161: Chapter 161 The Handwriting Bleeds

The fifth sword mark extinguished.

Medicine Not So's breath hitched for half a second.

Bai Wuji knelt by the stone bed, his head hanging slightly, his hand still pressed against the lamp base that had mostly gone dark. The last few marks on the bone were almost mere outlines, like paper soaked in water; the writing was spreading and blurring, on the verge of vanishing.

"How many are left?" Pure Void Master spoke from the center of the courtyard, his voice steady.

"Two," Medicine Not So said, his fingers pressed against Bai Wuji's wrist, not looking up. "One every half minute."

The old man placed the teapot in his hand onto the stone table without a word.

Even the wind in the courtyard had stopped.

On the stone bed, the five fingers of Bai Yu's right hand curled slightly upward from the edge of the bed.

---

Deep within the Divine Soul space.

The final fragment settled into place.

Bai Yu stood up, looking down at the newly assembled ground beneath his feet. Gold, ink-black, and greyish-white—the three types of patterns were jagged and interlocking, without any symmetry, nor did they fit the aesthetic standards of any Law—but it was solid. Stepping on it, he would no longer fall through.

He clenched his right fist.

Solid.

The white light overhead grew weaker and weaker, flickering downward in pulses, like something nearly burnt out making its final output.

He didn't know where that light came from, only that it was warm—not the heat of a spiritual fire, but more like that of a person.

He lifted his feet and walked upward.

The golden chains in the corner stirred, not to stop him; a thin chain end dropped to his feet and swayed, like a reluctant guide.

The voice of heaven slasher came from across the black mist, no longer a roar, but carrying a worn-down calmness.

"Once you're up, remember to come back and clean up the business with that Half-Face."

Bai Yu didn't stop.

"I won't forget."

There was a two-second silence in the black mist.

"That sentence you said before—I haven't decided yet if it counts."

"We'll talk when I wake up."

There was no response.

Bai Yu charged upward.

---

The moment the final sword mark extinguished, the lamps in the courtyard went out abruptly.

Darkness fell.

Bai Wuji collapsed forward.

Medicine Not So lunged over, but his hand didn't reach in time.

Bai Wuji's forehead was about to slam into the edge of the stone bed—

A hand reached out from the stone bed and caught his forehead.

It wasn't anyone else who moved.

It was Bai Yu.

He propped himself up on the stone bed and sat up, supporting Bai Wuji with his right hand. His posture was awkward, and his newly awakened body had no strength; his arm was trembling as he barely managed to cradle Bai Wuji's forehead in his palm, preventing him from hitting the bed.

The courtyard was silent for three whole seconds.

Then, everyone moved at once.

Medicine Not So rushed over to check the pulse, Luo Bingli's knees went weak, Gu Dusheng choked on the emotions welling up, and Lin Tian planted his spear on the ground and lowered his head.

"Master." Medicine Not So's voice was completely shot; only these two words could still squeeze out of his throat.

Bai Yu didn't answer.

He looked down at the person he was cradling.

Bai Wuji's eyes were closed, his consciousness already dissipated. The last sword mark on his bone had completely extinguished; his entire left arm now had only smooth skin, with no trace left.

Ten thousand sword strikes, all burned away.

Bai Yu's hand did not move away.

"Who is he?" he asked, his voice raspy, as if it had been ground down for a long time.

Medicine Not So was stunned for a moment.

"Master, he is Eldest Senior Brother, Bai Wuji. You brought him—"

"I know he is Eldest Senior Brother." Bai Yu interrupted him, looking up, his gaze falling on Medicine Not So's face. "What I'm asking is, where did he go, what did he do, and why are even his bones almost gone?"

Medicine Not So took a deep breath and recounted everything about the Sea of Reincarnation from the beginning.

Only his raspy voice echoed in the courtyard, from the Bone-Dust Shore of the Sea of Reincarnation to that well that erased existence, to how Bai Wuji crawled out of the well not recognizing anyone, still clutching the lamp.

Bai Yu didn't interrupt once; he just cradled Bai Wuji and listened to the end.

"What did he say when he came out?"

Medicine Not So paused for a second.

"He said that even if Master forgot him, he still remembered Master."

Bai Yu said nothing.

He turned his gaze back to Bai Wuji's face—a man who had lost all his memories, exhausted all his cultivation, and whose bone markings had been burned clean.

Everything was gone, yet the person remained.

He laid Bai Wuji flat beside the stone bed and stood up by leaning on the bed's edge. His legs were still unsteady; he supported himself for a few breaths before standing straight.

"The lamp," he said.

Medicine Not So handed over the extinguished lamp.

The white silk thread on the wick had already burned out, leaving only a piece of charcoal ash that would crumble at a touch.

Bai Yu took the lamp, glanced at it, and placed it inside Bai Wuji's upper garment, against his heart.

"Keep it."

No one asked what it was being kept for.

Pure Void Master walked over from the center of the courtyard and stopped directly in front of Bai Yu, with three steps of distance between them.

Void Realm leaned against the doorpost, watching the scene without moving.

The old man quietly moved his hand away from the Bone Knife and shifted half a step to the side.

Pure Void Master spoke.

"Between your brows."

Bai Yu reached out and touched the space between his eyebrows. As his fingertip touched that spot, two ripples—one gold and one ink-black—emanated from beneath his skin, subtle yet distinct.

His finger paused.

"You felt it," Pure Void Master said; it wasn't a question.

"Yes." Bai Yu lowered his hand. "Two Heavenly Dao have moved in, yet I'm not dead. Are you surprised?"

Pure Void Master was silent for two seconds.

"Surprised. But what's even more surprising is—" He looked directly at Bai Yu. "The moment you woke up, both the golden and ink-black fluctuations withdrew simultaneously. It wasn't you who suppressed them; they stopped on their own."

The wind in the courtyard stilled for a moment.

Everyone understood the meaning of those words.

It wasn't that Bai Yu had suppressed the wills of the two Heavenly Dao. It was that the two Heavenly Dao wills had voluntarily restrained themselves the instant he regained consciousness.

Why?

Something more appeared in Pure Void Master's eyes—not wariness or scrutiny, but something closer to confirmation.

"Bai Yu," he used his name instead of a title, "do you know what you are?"

Bai Yu looked down at his hands; the golden patterns were hidden beneath the skin, so fine they were hard to see, but they were there.

"I don't know," he said. "But I intend to find out."

He looked up, scanned everyone in the courtyard, and didn't say another word.

No one responded to those words.

Just then, Bai Wuji stirred on the ground.

It wasn't an awakening, but an unconscious turn in his sleep. His lips moved, and a faint sound came from his throat, so soft it was almost indistinguishable.

Medicine Not So, being the closest to him, heard it clearly.

He didn't say it immediately; he just turned his face away, his shoulders trembling slightly before he quickly suppressed it.

Gu Dusheng gave him a nudge.

Medicine Not So turned back, his eyes rimmed with red.

"He's calling for Master."

Bai Yu stood where he was; hearing this, he didn't move or speak.

He simply lowered his head.

After a long time, he raised his hand and pressed the space between his brows.

The golden and ink-black fluctuations trembled slightly beneath his skin, and that Taiji diagram mark of interwoven gold and black suddenly brightened for a moment.

In just an instant, it subsided.

But Pure Void Master saw it.

He turned around and looked up at the sky.