Chapter 53: Reunion

The magic artifact for the Yisheng Technique resembled a square astrolabe. Once the two-headed Azure Crystal was placed within, the pointer began to spin incessantly, awaiting the fulfillment of the mutual exchange. Amidst the flickering candlelight, the pointer gleamed brilliantly.

Ye Minwei gazed silently at the Yisheng Technique astrolabe for a moment, then raised her eyes to look at Qin Jiaze, confirming, "You want my brain?"

"Indeed," Qin Jiaze replied.

After a brief pause, he added, "It is merely an exchange of brains, not memories or souls. Once the process is complete, Ye Minwei will still be Ye Minwei, and Qin Jiaze will still be Qin Jiaze. The Exalted One need not worry."

"Am I truly that special?" Ye Minwei asked.

"Naturally."

"Just how special am I?"

"Across the heavens and beneath the earth, throughout antiquity and the present day, over thousands of years, you alone possess a wisdom that can rival the gods."

Faced with such high praise, Ye Minwei merely shook her head and said, "Then this world is truly narrow."

To think that this person actually wanted her brain. Too many people wanted her life, but this was the first time anyone had ever coveted her brain.

Viewed in this light, everyone she had ever heard of or encountered—regardless of whether they held hatred, reverence, or merely sought to use her, and even against their utmost reluctance—unanimously agreed that she possessed peerless intelligence. Yet, apart from this, they also proclaimed with one voice that her brain was abnormal and deeply bizarre.

They held her in awe, yet felt no envy, as if her brain were not a treasure, but a lethal weapon.

What would happen if she lost this brain? Would she no longer be able to calculate those spiritual veins and spells? And those human warmth and coldness that she wished to comprehend—would she finally understand them then?

Would she still be Ye Minwei? Was the entire foundation of the so-called "Ye Minwei," the very reason she was herself, rooted in this extraordinary brain?

If so, would Qin Jiaze become "Ye Minwei"?

Qin Jiaze scrutinized Ye Minwei, maintaining a calm exterior as he said, "In my view, the root of all disasters lies in the fact that you created a divine power that even you cannot control. As the Origin of All Things, you are the axe of Pangu that cleaved the heavens and the earth, yet you are not Pangu himself. Why not cede your cleverness to someone capable of controlling the consequences? What do you say?"

Even as Qin Jiaze spoke, thorns suddenly burst forth, entangling the earthen platform and thrusting directly toward the magic artifact at its center. Qin Jiaze's gaze turned sharp; flames surged along the thorns, and instantly, Hui Nanyi, who had been hanging from a tree, was pulled over and suspended in mid-air. Hui Nanyi had already used a mirror-water spell to shatter the constraints of the Immortality-Binding Curse; his hands broke free from the golden ropes as he rapidly formed hand seals.

"Senior! You must not!" Hui Nanyi shouted toward Ye Minwei.

"You cannot exchange brains with him! Once a madman obtains your wisdom, the world will surely be turned upside down and plunged into devastation!"

He struggled to shout these words before he was once again tightly bound by the Immortality-Binding Curse. An icicle pierced straight through his shoulder, causing Hui Nanyi to spit out a mouthful of blood. The two Canglang Villa disciples below let out muffled sounds as they struggled, their faces flushing red from having their throats constricted.

"Your name is Qin Jiaze, right?" Ye Minwei suddenly asked.

Qin Jiaze released Hui Nanyi, turned his head to look at her, and nodded. "What is it?"

"Since you are going to use my brain, I should at least know your name first."

After a pause, Ye Minwei said, "I can agree to your terms."

The muffled sounds of the hostages grew increasingly urgent, but Ye Minwei ignored them entirely. She continued, "However, it is not enough just to spare them and the people of Qizhou. You must also promise me that you will never again attempt to refine Azure Crystals using living people. Furthermore, should you devise any other methods for refining Azure Crystals, new magic artifacts, or spiritual vein designs, you must make them all known to the world."

Qin Jiaze frowned. "And what benefit does that bring to you?"

"It is an additional condition for the experiment. If you refuse to conclude the Life-Binding Pact with these terms, I will never agree."

Ye Minwei actually referred to this as an "experiment."

Qin Jiaze studied Ye Minwei for a moment, fanaticism suppressed deep within his eyes, mingled with a trace of pity. He smiled and said, "Very well, we shall do as the Exalted One says."

In the woods outside Yujun City, Wei Jing tumbled to the ground in a disheveled state, scrambling backward hands and feet. Amidst the shifting shadows of the trees, a man in colorful robes cradled a sleeping little girl, shaking a Dream-Chasing Bell he had just ripped off, and strolled toward him step by step with an air of nonchalance.

Wei Jing said in a panic, "Impossible... How is it possible that you..."

"What is impossible? Why am I not insane, and why am I able to shatter your nightmare?"

Wen Ci tilted his head, sneered, and said dismissively, "What is this supposed to be? I have dwelt in the earthly hell, and I have stayed in that ghost place where every wish is granted. If this were enough to drive me mad, I would have gone mad long before I was in my teens."

"Speaking of which, I suddenly recalled a certain matter..." While Wen Ci was speaking, yellow sand like a chilling venomous snake coiled upward along Wei Jing's limbs, binding him tightly.

"When was the first time you created a Madness Dream Child? Could it not have been on the ninth day of the eleventh month, twenty-four years ago?"

Shock covered Wei Jing's face, and his astonishment confirmed Wen Ci's conjecture.

Wen Ci stepped out from the shadows of the trees, the moonlight falling into his cold eyes like the edge of a blade. He reached out and dug his fingers tightly into Wei Jing's shoulder. "So it turns out that twenty-four years ago, it was you, brat, who disrupted the sea of consciousness of all living beings, causing me to fall into the place where all wishes are granted and be hounded by that old fogey to this very day!"

"You... You are... You are the Master of Dream Ruins?" Wei Jing finally guessed the identity of the newcomer.

"Ha, you beast are rather slow on the uptake."

Wei Jing widened his eyes and cried out in a flurry, "Master Wu! Master Wu, wait! I know where the Origin of All Things is!"

The yellow sand binding him paused for a fraction of a second. Wen Ci frowned and said, word by word, "Ye Minwei?"

"Yes! She is currently trapped in a perilous situation at this very moment. Spare my life, and I will take you to her right now!"

Ever since the Master of Dream Ruins and the Origin of All Things had appeared beneath Mount Chongdan three months ago, the news had rapidly spread across the lakes and seas. By now, everyone knew that the Master of Dream Ruins had not perished, and that he had reconciled with the Origin of All Things. The two of them were joining hands to hunt down nightmare beasts.

Though he did not know why the Origin of All Things had secretly infiltrated the prince's estate alone and parted ways with the Master of Dream Ruins, he figured that right now, the Origin of All Things must be in extreme danger, and the Master of Dream Ruins would surely rush to her rescue. Since he was intimately familiar with the underground palace and Qin Jiaze, perhaps this Master Wu would spare his life for that reason.

Wen Ci looked down at Wei Jing from on high, his expression unfathomable.

"Does she have Azure Crystals on her?" he asked.

"I... Yes, she does."

"I see."

Wei Jing widened his eyes, looking down in disbelief at his own chest, which had been pierced by solidified yellow sand as blood gushed out onto the ground. Wen Ci bent down and muttered indifferently into his ear, "Apologies, but the Origin of All Things and I have broken ties once again. Whether she lives or dies now is of no concern to me."

Wei Jing reached out his hand, attempting to clutch Wen Ci's sleeve, or perhaps to grab the Dream-Chasing Bell in his hand. Ultimately, that hand dropped limply to the ground. With his eyes wide open, he lowered his head and breathed his last.

They say that extreme joy begets sorrow. Just a moment ago, he had believed today was the day his fondest dream would come true and freedom would be regained; in the blink of an eye, today had become his day of death.

With a crook of Wen Ci's finger, Wei Jing's fatal dream wound like a wisp of smoke around his golden ring.

At seventeen, just after becoming a nightmare master, Wei Jing had discovered one day that repeatedly borrowing the same person's nightmare would damage that person's sanity, and he had naturally created his very first mad child.

That child was his seven-year-old biological sister.

At the time, he had not yet obtained the Dream-Chasing Bell. He chose his sister because she was young and trusted him wholeheartedly, making her easier to manufacture and manipulate than anyone else.

Later on, he created countless similar children. In the very last moments before his death, he unexpectedly found himself thinking of his sister.

Wen Ci's five fingers abruptly tightened, and Wei Jing's fatal dream dissipated completely. Wen Ci said coldly, "What is there to think about? A creature worse than pigs and dogs; even a single moment of thought is a filthy, corrupted soul."

The little girl in Wen Ci's arms was still sleeping soundly, untouched by the dazzling array of dramatic twists and turns this night had brought. He cast a downward glance at the plump, tightly-eyed girl, then turned around and strode briskly back the way he came.

He seemed truly entirely incurious about what the Origin of All Things was doing or what had transpired.

Yet his pace gradually slowed, coming to a halt amidst the grass. After standing quietly in the woods for a moment, Wen Ci retrieved a ginger-yellow cloth pouch from his bosom, looping it over his index finger and twirling it twice.

"Though we have parted ways, I ought to return her belongings," Wen Ci said indifferently.

He turned back, walked over to Wei Jing's corpse, and used the toe of his boot to flip up Wei Jing's waist token. "Laiyang Prince's Estate?"

Within the underground palace of the Laiyang Prince's Estate, the radiance of the Yisheng Technique faded. The pointer on the magic artifact transitioned from stillness and began to spin once more. Ye Minwei fell forward with a pale complexion, lowering her head to brace her body with her arms.

The Yisheng Technique was complete. At this very moment, the brains of Ye Minwei and Qin Jiaze had been successfully exchanged. Simultaneously, the Life-Binding Pact took effect from this instant onward: Qin Jiaze was forbidden from harming anyone in Qizhou or within the underground palace, prohibited from killing people to refine Azure Crystals, and required to make all newly devised spiritual vein designs public.

As long as he utilized this brain for even a single day, he was bound to honor this agreement.

Qin Jiaze fell silent for a moment before suddenly bursting into loud laughter, laughing so hard he doubled over, his demeanor resembling that of a madman.

"Hahahaha, I actually obtained it! I actually truly obtained it!"

The ground beneath him instantly rose several feet. The Earth-Controlling Technique summoned books from the underground palace, scattering them into the air like falling snow. The pages danced across the sky, and the earthen platform, acting like a living creature, carried Qin Jiaze through the fluttering sheets of paper as his uproarious laughter echoed endlessly.

"Brilliant, truly brilliant! To remember everything at a single glance, to understand instantly—this is the brain of the Origin of All Things! This is what a genius is!"

"The Origin of All Things, perhaps you have forgotten, but back then when I went beneath Mount Kunwu to seek your guidance, you told me my aptitude was insufficient and forbade me from pursuing the Dao, forcing me to sever that aspiration. But look at you now! The once lofty Origin of All Things, what is left of you today? Your memories have been stolen, your cultivation has been stolen, and now even your genius brain has been stolen! How laughable!" Qin Jiaze was wild with joy, finally venting grievances harbored for years.

"To think you would be stripped of everything by the very thing you created! How utterly laughable, Origin of All Things! Ye Minwei!"

Ye Minwei kept her head lowered throughout. The wound left by the Phoenix Decree on her shoulder blade continued to seep blood, staining her white robes like embroidered clusters of begonia blossoms. She seemed entirely devoid of sorrow; her shoulder blades shifted slightly as she recovered her strength, and she retrieved an Azure Crystal from her bosom, saying calmly, "It seems your eyesight is quite good."

She placed the Azure Crystal into her mouth, and suddenly, a massive, surging crowd of people materialized within the stone chamber. Trees grew wildly once more, and Ye Minwei spun, leaping onto the branches to traverse the falling paper and arrive directly before Qin Jiaze. Those flexible, jointed puppets followed closely behind her.

"Hahahaha, Exalted One, save yourself the trou—" Qin Jiaze said contemptuously.

Before he could finish the phrase "save yourself the wasted effort," a retching sound suddenly rose in Qin Jiaze's throat. He clutched his chest as the overwhelming multitude of people rushed into his newly acquired brain like a roaring mountain torrent, spinning his world into utter vertigo.