Ning Caiyong, during her time in the Prince's manor, had already learned that Gu Fangchen intended to go to Gushu to personally investigate the baby-swapping case of that year.
Now that she had come forward and offered to accompany him to Gushu, this was, without a doubt, her silent answer to Gu Fangchen's request for her to seek a divorce.
Gu Fangchen loosened his posture from meditation, shifted his position, and sat beside Ning Caiyong on the bed.
"If Mother can go with me, I'm certainly happy about it... but this journey to Gushu will likely be full of danger."
He did not wish to dampen Ning Caiyong's resolve, but he needed to be honest about what lay ahead.
The risk level of this journey was far greater than when they had gone to the Sword Pavilion.
Last time, aside from being intercepted by the Demon Sect on their way back, it hadn't been truly perilous. Even the Seven Sects Rebellion was kept under control thanks to Ning Songjun's protection in his undamaged state.
But now, on the road to Gushu, both the Demon Sect and the Academy would surely be stirred into motion. He could expect several waves of assassins and ambushes before even reaching their destination.
Ning Caiyong lifted her hand to her chest, gently touching the small wooden sword beneath her robes. She shook her head.
"It doesn't matter... rather than staying here in this Prince's manor, facing a house that no longer feels like home, I would rather live and die by my son's side."
Her beautiful eyes moved softly as she looked at Gu Fangchen, a tender smile spreading across her face.
"To think of it, if it weren't for the time you asked me to act out 'running away from home,' I might have forgotten what the world beyond this manor even looks like."
For most of her life, she had been a typical "virtuous wife and mother," bound to the Prince's household. The only places she had truly visited were the Sword Pavilion and Gushu.
The passing landscapes had long faded from her memory, replaced by fragments of raising and caring for Gu Fangchen, filling every corner of her recollections.
Even this sudden upheaval in her life was because Gu Fangchen's identity had changed...
Gu Fangchen was momentarily dazed. Her smile illuminated the entire room, dazzling him enough to make him avert his eyes instinctively.
The most beautiful woman in the world... truly lived up to her name.
No wonder Gu Yuye, back then, had so many forces he could have allied with, yet chose the Sword Pavilion instead, using the excuse of marriage to Ning Caiyong, most likely driven by lust rather than alliance.
As for genuine affection, someone as selfish as him, who could sacrifice even his own flesh and blood, would never spare true love for anyone, least of all Ning Caiyong.
"Ahem."
Gu Fangchen cleared his throat, feeling oddly guilty for the thought, and turned his gaze back toward her.
"In that case, Mother can take this chance to enjoy the sights of Gushu as well. Let me handle the rest."
He reached out and placed his hand over her delicate fingers.
Ning Caiyong glanced down at their interlaced hands, her smile tinged with a trace of sorrow as she murmured,
"When Gu Yuye came to propose back then, he said he'd fallen in love at first sight when we met in Gushu... I never completely believed him, yet I still thought there might have been some sincerity."
"Perhaps every woman harbors a small illusion, that she might be the one who is different."
Her tone carried quiet melancholy, as though she were finally opening her heart.
Gu Fangchen rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"What exactly did Gu Yuye say back then? Where in Gushu did he see you?"
Ning Caiyong was taken aback.
"By the Jiangling River... At that time, I had gone to visit your maternal great-grandmother's family, the Dugu clan of Gushu. It was your great-grandmother's hundredth birthday, and I stayed for a while. The current Empress, Dugu Linluan, was there too. We often played together and were quite close."
That she had once been close to the Empress, he did know. But after years of being busy with the Prince's household, that friendship had naturally faded.
He continued,
"Which street or quarter by the river?"
The question was so specific that Ning Caiyong looked at him with mild reproach.
"What are you asking all this for? They're just old stories. I'm about to divorce Gu Yuye, why bring up such things?"
Gu Fangchen blinked innocently.
"Nothing special... just curious. Can't Mother tell me?"
Ning Caiyong, unable to resist his tone of mock grievance, sighed helplessly, cupping his face in her palms and lightly rubbing his cheeks.
"At that time, a group of us unmarried young ladies were on a pleasure barge, setting lanterns afloat on the river for blessings. Nearby stood the Wenwu Tower of Mount Yao, where young cultivators would challenge it to make a name for themselves."
"Gu Yuye had just reached the fourth rank then. He happened to clear the tower's final level, triumphant and full of himself. He looked out over the Jiangling River..."
"And claimed it was love at first sight?"
Even without having experienced it in-game, Gu Fangchen's instincts told him nine out of ten that Gu Yuye had made that up. Still, it wouldn't hurt to test it in person.
He raised an eyebrow but said nothing further.
Glancing toward the window, he said softly,
"It's getting late. Mother should rest early. We'll depart tomorrow."
...
After seeing Ning Caiyong off, Gu Fangchen stood by the doorway, gazing at the dark, cloud-filled sky with a somber expression.
His thoughts drifted back to his earlier conversation with the "Yang Division" in the room at the Music Bureau.
Even after Gu Fangchen had directly asked about his origin, and even hinted that he knew it was connected to the Emperor, the Yang Division, after a long silence, still refused to speak.
But Gu Fangchen could feel it, the man wasn't ignorant. He was afraid.
What could make the head of such a powerful intelligence organization afraid to speak?
In other words, he must at least know the true identity of Emperor Yong'an.
Given the Sky-Eye Division's abilities, if they had an observation point set within Huangtian City, it was entirely possible they had seen something they should not have seen...
So, though "Yang Division" said nothing, he had in fact said everything.
Gu Fangchen thought to himself:
"In that case, I really am the offspring born from the Dao Master of Constancy's discourse on the Dao. The question is... with whom did he discuss it?"
"Ying Baishou is half-dead, and Xie Qian stands against him completely."
"In this world, who else could debate the Dao with the Dao Master of Constancy? Unless... it was something, or someone, from beyond Heaven's Gate."
If the Dao Master of Constancy had come into contact with an existence beyond Heaven's Gate and produced an offspring because of it, that child would certainly carry part of his "Dao."
It must have been born for a specific purpose.
And judging by the existence of Mirror in the Dust, it was likely to simulate, or predict, a particular possibility.
As for why that child had to become "Gu Fangchen,"
Looking across all the player routes in Mirror in the Dust, Gu Fangchen had some idea.
Because the identity of Gu Fangchen acted as the very center of the universe's web of fate.
It was precisely due to the switched identities of the true and false heirs that Gu Yuye could weaken Xiao Yinghao, that the Confucian Sect could gather five ley lines, and that the Demon Sect could seize the nation's destiny.
Before the players ever descended into the world, the story had already begun diverging from its original course.
And it seemed... even the players had failed to achieve the ending the Dao Master of Constancy desired.
"Hu..."
Gu Fangchen exhaled softly.
With his current strength, these questions were useless, he couldn't even approach Heaven's Gate Mountain, much less see beyond it. For now, he needed to focus on what was right before him.