Side Story 3: The Chronicles of Qiankun (Part 2)

Yan Dan understood.

In Buddhism, form is appearance, form is emptiness, appearance is emptiness. Her original appearance was empty, and now the fox's body is also empty.

When she crawled out of the mud, she was exhausted, and her snow-white fur had turned gray. She didn't look like a fox anymore, but rather like a huge gray rat.

Okay, the fox is empty-handed, and the mouse is empty-handed too.

She decided to go to the hot springs to wash off the mud all over her body.

The road ahead was very difficult, but she climbed with great effort to the hot spring on the back of the mountain. The hot spring pool was emitting pale white steam, and bubbles were rising to the surface, looking very tempting.

Yan Dan happily rolled towards the hot spring, but before she could even get in the water, she was suddenly pulled out by her tail by a slender hand. Yan Dan turned her head in confusion and saw Bai Ling looking at her angrily, scolding, "Zi Yan, how did you get so dirty? Didn't I tell you, this hot spring is the mountain lord's favorite place? How dare you come here to bathe in such a dirty place?"

Yan Dan lowered her head. She was fearless, not afraid of Yu Mo or Zi Lin, but she was a little afraid of Bai Ling.

Bailing put down the plate in her hand, scooped some water from the hot spring with a wooden spoon, carried her to a further place, and poured a spoonful of water over her.

Yan Dan shook her body to get rid of the water droplets.

Bai Ling smiled slightly: "Now it's clean, go and have some fun!" Then she turned and walked towards the hot spring.

Yan Dan squatted on the ground, gazing enviously at the steaming hot spring.

After a moment, Yu Mo walked over and took off his outer robe. Bai Ling quickly stepped forward to take it from him and then stood on tiptoe to help him remove the white jade hairpin. Yu Mo walked down into the hot spring wearing his inner robe, and after a while, he placed the wet inner robe on the edge of the pool.

Bai Ling rolled up her sleeves, scooped up water to wet his jet-black hair, gently rubbed the soap shavings, and finally rinsed away the soap bubbles. Yan Dan was practically green with envy, and slowly crawled a few steps toward the edge of the hot spring pool.

After finishing what she was doing, Bailing asked softly, "Mountain Lord, would you like me to massage your shoulders and back?"

Yan Dan stroked her chin with her fox paw, thinking to herself, should she avoid this situation? What if the shoulder and back massage turned into a live sex show? Would she get a sty if she was peeking from the side?

Yu Mo leaned against the edge of the pool and said in a low voice, "No need, you can go do your thing."

Bai Ling responded softly, then turned and left.

Yan Dan squatted there, planning to wait for him to leave before jumping into the hot spring for a good soak, when she suddenly saw Yu Mo turn around, look at her and smile slightly, "Come here."

The little fox was too busy running away to listen to him, thankfully it was Yan Dan inside, not Zi Yan. Yan Dan ran over and sat by the pool.

Yu Mo grabbed her by the neck and lifted her into the hot spring, then let go of her decisively.

Yan Dan landed in the water, swam a couple of times, and vaguely realized something terrible: the little fox couldn't swim! Was Yu Mo going to drown her? That kind of death was too cruel and too ugly. Just as she was struggling in the water, Yu Mo suddenly scooped her up. He smiled slightly: "You're so dirty, where have you been rolling around?"

Yan Dan opened her mouth, only to realize that the fox's body couldn't speak at all, so she could only watch him silently.

She swore to the heavens, even a solemn oath, that if Yu Mo dared to bully her in her fox-like form, she would make him pay her back with interest once she recovered.

Yu Mo didn't say anything more, and leaned against the pool to rest with his eyes closed.

Yan Dan could only cling to the rocks by the pool, bobbing up and down with the bubbles. She had seen Yu Mo dressed neatly before, and she had also seen him disheveled, wearing only a single layer of clothing; this was the first time she had seen him without clothes. She noticed a deep, long, old scar on his chest that, despite the passage of time, had not healed completely.

Judging from the appearance of the wound, it looked as if a blunt instrument had pierced through his heart.

Amidst the swirling mist, the wound glowed with a faint red, standing out starkly against his ivory-white skin. Generally speaking, a man with fair skin is prone to appearing effeminate, even sissy, but Yu Mo possessed none of the effeminate qualities one might expect.

Yan Dan got tired of soaking in the water and climbed out on her own. Seeing that Yu Mo didn't react, she stumbled and ran out.

From afar, Yan Dan could already see her own house. Just as she was about to quicken her pace and rush over, she suddenly bumped into someone's clothes and was thrown far away. She fell and saw stars, groaning and unable to get up for a long time.

Today is definitely not a good day to travel; it's an extremely unlucky day, which is why she's experiencing so many misfortunes.

Just then, she felt a sudden tension as someone pulled her up by her three tails, revealing a handsome face with well-defined eyebrows. Tang Zhou, holding her by the tail, said, "Are you also going to find Yan Dan? Let's go together then."

Yan Dan screamed and struggled. "Tang Zhou and Yu Mo, you two bastards! If you don't know how to hold a small animal, then don't hold it! One of you is pinching her neck and the other is grabbing her by the tail. She's really going to be tortured to death!"

Tang Zhou walked outside, touched the closed door, then casually and nonchalantly flicked it open with his sleeve and went inside.

Yan Dan no longer wanted to recount his act of breaking into the door without knocking. She was truly heartbroken for that door. Once it was repaired, she would replace it with a sturdy and secure one.

Tang Zhou saw Yan Dan's body lying on the ground, walked over, lifted her clothes and bent down to look at her, then reached out and pressed on her body.

Yan Dan gritted her teeth and glared angrily.

Tang Zhou put down the fox-like Yan Dan, walked to the table, rummaged through the pile of books for a while, and finally opened the book that recorded the Qiankun Technique. He glanced at it quickly and said in a very calm tone, "So it was a soul swap."

Yan Dan broke down.

Tang Zhou, why did you have to be so shrewd now of all times...?

He leisurely sat down on the round stool by the table, propping his chin up with one hand, and looked at Yan Dan, who looked like a fox: "The Soul-Locking Curse, huh? But it's been modified quite well. Completely self-serving and harmful to others."

Yan Dan had already frozen into a stone.

Tang Zhou smiled and said, "How about this, we make a gentleman's agreement. I'll help you switch your soul back and I'll keep this a secret. But if you ever anger me, this secret won't be able to stay." How about it?

"Pah! What kind of gentleman's agreement is this? You're clearly not a gentleman, yet you shamelessly pretend to be one. This is called taking advantage of someone's misfortune!" Yan Dan struggled with her inner turmoil for a long time before stiffly bending her neck.

Yan Dan finally returned to her original, unassuming self.

For a moment, she found it very strange to walk on two legs.

The little fox and Dan Shu sat to one side, bewildered, seemingly unable to comprehend what had happened. That was perfectly natural; their souls were locked, how could they possibly remember what had occurred?

So this matter is known only to Heaven, Earth, her, and Tang Zhou. As long as Tang Zhou doesn't tell anyone, her shameful secret will remain unknown to other demons.

Her reputation was ultimately preserved, sparing her from eternal infamy and ridicule.

Tang Zhou said coldly, "Reputation? Do you even have that?"

"..." Yan Dan was very frustrated.

Even in his frustration, Dan Shu's ear had to be repaired to compensate for the ten days to half a month he couldn't sleep. The Qiankun Technique was obviously no longer usable; he had to find another way.

She sat at the table, flipping through a huge pile of books, but couldn't find a suitable spell. Dan Shu obediently nestled beside her, her eyes filled with tears, making her feel slightly guilty.

Around dusk, Yu Mo arrived at the door.

He simply pointed with two fingers and straightened Dan Shu's ear, which made Yan Dan both envious and jealous. Dan Shu happily went back with Zi Yan on her head, while Yu Mo leaned casually against the table, flipping through a stack of books.

For some reason, Yan Dan felt very uneasy.

Half an hour passed, and Yu Mo remained motionless against the table. The room was quiet, save for the rustling of his pages. She looked at Yu Mo's profile; because of the setting sun, his face seemed somewhat blurred, yet it appeared exceptionally gentle. The way he leaned against the table was incredibly elegant.

Yan Dan held her teacup, hesitated for a long time, and then asked, "Yu Mo, are you staying here for dinner?"

Yu Mo looked up at her and smiled slightly: "Let's do it another day. Bai Ling is cooking today, so we'll eat at Zi Lin's place." He paused and said calmly, "Actually, the Qiankun Technique is used to exchange souls. As for that donkey demon using it to exchange for something else, that's only happened once in all of history."

Yan Dan stared at him in shock.

Yu Mo handed the book in his hand to her, his slender fingers lightly tracing the pages: "That's what it says here. From now on, when you read books, you should at least read them all."

Yan Dan's hand, which was holding the teacup, was already trembling.

Yu Mo closed the book and said gently, "Actually, it's already quite good that you reached this level on your first use of the Qiankun Technique. As far as I know, very few demons can succeed on their first try."

The teacup in Yan Dan's hand shattered with a crack.

The next day, the weather was fine.

Yan Dan, carrying a stack of cultivation books, kicked open the door to Yu Mo's study.

Bailing was wiping a celadon vase with a white cloth when she was startled by the loud noise behind her. Her hand trembled, and the vase shattered on the ground with a crash. She turned around, hands on her hips, her face contorting into a grimace.

Yan Dan casually threw the large stack of books on the table and said aggressively, "Tell Yu Mo that I will never cultivate again! This is outrageous!"

Bai Ling was dumbfounded.

Yan Dan turned and stormed off, only to run into Tang Zhou, who was returning from his morning sword practice. The weather was getting warmer, and Tang Zhou, who had been practicing for nearly an hour, had a slight sheen of sweat on his cheeks. He was wiping it away when Yan Dan strode towards him, saying with great force, "Tang Zhou, listen to me carefully! I absolutely will not take your so-called gentleman's agreement seriously. Go ahead and tell everyone about it; I don't care!"

Tang Zhou watched her walk away, bewildered, and couldn't help but mutter to himself, "...Did she fall under a spell?"

After this small incident, Yan Dan summarized her feelings about life: no matter what, dignity should never be abandoned, but face can be thrown away at any time.

The thicker your skin, the better, whether you're dealing with humans or demons.