The soft scratching of brushes continued beneath the quiet glow of candlelight.
Neither man uttered a single word.
For nearly an hour, sheets of paper passed silently across the table between them.
Each was carefully read.
Compared.
Corrected.
Then fed into the candle flame until nothing remained but drifting ash.
The investigation had become a habit.
A language known only to the two of them.
Li Jianghong had brought new reports gathered from his own discreet inquiries.
Although they revealed little on their own, when combined with the Sect Master's observations from the recent council meeting, the scattered fragments began to form an increasingly intricate web.
Yuchen calmly read another report before setting it aside.
His brush moved once more.
> The patrol captain's statement contradicts the servant's testimony.
Li nodded.
He wrote beneath it.
> Neither appears to be lying.
> Someone simply ensured they witnessed different parts of the same event.
Yuchen's eyes narrowed thoughtfully.
Another carefully prepared deception.
The person manipulating everything had never relied on chance.
Every movement had been measured.
Every clue carefully concealed.
For several more minutes, neither wrote another unnecessary word.
Instead, they began arranging the information already gathered.
Yuchen pulled a fresh sheet of paper toward himself.
Without thinking...
He slipped into the habits of another life.
At the top of the page, he wrote neatly:
Elder Luo
Below it—
Anonymous Letters
Bamboo Courtyard
Unknown Symbol
Suspicious Elders
One beneath another.
Then, beside the final point, he absentmindedly added a familiar note.
Etc.
To him, it was nothing more than a reminder.
There were still countless details that could not yet be organized.
He continued writing.
Completely absorbed.
Li, however...
Had stopped.
His eyes remained fixed on the page.
His brows drew together ever so slightly.
He read it once.
Then again.
Finally, he picked up his brush.
He hesitated for a moment before sliding the paper toward the Sect Master.
Yuchen glanced down.
> Sect Master...
He looked up briefly, signaling Li to continue.
Another sentence appeared.
> This disciple has searched every record available...
A pause.
Then—
> ...but I cannot find any information regarding Senior Etc.
Yuchen blinked.
For a moment...
He simply stared at the words.
Senior...
Etc.?
Li continued writing with complete sincerity.
> His name appears frequently among your notes.
> Yet no elder, disciple, or steward seems to bear that title.
Silence.
Yuchen slowly lowered his gaze.
His eyes landed upon the small word he had written so casually.
Etc.
"..."
His shoulders stiffened.
Then...
Realization dawned.
A memory surfaced from another world.
Late-night revision.
School notebooks.
Endless pages filled with hurried notes.
Etc.
A simple abbreviation.
One she had written so naturally that she had completely forgotten where she was.
She wasn't sitting in a classroom anymore.
She was inside a cultivation world.
Where no one had ever seen such a word.
Her lips twitched.
She tried to remain composed.
Failed.
A soft laugh escaped before she could stop it.
She immediately covered her mouth.
But the more she imagined Li earnestly searching the sect records for a mysterious cultivator named Senior Etc....
The harder it became to stop.
The quiet laugh gradually grew into genuine laughter.
Across the table, Li simply watched.
His expression remained calm.
Though beneath that calmness lay unmistakable curiosity.
He looked at the page.
Then at Yuchen.
Then back again.
He could not understand why such an ordinary question had produced such an unexpected reaction.
His confusion only made the scene more amusing.
Yuchen took several moments before finally calming herself.
A faint smile still lingered upon her face.
She reached for another clean sheet.
After a brief hesitation, she began writing.
> There is no Senior Etc.
Li lowered his eyes to the explanation.
Yuchen continued.
> It is merely... a personal habit of organizing unfinished thoughts.
> It means there are still other possibilities that have yet to be written.
Li read the explanation carefully.
Then looked once more at the previous page.
For several quiet seconds...
Nothing happened.
Then, almost imperceptibly, the corners of his lips lifted.
He picked up his brush again.
> ...Then...
Another short pause.
> This disciple has spent half the evening searching for someone who has never existed.
This time...
Even he could not suppress the quiet laugh that escaped him.
Not because the misunderstanding was particularly foolish...
But because he had pursued it with complete seriousness.
Seeing Li laugh at himself only caused Xiaoyu to laugh again.
The solemn atmosphere that had filled the residence for days quietly melted away.
For the first time since beginning their investigation...
The two simply laughed.
No assassins.
No conspiracies.
No burdens.
Only two weary investigators sharing an unexpectedly ordinary moment.
---
Outside the residence...
The corridor remained peaceful.
Not far away, Shen Wei bowed respectfully.
"Please excuse this servant for a moment."
Receiving permission earlier, he quietly stepped away to answer nature's call, leaving the entrance unattended for what would only be a short while.
Moments later...
Steady footsteps echoed along the stone path.
Tianyu approached the residence with a sealed document in hand.
He had intended to deliver a report personally to the Sect Master before retiring for the night.
His eyes instinctively searched for Shen Wei.
Finding no one standing guard outside, he assumed the Sect Master was alone.
He raised his hand.
Just before his knuckles reached the wooden door—
Laughter.
A quiet, genuine laugh drifted from within the hall.
Tianyu froze.
His hand remained suspended in midair.
The first voice belonged unmistakably to Li Jianghong.
The second...
His younger brother.
For several heartbeats, Tianyu remained perfectly still.
He had expected many things upon returning from his mission.
This...
Had never crossed his mind.
The council meeting earlier that day returned to his thoughts.
The confidence.
The composure.
The subtle change he had sensed but failed to understand.
Now...
Standing outside that door...
Listening to the quiet laughter shared between two people who had once stood so far apart...
He finally understood what had felt different.
Not Yuchen himself.
But the distance surrounding him.
His hand slowly lowered.
A faint breath escaped his lips.
"...Another time."
Without knocking...
Without interrupting...
Tianyu quietly turned away and disappeared into the moonlit corridor.
Some moments...
Were better left undisturbed.
---
Inside the hall, the laughter gradually subsided.
Silence returned.
The two men looked at one another.
For an instant, neither spoke.
Neither wrote.
After so many years of cold restraint, even sharing laughter felt strangely unfamiliar.
And yet...
Neither found the silence uncomfortable.
Li was the first to lower his gaze.
He gathered the remaining papers into the candle flame, watching the final traces of ink disappear into ash.
When the last page had burned completely, he picked up his brush one final time.
He wrote only a single sentence.
> Whoever stands behind all of this has hidden well...
He paused.
Then finished.
> ...but no secret remains buried forever.
Yuchen read the words quietly.
A calm determination settled within his eyes.
He lifted his own brush.
> Then we'll be there when the truth finally surfaces.
Li looked at the sentence.
Then gave a small nod.
No further words were needed.
He bowed respectfully before turning toward the entrance.
Just as the door opened...
Shen Wei returned, immediately resuming his place as though he had never left.
He bowed first to Li.
Then to his master.
The night resumed its familiar stillness.
Yet somewhere within that quiet residence...
Something invisible had changed.
Not the investigation.
Not the mystery.
But the trust between two men who had begun walking the same path.
And for the first time...
Neither of them walked it alone.