Chapter 332: The Courtyard of Yesteryear

Pei Ye was stunned for a moment, then raised his hand again. It was no hallucination; he truly and distinctly controlled this body. Cold wind poured in through the doorway, causing the fine hairs on his skin to sway.

Pei Ye wrapped his clothes tighter. As soon as he stepped outside, his nose and throat felt stifled. He did not know how Yang Yan had adjusted his breathing just moments ago, so he could only use his Qi to maintain a semblance of composure.

As far as his eyes could see, the entire realm of Hushan was already dim.

It was not the color of night, but a silent, gray darkness. No lamps were visible, no leaves stirred, and even color had vanished. It was truly like a painting; they had once again become a dead, silent "scene," no longer possessing the flow of time.

Except for the place where this body stood.

Within a radius of about four or five zhang, with him as the center, the world came back to life. The rocks and residual snow were illuminated once more, and the wind struck his cheeks with forceful vigor.

He looked down at the area below and roughly understood: this was the truly inimitable handiwork of the artifact 【Illumination of the Nether】. After everything fell into silence, it allowed the owner to traverse this past world freely, as if browsing through one's own study.

Pei Ye stood quietly for a while, then lifted his legs to return up the mountain.

He arrived back at the great hall he had just left.

He pushed the door open and entered directly. There was only a cold, pitch-black darkness. At this time, there was indeed no one here. His solitary footsteps echoed. Pei Ye reached the back of the hall; the massive iron lock had vanished. This door had clearly been opened and inspected, and now a small, palm-sized lock hung upon it, serving merely as a seal.

Pei Ye channeled his Qi to shatter the chain and pushed the door open.

A gray haze.

It was as if the chaos of a dream had descended upon this reality. Behind the door was not any tangible object or scene, but something like mist churned into a ball, with no visible boundaries or shape.

Pei Ye attempted to step inside, but the "field of reality" of four or five zhang around him dissolved within it. This body was halted here, as if this were the boundary it could reach.

Pei Ye retreated, watching it quietly and pondering. Suddenly, the chirping of birds rang in his ears.

A cold but much gentler morning breeze brushed against his face. Pei Ye came to his senses in a daze. Bright daylight was shining down, and the jade pendant in his hand had already closed its eye.

The night had passed, and a new day had begun.

"You were inside for quite a while, so I told Master Ming Jian not to supply any more Qi," the black cat said. "Did you discover anything?"

Pei Ye took a deep breath and rubbed his stiff cheeks. Having gone another night without sleep, he felt slightly sluggish. "Let's talk on the road."

They set off on horseback, stopped for a meal at a town ahead, and then continued south. This was the route decided upon yesterday. Following it past Xiangzhou, they would be able to see the mountain shadows of "Great Kongdong" before sunset today.

"... So, it must use 'people' as the core to complete the recording of the past," the black cat said. "Recording everything that happened in such a vast region over thousands of years into a single pendant is an impossible task, and repetitive information like butterflies emerging from cocoons or trees shedding leaves is not worth recording. But choosing to use people as mirrors solves both the problems of 'feasibility' and 'utility'."

"In other words, it didn't just imprint that valley; it actually recorded the experiences of the people on this land, and then pieced together this world using the sights, sounds, and feelings of countless individuals. Therefore, when it needs to present everything to you, it also needs to use someone who once existed to complete the decoding."

Pei Ye thought of how the dead, silent world became vivid as 'Yang Yan' walked through it, and he nodded slowly. "So, 'Yang Yan' couldn't enter that door because..."

"Because he had never been there," the black cat said softly.

"Then... someone must have been there."

The black cat looked at him, and the youth uttered a name: "Meng Li."

He had gradually understood the mechanism of the divine pendant in his hand—he was able to see that scrap of paper under the Buddha statue because it had indeed appeared in Yang Yan's field of vision, and he was truly able to take it out, with real handwriting upon it, because this experience of Meng Li's had also been recorded faithfully and accurately.

"I want to see what Meng Li did during that time," Pei Ye said softly.

In this experience, Yang Yan was like a child with his eyes covered, ignoring every clue before him. Earlier, Meng Li and Qu Zhoufu were making their own preparations for the dark clouds about to press upon the city. The youth's dull nerves blinded him to everything amiss, so when the disaster truly arrived, he could only face the final scene in bewildered helplessness.

"But we should have only seen that person once," the black cat said.

—In the rainy night, the swordsman cast into the sky with flying hair and robes, the sword intent of the third form of "Snow Collapse," the clarity within the gloom, was brilliant and dazzling, as if lighting a mountain as a snow candle.

And to open a tributary, one must be familiar with the people within it.

"I can still see him many more times inside," Pei Ye gently stroked the white pendant in his hand.

The black cat was startled, and through this, it understood the true usage of this divine artifact.

—As long as it is within this domain of candlelight, no matter where your secrets are hidden in the deep gloom, the owner of the artifact can climb and find them from the shallowest layer.

Even if that person is someone he has never met, even if this is a place he has never stepped foot in.

"I will first know everything 'Yang Yan' can know, and after 'recognizing' Meng Li..."

"I can open his 'tributary'."

"No, I don't want to waste that time," Pei Ye said softly. "We will go straight to that night, and through his experience, we can see what is truly on that mountain peak."

The horses sped away.

A day's journey passed quickly. When the dark, heavy shadow at the edge of the sky pressed over, the setting sun on the right also began to sink below the horizon.

Pei Ye, who had been silent and thinking along the way, came to his senses and reined in his horse at the foot of the mountain. "Miss Ming, shall we rush over through the night, or stop for a night?"

"As you wish."

"Let's stop for a while," the black cat said softly at this moment. "Haste leads to mistakes."

It looked at the youth as it said this. Pei Ye watched the mountain for a while, nodded, dismounted, and began to set up camp.

To take the shortest path, Pei Ye had not considered passing through villages or towns when plotting the route, so there was nowhere to rely on, but in reality, the only thing they needed to resupply was the horses.

Finding grass and a water source, Pei Ye finished watering the horses, brought back a processed rabbit, lit a campfire, and roasted it to eat. Ming Qitian still barely ate or drank, and did not even get close to the smoke and fire the youth had lit. She took a meal pill and leaned against a tall paulownia tree, quietly flipping through a sword manual.

Pei Ye cleared away the traces and walked over with the ancient book. Seeing the woman earnestly holding a brush to annotate the current page, he sat quietly to the side, sitting still and waiting without a word.

About a quarter of an hour later, Ming Qitian put down her brush. A chapter had ended, and she had flipped through more than half of the book in her hand.

The title of the new chapter was revealed. Pei Ye tilted his head to look: "Ode to the Pine Mist Sword: On Mist."

"Is this a sword technique, Miss Ming?" Pei Ye remembered that she had been flipping through this book all day.

Regarding matters related to the Huan Si Lou lineage, the woman was indeed dedicated and answered every question, but she was not actively keen on the truth behind the mist. Along the way, Pei Ye and the black cat had been whispering to each other, while she had always been quietly holding a book and reading to the side.

"A Kongdong sword technique," Ming Qitian nodded. "When I went to ask for sword advice two days ago, a disciple used this sword technique very well. I promised to help him annotate it and return it the next day. But I returned to Bowang that night, so it remained in my hands... Fortunately, I was able to complete it tonight."

She closed the book and tilted her head. "I will explain this 'Immortal in the Earth' to you first."

"No rush, Miss Ming. It doesn't matter if I'm a few days early or late. You should finish annotating this one with a deadline first," Pei Ye shook his head. "I just happened to have some discoveries in the pendant, so I'll go take another look."

"That's fine. I'll finish annotating in about two hours. If you aren't resting then, we can discuss this 'Intent Sword'."

"Good."

He arrived once again in the cold, aloof realm.

It was still the night before dawn. Pei Ye walked down the mountain and arrived at Meng Li's courtyard.

The mess here was something Pei Ye had not expected; it was clearly the trace of having been thoroughly searched by someone. From outside to inside, nothing remained as it was. Pei Ye came to the table, and that blue book could no longer be seen.

Looking back into the room, the bookshelves were overturned, the books were in chaos, and next to them was a fairly large iron basin filled with paper ash.

Pei Ye thought for a while and pulled the time backward.

Everything before him immediately regressed. Figures scattered, the play-ghost, disciples, and senior masters appeared and exited one after another, and then the scene arrived at that evening of the final day. Nothing had happened yet; this small courtyard was neat and peaceful, just as it was when Yang Yan first brought his blade inside.

Meng Li was squatting before this fire basin, throwing books pulled from the shelf into it. The firelight reflected on his silent face.

He had burned them himself...

Pei Ye paused at this moment and turned to look. That blue-covered book was still placed properly on the table.

Pei Ye walked to the table and gently opened it.

A large number of excerpted sentences were mixed with many obscure and unfamiliar terms. The man had organized them using his own train of thought—a description, and then the following pages were all explanations or extensions of this description.

Pei Ye had actually seen this format before. In the books related to Huang Feicui, Yufei Mountain had ancestors who listed the most difficult sections in chapters like this, calling them "Collected Interpretations of 【Washing Tree Copper Shadow】" and so on.

And in this "Collected Interpretations," the man was also struggling to understand something.

Pei Ye slowly flipped through page by page... It was the Way of Arrays.

Pei Ye frowned and stopped his finger, pressed down on the book, and regressed backward again—he had to find the beginning where nothing had happened yet.

This book slowly returned to newness, the used pages became fewer and fewer, and finally, it returned to the time it was first taken out.

It was still this small courtyard. The sound of the cold, fierce wind outside had vanished. Pei Ye turned his head to look; the setting sun was falling, and a few light, beautiful mountain flowers were swaying slowly outside the window.

Meng Li's complexion was terrifyingly gloomy.

He rummaged messily through the bookshelf, finally found this book that was still fairly blank, tore off the used paper from the first few pages, and copied a large portion of the books he had brought from the library onto it.

Pei Ye glanced at the chapter title: "On Arrays: Ancient Arrays: Zhou."

Pei Ye was silent for a while. This time, with the man before him as the center, he regressed backward again... This time, he finally saw the appearance of the very beginning.

A night.

This should be the time when truly nothing had happened. Before the dark, deserted mountain pass, a figure walked over stealthily, hunched over, quietly opened a slit in the mountain gate, and waited anxiously.

Yang Yan.

After a moment, a vigorous figure swept in from outside. Yang Yan opened the mountain gate with joy. Meng Li stood firm, panting white mist, and opened his arms. A tightly wrapped bundle was revealed.

"Fossil Powder! With this, we can open that mountain cave within two days." The young man's eyes, curved in a smile, shone with a bright luster in the night.

The mountain cave was a grotto on the cliff wall that had been artificially sealed.

Pei Ye followed their tracks to this place, which was on the other side of the dense forest, the most secluded part of this valley.

It must have been the traces of it being sealed twenty or thirty years ago that caught the attention of the two young men. It was sealed extremely firmly and tightly, so Meng Li, who was accustomed to leaving the valley to explore, had obtained Fossil Powder.

Pei Ye pulled the time to three nights later, and indeed, a cave entrance that could be crawled through appeared before him.

Yang Yan's body was quite agile. Pei Ye crawled inside... It was no monster's secret realm, just a huge pile of miscellaneous items.

Tables, chairs, beds, cabinets, broken wood, and beams were all covered in dust and chaotic. Except for the energetic youth, no one liked to come here.

The two brothers indeed excitedly regarded this place as a secret treasure vault. Pei Ye watched them appear here day after day. The junior brother ran around everywhere digging for fresh things, while this ruin gradually became organized in the senior brother's hands.

This was actually a "treasure vault." They always found some astonishing things—like the "Pulling Blade Silk," similar-looking magical artifacts were repeatedly discovered here.

Until one day they were almost caught by their master.

Fortunately, the junior brother was not here at this time, and the senior brother was quick-witted and composed.

"Did you just jump down from the cliff?"

"No... it was from the tree."

"... What were you doing running up the tree?"

"I was practicing a palm technique. The higher the place I come down from, the greater the power," Meng Li said without changing his expression.

"You're getting better at lying. You don't know a damn thing about palm techniques."

Meng Li leaped up, struck down with his palm, and the dust and fallen leaves bloomed into a lotus flower.

He really did know it.

Pei Ye, standing to the side, could feel the man's joy in this scene. In fact, he didn't feel that he necessarily had to hide this from his master, but being able to shut his master's mouth like this was indeed very happy.

"Master, you are old, so don't always come out wandering around. Beware of the cold wind," Meng Li said with a chuckle.

"Is my wandering around in the valley called wandering? You haven't even taken charge yet, and you want to hide your own master?" Qu Zhoufu glared at him. "It's you, stop wandering outside every day. What kind of bullshit martial arts are you learning—and this place, don't come here often if you have nothing to do."

Meng Li smiled: "I'll be at the Eighth Life soon. You should pass on the position quickly if you're going to. It's been so many years and I haven't even been able to ascend to the Mystic Gate, and you still say you were some little genius when you were young..."

"..." Qu Zhoufu glared at him, and surprisingly, he didn't make a move, which was rare. "What's the rush? I'll pass it on when it's time... It hasn't been decided who to pass it to yet."

"... You can't pass it to Yang Yan, can you?" 'Yang Yan' was watching expressionlessly from the side, and Meng Li couldn't help but laugh rudely.

Qu Zhoufu turned and left. Meng Li made a gesture as if to leap onto the tree branch as if nothing had happened, but there was never the sound of him leaping up. Pei Ye withdrew his gaze from the old man's back, which already showed frailty, and heard the man beside him mutter: "Master is indeed aging too fast... Did he catch some kind of illness?"

Pei Ye looked at the man. A look of worry appeared on this silent, handsome face.

Of course, he wasn't really practicing palm techniques again. Once the old man's back disappeared, the man crawled back through that hidden cave entrance. Pei Ye stood here, shifting the time—if this peaceful valley, which had been the same for decades, were to undergo any changes from within, it would most likely be this cave that Qu Zhoufu was wary of and the brothers stole into.

Figures came and went, the two laughed and talked, and Pei Ye stood in the corner without moving... until thirteen days later.

Pei Ye saw Meng Li's stiff figure.

He was organizing the books and papers among these miscellaneous items. The most interesting parts had basically been organized, and the junior brother didn't like these texts much, so Meng Li often came here alone to sort them by category.

Often, he would take the opportunity to look at the content, and gradually, a question began to linger in his heart—who exactly was responsible for these small magical artifacts that seemed to be made casually yet astonished him, and these unique insights and talented writings in this entire pile of miscellaneous items?

Now, a new book was hidden, and a note lay before him.

Pei Ye pressed pause and walked behind him.

Under the small candle, this slightly moldy and damp note could still distinguish the sharp handwriting he had already seen many times.

"Qu Zhoufu, Master's life is fading early, and the Mystic Gate is blocked, all because every fifteen days, the Star Worm must feed on Qi! Tomorrow is White Dew. If you don't believe it, strike him with your palm and try it. See if he, at the Eighth Life, can withstand you, at the Seventh Life!"

—"Our Hushan direct lineage is just the food for the damn bugs!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 333 =====