Chapter 57: The Anomaly

Chapter 57: The Strangeness

The Immortal Boat rose slowly, and Su Hang sat at the edge of the bed, peering down as they drifted farther and farther from the people below, who gradually became scattered black specks. Only when the noise at his ears faded did he snap back to reality.

A faint scent of tea reached his nose. Su Hang turned and saw Qu Wenshan standing beside Elder Yang, helping make tea. His back was straight, his hands deft as he added the leaves, rinsed them, steeped them, and then handed the cup to Elder Yang.

Su Hang stared blankly at the master and disciple, and in a daze, the image of Immortal Venerable Lingqing surfaced in his mind. That day had been hot and sunny; he'd watched the Immortal Venerable reading under the eaves and had wanted to brew him a pot of cold tea, and cool himself off too.

He'd gotten up and gone inside, planning to crush some ice to chill the tea, but Immortal Venerable Lingqing stopped him.

"Little Heng, your constitution is weak—how could you drink cold tea?"

Then Immortal Venerable Lingqing personally went to warm some wine.

The day was hot, the breeze was light, and the wine was... foul.

At the memory, Su Hang couldn't help but shiver, not wanting to recall any more.

"His constitution is weak; he can't drink cold tea."

A voice echoed the one in his memory. Su Hang froze and instinctively looked up, only to see it was Qu Wenshan talking to Ji Chuan.

It seemed Qu Wenshan had handed Ji Chuan a cup of tea, and Ji Chuan had instinctively passed it to Su Hang, which is why he stopped him.

"It's not even that cold these days, is it? No ice, and now not even something cold?"

Ji Chuan raised an eyebrow, gave Qu Wenshan a once-over, twisted his wrist to dodge the man's hand, and pushed the cold drink back in front of Su Hang.

Qu Wenshan frowned and shook his head. "No, this concerns the young master under Immortal Venerable Lingqing's care—how can I let you have your way?"

"Ha, is he really that delicate? Does he have an extra arm or—"

Su Hang listened to the two bicker, his mind drifting further away. His gaze unconsciously landed on the man in black robes, who stood quietly in the corner. But whether it was his imagination or not, Su Hang felt the man was looking his way.

The hood covered most of his face, leaving only a pale red hint of lips visible. As if sensing Su Hang's gaze, he stiffly turned his head and gave a faint smile.

Su Hang startled, his pupils slightly widening. There was something indescribably familiar about the man.

His heart raced, and an inexplicable panic surged through him. Instinctively, Su Hang wanted to shrink back and hide in the shadows—if the Immortal Venerable were here, he'd have hidden behind him long ago.

"Shut it!"

A voice cut through the chaos on the Immortal Boat. Su Hang's trembling body froze in place, the black-robed man slowly turned his head elsewhere, and even Ji Chuan and Qu Wenshan, who had been arguing, fell silent.

Elder Yang set the teacup back on the table and gave Qu Wenshan a brief sidelong glance. He lowered his head, let out a soft sigh, and stepped back to stand beside her.

As for the tea, nobody would be drinking it now.

Su Hang's brow furrowed slightly. He couldn't quite understand why Qu Wenshan, who was always so easygoing, would bicker with Ji Chuan.

He knew Ji Chuan was unreliable, but not enough to argue right in front of Elder Yang.

It was too weird.

Su Hang shook his head. Just as he was about to look away, he caught Elder Yang in his peripheral vision, her eyes fixed unblinkingly on him. Su Hang felt at a loss and offered an awkward smile.

Elder Yang looked away and spoke. "The lower realm is in chaos. That place is beyond the reach of authority—by the time it was discovered, the city was almost empty. Based on the reports, it seems demons have been killing people to refine pills, but we need to investigate further.

Once we reach the lower realm, don't reveal your identities."

Su Hang stood up and moved behind Ji Chuan and the others, nodding quietly without asking more.

Elder Yang's words were concise and clear. After she finished, silence fell over them. Su Hang felt uneasy, his gaze darting around until it unconsciously landed on the black-robed man, who was still in the same position as before.

Still looking at him.

A chill ran down Su Hang's spine. He wanted to nudge Ji Chuan and ask who that guy was, but seeing Elder Yang's "scary" expression, he dropped the idea.

Elder Yang had always been stern.

*

Days and nights passed—so many that Su Hang watched flock after flock of geese fly by and come back. Finally, on an evening when dusk was nearly gone, the Immortal Boat landed on a mountain, and the group got off one by one.

Su Hang stepped off the boat and secretly took a deep breath. He looked around and saw only a stretch of orange-red on the horizon, with darker mountains beyond.

Everything here seemed covered in a layer of gray—dim and eerily quiet.

Su Hang didn't know if the lower realm was always like this; in all these years, he'd only been here twice.

His family rarely talked about the lower realm. The Su family always described it as a run-down, filthy place.

They said people killed each other there, that they ate each other, that whether the emperor won or lost a war, the old, the weak, women, and children couldn't survive—no one could save them.

But the last time Su Hang came, the cities he saw were no different from Nanzhou City or Liujin City.

"It's changed a lot."

Just as Su Hang was taking in his surroundings, a voice broke his thoughts. He turned and saw Elder Yang also looking around.

Su Hang was genuinely curious about everything here and wanted to ask more, but knowing he'd have to ask the extremely strict Elder Yang, he felt a flicker of fear.

Every time this happened, he missed Immortal Venerable Lingqing.

No one would ever treat him as well as the Immortal Venerable had.

At that thought, a strange emotion welled up in Su Hang's chest. He quietly stepped back, trying to hide in a dark corner, but before he could get far, his back bumped into something hard.

Su Hang instinctively turned and saw the black-robed man standing right behind him.

His heart leaped into his throat, his eyes widening. His rosy lips parted slightly, and after stammering for a long moment, he finally managed to squeeze out, "S-sorry..."

The man didn't respond, just stood there. Su Hang fidgeted with his fingers, not knowing where to look.

After a long pause, the man raised a hand and pushed back his hood, revealing a face that was unfamiliar, plain, and utterly unremarkable.

"It's nothing." The man's expression was blank. With that, he brushed past Su Hang and caught up with the group up ahead.

Su Hang lowered his gaze, treating the incident as a minor distraction, and quickened his pace to catch up with Qu Wenshan, who was closest. "Wenshan, is something on your mind lately?"

Qu Wenshan stopped mid-step and turned to look at Su Hang. "Young master, why do you say that?"

Su Hang shifted his gaze to Ji Chuan, who was trailing behind Elder Yang with a blade of grass in his mouth, walking slowly and deliberately. "Given your temperament, Wenshan, I really don't think you'd ever get into a fight with anyone. But these past few days on the Immortal Boat..."

Su Hang trailed off, glancing cautiously at Qu Wenshan, afraid of saying something that might hit a sore spot, yet also worried that Qu Wenshan might be hiding something.

Though Ji Chuan was indeed unreliable, starting a fight over something so trivial was way too out of character for Qu Wenshan.

A hint of concern flickered in Su Hang's eyes as he watched Qu Wenshan, but his thoughts drifted even more to Immortal Venerable Lingqing. If the Immortal Venerable were here, he'd spot the problem at a glance.

Qu Wenshan, noticing Su Hang's worry, just shook his head with a bitter smile. "Young master, don't worry. There's nothing on my mind. It's just that... my emotions have been swinging wildly for no reason..."

Qu Wenshan's last sentence was spoken so quietly that Su Hang couldn't quite make it out. He leaned in to get closer, only to find a hand had somehow appeared between them.

Su Hang traced the arm wrapped in a tight black brocade sleeve and saw the man in black robes standing silently behind the two of them.

Su Hang was startled, thinking to himself, wasn't this guy walking right in front of him a second ago? How the hell did he end up behind them in just a few breaths?

Qu Wenshan, seeing the man, was not surprised. A faint, knowing smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he said calmly, "Jinghe, why are you here?"

Jinghe—so that's his name?

Su Hang's gaze turned appraising. He thought that since Qu Wenshan was by Elder Yang's side, it made sense he'd know the names of everyone on the trip.

But he couldn't help wondering why Su Yun got swapped out. Given Su Yun's personality, he would never give up on such an opportunity.

As he thought this, the thing he'd nearly forgotten started nagging at him more and more. He figured that since Qu Wenshan knew the name of the one who replaced Su Yun, he might also know why Su Yun had not joined them on this mission.

The man named Jinghe glanced at Su Hang, who was clearly spacing out, then turned to Qu Wenshan and said, "You're in my way."

Hearing this, Qu Wenshan exchanged a glance with Su Hang, and they wordlessly stepped aside to let him through.

After he left, Su Hang immediately sidled back up to Qu Wenshan and asked, "Wenshan, who was that? I don't think I've ever seen him before?"

Qu Wenshan smiled gently and said, "You barely ever leave the house, Young Master, so of course you wouldn't know. He's a disciple who came not long ago, taken in as Elder Wang's disciple, named Lu Jinghe."

An elder named Wang, plus the long sword strapped to Lu Jinghe's back, could only make Su Hang think of Lu Cheng's master.

"By the way, do you remember Lu Cheng, the young disciple who wanted to pay respects to Immortal Venerable Lingqing at the Ascension Ceremony? That man just now is his junior brother."

Hearing Qu Wenshan's introduction, Su Hang felt more and more uneasy, though he couldn't quite put his finger on why.

Qu Wenshan seemed to notice Su Hang's confusion and simply smiled, saying, "Young Master, don't be fooled by his quiet demeanor. He's sharp and talented, and he's deeply favored by Elder Wang."

For some reason, when Su Hang heard Qu Wenshan emphasize the word "talent," his tone had a bit more weight to it than usual, but Su Hang didn't pay it much mind and continued with his question: "Wenshan, do you know if this Lu Jinghe is replacing Su Yun?"

When Qu Wenshan heard Su Hang mention Su Yun, he was taken aback at first, then paused for a long moment before saying, "Yes, it's Su Yun. Why do you bring him up, Young Master?"

"Why didn't Su Yun come here?" Su Hang asked quickly and urgently. He had felt several times that something was off about this situation, but he couldn't articulate it, and he always felt like someone was hiding something.

"Well..." Qu Wenshan shook his head awkwardly. "Young Master, don't put me on the spot. Perhaps Su Yun didn't want to come, or something else came up. It's not within my purview to manage such matters."