Ye Zi appeared in her spirit body form, and both Wang Cheng’an and Huang Qi could see her. Old Tang quietly opened the Heavenly Eye for himself and Zhang Qingshui, allowing them to see Ye Zi as well, but neither Zhang Qingshui nor Old Tang heard a single word Ye Zi said. They did hear the questions Wang Ya asked, but not the answers, so they could only infer a little from Ye Zi’s gestures and expressions.
Wang Cheng’an did not understand any of this; it went in one ear and out the other—what he heard was no different from what he did not.
Huang Qi walked up to Wang Ya, who stood dazed in place, and said, “Wang Ya, let’s go.”
Wang Ya turned her head in a daze and looked at Huang Qi, asking, “You heard everything?” Her heart ached, clogged with discomfort.
Huang Qi nodded lightly and said, “Mm.”
Wang Ya said, “I want to hear your thoughts.”
Huang Qi asked, “About what? The Leaf Demon? You?”
Wang Ya said, “Mm.”
Huang Qi thought about it seriously for a moment and said, “I can’t give you the answers you want. Wang Ya, you can only decide for yourself whether to choose this life or your past life, whether to be human or demon.”
Should she be human or demon? This life or her past life? Wang Ya felt as if she stood at a watershed, one side being human, the other demon, and she herself seemed both human and demon.
Because of Ye Zi, because of everything the Feng Family hid underground, because she had come here, she had already pulled her past life and this life together.
Wang Ya knew she would never find answers standing at the city gate forever; she could only keep moving forward. “The boat will straighten itself when it reaches the bridge,” right?
Stepping through this city gate meant entering the Illusory City Labyrinth, which they could only pass through with Zhang Qingshui’s help. However, Ye Zi’s words—”You brought people from the Zhang Family here; what do you want to do? Bring them to dig up your own grave, to unearth our roots?”—made Wang Ya hesitate. The cave across the Styx River led straight to the outside world. With the power behind the Zhang Family, finding the entrance would not be difficult. Could a single Styx River and Dead People’s Bridge stop people from entering? The Illusory City Labyrinth was the final barrier. If she told Zhang Qingshui the formula to pass through it, that barrier would be gone.
Wang Ya could not bring herself to burn bridges after crossing the river. She could not kill Zhang Qingshui to silence her after she helped break the array. But they had come this far; she could not stop now. Grandma was still waiting for her in the Bardo Realm, and she had too many questions she wanted to ask her. If Ye Zi could take her straight in, everything would be simple, but she knew Ye Zi would not. Though she did not know why, Ye Zi’s attitude made it clear she would not lead her directly inside. Wang Ya could only rely on herself to go in.
Wang Ya did not need to ask, “Zhang Qingshui, can I trust you?” She knew she could not trust her. Pinning her hopes on Zhang Qingshui keeping the secret was a joke. Joking with her life, the Feng Family’s, and Ye Zi’s.
Standing at the city gate, only a step away from finding Grandma, yet that step was so hard to take.
Wang Ya stood silently at the city gate, her expression grave as she gazed into the city.
She did not know how desolate, lonely, and heavy her figure appeared in the eyes of those around her.
Wang Cheng’an asked, “Yaya, why aren’t we going? Are you scared to go in? Don’t be afraid; I’ll walk in front and protect you.” He glanced cautiously at Wang Ya and said softly, “Yaya, can we not go in? I’m really scared too. There are so many ghosts inside.”
Wang Ya recalled a saying her grandma had once told her and sighed lowly, saying, “The scary thing isn’t ghosts; it’s people.”
Zhang Qingshui knew what Wang Ya hesitated over. She could not convince Wang Ya to make any decision, nor could she give her any guarantees. She understood even more that Wang Ya had no choice. All she needed to do was wait—for Wang Ya to tell her about the situation in the city, wait to break the array. If she could decide, she absolutely would not wade into the Feng Family’s muddy waters again. The Feng Family’s waters were too deep; she could not afford it, and neither could the Zhang Family. But the price of the Zhang Family not wading in was equally heavy, one they could not pay. Though the Feng Family had been exterminated, their foundation remained intact. Just looking at the arrays along this path showed the immense power they had left. If brought out, it would deal a devastating blow to the Righteous Path. For the Zhang Family to secretly defect and side with the Feng Family to help Wang Ya would be greatly advantageous, but they could not—because humans and demons were worlds apart, and the Feng Family had become thoroughly “ghostly.” Aside from Wang Cheng’an and the unknown Feng Yuqin, almost none were human anymore, not even Wang Ya, who was half-human, half-demon. She wanted to help Wang Ya, but she could not afford to. The price of helping her was facing endless mountains of corpses, seas of blood, aggrieved souls, and ghosts, turning her back on the world’s righteous path and its people. Too many had died at the hands of the Feng Family, too many at the hands of the Yellow Springs Other Shore Flower Demon! Piles of white bones, mountains of corpses, seas of blood, torrents of wronged souls. The world could not tolerate the Feng Family! Zhang Qingshui ached for Wang Ya at this moment, ached for the Wang Ya who still retained her humanity and struggled from a human standpoint, but she could only ache in her heart. She knew Wang Ya was not innocent; this was karma from her past life. Even her reincarnation as a human was just to make a comeback.
Wang Ya stood at the city gate for a long time, thinking for a long time. She even considered charging straight in—if she could not make it out with her own abilities, she would rather die here. But she remembered her grandma’s words to her in the Bardo Realm, urging her to live no matter what. She could not bury the Feng Family’s last remaining bloodline—her dad—here.
Wang Ya turned to face Zhang Qingshui and said, “Zhang Qingshui, I’ll tell you the formula to pass through the Illusory City Labyrinth. I know you won’t keep it secret for me, but remember my words: if you leak the formula, many people will die.”
