“Xu Muchan, why are you walking so fast?”
On his way to school that morning, Xu Muchan walked toward the classroom with his head lowered and his strides long. Wei Yao and Wen Dajiang caught up with him from behind.
The moment Wei Yao saw Xu Muchan’s mouth, he loudly exclaimed, “Hey, what happened to your mouth? It looks like it’s even a little swollen.”
Xu Muchan looked at him expressionlessly. He stared at Wei Yao until the latter almost felt a chill run down his spine before finally saying, word by word, “I accidentally bit it while eating breakfast.”
Wei Yao continued muttering beside him, like a giant human noise-making machine.
“How’d you bite it that badly? It looks pretty serious. Why don’t you go to the school clinic and get some medicine…”
Xu Muchan was already in a bad mood, and Wei Yao just had to keep chattering beside him. He turned his face and shot Wei Yao a cold look.
“Final exams are coming up soon. Are you ready? Otherwise, what if you end up coming in dead last again…”
Wei Yao immediately fell silent like a duck whose neck had been squeezed shut. He wore a miserable expression and grunted for a while before scratching his face.
“It’s not something I can control. Mainly, my ability just isn’t enough. You understand, right?”
After saying that, he shook his own head first and lamented bitterly, “You definitely don’t understand!”
A top student simply couldn’t empathize with the suffering of a bottom student.
It was just like every time he said he didn’t want to study, Xu Muchan would look at him with that uniquely perplexed and confused expression of a top student, as though asking how anyone in this world could possibly not love studying.
Young Master Wei, who didn’t love studying, felt deeply insulted.
Unwilling to humiliate himself any further, he decisively changed the subject. Putting an arm around Xu Muchan’s shoulder, he began fantasizing about the wonderful winter vacation after the final exams.
“I heard we get half a month off for winter vacation. What are you planning to do during the break?”
Xu Muchan thought of the certain mentally unstable person at home who needed to be taken care of. His expression turned cold as he shook his head.
“No plans. I’ll probably just stay home.”
Wei Yao said, “My grandpa said our family is planning to return to Yundong this year for the Spring Festival to pay respects to our ancestors. By then, he should invite Old Ancestor to come with us. If you don’t have anything to do, why don’t you come back to Yundong with us for New Year?”
Xu Muchan said, “Your family’s Old Ancestor probably won’t go.”
“Why?” Wei Yao said. “My grandpa even said that once everything in Yundong is arranged, he’ll personally come to invite Old Ancestor.”
Xu Muchan said, “He’s not very convenient right now.”
Wei Yao was practically the “Hundred Thousand Whys,” relentlessly pressing him for an answer.
“How is he not convenient? You’re not even going anywhere else.”
Xu Muchan turned his head and looked at him.
“His brain hasn’t been working properly lately. I suggest you don’t go looking for him.”
Wei Yao: “????”
Seeing Xu Muchan shake him off and enter the classroom, Wei Yao hurried after him, muttering, “Hey, hey, don’t leave! What do you mean his brain isn’t working properly? Explain a little more…”
But Xu Muchan had already sat down at his desk and ignored him.
Senior year was packed with classes. Even the few breaks between classes were occupied by teachers from various subjects. Wei Yao was tormented by a mountain of books and an ocean of questions all day long.
After finally making it to the end of the school day, he was just about to catch Xu Muchan and get a proper answer to his earlier question when he turned his head and discovered that Xu Muchan had already walked a long way ahead.
There was no way he could catch up.
Here’s the continuation in the same close, natural American-English style, preserving the paragraph breaks and character names.
Wei Yao turned his head in confusion and said to Wen Dajiang, “Have you noticed that Xu Muchan has been especially eager to leave school lately?”
The moment school let out, he disappeared without a trace, practically running faster than a rabbit.
Wen Dajiang patted him on the shoulder and said earnestly, “Old Wei, if you’re not eager to leave school, there’s something wrong with your brain.”
With that, he swung his schoolbag over his shoulder and quickly slipped away too.
Xu Muchan really was in a hurry to get home. There was still a score he needed to settle with Wei Xilou.
But after getting out of the car and walking to the front gate, he hesitated again. He touched his faintly aching lips and frowned, unable to make up his mind.
The swelling on his lips had already gone down, but the wound from the bite was still there.
Xu Muchan hesitated at the entrance for a moment before finally pushing the door open and walking inside.
Wei Xilou was sitting in a single armchair in front of the floor-to-ceiling window. The moment Xu Muchan entered, his gaze followed him. His eyes lingered on Xu Muchan’s face for a moment, but he didn’t come over and cling to him like before, as though he still remembered Xu Muchan’s demands.
But the wound on his lips constantly reminded Xu Muchan that although the person in front of him looked muddle-headed on the surface, as if he understood nothing, he had actually already learned how to pay lip service while secretly doing the opposite.
He glared at him unhappily, and Wei Xilou responded with an innocent look.
Xu Muchan: “…”
He immediately lost his temper. He felt that getting angry with someone who couldn’t be reasoned with would only make himself angry, so he turned around and headed for the kitchen.
“I’m going to make dinner. Do you want some? If you don’t say anything, I’ll take that as a no.”
The person behind him, as expected, said nothing.
Xu Muchan’s mood improved slightly, and he decisively made only one serving of dinner.
When he came out carrying the cooked noodles, the phone on the sofa rang. Xu Muchan thought it was his own phone, but when he picked it up, he realized it was Wei Xilou’s.
The incoming call displayed only a string of numbers. Xu Muchan glanced at it and ignored it, but the phone, which had just gone quiet, rang again.
He could only frown and answer it.
“Hello, who is this?”
A man’s voice came from the other end, vaguely familiar.
“I’m looking for Mr. Wei. Is Mr. Wei there?”
Xu Muchan glanced at the man with his back turned toward him.
“He’s not available to take the call right now. I’m his younger brother. If there’s something you need, you can tell me and I’ll pass it on to him.”
The other party was clearly in a hurry to find Wei Xilou. After hesitating briefly, he said, “There is something. Please tell Mr. Wei that the goods he ordered have arrived. They’ve already been sitting at the shop for quite some time. Also, Miss Huang is back. She has something extremely urgent to discuss with him.”
The more Xu Muchan listened, the more deeply he frowned.
“Where are the goods? I’ll have someone pick them up. And as for Miss Huang, is it something related to the company?”
The other party said, “The goods are at the antique shop. As for Miss Huang… I’m afraid it wouldn’t be convenient for me to disclose what’s going on with Miss Huang. Just mention it to Mr. Wei and he’ll know.”
Xu Muchan glanced at the man beside the floor-to-ceiling window and said, “Send me the address. I’ll find a time to come over with him.”
When the other party heard that Wei Xilou would come in person, he immediately sent over the address.
Xu Muchan opened the text message and saw that the address wasn’t unfamiliar at all. It was the antique shop on the pedestrian street—the same shop where he, Wei Yao, and Wen Dajiang had encountered a ghost before.
Xu Muchan walked over to Wei Xilou with the phone and held the screen in front of him. Expressionless, he said, “Big Brother, looks like you’ve been keeping quite a few things from me.”
Wei Xilou looked up at him, took the phone from his hand, tossed it aside, and then grasped his hand.
He seemed to particularly like physical contact with Xu Muchan. After taking Xu Muchan’s hand, he lowered his head and sniffed it again.
His straight, prominent nose slid upward from the center of Xu Muchan’s palm. The tip of his nose seemed to brush against the skin on the inside of Xu Muchan’s arm, bringing with it a string of itchy sensations.
Xu Muchan immediately pulled his arm back, hid the hand that still carried that strange sensation behind his back, and glared fiercely at him. Then he picked up the phone and went over to the dining table to continue eating dinner.
At the same time, he made an appointment with the man calling himself Boss Zheng to go to the shop that Friday evening to collect the goods.
When Friday evening arrived, Xu Muchan went out with Wei Xilou.
The driver took them to the antique shop on the pedestrian street. Xu Muchan discovered that the shop was actually doing quite well. Compared with the last time they had come, there were considerably more people around. Aside from people checking in and taking photos on the first floor, several women who were obviously quite wealthy were also coming down from the second floor.
Xu Muchan took Wei Xilou by the hand and avoided the crowd as they went upstairs, where they saw Boss Zheng.
Boss Zheng was the owner of the antique shop. Besides him, there was also a middle-aged man and a young woman in the shop, who appeared to be newly hired employees.
The moment Boss Zheng saw Wei Xilou, he immediately rubbed his hands together and came forward to greet him. But once he clearly saw the person standing beside Wei Xilou, his expression stiffened slightly. Obviously, he still remembered Xu Muchan.
His shrewd eyes moved back and forth between Wei Xilou and Xu Muchan.
“Young man, you and Mr. Wei are…”
“He’s my older brother,” Xu Muchan said. “Where are the goods?”
Seeing Wei Xilou, Boss Zheng was reassured. He personally went to the safe and took out a small wooden box.
“This is what Mr. Wei ordered.”
Xu Muchan took it. The wooden box wasn’t very heavy, and he had no idea what was inside. He didn’t open it immediately, instead asking about “Miss Huang.”
Boss Zheng instinctively glanced at Wei Xilou. Seeing that he had no reaction, he assumed Xu Muchan knew about it as well, so he led them toward the lounge.
“Miss Huang is waiting in the lounge.”
Xu Muchan pressed his lips together and followed him inside.
Sure enough, there was a woman in red sitting in the lounge. She had originally been sitting with her back to them, but when she heard the noise, she turned around.
The moment she saw Xu Muchan, the expression on her face stiffened.
Xu Muchan likewise looked at her expressionlessly, then slowly shifted his gaze toward Wei Xilou.
Boss Zheng was quite perceptive. He had already closed the door and left.
Obviously aware of what she had done before, Huang Ying awkwardly avoided Xu Muchan’s gaze and remained silent, not daring to speak first.
Xu Muchan, however, quickly composed himself and spoke first.
“Boss Zheng said you had something urgent. What exactly is it?”
Huang Ying glanced at Wei Xilou. Seeing that he didn’t stop her, she explained everything honestly.
“Back then, when I was in Shu’nan City, I detected an aura similar to that of the mask, so I hurried back to inform you. Later, I accidentally detected a similar aura again in Jiangcheng, so I followed that aura all the way. But when I reached deep into Panlong Ridge, at the northwestern border of Chu Province, the aura disappeared.
“I wasn’t willing to give up at the time, so I stayed in Panlong Ridge for a while longer. As a result, I discovered that there seemed to be many strange auras inside Panlong Ridge… The thing you’re looking for might also be in there. It’s just that my strength is limited, so I didn’t dare go any deeper…”
Xu Muchan understood.
For some reason, Big Brother had asked this “Miss Huang” to help him search for something.
The thing they were looking for was very likely an important part of him that he had once lost, such as the monkey head they had just found in Shu’nan City.
Xu Muchan frowned, but he couldn’t understand why the heads of the Five Wuchang Gods had been scattered in different places, or what exactly had happened back then at the old Wei family residence.
Seeing that neither of them spoke for a long time, Huang Ying immediately became somewhat nervous. She carefully defended herself.
“It’s just that the situation inside Panlong Ridge is too complicated, so I didn’t dare continue deeper…”
She seemed extremely wary of Wei Xilou.
Xu Muchan noticed this. After thinking for a moment, he said, “I don’t have time recently. After winter vacation, take us there.”
Since Big Brother wanted to recover the parts he had lost, that meant they were important to him. Right now, he was mentally confused, so Xu Muchan would help him search for them. Perhaps once everything had been found, Big Brother would be able to recover.
Thinking this, Xu Muchan made up his mind.
“After winter vacation, once we’ve arranged the itinerary, I’ll have Boss Zheng pass the message on to you.”
Huang Ying breathed a little easier and nodded in agreement. When she saw the two of them get up to leave, she eagerly escorted them to the door.
However, as she watched their backs, she remembered that Wei Xilou hadn’t said a single word today. It had all been Xu Muchan negotiating with her, which seemed somewhat strange.
But then she thought about it again. With Mr. Wei’s abilities, surely it was impossible for him to have been coerced or controlled by someone.
She therefore put that small doubt out of her mind.
After returning home, Xu Muchan finally opened the small wooden box.
Inside the wooden box was a small bowl filled with black water that gave off a faint glow.
His first reaction was that it was Black River water. But after searching through his memories, he remembered that when they had been at the Black River shallows, Big Brother had once taken him to find a monkey-faced old man. That monkey-faced old man had given him a bowl of water just like this to drink.
It seemed to be Moon-Yin Water.
At the time, Big Brother had said that with this, there would be no need to go through the trouble of looking for the Black Tai Sui anymore.
Xu Muchan held the small bowl, his expression complicated. The displeasure he had felt earlier gradually melted away.
He carried the bowl over to Wei Xilou and asked him, “Is this useful to you?”
At his request, Wei Xilou was sitting on the sofa. When he heard the question, he raised his face to look at him, then leaned closer and sniffed his hand before pushing it toward Xu Muchan.
This probably meant that he wanted Xu Muchan to drink it.
Xu Muchan understood what he meant. He drank all the liquid in the small bowl, then bent down and hugged him, saying softly, “Big Brother, thank you.”
It seemed that all along, Big Brother had been making plans for his sake.
He wanted to be able to attend school peacefully, so Big Brother had bought this villa and hired a housekeeper to take care of his meals and daily life, allowing him to attend school without any worries.
He didn’t want to become some Ghost King. He only wanted to live like an ordinary person, so Big Brother had made him the Mountain God Tablet. He had also found the Black Tai Sui and Moon-Yin Water for him, allowing him to live like an ordinary person.
But when Big Brother himself encountered problems, he always dealt with them alone and was unwilling to tell him.
Xu Muchan rubbed against the slightly cool skin and complained softly, “You never tell me anything. Now that something’s gone wrong, I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do.”
Wei Xilou hugged him back. As though he had sensed Xu Muchan’s closeness and softened attitude, he immediately pulled him into his arms. The tip of his nose gently rubbed against the back of Xu Muchan’s neck in an almost infatuated manner, and he softly called out to him.
“Ah-Chan…”
Xu Muchan shrank his neck slightly but didn’t pull away.
He turned his face to the side, resting his chin on the sturdy arm. His eyelashes hung low, and beneath his nose was that familiar scent that had long since become reassuring.
After a long while, Xu Muchan’s eyelashes lifted, and he said softly, “Big Brother, when you get better, I’ll tell you something.”
The person holding him didn’t hear the low murmur clearly. Instead, he followed the curve of Xu Muchan’s neck downward, touching and sniffing along the way. Before he could do anything more excessive, Xu Muchan jumped down from his lap, turned around, and said, “I’m going back to my room to rest. You should go to sleep early too.”
This left Wei Xilou staring at the empty space in his arms, his brows tightly furrowed.
After the final exams, winter vacation arrived soon afterward.
Xu Muchan went home to pack his luggage. After making a trip to the antique shop to pick up Huang Ying, he boarded a plane to Panlin.
Panlong Ridge was located in the northwestern border region of Chu Province. It was a national-level nature reserve with vast stretches of well-preserved primeval forest. Its natural resources were quite abundant, and it was also a relatively popular tourist destination in the country.
It was currently winter. According to the travel guides Xu Muchan had looked up online, many tourists came to Panlong Ridge to ski during this season.
He took Wei Xilou by plane to Panlin, then hired a private car to take them to the town nearest to Panlong Ridge.
The town’s tourism industry was well developed. Worried that someone might notice something unusual about Wei Xilou, Xu Muchan didn’t stay at a crowded hotel. Instead, he carefully selected a local homestay.
After settling down in the town, Xu Muchan began asking around about the specific situation in Panlong Ridge. According to the information he had found, aside from the scenic areas open to the public, many parts of Panlong Ridge had been designated as prohibited or restricted areas, and entering them without permission was forbidden.
But according to Huang Ying’s description, the area where she had detected something unusual had been deep inside Panlong Ridge. Xu Muchan estimated that it already fell within the prohibited area.
The terrain of Panlong Ridge was complicated, and it was winter now. Xu Muchan had no experience with wilderness survival. Going into the mountains alone would not only be extremely difficult but dangerous as well, so he had to find an experienced local guide to take him inside.
Xu Muchan spent five whole days going around the town before he finally found a guide who was willing to enter the mountains.
The guide was in his fifties, but he looked vigorous and full of energy. At a glance, he clearly looked like someone who had spent many years exposed to the elements. Xu Muchan felt somewhat reassured and began discussing the price with him.
“You’re just a student. What are you going into the mountains for at this time of year? It’s freezing cold up there. If you accidentally get lost, you could really freeze to death. And if you’re unlucky enough to run into wolves, tigers, or other wild beasts, you’re done for.”
Xu Muchan frowned.
“How much will you take to go into the mountains? There are three of us.”
The guide held up five fingers and waved them.
Xu Muchan asked doubtfully, “Five thousand?”
The guide spat out the toothpick from his mouth and turned to leave.
“Five thousand? Who’d bother with you for that?”
“Fifty thousand is fine too,” Xu Muchan said. “I want to go deep into the mountains.”
The guide’s eyes swept over him several times before he displayed his payment QR code on his phone.
“Half up front, and you settle the rest when we come out. You’re not planning to do anything illegal, are you? If you really are, I’ll report you once we get out. I’m only responsible for showing you the way. I don’t care about anything else.”
Xu Muchan nodded. After promptly making the payment, he asked, “Can we enter the mountains tomorrow?”
The guide glanced at the amount that had arrived in his account and immediately broke into a broad grin.
“Not that fast. It’s freezing enough to kill a person in the middle of winter. We need to get the equipment ready before going in. The day after tomorrow.”
He looked Xu Muchan over again.
“What you’re wearing won’t do. I’ll give you a list. Buy everything according to it. Or you can give me the money and I’ll buy everything for you.”
Xu Muchan said, “Give me the list. I’ll buy it myself.”
The guide clicked his tongue and laughed.
“Not bad. The little kid’s pretty shrewd.”
Xu Muchan had no particular plans, so once the guide finished making the list, he went straight to a nearby city to purchase everything.
After everything was fully prepared, Xu Muchan took Wei Xilou and Huang Ying to meet the guide at the agreed location.
Xu Muchan looked at the snow-covered forest ahead and asked, “Are we entering the mountains from here?”
The guide walked in front and said, “Yep. You want to enter the restricted area. Did you think you could walk in through the main gate in broad daylight? If someone takes a picture of us and puts it online, don’t drag me into it and get me hauled in for questioning too.”
The guide was older, but his stamina was quite good. He led Xu Muchan deeper inside while chatting incessantly about all sorts of trivial things.
Xu Muchan wasn’t a talkative person. When asked questions he could answer, he would politely respond with a couple of words. When he encountered questions that were difficult to answer, he simply remained silent.
After this happened several times, the guide looked back at him and muttered, “Not very old, but you’ve got a strange temper.”
In his eyes, all three people in this group were strange.
The youngest one still looked like a student. He had a cold expression and didn’t say much, but he had casually thrown out fifty thousand yuan, so he was probably the child of a wealthy family. The tall man walking beside the kid also didn’t say much. He hadn’t spoken a single word since they met and simply followed the kid step by step. The two of them practically stuck together.
Of course, if he had to say who was the strangest, it was the girl walking at the very back.
The guide had taken this job for the money and only wanted to earn it safely, so naturally he didn’t want anyone to get hurt. He would occasionally turn around to check whether anyone had fallen behind.
That was when he noticed something wrong.
He discovered that the girl walking at the back was not only dressed rather lightly, but also made almost no sound as she walked through the snow. There weren’t even any footprints.
She was clearly a young woman, yet she drifted along so lightly that she seemed almost like some kind of monster or spirit.
The guide couldn’t help looking at her face a few extra times. The girl seemed to notice. She raised her eyes and stared directly at him.
It was originally a very beautiful face, but the guide couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something dark and eerie about her…
He quickly looked away, rubbed his hands together, and turned his head toward Xu Muchan.
“Little brother, now that we’re already in the mountains, you should at least tell me where exactly you’re going and what you’re doing, right? Otherwise, this forest is so huge. I can’t exactly take all of you around the entire place. I’ll make this clear in advance—the fifty thousand yuan can only cover seven days at most. Seven days isn’t enough to search through a forest this big, and there are some places where a living person can’t even reach.”
Xu Muchan looked at Huang Ying.
“Which way?”
Huang Ying came to the front and sensed her surroundings. After a moment, she uncertainly pointed in one direction.
“That way.”
The guide muttered under his breath.
“That direction leads toward Zhenxian Lake. I hear there are often tigers around that area. What are you going to Zhenxian Lake for?”
Xu Muchan glanced at him and said expressionlessly, “We’re definitely not doing anything illegal. Other than that, don’t ask.”
The way his expression turned cold was quite intimidating. Combined with how increasingly strange the other two people looked, the guide immediately didn’t dare ask any more questions and simply lowered his head and concentrated on leading the way.
Although this guide was somewhat talkative, he was indeed very experienced. Not only was he extremely familiar with the terrain of Panlong Ridge, he also had an abundance of wilderness survival knowledge.
They carefully avoided places where wild beasts were likely to appear. After successfully spending the night in the forest, they continued onward early the next morning.
Around the afternoon of the second day, they finally saw the Zhenxian Lake the guide had mentioned.
“Is this the place?” Xu Muchan looked at Huang Ying again.
Huang Ying, however, showed a hesitant expression. She turned around in the forest, trying to trace the aura from before, but no matter what she did, she couldn’t find it.
She looked at Xu Muchan somewhat nervously.
“The aura is gone.”
Xu Muchan frowned.
“Do you still remember the route you took before? Maybe we can search along the path you followed last time.”
Huang Ying did remember.
“It should have been somewhere around this lake. I saw this lake back then too.”
“Then let’s rest for a while first, and search the surrounding area afterward,” Xu Muchan decided.
Listening to their conversation, the guide felt even more as though he were listening to a heavenly scripture and couldn’t understand a word.
“What exactly are you looking for?”
Xu Muchan ignored him. He sat down beside the campfire and stared blankly at the distant surface of the lake.
Wei Xilou sat right beside him, likewise looking toward the distant lake.
It was winter now, and a thin layer of ice had formed over the surface of the lake. The surrounding forest was covered in snow, and the scenery was actually quite beautiful.
Xu Muchan turned his face toward him and asked quietly, “Big Brother, can you sense it? Which way should we go later?”
Wei Xilou turned his face and met his gaze. He raised a hand and pointed toward the surface of the lake.
Xu Muchan frowned and muttered, “Forget it. I shouldn’t have asked you.”
After the four of them rested for a while, Xu Muchan and Huang Ying searched around Zhenxian Lake, but they didn’t discover anything.
Seeing that the sky was already getting dark, the guide reminded them, “Let’s find somewhere to set up camp first. We need to stay farther away from the lake.”
Xu Muchan asked, “Why do we need to stay farther away from the lake?”
The guide said irritably, “For one thing, wild beasts might come to the lakeshore to drink at night. If you run into one, it’ll be trouble. And secondly, haven’t you heard the legend about Zhenxian Lake? They say an immortal lives in this lake. If you’re unlucky enough to run into it, you won’t be able to escape.”