Deliver medicine?

What a strange old man!

This was sensitive military ground — the guard wasn’t about to take any chances. Unable to make sense of what the old man was saying, he assumed the man was simply deranged, some madman, and immediately leveled his spear to drive him off.

“Get lost! One more chance, then I won’t be polite about it!”

“Did you hear me!”

If not for the crown prince’s standing order not to disturb the local people or harm anyone without cause, the guard would already have run this trespasser through.

The old man’s brow furrowed, and he was about to push back when, just then, Nanny Qin came rushing over, suddenly shouting sharply, “Stop!”

The guard flinched back in fright, not daring to ask further questions.

Nanny Qin practically flew over, staring dumbstruck at the old man before her, utterly stunned, taking a long moment to come back to herself!

“You… you…”

Nanny Qin murmured, then suddenly let out a grief-stricken cry, “Benefactor!”

It was him!

The very same divine physician who, years ago, had passed through Dongqin’s capital, chanced upon the crown prince, taken him on as a disciple, and extended his life!

To this day, Nanny Qin still didn’t know his name, didn’t know who he truly was!

Even the former Empress of Xuanyuan had known nothing of this old man!

Yet this old man was the benefactor of the House of Xuanyuan, the very man who had given the crown prince his second life.

Without him, the crown prince would never have survived to this day. He wouldn’t have even had the chance to grow up!

“Benefactor!”

Nanny Qin shook her head in disbelief, unable to accept that the person standing before her was truly real!

So many years had passed, and she herself had aged, yet the benefactor still looked exactly the same — apart from a bit more white at his temples, his appearance hadn’t changed one bit!

Nanny Qin had once searched for him desperately, hoping he could extend the crown prince’s life, let him live even a little longer, even one more day would have been enough!

But no matter what method she’d tried, she could never learn any word of him!

And yet here he was, appearing right before her!

Just as he had, all those years ago, when he’d extended the crown prince’s life — he had simply appeared out of nowhere at the gate, asking the guard to announce him with the words, “The master has come to deliver medicine.”

If only this benefactor had remained by the crown prince’s side all along, perhaps everything would have turned out differently.

The crown prince wouldn’t have grown quieter and quieter with each passing year, more and more like a walking corpse.

Nanny Qin came back to herself, wiped away her tears, and hurried to usher the old man inside, all the while instructing a guard to fetch Xuanyuan Lige.

But no sooner had the old man taken a seat in the tent than Xuanyuan Lige came rushing in like a man possessed.

The moment he entered, he stopped dead in the doorway, and the instant he saw his master sitting calmly before him, that face, silent and expressionless for an entire year, finally showed emotion; those eyes, cold and closed off for an entire year, finally warmed with brightness!

“Master!”

His voice clearly caught in his throat, and with that surge of emotion, he immediately dropped to one knee!

Master!

If he had any family left in this world at all…

In this lifetime, his only family, his truest, purest family, was his master alone!

Jue Mingzi!

The master who had given everything he had to extend his life by over twenty years, who had given him the melody of Lishang!

If not for Jue Mingzi, he wouldn’t have survived to this day.

If not for Jue Mingzi, he never would have learned the zither, never would have found the meaning that sustained him through life.

Years ago, when Jue Mingzi had delivered the last dose of life-extending medicine, he had also given him Lishang and the zither Wuzheng, the Bloodless Zither, telling him, “A’Li, twenty-some years is far too little for Great Qin. You must live for yourself. If you don’t know what you want to do, then learn the zither.”

“Master… Master…”

Xuanyuan Lige’s lips trembled, his mind gone completely blank. In this moment, it felt as though everything had finally been set down, as though he’d been carried back over twenty years.

When his master had bid him farewell all those years ago, he had knelt on one knee behind him, just like this, murmuring the word “Master” over and over.

Master, master — both teacher and father, all in one!

“How’s your health?” Jue Mingzi asked flatly. Apart from Ziqing, Xuanyuan Lige was the only other person who ever stirred a hint of compassion in his eyes.

This child, bound to him by fate, bound to Lishang by fate.

He knew everything, knew all about the Five Elements Seal placed on Xuanyuan Lige’s body.

Yet he didn’t quite know what else to say, so he simply asked that.

Only then did Xuanyuan Lige come back to himself, rising and stepping forward. He hid nothing, laying out the full details of the Five Elements Seal.

The more honestly this child spoke, the more Jue Mingzi’s heart ached for him.

“Master and disciple, let’s play a duet together,” Jue Mingzi said flatly.

“Alright!”

Xuanyuan Lige immediately fetched the zithers himself, sitting down facing Jue Mingzi, with so many questions he couldn’t bring himself to ask.

“A duet… of Lishang.”

With that, Jue Mingzi began first, playing the climax. Xuanyuan Lige recognized it instantly, yet somehow the fingering and the scale both seemed subtly different!

Xuanyuan Lige didn’t immediately join in, listening in silence instead.

As he listened, he slowly lifted his head to look at Jue Mingzi, his expression gradually growing troubled.

Slowly, slowly freezing;

Slowly, slowly filling with sorrow;

Slowly, slowly, tears began sliding down his face…

This melody didn’t quite match what was written on the score — it was more complete, yet somehow also more sparse.

When his master had first passed Lishang on to him, he hadn’t explained much — his master himself had had many unresolved questions about the piece!

But why, now, did his master seem to have fully unraveled Lishang’s mystery?

That impossibly difficult piece, the secret Ziqing had devoted her whole life to searching for — his master understood it all completely.

Master, what exactly is your relationship to Lishang?

Master, what exactly is your relationship to Han Ziqing?

Master, why exactly have you come here today?!

Did any of this even need asking?

The truth he’d uncovered in the Qinse Sea Valley must all have been false!

Lishang didn’t belong to Lady Ci — it belonged to his master!

Xuanyuan Lige didn’t ask, nor did he join in the playing.

He knew this was the most complete version of Lishang’s climax; he knew, too, that this climax could only be achieved in perfect form through a duet.

Amid the sorrowful strains of the zither, his face grew ever more still, his eyes ever more subdued, until, with the final note, he finally bowed his head completely.

Unable to see his expression, only his flat voice could be heard, asking, “So… Master, have you come today to persuade me to play Lishang together with you?”

For Lishang to be perfect, it required both the Blood Zither and the Bloodless Zither played in duet — many could master the fingering Lishang required, and the Bloodless Zither was relatively manageable, but the Blood Zither — only he could control it!

Because the Blood Zither recognized its master; it had drunk his blood for over twenty years!

Faced with Xuanyuan Lige’s pointed question, Jue Mingzi didn’t answer directly, but indeed, this had been his purpose in coming.

Xuanyuan Lige could never win against Jun Beiyue in the end; Great Qin could never be restored — why cling so obstinately to this?

He had come to see his disciple, and also to persuade him — to let go of this obsession, to spare himself. Only he himself could offer his own redemption.

“So… back then, when you taught me the zither, you already had this purpose in mind?” Xuanyuan Lige asked again, his tone nearly despairing.

Jue Mingzi could no longer stay silent. “No! Back then, I had already given up hope for Lishang. Back then, I genuinely wished for you to leave Dongqin, to live for yourself, to live for what you loved!”

Jue Mingzi rose as he spoke, walking closer. “Lige, even today, this master still hopes you’ll live for yourself, for what you love. Lige, isn’t ruining one Yelu Qianqian already enough?”

At this, Xuanyuan Lige rose to his feet as well, meeting Jue Mingzi’s gaze, and for a long, long moment neither spoke. Finally, just as Jue Mingzi was about to try persuading him further, Xuanyuan Lige’s voice turned cold. “Someone, see our guest out…”

Jue Mingzi had already guessed this outcome, yet he refused to give up even as he was led away, shouting, “A’Li, think it through carefully, think hard about what you truly want to do!”

What did he truly want to do?

Xuanyuan Lige’s expression remained blank, utterly unreadable to anyone — even Mi’er, who never left his side, couldn’t see through him either…