Chapter 36
Chapter 36: Past-Life Imprint
The instant Song Wei Chen lost consciousness, the Nuo opera mask hanging on Shu Xue Long’s wall dropped again—and split neatly into two.
Shu Xue Long stooped, picked it up, and traced the jagged break with his fingers. His brows slowly tightened.
Something had happened to her.
He couldn’t explain why he was sure, only that the certainty clung to him like incense smoke. After a brief pause, he made his decision. He would go to the Dust Warden Office and look.
She was useful to him. He couldn’t afford for her to die at a time like this.
He selected a refined food box, packed it with pastries, and left his tavern. Outside, he happened to see Gu Yu slip into a street-side incense shop.
He remembered her. That day at the Nuo mask stall, she had stood beside the woman in White Robe.
Shu Xue Long already knew the White Robe from the night market was the same woman who had played the zither in his establishment. It was a secret too dangerous to speak. He would never tell anyone how he knew.
After a moment’s thought, he followed into the incense shop. He pretended to browse, lingering close to Gu Yu.
Gu Yu found the osmanthus incense Song Wei Chen favored and reached for it—
A man’s long-fingered hand lifted it first.
Gu Yu’s hand froze midair.
“Miss, you like this osmanthus incense too?” Shu Xue Long’s smile came easy, handsome and unhurried. “Please wait a moment.”
He paid for the incense and offered it to Gu Yu as if it were nothing.
“I’m here to buy incense for my master,” Gu Yu said quickly, waving her hands. “I can’t accept a young master’s kindness for no reason. If my master finds out, I’ll be punished.”
“A small thing.” Shu Xue Long glanced around, as if casually admiring the shelves. “You look like someone from the Dust Warden Office. Are you running errands for a Dust Warden official?”
Gu Yu had spent years among powerful men. Caution sat in her bones. She only smiled, offering no answer.
Shu Xue Long didn’t press. He chuckled lightly instead. “Last night, a Dust Warden official came to my Moonwatch Tower. If I’d known he liked osmanthus incense, I would’ve prepared it ahead of time.”
The familiarity in his tone loosened Gu Yu’s guard. Her shoulders eased.
“So that’s how it is,” she said. “But this incense isn’t for him. It’s what the Venerable likes.”
“Oh?” Shu Xue Long’s eyes flickered. “So you’re miss from Venerable Manor. No wonder you seem so… clear-eyed.”
He extended the food box. “These are pastries made at Moonwatch Tower. Please take them back and share them with the Venerable. If you like them, Moonwatch Tower will welcome you both anytime.”
“Venerable…” Gu Yu’s expression crumpled for half a heartbeat. She forced a smile back into place. “Thank you, Young Master. The Venerable isn’t at the Dust Warden Office right now. When she returns, I’ll pass along your words.”
She bowed quickly and left without giving him time to respond.
Gu Yu’s face said everything.
Something had definitely happened.
Shu Xue Long stared toward the Dust Warden Office, his expression darkening. “Looks like I’ll have to use another method.”
Minister of Works Residence.
The Marrow-Cleansing Hall, usually lively, was unnaturally quiet today. Zhuang Yu Heng had dismissed everyone.
“Well, well.” Zhuang Yu Heng leaned back with a grin, wine cup in hand. “So now I finally know why you’ve been acting so strange lately, you old scoundrel. I never expected the new White Robe Venerable to be the one and only Soul Speaker from the rumors—and such a beautiful miss besides.”
He and Mo Ting Feng sat opposite each other on an elegant platform beside the Marrow-Washing Pool.
Zhuang Yu Heng cast a glance toward the Ten-Thousand-Year Moist Jade nearby, where Song Wei Chen lay unconscious.
“That backlash of yours,” he said, voice teasing, “it’s because of her, isn’t it?”
Mo Ting Feng didn’t answer. He only poured himself another drink and swallowed it as if it could burn something out of his chest.
Zhuang Yu Heng clicked his tongue. “How did you hurt her like this? Those surface wounds are nothing. Two ribs broken—and one pierced her lung. You were trying to take her life.”
Mo Ting Feng’s gaze didn’t lift. “Can you save her?”
His tone gave nothing away.
“If she were still in your hands, they’d be preparing her funeral by now.” Zhuang Yu Heng took a leisurely sip. “But with me, it’s nothing more than half a day of trouble.”
Only then did the tension in Mo Ting Feng’s shoulders ease, as if a rope had finally loosened.
Mo Ting Feng stared into his cup. “If I think about it… I did go too far.”
“Too far?” Zhuang Yu Heng snorted. “You went far beyond that. She caught wind-cold, fever wouldn’t break, and she’s hurt like this. Her qi and blood are depleted on top of it. The fact she’s still breathing is a miracle.”
Mo Ting Feng’s jaw tightened. His temples throbbed. The he dong backlash had tortured him for days, and he hadn’t taken a single pill Zhuang Yu Heng offered. He told himself it was punishment.
“You’re a Medicine King,” Mo Ting Feng said flatly. “Healing her should be nothing.”
“Stop flattering me.” Zhuang Yu Heng set down his cup. “I can’t cure her blood-deficiency condition.”
Mo Ting Feng finally looked up, a flicker of confusion in his eyes. A pierced lung could be treated. Broken ribs could be treated. But blood deficiency?
Zhuang Yu Heng’s expression turned more serious. “When I treated her, I looked closely. The root isn’t in her body. It feels like something rarer.”
Mo Ting Feng’s gaze sharpened. “What?”
“A past-life imprint.”
Elsewhere, Gu Cang Yue stood before a standing mirror in his bedchamber, staring at his reflection as if he could wring truth from it. In his hand was a slip of paper:
White Robe is in trouble. Not in the residence.
Trouble?
Had the Dust Warden Office dogs dared to harass her again?
His eyes turned cold.
What nerve—touching the woman he wanted.
And that girl too. He told her to come back with him and she refused. Fine. Next time he saw her, he would take her back whether she agreed or not.
“Dress me,” Gu Cang Yue snapped. “I’m going to the Dust Warden Office.”
The maid rushed in—along with the captain of his guard.
“Lord Cang Yue,” the captain said quickly, “the Dust Warden Office’s Earth-Net Commander, Ye Wu Jiu, requests an audience. He reports an abnormal disturbance in a cave within the River of Oblivion territory. He suspects it’s related to the chaos wraith and seeks permission to search.”
Gu Cang Yue’s lips curved. “Someone from the Dust Warden Office came? Perfect timing. I was just about to doze off, and a pillow delivered itself.”
He lifted his hand. The slip of paper vanished in a blink.
“Bring him to the main hall,” he said. “Let him wait.”
Back at the Minister of Works Residence, Song Wei Chen lay pale as paper on the Ten-Thousand-Year Moist Jade, unmoving.
“What is a past-life imprint?” Mo Ting Feng asked at last, eyes fixed on her.
Zhuang Yu Heng rolled his cup between his fingers. “I only heard of it by chance. Sometimes, those who die for love leave an imprint on the soul. In a later reincarnation, if the imprint is awakened, it triggers certain compulsive reactions. Those reactions can make a person sick—sick enough to die.”
“Speak plainly,” Mo Ting Feng said, impatience bleeding through.
Zhuang Yu Heng sighed theatrically. “Fine. An example. Say someone burned to death for love and left a past-life imprint. Once awakened, they might develop an obsessive need to warm themselves by fire.
“Burned ones crave fire. Drowned ones crave water. Frozen ones crave snow. Those who died stuffed might binge. Those who starved might turn away from food.”
Mo Ting Feng’s eyes narrowed. He understood enough. It sounded disturbingly similar to a chaos wraith—no instinct for self-preservation, only mindless repetition.
“You’re saying her blood deficiency… is her past-life imprint reacting?”
Zhuang Yu Heng nodded once. “If you want to save her, you’ll need a way to remove the past-life imprint. But for this condition, I know far too little.”
Mo Ting Feng lowered his gaze. His fingers rubbed the rim of his cup until his knuckles whitened.
“Find a seal removal method,” he said. “Whatever it takes.”
Zhuang Yu Heng looked at him, half-amused and wholly curious. “Is she important to you?”