Chapter 036: The Flute Immortal Killed the Wine Immortal

After Song Ye had cleared away the splinters and debris before the tea stall with his shovel, he began gathering the larger chunks of wood and tossing them into a pile. As he worked, he felt a tap on his waist. Turning around, he was surprised to find the little girl standing behind him. There were still three candied fruits left on her skewer. A skewer held six sweets, and now she offered half of it to Song Ye. Perhaps her mother had taught her well, instilling in her the virtue of sharing. But Song Ye shook his head and replied gently, “I don’t like these candied fruits, you needn’t save them for me. Finish them yourself.”

Yet the girl’s hand remained extended, her wide eyes fixed intently on him, her chubby cheeks slightly puffed. Song Ye stroked her head and said, “Good girl, you eat the candied fruits yourself. I don’t care for them.” Still, she held the skewer aloft. Was she deaf? Song Ye wondered.

“She isn’t deaf, but she’s mute, and rather stubborn as well,” Qin Xuanxi said, appearing at the tea stall’s entrance. “I think you’d best take the candied fruits she’s offering, or she’ll keep holding them out like that.”

Such an adorable child, and yet mute? Song Ye felt a pang of pity and, listening to Qin Xuanxi’s advice, accepted the half-skewer, thanking the girl. Though he didn’t like candied fruits, since she had given them to him, he held the skewer in his mouth and continued to clear away the larger blocks of wood.

The girl followed behind Song Ye, trying to emulate him by picking up wood from the ground. One large piece was taller than she was; even on tiptoe, she could not lift it, so she abandoned it for a smaller block, which she carried to the designated pile, closely trailing Song Ye.

He hadn’t expected that accepting half a skewer of candied fruits would earn him a free little helper. But after hauling a few small pieces of wood, she seemed to have exhausted her strength. She plopped down on the earth, like a tiny overseer, watching Song Ye work.

Qin Xuanxi, who had been observing from the tea stall doorway, hadn’t anticipated that the girl and Song Ye would get along so well, nor that the child would be so fond of him. She began to reconsider Su Yan’s future. Perhaps she really could leave the girl here with Song Ye; it seemed to be the child’s own choice.

From a distance, watching the two figures—one tall, one small—Qin Xuanxi suddenly felt that raising children like ordinary people was a beautiful thing. This was the first time such a notion had occurred to her, but she immediately warned herself that such thoughts were dangerous, liable to disturb her spiritual discipline. Her relationship with Song Ye was nothing but a passing act, nothing to count upon. Besides, the murderer of her master, the Wine Immortal, had yet to be found. She would not let herself be lost in illusory emotion.

...

The cleansing and rebuilding of the village would not be accomplished in a day. After some time, Song Ye decided to rest—not because he was tired himself, but for fear that the three-year-old ‘helper’ trailing after him might be worn out.

He led Su Yan back inside the tea stall, sat her in a chair, and poured her a cup of tea. Duan Ling, standing nearby, asked Song Ye, “Whose child is she to you?”

Song Ye glanced at Qin Xuanxi, then replied to Duan Ling, “She’s from the house next door.”

“The house next door?” Duan Ling said in surprise. “You still have neighbors?”

Song Ye smiled, unwilling to explain further.

Su Yan cradled the tea bowl in both hands, struggling to sip from it. At that moment, Song Ye noticed a pocket sewn into her sleeve, containing something. He guessed that whatever was inside might help identify the girl. He gently lifted her right hand and removed the contents.

From the sleeve pocket he withdrew a small cloth pouch. Inside was a bone whistle and a portrait. Qin Xuanxi recognized the bone whistle as Su Nian’s magical artifact, the ‘Cloud Gauze Bone Whistle,’ likely left as a keepsake for his daughter. Song Ye examined the whistle briefly, then placed it back in the pouch and unfolded the portrait. It depicted a family of three.

The girl in the center looked exactly like the child before Song Ye; the man and woman beside her were presumably her parents. But with only the portrait, Song Ye had no idea where to seek out the girl’s family, and he couldn’t venture beyond the village to help her search. There was another possibility: her parents had perished, and she had been abandoned here.

Song Ye placed everything back in the pouch and returned it to the girl’s sleeve. These items were likely the most precious things in her world.

Just then, Qin Xuanxi received a message from beyond the heavens: “Sect Leader, traces of the Flute Immortal Zhong Lei have been found in the Nether Domain!”

At the news, Qin Xuanxi’s pupils widened suddenly. Zhong Lei, the Flute Immortal, was her master the Wine Immortal Cheng Wanting’s closest friend. After Cheng Wanting’s body was discovered on Wuyi Ice Mountain, many believed Zhong Lei must know something about the circumstances of her murder, Qin Xuanxi among them.

But strangely, after Cheng Wanting’s corpse was found, Zhong Lei vanished as if swallowed by the earth. Many searched for Zhong Lei, believing that finding him would reveal the truth behind the Wine Immortal’s death.

The most determined among them was Sun Zhengxi, the Venerable Immortal of Purple Sun, who, as the discoverer of Cheng Wanting’s body, was once considered the prime suspect. To prove his innocence, Sun Zhengxi spared no effort in searching for Zhong Lei.

Three hundred years passed, yet no one found Zhong Lei, and suspicions grew that he had perished alongside Cheng Wanting, his body hidden somewhere on the continent. Thus arose the saying: “No one left who knows wine, nor any who plays the flute.”

Another popular theory was that the Flute Immortal killed the Wine Immortal, and after her body was found, he deliberately went into hiding. With time, more came to believe this.

Yet whether the Flute Immortal murdered the Wine Immortal or both were victims together, the mystery remains unsolved to this day.