251: Heretic Solution

Heretic Solution

I did end up returning to the cabin with him, but not just because I couldn't bear the thought of leaving him for one night. For the past couple of days, I had started to sense that something was troubling him, and it wasn't just about the mystery of the sword spirit. Sometimes he would pause in his reading and stare blankly into the distance, as if lost in some memories of the past. Sometimes he would look at me, and that wistful pain I hadn't seen for a while would flash across his eyes before he quickly hid it. Most of the time, however, he would simply bury himself in two particular volumes of those books in that foreign language, where one of them was frequently turned to the page of that purging symbol.2

He didn't tell me much about his findings though, and I waited. The night drew on as the candles burned lower, and when the hours became too late for my eyes to stay open, he urged me to go to bed without him. I climbed reluctantly under the blankets, slowly dozing off to the sound of turning pages and crackling flames. When I woke up again, the candles had been blown out, and the hazy shadow of his figure looming over the desk was gone.

"Bai Ye?" I called softly, and when no one replied, I realized that he must have left for a stroll. This wasn't quite like him. Picking up my thick overcoat, I got out of bed a little worriedly and slipped out of the cabin door.

The milky white of early dawn had just started to tint the eastern sky. It was the coldest hour of the day, and despite the end of winter slowly giving way to spring, I still shivered under my bundles of layers. When I finally found Bai Ye at the cliff overlooking East Village, I could only imagine that he must have turned into nearly an icicle.

Quietly, I padded over to his perch. "Did you not sleep at all?" I asked and wrapped his hands in mine. It was as cold as I expected, and I pushed a little spiritual power into him to help him warm up, swallowing the question of why he hadn't done that sooner himself.

"Just finished reading," he smiled. "I needed some fresh air."

I looked up at him. Those beautiful, dark pupils looked back at me, with more complex emotions in them than I wished to see. Was this because of the books? Did he finally come across something … that wasn't the perfect solution we had hoped for?

"What's troubling you?" I asked softly. It was a question that I couldn't avoid any longer.

His hand was becoming warmer by the moment, and he pulled them back slightly, rubbing his thumb over my knuckles. "I might have found something," he said, "a way to … fully reawaken the power of Twin Stars."

I caught my breath. "Enough to allow us to invoke that purging symbol?" My voice trembled, and it wasn't from the cold. He had told me before that it'd be difficult to reach the full potential of that purging ritual, since Twin Stars was no longer at its prime after losing its sword spirit. But if there was a way to fully reawaken the demonic swords …

"Before I tell you more, Qing-er, will you promise me something?" His voice was quiet but firm. "I know how much you want to save those trapped souls and defeat this new sword spirit, but risking yourself without a careful plan won't get us any closer to our goals. No matter what you decide to do involving Twin Stars … I need you to promise that you won't do it without telling me everything about it first."

The graveness in his tone alerted me. What exactly was this solution that he found? "I promise," I said solemnly. "You are keeping your words to not hide any more secrets from me, and I will do the same. I won't try to sacrifice myself to save you, because I know how terrible the person being saved would feel."

He chuckled at the inadvertent sarcasm in my words. "Fair enough." He pulled his hands away from mine and held my shoulders instead. "I've been reading about your affinity to the other sword spirit's power, and I've come to realize … that this affinity would allow you to do much more than modifying her spells."

I cocked my head, not expecting this particular subject to be the one that he spent most of his time on. "Such as?" I asked.

"Such as … Consuming her soul."

He raised a hand to silence the questions that almost flooded out of me on instinct. "A sword spirit can only be killed by their own sword," he continued. "In her case, if she dies at the blades of Twin Stars, her soul would be absorbed and captured by the swords … just like what happened to you in your previous life. But because of your affinity to her power, and because of your control over Twin Stars, there is a way to absorb her soul into YOU, instead of the demonic swords. With the proper methods, if you merge her spiritual power with your own … You'll be able to regain the full power as a sword spirit, and you'll be able to fully reawaken Twin Stars with that strength."

I stared at him, dazed. "You are saying … that I can consume her life and combine our power together to retrieve my strength?" I took a deep breath, trying to let the information sink in. The heresy of this approach shocked me, along with way too many risks. What if her soul was already corrupted? What if the reconnection to Twin Stars would cause me to lose control just like before? What if …

"Qing-er." The hands over my shoulders squeezed gently. "Remember that I'm only telling you this because you deserve to know what I know, not because I want you to follow down that path." He pressed a cold kiss onto my forehead. "Not in a thousand lifetimes would I want to see you caught in such a situation again."

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