The vast City Lord’s mansion suddenly fell into an indescribable deathly silence.

Among them, those with the most complex feelings were Wu Neng and Chen Jianxi, who knelt at the very front.

Wu Neng only knew that this mission involved Jiu Feng and might require young people to resolve it, but no matter what, this task was merely about finding something and didn’t require clashing head-on with Jiu Feng. Adding up all factors, it would at most be a three-star difficulty.

Even if the Heavenly Mystery Book dispatched someone to resolve it, it shouldn’t be such a top figure among the younger generation.

Chen Jianxi was even more bewildered than him.

Among the Six Sacred Lands, Chi Shui, Northern Wasteland, Xihe, and Kunlun all selected people with high talent, strong ability, and good character from their clan members to ascend to the position of inheritor. Only Yedu and Tai Hua had maintained direct lineage succession for tens of millions of years.

The current Lord of Yedu had no sons, only one daughter. Although she hadn’t been formally crowned as Crown Princess yet, anyone with a brain could see the weight this carried.

Holy Sons and Holy Daughters could be replaced and could be surpassed by newcomers rising from behind, but the one standing before them now—even if the Lord of Yedu had another child, she would still be the eldest daughter, the legitimate eldest daughter.

In other words, she truly couldn’t be offended.

Even Chen Jianxi’s most prideful identity as City Lord was jointly bestowed by the court and the Sacred Lands.

“I’ll ask you one last time.” Xue Yu looked down at Chen Jianxi from her superior position and said, “Where exactly is Chen Huainan?”

Chen Jianxi’s face was full of dejection. If he spoke, from this day forward, he would be ruined and disgraced, with a lifetime of painstaking effort all for naught. If he didn’t speak, he might end up in Yedu’s great prison tonight, and whether he could even keep his life was another matter entirely.

After several struggles, Chen Jianxi opened his mouth dejectedly under Xue Yu’s increasingly cold expression: “On the mountain south of Wudao City, in a small courtyard.”

“Take him under guard and lead the way.”

Soon, a mighty procession arrived at the place Chen Jianxi had mentioned. It was a barren mountain on the outskirts of the city, with countless vines entangled on the trees, beginning to sprout green as the weather warmed, like oddly-shaped giant serpents that surrounded the entire mountain so densely it was impenetrable.

Looking from afar, one’s vision was completely obscured, making it impossible to discover that a small house had been erected on the mountainside at some unknown time.

The courtyard wasn’t large, with fences densely packed front and back, and a small passageway that only allowed one person to pass through. In the courtyard were only three or five serving maidservants. Seeing so many people suddenly burst in, they were terrified beyond measure, opening their mouths “ah ah ah” trying to speak, but not a single word could come out.

“They’ve been poisoned mute.” Su You silently suppressed the surging energy within his body, looking up at this scene and speaking softly.

Xue Yu’s expression became even worse. “Let’s go in and see Chen Huainan first.”

Remembering his sickly appearance that looked like he could die at any moment, the last time she saw him, before entering, Xue Yu had Wu Neng and the others all wait outside, while she pushed open the door with a creak.

Before entering, Xue Yu had mentally prepared herself to see blood everywhere.

Unexpectedly, Chen Huainan’s room was very clean. The window faced directly toward the scenery of the back mountain, with a small lake reflected at the bottom of her vision. The room was filled with a faint medicinal scent, and a square wooden table was wiped spotlessly clean, with delicate and soft pastries still placed on top.

There was only one person in the room, sitting with his back to them, motionlessly gazing out the window. He didn’t turn around when he heard the commotion, nor did he have any intention of speaking.

Compared to that day, his physical condition had undoubtedly improved greatly—at least he could sit up now.

Xue Yu curved her knuckles and knocked neither lightly nor heavily on the wooden table, her voice like silver bells: “Chen Huainan.”

The person whose name was called suddenly stiffened, as if encountering some unbelievable situation. He paused for a moment, then slowly turned around.

Their four eyes met, and what entered Xue Yu’s view was a face so pale it almost carried heavy deathly qi. Because he was too thin, his cheekbones protruded prominently, and like someone who hadn’t touched water in a long time, his lips had several bloodstained dry cracks. Only those eyes were gentle and peaceful, and because of this one bright spot, his entire person seemed to carry a scholarly air.

He seemed like someone who hadn’t spoken in a very long time. Even pressing his throat to speak, his voice carried a hoarse quality: “Chen, Chen—”

Not poisoned mute. The heart that Xue Yu had raised quietly relaxed by half.

“The matter has been exposed. Chen Jianxi has already been arrested.” Xue Yu knew what he wanted to ask, and with considerable patience, informed him of the basic situation. “Now it’s your turn to tell us what happened all these years.”

Hearing this, Chen Huainan was stunned, then revealed an extremely complex expression. After a long while, it was as if he had finally broken free from an absurd dream that had lasted over a thousand years.

He looked at Xue Yu and said word by word: “I am ten years younger than Chen Jianxi. I am one thousand three hundred and forty-two years old this year.”

“But I’m just an ordinary person.”

An ordinary person living for over a thousand years was something unimaginable.

“Speak.” Su You hooked over a stool and placed it behind Xue Yu. When he leaned back slightly, his eyes fell entirely on her, but his words came unhurriedly: “About your experiences.”

Chen Huainan finally shifted his body. His hands, as dry and thin as bamboo branches, reached for the water that had already gone cold by the bedside. Moving in a refined manner, he took several sips, and only then did his throat, dry as smoke, have the strength to continue speaking.

“Over a thousand years ago, in a small city not far from the imperial capital, my parents had a very large business and were among the wealthiest households in the city. Later, due to various natural disasters and man-made calamities, they almost reached the point where they couldn’t hold on anymore.”

“I was born during the most difficult time for my family.”

Chen Huainan spoke very slowly, but his pronunciation was very clear, word by word, very much like a storyteller narrating a tale: “After I was born, the family business that had been on the brink of extinction suddenly came back to life. My elder brother was finally chosen by an immortal sect, and my parents held their heads high with pride, almost raising me like an offering.”

“But I was born weak and sickly, destined not to live past fifteen.”

Chen Huainan fell into some heavy, inescapable memories.

That child who had brought surprises from birth was watched especially closely by the Chen family couple. In winter they feared he’d catch cold, in summer they feared he’d overheat. Even the medicine he drank—every single medicinal ingredient was carefully selected before being brewed and served to him.

Because of his poor health, he couldn’t see much sunlight, couldn’t go out to play, and couldn’t follow his elder brother in practicing those heart-stirring techniques.

His world was only a small piece—a magnificent and luxurious room was his everything.

He was the little lucky star in his parents’ mouths. Because of him, everywhere in the house had a vigorous and upward atmosphere.

Such days passed year after year. As Chen Huainan’s fifteenth birthday approached, his body visibly worsened day by day. That speed of life ebbing away was frightening to behold.

Chen Jianxi was bold, Chen Huainan was gentle and refined. The two brothers had opposite personalities and didn’t resemble each other in appearance at all, but their relationship was very good. Even when the adults weren’t paying attention, Chen Jianxi would always fly his sword and take Chen Huainan to see distant places—the bustling marketplace, lights under the moon, and mountain ranges after storms cleared.

Chen Huainan would occasionally see his father with a worried frown, pacing back and forth in the study, and had seen his mother with red-rimmed eyes, leaning against his father’s shoulder, weeping, choking out: “Without Huainan, what will we do? What will Jianxi do?”

His parents treasured him more than they cared for his elder brother.

He had seen Chen Jianxi being beaten by his father until he jumped around frantically, had seen him being grabbed by the ear by his mother and scolded for not living up to expectations, but none of this happened to him. They treated him always carefully, never even speaking a harsh word.

Even more so, Chen Huainan more than once felt that when his parents looked at him, their eyes always contained heavy indebtedness and guilt.

Finally, Chen Huainan’s body couldn’t survive past the cold winter of his fifteenth year. A sudden serious illness left him unconscious for three days and nights, his breathing growing weaker and weaker.

He thought he would die, but he didn’t.

When he woke up again, Chen Huainan had to drink a bowl of medicine every month. That medicine was richly colored, red like blood, and even its smell carried the fishy and foul odor of mixed blood. Forget drinking it—even getting close enough to smell it was unbearable.

The first time he held that bowl, he looked around in confusion.

He looked at Chen Jianxi, who gripped his sword tightly and didn’t dare look at him. He looked at his mother, whose face still hung with tears, her complexion a grayish-green of utter shame. Only Father Chen remained relatively calm, holding that bowl of medicine and explaining to him gently: “Huainan, be good. This medicine was obtained by your parents at great expense from your brother’s immortal sect. It’s very effective. You only need to drink it once a month, and after drinking it, your illness will be cured.”

Over these years, because of his illness, his parents had grieved repeatedly. Chen Huainan didn’t want them to worry, so gritting his teeth, he drank that bowl of bloody medicine, then vomited violently afterward.

His frail body indeed maintained a stable state of weakness and no longer continued to deteriorate.

But there was no medicine in this world that could make one immortal.

Later on, every time he drank that medicine, he would fall into a deep sleep. The sleeping time grew longer each day, eventually lasting for decades at a time. His body still unavoidably lost vitality bit by bit over the long years.

At this time, Chen Jianxi finally made his mark, rising to fame in the cultivation world, always bringing back many life-extending pills. It was also relying on those whom Chen Huainan had intermittently passed many years in his dreams.

“Ten years ago, Chen Jianxi woke me from my slumber, saying he wanted to take me somewhere.” Chen Huainan stroked his face, then took a deep breath and said: “From childhood to adulthood, I had few opportunities to go out. Each time was when the family faced difficulties or when Chen Jianxi was frustrated.”

Chen Huainan knew his time was short and thought, if he truly was a lucky star.

He was willing to help his elder brother one last time.

“He brought me to Wudao City.” Chen Huainan looked at Su You’s casual eyes and said: “It was the first time I knew that the world was so vast, that flowers could bloom so beautifully, that trees could grow so tall.”

“He had no time to manage me, so he arranged for me to stay in a village by the sea.” After speaking so much in one breath, Chen Huainan stopped to slowly catch his breath several times before continuing: “That period was the only time of freedom in my entire life.”

He would hold books and lie under trees, closing his eyes to rest when tired, or look at the flying birds in the sky and listen to the surging sound of waves by his ears. Everything ordinary to other people was delightful and curious to him.

“My entire life, from beginning to end, has been a joke.” Chen Huainan closed his eyes, as if remembering some utterly absurd scene. His words pierced his heart word by word, but because of his gentle nature and the sickly air that permeated his entire being, these words lost some of their force.

While Chen Huainan was speaking, Su You kept his eyes lowered, showing a kind of angular casual indifference. Only after he finished speaking did he lift his eyelashes slightly and say: “There’s something wrong with your background.”

“They gave you demon blood to drink.”

In the seaside village, you encountered a great demon. She helped you, which is why you’re alive now.”

“After you discovered the truth about your background, Chen Jianxi imprisoned you.”

“For ten years, that great demon has been looking for you.”

The young man’s voice was pleasant. With each sentence he spoke, Chen Huainan’s face grew paler. By the end, he had become completely quiet.

Xue Yu sat quietly. After Su You’s words ended, she couldn’t help but raise her eyes to glance at him.

This was the most relaxed she had ever felt conducting an interrogation.

Without her needing to ask word by word, what he expressed was exactly the most appropriate thing to say in this situation and scene.

She couldn’t help but think of Song Heng again.

The once majestic and awe-inspiring Heavenly Emperor had also followed her, rushing about everywhere. Back then, he was still immature, his mind unstable, bumbling around like a fly in two-star and three-star missions, at a complete loss.

She could only keep a cold face while completing missions and teaching at the same time. Many times, he was still confused and couldn’t keep up with the pace.

But looking at the even more confused Chao Nian and Liang Yan and others, she thought that everyone had an adaptation process—no one was born knowing these things.

But Su You—he was truly quite surprising.

As if unaware of her gaze, Su You walked to Chen Huainan’s side. His pupils almost showed a kind of beautiful, sweet, deep richness. He bent slightly at the waist, his Adam’s apple sliding up and down several times as he asked: “What about you? Do you want to go see her now?”

Chen Huainan suddenly clenched his fists. Two patches of red suddenly appeared on his pale face as he said with difficulty, “I want to go see her.”

“I still owe her something that I’ve never returned.”

Seeing this, Su You straightened up with satisfaction and looked toward Xue Yu.

The latter sat upright, her eyes that seemed covered with frost falling on his particularly charming eye corners. After a long moment, she tugged at the corner of her mouth, revealing a very faint smile.

Like encouragement, yet like praise.

As if someone had plucked a string.

Su You’s heart suddenly stirred.