Jin Se

Chapter 17

That night, Shi Wuduan entered his room and let the bird and rabbit go. He sat on the bed like a puppet with its strings cut. His mind was blank - like he'd just overused it and had forgotten how to think.

Over the course of a few minutes, he slowly began to process everything. He started to feel a pain in his heart. It was like, in the blink of an eye, his world had been turned on its head. The road in front of him was shrouded by mist, and if he looked behind him, everything that had once happened all seemed so unreal.

Shi Wuduan sat on the bed clutching his chest. The corners of his mouth twitched. He wanted to wail and sob, but while his expression twisted in sorrow, the tears and sobs didn't materialize. He suddenly remembered something and started trembling again.

He fiercely wiped at his face, kicked off his shoes, and stepped on the floor. Cautiously, he leaned against the window and scanned his surroundings. There wasn't anyone in the courtyard surveilling him. Relieved, he sat back on the bed to continue crying.

But once he sat down, the tears he'd worked up had receded again, painfully stopped up inside.

Too much had happened in the last few days, he was tired and exhausted so when he fell back onto the bed, he lost consciousness before his head hit the pillow. As he hovered on the border between being asleep and awake, he woke with a start, soaked in sweat. He flipped over, opened the bag beside him, and retrieved his astrolabe, hugging it to his chest. He then dug out a dagger, hid it beneath his pillow, and kept a hand rested on it. Only then did he let out a breath of relief and continue to sleep.

The next day, Bitan sent someone to bring him a new set of clothes. Shi Wuduan hesitated and, while no one was looking, carefully sniffed the clothes. When he couldn't smell anything out of the ordinary, he donned the white mourning robes.

As soon as he left the courtyard, a few people began causally following him. Shi Wuduan thought: it seemed that running wasn't possible for now. How are they planning to deal with me?

He seemed to have an innate talent for keeping his joy and anger from showing in his face and controlling his expression to hide his emotions. In the ten years or so he'd lived, he'd always gotten along with everyone. It was the first time he'd faced people with hostile intentions, and so his gift had emerged. Others only saw him keeping watch quietly beside the former sect master's coffin. There were no tears on his face, but his aura was heavy as death and made him seem unlike a child.

Bitan spied on him for several days and found that this once energetic child had become silent, he'd changed completely as if he'd grown from a child to a young man in the blink of an eye. Shi Wuduan used to be a person who'd kick up trouble if there was none to be found, who was friendly with everyone and could chatter nonstop. When he came back, he was hardly willing to speak with anyone anymore.

However, Shi Wuduan was still too young and his cultivation too lacking. No matter how much effort he put into his act, those who were observant could still see through its flaws.

Bitan noticed that whenever anyone neared him, Shi Wuduan would tense up, then relax with a strange expression on his face. He controlled his expression diligently, but it still didn't look wholly natural.

That day, Banya was with him, staring at Shi Wuduan. After a while, he quietly said, "Shixiong, does he seem...."

He paused for a moment, looking at Bitan's face, then continued, "I keep feeling like this brat knows something he shouldn't."