With her mother’s dying instructions weighing on her heart, Ni Su both wanted to dream of her and feared dreaming of her. She couldn’t sleep peacefully through the second half of the night, so she simply packed her belongings, left a few pieces of broken silver with a note pressed under the candlestick, took a lantern, led the horse, and silently left Lady Jiang’s home.

The night road was difficult to travel. Ni Su rode slowly, a solitary soul quietly at her side, accompanying her forward through the thin, drifting night mist.

Swaying on horseback, the drowsiness Ni Su had lost earlier somehow silently returned, weighing heavily on her eyelids. She forced herself to stay alert, shaking her head, yet couldn’t help stealing sidelong glances at him.

He looked extremely young, and his walking posture was beautiful to watch.

“Back then, how old were you?”

Xu Hexue’s half-lowered eyelashes lifted slightly at her sudden question. Understanding what she meant by “back then,” he carried the solitary lamp and parted his lips: “Nineteen.”

Ni Su was shocked. “At nineteen you already…”

Her latter half-sentence died in her throat.

“What was the reason?”

Ni Su couldn’t imagine—nineteen should have been the best age. Why had he died so young, wandering in Youdu?

Hearing her ask “why,” Xu Hexue also thought for a moment about why, but ultimately he shook his head and answered: “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know how you died?”

“No.”

Lamplight dissolved softly, spreading across Xu Hexue’s robes and shoes. He simply stared at it, hearing the surging sound of a river to one side. He raised his head to look—mountains like ink, water rippling. “I don’t know why I had to die.”

Ni Su didn’t understand. After thinking, she said: “Not even halfway through life, you must have many regrets?”

“Too much time has passed. I’ve forgotten much.”

Xu Hexue dwelled in mist, making his cheeks appear even paler. “Now I remember only one thing.”

“Is it that old friend of yours in Yunjing?”

Ni Su looked at the cloak he wore.

Hearing this, Xu Hexue turned his face to meet her gaze, but didn’t say whether it was or wasn’t.

“Just as we agreed—you help me find my brother.” Ni Su gripped the reins, hearing the horse’s breath and stroking its mane, then told him: “I’ll also help you find your old friend and do my utmost to fulfill your regret.”

At the far edge of distant mountains, white scales of light began to show. Xu Hexue silently examined the girl on horseback. After a moment he looked away, speaking lightly: “You needn’t help me with anything. You need only light lamps for me.”

The candle in the lantern extinguished. The sky grew increasingly blue-grey. On the right side, between the screening green trees, this section of river was much more tranquil. A stone bridge spanned both banks above. An old man leading an ox came slowly from the other end. Pushing up his straw hat, he squinted and saw someone riding a horse approaching on the mountain path.

Horse hooves stepped lightly. The young woman on horseback nodded her head bit by bit, her body sometimes leaning left, sometimes right. The old man was just watching when he saw the horse’s rear turn toward a ditch rich with vegetation. The dozing woman on the horse’s back was unprepared—her body tilted and she was about to fall.

The old man opened his mouth but hadn’t yet cried out when he saw her tilting body seem to be supported by something.

The old man suspected his eyes were deceiving him. He rubbed his eyelids and saw the woman sit upright on the horse’s back, her eyes opening in confusion.

“Strange…”

The old man muttered, descending from the bridge onto the riverside path to let his ox graze.

Ni Su just realized her hands were empty. Looking down, she saw the hand holding the reins—pale, thin skin beneath which every inch of sinew and bone was beautiful and flowing.

Someone was behind her, but she couldn’t sense his breath. His embrace was cold, cold as snow, as if it would freeze all her drowsiness to death.

He suddenly became aware and put a bit more distance between them. “If you’re tired, sleep.”

Ni Su didn’t turn around. She looked at the bundle that should have been on her but now hung around the horse’s neck. She responded softly. The drowsy bugs not yet frozen to death weighed on her eyelids. In this swaying stretch of road, she dozed off with surprising peace of mind.

Right now was the sweltering summer season. Even after the sun had set and night had fallen, Qingzhou City was still very hot. The shopkeeper of Songyuan Inn worked his abacus behind the counter, occasionally using a sweat cloth to wipe the fine perspiration from his forehead.

Several waiters busily lit lanterns in the hall. The shopkeeper saw a shadow fall across his counter. He looked up to see a travel-worn young woman.

“Miss, are you staying at the inn?” The shopkeeper’s face broke into a smile.

“Two rooms.”

Ni Su placed money on the counter.

Two rooms?

The shopkeeper craned his neck to look left and right behind her but saw no second person. He asked doubtfully: “I see you’re alone.”

Ni Su froze. She had nearly forgotten that others didn’t know of Xu Ziling’s existence. She made a sound of acknowledgment but didn’t change her request. “I’m waiting for a friend. He’ll come later.”

The shopkeeper nodded. “Rest assured, our inn has people guarding the hall at night. If your friend comes knocking, we can certainly let him in.”

“Thank you.”

Ni Su responded briefly, then lifted her skirt and followed the waiter upstairs.

After briefly requesting food from the waiter, Ni Su placed her bundle on the bed. Turning around, she extinguished the lamps in the room, then personally lit them again. She lit five lamp candles in succession and indeed saw that silhouette become increasingly distinct in the lamplight.

“If I light more, does that make your form appear to others for a longer time?” Ni Su sat down at the table and poured herself a bowl of tea.

Xu Hexue glanced at the lamps on the table and lightly nodded: “These are enough to sustain for some time.”

He wasn’t unable to manifest—rather, the more incense and candles the summoner lit for him, the more substantial his form would become, until he appeared no different from an ordinary person.

“Then when you go to see your old friend, I’ll light a whole room full of lamps for you.”

Ni Su propped her chin on her hand and told him.

Xu Hexue raised his eyes. After a moment, he said: “Actually, you don’t need to get another room.”

“You’re a proper gentleman who won’t stay in the same room with me. If I don’t get another room, where will you shelter tonight? Find another tree outside?”

Seeing he remained silent again, Ni Su set down her tea bowl. “Xu Ziling, even as a ghost you remain so modest and courteous. How could I not treat you with proper courtesy because you’re a ghost? The clues about my brother now rest entirely with you. Please don’t refuse.”

She spoke this way only to make Xu Hexue accept her kindness.

He was so proper and principled—in life he must not have been an ordinary person. For a lonely soul dwelling in the mortal world, if he had no tile to shelter beneath, wouldn’t he feel even more adrift?

After all, he had once been a living person too.

“Thank you.”

After a long while, Xu Hexue lowered his eyelids.

Having traveled all day, Ni Su was exhausted. Fortunately the inn had someone to fetch water. She finally bathed and washed properly, changed into clean clothing, and fell asleep as soon as her head touched the pillow.

In the utterly silent night, the waiter forced himself to stay awake while keeping watch in the hall. For an instant, he felt a solitary light flicker upstairs. His drooping eyelids immediately lifted. Looking up, he saw bright candlelight in the room that no one had yet moved into. Upstairs was quiet—no human voices.

The waiter was bored. He recalled that he had been the one to find those several lamp candles burning in that room for that young lady. Her friend hadn’t arrived yet—he didn’t know why she wanted to light so many candles in that empty room.

A strange feeling he couldn’t quite name lingered in his heart. The waiter lazily yawned, hoping in his heart that this night would pass quickly so he could return and get some sleep.

Upstairs, a lantern swayed in the wind. A trace of extremely faint mist slipped through the half-open door crack and into the room. In the bright candle flames, it transformed into the form of a young man.

Xu Hexue silently surveyed the room’s simple furnishings. After a while, he sat down beside the bed. He just sat quietly for a time, until his brow furrowed lightly.

Rolling up his left sleeve, warm yellow lamplight revealed his ghastly pale arm. The intact flesh cracked inch by inch under his gaze, forming blood-line chaotic sword and blade scars.

Deep red blood flowed along his wrist and dripped down. The moment it touched the ground, it transformed into fragments of luminescent dust—floating, dispersing.

Xu Hexue lowered his sleeve. His fingers touched the soft bedding. Tentatively, he stretched out his body, just as many years ago when he had still been a person, and lay down.

Luminescent dust flew chaotically through the room, then vanished in an instant.

He closed his eyes.

He heard the lattice window to his right—pine wind rustling outside, night birds crying, and… knock knock, the sound of knocking on the door.

Xu Hexue’s eyes flew open in an instant.

He rose from the bed and walked over. Opening the door, he saw a drowsy young woman standing outside. Her jet-black hair hung loose, a few strands of fine hair clinging to her cheeks. Hearing the door open, her eyes widened slightly as she looked at him.

“What’s wrong?”

Xu Hexue spoke.

“I forgot to ask—do you need to bathe?” Ni Su held back a yawn, but her eyes welled up with moisture anyway.

After this stretch of travel through wind and dust, he still looked clean—he must love cleanliness very much.

Xu Hexue froze, not expecting that she had awakened mid-sleep to ask him this.

“I…”

He considered his words carefully and answered: “Don’t need water.”

“Don’t need water? Then what do you use?” Hearing his answer, Ni Su’s drowsiness lessened somewhat. She made no effort to hide her curiosity.

In the great hall below, the waiter had already fallen asleep sprawled across a table, snoring like thunder.

Ni Su tiptoed down the stairs and lifted the curtain to walk into the inn’s back courtyard.

The round moon was mostly blocked by the eaves, but its silver-white radiance spread across the courtyard. Ni Su saw Xu Hexue standing there. He wasn’t wearing that cloak—his robes were clean as snow.

Watching him this way, he again seemed no different from an ordinary person.

As if suddenly sensing something, he abruptly turned his face. Those translucent, extremely cold eyes met her gaze. His pale lips parted slightly: “Ni Su.”

He had heard others call her by that name more than once.

He also knew she was heading to Yunjing.

Ni Su stared at him blankly.

“I was summoned by you and cannot leave your side in the mortal realm, but I also have unfinished business.” Xu Hexue fixed his gaze on her. “Since this is so, why don’t we make an agreement? On this journey to Yunjing, I’ll help you find your brother, and you help me fulfill my wish.”

In the ruined mountain temple on this boundless summer night, Ni Su waited quite a while before speaking: “Your unfinished business—what is it?”

“Like you, seeking someone.”

Being watched by the girl in the corridor, Xu Hexue’s icy clear eyes revealed a trace of unease. His fingers moved slightly. Ni Su felt the moonlight in this courtyard become even more dreamlike.

Shining on him, drop by drop luminescent light continuously floated up from his robes—very pale, very faint, even fainter than his shadow on the ground.

Ni Su truly found it difficult to describe the scene she was witnessing at this moment.

She almost believed she was in a dream.

Bathing in moonlight… was that all it took?

Ni Su stared in complete astonishment, almost dazed as she gazed at the young man—no, he still had a youth’s appearance—standing in the courtyard, his features clear and bone-beautiful.

At this moment, surrounded by a bizarre luminescent dust, he was both distant and divine.

“You’re not at all like a ghost.”

Ni Su walked to his side, reaching out to touch the droplets of luminescent dust. She only looked up, not realizing that when her fingers touched a particle of dust, his eyelashes trembled finely.

The fluffy ball of luminous light on the ground also swayed its tail.

“I think…”

Ni Su looked up at the stretch of night sky above the flying eaves: “Like stars.”

—