Free Web NovelChapter 2: Chapter 2—Enlightenment
Note: After the soul fusion and inheriting Lei Cheng’s memories, he is essentially Lei Cheng as well.
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Chapter 2—Enlightenment
’I feel weak,’ Lei Cheng clenched his fists as the fox light intensified. The room swayed in his vision, his breathing turning rough as he panted.
After a few seconds, the light settled, and the fox mark shrank down to a single inch.
’Safe for now.’ He patted himself with shaking hands. His uneven breathing slowly returned to normal. He checked his chest in the mirror.
"I can hide it now." A bitter smile crossed his face. He’d feared the large mark would give him away—but even now, small as it was, it brought him no relief.
He took a long breath. He needed answers. The mark had something to do with previous Lei Cheng’s death—he was certain of that much.
"Lei Cheng never had this mark." He stared at his own reflection. It stared back—and for a moment seemed to ripple, as though it might move on its own. Goosebumps ran up his arms. He turned his head away.
He steadied himself and began working through events carefully.
’It was just a regular day.’
He had woken around ten in the morning, handled his daily affairs, then headed to the Crimson Butterfly Pavilion to enjoy the courtesans’ music and dance. He had returned around evening, and a servant had informed him that his fiancée had requested to see him.
’Must be because of the pavilion,’ he thought, narrowing his eyes. ’Tomorrow’s the wedding.’
He was an engaged man—being seen at that sort of place would tarnish her reputation, even more so when he was getting married the very next day. Not that he had ever cared. He was already well-known as the greatest dandy in Azure Cloud City, having spent more than half his life in pavilions listening to courtesans perform.
All of that he remembered clearly.
’But then—did I go out again, or not?’
He sighed and returned to the bed. He clapped his hands once.
"Anyone—is someone there?"
The doors swung open. A petite maid in plain servant’s clothes entered, looking at him with gentle eyes.
"Your orders, Young Master?"
’Normally, Yun Che handled my affairs.’ He raised his palm and waved her off. "Go call Yun Che."
"If he is sleeping, Young Master?"
"Wake him," Lei Cheng said flatly.
The maid nodded and rushed out.
’Do I really have to specify that? Who hired these people?’
He shook his head.
---
After a few moments, the maid returned with a dark-skinned boy of around seventeen, clad in a blue silk robe.
’That’s my old discarded robe.’ Once, a speck of mud had landed on it, and he had almost thrown it away—but he had spotted Yun Che standing there in rough hemp and cotton and handed it to him instead.
Yun Che performed a fist and palm salute. "Young Master, you called for me?"
"Yes. Walk me through my movements from this morning until now."
He waved the maid out. She slipped away quietly, closing the door behind her. Yun Che nodded and began recounting—how the Young Master had woken, where he had gone, how the day had unfolded step by step.
’Same as I remember.’ Lei Cheng nodded along.
"Then, Young Master," Yun Che continued, "in the evening, your fiancée, Lady Xiao Ming, sent a letter after hearing you had visited the Crimson Butterfly Pavilion."
Lei Cheng’s eye twitched. His lips parted slightly. ’I really should change this habit.’ He rubbed his forehead.
"Upon hearing it was your fiancée," Yun Che went on carefully, "The Master—Lei Feng—ordered you to go to her and beg forgiveness."
"Go on," Lei Cheng said, raising his palm.
"I took you to the Xiao household by carriage. You entered Lady Ming’s room." Yun Che stopped.
"What’s wrong?" Lei Cheng fixed him with a sharp look.
Yun Che coughed. "I... did not enter the room with you."
Lei Cheng clicked his tongue. ’The account cuts off right there.’
"How did I return home?"
"Young Master—you fell asleep," Yun Che replied, calm and low.
"Asleep?" Lei Cheng cut him off. "I went there to beg forgiveness, and I fell asleep?"
"Lady Ming stated that you expressed your apology by drinking five full bottles of liquor."
"Who begs for forgiveness that way?" Lei Cheng knitted his brows.
"Finding you unconscious, I brought you home by carriage," Yun Che said. His voice was steady. Too steady.
Lei Cheng narrowed his eyes slightly. "...You’re sure that’s all?"
Yun Che nodded.
"...Leave."
---
’So what went wrong?’
He fell into deep focus, picking through the events one by one. ’This fox mark.’ He pressed a palm to his chest. He couldn’t make sense of it. He pressed his palm to his head. ’Recall. Recall.’
Nothing came.
His life might depend on those missing memories. The fox mark was a ticking thing—and he wasn’t sure it would wait until tomorrow to go off. It pulsed lightly, like a cold, sharp pin pressing into his skin. ’It’s definitely taking something.’ He couldn’t tell what—only that the weakness was there, quiet and persistent.
He paced the room, but it did nothing to settle him. His fingers kept twitching. He crossed to the window, shoved the curtains aside, grabbed the porcelain water jar from the sill, and drank straight from it as he stared out into the night.
Crack!
The jar slipped from his grip and shattered on the floor, water spreading in every direction.
Lei Cheng’s eyes went wide.
"Something is wrong."
’They’re definitely connected.’ His mouth fell open, his heartbeat climbing.
The moon—always purple in Lei Cheng’s memories—had turned crimson red.
He shook his head. It shifted back to purple.
’Familiar, yet unfamiliar.’ Familiar through Lei Cheng’s eyes, unfamiliar through Silva’s—who had grown up beneath a white moon his entire life.
’It was red. I’m not imagining it.’
He stumbled back a few steps, then shoved the wooden doors open and rushed outside. The servants and maids in the corridor startled at his footsteps and trailed after him.
"Young Master—what’s wrong?"
Lei Cheng burst into the open courtyard and tilted his head back.
A white flame burned several hundred meters tall in the sky, brilliant and still, sparks drifting from it like falling stars. It blazed bright—yet the night around it stayed dark, untouched. Only the purple moonlight bathed the world below in its faint, soft glow. free𝑤ebnovel.com
He pressed a hand over his racing heart and let out a slow breath. ’The flames are still burning. The city is safe.’
"As long as they exist—" he stopped mid-sentence.
His eyes glowed blue.
[ Ding! Your Supernatural Ability—Instant Enlightenment—has activated! ]
A luminous panel, burning with dark black flames, appeared at the corner of his vision. His gaze stayed locked on the white flame—but it didn’t feel the same as before. It shrank. Smaller, smaller, until within moments it was gone entirely.
The moon turned crimson.
[ Ding! You have comprehended the Dao of Illusion—Illusion Intent {31%} ]
His nose bled.
His eyes rolled back.
"What—"
Thud!
He hit the ground before the word could finish leaving his mouth.
"Young Master!"
The servants swarmed over him.
