xii

Liwei walked to the kitchen, where she found Madam Zheng.

"Madam, did Lin-ge give you an order just now ?" she asked.

"He did ! I thought he forgot about it." she pointed to a wooden tray on a thin shelf under the counter. "It's this one."

She thanked her and went to take it, informing her that she'd take care of it. She walked out into the restaurant and walked toward the old man.

"Here's your order." she said half-coldly, putting the tray down.

"Where's the young man ?"

"He's been assigned to something else. I'm taking over his job."

"That's a pity ! What a nice young man, we weren't done conversing !" he laughed.

"Now you're done." she gave a fake smile.

"I see you're as disagreeable as ever." he commented in a low voice, but loud enough for her to hear.

She raised a brow. "I don't think we know each other."

"I saw you a few times in the streets."

"If you say so."

Without waiting for the man to say more, she turned on her heels and left. She walked over to Lan.

"Did he say anything else ?" Lan asked, his voice full of curiosity.

"He just asked me about you. I said you've been assigned to another job."

"He clearly sees me here."

"This is a job too. You take care of rooms."

"Did you find out anything about him ?"

"No, he's a normal human. He doesn't have any aura around him, even less an evil one."

"Maybe he was just a weird old man."

Liwei was frowning. "Maybe."

"You don't seem convinced."

"Something feels weird."

"What ?"

"I can't explain it, but even if I felt nothing from him, I still have a weird feeling."

"I think we should just... put it in the back of our minds for now. I mean, let's be careful and wait to see if something else happens."

After a few seconds, Liwei nodded. It wasn't like there was anything else they could do for now. They couldn't act rashly and accidentally expose something.

They worked for a couple of hours more before going back. The sun had started to set, and it wouldn't be long until the sky got dark.

"We worked a lot today and even though I didn't eat anything since this morning, I don't feel hungry." Lan said while they walked.

"It's because you've recovered." she answered.

Lan understood what she was talking about. "Oh right ! I remember it works like this !"

It completely slipped out of his mind ! He was so used to feeling hungry, that after recovering his spiritual powers he didn't think he wouldn't be anymore. But as an Immortal, his cultivation was high, so besides eating, he didn't need to sleep either.

Of course, that didn't mean he wouldn't do either of these. Immortal or not, he couldn't abandon the two best things in life —eating and sleeping.

Liwei nodded at him. She didn't say anything else until they reached the house. Once the door was closed, she asked him.

"Did you remember anything else ?"

Lan was taken aback by this sudden question. Remember 'anything else' ? He almost didn't know what she was talking about, but it quickly hit him : he remembered his name, and just now he said he 'remembered it worked like this'.

He stayed silent for a while, unsure of how to handle this situation without messing up more.

"No." he finally said. "It's just when you mentioned it, it seemed to make sense in my head so I said I remembered."

Liwei simply nodded. Whether she believed him or not, he didn't know, but she didn't push it. Lan was secretly relieved.

He untied the veil from behind his head, and gave a small smile, trying to appear natural. "Then I'll go practice some more !"

"Okay. I'll be in my bedroom. If you need anything, just knock."

"Okay."

With that, he left for the backyard, and she went to the opposite direction. Once she slid the screen door closed, she spiritually contacted Wen Li thanks to the willow vine tied around her wrist. It took her the time to sit on her bed to get an answer.

"What is it ?" Wen Li immediately asked.

"There's something weird today." she mentally answered.

"What ?"

"I'm not sure myself. A man came to the inn and seemed very interested in Huang Lan."

"What kind of person was it ? Was it an immortal being ?"

"No actually. It was a mortal, but even when making sure of that, it still felt weird."

"See ? That's why I told you to not bring him outside too much ! But you made him work with you at the most crowded place of that damn village ! Are you happy ?" she talked angrily.

"He wanted to, what was I supposed to do ? Lock him up in the house ?"

She mentally rolled her eyes at the familiar argument.

"What's worst ? Locking him for a while or putting him in danger ?"

"Neither. Anyways ! I didn't call you to fight about the same thing again !"

"Then what for ? To tell me about it and make me angry ?"

"And to ask you how it is on your side, on your damn peak."

"No one is being suspicious."

"Yet. Look more carefully !"

"It may not be someone here."

"Not someone there ? If not them, then who could it be ?"

"Don't be so easy to point fingers !" Wen Li sighed.

"You seem to have forgotten how this all started !"

"I have not !"

"So how can you doubt it ? Defending this corrupted, fake-righteous kind is useless !"

"Liu Liwei, don't go too far !"

"Is that too far ? Then you should hear everything else I have to say !"

"Okay I'm done talking to you for today."

"I'm not done !"

"What now ?"

"He recovered his spiritual powers."

"And ? What did you tell him ?"

"I told him I'd help him practice."

"I told you he couldn't use it !"

Liwei rolled her eyes. "And that's what I told him. But he still needs to re-learn how to use it. The spell cast on him was too strong, it confused his mind so much that he can't even light up a flame anymore !"

"Leave him like that for now ! At least until we find a clue !"

"No I can't. What if he's in danger at some point and needs to protect himself ? Wen Li, don't you think you're going too far ? You went as far as reinforcing the spell that made him lose his memory !"

"It didn't even work !"

"I'm glad it didn't ! He's even more incapable than a kid now !"

"It's better like this."

"I don't agree with you."

"I know. You don't agree because you don't risk as much as me !"

Wen Li tried to keep a calm tone, but the anger could be heard.

"Don't go thinking I'm completely safe here either." she retorted. "But Huang Lan isn't dumb. Even if he remembered he wouldn't do anything dumb."

"He would. Remember how he got in this situation ? Because he couldn't help but do something dumb !"

"Has anyone told you how narrow-minded you were ? You'd rather dig out your two eyes than admit you're wrong or that someone is right."

"I don't care. Practice with him if you want, but make sure he doesn't use it except if there really is no choice."

"All right."

With that, she ended the communication.

Liwei was really against Wen Li's ways. She didn't think like her at all ! She didn't think it was that big of a deal if Lan remembered everything, it would've helped them greatly in their quest for the truth.

But on the other hand, she could understand why she was doing that. So although she accepted Wen Li's condition of keeping him in the dark in exchange of her help, she mentally added that if the situation got worse, or simply didn't advance, she'd tell him everything.

But for now, she'd keep her word.

She got up from her bed and exited her bedroom. She was planning on joining Lan in the backyard and helping him practice.

She was more than worried when she found out that he couldn't even cast the simplest of spells. When they temporarily restrained his powers, upon them returning he still should have been able to use it well. After all, it was in his nature. It was like a human losing their memory —they would still be capable of their everyday actions, like eating or taking a shower, or even reading.

But if it reached this point, it meant that someone very powerful was behind this plot against him.

She opened the back door and walked out. Lan was standing in the middle of the yard, trying to gather energy in his palm, as she had shown him.

She waited for him to open his eyes to ask, "How's it going ?"

He turned his face toward her. "Oh. Well, not really good." he smiled embarrassedly. "But I've been feeling energy inside of me more and more, so I'm not discouraged ! This is only the first day after all !"

Liwei smiled, "You're right. It must be because you haven't used them for so long, you became... a bit numb, so to say. It'll eventually come back."

"It surely will !"

Before any of them could think of adding anything, Liwei's expression suddenly shifted to a frown.

"What is it ?" Lan asked.

Liwei didn't answer immediately, as if she was making sure of something before talking about it.

"Something is wrong... Don't you feel it ?"

Lan thought about it. He indeed felt uneasy, but he thought that there was no reason to, so he simply pushed it aside. But now that Liwei had mentioned it, maybe she felt it too and there was actually a reason.

"Uh... I'm not sure if you're referring to that, but I do feel weird." he said.

"Weird ? You mean you're feeling a strong negative energy, leading to an inauspicious foreboding ?"

"That... explains it way more accurately. Yes, that's it."

"I think something is wrong in the village."

"Wrong in what way ? Like evil roaming around ?"

"Yes."

Lan's eyes widened. He had taken a guess supported by his many years of reading, but he hadn't actually expected to be right. And he didn't even want to be right !

Evil roaming around the village ? He wasn't ready to face this situation ! He couldn't use his spiritual powers yet, and wasn't even allowed to !

"Stay here for now. I'll go take a look."

Liwei ran back to the house. Lan was tempted to follow behind, but he saw a shadow on the ground. He looked up at the night sky, seeing a black mass flying under the moonlight. It was followed by even more of them, flying from everywhere, and howling ominously.

Soon, the whole village was in a state of panic, and the villagers' screams joined in to the howls.