The Wind and Moon Are Merciless, Shadows Change in Secret, Part 2

As the figure before her leaned closer, his dark hair cascaded like satin, shimmering in the candlelight, reflected in Yun Yao’s slightly widened eyes.

Instinctively, she reached out, her slender fingers brushing through his inky locks—not passing through an illusion but tangling in real, silken strands.
—This wasn’t a dream.

Realizing this, Yun Yao looked up, astonishment and joy in her eyes. “…Mu Hanyuan, you’re back?”

“…”

Mu Hanyuan’s grip on her wrist, tight with sharp emotion, softened under her relieved, exhausted, yet joyful gaze.
“Yes.”
He released her wrist, pulling her into his arms instead, burying his face in the familiar fragrance of her neck.
“It’s me, Master. I’m back.”

The embrace, free of resentment or hesitation, melted Yun Yao’s heart.

She instinctively raised her hand, resting it on his back, her voice soft with confession. “That guard from before—it was me.”

“I know.”

His tone held no surprise, and though Yun Yao had expected as much, she couldn’t help feeling a bit exasperated. “I went to great lengths to get a Full Disguise Pill from Senior Brother so you wouldn’t recognize me. How was it so useless? Mu Jiutian swore it’d be impossible to tell unless our souls merged—what a unreliable dog!”

“Your aura was indeed different, with no trace of similarity.”

“Hm?” Yun Yao tilted her head slightly from his embrace. “Then how did you know it was me?”

“It wasn’t recognition—it was a feeling.”
Mu Hanyuan’s fingers lingered at her neck, reluctant to pull her closer, but he restrained himself, clenching his hand.
He looked down at her. “Even if I lost all five senses, I’d still know it was you the moment you appeared.”

Yun Yao couldn’t help but laugh at his earnest tone. “Lost all five senses? Have you ever felt that? Don’t say such terrifying things.”

He didn’t argue. “Why didn’t Master want me to recognize you?”

“…”

The faint smile on her face faded.
She sighed softly. “I thought that at the peak of all things, we could sever our ties, let the past go, and move on. As long as you could live, you could stay in the demon realm and live your own life. I’d let you and all those old matters fade away, and the immortal realm’s people and affairs wouldn’t trouble you anymore.”

As she spoke, a thought struck her. Her trembling fingers rested over his heart, pausing for a long moment before she looked up, her voice shaking. “…Does it hurt?”

Mu Hanyuan meant to deny it, but the words slipped out unbidden.

“It hurts.”
He gazed at her.
“When Master said she’d expel me, it hurt more than ten thousand swords piercing my heart.”

Her throat tightened under his anguished gaze, words failing her.

Seeing the faint red creeping into the corners of her eyes, Mu Hanyuan froze, then smiled faintly.
He leaned down, gently kissing her tear-dampened lashes. “Don’t cry, Master. It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

“I don’t believe you…”
Her voice trembled fiercely as she slid her hand from his chest. “He told me you lay in Tianqian Chasm for ten days, your flesh and blood torn by vultures…”

His eyes chilled slightly, but his expression remained steady.
He caught her hand as it moved across his chest, his voice low with a hint of helplessness. “How can you trust what that man says?”

She looked up urgently. “It didn’t happen?”

The Mu Hanyuan of Qianmen’s past, the revered saint, never spoke a word of falsehood—nor deigned to.
But now, he lied without blinking, his noble, ethereal appearance undiminished. “No, it never happened.”

“…He lied to me again.”
Yun Yao gritted her teeth, angrily wiping away unshed tears.
As her senses returned, she realized how unguardedly she’d shown her true emotions before him, her masterly composure gone, and she felt utterly mortified.

“Again?” Mu Hanyuan asked casually. “What else did he lie about?”

“That wedding! I thought Chen Jianxue was the bride, so I let my guard down and fell for his—”

She cut herself off before saying “trap,” meeting his inscrutable, dark gaze.

…Alright, maybe she wasn’t quick enough.

But contrary to her worries, Mu Hanyuan paused without showing much emotion.
He lowered his eyes, lifting her wrist to examine the runes etched into the soul-binding chains.
“So, while I was asleep, Master went through a wedding ceremony with him.”

“No—that doesn’t count!”

Seeing his calm demeanor, Yun Yao relaxed slightly.
The good aspect was indeed easier to deal with.

“He dared to offend you, yet he could do as he pleased,” Mu Hanyuan said lightly. “There’s a mortal saying: the crying child gets the milk. Is Master so biased that you’d only—”

Yun Yao: “…?”

He drew her wrist closer, his gaze cool. “If I acted more wayward, like him, bullying Master, would you favor me a little more?”

“…”

She took back her “good aspect is easier to deal with” thought.

“Forget it,” he said, a faint smile brushing his lips as he lowered his chin. “I couldn’t bear to.”

With his words, a cool kiss landed on her wrist.
A soft *click* followed, and the chains fell to the stone bed with a clear ring.

Mu Hanyuan sat back, frowning at the red marks left by her struggles. “How dare he treat Master like this.”

With the chains undone, spiritual energy surged back from her spiritual core.
Feeling her meridians brimming with power again, Yun Yao felt she could lift a cauldron—pity the culprit wasn’t here, or she’d beat him to vent her anger.

This thought reminded her of the critical matter. “Have you reclaimed the Endfire Seed?”

“Yes.”
He helped her up from the bed, his tone gentle and calm. “In my consciousness, with Little Golden Lotus’s help, I faced him in a struggle and regained control of the Endfire Seed’s power.”

“…”

His words were understated, but Yun Yao knew the evil aspect had stormed the immortal realm and breached its gates. Even if he’d sacrificed part of his soul to the Wheel of Reincarnation to turn back time, for the good aspect’s soul, untested in the immortal realm, it must have been a brutal battle.

She sighed softly. “Little Golden Lotus… it can’t come back, can it?”

“…”

The trace of sorrow in Mu Hanyuan’s eyes deepened.
His grip on her tightened slightly. “To help me control the Endfire Seed, Little Golden Lotus fully merged its spirit into it. It was trapped and destroyed because of me.”

“It was the evil aspect that killed it, not you,” Yun Yao said, gripping his hand to force him to meet her gaze. “Besides, if we return to the immortal realm, I’ll find a way to bring Little Golden Lotus back.”

“Return to the immortal realm?” A rare hint of surprise crossed his face.

“Yes. The demon realm is unified now, with all four main cities under your command. Once matters here are settled, we’ll go to the immortal realm together.”

Lowering her eyes, she sensed the blood-red threads in his body beneath her fingertips, her resolve hardening.
“When we’re back in the immortal realm, I’ll find a way to resolve the Endfire Seed within you.”

—

After leaving the cave where the evil aspect had confined her, Yun Yao realized she was in the depths of Changyi Mountain, within a hidden peak ten thousand leagues deep, on the eastern side of Tianyun Abyss.
It was less than a hundred miles from Two Realms City.

Her sword, Naihe, returned, bringing several messages from Feng Qinglian. Scanning them with her spiritual sense, she sent a reply, asking him to meet her in Two Realms City.

“You asked him to bring someone,” Mu Hanyuan said. “Who?”

“The only person I can think of who might know how to fully resolve the evil aspect’s threat and help us return to the immortal realm,” Yun Yao paused, tilting her head. “You’ve met him, actually.”

“Hm?”

“The great monk guarding the tower at Fanyin Temple.”

Mu Hanyuan froze slightly. “I recall he never leaves Fanyin Ancient Temple.”

Yun Yao nodded. “That’s why I had Feng Qinglian bring a ‘bait’ to lure him.”

“What bait?”

“The reason the evil aspect’s soul could come to this life—the Wheel of Reincarnation, one of the immortal realm’s creation artifacts.”

His gaze darkened. “Where is it now?”

“Right here in Two Realms City,” Yun Yao said, dismounting her sword and pointing to the roaring demonic flames of Tianyun Abyss nearby. “Beneath the ten-thousand-zhang flames of this abyss.”

“…”

After entering Two Realms City’s gates, Yun Yao led the way to a teahouse, where they settled on the second floor. Sipping tea, she kept an eye on the city gates for signs of Feng Qinglian’s group.

Mu Hanyuan shifted his gaze from Tianyun Abyss. “That high monk has guarded Fanyin Ancient Temple for countless years. How did Master know he’d come to the demon realm at the mention of the Wheel of Reincarnation?”

*Cough.*
Yun Yao looked slightly guilty. “I admit it was a bit of a gamble… but it’s worth a try, right? If he comes, it proves my guess was correct.”

“Guess?”

“Yes. Whether it was the golden lotus he casually gifted us before the Buddha or how he saw through your ‘Endfire’ identity the moment we entered the temple…”

“—”

Mu Hanyuan’s fingers froze on his teacup, splashing a few drops.

“You knew,” he said after a long pause, looking up at her. “Did he tell you?”

“Even if he hadn’t, I should’ve guessed. The Endfire Seed’s power is too strange. Even when I sealed it, I couldn’t control it—others even less so. Yet in you, it moves like an extension of your will…”
Yun Yao lifted her cup, a self-mocking smile on her lips.
“I was just deceiving myself, unwilling to think too deeply before.”

He tightened his grip on the cup. “Then Master knows, even if the Endfire Seed is destroyed, as long as Endfire exists, it can be reborn.”

“…” Her fingers trembled slightly on the railing as she turned from the city gate’s view. “So what?”

His clear eyes lifted slowly, his words heavy as mountains.
“Will Master kill me?”

“You wouldn’t do evil.”

“But he would,” he said calmly. “I can’t kill him, and he could emerge at any time.”

Her pupils constricted.
She was pulled back to last night’s cave, the flickering candlelight, his snow-white hair, his burning dark eyes, his hoarse, demonic laugh.

[*Here, he can’t kill me. But where he can, he’ll know everything.*]
[*And then, he’ll become another me.*]

[*Master, through all lifetimes, you’re fated to never escape me.*]

“…Master.”

His gentle, clear voice broke through the lingering demonic echo in her mind.
She snapped back, looking up. “Hm?”

Leaning against the railing, framed by the mortal world’s rivers and mountains, his eyes lowered with a compassion like an exiled immortal’s.

“Kill him, or kill me.”
“You’ll have to choose one.”