Chapter 367

Today felt a bit strange.

After seeing off the two little friends, Qiu Qiu and Gu Lu, yesterday, Ning Ning had agreed with Pei Ji to visit Wangyue Peak to see the snow the following day.

However, when the appointed time arrived, Ning Ning waited quietly at the door for a long time without seeing any sign of him.

The thunder tribulation that day had been overwhelming, and she knew Pei Ji’s old injuries had yet to heal.

Inevitably, worry crept into her heart, and she went to knock on his door.

There was no response.

The courtyard was eerily quiet, with only the sound of snowflakes falling softly.

Sensing that something was amiss, Ning Ning instinctively took out a key from her storage pouch and hurriedly pushed the door open.

The main hall and the study were both empty.

After glancing around, she finally arrived at the bedroom door.

Pei Ji’s bedroom was neat and tidy, devoid of any ornate decorations.

At a glance, Ningning could take in the entirety of the seemingly empty space.

No, not “empty.”

In the corner, on the wooden bed, the heavy ivory-white quilt concealed a faintly rising and falling shape.

It looked as if someone was lying under the quilt, but the figure was far too small to be Pei Ji.

It resembled a child instead.

Frowning, Ning Ning quickly approached the bed.

Perhaps hearing her footsteps, the person under the quilt gave an almost imperceptible tremble.

Ning Ning immediately lifted the quilt.

The sudden light made the person beneath squint in discomfort, curling up tightly into an even smaller ball, like a little shrimp.

It was a frail, thin little boy.

And he was… wearing Pei Ji’s sleeping robe.

His loose, jet-black hair spilled messily around him, as if it hadn’t been trimmed for a long time, cascading like winding streams of ink.

Some strands draped across his face, obscuring most of his features, but through the gaps, Ning Ning could see pale, bloodless skin.

He resembled fragile porcelain that might shatter with the slightest touch.

For some reason, even though most of his face was concealed, the boy evoked a strange sense of familiarity in Ning Ning.

She leaned down and gently asked, “Are you all right?”

The boy lowered his eyes, remaining silent.

Pei Ji was tall and lean, so his clothes were far too large for the boy.

His slender neck, covered by only a thin layer of skin, revealed his collarbones, which jutted out prominently.

Even though he seemed to suppress it as much as he could, he couldn’t stop trembling slightly.

Ning Ning noticed the old scars on his body, scabbed over in patterns she found all too familiar.

A bizarre thought sprang to mind.

Almost involuntarily, she whispered, “Pei Ji?”

The boy flinched again, burying his head even lower.

…Could it be?

“Do you remember who I am?”

Her heart raced as she reached out to brush aside the dark hair covering his face.

When her fingertips touched the boy’s skin, she felt him tremble even more violently.

The long strands of black hair fell away, revealing a familiar face just as she expected.

When Pei Ji was young, he had been incredibly thin, his face devoid of any excess flesh, to the point of looking gaunt from hunger.

Although his features hadn’t fully developed, his future sharp and resolute contours were already faintly visible.

His straight eyebrows, high nose, and tightly pressed thin lips gave his face an air of fragility and unease.

His eyes were tightly shut, his expression cautious and timid.

What exactly was going on?

If this was indeed a younger version of Pei Ji, the scars on his body clearly indicated they were already healed.

Ning Ning froze in realization.

Could it be that, like the sect master, Pei Ji had also suffered damage to his spiritual sea of consciousness, causing his spiritual energy to stagnate and his body to revert to that of a child?

But what about his memories?

Judging by his appearance, he clearly didn’t remember who Ning Ning was.

“…Don’t be afraid.”

Seeing his fear of being touched, Ning Ning tactfully withdrew her hand.

“I won’t hurt you. Your name is Pei Ji, isn’t it?”

The boy lying on his side gave the faintest flutter of his long lashes.

He still hadn’t grasped the situation.

To him, everything that had happened today felt like a dream.

The night before, his mother had subjected him to her routine scolding and beating.

His entire body ached and shivered from the cold as he lay dazed in the cellar, trembling from the piercing chill of winter.

He had fallen into a hazy sleep, never expecting that when he opened his eyes the next day, he wouldn’t see the dark cellar but instead be bathed in a long-lost glow—a beam of soft winter morning sunlight.

It had been far too long since Pei Ji had seen sunlight.

In that dark cellar, he had once desperately yearned to see it.

Yet now that he truly found himself under its warmth, the boy felt a trace of unease and fear.

Like a rat scurrying through the sewers, accustomed to skulking in the shadows, the light only served to highlight his wretchedness.

He was used to the darkness.

The sunlight was so piercing that he closed his eyes, catching only the faint fragrance of someone approaching.