Nightmare Master – CH 002

Chapter 2. Kidnapping

Why were the Nightmare Masters attacking Ye Minwei? Aside from the cultivators and the Nightmare Masters themselves, few truly knew the reasons. The common people were just joining in the fun, thinking that since so many wanted to kill her, she must deserve it.

After all, Ye Minwei’s failed Nightmare cultivation was twenty years ago. Many of the people who had heard of her fame back then had aged and died with the passage of time, their names lost to dust.

Although Xie Yuzhu was only seventeen and seemingly unskilled, her father was the forty-eighth generation of the Huoju Daoist clan of the Fuguang Sect, and her Eldest Sister and Second Brother were currently cultivating within the sect. The Xie family was known as “the Xie family of fine robes and vermilion gates,” the most successful merchants among cultivators, and the most skilled cultivators among merchants.

With this connection, she was extremely knowledgeable about the affairs of the cultivation world.

“It’s said that Master Wu, the founder of the Nightmare Masters sect, died at the hands of Ye Minwei. It is perfectly justifiable for the Nightmare Masters to avenge their ancestor.”

After a pause, Xie Yuzhu sighed, “Speaking of which, Master Wu, the master of the Dream Ruins, was Ye Minwei’s close friend. Ye Minwei lived in seclusion, and Master Wu was her only friend. Although they eventually parted ways, they had been friends for over fifty years. For Ye Minwei to be so ruthless as to kill him shows true cruelty.”

Yun Chuan seemed to have heard something new, pondering and repeating, “Ruthless… why did she kill Master Wu?”

Xie Yuzhu moved closer to Yun Chuan, her fingers… She gestured across her neck: “The conspiracy was exposed, so she killed him to cover it up.”

“Conspiracy?”

“That’s a long story.” Xie Yuzhu waved her hand, unwilling to elaborate. She paused, then said, “Oh, right, accountant sister, I forgot to tell you. I did not know your hair was already white. It was not intentional when I asked you to take off your cloak this morning. I am so sorry. This table full of food is my apology. Eat without worry.”

Xie Yuzhu peeled an orange and said casually, “To be honest, this is the first time I’ve seen someone so beautiful with a full head of white hair. Accountant sister, you look great with white hair.”

Yun Chuan looked up at Xie Yuzhu but did not speak. What should have been a warm scene turned into a long, awkward silence as they stared at each other. At this moment, Yun Chuan finally broke the silence, sincerely asking in confusion, “In this situation, how should one usually respond?”

Xie Yuzhu was also a little confused: “Huh? Probably… say thank you?”

Yun Chuan then picked up her chopsticks, held them to her eyebrows, and bowed slightly. Her back was very straight, but her body leaned forward. As she bent over, her palms slowly turned and pressed down to her waist, like white peony petals swaying in the wind.

“Thank you.”

Xie Yuzhu coughed repeatedly, choked by the orange.

Perhaps it was because she had always been confined at home and had little experience, but Xie Yuzhu felt that this accountant was the strangest person she had ever met; the more she learned about her, the stranger she became.

Firstly, Yun Chuan knew etiquette but was often impolite, never calling her “Young lady.” It seemed that for Yun Chuan, the only forms of address were “you” and her name.

Secondly, Yun Chuan was exceptionally intelligent but often had wildly imaginative ideas. She could solve a nine-linked puzzle with a single glance, and even the complex principal and interest calculations of money shops could be mentally calculated in a flash without error. However, her thinking was erratic; after only five exchanges with her, people would start to wonder if either they or the other person was the one with the problem.

Moreover, Xie Yuzhu had seen Yun Chuan holding a stack of account books, calling out “Uncle Zhuang” to a chest of drawers; asking where the ink and brushes were on a large indigo vase; or nearly eating a whole piece of ginger, mistaking it for a potato.

This was especially true at night. Once, Xie Yuzhu saw Yun Chuan talking to an orange-red flag hanging by a cabinet. She listened closely and discovered that Yun Chuan was mistaking the flag for her!

So far, the only things Yun Chuan had never mistaken were numbers and persimmons.

Yun Chuan had poor eyesight, but this condition was not uncommon. Xie Yuzhu’s Elder Brother, constantly overwhelmed by piles of account books and suffering from blurred vision, went to a craftsman to have a pair of vision stones made. Wearing them on his nose restored his clear vision. Regarding Xie Yuzhu’s suggestion, Yun Chuan said she already had vision stones, but she did not want to wear them because there were too many people around.

“I get dizzy when I see too many people,” Yun Chuan explained.

Xie Yuzhu had never heard of such a condition before.

After spending a few days together, Xie Yuzhu deduced that Yun Chuan was a well-bred young lady from a once-prosperous family who had fallen on hard times and was separated from her relatives. Perhaps she had suffered a shock that caused her hair to turn white overnight, and her mind to become unclear, ultimately leading her to this state of wandering.

It was truly pitiful and lamentable. They were both fellow sufferers, and Yun Chuan was much more approachable than Uncle Zhuang and the servants who constantly watched over her. Within three days, Xie Yuzhu and Yun Chuan had quickly become close, with Xie Yuzhu insisting that Yun Chuan accompany her to meals every day. The main theme of the story during the meal was nothing more than how Xie Yuzhu, playing the role of a spoiled brat, outwitted her incredibly shrewd parents and tried to escape.

That evening, Yunchuan, as usual, went to Xie Yuzhu’s room to have dinner with her. Before she could even get her feet on the ground, Xie Yuzhu pulled her away, and the door slammed shut.

The atmosphere was slightly different from usual. Xie Yuzhu, with a serious expression, pressed Yunchuan down onto the stool in front of her and said, “Sister Yun Chuan, you are the one I trust most here. We are grasshoppers on the same stick. I have a plan to tell you.”

Yun Chuan turned her head, her expression as serious as Xie Yuzhu’s: “Why are we grasshoppers?”

… Why was this person more concerned about being a grasshopper than the plan?

“That’s not important.”

Xie Yuzhu glanced at the shadows of the two servants guarding the window and whispered to Yun Chuan, “These past few days, I’ve observed the defenses of Zhaiyue Tower. Uncle Zhuang is short-handed; most of the guards are patrolling outside the main building’s courtyard wall, at the main gates, and at the entrance to each floor. Escaping Zhaiyue Tower for me is as difficult as climbing to heaven! But the guards outside my room are not very strict; I can sneak out and wander around the tower, waiting for an opportunity. If I really cannot escape, it would not hurt to learn from those Nightmare Masters inside.”

“So you want to turn into a grasshopper and get out?” Yun Chuan asked.

“… No, no, I have not even begun my cultivation! If I knew that shapeshifting magic, would I still be locked up here?”

Xie Yuzhu pointed at Yun Chuan: “I mean, we are about the same size. I will wear your cloak outside, and you can sit here disguised as me. They will think I am in the room, making it easier for me to act.”

As she spoke, she took out a silver note and a letter from her bosom and handed them to Yun Chuan: “If I manage to escape, tell them I blackmailed you into impersonating me. Then take this silver note and the letter of recommendation and leave here to find my Elder Brother in Jinling. If I cannot escape, I’ll make sure to return before midnight without anyone noticing.”

Yun Chuan took the thin piece of paper from Xie Yuzhu and looked at it from both sides. Xie Yuzhu took this as a yes and patted her shoulder, saying, “I knew you were the most loyal, Sister Yun Chuan!”

Then she began deftly untying Yun Chuan’s hair. Xie Yuzhu had been planning this for a long time, so her preparations were very thorough. She not only swapped clothes with Yun Chuan, but also styled Yun Chuan’s hair exactly like hers, then removed each of her own hairpins and inserted them into Yun Chuan’s hair.

As soon as the candlelight was lit, the shadow on the window revealed a striking image: “Xie Yuzhu.”

Xie Yuzhu clapped her hands in satisfaction and said, “Sister Yun Chuan, eat your food properly! Do not just keep holding your dried persimmons!”

With that, she slipped out stealthily, draped in a cloak. The plan had begun smoothly; the two servants outside did not notice that someone else had taken over the cloak. The cloaked figure quickly blended into the crowd outside.

The room fell silent. Yun Chuan silently gazed at the table laden with delicious food. Even though Xie Yuzhu had just instructed her, she showed no intention of touching her chopsticks, only waving her fingers over the flame, the light flickering with her movements.

“… I slept for twenty years,” she murmured, then lifted her robe to reveal a simple, ginger-yellow cloth pouch at her waist. She flicked the pouch with her finger, and it seemed to come alive, unfurling a small opening on its own.

Yun Chuan reached into the pouch and pulled out a crystal larger than the pouch itself.

The crystal was very strange in shape, resembling a stiff, transparent ribbon, curved into an arc, thick in the middle and thin at both ends, with a small notch at the bottom center.

If one had to use a metaphor, it might resemble a flattened banana.

This was Yun Chuan’s vision stone.

Yun Chuan placed the crystal on her nose; the small notch fit perfectly, the wide, curved area facing her eyes, and the thinner edge curving behind her ears, as if glued in place.

In her vision, everything that had been blurred to the point of being only colors and outlines suddenly became clear, as if the whole world had moved closer to her, pressed against her eyes. Countless strange blue symbols appeared in her vision stones, appearing and disappearing extremely quickly, chasing each other, their destination unknown.

These symbols always appeared repeatedly; she was now very familiar with them. So Yun Chuan raised a finger, pinched it together with her index finger and thumb, and then tapped it twice on the table with her middle finger.

The blue characters stopped flashing, and many words appeared in her vision, neatly arranged in lines.

“Old man with a white beard,” “All-powerful,” “Secluded from the world,” “Omnipotent,” “Achieving immortality,” “Grandmaster of the Immortal Sect,” “Genius of magic,” “Ancestor of all things,” “Thief of magic,” “Evil heart,” “Conspiracy” …

Her fingers gestured a few times in the air, and two more lines appeared at the end of the text—”Murder of a friend,” “Ruthless.”

She raised a finger, and the long list slowly moved upwards, words emitting a blue glow flashing before her eyes, some praising, some criticizing, some contradictory.

She had heard that the human heart was complex, that even one person could have a thousand faces.

She had not expected her to be this complex.

Yun Chuan read through the list from beginning to end, then put the crystal in her pouch, took out the last persimmon she had left for the day, and slowly began to eat it. The night at Zhaiyue Tower was indeed lively; outside came the sounds of clinking glasses, laughter, and conversation. Yun Chuan ignored the delicious food before her, focusing only on eating the persimmon.

Suddenly, the lights dimmed, and the window was flung open with a bang. The candlelight was relit, and a sword was held to her neck.

Two black-clad men appeared in the room. The one holding the sword said in a deep voice, “Young Lady Xie, we will have to trouble you to come with us.”