“Can I trouble his lordship to remind me?” I asked.

He sighed again. “Once upon a time, I visited Frost Mountain to see your master, and while we were discussing important matters, a five-year-old sniveling boy entered the hall and cried so loud your master felt so embarrassed. No matter what he did, the boy did not stop crying. Some disciples came to take him out but the boy held on to your master’s leg and would not let go. Until your master got exasperated and decided to take the boy to the orphanage because a crybaby is not suited to be a disciple of Frost Mountain.”

I ignored the way he narrated his story as if he was reading me a fairy tale book and mulled over the important details instead, but I could not remember my master taking in a five-year-old crybaby. My master just could not stand a crying child. “I’m afraid I don’t remember my master taking in a child. He had a minimum age requirement and that was ten.”

“Oh, you have such a short memory,” he said. “Most children usually already remember things at the age of five.”

I pondered again until I realized that he must be referring to me. I remembered I was five when I was sent to Frost Mountain to be a disciple. “Lord Yan, were you… referring to me?”

He laughed deeply. “Who else?”

My cheeks turned hot. It was embarrassing to know that, other than my master, someone else had seen my pathetic childhood. It was true that I was a crybaby then. I had just lost my father then and my uncle had left me in the care of my master. So naturally, I clung to my master often, afraid that he’d also leave me.

If I remembered that event correctly, I had just woken up from a nightmare and I was alone. I had searched for my master everywhere but I could not find him. I had cried so hard until one disciple told me that my master was in the main hall entertaining an important guest, so I ran to the hall to make sure, and when I saw him, I cried even harder.

More heat burned my cheeks as I recalled that embarrassing event. “So that was you.”

“Mmm. You just recalled?”

I nodded. “That was almost twenty years ago.”

“Ahh… Has it been that long already? Time has flown so fast.”

I nodded, but there was one problem. “However, if I remember correctly, my master’s guest at that time did not look very young. He was an adult, and I recall my master addressed him as an elder, so I’d assume he must be older than my master who was already in his forties then. Almost two decades have passed since. At present, he should be in his sixties at least. His lordship’s voice does not sound that old to me.”

He laughed louder. “A-Fan, if a face can deceive, so can a voice.”

I was unable to speak. Guessing a person’s age just through a voice was a game that I had played with my sect brothers before, and I was good at it, so it’s quite odd that this time, I was mistaken.

I knew that this man was a high-level cultivator, and I knew that the higher level a cultivator achieved, aging would slow down, but I had never heard of anyone in his sixties who sounded like he was still in his mid-twenties. Even the legendary Liang Hu who had lived for over two hundred years already looked old in his fifties, but he had retained a middle-aged look until his death.

If I were to believe this man, it’s like I had placed him on the same pedestal as Liang Hu. There were not many grandmasters in the entire continent, so if he were one among them, I should have at least heard of his name before. I was certain there was no grandmaster named ‘Lan’.

“You still don’t believe?” he asked after my long silence.

“If I may ask his lordship, how did you save my life then?”

“Try to recall, what did I do when your master threatened to take you to the orphanage?”

I remembered that too well. I had never forgotten it. “You grabbed me from my master, put me on the table, and glared at me. You said that if I don’t stop crying, you’ll eat me. And every time I cry, you’ll crawl out of the ground and devour me.”

“Exactly, and immediately, you stopped crying.”

How could I not? I was five and was threatened to be eaten by a stranger with devilish eyes.

“How did that save my life?”

“Have I not stopped you from crying, your master must have ordered his other disciples to take you to the orphanage, and we all know that children in the orphanage are usually neglected. Half of them die before the age of ten, and those who survive run away to live in the streets as thugs until they’re killed. Be glad I was there, or you could have suffered the same fate as those orphans.”

I was speechless. It was true that after that, I almost never cried again because I was too afraid that the devil would come back to eat me alive. It left a trauma in me for years actually, but ever since then, my master had started to like me more.

But still, I wouldn’t say that he had saved my life. But my upbringing had taught me to appreciate everything that had made an impact on my growth, even if it was only a coincidence.

“Let me express my gratitude to Lord Lan then,” I said with a bow. “Even if it’s twenty years late.”

“You’re welcome,” he replied. “And since you acknowledge that you owe me your life, I supposed you should be willing to return the favor this time.”

I was speechless. For the sake of courtesy, I had acknowledged that I had indeed owed him my life thinking it would not cause any harm to do so. Who would have known that this man was such a lecherous devil who had manipulated me into acknowledging a ludicrous debt and now he wanted renumeration?

“So,” the man said casually. “Are you willing to return the favor?”

“…What favor does his lordship want from this blind commoner?”

He chuckled. “It’s simple. I just need you to accompany me somewhere.”

“Where is somewhere?”

“West.”

I was dumbfounded. It had taken me a lot of pain to come all the way to the South. As much as possible, I did not want to return even a step closer to the western part of the continent, where Kan Empire was. “I apologize. I do not wish to return to that place.”

“I won’t take you back to Frost Mountain, or anywhere near the capital, if that’s what you’re afraid of.”

“Even so, it will only make me feel miserable. I apologize to his lordship if I have to refuse for personal reasons.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to find out who’s behind what happened to you?”

“I already know.”

“What if you don’t? What if… what you know isn’t exactly the truth?”

I took a deep breath, suppressing all the bitterness that this man’s words had evoked from within me. “My lord, forgive me that I am no longer interested to find out about it. I have been reduced to nothing. I can no longer undo what has been done. Even if I could, the betrayal has already wrecked my trust. Nothing can repair what has been broken.”

He sighed as if he pitied me. “So you’re just going to run away from it all and allow those who condemned you to roam free despite their crimes?”

I pondered about his words for a moment. It seemed this man knew more than I did. He knew that I was innocent.

“My lord, I am delighted that at least, there is someone who believes in my innocence, but the culprits are very powerful people. My reputation has been severely damaged. My cultivation’s been nullified. What can I do against them? Who will believe me?”

“That’s why I’m here.”

I was speechless. What exactly is he planning to do?

“Wei Yusheng is your master,” he continued. “As his disciple, aren’t you even interested in uncovering the truth behind his mysterious death? Will you just take the blame?”

“My lord, I appreciate the concern. You must be good friends with my master that you are willing to go that far to uncover the truth surrounding his death. But right now, my health is poor and it keeps on declining each day. I can’t even walk for too long.”

Without even asking for my consent, he pulled my left hand and laid it across the table. I was about to pull away, but when he pressed three fingers on my wrist, I realized that he just wanted to check on me.

Suddenly, his fingers stiffened.

“Is there… anything wrong?” I asked. His reaction told me that he had discovered something.

“Hmm,” he hummed and moved his fingers around my wrist as if seeking a particular spot. When he found it, he pressed harder.

When he sighed a moment later, I knew that it wasn’t good.

“Your inner energy is empty,” he said. “Your pulse is weak yet erratic. It seems that… there’s a poison inside your body.”

My eyes widened in shock. “Poison?”