Xue Meng was lying on the ground, so inebriated and addled that he had no idea he had just met the greatest demon in the world. He was still lying on his back in the snow. Snow continued drifting down from the top of Mount Kunlun like willow leaves in spring and reed blossoms in autumn, covering him.

     After an unknown amount of time, someone approached from the heavy snow, holding a bright red oil-paper umbrella. Xue Meng squinted his eyes and saw a cold, clear face.

     “Mei…”

     Xue Meng grumbled but never said the word “Hanxue.” He was too tired.

     “Mm, it’s me.” Mei Hanxue didn’t say much and helped him up from the ground.

     Xue Meng lay on Mei Hanxue’s shoulder but didn’t move. Instead, he asked, “Do you have any wine?”

     Mei Hanxue said, “No.”

     Xue Meng pretended not to hear. “Okay, okay, then won’t you have a drink with me?”

     “I won’t drink.”

     Xue Meng was silent for a while, then sneered, “Look at you, you dog. I didn’t drink before, but you dragged me to drink. This time, I drank, and now you tell me you won’t. Are you messing with me?”

     “I don’t drink.”

     Xue Meng muttered a few more words, as if he were cursing someone, then pushed Mei Hanxue away and walked into the infinite snow. Mei Hanxue held the umbrella and looked at his slightly hunched back. He didn’t chase after him but asked, “Where are you going?”

     He didn’t know where he was going. He only hated that there wasn’t enough wine to drink himself to death.

     Mei Hanxue said, “Come back. There’s no path ahead of you.”

     Xue Meng suddenly stopped and stood there blankly. After a while, he suddenly burst into tears. “I just fucking want to drink some wine! You won’t even let me drink. If you don’t want to drink, then don’t drink. You still lied to me and said you don’t drink! Are you even human?!”

     “...I didn’t lie to you.”

     Xue Meng didn’t listen at all and yelled, “Are you people human?!”

     “...”

     “I am unhappy. Can’t you see that?!”

     Mei Hanxue said, “I can see it.”

     Xue Meng was stunned for a moment, then felt even more aggrieved; even the tip of his nose was red. “Fine… fine, fine, fine, you can see it and still won’t drink with me. Are you afraid that I’ll have your drinks for free and not pay you for them? I’m telling you, I’m not that poor…”

     As he spoke, he actually went into his pocket and took out a bunch of old copper coins. He counted them several times, becoming more and more upset as he did so. “Ah, why is it only this little?”

     Mei Hanxue touched his forehead, clearly having a slight headache. “Xue Meng, you’re drunk. You should rest first.”

     Before Xue Meng could answer, he heard the sound of footsteps behind him.

     Another gentle voice sounded: “Dage, why are you arguing with a drunk person?”

     As soon as the words fell, a hand covered with silk gauze reached out, with a silver bell on his wrist, holding a sheepskin bag. Mei Hanxue cast him a sidelong glance and turned around—

     Behind him stood a man who looked exactly the same as him, only the man had a warm smile on his face, and his expression was very gentle.

     “Actually, there are only two ways to deal with a drunk.” The man smiled. “Drink with him or knock him out.”

     Mei Hanxue: “...”

     After saying this, the man winked at Mei Hanxue and said, “I know dage abstains from alcohol. You can go back. I’ll drink with him.”

     —

     Thin, blue smoke rose and curled up into the air, the wisps dancing gracefully between them, almost affectionately, yet difficult to distinguish.

     The head disciple's bedroom in Taxue Palace was filled with the rich and expensive scent of ambergris. It was covered with plush white carpets, which would reach one’s ankles every step of the way, and light gauze curtains that would confuse morning and evening. The wind blew the gauze curtains up, then down again.

     Mei Hanxue was lying barefoot on the white carpet, with his head propped up in his hands. He casually rubbed his jade-like toes together before raising his blue eyes to look at Xue Meng, who was sitting cross-legged in front of him as he gulped down the wine.

     After more than thirty minutes of drinking, Mei Hanxue asked with a smile, “Ai, Ziming, aren’t you surprised?”

     “Surprised about what?”

     “There are two of us.”

     Xue Meng: “...Oh.”

     Mei Hanxue shook his head. “I forgot that you have a very low alcohol tolerance and that when you’re drunk, your brain is probably different from ordinary people, so there’s nothing to be surprised about.”

     Xue Meng: “Hm.”

     “I don’t know if you've noticed, but that day at Sisheng Peak, the one who blocked the sword for you was my dage.”

     “I don’t remember.”

     Mei Hanxue said, “You’ve seen his weapon, Shuofeng, the sword forged from silver and black iron.”

     Xue Meng frowned and thought deeply. “...But the man who blocked the attack for me that day in the main hall was very ugly. His weapon wasn’t made of silver, either. It was… It was…”

     “It was blue.” Mei Hanxue nodded with understanding. “Because he was angry that day and very worried, he infused it with his spiritual power. He usually doesn’t infuse his spiritual power because my brother actually doesn’t like to resort to being ruthless.”

     “...”

     “Actually, the two of us frequently use the sword interchangeably. I have a wood and water attribute spiritual core, and he has a water and fire attribute spiritual core. You’ll see three types of spiritual currents, green, red, and blue, if you get a chance, but…”

    He didn’t continue, seeing that Xue Meng didn’t seem to be too interested in this matter. After listening halfway through, Xue Meng started drinking his wine with an aloof expression.

     Mei Hanxue narrowed his eyes.

     He suddenly felt that Xue Meng’s appearance didn’t look like his usual domineering self but rather had a hint of coldness. This coldness made Xue Meng look like an entirely different person than himself.

     But like whom?

     Mei Hanxue couldn’t think of it for a while and didn’t bother to think about it any further. He had always handled matters like the thin wisps of smoke rising from a golden beast-shaped censer, lazily drifting about wherever it went, as if boneless.

     Xue Meng drank another sheepskin bag, then asked Mei Hanxue, “Do you have any more of this wine?”

     “Yes, but you’ve already had too much to drink. You can’t have any more."

     Xue Meng said, “I can drink a thousand cups without getting drunk.”

     Mei Hanxue smiled and said, “Are you sick?” But he still handed the wine to him, saying warmly before giving it to him, “This is the last pot. If I give it to you again and my brother finds out, he’ll skin me alive.”

     Xue Meng drank slowly with a cold expression.

     He was nothing like Xue Meng.

     While drinking, Xue Meng suddenly murmured, “You have an elder brother.”

     “Ah.” Mei Hanxue smiled. “I’ve been talking about it for a long time, and you've only now acknowledged it.”

     Xue Meng’s eyes were a little hazy, and his eyelashes were long, like a butterfly perched on the ground. He muttered again, “I have an elder brother too.”

     “Mm, I know.”

     Xue Meng leaned against the beam. His legs were a little numb from sitting cross-legged for so long. He stretched out one of his legs and stared at Mei Hanxue for a while.

     Suddenly, the cold expression on his face disappeared, and his expression was filled with a dazzling light. But under this brilliance, Xue Meng still didn’t look like Xue Meng.

     He smiled and asked, “Hey, how does your brother treat you?”

     Mei Hanxue was somewhat surprised by this change. Was this how the man behaved while he was drunk? But he still said, “...Pretty good.”

     “Hahaha, you really cherish your words like gold. What does ‘pretty good’ mean? Would he forge a weapon for you or cook a bowl of noodles for you when you’re sick?”

     Mei Hanxue smiled and said, “He wouldn’t do either. But he would take my place to obstruct women for me.”

     Xue Meng: “...”

     “I don’t like seeing my old lovers cry.” Mei Hanxue said, “He takes care of all the things I can’t handle. He’s much more straightforward than I am and isn’t emotional, so he won’t drag his feet. He simply doesn’t have any romantic interest, so even at his age, he hasn’t ever held a girl’s hand.”

     Xue Meng wrinkled his nose. “What’s your brother’s name?”

     “Mei Hánxue.”

     “The same as you?”

     “The characters are different.” He smiled. “The ‘han’ in his name is the character for ‘cold,’ and he’s true to form.”

     Xue Meng muttered, “But why did you both do this…?”

     Mei Hanxue said, “For convenience. Sometimes, it’s not strange for two people to do something. But if others think it was done by one person, they will feel that it’s very mysterious. The Palace Master intended to allow us to do this, so she has brought me and my elder brother up like this since we were young.”

     As he spoke, he opened the lid of the incense burner, picked up a silver spoon to stir the remaining embers inside, and added some soothing spices to dispel the cold. His voice was very soft.

     “He and I have always carried human skin masks with us. When he puts on the mask, I act according to my true nature. When I put on the mask, he will behave according to his true nature. It has been this way for over twenty years.”

     “Aren’t you both tired?”

     “It’s not tiring for me; it’s actually quite fun.” Mei Hanxue smiled. “But my brother probably feels tired. He always says that I have too many romantic accounts, so he has to avoid female cultivators when he goes out.”

     Xue Meng had never experienced what it was like to be surrounded by female cultivators. In fact, he felt that he was the same as Mei Hánxue, his elder brother, and had never even touched a woman’s hand at his age.

     But there was nothing to brag about regarding such a thing, so he only drank placidly and silently, not saying a word.

     Mei Hanxue thought his mind wasn’t quite right since he was drunk, but unexpectedly, Xue Meng suddenly asked him at this time, “Why did you save me?”

     The tone of his voice changed again, and this time it became very gentle.

     This kind of tenderness appeared on Xue Meng’s face in a way that was very out of place. It was even more piercing than the preceding brilliance and even earlier indifference.

     Mei Hanxue finally couldn’t stand it any longer. He sat up and raised his hand with the silver bell tied on it, then grabbed Xue Meng’s chin, turning it left and right. As he looked, he said, “Strange. It’s clearly you. What’s going on?”

     Xue Meng didn’t struggle and allowed him to pull and scrutinize him. His dark eyes looked at Mei Hanxue quietly for a while before he asked, “Why are you helping Sisheng Peak? Do I know you very well?”

     “We’re not too familiar with each other.” Mei Hanxue said, “I played with you when I was a child, but you played with me one day, then my elder brother the next. Actually, I’ve only spent about ten days with you myself.”

     “Then why are you willing to take me in?”

     Mei Hanxue sighed as he extended a slender finger and poked Xue Meng’s forehead. “Your mother and father saved my mother’s life before. …She was from Suiye City, and, as you know, there are many evil spirits in Suiye. After she gave birth to us brothers, she sent us to Kunlun Taxue Palace. Later, evil spirits plagued the city, and there were heavy casualties. She managed to escape, but she had broken her leg.”

     The new spices had a crisp fragrance of cedar.

     Mei Hanxue smiled and said, “After the long and arduous journey, she didn’t have any money left and was already dying by the time she reached Mount Kunlun.”

     His expression was still very gentle, and the red droplet pendant on his forehead glistened.

     “At that time, it was Uncle Xue and Aunt Wang’s first visit to Kunlun Taxue Palace. They saw my dying mother and didn’t ask about her background or take her money, only using the best medicine to treat her. After learning that she had come to find her sons, they carried her up Mount Kunlun.”

     Xue Meng was speechless for a moment as he listened in awe.

     After a long while, he asked, “So what happened to your mother?”

     “Her illness was too severe.” Mei Hanxue shook his head and said, “There was no way to save her, and she passed away. But thanks to Uncle and Aunt, we got to see her one last time.”

     A small breeze blew in from outside. The incense in the room dissipated, and the wind chimes along the eaves rang.

     It was like the sound of flowing water.

     “All these years, Uncle and Aunt have always said there was no need to express our gratitude and that it was just a simple gesture. In the end, they even forgot about it themselves, but my dage and I still remember it.” Mei Hanxue raised his blue eyes and looked at him peacefully.

     So much time had passed since this incident that when he spoke about it, there was no visible pain, only tenderness.

     "That day, it was Uncle Xue who carried my mother on his back as Aunt Wang held an umbrella beside him. They were afraid that my mother would catch a cold again. When Uncle and Aunt first entered the hall, the first thing they said was not about official business of Sisheng Peak, nor about forming an alliance and seeking friendship with Taxue Palace—they asked if there was a pair of twins from Suiye City here.”

     The light golden eyelashes fell, covering the clear pools of blue water.

     “To be honest, they are the most outstanding sect leader and lady of the sect that I have ever seen in my life.”

     Xue Meng choked up. “My parents…”

     Mei Hanxue let out a “Mm” and said, “Your parents.”

     Xue Meng buried his face in his palms, his shoulders trembling slightly as he cried again. It seemed as if all the tears in his life would be shed in these few months of collapse.

     He cried and finally returned to Xue Meng’s appearance.

     At this moment, Mei Hanxue suddenly remembered—

     Just now, he said coldly, “I can drink a thousand cups without getting drunk.” That was Chu Wanning.

     He asked brightly, “You have a brother too?” That was Mo Weiyu.

     He said softly, “Why did you save me?” That was Shi Mingjing.

     He was trying very hard to clumsily remember their appearances, to recall every little thing about them, their glances and smiles, how they sat and stood, their anger and annoyance.

     In the past, he was used to Chu Wanning’s cold stubbornness, Mo Weiyu’s warmth, and Shi Mingjing’s gentleness. In the past, he had a Shizun, a cousin, and a close friend.

     Suddenly, in a night of rain, all the mountains and rivers were broken, and the wind blew away the catkins.

     When the rain stopped, he was the only one left.

     They all disappeared.

     Xue Meng was alone, carrying a pot of fermented wine. But after drinking it, one person turned into three.

    He cried; he laughed; he was cold; he was passionate; he was gentle. He loved them and expressed his love for them respectfully, boldly, and awkwardly.

    He thought that he might not have expressed it well. His love for his Shizun always seemed very simpleminded. His love for his cousin always seemed very sharp. His love for Shi Mei always seemed very bland.

     After finishing the wine, Xue Meng slowly curled himself up into a ball. He shrank himself so small as his eyes reddened.

     He said, “It’s my fault… What I did was wrong…”

     All of you come back.

     I’m no longer arrogant, no longer brash, no longer reluctant, no longer indifferent.

     Xue Meng sobbed, his forehead pressed against his knees, as his entire body shook slightly. He cried and said, “Come back… Don’t leave me alone…”

     If only his departed friends could return, if everything could start over again. He didn’t want the reputation of darling of the heavens nor the dignity of the Young Master of Sisheng Peak.

     He just wanted to tell them bluntly and wholeheartedly—

     I really, really love you all so much and can’t live without you. My entire life is interconnected to all of you.

     He was willing to use his spiritual core and pay a thousand gold coins. He was willing to give away everything he had in exchange for a meeting of departed friends, a moment of happiness.

     Mei Hanxue watched him mourn and sighed softly, raising his hand to touch his ear. He was just about to say something when he suddenly heard a muffled rumble from outside the palace, like thunder rolling through heavy clouds, and the earth shook.

     This tremor lasted for some time, as if a great beast were awakening deep within the depths of the snowy plains, ready to exhale and swallow the sun and moon at any time.

     Mei Hanxue knew something was wrong. He settled Xue Meng down and was about to leave the room when he saw his brother holding a sword, pushing aside the gauze curtains and striding in.

     His elder brother’s expression was solemn and extremely gloomy as he said, “Go to the main hall at once.”

     Mei Hanxue was stunned and asked, “What happened? What was that noise just now?”

     His always-cold elder brother pursed his lips and said, “An immense, mysterious spell formation has appeared in the northeast. I’m afraid Mo-zongshi was correct before. The Gate of Time, Space, Life, and Death is about to open.”