Chapter 308: Faceless Han

"Qi Shousuan's account has been settled."

"The Guardian Mountain Discussion Altar has also disbanded."

"Your palm impression is still here."

Han Shoumo walked up the stone platform and pressed four fingers onto that black palm print.

The palm print struggled violently, as if another person was hiding inside his body.

Pain flickered across his face.

"When I erased names, I cut off my own little finger."

"Because a complete palm print would be recognized by the discussion altar as belonging to a rule-setter."

"I thought that with one finger missing, I could leave a gap in the rules."

"But later they filled my palm print into the Stone Door."

"A hand missing one finger can still close the door."

He clenched his jaw.

"All these years, I've been guarding the unmarked grave, keeping the master ledger from falling back into the master altar's hands."

"But I didn't dare let it out either."

"Because the people outside only want a tidy list of names."

"They're unwilling to admit that many people can no longer prove who they are."

Lu Yuan said:

"So you trapped them here."

"Yes."

"And you became a door yourself."

Han Shoumo lowered his head.

"Yes."

The palm print had already crawled up to his wrist.

Black qi climbed along his arm, and rows of old characters surfaced on his skin.

"Han Shoumo, eraser of names."

"Han Shoumo, guardian of the unmarked grave."

"Han Shoumo, keeper of the master ledger."

"Han Shoumo, master door not yet established."

He looked up at Lu Yuan.

"What do you want from me now?"

"Take your hand off the master ledger."

"Once I do, the palm print will scatter, and the grave will open."

"Let it open."

"The people inside may not be able to leave."

"Let them at least have a choice."

Han Shoumo released his hand.

The black palm print immediately lunged toward his chest.

He didn't dodge.

But Lu Yuan's blade came down in a single stroke.

The broken knife struck the center of the palm print, the blade cracking from the impact, splitting the black palm print in two.

One half fell onto the parchment, the other half burrowed into the snow.

A dull rumble came from beneath the snow.

The four sides of the unmarked grave split open simultaneously.

Thousands of black wooden slips toppled over, revealing densely packed paper tubes underneath.

Each paper tube sealed a fragmented name inside.

The moment the tubes were soaked by melting snow, they opened on their own.

Fragmented names floated up and flew out of the grave.

Some drifted north, some south, and some stopped beside the six of them, as if waiting for someone to decide for them.

A piece of paper landed beside Xu Erxiao.

On it was only one character: "Mother."

He picked it up, his hands trembling slightly.

"Is this my mother?"

Song Qinghe shone the bronze lamp over it.

The ink on the paper was completely ordinary - no evil qi, no trace of origin.

"Can't be confirmed."

Xu Erxiao closed his eyes.

"Then it's not her."

He pressed the paper onto a blank wooden tablet and wrote on the back:

"Unnamed woman, once called mother by a boy from Little Stone Village."

After writing, he planted the tablet into the snow.

The paper didn't fly away.

But slowly, it became clearer.

"Surname Sun."

Below it, another line of small characters surfaced:

"Husband's family unknown. Son: Xu Erxiao. Buried west of Little Stone Village."

Xu Erxiao's whole body shook.

He crouched down, clutching the tablet to his chest, his shoulders heaving violently.

Lu Yuan didn't rush him.

After a long while, Xu Erxiao finally wiped his face hard.

"This time, my mother has a name."

Wang Cheng'an walked over to him.

"It's only a temporary record."

"A temporary record is still better than nothing."

Inside the unmarked grave, more and more fragmented names were being written down anew.

Lin Zhaoxuan and Zhou Heng were responsible for identifying Daoist script and separating the old names that could be matched; Song Qinghe held up her lamp to reveal the belongings the residual shadows carried in life, recording the evidence on the back of the tablets; Wang Cheng'an used the abacus to separate out duplicate entries one by one.

Lu Yuan stood on the stone platform, continuing to write down the final memories for those who had no surname.

When he reached the three hundredth sheet, his black brush suddenly stopped.

A line of extremely heavy characters surfaced on the parchment:

"Lu Yuan, abandoned son of a medicine shop, origin unknown, destination uncertain."

Beside it, another line appeared:

"May be registered under public household."

Lu Yuan looked at those characters, then lifted his brush to correct them.

"Lu Yuan, apprentice of a medicine shop."

"Master: Gu Changgeng."

"Shop lost within the pass."

"Now traveling freely."

"Shall not be registered under public household."

The final character "public" struggled like a living thing.

Lu Yuan pressed down with his broken knife against the brush tip, forcibly adding another line beside it:

"Master's lineage can be verified. Destination determined by oneself."

The black characters on the parchment slowly faded.

Gu Changgeng's voice came from the well bottom:

"Well remembered."

"A person doesn't need a fixed destination to truly be alive."

Han Shoumo stood below the stone platform, watching the words Lu Yuan had written.

"Gu Changgeng used to say the same thing."

"Then why did he still enter the master altar?"

"Because he wanted to save everyone."

"The ones who want to save everyone are the easiest to be pushed into becoming the master name."

Han Shoumo gave a bitter smile.

"Others recorded even his resistance as part of the master altar."

"Every door he tore down, the discussion altar built an even bigger one in its place."

Zhou Heng asked:

"Did Gu Changgeng leave anything else before he died?"

Han Shoumo glanced at him.

"He left three sentences."

"First: a door opening doesn't mean the road is clear."

"Second: names may return, but the people may not."

"Third..."

He paused for a moment.

"Don't believe anyone who claims to represent everyone."

Lu Yuan looked up.

"Including you."

"Including me."

Han Shoumo nodded.

"So I'm handing the master ledger to you not because I trust you."

"But because I no longer trust myself."

As those words fell, the entire unmarked grave suddenly fell silent.

All the fragmented names had been written.

No one had been merged into a single name.

No one had been forcibly sent back to their old place.

The master ledger on the stone platform curled up at one corner, revealing its final page.

The last page bore only one palm print.

Not Han Shoumo's four-fingered print.

It was a complete left hand, five slender fingers, with a diagonal knife scar across the palm.

Lu Yuan saw that scar, and his heart sank.

"Whose palm print is this?"

Han Shoumo approached the stone platform.

"I don't know."

"Gu Changgeng didn't leave it."

"Qi Shousuan didn't leave it."

"Ma Huichuan didn't either."

"But it's on the final page of the master ledger."

At the edge of the palm print was pressed a small date:

"Republic Year Sixteen, twelfth month, fifth day."

Exactly two days before Gu Changgeng's final record.

Wang Cheng'an reached out and touched the frame of the abacus.

"This palm print appeared later."

"Someone touched the master ledger after Gu Changgeng."

Lin Zhaoxuan suddenly flipped open his Daoist records.

"Republic Year Sixteen, twelfth month, fifth day. There's an entry in the old register of Green Pine Temple."

"What does it say?"

"A foreign Daoist priest came through the pass, carrying a blank seal. He borrowed the back mountain of Green Pine Temple to shelter from the snow for one night."

Zhou Heng frowned.

"His Taoist name?"

"None."

"His name?"

"Only a surname was recorded."

Lin Zhaoxuan spread out the damaged page.

Most of the page had been eaten by worms, leaving only a blurred character:

"Shen."

Han Shoumo spun around abruptly.

"Shen?"

Lin Zhaoxuan nodded.

"The same surname as Shen Yanshan."

"Could be from the same clan?"

"Or it could be him."

Han Shoumo's face turned extremely ugly.

"Impossible."

Lu Yuan asked:

"Shen Yanshan entered the discussion altar at sixteen. If he were that foreign Daoist priest, the age doesn't match."

"The Shen Yanshan of back then isn't the Shen Yanshan of now."

Han Shoumo said in a low voice:

"After the Guardian Mountain Discussion Altar established its gates, every successive overseer had to change their name."

"The original name was given to the altar. Outside, one only used the altar name."

"Shen Yanshan is just a title."

"Then what was his original name?"

Han Shoumo didn't answer.

The complete palm print on the stone platform suddenly oozed black blood.

The black blood flowed down the parchment, coalescing into a line of characters:

"The hand that erased names is still beyond the mountain."

"The master ledger must not be carried out."

"Whoever holds the ledger becomes the new door."

Xu Erxiao said hurriedly:

"Isn't this just creating another door?"

"It's the master ledger protecting itself," Song Qinghe said. "It's afraid of being taken away and becoming another master altar."

"Then what do we do?"

Lu Yuan looked at the scattered wooden tablets.

"Take the master ledger apart."

Wang Cheng'an was stunned.

"If we dismantle the master ledger, how do we find thirty-some thousand names?"

"Split it into volumes."

"Divide by origin, by destination, by physical evidence, by residual wishes."

Lin Zhaoxuan continued:

"No single volume may independently form a master name."

Zhou Heng said:

"All volumes must cross-reference each other, but none may replace another."

Song Qinghe said:

"Every name must leave at least one copy in a place its owner might return to."

Xu Erxiao said:

"Those with no place, leave them by the well."

Lu Yuan said:

"The master ledger serves only as an index, not as a door."

Everyone immediately set to work.

Han Shoumo used the thin parchment under the stone platform to rebind the volumes, Wang Cheng'an handled the numbering, Lin Zhaoxuan and Zhou Heng sorted by Daoist affiliation, garrison households, wanderers, and the deceased, while Song Qinghe used the bronze lamp to identify the fragmented names that shouldn't be forcibly claimed.

Lu Yuan copied the index page by page.

With every page he finished, the original master ledger grew thinner by one layer.

By afternoon, thirty-seven thousand two hundred and sixteen names had finally been split into seven volumes.

The first volume recorded "Origin."

The second volume recorded "Destination."

The third volume recorded "Physical Evidence."

The fourth volume recorded "Testimony of Kin."

The fifth volume recorded "The Deceased."

The sixth volume recorded "Fragmented Names."

The seventh volume recorded no names at all, only a single rule:

"Whoever claims their own name must first bear witness to themselves."

Once the seven volumes were complete, the black palm print fell off the final page and transformed into an ordinary stone fragment.

Han Shoumo picked up the stone fragment and turned it over.

On the back of the stone were carved two characters:

"Shen Yan."

He stared at them for a long time.

"This is my old name."

Lu Yuan said:

"You can keep it."

"Or you can change it."

"No one decides for you."

Han Shoumo tucked the stone fragment into his sleeve.

"I don't know which one to use."

"Then record both."

Wang Cheng'an smiled slightly.

"One is what the altar called you. One is what you acknowledge yourself."

Han Shoumo looked at him.

"You really do act like a proper accountant now."

"I always was one."

After the seven volumes were separated, the wind in the mountains suddenly grew stronger.

The stone platform of the unmarked grave slowly sank, revealing a narrow passage at its base.

At the end of the passage came the sound of water.

Gu Changgeng's voice rang out again:

"The master ledger has been dismantled, but the old gates are not yet gone."

"There are three name-erasing seals in the North Ridge."

"This is the first."

"The second is at White Wolf Ravine."

"The third is at Old Dragon's Back."

"If the hand that erases names is not found, the old rules will be reborn under new names."

Lu Yuan asked:

"Is the name-eraser still alive?"

"As long as the palm print exists, it means someone is still acting on his behalf."

"The Guardian Mountain Discussion Altar has disbanded."

"What disbanded was the altar."

"Not the people."

The voice from the well bottom gradually faded.

"Go to White Wolf Ravine."

"There is a group of children without names there."

"They are not the dead."

"They are the living."

"Someone is choosing names for them right now."

Lu Yuan tucked away the seven-volume index.

"Han Shoumo, are you coming with us?"

Han Shoumo didn't answer immediately.

He looked at the dismantled stone platform, at the wooden tablets being re-erected one by one in the unmarked grave.

"I have to stay."

"Why?"

"These tablets haven't been returned to their places yet."

"Who will deliver them?"

"I will."

"Didn't you just say you wouldn't decide where people go?"

"Delivering them back isn't the same as deciding."

Han Shoumo picked up the "Origin" and "Destination" volumes in his arms.

"I'll only deliver them to people's hands."

"Whether they accept them or not is up to them."

Lu Yuan nodded.

"Then we split paths."

Han Shoumo tore a page from the seven volumes and handed it to Wang Cheng'an.

On the page was written the route to White Wolf Ravine.

"White Wolf Ravine is sealed on three sides. Only one old hunting trail can get in."

"At the entrance stands a black wooden memorial arch."

"Nine names are carved on the arch."

"Do not report your name beneath that arch."

Xu Erxiao asked:

"Why?"

"The arch will assign whatever name you report to the children inside."

"Then how do we get past without reporting?"

Han Shoumo looked at Lu Yuan.

"Report a name you don't want to be called."

Wang Cheng'an frowned.

"Deceiving the gate with a false name?"

"It's not deception."

Han Shoumo looked at Lu Yuan.

"It's letting the gate know that people have the right to refuse being defined by it."

Lu Yuan folded the route map.

"How many children are in White Wolf Ravine?"

"Twelve."

"All nameless?"

"Someone has given them names."

"Who?"

Han Shoumo looked toward the north.

"Mr. Han."

No one spoke.

The same "Mr. Han" clearly referred to more than one person.

Perhaps it was the old name Han Shoumo had left behind, or perhaps someone had borrowed that title later.

Shen Yanshan had already admitted that the discussion altar had changed his name.

But the children of White Wolf Ravine - who was choosing names for them?

Lu Yuan thought of the four-fingered palm print on the Stone Door, and a bad suspicion surfaced in his mind.

"The third name-erasing seal might not be at Old Dragon's Back."

"It's already begun moving onto the living."

Han Shoumo nodded.

"Then we must be fast."

"If White Wolf Ravine opens its gate today, Old Dragon's Back gets snow tomorrow."

"If the three name-erasing seals merge, the seven-volume index will re-form into a master ledger."

"When that happens, all the separated names will once again seek a master name."

Wang Cheng'an tucked the route map into his chest.

"And if the master name has already been chosen?"

Han Shoumo looked at his empty abacus frame.

"The master name is not among the six of you."

"It's in the seventh shadow."

Everyone turned around.

On the snowfield outside the unmarked grave, the seventh shadow still stood in its original spot.

It hadn't entered the grave, nor had it approached the stone platform.

But the abacus in its hand had been restored to completion.

The one hundred and eight bone beads were gone, replaced by one hundred and eight black seeds.

The shadow raised the abacus and gave it a light flick toward Wang Cheng'an.

A black thread flew out from the abacus and landed in the northern snow.

Within the snow line, a name slowly emerged:

"Han Shoumo."

Han Shoumo saw his own name, and his body went rigid.

The stone fragment fell from his sleeve.

Where it had once been carved with "Shen Yan," a thin line now appeared, as if someone were trying to change the character "Shen" into "Han."

"It's changing my name for me."

"It wants to turn you into the next gate-founder," Lu Yuan said.

Han Shoumo reached down to pick up the stone fragment.

But the seventh shadow stretched out first and stepped on it.

"The old name is discarded."

"The gatekeeper must use the Han name."

Han Shoumo looked up at it.

"I won't use it."

"You already have."

"That was given by others."

"Names given by others are the ones recognized by the masses."

"Then what I acknowledge myself doesn't count?"

Lu Yuan walked to his side.

"It counts."

He struck his blade at the shadow's foot.

The shadow withdrew its foot, and Han Shoumo picked up the stone fragment.

Han Shoumo used his fingernail to carve another line beside "Shen Yan":

"Han Shoumo, formerly the name of the Guardian Mountain Discussion Altar."

"Shen Yan, personal old name."

"Both are me. Neither may replace the other."

The black line on the stone slowly faded.

The seventh shadow let out its first roar of fury.

It raised the abacus, and the black seeds split open one after another.

From every seed extended a tiny finger, all pointing at the seven-volume index.

Lu Yuan shouted:

"Take the volumes and go!"

Wang Cheng'an distributed the seven volumes among the group.

Xu Erxiao carried the "Testimony of Kin" volume, Lin Zhaoxuan took "Dao" and "Origin," Zhou Heng held "Destination," Song Qinghe protected "Fragmented Names," Wang Cheng'an carried "Physical Evidence" on his back, and Lu Yuan kept the final "Self-Testimony" volume.

Han Shoumo picked up the "Deceased" volume.

They did not walk the same road again.

Lu Yuan pointed north.

"Regroup at White Wolf Ravine."

"If anyone arrives first, hold the arch, don't enter the gate."

Everyone acknowledged.

The six of them went down the mountain in different directions.

The seventh shadow lingered in place for a moment, then finally split into six wisps, chasing after each of them.

Lu Yuan walked on the easternmost path with the "Self-Testimony" volume.

The mountain road grew narrower and narrower, snow up to his knees. The trees on both sides were bent by the wind, icicles hanging in strings from their branches.

After walking half a li, he heard someone call out behind him.

"Lu Yuan."

It was his master's voice.

Lu Yuan didn't turn around.

"Lu Yuan, the medicine shop is on fire."

He kept walking.

"Lu Yuan, if you don't go back, no one will collect your master's body."

He raised the bronze lamp high and shone it at his feet.

His own shadow was still there, but behind him, a second shadow had appeared - one wearing an old long gown.

That shadow was carrying a medicine box.

"You won't even take care of your master?"

Lu Yuan said:

"I already collected his body."

"What you collected was a corpse."

"Do you even know your master's name?"

Lu Yuan stopped.

The shadow said:

"Gu Changgeng."

"Then do you know what his last words to me were?"

The shadow didn't answer.

Lu Yuan turned around, facing it directly for the first time.

The shadow's face gradually transformed into Gu Changgeng's appearance, but far older than he remembered.

Lu Yuan looked at that face.

"My master's last words were: if the medicine shop burns, let it burn."

"If the man still lives, find a new place to open the doors."

"If the man is gone, walk the road he didn't finish for him."

"You're just borrowing his face."

The shadow smiled.

"But I look more like him than you do."

"You only remember what he taught you."

"I remember what he didn't teach you."

"Like why he never told you he once participated in the Relocation Headquarters."

Lu Yuan's eyes darkened slightly.

The shadow continued:

"He wasn't purely a gate-breaker."

"He once stamped the master name seal too."

"He merged thirty-two refugees into a single 'Gu Clan Outside Household' to trick them past the pass."

"Later, six of them died within the pass."

"The remaining twenty-six scattered beyond the Great Wall."

"He always believed his method saved them."

"But their descendants are still pending verification to this day."

Lu Yuan gripped his broken knife tightly.

"I'll look into all of this."

"Aren't you afraid he did wrong?"

"Yes."

"Then why still walk his road?"

"Because wrongs need to be investigated, not used to keep deceiving people under evil rules."

The shadow fell silent.

Lu Yuan placed the "Self-Testimony" volume on the snow and opened the first page.

"If you're really my master, then report your own origin."

The shadow didn't move.

"Report."

"The medicine shop."

"Who opened it?"

"Gu Changgeng."

"When did it burn?"

The shadow began to blur.

Lu Yuan said:

"You don't know."

"Because you only have his face, not his memories."

"You're not him."

The shadow suddenly lunged at him.

Lu Yuan swept his blade horizontally.

The shadow was cut in two, transforming into two streams of black smoke - one burrowing into the snow, the other fleeing north.

Lu Yuan didn't chase.

He lowered his head and wrote a line in the volume:

"The shadow of Gu Changgeng once borrowed the master's name to block the road. Must not be recognized as the man himself."

After writing, he tore out the page and burned it to ash.

The ashes fell to the ground, and a faint sigh came from beneath the snow.

Gu Changgeng's voice drifted from afar:

"Well written."

Lu Yuan looked up. Over White Wolf Ravine in the north, a gray bird was flying past.

A red cord was tied to its foot.

At the end of the red cord hung a small wooden tablet.

On the tablet were written two characters:

"Hurry. Leave."

Meanwhile, Xu Erxiao had already arrived first at the entrance to White Wolf Ravine.

The black wooden memorial arch was taller than he'd imagined. Three wooden pillars were painted with black lacquer, and nine plaques hung from the crossbeam.

The names on the plaques had all been scraped off, leaving only surnames.

"Zhao."

"Lin."

"Wang."

"Xu."

"Zhou."

"Song."

"Han."

"Gu."

"None."

Xu Erxiao stood beneath the arch, not reporting his name.

A voice immediately came from above the arch:

"Visitor, what is your name?"

Xu Erxiao looked up.

"I ain't tellin' you."

"The nameless may not enter."

"I got a name."

"If you have a name, why not report it?"

"Because I don't want you pickin' one for me."

The nine plaques on the arch flipped over simultaneously.

On the back of each plaque was written a full name.

"Xu Erlang."

"Xu Shoutun."

"Eldest son of the Xu family."

"Xu household, lone registered."

"Stone Village, pending verification."

"Person without master."

"Follower of Lu Yuan."

"Wanderer from beyond the pass."

"Sixth substitute."

Xu Erxiao laughed in anger.

"See that? I don't even report, and you still make stuff up."

He drew his sword and chopped at the plaque reading "Sixth substitute."

The wooden plaque split in two.

From within the arch came the sound of children crying.

Twelve cries in total.

Xu Erxiao sheathed his sword and stood beneath the arch.

"Kids inside, listen up."

"My name is Xu Erxiao."

"You don't have to take my name."

"If any of you got your own name, say it yourself."

"If you don't, then write down what you remember."

"Don't go into this arch."

The crying slowly stopped.

A boy walked out from the arch.

He was about seven or eight, wearing an adult's old padded jacket, sleeves dragging past his hands. His face bore no injuries, but he had no eyebrows.

"My name is Han Shun."

Xu Erxiao stared at him.

"Who gave you that name?"

"The people in the arch."

"Do you accept it yourself?"

The boy thought for a long time.

"I don't remember."

Xu Erxiao crouched down.

"Then you're not Han Shun for now."

"What do you remember?"

"I remember a white wolf."

"Where's the wolf?"

"Dead."

"Who saw it?"

"Me."

Xu Erxiao nodded.

"Then you're the kid who saw the white wolf."

The boy looked at him.

"Is that okay?"

"Sure."

The "Han" plaque on the arch suddenly burst into black flames.

The remaining eleven children's crying started up again.

Xu Erxiao charged through the arch.

Inside the arch wasn't a mountain path at all - it was a small courtyard enclosed by wooden walls. Twelve children sat scattered on the ground, each with a wooden plaque hanging around their neck.

Each plaque bore a different surname and name.

Some had been carved over seven or eight times.

Some had only a single black scar remaining.

In the center of the courtyard stood a water vat, with a writing brush stuck inside it.

A woman in a black padded jacket stood beside the vat, holding a ledger in her hands.

"You shouldn't have come in."

Xu Erxiao raised his sword.

"I said I wouldn't go in the arch."

"Since you're in, you must leave a name."

"Then I'll take the kids out."

"They have nowhere to go."

"I'll find 'em somewhere."

"You're a man without a registered household. What makes you qualified to find them a place?"

"So what if I got no household?"

Xu Erxiao pointed at his own chest.

"I still got eyes, legs, and a sword."

"I've seen 'em, so I can lead 'em out."

The woman lightly flipped open the ledger.

"Seeing them doesn't count as testimony of kin."

"I ain't arguin' all that with you."

Xu Erxiao kicked the water vat over.

The black water spilled onto the ground, revealing layer upon layer of soaked, rotten paper.

On every sheet was written a child's name.

The woman's face changed drastically, and a stream of fine needles flew from her sleeve.

Xu Erxiao raised his sword to block, the needles clattering against the blade in rapid succession.

At that moment, Lin Zhaoxuan whipped an ink-line through the arch, wrapping around the woman's wrist.

"Xu Erxiao, grab the ledger!"

Xu Erxiao snatched the ledger from the woman's hands.

The first page read:

"Twelve orphaned children of White Wolf Ravine, awaiting assignment."

Beside each child's name were drawn three options.

"Return to garrison."

"Return to gate."

"Return to altar."

Not a single option said "Choose for yourself."

Lin Zhaoxuan stepped into the courtyard, yanking the ink-line back, and the woman was pulled to the ground.

"This isn't a care ledger."

"It's an assignment ledger."

The woman gritted her teeth:

"Children have no families. Someone must decide for them."

Xu Erxiao said:

"You decide, and they got a family?"

"At least they won't die."

"Then why don't you write your own name down and 'return to altar'?"

The woman was stunned.

Xu Erxiao tore the ledger into three pieces.

"From today, return to garrison, return to gate, return to altar - none of it counts."

He stuffed the three pieces into the fire.

"Kids can say who they want to go with. Themselves."

The twelve children stared blankly at him.

The first boy stood up and walked to his side.

"I'll go with the man who saw the white wolf."

The second girl said:

"I want to go to the river."

The third child said:

"I remember my dad is on the south slope."

One by one, they spoke of where they wanted to go.

Not a single one chose the altar.

The woman lay on the ground, her expression shifting from fury to bewilderment.

"No one will take them in."

Lin Zhaoxuan pulled a page from the "Origin" volume.

"Then record them as temporarily residing at White Wolf Ravine."

"They aren't nowhere."

"Their place of temporary residence is White Wolf Ravine."

Outside the arch, the "Xu" plaque on the stone pillar suddenly cracked.

Xu Erxiao removed all twelve children's wooden plaques and re-carved words on the backs.

He didn't write assignment. He didn't write pending verification.

He only wrote:

"Orphaned children of White Wolf Ravine. Temporary residence. Destination chosen by themselves."

The black cords around the children's necks snapped one by one.

The wooden walls of the courtyard began to fade.

Outside the arch, Zhou Heng and Song Qinghe arrived.

"Where's Brother Lu?"

"Not here yet."

"Where are Wang Cheng'an and Lin Zhaoxuan?"

"Brother Lin's here. Brother Wang took another path."

Song Qinghe looked at the children.

"They still have borrowed shadows on them."

Under each child's feet was a thin, elongated shadow, connecting to an iron door at the rear of the courtyard.

On the iron door was carved a single character:

"Han."

Zhou Heng pressed a copper coin against it.

From behind the door came a young man's voice.

"Children must have a father."

Xu Erxiao shoved his sword into the door crack.

"Come out."

"A man without a father cannot establish a household beyond the Great Wall."

"Then I'll be their dad."

"You're not qualified."

"What's qualification? Somethin' you hand out?"

The voice behind the door gave a light laugh.

"You can't even protect your own home."

Xu Erxiao's knuckles bulged with veins.

"Home ain't decided by you."

He turned to look at the children.

"Do you kids wanna get out?"

All twelve children answered in unison:

"Yes!"

"Then follow your own legs out."

Xu Erxiao split the iron door open with a single sword strike.

Behind the door was no one - only a black wall.

On the black wall hung twelve chains, each connected to a child's shadow.

Song Qinghe raised her lamp to shine on them, and fine characters surfaced on the chains:

"Father's name."

"Ancestor's name."

"Guarantor's name."

"Gate-return name."

"Master name."

"Total name."

Twelve chains, six kinds of names, intertwining back and forth.

Zhou Heng said:

"This isn't finding fathers for children."

"This is strapping six layers of identity onto them."

Lin Zhaoxuan used his ink-line to sever the first chain.

"No father's name doesn't mean no one cares for you."

Song Qinghe severed the second.

"No ancestor's name doesn't mean no origin."

Xu Erxiao chopped through the last chain with a single sword stroke.

"No master name doesn't mean no one protects you!"

Twelve black shadows broke free from their chains simultaneously and returned to the children's feet.

From within the black wall came a piercing shriek of rage.

Above White Wolf Ravine, a large swath of black snow suddenly drifted down.

Within the black snow, a man hung upside down from the arch's crossbeam.

He wore a short black jacket, half his face covered by a wooden mask carved with the character "Han."

He hung upside down, looking at Xu Erxiao.

"You can save twelve."

"You can't save all of White Wolf Ravine."

Xu Erxiao raised his sword.

"Then I'll save twelve first."

The man flipped down and landed lightly. The moment his toes touched the snow, four black shadows shot out from his sleeves, lunging at the children.

Zhou Heng's copper coins, Lin Zhaoxuan's ink-line, and Song Qinghe's lamp fire all moved at once.

But the black shadows didn't bother to engage them - they slipped past the three ritual tools and dove straight into the children's feet.

The children's shadows were instantly stretched long.

Xu Erxiao stood in front, his short sword chopping at the ground.

One stroke. Two strokes. Three strokes.

The shadows were scattered by his blade, but they crawled out again from beneath the arch's pillars.

"What's your name?" Xu Erxiao shouted at the man.

The man didn't answer.

"You won't say your name, so I'm callin' you Faceless Han."

The man's movements visibly halted.

Xu Erxiao pressed on:

"You scribble names on kids, but you don't dare say your own real one."

"You been changed too, ain't you?"

"Shut up!"

The man waved his hand, and all nine wooden plaques flew up from the arch.

The two bearing the character "Han" transformed into black blades, stabbing straight at Xu Erxiao's chest.

Xu Erxiao was forced back two steps.

Lin Zhaoxuan recognized the patterns on the black blades.

"He's the master of the name-erasing seal!"

"The palm print with the missing fourth finger belongs to him."

The man tore off his wooden mask.

Beneath the mask was a young, exhausted face - a burn scar on his left cheek, and a faintly carved character "Han" beneath his right eye.