Chapter 14 - So it’s you (1/2)

I had thought it would be easy to make an escape by myself. All I needed was an invisible spell and I’d be able to catch up to Moxi in no time.

But life never turned out the way I thought it would.

Never did I imagine the emperor would take action himself, less still did I expect this blind ruler to be so malicious.

He gave me a powerful blow and followed it with an iron net. It was no surprise I got captured.

Before being dragged into prison, I told myself that as soon as the emperor left, as soon as my spiritual power recovered, I’d make my escape.

After they dragged me into prison, however, I could only heave a weak sigh. The emperor must have seen Bai Jiu as a very serious threat, or they wouldn’t have locked me up in the palace dungeon.

The emperor firstly wanted to prevent me from escaping. He secondly wanted to extract Bai Jiu and Moxi’s whereabouts from me more conveniently. What they didn’t know was that this had coincidentally subdued my spiritual powers to their lowest.

Since I couldn’t run away, I adopted an attitude of living in peace in this dark dungeon.

The mortals’ torture instruments weren’t particularly dangerous to me. The daily whipping they gave wasn’t any different from getting my itch scratched on a scheduled basis.

Though I have to say: I was scratched very wrongfully each day.

They asked me for Moxi’s whereabouts day after day. How was I supposed to know? I honestly told them just as much but they kept insisting that I wasn’t being honest. I made a mental note to ask the imps as soon as these people arrived in the underworld whether they had any brains or not. If the answer was yes, I’d beat them to a pulp. If the answer was no, I’d simply chop their heads off and push them down the animal reincarnation well.

Since they didn’t believe me, I stopped bothering to answer. Over time, they only came to whip me once or twice out of routine. Then much much later, they stopped coming to whip me or give me food altogether. I was kept in captivity, living my days not knowing morning from night. They wanted to starve me to death, but little did they know, I was the spirit of a stone. As long as I could draw energy from the earth, I’d be able to live for centuries without any foods or drinks.

My only concern was that I didn’t know what day it was. I didn’t know how Moxi was doing outside.

This prison seemed to be very well hidden. I’d been here for a long time but I had not seen anyone else being brought in. Had I been an ordinary person, I would’ve rotted in here and nobody would know.

Fortunately, I did not fear darkness, for this environment perfectly allowed me to concentrate on my cultivation.

During this lengthy time, my spiritual powers made a slight improvement – not enough to aid me in my escape, nevertheless.

I didn’t know how long it had been by the time I finally heard another voice in addition to the squeaking rats. Everything sounded so much clearer in the dark.

The door opened and in came a single person.

I sat there dumbly. Did they not come to check on the prisoners?

He passed the fire and rounded the corner, slowly walking over this way. I squinted and gazed up at the person who came – a young lad in his twenties or thirties, dressed in a robe as pristine as snow and looking entirely out of place in this dungeon. His face was inexplicably familiar under the fire’s glow.

When he saw me, a slight change came over his serene face.

I just knew it! I had no idea how long I had been here, but I generally knew it had to have been ten years at least. Who wouldn’t be scared witless to see someone who hadn’t had any foods or drinks still living and breathing after ten years inside a dungeon? Not to mention my ghastly appearance, it was already a commendable courage he did not throw the torch and run for the hills.

“Sansheng,” he called my name. “It’s Chang’an.”

I frowned in thought; the name was a bit fuzzy in my distant memory. Quite a while later, I reacted: “Ah, the chicken little priest of Liubo.” Because I hadn’t spoken for too long, my voice came out croaking.

He furrowed his brow: “I’ll help you leave.”

I cleared my throat, smilingly saying: “You seem to be doing well. Why aren’t you afraid I would pick you like when you were younger?”

He smiled back awkwardly: “It’s been thirty years. You still remember pretty well, Sansheng.”

Thirty years. I froze.

In our last lifetime, I had gone to the underworld after Zhonghua killed me and waited two years for him there, after which I had returned to Earth to look for Moxi.

We had lived together for eight years, which makes it a total of ten years. Yet Chang’an was now saying it had been thirty years.

It turned out I’d stayed in this place for two decades.

Two decades… Moxi must be twenty-eight by now. I wondered how he looked.

Leaving the palace was much easier than I thought.

Chang’an found me a servant outfit. After I put it on, he openly took me out of the palace. Along the way, I kept seeing people prostrating to him, saying: “Your Eminence, Imperial Reverend.”

Imperial Reverend? “Hasn’t Liubo always looked down on these kinds of things?” I asked him after we left the palace and while basking under the sunlight I hadn’t seen in a long time as I recited a purification rune to restore myself to my former appearance.

He looked back at me. “It’s a long story. I need to take you to someone. Let’s talk about these things along the way.”

Chang’an told me that Liubo continuously declined after it was met with its calamity and never did return to its glorious past. Its disciples had to take off their fairy loftiness to reenter the vulgar world. Knowing I had saved his life but had ended up getting killed by Zhonghua, he had always felt guilty toward me and had been searching for my reincarnation to repay this debt.

“Sansheng, why do you still have memories from your past life?” he asked.

I didn’t know how to explain to him about all the karma that was involved. I pondered for a moment and replied: “Perhaps it’s because I couldn’t let go of your Most Reverend.”

He nodded and didn’t try to pursue that thread anymore. “Twenty years ago, there was a rumor that there was a demoness in the capital who got captured by the emperor himself. I hadn’t thought of you, but ten years ago a man came to look for me and asked me to rescue someone from the palace. That was when I found out you had been caught. Knowing it was you, I naturally agreed. In the name of the Imperial Reverend, I thus entered the palace and probed for your whereabouts all these years. It took this long but I finally got you out.”

“Is the person who asked you to save me named Moxi?”

“Yes, and no.” He softly smiled: “Do you know what kind of person this Moxi you speak of had become?”

I shook my head. He lowered his voice: “Although the capital is still safe at this time, on the battlefield ahead, the imperial army is defeated again and again. In no more than three months, this country will have a new master.” I dithered to hear him say: “The one who exterminates the enemy on the battlefront, the one who wipes out hundreds of thousands of the Empire’s soldiers, the one who brings back military exploits for the rebels is no other than Moxi.”

“But the one who asked me to save you…” as he spoke, he took me into a small courtyard in a deep alley. When the gate opened, I saw a man sitting inside.

I arched my brow. “Oh, so it’s you.”

Bai Jiu. Twenty years was a long stretch of time for human beings. He was still standing there straight and tall, but his hair had grayed and his face had wrinkled.

He was greatly surprised upon seeing me. “You… haven’t changed at all.”

I unconsciously frowned. “I’m not a demon.”

He smirked ironically: “What importance is there whether you are a demon or not?

Demons eat people, people also eat people. They are all the same.” He paused before continuing: “I find myself more and more nostalgic the older I get. Now that I’ve finally rescued you, I don’t feel so haunted by old regrets anymore.”

I was so sick of listening to these humans lamenting to me about their old age. I cut him short and asked, “Where’s Moxi?”

“He should now be in Rongshan,” he told me. “That boy misses you dearly, be it day or night,” he added helplessly, his words carrying a sigh of frustration.

I glanced at Bai Jiu quizzically. The jealousy that had long been buried deep inside of me inexplicably rose again. “I like Moxi and he likes me. If I’m not there, isn’t it natural that he should miss me? Are you saying he should miss you in some kind of taboo romance?”

Standing nearby, Chang’an couldn’t help but shake with laughter.