Night fell. Layers of moonlight pressed through the window cracks and spilled across Song Wanníng's shoulder by the window.
A knock sounded at the door. She set down her book. With a light wave of her hand, the door swung open.
Jiang Wentian stood on the threshold. His expression was dark. His tall frame carried an icy chill, and a spark seemed to flicker in the depths of his eyes.
"Please, come in."
Song Wanníng's face was calm. She lifted the spirit tea at hand and poured it into a cup.
Jiang Wentian paused for a few seconds at the doorway, then strode inside and closed the door behind him. He crossed the room with broad steps, sat at the table, and stared at Song Wanníng with a probing gaze.
This woman was dangerous.
But he sensed no malice.
Jiang Wentian's brows drew together almost imperceptibly. They had clashed before because of Jiang Cen. Now that her strength had soared, she still showed no intention of settling accounts?
By then, Song Wanníng had pushed the teacup toward him, solemn yet grave. "Elder, you should already know why I contacted you this time."
All along, Song Wanníng had never understood. So-called transmigrators and book-walkers were intruders who seized bodies. No matter how well they disguised themselves, they could never be identical to the original soul.
How could the people closest to them fail to notice?
Especially someone like Jiang Wentian, who cherished his daughter like life itself. So Jiang Wentian must already have doubts. Song Wanníng was a hundred percent certain.
Sure enough, the air dropped to freezing at her words.
Jiang Wentian gripped the teacup so hard the veins stood out across the back of his hand. He locked his eyes on Song Wanníng and spoke, each word squeezed out: "How much do you know?"
Even Liu Xingzhi hadn't discovered Jiang Cen's problem. Could Song Wanníng, who had only just ascended to the Immortal Realm, truly know?
Or was she using Jiang Cen to strike back at him?
Jiang Wentian's gaze sharpened in an instant. Even if he could not defeat Song Wanníng now, he would never allow her to humiliate him.
"There's no need to look at me like that, Elder. There was never enmity between us. She is our common enemy."
With her footing sure, Song Wanníng stopped circling around. "I have a Flower of Rebirth here. It may help you learn the truth."
She set the Flower of Rebirth before Jiang Wentian. A fleeting sigh stirred in her. If she herself had been seized, how heartbroken would her parents be?
And they would only dare to protect the impostor carefully, hoping that one day their child's true soul might return. No one is perfect. Jiang Wentian had many faults, but toward his daughter, his conscience was clear.
After placing the Flower of Rebirth down, Song Wanníng said nothing more. She raised her cup for a sip, then stood and left the room.
Jiang Wentian sat in silence. His eyes flushed a deep red. His fists clenched and loosened, then clenched again. The bulging cords at his neck betrayed his agony.
He stared at the Flower of Rebirth, not daring to touch it. All this time, he had been running from the truth, afraid to pursue the thought to its end. He feared that what waited for him was a blow he could not endure. But now, the Flower of Rebirth was right before him. It shattered his last sliver of hope.
"Cen'er…"
Jiang Wentian's voice was hoarse as he called to her in grief. He closed his eyes, then decided to face reality. He picked up the Flower of Rebirth and began to summon the final wisp of his daughter's wandering soul.
The room was still. In the warped air, a thread of Primordial Soul slowly took form.
"Father!"
Jiang Cen cried out in joy and threw herself into Jiang Wentian's arms. Jiang Wentian stared blankly for a heartbeat, then reached out to embrace Jiang Cen's soul. A single tear slid down without a sound.
The last, faint hope broke.
His precious daughter was truly gone.
She had died without a ripple, and no one had known.
He hated it.
He hated it to his bones.
"Cen'er, you… you…" Jiang Wentian could scarcely string a sentence together. She looked the same as ever, yet a haggard air clung to her.
At this moment, he was no lofty Supreme Elder, only an old father who had lost his child. He stroked his daughter's face, his heart shattering.
"Father, it was that soul. That soul devoured me! I was only a little hurt, but after I fell asleep, a foreign soul invaded my sea of consciousness! I fought with everything I had, but I couldn't win…
She even said I was some vicious female supporting role. Since I was doomed anyway, I might as well let her take over and change her life…" Jiang Cen gnashed her teeth at the mention of her enemy.
"Father, you have to avenge me. She wants to steal my identity…" She broke down in sobs. Tears streamed down as unwillingness filled her heart. But she knew she was already dead. There was no going back.
As he looked at his daughter, Jiang Wentian's pain reached its peak and, paradoxically, clarity returned. He stroked her face and confessed, word by word, "It is all my fault. I failed to protect you.
It was me.
Rest assured. I will avenge you. No one can replace you. No one." Hatred surged within him like a tide. He longed to cut the impostor into a thousand pieces.
"Father, it wasn't your fault. Don't blame yourself." Jiang Cen grabbed Jiang Wentian's arm, her eyes full of love and remorse.
"It was mine. I bullied others on the strength of our sect, neglected my studies, and did nothing but trouble you.
Being your daughter was my greatest happiness." She could not let her father form heart demons. All her life she had caused him trouble. This time, she would not.
"Father, please apologize to Senior Brother Liu for me.
All these years, I was jealous of his excellence and always picked on him. He never once fought back. I don't ask for his forgiveness. I just owe him an apology."
Only at death did Jiang Cen realize how much she could not bear to leave behind. Only then did she see how awful she had been. She had been an unworthy daughter.
"Cen'er!"
Jiang Wentian cupped Jiang Cen's face, his grief beyond words.
But Jiang Cen's soul was already thinning.
The two of them panicked, yet they knew there was no turning this around. They held each other and wept until Jiang Cen's soul vanished completely, and Jiang Wentian still could not stop crying.
At the doorway, Song Wanníng heard the sobs. A complicated light flickered in her eyes. She did not approve of Jiang Cen's character. But the act of an intruder forcibly stealing another's life was even more despicable. So the intruder must be eliminated.
…
Creak.
The door opened. Jiang Wentian stepped out, his emotions reined in. His expression was utterly calm, which made him all the more terrifying. He looked at Song Wanníng. "I owe you a favor. I will repay it in the future.
Thank you."
At the very least, she had let him see his daughter one last time, instead of stumbling on in ignorance.