And so, this immortal lord also headed back.
I hesitated in the corridor; should I return to my room or to Heng Wen"s? After thinking about it, I still made my way to Heng Wen"s door. I pushed it open, and caught Heng Wen drinking tea at the table. I walked up to the table and sat, as Heng Wen lifted up the teapot to refill his cup, I took another cup and extended it to be filled while he"s at it.
"You want to save up on this smallest of effort too?"
"Pour it for me, then the remaining tea I will pour for you." I laughingly said. Heng Wen scoffed, then took the cup from my hands and filled it up.
My gaze flickered to the fox nestling on the bed. "Furball, I have something to discuss with you. Lead the road to your cave tonight, Qingjun and I will follow behind, let"s release the surnamed Shan that you locked up."
The fox jumped down the bed and turned into his human appearance. He leaned against the bedpost with creased brows. With the wound that Shan Chengling gave him still visible, the fox must still feel bitter inside, when he heard that I want him to release the mortal, his face was pale with rage.
Qingjun and I came down to the world for a mission, and the man you locked up happens to be one of the main characters involved. To be honest, this immortal lord had some grievances in relation to the man. if not for the mandate of heaven holding me back, say you were to roast and eat him, this immortal lord will be right there helping you light up the fire."
The fox crossed his arms and didn"t utter a sound up until Heng Wen spoke. "What Song Yao Yuanjun said is true, although this is being unfair to you, we really hope that you could help."
In a snap, the fox became docile, saying, "If Qingjun wants to let him go, I will let him go this very night." His expression gave off a willingness to offer even his life for whatever it is.
Thus the fox and I set forth for his cave at midnight. Heng Wen just said he will not be going with us and took out my true body. His appearance now doesn"t differ much from his true self. If Shan Chengling becomes aware of it, it will be more troublesome.
When the fox heard that Heng Wen won"t be coming with, his face turned shades darker. He led this immortal lord up the mountain he"s dwelling in without saying a word all the way.
A pitch-black night, blowing gales, the end of it carrying a tailwind, and the flowing clouds riding on the winds. A little more than a quarter of an hour, we"ve reached the fox"s place.
I and the fox landed at the waist of the mountain, irregular shadows of trees and thick long gra.s.ses around us. I asked the fox what the mountain was called, and he said cooly, "Xuan Qing mountain."
Xuan as in Xuan Li and Qing as in Heng Wen Qingjun. This immortal lord"s muscles were taut for an instant.
"What is the name of the mountain before you came up with a new one?"
"Ku Teng Mountain," he said resentfully, then stuffed down his head and walked a few steps away. "How did you know I was the one who changed the name?"
I didn"t answer him. When this immortal lord was in the human world reading poems and nursing my broken heart, he was still out there stealing some poor family"s chickens.
The fox"s cave entrance was covered by leafy vines climbing up the mountain surface, we walked in, and meandered the long narrow stone path inside. The fox knows how to enjoy life. Here was a trail of water that the fox had dug up in front of us, and a stone bridge above the water is needed to cross it. Across the bridge, there was a piece of stone screen, and we walked around it. The fox raised his hand, emitting fire that blazed to the torches on the four surrounding walls, revealing another cave before us. This one was a deep expansive cave compared to the last, and it was set up to imitate a room"s furnishing. There are vegetables, fruits, and wine displayed on the stone table, and satin brocade cushions padded his stone chairs. On the right-hand side, there was even a coloured gla.s.s screen inlaid with precious stones.
I was just about to praise the fox"s stone nest when the fox, standing in the middle of the room with furrowed brows, mumbled, "Not right."
He rushed to the other side of a screen with big steps.
This immortal lord followed behind him. Beyond the screen was another path of stones, divided into innumerable branches. The fox walked ahead in a swift manner, I followed right behind him. We made several turns on the bends, and finally at the end of the road, then he pushed open a stone door which led to another cave. The fox lit up the torches the same way he did before. This cave only had a single bare pillar and broken iron chains were scattered around the pillar"s foot.
It looks like the fox had detained Shan Chengling in this cave.
I frowned at the iron chain remains scattered all around the floor. Shan Chengling was actually so fierce and powerful that he could break away from the iron chains and escape from the fox"s cave?
The fox gritted his teeth hatefully and mumbled something unheard, then hurried out of the cave. I followed him out and through another seventy, or eighty bending paths after the stone screen, where he pushed open a different cave door. A gust of wind blew from the interior of the door. I looked up and what I saw was the dense black night sky. This part is the crack of the mountain, and the fox had made it into a garden.
Something dark emerged from the shadows and shot up straight towards us.
And then, a whimper came. An animal of some kind drilled into the fox"s embrace, squirmed, then turned into a naive-looking little boy. "My king… You finally came back, my king… Huu, someone very terrible came, he took the man you chained away… Big sis Hong— Sis Hong— Brother Hua, and Xiao Qi… they were all caught by him— Hu hu… I— I, I managed to hide… I was so scared, king… huu.." He howled and bawled in the fox"s arms.
The boy buried his head into the fox"s arms. He continued to cry, his little hands wiping his tears and snot, as he recounted for the fox.
We ended up waiting until he eventually cried his fill. The fox held the little cat and led this immortal lord to return to the first cave we saw. The boy shrank smaller into the chair he was seated on, not pausing with his sobs and sniffles. On one hand, he sobbed away, and on the other hand, he was stealing glances at this immortal lord. He had a pair of lush green eyes and two pointy ears on his head had stripes coloured ash grey. The boy turns out to be a mountain cat spirit.
Little mountain cat"s words were disorderly and very unclear, he stuttered for so long before I finally got the general idea of what had transpired from his mouth.
He said, this morning someone carrying a horsetail whisk in his hand barged into the cave, forcibly took Shan Chengling away and captured the big and small demons numbering a dozen or so, even the vixens with beautiful appearance as well as the other demons who didn"t have enough cultivation to resist. The mountain cat had the least cultivation and his animal form is the weakest, but he squeezed himself into a crack on a rock and luckily kept his life.
I saw the fox"s face hardened with fury and his eyes grow harsh, and I knew then that from here on out, he will not be able to exist under the same sky as Shan Chengling.
The appearance of the saviour with a horsetail whisk in the little mountain cat"s story was very unclear. He kept repeating the same words back and forth, "doesn"t have a beard", "looks like a Daoist", "blue robes". He looked very wronged as he displayed his hurt front paws for the fox to check.
This immortal lord"s eyes and ears was still on their matters, but I had to tell them that, "No one is in this cave anymore, so this immortal lord"s business here is considered done. The time is quite late, I must be returning to the inn now."
My eyes moved to the fox and mountain cat, "You-what are both of you planning to do now?"
The fox was completely silent and the mountain cat curled into himself on the chair.
The fox"s small village of spirits was now devoid of demons. He sat down with a hanged head, and it made him look rather miserable.
Who can say if that powerful horsetail-whisk-cultivator won"t come back to attack again? It"s a bit dangerous for the fox and the small mountain cat as it is now.
In fact, it"s very easy to turn my heart soft… This immortal lord, knowing their circ.u.mstances and seeing the way they looked now, felt my heart soften a little unwittingly.
Just a little bit.
But when I return to Heng Wen"s room, following behind me were one white fox and one grey striped mountain cat.
The fox hopped onto Heng Wen"s knees. He issued a whine, coiled himself and lied down dispiritedly on his lap. Heng Wen stroked his head, the fox nudged up his head and licked Heng Wen"s hand in return.
The mountain cat hopped onto the bed as well, situating himself on the feet of the bed, at one corner of the blanket, and audibly lapped at his injured paws.
And this immortal lord was in the middle of regretting that bit of soft-heartedness.
Editor: Mims
t/n: super sorry about the lateness for this week"s chapter! thanks for waiting!
I thought what if it was HW who did this and laughed a bit bc what if he wants to travel with just the two of them?? but then thought given how many characters keep being introduced, this daoist"s probably an entirely new character