A thirteen-year-old who has nearly crossed the border of Foundation Building was indeed impressive. However, until he was a teenager, he would have to take his cultivation slowly. Otherwise, if he formed a golden core so young, his appearance would remain at this age.

“Whenever you talk about him, you’re always complaining that he needs to have more fun. Just recently, you lectured him about being too strict on his shimei. Before you left, he was still angry with you,” Ye Liuxing explained. “He seems to be fine now. He must have been scared that you wouldn’t make it.”

“How did Linghuo end up joining Shuangye Peak?”

Ye Liuxing glanced at him hesitantly. “Well, you found him.”

“I found him?”

“Yes. You were part of a team that was sent to help detoxify a village that had been taken over by ghost cultivators. Amongst the corpses and rubble, you found one child. His parents were gone and he had no other family; his soul has also been contaminated by ghostly qi. In the beginning, you were reluctant to accept a disciple, but after helping and caring for him for so long, he refused to leave your side, so you decided to take him in,” Ye Liuxing explained. He smiled. “Just six years ago you still hated the idea of having disciples, now look at you—you have three little children.”

Gui Yin appeared a bit helpless. “I do wonder what was going through my head at that time.”

Ye Liuxing shook his head. “A moment of soft-heartedness, I suppose. Oh, there’s one more thing about Linghuo that you should know.”

“Please, tell me.”

“Not only is he your head disciple, but you’ve also adopted him. He’s officially surnamed ‘Gui’.”

Gui Yin’s eyes widened. “Surnamed Gui?”

“Mn.”

Gui Yin took a moment to compose himself.

How great. He was a twenty-nine-year-old man who had a son who was already thirteen. If his parents back in his original world found out, wouldn’t they be happy? They would definitely stop bothering him about finding a woman at that point.

“…Gui-shixiong?”

“Hm?”

“Why do you have such a weird smile on your face? Are you that shocked that you have a son? In fact, it’s nothing to worry about. You two have a normal teacher and student relationship. Even—”

“It’s not that,” Gui Yin put on a worried expression. “I’m just a bit upset because I don’t remember so much. I feel a bit bad for the three of them.”

The word “soft-hearted” was basically etched into Gui Yin’s forehead at this point. Ye Liuxing breathed a sigh of relief. He was grateful this man wasn’t throwing a fit over Ye Liuxing’s negligence and causing him to lose his memory.

“As long as it’s just that,” Ye Liuxing said. He stood. “From how I see it, I think you’ve only forgotten people and places. Things like common knowledge should still be intact. And you shouldn’t worry too much. The amnesia reaction from the Fire Weed is usually temporary. I’m sure once you spend more time awake and you see more people, you’ll find yourself remembering them.”

“I see,” Gui Yin compliantly breathed a sigh of relief. He smiled at Ye Liuxing. “Thank you, Ye-shidi.”

“Goodness, no need to be so polite! I won’t be used to it!” Ye Liuxing waved his hand.

Ye Liuxing lingered by Gui Yin’s bedside as his expression slowly turned back to a desolate one. “Well, I will have to report this situation to Sect Master-shixiong. Don’t be surprised if you receive a few guests later.”

He patted Gui Yin’s shoulder. “If I am still alive after this, I will come back to visit you.”

Gui Yin laughed. He heartlessly pushed Ye Liuxing’s hand away. “Stop being so dramatic. You’ll be fine.”

Ye Liuxing looked at his reaction and felt his anxious heart calm down a little further. Gui Qinle was still the same Gui Qinle.

After dallying around for a while longer, Ye Liuxing finally left Shuangye Peak.

Gui Yin was once again left alone to sort through his thoughts.

If his guesses were correct, then he must really have ended up in Miss Shen’s new story. But will things play out like Miss Shen’s usual storylines? Or should he just completely discard the fact that this was supposed to be a novel?

In most cases of fantastical transmigration, the story was already written. There were key points to follow or at least key characters one had to be wary of. This one was odd in the fact that Miss Shen’s idea hadn’t even been fully developed yet, yet this world had filled in its “gaps”.

Naturally, Gui Yin, as someone who was from a world without magic of any sort, first thought that it was a dream. But the longer he sat here and the longer he had listened to Ye Liuxing, the more he realized this was reality. The moistness from Shan Yu’s tears were too real. The warmth Gui Yin felt when he had touched the back of Linghuo’s head still lingered in his mind, and the way Ye Liuxing had hemmed and hawed was just too natural.

So, was it really transmigration? But why him? And why into a supposedly unfinished world?

Gui Yin hesitated for a moment before standing. He slipped into the socks and shoes at his bedside and walked over to the vanity not too far away.

He picked up the mirror, which was clearer, like the mirrors of the modern age, and looked at his reflection.

Lord Immortal Ninglan, Gui Qinle, was the spitting image of himself, Gui Yin.

He set the mirror back down.

Could it be that Miss Shen had based this character off of himself and by some strange twist of fate he had been brought over? Or was it just the novel’s world borrowing his appearance for this character?

And what had been the trigger? Could he go back?

As he was immersed in his thoughts, a soft knock sounded three times. When Gui Yin hadn’t answered, the door was lightly knocked again.

Gui Yin glanced towards the door and left the inner room. He paused for a moment as he passed the clothing rack and decided, for decency’s sake, to wear the light jacket which hung from it. He spared another moment to take a ribbon from the vanity to tie his hair back, just to look slightly more presentable. After all, it wasn’t good manners to appear so unkempt in front of others.

The walk from the inner room to the door was longer than the length of his entire apartment back in his original world. By the time he made it to the door, he had already composed himself.  

He pushed the door open.

Guī Línghuǒ (归灵火) jumped at the sudden movement. When he saw that Gui Yin was up and moving around, he immediately frowned.

“Shizun has only just woken up. You shouldn’t be moving around. If there is anything you need, just call on this disciple or Qin-shimei.”

Gui Yin looked the serious child up and down and smiled. “But your Ye-shishu already said that I’m okay. Are you saying I shouldn’t listen to him?”

Gui Linghuo pursed his lips. “Ye-shishu overestimates how strong Shizun is. Just because Shizun is okay now, doesn’t mean that the recovery period is over.”

“Is that so?” Gui Yin raised a brow, not bothering to hide his amusement.

Seeing the boy’s angry face made Gui Yin want to tease him. However, when he thought about how he was an intruder in this boy’s family, he decided to hold himself back.

In fact, when Gui Linghuo saw the mischievous glimmer in his teacher’s eyes, he was already ready to argue back. Yet, against his predictions, Gui Yin conceded and returned to his room.

Gui Linghuo followed him in with the medicine and set it down at the tea table where Gui Yin had seated himself.

Gui Yin glanced at the child. “Did your Ye-shishu talk to you about my condition?”

Gui Linghuo shook his head. “He just said your injuries had healed, but he told me to continue giving you medicine. He also said you might have something to say to me when I came to drop it off.”

Despite how unreliable Ye Liuxing seemed, it turned out he still had a bit of common sense to him.

“Sit down,” Gui Yin lightly patted the stool beside him.

Gui Linghuo sat down immediately upon command. He looked at Gui Yin carefully. “Shishu said that you were okay.”

“And he didn’t lie to you. Physically, I’m quite healthy. I could probably go down the mountain at this moment to fight,” Gui Yin bluffed.

Gui Linghuo’s expression darkened. “Sect Master didn’t tell you to accept another mission right away, right? He—”

“Linghuo,” Gui Yin interrupted him. “Is this the tone you use to speak about your elders?”

Gui Linghuo immediately stopped talking. He lowered his head, but his irritation was easily seen.

This child was a good kid, Gui Yin finally concluded. He smiled and rubbed the back of the boy’s head. “It’s not that. Although I’m physically healthy, it seems the medicine had a bit of a side effect.”

Gui Linghuo’s head snapped up. His eyes were wide with worry. “What side effect? Is it your cultivation? Will your cultivation be affected?”

“It’s not my cultivation. In fact, it…” Gui Yin’s voice trailed off. At first, he wanted to say that it wasn’t a big deal, but when he thought about the way the two little girls reacted and how the boy in front of him was so worried, his conscience didn’t allow him to say such a heartless thing. So, he smiled. “Your Ye-shishu said that I should be able to recover from it eventually.”

“What…what is it?”

“I have amnesia,” Gui Yin said. He observed the boy’s expression before continuing. “Things about cultivation, I still remember it instinctively, but things like places and people…”

Gui Yin shook his head.

The hands at Gui Linghuo’s knees tightened into a fist. “So…so you don’t remember me or Qin-shimei and Shan-shimei?”

Gui Yin nodded.

Gui Linghuo’s jaw tightened.

“But I asked your Ye-shishu. Is it true that we’re all quite close?” Gui Yin asked, his voice softening. “It’s okay if we’re not. I just want to make sure it’s true.”

Gui Linghuo lowered his gaze. The hands on his knees slowly relaxed. Gui Yin could see the hesitation in his eyes as he spoke. “We’re…close. Shizun treats us all very kindly. The shimei especially like you.”

“And you?”

“I will always be grateful to you,” Gui Linghuo said sincerely.

The boy had told a lie—Gui Yin saw through this with one look. Most of what he said was the truth, but as for them being “close”…it seemed like even the boy didn’t fully believe it.

The room fell silent for a moment. Gui Yin remained quiet as he let Gui Linghuo gather his thoughts. The boy’s expression flickered through a few emotions before he looked up at Gui Yin again.

“This disciple will stay by Shizun’s side during this period then,” Gui Linghuo said determinedly.

Gui Yin raised a brow. “Why is that?”

“The world is dangerous. Shizun, you are Lord Immortal Ninglan—if people outside of Ye-shishu, Jiu-shigu, and Sect Master find out about your situation, they may try to take advantage of you!”

Although this was true, Gui Yin couldn’t help but smile. “Was I a person that others could walk all over?”

“Of course not! Shizun, you’re ranked one of the most respectable Lord Immortals on this continent,” Gui Linghuo said. “However, it’s because you’re so welcomed that people would want to take advantage of you. In the state that you’re in…in the state that you’re in, it would be easy for anyone to lie to you!”

Gui Linghuo’s words were reasonable and Gui Yin agreed.

“But how much about me do you know?”

Gui Linghuo froze. His face flushed and he shifted uncomfortably.

He spoke well now, but in the end, he was still just a thirteen-year-old boy. He could be Lord Immortal Ninglan’s most trusted aide when he was at home, but outside, the honorable man had a life of his own that he would most likely not disclose to a child. Whether Lord Immortal Ninglan truly was as saintly, kind, and naïve as Ye Liuxing and Gui Linghuo currently portrayed him as was something Gui Yin would only know with time.

Gui Yin looked back at the child in front of him. Even though he didn’t know much about this boy, in this odd place away from home, it was rather heartwarming to find someone who cared so much about him. He couldn’t ever recall a time in his own world when someone so passionately declared that they would help him, much less protect him.

Gui Yin reached out and rubbed the top of the boy’s head. “Thank you, Huo’er.”

Gui Yin noted the way Gui Linguo stiffened under his touch. He was about to pull away when the boy’s eyes flickered towards Gui Yin, his cheeks gradually reddening. A small smile spread across his face as he shyly lowered his head again.

“It’s this disciple’s duty, Shizun,” Gui Linghuo said softly. “You saved me after all.”