Chapter 115: I am so tired

"Yu Daoyi, I am now formally inviting you to join the Shadow Sect. Are you willing?" the disheveled man asked with great solemnity.

"Huh? Am I that important? You want me to join you?" Yu Daoyi blinked, puzzled.

"I won't waste my breath on you. Either join, or die. You choose," the disheveled man said dismissively.

"So I wasn't that important after all..." Yu Daoyi muttered, rendered speechless.

"I have taken a fancy to your potential. You can do many things for the Shadow Sect, and I am also very interested in that technique of yours that allows for transformation," the man said calmly.

Instantly, Yu Daoyi stepped back, staring intensely at the man before him. He knew that the tattered scroll hidden within his brow had an extraordinary origin; if others were to find out, the trouble it would bring would surely be immense.

"No need to be so nervous. The Shadow Sect never snatches things from friends," the man said, waving a hand lightly.

"Friends? I don't recall having a friend like you." Cold sweat began to bead on Yu Daoyi's forehead.

"As long as you do not refuse my invitation, then you shall be my friend. Of course, if you refuse..." The man did not finish, his expression one of absolute confidence.

"Heh, I am just a fellow at the fifth stage of Qi Refining. What merit or ability do I have to deserve such interest from you?" Yu Daoyi forced a smile.

"Yu Daoyi, do you know what the Shadow Sect is?" The man grew incredibly excited at this, spreading his arms wide. "Under the heavens, all is but a casting shadow! Wherever a shadow appears, there is the Shadow Sect!"

"Yu Daoyi! We are the messengers of the shadow! The servants of the soul!"

A breeze, carrying a faint scent of blood, drifted in from the hole in the roof, tossing the man’s messy, shoulder-length hair. Beneath that hair was a very ordinary face—gaunt yet clean—which stood in stark contrast to his disheveled and dirty attire.

"The Shadow Sect... I was wondering who you were, but I never expected someone from the Shadow Sect to show up." Lin He, standing to the side, had risen at some point. His look of agony had vanished, replaced by his previous nonchalance.

"Mr. Mo was right after all. Baili Mo really did obtain that thing, and you rats from the underground have actually dared to emerge."

Lin He walked slowly to Yu Daoyi’s side, tilting his head to look at the Shadow Sect member. His words were full of disdain, though Yu Daoyi could sense a hint of wariness in the way Lin He looked at him.

"Hmm~ Gluttony of the Black Death Book, is it? That Mr. Mo truly has taken in someone decent. If you could ever break away from the Xiaoyue Pavilion and leave your Mr. Mo, the doors of the Shadow Sect will always be open to you," the man said with a smile.

"First, I have never been loyal to any Xiaoyue Pavilion; I am loyal only to Mr. Mo."

"Second, I have had enough of the darkness in the sewers. I will not be a rat again."

"Third, which member's avatar are you?"

"That Mr. Mo of yours really trusts you, telling you everything," the Shadow Sect member remarked, looking somewhat surprised.

"There are only seven people in the Shadow Sect—oh, wait, it should be only six now. Let me guess who you are. Zi Qi or Qing Wu?" Lin He mocked coldly.

"Junior! What right do you have to speak to me like that!" The man seemed to have been struck at a sore spot, suddenly flying into a rage.

"I may address you as a senior, but that is only out of respect for Mr. Mo. Here, you are nothing more than a Qi Refining stage avatar! What do I have to fear from you!" Lin He’s voice turned chillingly cold.

"He is nothing but a traitor! He defied the oath of the Shadow Sect!"

"I only know that he is who he is! He is simply Mr. Mo!"

"That Mo Lan really did take in a good guard dog."

"You are not worthy of speaking Mr. Mo's name!"

"Enough! Go back and tell him! The goal of the Shadow Sect will be completed by the six of us! That lord shall be resurrected by the six of us! And once that lord is revived, he can wait to pay for his crimes!"

With that, the man turned and strolled toward the back of the wooden shack. A rumbling sound echoed as the rock wall behind the shack slowly opened to both sides, with small pebbles cascading down to reveal yet another passageway inside.

"Didn't they say 'no nesting dolls'? Why is this path one after another..." Yu Daoyi grumbled, feeling speechless at the sight.

"Yu Daoyi! My offer still stands! Think it over carefully!" The man paused at the entrance of the passage, turned to shout at Yu Daoyi, and then vanished into the tunnel.

For a long time, Yu Daoyi and Lin He stood there in silence.

"Curious?" Lin He eventually broke the quiet.

"Where is my brother?" Yu Daoyi asked, ignoring the question. It was the one thing he desperately needed to know. After losing his composure, many events had become a blur, and he had no idea what had happened to Yu Yunfan.

"Heh, in comparison, is your brother still the most important thing?" Lin He smiled lightly.

"Lin He, don't try to fob me off. I appeared here with you, and I can interpret that as you saving me, but that doesn't mean you are a friend rather than a foe!" Seeing Lin He’s casual smile, a surge of anger rose in Yu Daoyi’s chest.

"Truly, how heartbreaking." Lin He shook his head helplessly, as if deeply saddened, but upon seeing Yu Daoyi’s icy glare, he could only continue: "I made a deal with him."

"Speak," Yu Daoyi’s tone grew colder.

"He stayed behind to block the Black Tortoise Flame Spirit, and I promised to save you."

Hearing this, Yu Daoyi clenched his fists, as if struggling to suppress something.

"You—you had a way! You could have saved both of us! Couldn't you!" Yu Daoyi shouted at Lin He, as if venting his despair.

"Yu Daoyi, do not project your expectations onto me. I am also just a Qi Refining cultivator," Lin He replied, his smile fading into a cold, expressionless mask.

"I'm going to find him!" Yu Daoyi turned to leave.

"Yu Daoyi, I can sense that your body and your Qi are both exhausted. What will you use to save your brother? You are nothing but a burden."

Lin He frowned and added, "Yu Yunfan risked everything just to save you, and now you want to go and throw your life away?"

At these words, Yu Daoyi’s footsteps came to an abrupt halt.

"Damn it!" Yu Daoyi slammed his hand into the ground, punching again and again, until the ground began to soak up his blood.

Lin He simply watched him, doing nothing.

"Yu Daoyi!" A familiar voice came from the passageway they had arrived through.

Yu Daoyi stopped hammering the ground but kept his head bowed, his hair obscuring his face.

"Sister Xia Rong, my... my brother, how is he?" Still bowing his head, Yu Daoyi saw a pair of white boots appear before him.

"You really did know who I was all along," Xia Rong said, looking at Yu Daoyi with complex eyes.

"I! My brother! How is he!" Suddenly, Yu Daoyi jerked his head up and roared at Xia Rong.

"I don't know," Xia Rong felt a pang of pity for the boy before her. "However, he did say... he would not die."

"Ha, hahahaha!" Yu Daoyi began to laugh, laughing until tears fell. He calmed down, his voice filled with desolation: "In the end, I achieved nothing. I am just a waste. After all that, I still had to rely on my brother to save his spineless older brother."

"Yu Daoyi! Look at what you've become!" Xia Rong gritted her teeth, unable to bear it, and shouted at him.

"What I've become? You tell me, what have I become?"

"Because of me, Song Qiuling and Song Cheng are trapped in the formation, their lives uncertain."

"Because of me, Uncle Song and Brother Eleven are trapped behind the mountain barrier, their lives uncertain."

"And now, because of me, my brother is fighting that Black Tortoise Flame Spirit, his life uncertain."

"Xia Rong, Sister Xia Rong, I am so tired. It is all my fault. I know it. I knew from the start that this trip to the back mountain would not be peaceful."

"But I kept silent. I was arrogant, thinking that with my little cleverness, I could turn every disaster into a blessing."

"In the end, it has turned into this. Why! Why is this happening! Why am I the only one still alive!"

"Ah! My friends! My family! The people I care about! I am the only one left! And I can do nothing! Why am I so weak!"

Yu Daoyi wept, curling up on the ground and sobbing loudly, like a child—a weak, helpless child.

His face was covered in tear tracks. That child who had entered the back mountain laughing and full of confidence was now truly left alone.

He was, after all, only a twelve-year-old boy. His shoulders were still tender, too tender to bear this weight.

As long as one is alive, sorrows will only continue to pile up.

As long as one remains weak, the things lost will only continue to increase.