ATEG Chapter 93.1

What is the difference between aspiration and desire?

The night watch had run its course, and curfew had ended.

Dawn had already broken. Liu Yetao extinguished the last lamp, staring blankly at the wisp of blue smoke rising from the wick. She was still tired and sleepy, but she didn’t want to sleep and couldn’t fall asleep either.

Last night, those nine lamps hadn’t been lit until late in the night. Liu Chuanyu must have known by now—she would surely return today.

This filled Liu Yetao with both fear and anxiety, yet also a touch of joy.

Liu Chuanyu hadn’t returned for two days now. The last time she left, she’d been gone for a full seven days before coming back, and then stayed only two days before leaving again. Her absences were growing longer and longer, while her visits home grew shorter and shorter. Would there come a day when she left and never returned? Would she abandon her, leaving her all alone?

Compared to Liu Chuanyu’s terrifying anger, Liu Yetao feared this even more.

She had been abandoned since birth, drifting from place to place since her earliest memories. But back then, she’d had Master and her older sister—what did it matter if they had no fixed home? She didn’t need a house to feel secure; wherever her family was, that was her home.

She didn’t ask for much—even if they had to wander from place to place performing snake tricks like before, as long as Master and her sister were there, that would be enough. But wishes are called wishes precisely because they remain unfulfilled. She couldn’t return to the past, but she didn’t want to lose anything more either.

Master was already gone. All she had left was her sister.

The wisp of blue smoke from the wick quickly dissipated. Liu Yetao’s lips were pressed tightly together, her long lashes casting trembling shadows beneath her eyes. She couldn’t bear to lose her sister too.

She tidied her somewhat disheveled clothing and hair from the long night, then went out to find Ding Qin and Bai Hong.

“Could you… could you please not tell my sister why I asked you to come?” she pleaded. “I’ll just say you’re friends of mine, staying here temporarily for a few days.”

Ding Qin and Bai Hong both agreed.

Before long, Liu Chuanyu returned. Judging by the timing, she must have started heading this way as soon as curfew ended.

Just as Ding Qin had seen in the karmic threads, Liu Chuanyu was an unremarkable-looking person with plain features and nothing memorable about her appearance. If she were willing to smile, it might add some brightness to that ordinary face, but her mouth naturally turned downward, and furrows creased her brow, giving her an unapproachable, serious air. And once someone became too serious, they ceased to be amiable.

When Liu Chuanyu entered, she didn’t see Ding Qin and Bai Hong. She walked straight toward Liu Yetao’s room.

Hearing the sound, Liu Yetao pushed open the door to see Liu Chuanyu approaching. “Sister…”

“Why didn’t you light the lamps last night?” Liu Chuanyu interrupted her, her voice cold as ice.

The hint of joy in Liu Yetao’s eyes instantly vanished. She bit her lip and said, “I… I did light them, but I was so tired yesterday afternoon that I… I accidentally fell asleep. By the time I woke up, it was already dark.”

Liu Chuanyu’s voice grew even colder, the anger in it frightening. “Haven’t I told you that no matter what happens, as soon as it gets dark, you must light the lamps?”

Liu Yetao looked at her fearfully. “Yes, but I…”

“Since you felt tired and it was already afternoon, why didn’t you light the lamps first before going to sleep?” Liu Chuanyu pressed her with question after question.

“I… I…” Liu Yetao was flustered by the interrogation.

Just then, Ding Qin and Bai Hong pushed open the door of the adjacent room and walked out.

Liu Chuanyu immediately spun around to face them, tense. “Who are you?”

“They’re friends of mine, staying here temporarily for a few days,” Liu Yetao hastily explained.

Liu Chuanyu glanced at her, ignored her response, and turned back to stare intently at Ding Qin and Bai Hong. “I’ve never seen you before.”

“Perhaps that’s because during the few days we became acquainted, you happened to be away,” Ding Qin explained calmly, as if she hadn’t noticed Liu Chuanyu’s wariness and hostility at all.

Bai Hong said nothing. Sitting on her shoulder was the Shijian spirit, which Liu Chuanyu was completely unaware of. Liu Chuanyu showed only the faintest traces of cultivation—she hadn’t even developed her first thread of spiritual power yet, still remaining at the initial stage of mental cultivation. This matched what Shijian had said: she had indeed only recently begun cultivating, not even able to perceive yin spirits.

Her attitude toward Liu Yetao was almost as if she were treating an enemy. The glance she’d just given Liu Yetao contained no warmth whatsoever—only suspicion, disgust, fear, and yet also a hint of guilt.

Ding Qin’s fingers moved slightly, sending invisible ripples through the air. Liu Chuanyu’s anger, Liu Yetao’s fear, and the Shijian’s resentment stirred simultaneously, like three stones dropped into water, creating rings of ripples that merged together, producing a strange frequency.

In the karmic threads that wrapped the three spirits like dense cocoons, a section connecting all three parties trembled in response.

Ding Qin immediately captured this strand of karma and cast her gaze into it.

……

On Wutou Mountain—that’s what people called the mountain, because its terrain was treacherous and covered with exposed black rocks. At the summit, there was barely any soil and few plants grew, only large masses of black stone, hence the name Wutou Mountain.

Because it was barren and harsh, few people ventured into the mountain. Because few people came, it became an excellent hiding place for Shijian.

As for why Liu Yetao and Liu Chuanyu came to Wutou Mountain, that was a coincidence. Their master had already passed away from illness by then, leaving only the two girls to depend on each other.

The two had accidentally lost their way and entered Wutou Mountain.

There had just been a locust plague at the time, during the worst of the famine. Neither had eaten for a long time. They were both filthy and emaciated—not just Liu Chuanyu, but even Liu Yetao’s appearance had deteriorated to the point where it was hard to tell she was a girl.

Liu Chuanyu was very hungry. She was eight years older than Liu Yetao and had a stronger body, so she could still hold on, but Liu Yetao could no longer endure. As she walked, she suddenly pitched forward and collapsed.

Liu Chuanyu reached out to catch her but was pulled down to the ground as well. She too was very weak.

They both lay on the ground, feeling cold all over while their stomachs burned with pain. Their limbs were weak and aching—even moving slightly was torture, let alone getting up. But if they couldn’t get up now, they might never be able to get up again. They had already seen many such people who collapsed on the road while walking and never managed to rise again.

Liu Chuanyu forced herself to sit up, fighting the nausea of dizziness, and patted Liu Yetao’s cheeks. “Ah Tao, Ah Tao! Wake up! Get up!”

Liu Yetao stirred. Liu Chuanyu breathed a sigh of relief and continued patting her, urging. “Get up! Quickly! Open your eyes!”

Liu Yetao’s sunken eyeballs moved, and her eyelids, pressed tightly against her eye sockets and eyeballs, suddenly opened.

Liu Chuanyu’s eyes were blurred from hunger, but she could still see that Liu Yetao had awakened. Joy rose in her heart, and she pushed her again. “Sit up, don’t lie there!”

Liu Yetao didn’t move. Her black pupils shifted and fell on Liu Chuanyu. It took Liu Chuanyu a moment to focus her gaze and see Liu Yetao’s eyes clearly. With this look, she suddenly froze.

In the center of Liu Yetao’s brown irises, the pitch-black pupils were vertical!

Those were… those were a snake’s eyes!

Liu Chuanyu’s hair stood on end, as if she’d been frozen, unable to move.

And Liu Yetao… “Liu Yetao” stared at Liu Chuanyu with those cold serpentine eyes for a while, then slowly crawled up from the ground. She stood up very slowly and with great difficulty, but not the kind of difficulty that comes from exhaustion and weakness—rather, she moved clumsily and awkwardly, as if unaccustomed to her own limbs.

She began attempting to walk forward, each step swaying unsteadily, as if she might fall at any moment, but always managing to take the next step just before toppling over.

She swayed like this, moving farther and farther away.

Only then did Liu Chuanyu break free from her paralysis. She struggled to her feet and, gritting her teeth, followed Liu Yetao.

When “Liu Yetao” first began walking, she was very slow and unstable, but she quickly grew accustomed to it. Though her gait remained strange, she walked faster and faster, more and more steadily, until Liu Chuanyu could barely keep up.

She didn’t choose easier paths to walk on, nor did she wander aimlessly—she seemed to already know the route, swaying her body as she followed a predetermined path. Her footsteps on the rocks were as silent as a snake sliding across the ground, her body swaying in exaggerated and strange ways that nevertheless allowed her to deftly avoid every branch and stone. 

Liu Chuanyu didn’t know where she was going and didn’t dare call out to her—she could only force herself to follow. Liu Chuanyu didn’t know how much longer she could hold on. Her body kept trembling, each step clumsy and heavy, the world shaking into mottled patches of color before her eyes.

When she stumbled forward another step, her feet crushing grass and gravel with a crunching sound, the “Liu Yetao” ahead suddenly stopped.

She turned her head, staring at Liu Chuanyu with those cold vertical pupils, and suddenly thrust out a section of tongue from her pale lips. That bright red tongue contracted very narrowly, appearing thin and long, quivering rapidly in the air before being drawn back in. Like a snake.

Liu Chuanyu froze in place. She understood what this meant. 

They had learned the art of snake handling from their master—they depended on snakes for their livelihood. Master’s most prized possession was a large black snake called Wumei—beautiful, imposing, and intelligent. It would help guard the door and never harm its own people, but when encountering thieves or other evildoers, it would attack like a streak of black lightning.

Master had taught them to control snakes by first having them bond with Wumei. Other snakes might be somewhat dangerous, but Wumei had never hurt them. It was just that Wumei preferred Liu Yetao and wasn’t particularly close to her. Sometimes when she tried to approach Wumei but it wasn’t willing, it would rear up its body, stare at her with cold vertical pupils, and hiss while flicking its tongue.

It was warning her.

Don’t come closer.

“Wumei…” Liu Chuanyu shivered and froze in place, watching helplessly as “Liu Yetao” walked away until only a corner of her clothing was visible between the rocks and shrubs.

After shaking off Liu Chuanyu, “Liu Yetao” silently crept behind a rock, her cold vertical pupils fixed intently on the bushes ahead where a white-headed, blue-bodied bird was perched.

……

Ding Qin suddenly pulled herself out of the karmic vision, feeling a sharp, unbearable pain in her temples. She blinked hard, concealing her discomfort.

After scrutinizing them for a moment, Liu Chuanyu stopped paying attention and turned to Liu Yetao, saying, “Go back to your room first.”

Only after the two had left did Ding Qin allow her face to show her distress, saying softly, “That hurts so much.”

Bai Hong spread her arm, and a gentle wind embraced Ding Qin, carrying her back to the room without the slightest jolt, seating her down and covering her eyes. “You didn’t need to push yourself so hard.”

“I wasn’t paying attention and watched for too long,” Ding Qin said, leaning against her, her still-youthful face showing a hint of aggrieved vulnerability. “If I’d known it would hurt this much, I wouldn’t have watched for so long.”

Bai Hong pressed around her eye sockets with amusement, asking, “What did you see?”

“There’s a snake spirit attached to Liu Yetao,” Ding Qin said.

Bai Hong was astonished. “How is that possible?”

If there really was a snake spirit occupying Liu Yetao’s body, how could the two of them have failed to notice any signs of it over these past few days?

“I’m not entirely certain either,” Ding Qin said with her eyes closed. Her tightly furrowed brows relaxed somewhat under Bai Hong’s massage. “That snake should be the black snake I saw them raising before—I just don’t know why, after death, its spirit attached itself to Liu Yetao.”

“Possession?” Bai Hong asked.

Ding Qin hummed in affirmation and continued, “That snake is called Wumei. It’s not simply following her like the Shijian does—it’s attached to Liu Yetao and can even control her body when she’s unconscious.”

“Wumei must have been on her all along. We didn’t notice, probably because of those nine lamps. Last night I felt something was off about her, but I couldn’t figure it out at the time. Those nine lamps can drive away the Shijian’s spirit, so they must also be able to suppress Wumei’s spirit and prevent it from manifesting,” Ding Qin murmured. Her headache had lessened, so her thoughts began moving faster. “When the lamps are lit, Shijian can’t even enter. If Wumei has been on Liu Yetao all along, it must be extremely uncomfortable being suppressed.”

“So it’s not Liu Yetao who fears the lamplight—it’s Wumei attached to her. When Wumei was alive, it was very close to her. When they danced together, they moved in harmony and coordination. Its spirit attached to Liu Yetao’s body and quickly learned to control it—their sensations must have become connected to some degree. When it’s afraid, its own fear transmits to Liu Yetao, making her so frightened that she hides behind screens and bed curtains, yet still can’t sleep night after night.”

“So Liu Chuanyu’s disgusted attitude is directed at Wumei attached to Liu Yetao’s body, not at Liu Yetao herself?” Bai Hong asked.

“Probably,” Ding Qin said. “In the vision I saw, she was quite caring toward Liu Yetao. Counting the time, when Liu Yetao said Liu Chuanyu’s attitude changed dramatically roughly matches when Liu Chuanyu discovered the snake spirit on her.”

“The lamp-lighting method she learned later was probably also meant to deal with the snake spirit on Liu Yetao. But with her current abilities, she can only suppress the snake spirit, not drive it away. She’s been going out recently, probably to seek help from that Mingdeng Sect painter.”

“But what’s the deal with those lamps? I’ve never seen a method that shows no fluctuation of power yet still works,” Bai Hong said, puzzled.