Chapter 313: The Old Accounts Awaiting Continuation

“Because these hands once pressed against the master ledger.”

Shen Yanshan lowered his head and looked at the white gloves.

“Han Shoumo erased names, while Shen Yanshan guarded the register. The two names did the same thing.”

“I erased the people who should not have existed in the master register, then hid the names I erased.”

“Later, I discovered that hiding them was no different from swallowing them.”

“So I wanted to find a nameless child and have her remember everyone in their place.”

Xu Erxiao said furiously:

“She is only three years old!”

“She does not understand those rotten accounts of yours!”

“Precisely because she does not understand, she will not be controlled by old names.”

Lu Yuan stared at the red cord around the child’s wrist.

“You want her to become someone without an old name, without a family, and without prejudice.”

“You want her to bear every fragmented name from Thirty-Six Villages, North Ridge, and the Relocation Headquarters.”

“And then?”

Shen Yanshan did not answer.

Wang Cheng’an looked toward the stone seal.

“She cannot bear it.”

“Once the Total Name Well opens, every fragmented name will fall into her.”

“She will become a walking well.”

Shen Yanshan said:

“At least she will not forget.”

“People are not born into this world so they can remember things for others.”

Song Qinghe raised the lamp and stepped forward.

“She does not even have her own name.”

“What gives you the right to make her remember everyone else first?”

The girl in Shen Yanshan’s arms suddenly raised her head.

She looked at the green lamp and said in a soft voice:

“I have a name.”

Shen Yanshan’s fingers tightened slightly.

“You do not.”

“I do.”

The girl said:

“Someone called me by one before.”

“Who?”

“My mother.”

“What did she call you?”

The girl shook her head.

“I do not remember.”

Shen Yanshan said:

“If you do not remember it, then it is the same as not having one.”

Lu Yuan looked at him.

“You are starting again.”

“Treating what cannot be remembered as nonexistent, treating what is unknown as nameless, and treating anything without a witness as something that can be made public property.”

“You claim to dismantle the old rules, but you are still using them with your own hands.”

Shen Yanshan raised one white-gloved hand.

The snow atop Old Dragon’s Back suddenly rolled apart in two directions.

The black stone seal released a deep hum, and all thirty-six red cords pulled taut at once. From the thirty-six wells beneath the mountain came the sound of water, as though countless people were inhaling at the same time.

Xu Erxiao drew his sword and charged up the pavilion steps.

“Give the child to me first!”

A red cord sprang from the ground, wrapped around his ankle, and dragged him hard to the ground.

Lin Zhaoxuan’s ink line shot out and coiled around the red cord.

Zhou Heng struck three copper coins against it in succession, but the red cord only broke in two places. The rest continued writhing toward Xu Erxiao like living snakes.

“These cords are connected to the old registers of Thirty-Six Villages!” Wang Cheng’an shouted. “We cannot cut them by force. If we sever one, the names of an entire village will be torn into chaos!”

Lu Yuan looked at the black stone seal.

“Shen Yanshan, by linking the child to Thirty-Six Villages, you are turning her into a new Total Name.”

“If she does not bear them, the old names of Thirty-Six Villages will gather back into the master well.”

“Then separate them.”

“They cannot be separated.”

“Why?”

“Because people are only willing to remember complete names.”

Shen Yanshan looked toward the mountain below.

“No surname, no household registration, and no destination means no one is willing to spend the effort investigating them.”

“So I gathered them together.”

“I made it possible for everyone who passed the well mouth to hear them.”

Lu Yuan said:

“You still do not understand.”

“People are not worth remembering only because they are complete.”

“Fragmented names, mistaken names, and names without destinations should all be left behind separately.”

“On the surface, gathering them together seems to make people remember them. In reality, it makes one child suffer for everyone.”

Shen Yanshan’s gaze darkened.

“That sounds easy when you say it.”

“You are dismantling the altar today, but tomorrow you will have to face the disputes of Thirty-Six Villages.”

“Ma Family Gully will ask who will compensate them for the fields that were confiscated.”

“Little Stone Village will ask who will acknowledge Xu Liushi’s maiden name.”

“White Wolf Gully will ask which household the twelve children truly belong to.”

“Green Pine Temple will ask whether disciples who were separated from the sect still count as members of the Daoist methods.”

“Can you answer them?”

“No.”

“Then what gives you the right to destroy the only thing I can maintain?”

Lu Yuan did not retreat.

“Because one person cannot write the answer for everyone.”

“You do not want them to argue because you are afraid they will not reach a result.”

“But if they do not argue, the result will forever be decided by you alone.”

The girl in Shen Yanshan’s arms suddenly coughed.

The red cord around her wrist had cut into her skin, and a trace of blood seeped out.

Song Qinghe saw it and immediately carried the lamp up the steps.

Shen Yanshan raised his hand to stop her.

“Do not come closer.”

“She is already hurt.”

“The Total Name Well is about to open.”

“If you do not loosen the cord, she will either become the Total Name or die here.”

Shen Yanshan lowered his head and looked at the girl.

Her face was pale, yet her fingers were still wrapped tightly around a piece of wood.

There was no name on the wooden piece, only an unfinished circle.

Lu Yuan saw the circle and suddenly remembered the Gap Gate tablet left behind by Self-Guarding.

“Did she carve that herself?”

Shen Yanshan did not answer.

The girl said softly:

“I want to carve a gate.”

“Why?”

“Because Mister Han said there are many people behind the gate.”

“I want to let them out.”

“Who do you want to let out?”

“I do not know.”

“Then why open it?”

The girl looked at the thirty-six red cords.

“They are all shouting.”

“What are they shouting?”

“Their own names.”

Shen Yanshan’s palm began to tremble.

The child was not bearing every name.

She had merely been forced to stand at the center of every voice.

She could hear them, but she could not distinguish which one was her own.

Lu Yuan said:

“Put her down.”

Shen Yanshan did not move.

“You are afraid that once she touches the ground, no one will guard this well for you.”

“I am afraid that no one will want her after she touches the ground.”

“The children of White Wolf Gully will want her.”

Xu Erxiao said this as he cut through the red cord around his foot and forcibly climbed back up.

“There are twelve children where we come from. One more is not too many.”

Shen Yanshan looked at him.

“You do not even have a stable destination of your own.”

“Then we will find one together.”

“You have no household registration.”

“We can apply for one again.”

“You have no land.”

“We can clear wasteland.”

“You have no guarantor.”

“Han Qiusheng can testify, and Brother Lu and the others can too.”

Xu Erxiao gritted his teeth and said:

“I am not willing to raise her because I have any of those things.”

“It is because she is a child.”

“A child should not have to ask first whether she is worthy of being wanted.”

Han Qiusheng’s voice came from the mountain path below:

“He is right.”

Everyone turned around.

Han Qiusheng had arrived at Old Dragon’s Back with Amei and several other children. Missing-Rim Liu followed behind them, holding the fragmented-name register in her arms, her body covered in snow.

Han Qiusheng drove a wooden tablet into the snow.

“Temporary Residence Tablet of White Wolf Gully.”

“The tablet already bears the names of twelve children.”

“Now we are adding one more.”

Amei walked to the front of the mountain path and called toward the girl in the pavilion:

“Come down.”

The girl looked at her.

“I do not have a name.”

“Then choose one yourself.”

“What if I choose the wrong one?”

“Change it later.”

“What if they refuse to let me change it?”

Amei thought for a moment, then shook her head.

“If they dare refuse, I will beat them up.”

Xu Erxiao immediately asked:

“Who taught you to say that?”

“You did.”

Amei answered with complete naturalness.

The little girl lowered her head and looked at the wooden piece in her hand.

“I want to be called Little Round.”

Amei asked:

“Why?”

“I can only draw circles.”

“Then you will be called Little Round.”

Shen Yanshan closed his eyes.

The thirty-six red cords suddenly tightened at the same time.

Little Round doubled over in pain.

“She cannot choose her own name,” Shen Yanshan said in a low voice. “The Total Name Well does not recognize temporary names.”

Lu Yuan said:

“Then make the well learn to recognize it.”

He handed the Person as Witness register to Wang Cheng’an and walked up the pavilion steps.

Shen Yanshan raised his hand. The black stone seal in his palm pointed directly at him.

“If you take another step, the seal will pull your name out as well.”

“And afterward?”

“Your origin, your lineage, the Herb Shop, and the old road will all become fragmented names in the master well.”

“Perfect.”

Shen Yanshan stared at him.

Lu Yuan said:

“There are many unresolved matters surrounding me.”

“My master once participated in the master altar. The Herb Shop once saved people, and it may also have harmed people.”

“My name should not become clean merely because of those things.”

“If you pull them all out together, you will save me the trouble of searching for them.”

“But you will lose yourself.”

“I will write myself back.”

Lu Yuan spread a blank sheet of paper across the stone floor of the pavilion.

“Lu Yuan.”

“Apprentice of the Herb Shop.”

“Master, Gu Changgeng.”

“Shop lost within the pass.”

“Now wandering freely.”

“Everything else, pending investigation.”

He pressed the paper against the black stone seal.

The seal immediately spat out a beam of black light that shot straight toward his brow.

Song Qinghe shone the lamp over, and green flames shielded Lu Yuan.

Lin Zhaoxuan, Zhou Heng, and Wang Cheng’an simultaneously pressed their counting beads against the four corners of the stone pavilion.

Xu Erxiao rushed in front of Shen Yanshan and held his short sword between him and Little Round.

“If you still refuse to let go, I will chop off those white gloves first.”

Shen Yanshan looked at the name written on Lu Yuan’s paper.

“You are truly not afraid?”

“I am.”

“What are you afraid of?”

“Afraid that I might remember something incorrectly.”

“Afraid that my master may have done things I do not know about.”

“Afraid that I will not be able to save Little Round, or the people at the bottom of the well.”

“But fear cannot be a reason for you to write my name in my place.”

The black stone seal trembled again.

The character for Lu on Lu Yuan’s paper was dragged toward the bottom of the seal by an unseen force.

He reached out and held down the corner of the paper. Blood immediately seeped from his palm.

“Wang Cheng’an!”

Wang Cheng’an pressed the frame of the abacus into a crack in the stone floor.

“Here!”

“Report the current designations of all thirty-six villages separately. Do not report the total!”

Wang Cheng’an understood at once and began moving the beads.

“Ma Family Gully, duplicate register of the righteous well, thirty-two fragmented names, eleven pending investigation!”

“White Wolf Gully, thirteen orphaned children, thirteen temporary residents!”

“Little Stone Village, seven old marriage-household names, two corrected, five pending investigation!”

“Wang family village, one master ledger, one person refusing to accept the Total Name!”

Each time he reported a place, the corresponding red cord beneath the mountain loosened by an inch.

Lin Zhaoxuan continued:

“Separated disciples of Green Pine Temple, thirty-six old names, twenty-one preserved names, fifteen destinations pending investigation!”

Zhou Heng reported:

“Refugees from within the pass, seventeen origins verified, nine physical proofs unclear, four deceased!”

Song Qinghe raised the lamp and reported:

“Seventy-two names recorded by the remaining lamps, three hundred and sixteen nameless tablets, none may be combined into a single person!”

Xu Erxiao shouted:

“Thirteen children of White Wolf Gully, names chosen by themselves, destinations chosen by themselves, belonging to neither a master household nor a public name!”

Finally, Lu Yuan pressed down on the black stone seal.

“Shen Yanshan, it is your turn.”

Shen Yanshan raised his head.

“Report yourself.”

His face was pale.

“Shen Yanshan.”

“Old name.”

“Shen Yan.”

“Altar name.”

“Han Shoumo.”

“What have you done?”

Shen Yanshan’s lips moved.

“Erased names.”

“Established the gate.”

“Used a public name as a master household.”

“You also used another identity?”

Shen Yanshan closed his eyes.

“A disciple who copied records under Gu Changgeng.”

Zhou Heng suddenly turned around.

“You were that outsider Taoist at Green Pine Temple?”

“I was not a disciple of Green Pine Temple.”

“I only borrowed the temple to shelter from the snow.”

“But you left a Taoist name in the old register.”

“It was not mine.”

“Whose was it?”

Shen Yanshan looked at Lu Yuan.

“Gu Changgeng gave it to me.”

“At the time, he said that if I did not want to use Shen Yan, I could temporarily borrow a Taoist name.”

“He said names could be borrowed, but roads could not.”

Lu Yuan’s palm tightened.

Gu Changgeng had known Shen Yanshan.

He had even tried to take him away from the discussion altar.

Shen Yanshan continued:

“Later, Gu Changgeng dismantled the master altar, but I did not leave with him.”

“I thought he was merely running away.”

“He thought I was merely clinging to the old rules.”

“Neither of us convinced the other.”

“So he followed his road, and I guarded my gate.”

“Only today did I realize that we had both turned ourselves into gates.”

The light on the black stone seal suddenly dimmed.

The thirty-six red cords loosened one after another.

Little Round slipped from Shen Yanshan’s arms.

Xu Erxiao reached out and caught her.

Little Round did not cry. She merely held tightly to the wooden tablet Amei handed her.

“I am called Little Round,” she said to Shen Yanshan.

Shen Yanshan stood where he was, the five fingers of his white glove slowly lowering.

“All right.”

“You did not give me that name.”

“She chose it herself.”

“All right.”

The center of the black stone seal split open.

Three palm marks emerged from the crack.

The first was Han Shoumo’s four-fingered palm.

The second was Shen Yanshan’s complete palm.

The third had no fingers at all, only a hollow circle.

The hollow circle slowly expanded, actually hollowing out the black stone seal from within.

Before the seal shattered, columns of water erupted from the thirty-six wells beneath the mountain at the same time.

Large sheets of red paper flew from the water. The names written on them no longer gathered toward Old Dragon’s Back, but flew separately toward different villages.

The papers belonging to Ma Family Gully returned to the righteous well.

The papers belonging to Little Stone Village flew toward the burial grounds west of the village.

The papers belonging to Wang family village fell before the door of the old counting house.

The papers belonging to White Wolf Gully fell one by one into Han Qiusheng’s hands.

Han Qiusheng caught one. Written on its back were the words:

“Amei, self-chosen.”

He caught another:

“Nameless girl, temporary name Little Round.”

He placed the two tablets side by side.

Little Round climbed down from Xu Erxiao’s arms and walked to the wooden tablets herself. She reached out and touched the words temporary name.

“I do not want temporary.”

Amei said:

“Then cross out temporary.”

Little Round took the small wooden piece and forcefully scratched it twice across the tablet.

“I am Little Round.”

Han Qiusheng carved over it again:

“Little Round, self-chosen.”

The black aura on the tablet dissipated completely.

The white lamp at the mountaintop suddenly went out.

The black stone seal behind the pavilion had already shattered into seven pieces.

The largest piece bore a single line:

“The Total Name Well has been closed.”

But the unfamiliar voice from the bottom of the well did not disappear.

“The well can be closed.”

“The daily account cannot.”

Lu Yuan followed the voice with his eyes.

At some point, a person wearing white gloves had appeared on the snowy slope behind the pavilion.

It was not Shen Yanshan.

The person wore a gray cloth robe and carried an oil lamp. His face was hidden behind white gauze, revealing only a pair of extremely cold eyes.

There were no footprints behind him.

“Han Shoumo, you have finally admitted that you were wrong.”

Shen Yanshan slowly turned around.

“Who are you?”

The gauze-covered person said:

“The person who will clean up the aftermath for all of you.”

“Your name.”

“Names are not important.”

Lu Yuan stepped down from the pavilion.

“Your name may not be important to you, but it is important to us.”

“If you will not state it, stand farther away first.”

The gauze-covered person looked at him, his gaze falling upon the broken blade in Lu Yuan’s hand.

“Gu Changgeng really did leave the blade to you.”

“You knew my master?”

“I know every account he refused to acknowledge.”

“Speak.”

“He saved thirty-two refugees within the pass, but he also split them into six groups in order to get them through.”

“He dismantled one gate and borrowed one master seal.”

“He let some people escape and left others behind.”

“Will you settle his accounts?”

Lu Yuan said:

“I will.”

“Then I am the person you are looking for.”

The gauze-covered person removed his glove.

The five fingers of his left hand were complete, but a slanted knife scar crossed his palm.

It was precisely the palm mark from the final page of the master ledger.

“My name is Gu Changgeng.”

The wind and snow suddenly stopped.

Everyone looked toward Lu Yuan.

The person removed the white gauze. His face was not the same as the master in Lu Yuan’s memories, but the shape of his brow was somewhat similar. Beneath his left eyebrow was an old scar, and the corner of his mouth lifted slightly, as though he had just awakened from a long dream.

Lu Yuan’s hand holding the blade did not move.

“You are not him.”

“You have seen him?”

“Yes.”

“Did you see him clearly?”

“The web between his right thumb and index finger was hardened by medicine.”

“Yours is not.”

The gauze-covered person looked at his right hand.

The web between his thumb and index finger was indeed smooth.

“People change.”

“Shadows do not.”

Lu Yuan said:

“You are not Gu Changgeng.”

“Then who are you?”

“The person he left behind.”

The gauze-covered person smiled.

“That is not a name.”

“You do not even have your own name. What gives you the right to demand that others state theirs?”

“I do.”

“What is it?”

“Gu Changgeng.”

“You borrowed his face.”

“You also borrowed his name.”

Lu Yuan was silent for a moment.

“That is why I know what it feels like to borrow a name.”

“Then you should not expose me.”

“Precisely because I know, I have to expose you.”

The smile faded from the gauze-covered person’s face.

He raised his right hand.

The snow beneath Old Dragon’s Back collapsed with a thunderous roar, revealing a black mine tunnel. Deep within it hung a bronze gong. Thirty-six wells were carved into its surface, but at the center of the wells was a tiny character for Gu.

“The true old account is not in the well.”

“It is beyond the mine tunnel.”

“Buried there is the first account Gu Changgeng personally left behind.”

“If you want to know whom he saved and whom he harmed, come and take it.”

Xu Erxiao said:

“Do not try to deceive Brother Lu with lies about his master.”

“Even if everything you say is true, so what?”

“His words being true does not mean he is our master,” Song Qinghe said.

The gauze-covered person looked at her.

“A lamp cultivator is best at distinguishing a true shadow from a false one.”

“Then tell me, am I real or false?”

Song Qinghe raised the lamp and shone it toward him.

The green flames passed through the gauze-covered person’s body, casting two shadows behind him.

One wore an old Taoist robe and carried medicine.

The other wore white gloves and held the name-erasing seal.

The two shadows overlapped, but did not completely merge.

Song Qinghe said:

“You are a shadow left behind by Gu Changgeng.”

“You are also someone who later swallowed his memories.”

The gauze-covered person’s eyes turned cold.

“If the memories are real, what difference does it make who bears them?”

“There is a difference,” Lu Yuan said. “If the person bearing the memories considers himself the original, he will continue making decisions in the original’s place.”

“You inherited his accounts, but not his final wish for people to walk their own roads.”

The gauze-covered person looked toward Shen Yanshan.

“He inherited Han Shoumo’s mistake as well.”

Shen Yanshan said:

“That is why I put the child down today.”

“That is not enough.”

The gauze-covered person raised his hand, and the bronze gong in the mine tunnel rang again.

In the thirty-six wells, the red papers that had just scattered stopped simultaneously.

A new seal appeared on the backs of the red papers.

“The daily account awaits continuation.”

“You dismantled the Total Name Well, but all you did was scatter the names again.”

“Scattered names will be picked up by people once more.”

“If you do not find the first account, Gu Changgeng’s crimes will become a legend, while Shen Yanshan’s mistake will be rewritten as an act of salvation.”

“You want us to find it?”

“I want someone to take over his accounts.”

“Another master ledger?”

“No.”

The gauze-covered person looked toward Wang Cheng’an.

“It is a witness ledger.”

“Whoever sees it will remember it.”

Wang Cheng’an tightened his grip on the abacus frame.

“You want all six of us to see it.”

“Six people will see it, and six people will remember it separately.”

“But in the end, someone will combine the six accounts into one.”

“Then we will see whether you can protect the separate registers.”

Lu Yuan asked:

“What is beyond the mine tunnel?”

“The first account.”

“Who else is there?”

“Gu Changgeng’s true disciple.”

Lin Zhaoxuan and Zhou Heng drew their weapons at the same time.

Zhou Heng asked:

“Besides you, is there someone else?”

The gauze-covered person nodded.

“Seven people.”

“Gu Changgeng accepted seven disciples throughout his life.”

“Which one are you?”

“The seventh.”

Lu Yuan’s gaze sank.

“I have never heard my master mention you.”

“Because you were not his disciple.”

The words fell, and the snowy ground became deathly silent.

The gauze-covered person continued:

“You were merely the child he took in at the end.”

“He taught you how to recognize medicine and distinguish roads, but he did not teach you Daoist methods, nor did he write you into the sect and gate.”

“You always thought you were his disciple. In truth, you were merely someone he refused to abandon.”

Lu Yuan looked at him.

He had never heard this secret from anyone.

Yet he had always known that he possessed no Dao, no formal lineage, and no initiation ceremony. Gu Changgeng had never called him disciple, only Little Yuan.

The gauze-covered person seemed to seize upon his hesitation.

“You do not have to follow his road.”

“You have no debt to the sect and gate.”

“No Daoist name.”

“Much less any obligation to clean up his old accounts.”

Lu Yuan gripped the broken blade.

“I am following his road not because of a debt to the sect and gate.”

“It is because he once led me along one.”

“When one person leads another along a stretch of road, whether they count as master and disciple is not for you to decide.”

The gauze-covered person said:

“You will die in the mine tunnel.”

“Possibly.”

“You will see things you do not want to see.”

“Certainly.”

“You will discover that Gu Changgeng was not the person you remember.”

“Then I will remember a new one.”

The gauze-covered person stared at him for a long while, then suddenly turned and walked into the mine tunnel.

“Then come.”

“But only six people may enter.”

Xu Erxiao immediately said:

“I am coming too.”

The gauze-covered person stopped.

“Six people does not mean the six of you.”

“It means the six shadow positions designated by the master ledger.”

Lu Yuan looked at the ground.

The shadows of the six people were each clearly visible.

But a seventh shadow still stood outside the stone pavilion, holding an empty abacus.

That shadow raised its head and walked toward the mine tunnel.

The gauze-covered person did not stop it.

“The seventh has already been chosen for you.”

Wang Cheng’an’s expression darkened.

“What is it?”

The gauze-covered person answered:

“The first name that was erased.”

The seventh shadow stepped over the threshold of the mine tunnel.

Its abacus had no beads, only a series of empty strings.

A tiny name hung from each string.

Lu Yuan did not turn around to look at its face.

He led Wang Cheng’an, Xu Erxiao, Lin Zhaoxuan, Zhou Heng, and Song Qinghe into the black mine tunnel.

Han Qiusheng remained outside the cave to look after the children and Missing-Rim Liu.

Shen Yanshan stood in the snow and did not follow.

After Lu Yuan had taken ten steps, Shen Yanshan’s voice suddenly came from behind him:

“Lu Yuan.”

He stopped but did not turn around.

“I will go to Little Stone Village.”

“I will investigate Xu Liushi’s maiden name.”

“I will also write both of my own names into the duplicate register.”

Lu Yuan said:

“Do not mistakenly acknowledge the wrong person as her.”

“I know.”

“Do not confess my master’s crimes in his place.”

Shen Yanshan was silent for a moment.

“I will record only what I see.”

Deep within the mine tunnel, the gauze-covered person struck the bronze gong again.

The roar echoed out, and the six shadows were stretched longer at the same time.

The seventh shadow, however, stopped on the mine wall.

It raised its hand and pressed it against a stone stele covered in coal dust.

A line of writing slowly appeared on the surface:

“The First Eraser of Names, Gu Changgeng.”

When Lu Yuan saw those words, his footsteps finally stopped.

The gauze-covered person stood deeper within the tunnel, the white glove in his hand glaring beneath the lamplight.

“Now, do you still intend to continue?”

Lu Yuan raised the broken blade and scraped away the words First from the stone stele.

“First, investigate it clearly.”

“Do not rush to rank the dead.”

Behind the stele, countless pages began turning in the darkness.

The seventh shadow slowly turned around.

It had no face.

It had only a pair of hollow eyes and a mouth that was writing by itself.

“Lu Yuan.”

“The first account name.”