After hearing the corpse collector’s report, all the fishermen and boatmen on the riverside came rushing over to help. As they still needed to carry their fish and passengers, placing dead bodies on their boats would be inauspicious, so they instead helped the corpse collector drag the waterlogged corpses—little better than lumps of tattered cotton—onto the shore and arranged them in a row. It made for a macabre sight.
Xuanmin frowned at the row of corpses.
“I just got a big scare.” The corpse collector had reached the bank, and he moved the last body ashore while he continued, “I counted six floating corpses to begin with, all near a small islet. But when I went to retrieve the last two, another one came floating up. It surfaced right next to my boat. That feeling… It was too much!”
Xue Xian discreetly scratched Xuanmin with his claw and muttered beneath his sleeve. “Keep an eye on those corpses. The last corpse the collector talked about should be the one I sent to the surface. They’re definitely connected to that horrible array. I’ll explain it later. For now, just pay attention and see if there’s anything strange about them.”
His voice was muffled within the fabric and difficult to catch clearly, but Xuanmin managed to understand most of it, as if the dragon’s voice had reached his ears through the gaps within his robes.
Xuanmin turned his face aside, grunting in acknowledgment. Then, he flicked Xue Xian’s tail using a finger concealed within his sleeve, indicating the dragon should settle down.
Rather than do that, Xue Xian chomped on his finger.
“Let go,” said Xuanmin flatly.
Jiang Shining and Lu Nianqi both started. “Let go of what?”
Xuanmin’s expression was still as stone as he gazed at the waterlogged corpses that had been dragged ashore. His eyes swept over them, from the exposed bones of their ankles to their disheveled tangles of hair. Compared to the others on the shore who were covering their noses and retching, he seemed almost ethereal in his demeanor.
Perhaps that was too intimidating, for after Jiang Shining failed to extract an answer, he dared not ask again. He took it for a case of tinnitus and turned his head away.
Xue Xian’s teeth were still clamped around Xuanmin’s finger, biting fiercely at him for flicking his tail. It was a long time before his anger abated enough to let go.
In the meantime, it turned out that Xue Xian’s guess had been quite accurate. Though there was nothing particularly odd about those seven corpses, they all had something hanging from their waists. While the fishermen and boatmen were busy vomiting and catching their breaths, Xuanmin stealthily used a piece of white hemp to remove the dangling objects.
When he was done, he placed seven iron military tags in a row, all inscribed with names that had been scratched out. This proved that these people, together with the ones in the tomb, were part of the same group.
Xue Xian watched as Xuanmin wrapped the tags in white hemp again and put them away.
“By the way,” Xue Xian said, “some of the iron tags buried in the riverbed are still there, just not all of them. We can take a closer look later.”
Xuanmin walked up to Lu Shijiu’s corpse as Xue Xian spoke. Lu Nianqi was by his brother’s side, his hand raised, like he wanted to reach out for him but was too afraid to. As if the moment he did, Lu Shijiu would truly be gone forever.
“Look.” Lu Nianqi raised his head, and his eyes fell on Xuanmin. His gaze seemed oddly vacant, increasingly resembling that of a blind person. “I can feel he’s here, I can touch him, but I can’t see him. I can see you and the people on the shore. It’s not very clear, and I can’t make out their faces, but I can see them. I can’t see Shijiu at all.”
Xuanmin glanced at Lu Shijiu, who lay on the river stone, his eyes closed. Then he stared into Lu Nianqi’s dark eyes for a moment and said, “You’re not seeing through your eyes. Your vision has already faded. You just haven’t realized.”
“What do you mean?” Lu Nianqi’s throat tightened.
Peeking out from under Xuanmin’s sleeve, Xue Xian stared at Lu Nianqi’s eyes.
“Oh, that makes sense,” Xue Xian said. “I was wondering why your eyes lost their light while you were submerged.” After a moment’s thought, he said to Lu Nianqi, “Lu Shijiu exchanged his life for yours, so his divination skills were also transferred to you. The abnormalities you’re feeling must be related. They haven’t fully manifested yet, so you’ll have to survive a bit of pain.”
Lu Nianqi was stunned for a moment. “You mean… You’re saying my eyes will become like Shijiu’s?”
“Not ‘will.’ They’re mostly there already,” Xue Xian said. “What you’re seeing is no longer the physical form, but qi. You’re seeing what Lu Shijiu did every day.”
“Then the reason I can’t see Shijiu is because…” Lu Nianqi’s nostrils flared, as if he was unable to catch his breath, and when it did come, it was harried and stuttering. He frowned and his eyes grew strained and red. “Because of what?”
Xuanmin raised his hand and pressed his thumb against the acupoint between Lu Nianqi’s brows. “You’ve developed a red mole here. Your brother had one that looked the same. This mark signifies that the life exchange was successful. If his soul still lingered in this world, the mole wouldn’t have emerged.”
Life swapping was a forbidden technique. Even when it succeeded, the survivor of the exchange would usually become abnormal. This was because they’d always inherit something from the one who sacrificed their life—whether appearance, personality, or ability. The lines between the two souls blurred.
The longer the soul of the sacrificed lingered, the stronger their impact would be on the survivor. In other words, in order to minimize the effects on Lu Nianqi, Lu Shijiu hadn’t lingered for even a second. The indifferent words he’d said to Lu Nianqi in the tomb were his genuine, final farewell.
They’d never meet again.
“Don’t cry.” Jiang Shining couldn’t find a handkerchief, so he used his fingers to daub the silent tears rolling from Lu Nianqi’s eyes. “Perhaps…”
Before he could finish, Lu Nianqi had already passed out, his face devoid of color. It might have been from the unbearable agony in his body or from the shock from the news. In any case, Lu Nianqi would be unconscious for quite a long time.
No matter how cold Xuanmin was, or how much of a bastard Xue Xian was, they weren’t about to stroll off and leave behind a dead youth and an unconscious boy. That would be absolutely asinine. For now, they decided to stay in the small home the boys lived in.
It was a shabby place. There was an area for cooking and a small, drab hall. The latter only had space enough for a square table, with two side wings on either side. Each of those held only a single narrow bed and a wooden cabinet, which must have belonged to the two brothers.
Though they were “staying,” in truth the only person who was occupying the place was the unconscious Lu Nianqi. Xuanmin placed him in one of the rooms, then went to the nearby funeral parlor to order a coffin. After he laid Lu Shijiu in the coffin, Xuanmin put it in the other room.
Just as Xuanmin sat down in the hall, planning to carefully think over the stone lock and iron tags, Xue Xian’s head poked out from his sleeve. “Don’t sit down yet. Go find a tailor. A fabric store will do.”
Xuanmin looked down at him, waiting for his explanation.
Xue Xian scratched at his own head with a claw. Then, with the most authoritative tone he could muster, he said, “I’m not wearing any clothes.”
Xuanmin’s eyes roved over the small dragon’s body. A second later, he coolly tossed Xue Xian’s previous words back at him: “Which book taught you it was okay to coil naked around someone’s wrist?”
Xue Xian bit Xuanmin again.
His dragon’s teeth were razor-sharp, and each bite left a crescent-shaped mark. Xuanmin’s expression remained neutral as he brushed aside his sleeve, revealing his slender, bony fingers. He curled his index and middle fingers and presented them to Xue Xian. On those fingers were at least six bite marks, all thanks to this creature.
Xue Xian turned his head away, pretending not to understand. “Stop showing off your hands. They’re no better than chicken feet—way too bony. Practically useless decorations. Coiling around them feels uncomfortable as hell. Please, just start moving and get me some clothes.”
Jiang Shining entered the room in time to hear Xue Xian’s tantrum. Unable to bear watching, he immediately retreated into a sunless corner of the kitchen.
Xuanmin shook his head and stood to leave.
In the beginning, his trip was just to buy Xue Xian some clothes, but what would happen while he was out would prove more complicated, and lead to quite a few unforeseen developments.