Liu Xing’s face was filled with regret, and his voice quivered slightly: “When I saw Wuduo again, I was greatly shocked. It had only been a little over a year since we last met, but she looked terribly haggard, and her belly was swollen—she was already heavily pregnant and about to give birth!”
“At that moment, I was completely stunned, not knowing what to say. When Wuduo saw me, she smiled, but that smile appeared bitterly…” Liu Xing’s voice turned hoarse as he continued, “When she saw me, she said, ‘Third Brother, why have you returned?’ Without waiting for my reply, she smiled again and said, ‘That’s good. I was just hoping only you would help me, and now you’re back.’
“At that time, I had no idea what was going on and hurriedly asked, ‘Disciple Sister, what exactly is happening here?’
“Wuduo shook her head and said, ‘Senior Brother, please don’t ask. I only have one request—will you promise me?’
“All these years, Wuduo had never asked me for anything. When I heard her words then and saw her weary face filled with faint hope, I would not have hesitated even if she had asked for a thousand things. I asked what it was, but she wouldn’t say, only promising she’d tell me when the time came. At that time, how could I have known how things would turn out later…”
At this point, Liu Xing’s voice suddenly choked up. His eyes glistened with moisture, and he fell silent for a long while.
After a while, he finally regained his composure and sighed deeply: “Even now, after so many years, whenever I recall the past, I still feel the same way. I suppose it’s foolish of me to burden you young ones with these tales.” He lightly coughed and continued: “I’ve asked my master and fellow apprentices what had happened after I left. Whose child was Wuduo carrying? But at that time, my master… ah, I suppose I misunderstood him. Yet his behavior was indeed strange back then…”
“Strange?” Mei Qing furrowed his brows. He had noticed earlier that Liu Xing’s tone had changed slightly when mentioning Plum Blossom Sage. Now, hearing the word “strange” again, he couldn’t help but ask: “Senior Liu, what exactly do you mean by saying Plum Blossom Sage was acting strangely?”
Liu Xing remained silent for a moment before slowly replying: “As a disciple, I shouldn’t speak ill of my master. But this matter has troubled me for years, and I’ve never been able to resolve my doubts. Initially, our master treated all of us very well. But later on, for reasons unknown, his behavior changed. His temper became increasingly erratic. Most peculiar of all, he often contradicted himself in both words and deeds.”
“Contradicted himself?” Mei Qing asked in astonishment. “How so?”
“Well, for example, one time Master asked me to find several medicinal ingredients to prepare a certain pill. Some of the ingredients were quite difficult to obtain. I finally managed to gather them all and hurried back to present them to him. But he was very displeased and said, ‘How could you use such trash to make a pill? This Rehmannia glutinosa shouldn’t even be used here. And that stone fat is also completely inappropriate. This is sheer nonsense!’ I dared not argue at the time, thinking he was just in a bad mood, so I put the ingredients aside carelessly. A few days later, Master suddenly summoned me again and scolded me for not having found the ingredients yet. I was quite surprised and reminded him of the previous incident, but he denied it completely and scolded me again. I was at a loss but went out again to find the ingredients and returned them to him. This time, when Master saw the materials, especially the Rehmannia glutinosa, he praised them highly and commended me.”
Mei Qing and Bi Zhen listened in astonishment. Plum Blossom Sage was a great master of his generation, so how could his behavior be so erratic and his speech so peculiar? Liu Xing also seemed very puzzled, shaking his head: “The other apprentices also noticed, but none of us dared to ask, especially the youngest apprentice sister…”
At this point, Liu Xing hesitated slightly before continuing: “These matters pertain to the Plum Blossom Sect and shouldn’t be shared with outsiders. But since you are Wuduo’s child, you have the right to know something of what happened back then. If you can uncover the truth, it would be an explanation for both your elder sister and Master. Honestly, I’ve always suspected that someone might have tampered with Master, but there’s absolutely no evidence, sigh…”
“Especially how?” Mei Qing pressed, his suspicions rising.
“Especially toward Wuduo, Master’s behavior became even more peculiar,” Liu Xing said evasively: “Initially, Master treated all of us the same, addressing us only by name. He naturally called the youngest apprentice sister ‘Wuduo.’ But then, something changed…”
“Changed into what?” Mei Qing asked.
“There was one time when I happened to visit Master and saw him talking with my younger sister. I clearly heard him call her… Mei Ji…” Liu Xing said with some distress.
“Mei Ji?” Mei Qing was startled. Suddenly, he understood the source of his earlier doubts.
Back then, when Mei Qing was infiltrated by the Seven Star Inkstone in the Brocade Guard’s treasure house, a scene had appeared before his eyes again.
He saw himself standing before a small thatched cottage, with a sea of wild plum blossoms blooming magnificently in front of it.
“Mei Ji! Have you made up your mind yet?” he heard himself say calmly.
A girl in white stood calmly beyond the sea of plum blossoms, her face exuding elegance and a faint mocking smile: “Since Master has given the order, how could Mei Ji refuse?”
Ah… He tried to turn his head and saw the familiar handwriting on the wooden pillar behind the cottage, just as he remembered.
“By chance, I call the bright moon to share eternity; once, I lived with plum blossoms on the same mountain…” Mei Qing murmured.
“What?” Liu Xing was greatly startled, suddenly standing up: “How do you know this couplet? It was inscribed on the wooden pillars inside Master’s retreat back then. No one else ever knew about it except us.”
“I’ve known it all along, but never thought much of it,” Mei Qing said softly.
Looking at Liu Xing’s suspicious expression, he added: “Senior Liu, earlier when I spoke of my cultivation path, I mentioned accidentally encountering a Seven Star Inkstone, which helped me break through my restrictions and enhance my cultivation. At that time, several scenes appeared in my mind, one of which was exactly this one. I just never imagined that the woman in that scene was actually… my mother.”
As he spoke, Mei Qing took out the Seven Star Inkstone and placed it on the table.
Everyone’s gaze immediately fell on this inkstone. Bi Zhen had seen it before and found nothing unusual about it. Liu Xing also looked puzzled, shaking his head: “I’ve never seen this inkstone before. But the aura from it feels vaguely familiar somehow. Hmm…”
After examining it for a while, he said: “But there’s nothing strange about it—it’s just a regular stone?”
Mei Qing nodded: “I’ve asked several senior cultivators to look at it, and they all said it’s just an ordinary inkstone.”
Liu Xing sighed: “I really don’t know what’s going on. You seem to be surrounded by so many strange things.”
Mei Qing remained silent. When he first touched the inkstone, the scenes and people he saw had been described to Bi Zhen. He knew the earlier scenes were of Zhang Liusun, the leader of the Xuan Sect. Later, when he actually met Zhang Liusun, he confirmed that the scenes were indeed accurate. But he had never known who the later scenes involved. Now, after hearing Liu Xing’s account, he realized it was none other than Plum Blossom Sage Fan Wentai and Mei Wuduo. Mei Qing’s confusion deepened. The fact that the inkstone contained Zhang Liusun’s memories was already astonishing enough. How had Plum Blossom Sage Fan Wentai become involved?
“What happened next?” Mei Qing asked calmly.
Liu Xing shook his head: “After that, Master’s temper became increasingly erratic. His way of addressing the youngest apprentice sister kept changing, and his orders often contradicted themselves. This was all before I went on my travels. At the time, I even suspected that perhaps the youngest apprentice sister’s rejection of me had something to do with Master. When I returned, my first thought was that maybe the child in her womb was Master’s, but later, from the discussions among the senior apprentices, I learned that wasn’t the case.”
“But soon, Master became even more unstable, and his orders grew stranger. One day he would order us to kill the youngest apprentice sister, and the next he would say she had endured much and should be well cared for. Yet one thing remained unchanged—he always insisted that we apprentices keep a close watch on her to prevent any accidents.”
“At first, I thought Master was concerned for her health as she was about to give birth, so we were to watch over her carefully. But later, I realized it was not like that at all. The other apprentices were clearly monitoring her. My younger sister’s expressions and actions also indicated she was aware of this, but no one would tell me the reason.”
“Days passed like this. I was busy watching over my younger sister every day. Even when other apprentices were on duty, I would still squeeze in to see her. Finally, the day of her delivery arrived. That day, Master was clearly acting strangely. Normally, it should have been the fourth apprentice’s turn to stand guard, but Master came out early in the morning, silently staring at the sky with a very grim expression. I had followed Master for many years, but I had never seen him like this. Not just me, the others felt the same and kept their distance. The fourth apprentice, because of his duty, spoke to Master, but somehow Master became displeased. With a single motion, he shattered the fourth apprentice’s golden core and threw it aside, then struck his spiritual sense harshly.”
Mei Qing couldn’t help but shudder inwardly. Cultivators’ spiritual senses were far stronger than those of ordinary people, but the pain from a damaged spiritual sense was also far more severe. Clearly, Plum Blossom Sage had been in an extremely foul mood at the time to act so harshly.
“None of us dared to speak. Master looked at the sky, then coldly snorted and went into my younger sister’s room. At that time, she had already started crying out—she was about to give birth. It was only because I dared to take action that I ordered the midwives, who had been waiting in the house, to come in. One of the midwives said, ‘Men should go outside,’ and looked at Master. He merely snorted, and the midwife fell silent and collapsed to the ground, dead.” Liu Xing’s voice was somewhat hoarse as he recounted.
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