# 29
**Chapter 29: Ten Years**
Lin Qiye’s blade pierced the ghost face, but that wasn’t what made the Ghost-Face King scream.
What truly tore that heart-rending howl from it was Lin Qiye’s eyes. Beneath their blazing golden light the ghost face melted like a candle in a furnace, dissolving in seconds.
The radiance lasted only an instant, yet it was enough to snuff out the last spark of life from the already-dying Ghost-Face King.
Under Lin Qiye’s gaze the face congealed into a shriveled, half-solid lump; no trace of the ghost visage remained.
At the same time a warm current slid from the hilt along his hand and into his body.
He frowned, stepped on the creature’s corpse, and pulled out his Straight Blade.
After a moment’s thought he bent and picked up the pale, dough-like residue. Darkness flashed across his eyes and he almost collapsed.
Even with Starry Night Dancer’s boost, the fierce fight had drained him. Worse, two forced uses of the Seraph’s Eye had squeezed his scant mental power dry; simply walking was an effort.
As Zhao Kongcheng had said, at his current River Realm there had been only one possible outcome against the Ghost-Face King—death.
If Night Watch hadn’t gravely wounded it first, if Zhao Kongcheng hadn’t crippled it with his life, even with the Seraph’s Eye and Starry Night Dancer Lin Qiye would never have won.
This… was a mythic creature that had descended into the world.
This… was the “River Realm.”
Rain slid down his cheeks. He trudged through puddles of blood toward Zhao Kongcheng’s body, swaying with every step.
He reached the corpse and sat slowly beside it.
“I told you—being a hero isn’t so easy.” Lin Qiye stared at Zhao Kongcheng’s cold face and murmured, “You gambled your life here, but how many will ever know?
Do you realize? Right now, just a few kilometers away in the city center, neon lights still shine.
They’re singing in karaoke bars, feasting in hot-pot restaurants, rolling in hotel sheets, munching popcorn in cinemas…
And you—YOU—
—you die here in utter silence.
They’ll never know that in this torrential rain a man with a blade took down a mythic beast. They’ll never realize they can laugh and play without a care… because someone gave his life for them.
Is it really worth it?”
Lin Qiye watched the pale features, as if waiting for an answer.
But the man would never speak again.
Lin Qiye went on: “Do you think I’m afraid of death?
You’re wrong. Death doesn’t scare me at all.
Would a child who saw an angel, went blind, and was locked in a psychiatric ward still fear death?
I tried countless times to end myself in the dark, yet light pulled me back every time.
And that light wasn’t the so-called ‘masses’ rushing about for their desires, whining about injustice!
…it was my family.”
He lifted his head to the pitch-black sky and said slowly:
“The world never saved me, so why should I give my life to protect it?
That’s why I refused to become a Night Watchman.”
Lin Qiye turned; his gaze fell on the small, rain-soaked house. Confusion flickered in his eyes.
“But I hate being in debt.
You saved my entire world.
What… can I give you in return?”
He paused, then continued: “I know Night Watch benefits are good; even dead, your wife and child will be cared for, your funeral handled with honor…
You’re not short of money—and I don’t have any.
So how am I supposed to repay a debt this big?”
Lin Qiye sat blankly. After a long while he looked again at the distant house…
In the rain his fists clenched,
then loosened helplessly.
He seemed to reach a decision. Using his blade as a crutch he struggled to his feet and muttered:
“In my life I owe only three people: my aunt who toiled for me ten years, my cousin I dragged down for ten years…
and you, who saved my family of three.
You rescued my whole world.
In exchange—
—I’ll guard yours for ten years.
After that, whatever happens, I’ll have nothing more to do with Night Watch, nothing more with the world.
I’ll come back to this home and resume the life I was meant to live.
Fair… trade?”
He looked down at Zhao Kongcheng lying in the blood; the man seemed merely asleep.
“Since you don’t object, it’s settled.”
Lin Qiye drove the Straight Blade into the ground, turned toward a certain direction… and knelt.
There, in the rain, stood an ordinary little house.
“Aunt, Little Seven is leaving. Forgive me for going without saying goodbye—
—I’m afraid if I go back… I won’t be able to leave again.
They say Night Watch pay is decent. The stipend for the ten years I sell my life should let you two live well. After those ten years Little Seven will give you the best life possible…
Your kindness in raising me—Little Seven will repay it in ten years.”
Kneeling in the rain, droplets dripped from his hair and blurred his eyes.
He bent and kowtowed several times, forehead pressed to the ground for a long moment before he rose.
Slowly he stood, gave the house one last look, pulled his Straight Blade from the earth…
…and walked away.
…
“Xiangnan! I’ve reached the old residential area—where’s Old Zhao?!”
In the downpour a woman in a dark-red cloak, soaked to the bone, stood in the street, a long black case on her back, gasping for breath.
“Two buildings ahead, in the open lot,” Wu Xiangnan’s voice came through the earpiece. He hesitated, tone heavy. “Hongying… prepare yourself.”
“Prepare for what?”
“We lost contact with him minutes ago, and his Coat of Arms signal hasn’t moved for several minutes…”
Hongying’s pupils shrank; her body trembled, then she shot forward like an arrow.
“Don’t talk nonsense!! Maybe—maybe he’s just tired…” she choked, voice cracking.
“Hongying…”
“Shut up!!” she screamed.
“Hongying! Old Zhao’s Coat of Arms is moving again!”
Hope flared in her eyes.
“I knew it, I knew he wouldn’t die so easily! Where is he?”
“He’s moving slowly… coming straight toward you.”
Hongying froze, staring at the corner ahead.
Distant thunder rolled; rain fell like a curtain, blinding her.
A figure emerged from the storm.
A youth,
a blade on his back,
a man’s corpse in his arms.
He halted, drew a ragged breath, and roared—
as if announcing it to the entire world!
“—This junior, Lin Qiye, sends General Zhao Kongcheng home in triumph!!!”