt this helpless. He could only explain more carefully to reassure him.
“The Black River seems to have entered an active period. Many gods and ghosts that had been dormant before have also become active. They were born from the Black River, so they are naturally attracted to black Tai Sui…… I’ll go find them. It won’t take too long to find enough black Tai Sui.”
“A-Chan only needs to wait a little more patiently, all right?”
These words indeed calmed the anxious and restless boy. Xu Muchan raised his head and revealed a smile, obediently saying, “I understand. Thank you, Brother.”
The boy looked obedient and well-behaved again. As a reward, Wei Xilou rubbed his head and changed the subject.
“Your fingernails are too long. Shall I cut them for you?”
After saying that, he went to ask a nurse for a nail clipper and brought it back.
Xu Muchan willingly held out his hand and placed it in his palm.
Wei Xilou held the slender, pale-white fingers, running over them one by one, patiently and carefully trimming the overly long nails into smooth, rounded shapes.
After cutting his nails, he cut his hair as well.
Wei Xilou had no experience cutting hair. He frowned somewhat helplessly, not knowing where to begin. Xu Muchan was just about to say to cut it however he wanted when he suddenly heard the vibration of a cellphone beside them.
“Is your phone ringing?”
Wei Xilou followed the sound and took the cellphone out of the pocket of the pants Xu Muchan had changed out of.
“It’s yours.”
Xu Muchan leaned over and narrowed his eyes to look. It was a call from his homeroom teacher, Wan Zheng. Besides that, the call history below showed a bright red number.
The number was too small for him to see clearly, but it should have been two digits.
The cellphone was still buzzing. Xu Muchan suddenly remembered that when he had been dragged into the ghost domain, it had happened to be during the school’s lunch break.
As he answered the call, he asked guiltily, “What time is it now?”
Wei Xilou said, “Seven in the evening.”
The voice of his homeroom teacher, Wan Zheng, also came through the speaker, carrying a suppressed urgency. “Xu Muchan, where are you right now?”
Xu Muchan opened his mouth and said, “I’m in the hospital.”
He was just thinking about how to give a reasonable explanation when the teacher on the other end suddenly sounded strange.
“What a coincidence. You’re in the hospital too?”
If it wasn’t his imagination, Xu Muchan felt that he seemed to have let out a cold laugh.
“Wen Dajiang and He Jiaqi just returned to school. They said that Wei Yao got sick at noon, so they took him to the hospital. Did you happen to get sick too, or did you also accompany Wei Yao to the hospital?”
Xu Muchan: “……”
Although the homeroom teacher might not believe him, Xu Muchan still honestly said, “I was the one who got sick. It happened rather suddenly, so I forgot to ask for leave. I’m sorry, Teacher.”
Perhaps because his attitude was good, Wan Zheng’s tone sounded calmer.
“When will you recover from your illness? After you return to school, bring the medical certificate issued by the doctor and come to my office.”
Xu Muchan hung up the phone and immediately turned his head toward Wei Xilou.
“What illness did the doctor say I had again?”
“Malnutrition and anemia.” Wei Xilou knew nothing about human schools and was somewhat puzzled. “What certificate do you need?”
Xu Muchan murmured, “…I wonder if the homeroom teacher will believe me if I say I fainted from anemia and was sent to the hospital, and only just woke up.”
Wan Zheng wouldn’t believe that for a second.
When he discovered in the afternoon that four students were missing from his class, one of whom was Xu Muchan, who was blind, he had nearly gone crazy with worry. He had thought another school bullying incident had happened.
He hurriedly called the students one by one, but none of their phones could get through.
In his panic, he questioned the students in the class, then went to the security office to check the surveillance footage. He was practically dizzy after flipping through two hours of recordings, only to discover that during lunch break, the four students had appeared in the cafeteria at the same time and then disappeared without a trace.
Based on Wan Zheng’s rich experience fighting with students, he guessed that the four students had probably skipped class together and slipped out of school.
Although Xu Muchan and He Jiaqi were both model students and didn’t look like the type to skip class, unfortunately, Wei Yao and Wen Dajiang were mixed in among them.
Neither of those two was an easy one to deal with.
Wan Zheng had no choice but to personally search the Internet cafés and snack streets around the school for them.
But he had spent the entire afternoon worrying himself sick and searching, without finding even a single trace of them. As the sky grew dark and the four students were still nowhere to be found, with none of their phones reachable, Wan Zheng was already planning to call the police while mentally preparing himself to say goodbye to this job.
At that very moment, He Jiaqi’s phone finally connected.
Wen Dajiang had also returned with her.
The two of them looked somewhat disheveled. Wan Zheng did his best to remain calm as he questioned them about where they had gone that afternoon and asked about the whereabouts of Wei Yao and Xu Muchan.
Afterward, he had the two of them wait in the office and called Wei Yao and Xu Muchan.
No one answered Wei Yao’s phone, but Xu Muchan’s call went through.
Wan Zheng turned on speakerphone directly in front of the two students, which led to that conversation with Xu Muchan.
Wen Dajiang and He Jiaqi stood beside him listening. Their expressions were completely synchronized, with the word “Doomed” written on the left side of their faces and “Doomed” written on the right.
The three of them had absolutely no coordination and each had their own version of the story.
Well, now they were really screwed.
Xu Muchan hurriedly cut his hair with a few snips until it was roughly the length it had been before. Then he changed his clothes and prepared to return to school.
He had always been a top student in his teachers’ eyes. This was the first time since transferring to a new school that he had skipped class—and even gotten caught by his teacher.
This truly was a first in history.
Although being dragged into a ghost domain counted as something beyond his control, he could say that all he wanted. There was no way Wan Zheng would believe him.
Wei Xilou did not understand why he was in such a hurry. He narrowed his eyes and said, “Your homeroom teacher is far too troublesome.”
Xu Muchan immediately became wary. “You’re not allowed to do anything! Teacher Wan is a very good person, and he takes pretty good care of me.”
Wei Xilou had been snapped at by him, but instead he smiled.
“Then I’ll have Wei Jianguo take you to school.”
This time Xu Muchan did not refuse. He really did need to hurry back to school.
By the time they arrived at school, it was already eight o’clock. Wei Xilou walked him to the bottom of the teaching building before saying, “Call me when school is over. I’ll come pick you up.”
Xu Muchan gave a careless response and hurried upstairs.
As soon as he entered the office, he discovered that besides his homeroom teacher, Wan Zheng, there were two people standing in the corner.
Xu Muchan narrowed his eyes and carefully looked at them.
One was a boy and the other was a girl. The boy was very tall and broad, with slightly dark skin and short, spiky hair. The girl was petite, with her hair tied into a low ponytail. She hung her head and looked extremely dejected.
They were both unfamiliar faces.
But Xu Muchan guessed that these should be Wen Dajiang and He Jiaqi.
Sure enough, in the next moment Wan Zheng said, “Xu Muchan, did you get your medical certificate? Tell Wen Dajiang and He Jiaqi again what you did this afternoon.”
“……”
Xu Muchan could still make something up, but he and Wen Dajiang and He Jiaqi had never compared their stories. If they were confronted on the spot, there would definitely be countless inconsistencies.
So he decisively lowered his head.
“Teacher Wan, I’m sorry. Actually, I wasn’t sick.”
His willingness to admit his mistake directly made Wan Zheng’s expression improve somewhat. After giving the three of them a serious lecture, he finally said, “I’ll let this one go. No demerit, but don’t let there be a next time. You nearly scared me into having a heart attack. After you go back, each of you will write an eight-hundred-word self-criticism. Wei Yao still hasn’t returned. Tell him to write a fifteen-hundred-word self-criticism.”
The three of them obediently nodded. Like quails, they listened to the entire lecture before walking out of the office with weak, unsteady steps.
“What even is this?” Wen Dajiang grumbled. “There are already ghosts in this world. Why do I still have to go to school?”
He Jiaqi tilted her head and observed Xu Muchan, somewhat puzzled.
“Xu Muchan, are your eyes better?”
She had already found it strange in the office. She had the feeling that Xu Muchan seemed to be looking at her, and he had not been carrying his white cane either.
Xu Muchan nodded. “You could say it’s a blessing in disguise. I suddenly became able to see a little.”
He Jiaqi also became happy for him.
“Congratulations! Let’s hurry back to the classroom. I haven’t done any of today’s homework yet.”
Xu Muchan agreed and followed her.
Wen Dajiang: “……”
He suddenly felt that he wasn’t so afraid of ghosts anymore.
These two extraordinary people, who were determined to study themselves to death if studying didn’t kill them first, were much more frightening to him from the bottom of his heart.
When evening self-study ended, the Xu family’s driver was waiting at the school gate as usual.
Xu Wangchuan knew about Xu Muchan skipping class that afternoon and had originally wanted to take the opportunity to mock him a little. But he suddenly discovered that when Xu Muchan got into the car, he was not carrying his white cane, and when opening the car door, he had not fumbled around blindly either.
His expression immediately changed.
“Can you see now?”
Xu Muchan casually hummed in response, put on his earphones, and made it obvious that he did not want to say much to him.
Unexpectedly, Xu Wangchuan also remained very silent and did not ask any further questions.
When they returned to the villa, Xu Zhifei and Xu Qingming also learned the good news.
Especially Xu Zhifei, who was overjoyed. She held Xu Muchan’s face in her hands and waved some fingers in front of his eyes.
“You can definitely see now? How many is this?”
Xu Muchan cooperated.
“Three.”
“But I can only make out some blurry outlines if I concentrate hard.”
Xu Zhifei was still very happy.
“Being able to see means you’re recovering. Let’s go to the hospital for another examination tomorrow. Maybe your eyes will be completely healed very soon.”
Xu Muchan had the same intention. After Xu Zhifei pulled him along and talked with him for quite a while, he finally managed to return to his room to wash up.
Although his vision was blurry, being able to see still made things much more convenient. Xu Muchan put down his schoolbag and first went to the bathroom to take a shower. The Mountain God tablet on his chest was removed and placed on the sink outside.
After Xu Muchan finished showering and came out to retrieve the Mountain God tablet, he was surprised to discover that the color of his fingernails seemed to have turned a dark bluish-black, and they also seemed to be slightly longer than before.
Xu Muchan leaned closer and stared at them carefully for a long time, confirming that he was not imagining things because of his poor eyesight.
His first reaction was that this should be a side effect of the black Tai Sui. He hurriedly wrapped himself in a bathrobe and went to find the shrine cabinet, wanting to ask his brother about it.
When his gaze met the stone-carved statue inside the shrine, Xu Muchan suddenly froze.
He felt as though he had forgotten something.
“What is it?” Xu Muchan frowned and tried to remember.
At the Nanming school gate, Wei Jianguo, once again commandeered as the driver, looked at the gloomy man sitting in the passenger seat and cautiously said, “Old Ancestor, did you get the school’s dismissal time wrong? Nanming usually finishes evening self-study at 9:45. It’s already 10:30. The students went home a long time ago.”
Wei Xilou slowly pulled out a cold smile.
“Take my body to Jiahe Garden.”
Before Wei Jianguo could figure out what exactly those words meant, he saw the person sitting in the passenger seat suddenly slump downward as if all the bones had been pulled from his body.
He instinctively reached out to support him, only to discover that the arm beneath his palm was cold and hard. It did not feel like the touch of a living person at all.
It felt more like a corpse.