M49S Vol 1 Chapter 30. Truth And Falsehood

If Tu Youqiong had another chance, he thought, he would absolutely stay in bed like a good boy and swallow every single complaint, no matter how bitter. Anything would be better than having his Little Martial Uncle fussing over him like this.

This Little Martial Uncle, who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, was someone Tu Youqiong had never seen before. To him, he was a complete stranger, and he looked so young, not at all like the solemn, steady senior figures they were used to calling uncle.

Right now, this Little Martial Uncle was gently stroking his head. His slender fingers slid through Tu Youqiong’s hair and lightly brushed the back of his neck. His gaze was full of affection.

“Youqiong,” he said, “don’t worry. Your youngest junior brother is now Xiao Xiao. He’s already grown up and won’t fight you for affection anymore.”

Tu Youqiong was happy to hear that. But for some reason, the faint smile at the corner of his Little Martial Uncle’s lips gave him a weird, prickling sensation. And that hand brushing past his neck every now and then, felt like it could snap his neck at any moment.

Like he was slaughtering a chicken.

The thought was terrifying. Tu Youqiong gave his head a shake and quickly shoved it out of his mind. What he didn’t know was that Meng Qiqi was simply expressing kindness. Caring for his martial nephews was his duty.

As for why those on the receiving end of that kindness always seemed to feel hunted, Meng Qiqi himself had no explanation.

But Gushan Sword Sect’s former Little Junior Brother was no ordinary junior. He quickly figured out the best way to get along with this Little Martial Uncle.

Spill secrets about Senior Brother.

Like the fact that their senior brother loved eating fish.

For example, Senior Brother had never gotten along with the speckled chicken raised by Third Martial Uncle’s wife. That chicken had been at Gushan for three years and had pecked up three whole pots of his cymbidium orchids. Senior Brother had been furious, but she had no intention of turning it into dinner.

Or the time Senior Brother was practicing swordplay in the Bamboo Sea. The Bamboo Sea lay behind the mountain and connected to the road leading down, so occasionally villagers would wander through. Tu Youqiong and Dai Xiaoshan, those two clowns, once brought along a group of boys and girls to sneak a look at their senior brother’s sword practice, then traded the story to the villagers in exchange for food. They referred to him half-jokingly as “the immortal.” When Senior Brother found out, he was furious. He punished them by making them do farmwork at the foot of the mountain for a month, and forbade them from skipping a single cultivation session.

Meng Qiqi was thoroughly delighted by these stories. On a whim, he tossed Tu Youqiong a pill as a reward. Tu Youqiong was overjoyed and became even more comfortable around his Little Martial Uncle.

But Meng Qiqi couldn’t play favorites, so he brought out a jade bottle and handed one pill to each of them, treating it as a belated meeting gift. Song Ru accepted the bottle and, after thanking him, asked, “Little Martial Uncle, why haven’t Xiao Yu’er and Qing Gu returned yet?”

“Qing Gu is staying over at a friend’s place tonight,” said Meng Qiqi. “As for Xiao Yu’er, your senior brother has already gone to pick him up. No need to worry.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Chen Boyan returned with Xiao Yu’er.

Xiao Yu’er’s single eye settled on Meng Qiqi, quiet and layered with meaning. Meng Qiqi understood at once and made an excuse to take him back to the room.

As soon as the door shut, Xiao Yu’er couldn’t wait another moment. He spilled everything he had seen at the Wang manor. “Master, that Third Elder is hiding something!”

“Drink some water first. Take your time.” Meng Qiqi handed him a cup of tea. Chen Boyan stood right there beside them, a whole grown man, but Meng Qiqi clearly had no intention of pouring a second cup.

Xiao Yu’er drained the entire cup, let out a breath, and said, “The room where Wuyan used to stay has already been searched. It was probably done by someone from the Wang clan. Everything had been put back exactly as it was after the search. Only someone with time and access could pull that off without raising alarm. But the most important thing is this, which I found hidden in the hollow beneath the floorboards.”

As he spoke, Xiao Yu’er pulled something from his robes and handed it to Meng Qiqi. “I’ve seen this type of mechanism before, back when we were outside the pass. It’s not something ordinary people would notice, so I got lucky.”

Meng Qiqi unfolded the item, his brows drawing slightly together. It was a human-skin mask. More precisely, it was a human-skin mask made in the image of Wuyan Daoist.

But that was odd. Why would Wuyan keep a mask of his own face? That wrinkled old face was enough to spoil anyone’s appetite. Meng Qiqi felt queasy just looking at it.

“Master, this is too strange,” Xiao Yu’er said, clearly troubled. “He might not have only one mask. If he had a whole batch of them, and someone put them on to throw us off… wouldn’t that make it nearly impossible to catch him?”

Meng Qiqi mused, “That’s possible. But it would require him to be smart and cautious enough to prepare for something like this in advance. He would’ve had to expect this day might come. Still, don’t forget. There’s an even bigger possibility.”

“This Wuyan is a fake,” Chen Boyan said plainly.

“Exactly,” Meng Qiqi said, pacing the room with his hands behind his back. “If this Wuyan is an impersonator, then everything starts to make sense. Because he’s a fake, he needs a mask like this to fool others. And the identity of the Wang clan’s Third Elder serves as a perfect cover. With that status, he never needed to reveal any of Wuyan’s traits to prove who he was. Because his goal was to make people believe he wasn’t Wuyan.”

With just that bit of prompting, Xiao Yu’er immediately grasped the implications. His young face turned serious. “But that also means, once he takes the mask off, no one will be able to find him.”

Meng Qiqi nodded. “That’s what makes it troublesome. Which is why we have to look even further back.”

“Further back?” Xiao Yu’er looked puzzled.

“If this Wuyan is fake, then where is the real one? Was he replaced before entering the Wang clan, or after? And who is this impostor? We don’t know any of that. The only thing we can be certain of is that whatever he held in his hands, whether it was an object or a secret, has already been taken.

Meng Qiqi looked stern, but his thoughts were exceptionally clear. He turned and dipped a fingertip into his tea, drawing across the table surface as he continued, “At the heart of this matter is a single question. Who is the fake Wuyan? Suppose there was someone, or even a group, who had set their sights on him in advance. They must have captured the real Wuyan to prevent the imposter from being exposed. And whether the swap happened before he entered the Wang manor or after, the fact that the fake remained inside proves one thing: he had intentions toward the Wang clan. For Wuyan to gain a foothold within the clan, there must have been some unspeakable arrangement between them. And for the fake Wuyan to continue staying on under that name, it could only be to keep benefiting from that arrangement.”

“Little Martial Uncle, do you know what kind of secret Wuyan was holding?” Chen Boyan asked.

Meng Qiqi turned his head, raised a brow, and smiled.“I’ve never met Wuyan Daoist in my life. How would I know?”

Chen Boyan’s expression remained calm. “Little Martial Uncle truly doesn’t know?”

Meng Qiqi shook his head. “Whether I know or not is only a matter of time.”

He wiped away the diagram he had drawn on the table, took out a silk handkerchief, and dried his fingers. The moment he tossed the handkerchief aside, a glint of cold light flashed in his eyes.

“Two days from now is the competition. No matter what, Wuyan must appear at the event.”

“But Master… we don’t even know where the real Wuyan is,” Xiao Yu’er said, tilting his head up, confusion flickering in his gaze. To someone as young as he was, this situation seemed hopeless.

Meng Qiqi reached out and ruffled his hair. “Don’t worry, Xiao Yu’er. Whether real or fake doesn’t matter. What everyone cares about is just the face on the outside.”

He immediately wrote a letter and handed it to Chen Boyan. “Trouble you to make one more trip to Jin Man.”

This time, Chen Boyan didn’t ask for any conditions. He took the letter and left.

After he was gone, Xiao Yu’er darted to the door, peered around to both sides like a little fox, then quickly shut the door and slipped back to whisper to Meng Qiqi, “Master, when we left the Wang manor just now, we ran into Senior Sister Xu from Ruizhu. She invited Senior Brother to stay for a meal. And she kept stealing glances at him. Even after we’d walked really far, she was still standing there watching.”

Xiao Yu’er had taken his master’s teachings to heart and kept a close watch on his senior brother, not missing a single detail.

“Good disciple,” Meng Qiqi said, bending down and resting both hands on Xiao Yu’er’s shoulders. His expression was solemn. “Do you remember what expression your senior brother was wearing at the time?”

Xiao Yu’er grew solemn as well. “It was just like yours right now. Senior Sister Xu is always inviting Senior Brother to eat, but I don’t think he’s the type who cares much about food, so there’s no way she could ever lure him away.”

Meng Qiqi couldn’t help but let out a laugh. “Xiao Yu’er, you’re so clever.”

Praised like that, Xiao Yu’er left for bed feeling completely content. But Meng Qiqi had no time to rest. The news Xiao Yu’er brought was too critical. If Jin Man couldn’t manage to capture Wuyan, all of his upcoming plans would have to be revised.

That wouldn’t do.

Late into the night, Meng Qiqi went straight to the sixth floor to find Shen Qingya.

Shen Qingya had been waiting for him. When Meng Qiqi pushed the door open and entered, there was already a game board set on the table, two cups of hot tea ready, just waiting for him to sit down.

The two exchanged a smile, perfectly in sync.

Meng Qiqi took his seat. One sip of hot tea warmed him from the inside out.

He didn’t even need to ask. Shen Qingya began explaining on his own. “Wang Ziqian came during the day. I couldn’t get away. Worse yet, Elder Weng stopped me afterward.”

Meng Qiqi wasn’t surprised. “Your Tianlao Sect has always stayed out of worldly affairs. Helping me this much is already going against your principles.”

Shen Qingya said nothing. He picked up a game piece and set it on the board. The light click echoed faintly, stirring something inside him. After a pause, he let out a quiet sigh.

“To stay out of worldly affairs, the world would have to be at peace first…”

Meng Qiqi chuckled and placed a piece of his own on the board. “You’ve gotten yourself mixed up with me. Where would peace even come from?”

“You,” Shen Qingya said with a helpless smile.

Meng Qiqi smiled. “Just listen to yourself. You sound like you’re raising a son.”

No matter how weighed down Shen Qingya might have been, hearing Meng Qiqi tease like that made it impossible to stay gloomy. He shook his head, gracefully picked up a game piece and asked, “What about Chen Boyan? Has he remembered anything?”

“No. It seems he’s forgotten everything.”

Shen Qingya frowned. The question stirred memories of the past, and a trace of regret surfaced in his voice. “If only I’d sent you two away a little earlier back then, maybe…”

“There’s no such thing as ‘if.’ Not with the state he was in. We couldn’t have left even if we tried. And besides, he was always going to return to the Chen family. Without their secret arts, he wouldn’t have made it through the sword-body awakening.” Meng Qiqi spoke calmly, as if the pain of those years had long since risen and faded away like the steam from his teacup.

Shen Qingya looked at him with warmth in his gaze. “Don’t worry. One day, he’ll remember. I was the one who bore witness for you both back then. I won’t let him go back on his word.”

The quiet comfort of a friend’s steady reassurance always had a way of easing the heart. As Meng Qiqi looked at Shen Qingya, who now seemed even more composed and refined than before, he couldn’t help but think of the days when the three of them had traveled side by side, chasing dreams through the mortal world.

In a flash, so many years had passed.

“Enough. If we must start over, so be it.” Meng Qiqi placed a black piece on the board, the chill in his eyes beginning to gather again. “Something’s gone wrong with Wuyan. We can’t rely on Jin Man alone anymore.”