Ian and I continued our journey.
Our destination was the Ghost Gate, the clan of the Ghost Spirit. There was still plenty of time before the wedding would take place, so I was traveling with Ian, enjoying the trip and keeping to a leisurely schedule.
Along the way, we met many people. We encountered lecherous bastards who coveted her, and a naive young noble who claimed he adored her so truly he would lay down his life. There was even a wealthy old man who brought a bundle of gold to propose. The lechers died, the noble wept, and the old man was humiliated.
Meeting various people was a fresh and pleasant experience, but unexpectedly, what she enjoyed even more was taking in the scenic sights and tasting the delicious local cuisine. People might be tiresomely repetitive, but to her, the Central Plains—which she was seeing for the first time—must have been wondrous at every turn.
She endeavored to remember each moment as though she would never come here again. She even wrote down the things that happened during the journey.
“This dish is really delicious. Young Master, you should try it too.”
“I prefer this one.”
“But that one is so spicy. If you like spicy food too much, you’ll ruin your stomach.”
“You wouldn’t survive in Sichuan.”
“Even so, I want to try proper Sichuan cuisine.”
By now, we paid no mind to the stares of those around us. People still stole glances at her beauty, but since we didn’t care, they became nonexistent.
“But Young Master. Is it really okay for us to be playing around like this?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
“The First Young Master is probably working hard right now to bring the Demon Lords to his side.”
“No doubt.”
“What if the Blood Heaven Demon joins hands with the First Young Master again?”
“Please, tell him to do exactly that. How entertaining would the process of recruiting him again be?”
“You’re so carefree that it makes my heart uneasy.”
“Don’t be uneasy. If it is my destiny to become the successor, I can return slowly. If it is not my destiny, I won’t succeed even if I meet Demon Lords every day. And besides, isn’t there something far more important I am doing right now than making Demon Lords my allies?”
“What is it?”
“Feeding the fish I’ve already caught.”
She pointed at herself with her finger, and I nodded.
How foolish one can be. How easily one forgets that without the fish already caught, there would be no chance to catch new ones. How readily one takes another person’s goodwill for granted. What in the world can compare to the gratitude of someone who let herself be caught first and continues to stay by your side?
She said with a smile.
“The fish has been eating well lately.”
“So don’t complain later! Saying there wasn’t enough affection, or not enough trust!”
“In that case, order me just one more of those!”
“Order everything next to it too!”
Of course, even while traveling, we did not neglect our martial arts training.
Running, leaping, and sparring. Truly, aside from the time spent eating and enjoying the scenery, we devoted every moment to martial arts training.
Especially these days, whenever I had a spare moment, I was pondering the essence of martial arts that the Lord of All Matters had left behind.
That enlightenment, mingling with the grand completion of the Soaring Heaven Sword Technique’s Twelve Stars, was somehow tickling at me. I knew this sensation always led to growth, so I did not neglect my training for even a moment.
Ian, for her part, was also immersed in martial arts training. Especially since her Governing and Conception meridians had been opened, she had reached the final stages of the Soaring Heaven Sword Technique’s Eight Stars. Now, with just a little more effort, she would reach the Nine Stars.
Alongside swordsmanship training, lightness skill training was indispensable.
“Aaaaaah!”
Ian, falling from the cliff, was still screaming, but her movements were different from before. Her flailing arms and legs moved with composure.
At the last moment, she twisted her body several times and landed on the ground. She staggered and fell forward, but she had succeeded in falling from the cliff on her own.
“I did it!”
She jumped up and down in joy.
I came down after her and landed by her side. In the final moments, I descended through the air as if walking down invisible stairs, and she was startled.
“I jumped after you so many times that I’ve improved a bit too.”
“Are you trying to crush my spirit like this? I came down after all that struggle, and you do this?!”
“I’m only human too; I want to show off and boast, don’t I?”
“Even without showing off, you’re impressive enough.”
“Ah, I want to keep acting impressive so I can keep hearing those words.”
“Go ahead. I’ll say them tirelessly for you.”
Devoted to me though she is, she is someone who loves to have fun, who is cheerful and bright, clever, and values her own life and happiness. That is why I am all the more grateful for her, and why I like her so.
Ian drew her sword.
“Now, you have to pay me a compliment fee. Please grant me a bout.”
I fought a fierce round with her.
We deliberately fought while flying up the cliff using lightness skill. Sword qi flew through the air, and we kicked off the cliff to soar upward while dodging the sword qi.
She felt the crisis of death several times. She fell from the cliff and climbed back up, and sword qi flew toward her. Narrowly dodging the sword qi, she unleashed her own sword qi and had to scale the cliff.
It was a fight between true experts. Though I set the stage and guided her, she responded magnificently. I could feel her skill growing. I, too, felt things while teaching her.
Thus, we ended the fight when we reached the top of the cliff again.
“After opening the Governing and Conception meridians, the flow of true qi and the power of the techniques have changed.”
“You know this is an important time, right?”
“I know.”
Her eyes were filled with resolve. Scenic views were nice, and delicious food was nice, but she was a born martial artist as well. Nothing could compare to the joy of the moment when one’s martial arts grew.
“You’re doing well.”
“With what master I have, how could I not?”
Her eyes looking at me were filled with gratitude and respect.
“You said you wanted to see the wedding, right? Beyond that mountain over there is the place we’re headed.”
“But why are you hesitating about whether to stop the wedding or not?”
“I was asked. To stop the wedding.”
“By whom?”
“There is someone. Someone who helped me greatly.”
I could explain everything else, but this was a difficult part to explain.
Truthfully, though I had coldly told him to get married and live a hellish life again, he weighed on my mind.
If it weren’t for the Ghost Spirit, I wouldn’t have been able to regress. I understood why he had wanted to betray me for his own goal.
An opportunity to return to the past—how could a human resist such temptation? Could it be that the reason he wanted to go back, even if it meant betraying me, was not to escape that marriage?
I would make the final decision after meeting him, but I would likely try to stop the marriage if I could. He had longed for it that desperately.
“Is this someone who loves the woman getting married?”
“I don’t think so?”
There was no enemy quite like that. After all, the Ghost Spirit had described his married life as hell.
“There is also someone I want to see, even if it weren’t for the wedding.”
Xu Jin.
My only friend from my days as a wanderer. If she—the Ghost Spirit’s younger sister—hadn’t told me about the Regression Grand Method, I would never have known.
“Now, let’s get going.”
I leaped from the cliff. From behind, I heard Ian’s cry.
“I told you I’m someone who’s scared of heights! You can’t just go like that!”
But contrary to her words, Ian, too, leaped after me without hesitation.
* * *
The night at the Ghost Gate was deep.
Xu Kong, the Ghost Spirit, had become incredibly busy after becoming the successor of the Ghost Gate, so much so that he lacked time to sleep.
During the day, he had to master the secret ghost techniques passed down only to the successor of the Ghost Gate, and at night, he had to research the Regression Grand Method. It had been the clan’s long-cherished wish for ages, with thousands of volumes of inherited materials alone.
Today, too, he was reading until late.
At that moment, a familiar voice came from behind.
“If you had devoted this much sincerity to learning swordsmanship, you would have become the greatest swordsman under heaven.”
The Ghost Spirit answered, keeping his eyes on his book.
“If you had used the time you spend meddling to learn swordsmanship, you would have become number one.”
The person who had entered the room was his younger sister, Xu Jin.
“If you overwork yourself like that, you’ll get sick. If you collapse, Brother, all that work falls on me.”
“Don’t worry. I made a promise with a ghost. That it wouldn’t take me until this research is finished.”
“The ghost I met didn’t say that?”
Only then did the Ghost Spirit take his eyes from the book and turn to look at her.
“Tsk, our brother’s ugly face has gotten even uglier because he’s tired.”
“Am I not okay, at my level?”
“Only the mirror entertains such delusions, Brother.”
The Ghost Spirit laughed loudly. Among the daily routine, his younger sister was the one who gave him a chance to breathe.
Xu Jin placed the documents she had brought on the desk.
“Here. I organized everything you told me to organize.”
“Good work.”
“It was tough. I’m not a genius like you, Brother. I have to read what you read once five times over. Why is it so needlessly difficult? It was really hard.”
“I know, I know.”
The Ghost Spirit felt sorry for his sister. She was spending her flowering youth solely on research.
Her looks were outstanding too. Above all, she had a refreshing personality. She would be popular if she went outside, but these days she was holed up in the research room.
Xu Jin brought up something she had never mentioned before.
“Brother, do you truly believe the Regression Grand Method is possible?”
“I believe.”
The Ghost Spirit answered without hesitation.
“Even though it defies the natural order?”
“Still, I believe.”
How could the Ghost Spirit not know why his sister was asking this?
“It’s hard, isn’t it?”
“It’s stifling. If we spend our time researching like this and pass it on to our children... won’t our children also be trapped in this research room for their whole lives?”
“I will definitely succeed in my generation.”
“If you’re going to do it, please finish it before I get much older. Otherwise....”
The Ghost Spirit felt it. His sister was nearing her limit. She had originally been an active person. Though she followed their father’s orders because she had no choice, no one knew how long she could endure.
Xu Jin, who had been about to turn around and leave, stopped in front of the door.
“Fine, let’s say the Regression Grand Method is possible, as you say. Then what? If you go to the past? If you go back to the past, what will you do, Brother? Will you lock yourself up again to do research? Since you’ve achieved regression, will you research reincarnation next?”
“!”
“If you thought of something else instead... Brother, aren’t we living the wrong lives? Shouldn’t we be doing that with our lives right now? The life you want to live—shouldn’t you be living it?”
The Ghost Spirit could not say a word.
There was much to say, but Xu Jin did not press her brother any further.
“Sleep early. You really look terrible.”
Once she left the research room, the Ghost Spirit leaned back in his chair with a sigh.
His sister was right. If he lived his life faithfully now, there would be no reason to go back. But achieving the Regression Grand Method was the family’s long-cherished wish. Now that he was the successor, it was an unavoidable fate.
At that moment, a servant arrived with welcome news. The person he had been waiting for so long would arrive here tomorrow.
* * *
The place Ian and I arrived at was an inn in the village where the Ghost Gate was located.
Ian wore a mask at her waist and had put on a veil, revealing only her eyes.
After securing a room with two beds, we ordered a meal.
When the two of us stayed at inns while traveling, we stayed in one room like this. Even when I told her to sleep separately, asking if it wasn’t uncomfortable, Ian actually preferred it. Her reason was that it was fun to fall asleep while talking about this and that.
And so we were eating on the first floor of the inn with Ian.
The guests around us were talking about the news of the Ghost Spirit’s wedding at the Ghost Gate. Lately, it seemed the wedding had indisputably been the talk of the town.
“Who would have thought the Ghost Gate would form an in-law relationship with the Lin Family Sword Gate.”
“I was surprised too. Hasn’t the Lin Family Sword Gate formed alliances with sword families generation after generation?”
“They say the young lady Lin persuaded her father.”
“The union of the Ghost Gate and a sword family—it’s bound to be interesting.”
“Ah, isn’t that the successor of the Ghost Gate over there?”
Ian’s and my gazes followed them toward the outside.
A man appeared on the roadside. Seeing him, my heart surged with emotion. He was the Ghost Spirit in his youth. Since I had seen him from middle age onward, all of his features from that time were still intact.
*It’s good to see you, Ghost Spirit.*
In my life before regression, I had only met him briefly a few times, but those encounters had spanned decades at the most crucial moments. Memories of the hardships I endured to procure the Grand Method ingredients on my own came flooding back.
The Ghost Spirit was looking across the road as if waiting for someone.
After a while, about five or six people arrived there on horseback. When the woman at the front dismounted, those following behind dismounted as well. Judging by appearances, they were martial artists escorting the woman.
The Ghost Spirit ran toward her.
“Miss Lin!”
She was none other than Lin Xiang, the Ghost Spirit’s fiancée.
“Young Master? Why are you here?”
“I came out to greet you upon hearing of your arrival.”
Honey dripped from the Ghost Spirit’s eyes as he looked at her.
“Thank you for accepting my proposal this time.”
“It is a decision I made because I trust you.”
“What of your father?”
“He has given his permission, but... I think he needs a bit more time.”
“I will surely win your father’s heart.”
The Ghost Spirit spoke loudly, paying no heed to the gazes of those around him.
“Even if I must devote this entire body, I will surely make you happy. No one can stop my heart from going to you.”
I watched that scene with a startled heart.
*What the? Did you love your wife this much?*