BOOK 10. There are two tales at the beginning. Zhao Yunlan is searching for a lost artefact while Black Robe is searching for the same thing in a different world. One story is partly an illusion, while the other is very real and when they merge...
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Yunlan stared again, speechless, as Wei arose and put the kettle on to make coffee for him, before he glanced over and studied the similarities between him and the older version who had helped him years ago.
"Sugar in your coffee Yunlan, how many?.. Yunlan, do you take sugar in your coffee?"
"Sorry, yes please, three ... you really only met Black Robe five years ago but his other host was 350 years old when he died, what age are you?" Yunlan asked as Wei put the mug down in front of him.
"I'm only thirty and I teach at a college during the day. I'm still learning all about this life. The lead guard only told me about the house today. Black Robe wasn't ready to come back and see it, I had to persuade him. The two last owners left the house at the same time. One died and the other went into a coma and the Spirit ran to me, the next descendant. He never returned here until tonight."
Yunlan thought about it and he was surprised at how a powerful spirit was affected by grief, but he could understand why, after losing a host he had been with for so long and also the partner at the same time, would a human not show the same reaction.
"So Yunlan, why did you want to see me? Was it about the house?" Wei asked as he watched Yunlan's mind working.
"Yes sorry, I was distracted. You've given me too much to think about and I can't concentrate on anything else. If he's a spirit, where did he come from and if the last host was 350 years old and he goes from host to host because I'm guessing that's how he lives here in this world, where did he originally come from and how old is he?"
"Do you occasionally breathe between questions?" and Shen Wei laughed, "Alright, I'll try and explain but forgive me if I get some of it wrong because I was at your stage not that long ago."
Yunlan sat enthralled listening to Wei talking him through the history of the two worlds fighting, and then being closed off from each other with Black Robe the only person who could travel between them. He was amazed at the Spirit's length of time he'd been in this world and how many hosts he'd had and lost, until Wei reached the part of explaining who the guards were.
"You have bodyguards? Why would anyone so powerful need bodyguards to protect him?"
Good question, Wei thought, how do I explain that.
"Threats are not always visible, so they watch my back and look after me when I'm ill, or come to me when I'm in danger. They obey me and do whatever I ask of them, they are loyal and would die to save me."
Yunlan looked seriously at this young attractive person sitting in front of him, there seems to be a lot more to know about him than he was willing to tell, especially when his guards would give up their lives for him.
"Where do you live Shen Wei?"
"I'm in student accommodation just now, I was saving money for my future, but then I didn't know about this place. Would it be alright if I moved in here, there are plenty of spare rooms, and it would help me save more?" Wei asked.
