Light Rain

Gu Baiyi knew that Jiang Fei could see through her true cultivation level. But Jiang Fei had always been indifferent to everything, so Gu Baiyi didn't bother to hide much from her.

After all, her most pressing reason for coming to the Bodhi Sect this time was to find that demonic sword which had been guarded by Mei He for seventy years.

Though she did have some personal motives for joining the Wanjian Sect's group, the most important reason was still because she happened to pick up Xie Bai.

Had Xie Bai not taken a Wanjian Sect token with him when he ran off, and had he not been so familiar with Gong Yu's formation techniques, Gu Baiyi wouldn't have been able to break through the barrier and enter the Wanjian Sect so easily.

On the other side, Jiang Fei looked at Gu Baiyi and asked earnestly, "You've seen that wall too?"

Just as Gu Baiyi had expected, Jiang Fei didn't actually care much about who she was.

All that truly concerned her was when the plums would ripen, whether the boss lady in Tianshui Prefecture still sold osmanthus cakes, and that immovable, insurmountable wall standing before her.

Gu Baiyi nodded slightly. "I haven't seen it myself, only heard a bit about it."

Jiang Fei asked seriously, "What do you mean by 'heard a bit'?"

Gu Baiyi responded with a faint smile, "According to The Hidden Records of Cultivation, the Sanhua Immortal, who forged the five divine swords, came from a crack in the sky."

"Based on what you described, when the clouds split open, you saw a pair of giant eyes beyond the barrier. That might mean those eyes were not of this world, and that barrier could very well be a gate to a place beyond."

Jiang Fei was silent for a moment before saying, "So you believe what lies beyond the barrier is a world outside ours?"

But Gu Baiyi shook her head. "Perhaps. Or perhaps not."

Jiang Fei frowned deeply.

She wasn't sure what to make of Gu Baiyi's answer.

But when Ji Rong heard the words "a gate," she immediately understood what Gu Baiyi was talking about.

In the eighty-seventh side quest of Sword Deity, there was a randomly triggered event.

The condition to unlock it was reaching the Cloud-Chasing Realm and heading to the Moonlight Pavilion before midnight. There was a 50% chance it would trigger.

There wasn't anything particularly special about that quest, but Ji Rong remembered it because completing it granted the player a handwritten journal by Chu Changli.

What surprised her was that, despite the developers' usual laziness and overreliance on filler, they'd actually created a journal from the former Demon Lord, complete with daily notes from Chu Changli herself.

Of course, most of it was nonsense, and most players never bothered to read it.

But Ji Rong had.

She didn't know why. Even though she knew the developers were amateurs and the game felt slapped together at times, Sword Deity still gave her an inexplicable urge to keep playing.

The word "barrier" had come up twice in Chu Changli's journal.

The first time was right after she became Demon Lord. She had written:

"Today, I ascended to the position of Demon Lord. I was in a good mood and celebrated by killing three people. Afterward, I still felt bored."

"So I picked up a random book, something called Mystic Records of the Unknown. It was written by some muddleheaded Daoist. That guy hinted that beyond the barrier lay a place outside the world."

"Tch. I asked Yue Qianqiu about it. She said there's nothing beyond that barrier. It's like a mountain behind a mountain, just another barrier behind it."

"The book was dull. Yue Qianqiu was even duller."

The second time the "barrier" was mentioned was a year before the Battle of Demon Suppression. These were the last few entries in the journal:

"Today, I went to the far south, to the ends of the world."

"Seeing that barrier reminded me of a question I once wrote. I hate answering questions, and I hate that wall. But Yue Qianqiu liked it."

"She liked writing questions, and she always stared at that wall. No, she said it wasn't a wall. It was a door. A door that kept all of us trapped in the same box."

"She said that one day, she would open that door. That would be the day everything would be complete."

"Where will Yue Qianqiu go? I don't know. But one day, I'll open that door too."

"I'll go where Yue Qianqiu went."

There were no more entries after that.

Because one year later, Chu Changli was defeated by Yue Qianqiu, fell into the Ghost Tomb, and died.

Recalling this plotline, Ji Rong was now fairly certain: whatever Gu Baiyi knew about this world was more or less aligned with her own knowledge.

Which meant Gu Baiyi was either a transmigrator like her, or someone reincarnated into this world.

But… there was one more possibility, one Ji Rong really didn't want to think about.

That is…

Everything she had experienced wasn't a game at all, but a real, living world.

And everyone here… was real.

Ji Rong's mind spun. If these people were real, did that mean she was the fake one?

Because if this world was real, then her past life might've just been a game.

Maybe she was the NPC, and these "game characters" were the real players.

Just the thought made Ji Rong's scalp tingle.

And yet, she had to admit, her once firm belief in materialism was beginning to crumble.

Ji Rong's eyes welled with tears.

Please, give me a break. I'm just a salted fish.

While she was lost in thought, Gu Baiyi spoke again, her tone slow and calm: "Perhaps. Or perhaps not. After all, the book was just something a Daoist made up. Seeing is believing, hearing is deceiving, his words shouldn't be trusted so easily."

Jiang Fei nodded thoughtfully.

Then she turned to Ji Rong and asked, "Junior Sister, what do you think?"

You're asking me? What am I supposed to think? Ji Rong groaned internally.

Still, she pretended to ponder for a moment before replying, "Makes sense."

Those two words "makes sense" were as vague as they were mysterious. No one could tell what exactly made sense, or who exactly made it.

But considering the topic itself was already cryptic and mysterious, her answer didn't seem too out of place.

Jiang Fei wasn't satisfied, though, and pressed further, "Then, what did you write for that question? 'What lies in the far south? And what lies in the far north?' What was your answer?"

Ji Rong: "..."

Truthfully, she'd written something completely random at the time. But judging by her unexpectedly high score on the essay section, it seemed she'd accidentally gotten it right.

So Ji Rong replied calmly, "I wrote that beyond the far south is still south, and beyond the far north is still north. That's all."

Jiang Fei was stunned.

She hadn't expected Ji Rong's answer to be so simple.

But it actually made sense. The far south would still be southward. The far north would still be north. Even if blocked by a barrier, the directions of the world remained eternal.

[Ding! Favorability increased: Jiang Fei +30, Gu Baiyi +30]

Ji Rong: "..."

She could understand Jiang Fei's favorability going up, but why Gu Baiyi too?

[Dear player, we're not sure either. That's just what the data shows.]

Gu Baiyi stood beside Ji Rong, her face expressionless. But as she lowered her eyes to refill her tea, a faint smile curled at the corners of her lips.

Her answer… had been exactly the same.

Ji Rong would never have guessed that Gu Baiyi's favorability boost came from having the same test answers.

After Jiang Fei finished her tea, the thick mist in the valley finally began to lift. It was already close to mid-morning.

The three of them set off together, heading toward the Grand Hall of Treasures.

As they walked past rocky paths, clusters of Chinese perfume plants lined the way. Shrouded in a light drizzle, their faint fragrance lingered in the air, barely noticeable yet subtly present.

In the distance, a radiant corner of the grand hall came into view, its golden glint shimmering. The low chant of monks reciting scriptures echoed continuously.

Since the drizzle hadn't let up, Gu Baiyi stepped into a nearby courtyard to borrow two umbrellas from a young monk.

She handed one to Jiang Fei, and carried the other herself, holding it above Ji Rong.

Ji Rong noticed Gu Baiyi standing beside her, shielding her with the umbrella. She figured Gu Baiyi must be very committed to playing the role of her guard. Though she felt somewhat uncomfortable, she didn't say anything.

Raindrops trickled from the edge of the bamboo-ribbed umbrella. Ji Rong walked at a steady pace, her expression calm, but her mind was elsewhere, weighed down by another worry.

Gu Baiyi had followed her into the Bodhi Sect to carry out a mission. Although Changhui couldn't see through her true cultivation level, and Jiang Fei didn't seem to care either…

What if, once they entered the Grand Hall, Kongji saw through her disguise? Wouldn't that be game over for the heroine?

Ji Rong brooded over this possibility, until something suddenly struck her as odd.

Wait a second. She wasn't afraid of dying anymore. So why was she still so worried about Gu Baiyi getting exposed?

Ji Rong was momentarily stunned.

She could only convince herself: maybe she was just too used to trying to survive. Old habits die hard. Now that she didn't need to fight for her life, she just hadn't adjusted yet.

Lost in thought, she nearly reached the steps of the grand hall when a strange notion popped into her head, an odd but not impossible guess.

Could it be… Gu Baiyi had planted the "Doubtless" spell on her? Did she consider that if she didn't stick close to Ji Rong, the poison might flare up, so she followed her in?

As soon as the thought emerged, Ji Rong shut it down immediately.

No way.

Back then, she had literally kicked Gu Baiyi off the summit of Tianji Peak. If Gu Baiyi wasn't trying to kill her right now, that was already merciful.

But the moment she thought of Tianji Peak, Ji Rong's mind involuntarily conjured up the image of that purple figure suspended at the edge of the cliff, and the way Gu Baiyi had looked up at her in that moment.

She looked down, her eyes falling on the plum blossom pattern embroidered on her shoes. Her mind blanked out for a moment.

For a split second, Ji Rong found herself unable to breathe. Even walking felt difficult.

When she finally raised her head and resumed walking forward, a hand suddenly tugged gently at her sleeve.

She turned, and met a pair of eyes, smiling softly.

Gu Baiyi stood beside her, still dressed in clean, simple black robes.

Because she had tilted the umbrella toward Ji Rong the entire time, her own shoulder had been soaked by the drizzle. The wet fabric had darkened, clinging slightly to her form.

Perhaps in an effort to better blend into the role of a guard, Gu Baiyi hadn't even brought her Hanshui Sword. She wore only a wide-backed, thin-bladed saber at her waist.

Her features were cold and refined, posture straight, her dark hair tied high. It gave her an even more austere and striking presence.

She certainly looked the part of a guard, but what she did next, wasn't quite what a guard would do.

Gu Baiyi closed her umbrella and unfastened the pouch at her waist. From within, she drew out something wrapped delicately in layers of silk cloth.

Ji Rong watched her retrieve the item with a slight frown, not understanding why the heroine was taking something out right now.

But then Gu Baiyi gently peeled back one layer… revealing another layer of thin silk.

Realization dawned on Ji Rong.

Whatever it was, it must be something very precious to be wrapped so carefully.

Most likely a powerful artifact, she guessed.

But when the second silk layer came off, Ji Rong saw two translucent squares.

Roughly two inches thick, cube-shaped, amber-hued and semi-transparent.

Her description was so clinical, it sounded like she was reading off a product manual, probably because no matter how she looked at it, those items looked just like…

Just like a very ordinary food item.

A very ordinary food item, but one Jiang Fei looked at with a knowing smile and said, "Oh, it's from the Fragrant Pavilion. Their water chestnut cakes are the best. No wonder I kept catching a whiff of something sweet on the way here."

Ji Rong: "…"

She hadn't expected that something resembling a snack actually was a snack.

Meanwhile, Gu Baiyi held the cakes in both hands and presented them to Ji Rong.

With a gentle smile, she said, "Miss, you left in a hurry this morning and didn't have breakfast. We don't know how long we'll be inside, so please have some chestnut cake to settle your stomach."

Her tone was warm and respectful, just like a proper guard.

Ji Rong, however, stayed silent for a while.

"…"

She could already live without food. Why did she need to eat?

Then again, now that she thought about it, she hadn't eaten anything since yesterday morning.

Fine. For the sake of the heroine's pride, she'd just pretend to be hungry.

With that, Ji Rong looked down at the cakes in Gu Baiyi's hand.

The two chestnut cakes lay nestled in her palm, side by side like amber-colored crystals.

Ji Rong didn't know when Gu Baiyi had bought them, but… she couldn't just let the blackened heroine stand there holding dessert like that.

To avoid triggering her into going berserk, Ji Rong reflexively gave a soft "Mm" and accepted the cakes, even though she wasn't that eager to eat them.

[Ding! Gu Baiyi's affection +50]

The electronic voice startled her. Her hand trembled, and she nearly dropped the cakes.

Luckily, Gu Baiyi reacted swiftly, catching her wrist before the cakes could fall.

Holding Ji Rong's wrist gently, she furrowed her brows. "Be careful, Miss."

Perhaps because of the rain, Gu Baiyi's voice sounded especially soft, almost damp.

Her fingers were no longer ice-cold like last night. They now carried a subtle warmth beneath their smoothness.

The touch tickled a bit. Ji Rong stiffly shook off her hand and said with forced calm, "Got it."

She remembered that Gu Baiyi was still her bodyguard, and also her enemy, so she swallowed the "thank you" that nearly escaped her lips.

Gu Baiyi didn't seem to mind what Ji Rong did or didn't say. The smile in her eyes only deepened.

She glanced at Ji Rong's slender wrist, her gaze dimming slightly. Then, in a low voice, she said, "This is a place of Buddhist serenity. I'll stay outside."

Hearing her say "this servant" so humbly, Ji Rong felt her eyelids twitch while holding the cakes.

Who's the humble one here, really?

Still, Ji Rong probably wouldn't be inside for too long. If Gu Baiyi remained just outside, the poison shouldn't act up.

And if the heroine stayed out of the grand hall, that would be safer too.

Thinking this through, Ji Rong replied flatly, "Alright."

She stepped up the stairs, ready to enter the hall with Jiang Fei, when Gu Baiyi called out again.

"Miss."

Ji Rong frowned and turned back toward the voice.

Standing beneath the eaves, Gu Baiyi's lashes glistened with raindrops.

She looked up slightly, meeting Ji Rong's gaze, and said, "I'll be right here, waiting for you."

Ji Rong gave a slight nod. "Okay."

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