Junior Brother Pays Respect to You: Chapter 2 - Time Scroll
Chapter 2: Time Scroll
Qin Zheng ran along the small path beside the mountain road, dashing all the way back to his residence.
It was a natural cave. Ever since being expelled from his sect, Qin Zheng had lived there.
Twenty years ago, after being expelled from the Tianque Sect, he managed to find his way back home using fragments of childhood memories.
He thought he could return to a life of luxury and comfort.
However, he had been in the Tianque Sect for almost thirty years, and during that time, a new heir had already taken his place at home. His parents had both passed away.
No one was willing to acknowledge this eldest son who had suddenly returned.
With no other choice, Qin Zheng returned to Mount Yujing. Penniless, he found this cave and had lived there ever since.
For twenty years.
Before his expulsion, Qin Zheng stubbornly refused to admit his wrongdoing. Enraged, his master imposed a twenty-year expulsion, hoping he would reflect on his mistakes.
But only a year after descending the mountain, Qin Zheng already regretted everything.
Now, whenever he recalled what happened back then, he couldn’t understand why he had been so unwilling to admit his mistake.
If he could do it all over again, he swore he would never be foolish enough to mess with his junior brother!
Now sitting in the messy and somewhat chilly cave, Qin Zheng thought about the scene at Tianque Temple earlier and felt intense regret.
“Oh heavens, is there no such thing as a regret pill I can take?”
He let out a couple of weak howls at the sky, just to vent his frustration.
“But even a regret pill wouldn’t help. The stupid things I did can only be undone if I got a second chance at life.”
Qin Zheng looked around and began rummaging through things in the cave.
There was no chance of making any money today, so he could only hope to find some copper coins he might have accidentally dropped before—enough to afford a meal.
It was winter, and cold, hungry nights were the hardest to get through.
As he lay on the stone bed, digging into its cracks, he suddenly felt a light tap on his back.
Qin Zheng froze for a moment, then his mood instantly brightened.
Only one being would come to this cave!
He turned around and plopped down on the stone bed, grinning at the foggy ‘person’ standing in front of him.
The figure in front of the bed was about the same height as Qin Zheng, had no facial features, couldn’t speak, and was shaped like a human, but could understand speech.
This being was something Qin Zheng had encountered in the forest fifteen years ago, and it had followed him ever since.
However, it didn’t appear on a set schedule—sometimes visiting daily, sometimes once every seven days, and the longest stretch was half a year without a single appearance.
Qin Zheng had thought he’d never see it again.
But half a year later, it swaggered right back into his life.
Overall, it was a very carefree creature.
“Xiao Bai! I missed you so much!” Qin Zheng hugged the foggy figure tightly around the waist.
Xiao Bai was the name he’d given it.
“You showed up at just the right time today!”
“Go get me something to eat, or I’ll have to go to bed hungry tonight.”
After speaking, Qin Zheng let go and retreated to the bed, looking pitifully at Xiao Bai—whether it could see him or not.
Xiao Bai tilted its head but didn’t move.
Just as Qin Zheng was wondering what was going on, Xiao Bai stretched out a hand.
He hadn’t noticed before, but now that the hand was in front of him, Qin Zheng saw that Xiao Bai was holding a soil-colored scroll.
Qin Zheng glanced at the scroll with little interest.
“Another gift for me?”
Xiao Bai nodded.
“You picked it up?”
Xiao Bai nodded again.
Qin Zheng was baffled. Xiao Bai had been picking up random things for years, but why had it never picked up money for him?
Seeing that Xiao Bai kept holding out the scroll, Qin Zheng finally reached out and took it.
Every time Xiao Bai offered him something, it would keep holding it out until Qin Zheng gave in.
After Qin Zheng accepted the item, Xiao Bai finally turned around, bouncing over to the shelf in the cave to grab a basket before heading out.
Looks like it was obediently going to find food for him after all.
After Xiao Bai left, Qin Zheng turned his attention back to the scroll, casually fiddling with the plain-looking object with his long fingers.
Xiao Bai’s worst habit was its obsession with picking up all sorts of random junk, like a child who had never seen the world.
Anything even slightly uncommon in the forest, it would bring back.
And it never kept them—everything was gifted to Qin Zheng.
Judging by the material, the scroll, though a little dull in color, was made of silk.
Who knew how Xiao Bai managed to find something like that in such a remote forest?
With nothing better to do, Qin Zheng used two fingers to tug at the ribbon binding the scroll.
As soon as he did, the scroll slowly unfurled on its own, as if it were alive.
At the moment it opened, a flash of golden light passed before Qin Zheng’s eyes.
Then, a string of golden characters emerged from the scroll, floating above its surface.
“Tsk! Looks like this is actually a treasure, huh?”
Qin Zheng focused and carefully read the golden text.
[This scroll is called the Time Scroll. It allows a person’s soul to temporarily travel through time and return to the past, giving a fated person a chance to make different choices.
The scroll grants only ten chances to return to the past. Each time, one can only remain in the past for one month, so the fated one should cherish it.
You can only visit the same point in time once, and any two time points must be at least six months apart. Use the opportunities wisely.
Do not attempt to change the course of history. If you do, your current self will vanish along with the changes, and your soul will be trapped in that time period with no way to return.
Reminder: The exact point in time you arrive at may be slightly off, so prepare yourself mentally.
Usage: Use the pen to write the desired time on the scroll, and it will activate automatically.]
Qin Zheng read the lines several times over. After carefully pondering their meaning, he began to understand the scroll’s function.
Return to the past, change the past—wasn’t that exactly what he had been hoping for?
Just as he was wondering what kind of pen the instructions referred to, a wooden pen shot out from the scroll’s handle and hovered steadily above it.
All he had to do was pick it up and write the time on the scroll, and it would activate.
Qin Zheng glanced at the inside of the scroll—completely blank. Then he looked at the pen standing upright in front of him.
He couldn’t help but feel suspicious: was this some sort of trap?
How could it be that he had just wished for a second chance, and now the heavens had dropped one into his lap?
And not just one chance—ten?
Thinking back on his nearly fifty years of life—so unlucky that even writing a love letter ended with the whole sect finding out.
It seemed impossible he’d just get a treasure like this by sheer luck.
Qin Zheng turned the scroll over in his hands a few times, then hesitantly set it beside his bed.
He stubbornly comforted himself, “My life’s pretty carefree now anyway. Nothing to regret, really.”
Just then, Xiao Bai returned from foraging with a basket.
Qin Zheng sighed when he saw it.
Xiao Bai could only pick fruits—delicious ones, no doubt, and he could find them in every season—but they didn’t really fill you up.
Especially on a cold winter night when something warm was needed.
Qin Zheng took the basket and picked out a fruit that looked appealing, wiped it on his sleeve, and started eating.
Meanwhile, after handing over the basket, Xiao Bai began tidying up the cave on his own initiative.
Qin Zheng had already made the most of Xiao Bai’s usefulness.
Foraging was Xiao Bai’s own skill, but cleaning up was something Qin Zheng had taught him.
Xiao Bai seemed particularly enthusiastic about learning from Qin Zheng and did the chores with great joy.
Every time he appeared, he’d help tidy up the cave without needing to be asked.
Watching Xiao Bai bustling about, Qin Zheng once again pondered what exactly he was.
Xiao Bai had first appeared while Qin Zheng was asleep, right there in the cave. Even though Qin Zheng wasn’t easily frightened, waking up to see a white ‘person’ crouching beside his bed had terrified him.
At first, he thought Xiao Bai was a ghost, but he wasn’t afraid of sunlight.
Though he looked like a mist, he was a solid entity, able to hold and move things.
At the time, Qin Zheng regretted not studying properly at the Tianque Sect. Maybe if he had read more books, he’d know what Xiao Bai actually was.
Qin Zheng sat cross-legged on the bed and glanced at the scroll beside him, still glowing with golden text, then looked at Xiao Bai.
“Xiao Bai! Are you sure this scroll isn’t a trick?”
Xiao Bai, happy to hear Qin Zheng call his name and ran over.
He looked at the scroll, tilting his head as usual.
Seeing that expression, Qin Zheng knew he had no idea either. It was probably just something he randomly picked up.
“It’s nothing.”
Since Qin Zheng didn’t need him anymore, Xiao Bai ran back to keep tidying.
Qin Zheng’s eyes followed him, but his mind was stuck on whether or not to try the scroll.
The temptation to change the past was just too great.
Suddenly, Xiao Bai stopped moving. He looked alarmed as he glanced toward the cave entrance—then, right in front of Qin Zheng’s eyes, he disappeared.
It was as if something terrifying had appeared outside the cave.
Qin Zheng looked toward the entrance in confusion, but after a long moment, he heard nothing.
Though he’d known Xiao Bai for over ten years, he still didn’t understand him at all.
He’d tried to follow him before, curious about his origins, but quickly realized he couldn’t keep up.
Xiao Bai could soar through the air and vanish into the ground, while Qin Zheng just had two legs. Despite training at the Tianque Sect for over 20 years, he’d never learned techniques for flying or teleporting.
Once Xiao Bai left the cave, he was like a wild horse off its leash—impossible to follow. After losing him a few times, Qin Zheng gave up.
It wasn’t like he was that curious—he was just bored.
Full from the fruit, Qin Zheng lay on the bed with the scroll in hand, legs crossed, still struggling over whether to give it a try.
During his twenty years among mortals, he slowly realized—he wasn’t aging.
By his own count, he was nearly fifty, but aside from his graying hair, he didn’t look a day over twenty.
His body felt stuck in his early twenties.
At the Tianque Sect, he hadn’t studied magic seriously, and when he was expelled for twenty years, he had cursed his master for being too harsh.
But now he realized—his master had known all along that he wouldn’t age.
To a long-lived being, twenty years was the blink of an eye.
This realization terrified Qin Zheng. He had hoped to live a few careless decades and then die, but now it seemed he couldn’t die even if he wanted to. All he could do was endure.
So he began counting the years, hoping that once his exile ended, he could return to the sect—even if he couldn’t become immortal, he could at least live like an ordinary human again.
But the encounter at Tianque Temple today had crushed that hope.
Suddenly, as if a switch had flipped in his mind, Qin Zheng sat up, picked up the wooden pen still hovering above the scroll, and began writing the time he had long planned in his heart.
With each stroke, the characters glowed with a pale blue light.
Once the full time was written, the scroll burst into radiant blue light. Within the blue glow, Qin Zheng slowly lost consciousness.
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