Co-translator: Luckykoi

Lord Shen’s beard twitched. “Are these...in conflict?”

“Yes,” Bai Fanlu answered. “Consider carefully before you answer. Otherwise, even if I cure your son now, he will continue to relapse in the future and will never have a moment of peace.”

After a lengthy deliberation, Lord Shen appeared to have surmised something. He sighed deeply, “I naturally wish for him to live well, and nothing else.”

Bai Fanlu set his mind at ease. “With your Lordship’s blessings, your son’s condition will take a turn for the better.”

Parents tend to worry about their children. This devotion transcends time and space. Despite knowing the plot in advance, Bai Fanlu still felt deeply moved for a moment.

When he stepped into the room, he saw the dazed, haggard young man sitting by the bed. This was the young master of the Shen family, Lanshan. Bai Fanlu couldn’t help but envy him for having a father who loved him so much.

To gain credibility, Bai Fanlu stopped Shen Lanshan's coughing in front of Lord Shen and his household servants.

With this, Lord Shen was even more convinced that he was an immortal who had descended to the mortal realm. Next, Bai Fanlu requested a personal belonging of Shen Lanshan, one which he constantly kept close at hand. Lord Shen presented him with his son’s silver longevity lock.

By the time Bai Fan stepped out of the Shen family mansion, it was already evening. He went straight to a wooden bridge on the outskirts of the town. The stream under the bridge was partially dried up, there was only a lustrously thin and delicate rivulet of sparkling water stretching from far yonder.

Bai Fanlu took out the silver lock and tossed it into the stream.

Splash. The silver lock swiftly sank. Bai Fanlu found a place to wait at the edge of the bridge and waited. His gaze casually swept over the bridge that had yellow talismans pasted every few steps, from the bridge’s head to tail.

Time quietly passed until the setting sun dipped into the west, and a crescent moon was strung in the sky.

As night fell, the talismans, which were scattered along the bridge like stars in the sky, faintly glowed green. At a glance, the lonely bridge appeared rather macabre in the darkness.

However, Bai Fanlu wasn’t afraid. At this time, he finally appreciated the importance of having a good memory when transmigrating into a novel. An omniscient point of view gave him a sense of superiority and assurance.

The talisman on the bridge were the doing of an immortal cultivator. Their intended purpose was to exorcise demons and vanquish ghosts.

Many years ago, the western bridge on the outskirts of Jiyang saw a phenomenon of people dying here by drowning. Originally, people regarded this bridge as an ominous place. However, the incident with Shen Lanshan made them keep this place a tightly guarded secret.

After Shen Lanshan was rumoured to have been cursed by an evil spirit at this bridge, Lord Shen invited many immortal cultivators with profound skills, but all of them unanimously told him there were ‘unclean things’ here.

However, after countless exorcisms, not only did Shen Lanshan's condition not improve, it deteriorated day by day. This was why Yun Zhan and the book’s Bai Fanlu offered a helping hand when they passed through this place.

In the empty silence of the night, a subtle resonance suddenly came from the shallow and silent stream. Bai Fanlu opened his eyes. The longevity lock that could still be seen in the waters before had now disappeared.

He raised his eyes. Someone was standing on the river bank, or perhaps it would be better called a mere shadow of someone. It had a phantasmic misty hue under the moonlight, starkly contrasting with the lock in front of him, drawing a visible distinction between illusory and reality.

“Who are you? Why do you have Lanshan’s belongings?”

Although this voice was veiled with vigilance, it sounded refined and elegant, like glossy pearls of rain.

But his visage was fuzzy and his figure was floating gently. If an ordinary person were to catch sight of him on this night, in the forest grove under the moon, they’d probably pass out from fright.

However, Bai Fanlu was already mentally prepared. He stood up, saying, “You don’t have to know who I am. You only need to trust that I can help the two of you.”

“The two…of us?”

Bai Fanlu wasn’t going to beat around the bush with him. He said gravely, “I’m afraid Shen Lanshan can’t hold on for much longer. If you really care for his well-being, I suggest that you come with me.”

Hearing him, the shadow seemed stunned for a moment. Then, he chuckled softly. “Are you about to blame me for harming humans and arresting me for punishment? It’s unfortunate though. Even if I go with you, I can’t die.”

His laughter was incomparably desolate and miserable. Bai Fanlu couldn’t bear it and shook his head. “That’s not it. If I wanted to capture you, I would have attacked you straight away instead of bringing the silver lock to you. I only hope that you may trust me and follow me to visit Shen Lanshan. He…”

Bai Fanlu deliberated on his words, “You only need to see him once and he will quickly recover. Then, the misunderstanding everyone has of you will also clear up.”

“This…” His words seemed to move the shadow, but Bai Fanlu couldn’t make out his facial expressions and emotions.

After a moment, he heard him say in a hoarse voice, “You look kind, I’m willing to trust you. However, you may not be aware that Lanshan’s illness was caused by me. If I see him again, I’m afraid I’d only harm him further.”

“It won’t,” Bai Fanlu hurried to say, “Though the discrepancy between your human and ghost nature did damage his Yang energy and cause his illness, your avoidance of him is the real reason that he remains unconscious. If you continue to avoid him, it’s possible that his illness would worsen and he would meet certain death within a few years!”

The other party was shocked and could not utter words for a long time.

Bai Fanlu sighed. “Actually, there’s something else as well. I just said that there’s a discrepancy between your human and ghost nature, but that isn’t accurate. You…you are, at present, a wandering ghost that has yet to enter the reincarnation cycle.”

“Rather than a ghost, you should be considered a demon.”

And he was a demon bound forever to the world without freedom, a lowest-level Shadow Demon.

As night falls (Wanyi) on Lan Mountain (play on words, Lanshan), the snow falls near the bridge.

In the novel’s plot, this was just an unimportant interlude, probably only serving to set off Yun Zhan’s protagonist halo, making him solve what others couldn’t.

Yet, Bai Fanlu had a deep impression of this character ‘Xiang Wanyi’. It was also this character that deepened Bai Fanlu’s faith that under the worldview constructed by the author, not all demons were evil. Likewise, the book’s Bai Fanlu also had virtues.

The bridge where Wanyi made his abode was once an ordinary wood bridge a few years ago. At that time, the stream under the bridge was deep and full of water. People would have to use the bridge to cross the river.

But at a certain point in time, someone crossing the bridge accidentally fell into the water and drowned. Since then, the ghost of the deceased began to haunt the bridge.

At first, it was the longing for their family and home that made the departed soul unwilling to leave. Afterwards, because they overstayed in the mortal world, they could no longer enter the reincarnation cycle.

Evil was everywhere in this tumultuous world. Someone told the departed soul that all they had to do was to pull down a substitute, have them die in their stead and they’d be able to be reincarnated. And so, that was what the ghosts did.

For this reason, the bridge was cursed. After that, every now and then, someone would fall off the bridge without rhyme or reason.

Within a few years, the people nearby no longer dared to approach this bridge. There were still those from outside the town who weren’t in the know, inexplicably losing their lives here.

Xiang Wanyi was one of them, and also the last.

After being pulled into the water, the previous ghost told him how to enter the reincarnation cycle.

Thus, Wanyi waited by the bridge.

The first time, it was a young mother who was carrying a child not even a week old in front of her bosom. Naturally, Wanyi could not bear to lay a hand on them.

The second time, it was a young man pursuing his studies to take the Imperial Examination. Wanyi remembered how he himself had recited classics and of his own ambitions before his death. Again, he held back.

The third time, it was an elderly man approaching his twilight years. Wanyi recalled his own elderly parents who had to bereave their child and had no one else to rely on. Once more, Wanyi couldn’t bear to make a move.

Just like that, several years passed. No one had died on the bridge since then, whereas due to Xiang Wanyi’s long stay in the mortal world, his ghostly apparition had transformed into a Shadow Demon. He was without corporeal form, unable to reincarnate nor transcend. He could only wait for his existence to completely blink out from this world.

The stream under the bridge was drying day by day, signifying the approach of ‘that moment’.

In the novel, Yun Zhan and the book’s Bai Fanlu didn’t know all of this. When they reached the town of Jiyang, they merely heard that Shen Lanshan’s prolonged comatose state was due to the workings of ghosts and evil. After investigation, they found that the man’s internal injuries were indeed caused by evil energy.

However, after removing the evil energy, Shen Lanshan still didn’t wake. As such, Yun Zhan decided to look for the source of the evil energy.

When he found Xiang Wanyi, Yun Zhan naturally wanted to subdue him. Yet despite Wanyi’s lack of combat power, he was also completely impervious to any immortal’s spells.

That was when the book’s Bai Fanlu uncovered Wanyi’s true identity as a Shadow Demon. He found an opportunity to get Wanyi to open up to him, then discovered that Xiang Wanyi and Shen Lanshan once shared a relationship. He surmised that it was due to Wanyi’s avoidance that Shen Lanshan wasn’t willing to wake up.

However, Yun Zhan disagreed. He firmly believed that these were the deceptive words of an evil demon to bewitch minds, and wholeheartedly looked for ways to eliminate the root cause.

It was only after several twists and misunderstandings that the book’s Bai Fanlu finally succeeded in bringing Wanyi to meet Shen Lanshan. The illness was cured and Shen Lanshan personally recounted the whole sequence of events, and it was then that Yun Zhan realised his mistake.

At the end, the book’s Bai Fanlu gave Shen Lanshan a charm to purify yin energy, allowing the two to occasionally meet by the bridge as per his wishes.

Shen Lanshan was unaware of Xiang Wanyi’s inability to enter the reincarnation cycle. However, this was a problem that couldn’t be fixed. The book’s Bai Fanlu was wavering over whether or not to tell him, but was stopped by Yun Zhan.

Then they departed Jiyang. As for what happened to Xiang Wanyi and Shen Lanshan after, there wasn’t any continuation to their story in the novel. Bai Fanlu was stifled by the lack of closure.

Truth be told, Bai Fanlu did have his regrets when reading the book. But he was clear of the plot, so this time, he could easily solve the problem without having to go through all the twists and turns. Originally, he approached this matter with a clear objective and did not intend to invest any more feeling into it.

However, along the way, Wanyi’s aura clung quietly and softly onto him, and Bai Fanlu abruptly developed some sympathy for the other party. It was as if he could understand this person’s gentleness and sorrows, as well as the faint glimmer of hope after an eternity of loneliness.

They were kindred spirits.

Bai Fanlu returned to the Shen family mansion. Lord Chen was already waiting for him at the door, fidgeting with his sleeves from the nervousness and tension of the wait.

The moment he saw Bai Fanlu, Lord Chen hurriedly came up to greet him. “Immortal Master, you’re back. My son suddenly started babbling nonsensically and was even determined to dash outside. It was difficult for us to stop him...”

“Don’t worry, he’s trying to find someone. I’ve invited this guest over. Once your son sees him, he’ll definitely get better.”

Bai Fanlu entered Shen Lanshan’s room and turned around to bolt the door.

Lord Chen had initially wanted to ask him who he had invited over, but in view that Bai Fanlu came back alone, he felt uneasy about it in the middle of the night. Yet, out of his desperate worry for his son’s condition, he was willing to try anything. Thus, the man waited anxiously outside.

Bai Fanlu opened his palm and a white ray of light dropped to the ground, transforming into a human figure at once. He had secretly injected spiritual energy into Xiang Wanyi, giving him a physical form. As long as no one looked too closely, he seemed like any human.

Xiang Wanyi did look like what Bai Fanlu had imagined. He was elegant, gentle, and refined. Just by his standing there, a scholarly aura perfused the room, easily drawing people in.

As soon as Wanyi gained form, he could see that Shen Lanshan was bound by ropes to the bed. His hollow eyes were staring vacantly at the canopy of the bed, seeming even more ashen and lifeless than himself, who was actually dead.

Xiang Wanyi didn’t expect this scene. Momentarily, he was overcome by shock and grief. His mouth opened but was unable to make a sound.

Seeing this, Bai Fanlu sighed softly, “I wasn’t lying to you, right? You should have come to see him earlier.”

That was the way people were—they always wanted to escape problems. If Xiang Wanyi had come a little earlier, Shen Lanshan wouldn’t have deteriorated to such a state.

“Lanshan...”

The moment that Wanyi called out to him, Shen Lanshan suddenly moved. His head abruptly turned to the side and he caught sight of this visitor within an instance. His dull eyes flooded with brilliance at once.

Bai Fanlu silently retreated behind the folding screen. When he pushed open the door, Lord Chen immediately came forward, but Bai Fanlu made a shush gesture and closed the door behind him.

“Just wait for a while. Your son will definitely be able to make a turn for the better.”

Lord Chen looked at the tightly shut door and his brows pulled into a deep frown. In the end, he still voiced the doubts in his heart. “Dare I ask, immortal master, who is this visitor that you spoke of? He…”

“He is your son’s beloved, his soulmate.”