INE Chapter 108: Drunken Samsara

While Ji Rong and Madam Ji were talking, Gu Baiyi had already followed Madam Mo to the east side of the Tiangong Workshop.

In the eastern corner, piles of discarded puppets lay stacked haphazardly.

Some were incomplete, others were defective, each covered in a thick layer of dust.

Madam Mo’s fingertips shimmered with strands of silver thread. No one knew what kind of technique she used, but with a gentle tug, the cobwebs and dust in the corner instantly vanished.

At that moment, Gu Baiyi pulled out a candle and lit it.

The flame was faint, but it cast enough light on the pile of puppets for their features to be seen clearly.

Holding the lamp in her hands, she stepped closer, quietly observing them one by one.

Madam Mo stood beside her, watching with a smile as Gu Baiyi examined the puppets intently. "These were all made by my mother." she explained softly. "Some were just practice pieces, others were made after she lost her mind."

"Back then, her mind was no longer clear. As soon as she was dissatisfied, she'd abandon her work and toss it into this corner."

Gu Baiyi nodded.

Indeed, despite the varying levels of beauty or disrepair, each puppet was intricately made.

But they were buried beneath so much dust, it was clear they’d been left here for hundreds of years.

Her gaze swept over the rows of puppets. She didn’t linger too long, until her eyes landed on the one at the very back.

There, her gaze stopped.

That puppet was different from the others.

While the others’ clothing had long since faded or torn, this one’s robes remained pristine.

It appeared to be a female puppet.

A white cloth covered her head, and she wore a pale blue Daoist robe.

No one knew what kind of material it was made from, but even after so many years, it was completely untouched by dust. A silver shimmer still danced faintly along the edges.

Upon closer inspection, the robe bore some resemblance to the uniform worn by disciples of the Divine Sect.

Madam Mo glanced at the puppet and said with a smile, “My mother once said this was one of her proudest works. A noble client commissioned it, but in the end, they never came to retrieve it.”

She reached out and gently removed the white cloth covering the puppet’s face.

The moment the cloth was lifted, Gu Baiyi finally saw the puppet’s face clearly.

As she looked at it, her hand holding the lamp trembled slightly, causing the candlelight to flicker.

She stared at the puppet for a long time before finally asking in a quiet voice, “Who is she?”

Madam Mo picked up the white cloth again and carefully covered the puppet’s face.

Looking at the mask on Gu Baiyi’s own face, she smiled and said, “After several hundred years, how could I possibly know? But rather than wondering who she is… shouldn’t you be asking yourself, ”

“Who are you?”

….

When Ji Rong woke up again, she thought a long time must have passed.

But then she saw Madam Ji still sitting on the edge of the bed, just reaching out to catch her.

“Changqin, why did you suddenly faint just now? You scared me.”

The look of alarm on Madam Ji’s face was genuine, confirming that she had indeed passed out just moments ago.

From the sound of it, she had only been out for a few seconds, otherwise, Gu Baiyi and Madam Mo would have noticed.

Realizing this, Ji Rong quickly reassured her, “I’m fine, Mother. Just a bit tired lately.”

That part was true. She had been changing maps constantly these past few days.

With each new map, more strange things seemed to happen.

Madam Ji smiled in relief. “You know, it’s good to be diligent in your cultivation, but you should also rest. Once you reach my age, taking care of your health isn’t so easy.”

...Diligent in cultivation?

Not likely.

She was the definition of a lazy fish, resilient, with no need to worry about health.

Besides, she was still holding on to her "villain" title. That usually meant she’d live until the final chapter.

But her mother? She was in real danger.

Ji Rong thought about the scenes she had seen in Madam Ji’s memories, about the fragrant blood of the original host, and the legends of the True Immortals. Her head began to ache.

If the original host’s blood had the same effect as her sister’s… did that mean the original host was a True Immortal too?

That shouldn’t be possible.

Just as Ji Rong was beginning to question everything, the effects of her mind-reading ability hadn’t faded yet. Suddenly, she heard Madam Ji’s thoughts echo in her ears:

“I have to give Changqin the Drunken Samsara.”

Drunken Samsara?

Ji Rong frowned.

She remembered this item from the game, it was basically like a bottle of forget-me-not water. It had the power to make someone forget the one they loved.

She had never paid much attention to these kinds of non-combat items, but she’d heard about it while running dungeons.

Then another thought struck her, regardless of what identity the original host had, if her blood had miraculous properties, could it be used to cure Madam Ji?

After a moment of contemplation, Ji Rong decided to ask directly.

“Mother, if there were a spiritual medicine that could cure your illness, would you still want to leave Father?”

Madam Ji looked at her, smiling gently. “Changqin, it’s not that I want to leave your father. And I’m not sick.”

“…”

Isn’t that exactly what all sick people say?

Madam Ji lowered her voice. “I just… miss home. I miss my parents and my sisters.”

Ji Rong was taken aback. She hadn’t expected that.

Just then, her mind-reading power activated again, and a scene unfolded before her eyes, 

Snowy catkins danced in the wind, it must have been April.

A willow tree stood tall in the courtyard, its long branches swaying. Girls on tiptoe stretched up to catch the hanging strands.

Beneath the tree, a girl wearing jade-green lotus earrings sat quietly in the shade, coughing softly.

She watched her sisters laughing and weaving willow strands into delicate flower crowns.

And then, she smiled too.

A breeze blew by, making the slender branches sway and sending catkins fluttering like snow. One brushed past her eyes and the dangling earring.

The girl instinctively closed her eyes.

When she opened them again, her sisters were gone.

She looked around, a little lost, until she noticed a flower crown now resting on her head.

Her sisters appeared from behind, grinning as they asked, “Little sister, do you like it?”

Willow leaves fell gently into her dark hair. She lowered her eyes and whispered, “I like it.”

Her sisters smiled brightly.

Then they made more flower crowns, piling them into her lap, forming a ring around her.

The girl stared at the flower crowns, her very own, and her eyes widened.

She thought, My sisters are so kind.

If only one day, I could make flower crowns with them too.

But the doctor said she wouldn’t live past twenty.

Her sisters squatted around her, still smiling.

“Little sister, is there anything else you want?”

At that moment, the catkins floated gently, as if she could catch them if she just reached out.

The girl blushed and whispered, “I want to be with Father, Mother, and my sisters forever. I want to get married with my sisters… and grow old together.”

After restoring the luminous pearl, Jiang Fei and Wei Zongqiu stood at the entrance of the Tiangong Workshop, side by side with Gu Baiyi, quietly waiting for Ji Rong to come out.

Whatever Wei Zongqiu had seen inside the pearl, it left him unusually silent.

Gu Baiyi wore her mask, hiding any trace of expression, but her eyes were lowered, and she said nothing, as if deep in thought.

As for Jiang Fei, she too remained silent, not out of contemplation, but because she was still replaying the vision she had just seen inside the pearl.

If the murderer was indeed Xie Bai, a disciple of Wanjian Sect, there were still too many loose ends.

Even if Xie Bai had suppressed his cultivation, it should have been nearly impossible for him to kill a seasoned martial artist like the King of Chu.

What’s more, Xie Bai had approached the king that very night to speak with him. No matter how arrogant the king was, he should’ve been on guard.

Yet, on the day of Madam Xu’s funeral, Jiang Fei had seen it clearly, the King of Chu stood there without even trying to dodge Xie Bai’s strike.

Had she not stepped in at that critical moment, the sword would have pierced his heart.

Just as she was about to voice these doubts to Wei Zongqiu, he unexpectedly looked up and said something completely out of the blue:

“Senior Sister Jiang, I just remembered something.”

Jiang Fei paused and asked, “What is it?”

“When I was very young, my father once told me that someone had saved his life in his youth. He owed that person a great debt, but that man met a terrible end.”

At those words, Gu Baiyi returned to the present and glanced toward Wei Zongqiu.

His expression was complicated as he continued slowly, “My father said he despised that man, but also felt… deeply guilty. He didn’t want to owe him anything, so one day, he’d pay him back.”

Jiang Fei looked at Wei Zongqiu, as though something had clicked in her mind.

At that moment, the doors of the Tiangong Workshop opened.

A corner of white fabric appeared, and Ji Rong stepped out.

Gu Baiyi looked over and noticed Ji Rong holding a white porcelain bottle. Whatever it held, she couldn’t tell.

Ji Rong descended the steps and came to stand before them.

Gu Baiyi offered a faint smile and asked softly, “Senior Sister, did everything go smoothly?”

Holding the bottle filled with Drunken Samsara, Ji Rong glanced down at the scorching hot potato in her hands and recalled what Madam Ji had told her:

"Changqin, before you leave Xuanji City, give this to your father."

"I believe in you. You can do it."

Expressionless, she replied, “It went fine.”

Fine enough to discover that her mother no longer wished to live, and that she now had the joyless task of handing her father a bottle of memory-erasing water.

What a mess.

Ji Rong looked at Gu Baiyi. Though she wore half a mask, the tight line of her lips was visible.

Curious about what Gu Baiyi had experienced, she returned the gesture and asked, “And you? Did you see the puppet Madam Mo mentioned?”

“I did.”

Ji Rong wasn’t sure if it was her imagination, but it felt like Gu Baiyi’s expression became even stranger after saying that.

Gu Baiyi paused, then added, “Madam Mo even gave me a book.”

A book? What kind of book would a puppeteer give someone?

Ji Rong frowned. “What book?”

Gu Baiyi pulled it from her storage pouch. On the cover, five bold characters were printed:

“The Hidden Records of Cultivation.”

As she handed it over, Gu Baiyi smiled and explained, “Madam Mo said she hadn’t found the right kind of wood, so she used this book to prop up a table leg instead. She noticed me staring at it earlier and decided to give it to me.”

Hearing that, Ji Rong asked with genuine curiosity, “Did the table collapse afterward?”

“…”

Wei Zongqiu and Jiang Fei, who had been quietly standing by, were speechless.

Shouldn’t a normal person be more concerned about why someone used a book to prop up a table?

Gu Baiyi gave a small smile and actually answered seriously, “No, it didn’t. The book is quite thin, so the table was just slightly tilted.”

Ji Rong nodded thoughtfully. “I see.”

Wei Zongqiu thought he caught a faint trace of regret on her face.

Ji Rong glanced again at the bottle in her hand, let out a barely audible sigh, and said evenly, “In that case, let’s head back.”

After bidding farewell to Madam Mo, the four of them boarded the carriage.

As before, Gu Baiyi took the reins while the others rode in the carriage.

But the mood on the way back was heavier than when they had arrived.

Each of them was deep in thought, grappling with their own unanswered questions.

Jiang Fei held the now-intact luminous pearl. She didn’t yet know the full story behind it, but she had found a crucial inconsistency.

If Xie Bai was truly the killer, his cultivation wasn’t high enough to have created a Heaven-grade teleportation talisman.

Unless, of course, someone else had made it, someone hiding in the shadows.

But why would that person help Xie Bai?

Were they allies? Or was it all part of a scheme to frame him?

With that thought, Jiang Fei turned to Ji Rong and broke the silence: “Junior Sister, do you know much about Xie Bai?”

Ji Rong blinked, slightly startled.

Since the pearl had been restored, Jiang Fei must have seen part of the truth.

She nodded. “A little. But… Xie Bai is no longer with us.”

“He’s dead?”

Jiang Fei frowned. “Then, do you know who he was close with when he was alive?”

Ji Rong thought to herself, Oh, I know this one.

She answered calmly, “Gong Yu, Elder Gong.”

Author’s Note:

Drunken Samsara has nothing to do with Ji Rong’s memory, okay…