They strolled side by side, taking in the beauty of the garden. On either side of the walkway were tall hedges, intermittently broken up by towering willow trees. The sound of running water and occasional splashing could be heard faintly in the distance too, there was no doubt a pond nearby.

A slight breeze rolled in as they walked, causing their clothes and hair to flutter. The chiming of wind bells rang out with each of their steps. At this moment, Wuxian suddenly felt a slight surge of artistic inspiration from within.

He stopped walking, eyes half-shut as he felt the breeze, amidst the rushing of cool wind against his body and the sound of fluttering fabrics.

The green-haired man stopped cooperatively, watching on quietly. He decided to enjoy the moment too. Perhaps he was also somewhat intoxicated.

Time passed and they continued standing there, swaying with the breeze like chives in the wind. In the sky above, the moon shone down upon them.

The green-haired man opened his eyes, wishing to continue walking, only to find that Wuxian was still standing there, eyes shut.

He shrugged slightly, continuing to enjoy the surroundings.

Slowly, the wind died down. The rustling of leaves halted as abruptly as they began and the bells stopped chiming.

The green-haired man could hear a new sound now, quieter, more regular and very close by. He turned to look at Wuxian again, only to find that the latter not only had his eyes shut, but was also leaning against the hedge, snoring as he did so.

His cheek twitched, but he couldn't help himself from chuckling.

And once the gates were open, there was nothing stopping the water from flooding out. He let out a hearty laugh, completely at odds to his usual gentle voice.

Wuxian was awoken by the green-haired man's guffawing, blinking a few times to regain his wits.

After half a second of ascertaining the situation, he couldn't help but feel embarrassed. At the same time, he subconsciously let down his guard. After all, he truly had been completely at the green-haired man's mercy just then, but here he was, alive and well.

Wuxian cupped his hands, "Apologies."

The green-haired man tilted his head, indicating that it was not an issue.

Suddenly, Wuxian realised that he did not know the other party's name.

"I have only just noticed that we have not yet had a formal introduction. Allow me to introduce myself,"

The green-haired man shook his head, placing a finger over his lips.

"No need. Let chance encounters remain just that. Only when one encounters another by chance three times will it become fated. When a coincidence is no longer a coincidence, it is the will of Heaven."

'How peculiar.'

In the end, Wuxian obliged, no longer attempting to share his name.

'I've shared enough information about myself anyway. From now onwards… no, from tomorrow onwards, I will no longer make any of these mistakes again.' He declared internally.

The green-haired man seemed to be waiting for Wuxian to finish sorting his inner thoughts out before speaking.

"Well then, shall we continue?"

"Please."

The accompanying hedges slowly shortened down and they soon made their way into a dimly-lit garden. In the centre was a wide circular pond, its surface almost completely still, save for the few leaves here and there that drifted upon it.

They sat down on a few large but smooth boulders in the surrounding area, enjoying the view.

"I should say this now before it is too late." The green-haired man suddenly said softly.

"What's the matter?" Wuxian asked, his voice lowered to match the green-haired man's pitch.

"For the rest of the time we spend in each other's presence tonight, I think it would be best if you did not reveal any more personal information about yourself or the people around you."

Due to the influence of alcohol, Wuxian was more suggestible than usual. Besides, not revealing any more information than he already had was in his best interest.

"It's interesting to hear that come from a stranger. Why so, might I ask?" He replied curiously.

The green-haired man stared into the pitch-black water before them. Within his vibrant green eyes was the inverted image of the moon, which itself was reflected over the surface of the pond.

"What do you think of the Dao?"

Slightly bewildered, Wuxian blinked twice in response.

"What do you mean?"

Letting out a breath of misty air, the green-haired man's gaze shifted from the water to the moon itself, unreadable thoughts within.

"What does the Dao mean to you? Mn, perhaps that is not the best question to ask to one so new to immortal affairs. What do you think of Heaven's will?"

Alarm bells were ringing within Wuxian's mind, but he still remained calm. The other party had done no harm, nor did they seem to intend to. And if the green-haired man was a more experienced cultivator, there was much he would be able to learn from their conversations.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

The green-haired man spoke again, "Have you ever seen Heaven's will move before? Answer with yes or no. Ah, by this I mean, has there ever been a time in your life when the fate of something or someone was in the end, determined by chance, by a coin flip?"

Wuxian began reminiscing, his eyes clouding over briefly.

"Yes."

The green-haired man nodded, a smile playing across his lips.

"Assuming you've witnessed Heaven's will move more than once, let me ask you another question. When it moved, did you or another gain or lose? When their fate was to be determined by luck, did they succeed or did they fail?"

Wuxian felt uncertain about the man's desired answer, eventually deciding to just speak what he thought.

"A bit of both. But I feel like the losses outweigh the gains."

The green-haired man was slightly surprised, his eyebrows raised slightly.

"Oh? How so?"

Wuxian's expression was neutral, but as he stared into the darkness, a tinge of pain could be seen within.

"Because many of the things lost cannot be regained."

The green-haired man let out a sigh, placing one palm in front of his chest.

"Amitabha."

Wuxian looked at him peculiarly.

"They let monks wear long hair like that?"

"Nope. I just thought that it fit the moment."

They both grinned, but neither laughed, still caught up in memories of the past. Tranquillity was restored to the garden, a new breeze picking up and gently pushing more leaves into the pond.

Looking closely, Wuxian felt that he could see the faces of Mian Ji and Xiao Chong, even Sun Tao and Wu Wen within the shadowy waters. They wore happy smiles at first, but their expressions quickly changed into chilling ones that sent shivers down his spine.

"I will have to make a decision in the future." The green-haired man said suddenly.

Broken from his trance, Wuxian felt cold sweat run down his back.

"About what?" He asked subconsciously, his mind still enraptured by what he'd just seen.

The man sighed, shifting his buttocks slightly, shifting one leg under the other. He produced a cup of tea from within his long sleeve, inhaling the rising steam.

"It is hard for me to explain without telling you about my backstory, so I shan't do so. I suppose all I have to say is that… right now, I wish for Heaven's will to be merciful. What you said previously about loss and gain is exactly right."

He changed positions, kneeling under the moon. His hands were wrapped around the tea cup, raised above his head.

"Heaven gives and takes impartially, but what it gives can often be obtained naturally in time, while what it takes often cannot be regained throughout one's entire lifetime. I wish for Heaven's will to break its impartiality just once, for it to see the suffering it causes and for it to take mercy."

After he finished speaking, his demeanour changed abruptly. Though nothing had changed externally, Wuxian felt that the person beside him had become someone else.

But that was very brief, and the feeling of unease vanished as quickly as it came.

The green-haired man turned to Wuxian, slightly out of breath. His eyes were slightly red, his hands shaky.

"The greatest mercy Heaven's will bestows upon the people of the realm is life. You and I and the rest of the people living in this world are alive because of its tolerance."

Wuxian was confused by the green-haired man's ranting, backing up a little as the man spoke.

The man sighed again, stowing away his cup of tea. He cupped his hands in front of him.

"It has been a pleasant chat. I need to go now. We will meet again if fate and the will of Heaven allows it."

Wuxian wasn't entirely sure what was going on- the green-haired man seemed to be going crazy. He decided not to agitate him too much in case something went wrong.

"Three chance meetings, right? I hope to see you again." He said, returning the salute.

The green-haired man nodded. He then stood up, green mist pouring out from beneath his robes. Once he was fully enveloped, the cloud lifted off into the sky and vanished in the blink of an eye.

Wuxian stood on the boulder, subconsciously sighing in relief. After a few more moments, confirming that the man had truly left, he patted himself down and hopped down onto the ground.

'I suppose I should probably find Jiang Manyou and Wan Qiushou and bring them back. Although, maybe Jiang Manyou will be staying the night…'

———

In the end, Jiang Manyou hadn't stayed the night. According to him, miss Lian wasn't feeling too well, though Wuxian wasn't certain whether that was the real reason or not…

They all stayed in the same quarters, so they only parted ways once they entered their rooms.

Dressing down a little, Wuxian sat on the foot of his bed. His intoxicated mind was still processing the events that had transpired just a few hours prior.

There were two main points that concerned him the most.

The first was Wan Qiushou's background. The second was the green-haired man.

'Wan Qiushou described things briefly and while very drunk, so it's possible that he might have misspoke or misremembered things. It's also none of my business to begin with, but it's always useful to know more than less.

Though chief Li is neither a friend nor foe, from the actions he's taken against me in the dark, it's likely he will be one of the first to prevent me from leaving the city. His exact motive is unclear- I'm a nobody and I'm weak. There's nothing notable about me aside from peculiarities in language and whatnot, but that shouldn't be enough to warrant such harsh surveillance from him of all people.

According to Wan Qiushou's story, chief Li showed up after most of the townsfolk had died, confronting the demonic lone cultivator amidst the ruins. As the chief of the Nightwatch, he doesn't have jurisdiction over the settlements surrounding Cang'An. And anyway, it's likely he wasn't affiliated with the Nightwatch at the time either, since he'd only recently been instated as chief.

Wait, that's not right. Perhaps he had worked his way up the hierarchy?

Chief Li's background is mysterious and his strength is unfathomable. His motives are unknown as well. There are two main reasons I can think of for him showing up at Wan Qiushou's town; one, he was specifically hunting the lone cultivator, two, he heard the commotion and decided to give in to his curiosity.

I cannot be certain about the second possibility. I do not know him very well, I do not know whether he's the type of person willing to risk his life to save some random peasants when it's not in his job description.

As for the first possibility… he himself mentioned that lone cultivators get hunted down for wealth and gain. Assuming the worst, he used the village peoples as bait, perhaps to discern information about the lone cultivator's abilities, or to waste his energy. Assuming the best, he rushed to the scene as quickly as possible and fought tooth and claw to save the remaining villagers.

And that begs another question; why was the lone cultivator going around and slaughtering defenceless civilians? Was he the hunter, trying to lure chief Li out by killing innocents? Perhaps he was progressing through some sort of demonic technique, or maybe he had gone mad?'

Wuxian placed the Northern Dark Edge down, looking vacantly at its extravagant and intricate patterns as he pondered.

'What about the green-haired stranger? He kept on talking about chance, fate and Heaven's will, yet he seemed to have deliberately sought me out. He deliberately moved to earn my trust, mentioning how he had not taken action against me and therefore could not be a danger to me… The man who claims to be good and holy cannot be trusted, for he shows this through actions, not mere words.'

'Like chief Li, I do not know the green-haired man's motive. He found a random stranger at a brothel and decided to lecture me about Heaven's will. That is not the behaviour of an ordinary person. This is reinforced by his green-cloud movement technique- he is undoubtedly a cultivator. But what did he mean by wishing for Heaven to be merciful?'

Wuxian shook his head slowly.

'This matter is too strange. Though I had bid him farewell, saying that I hoped to see him again, it is probably better for my health if I do not.'

Placing the treasure weapon down against the wall, Wuxian stretched slightly. As he lay back onto the bed, he thought of something.

'Do cultivators get hangovers?'