Chapter 40 A cool breeze rustled through the trees…

A cool breeze swept through the gaps in the treetops, blowing a few leaves down to the ground.

Two pairs of shoes stepped over the ground piled with countless layers of leaves.

A hand reached out from behind and shoved Xie Baoqiong on the shoulder, rudely shouting:

"Hey kid, stop dawdling and hurry up."

Xie Baoqiong fell to the ground with the force of the impact, kicking up a few fallen leaves.

He stood up, supporting himself with one hand on the ground, and calmly patted the dust off the hem of his clothes with the other hand, moving slowly to buy Qi Gui more time.

Cai Shun glanced impatiently at Xie Baoqiong, who was still dusting herself off, then turned back to look in the direction of the carriage.

The carriage in the center of their vision was now just a tiny dot, but Ji Fei was inside the dilapidated temple. If the little devil in the carriage made any noise, Ji Fei would hear it and rush over immediately. Ji Fei was, after all, an adult; he couldn't possibly be unable to handle a little devil.

Thinking this, Cai Shun withdrew his gaze and turned it to Xie Baoqiong, who was still relatively well-behaved in front of him:

"Go and take care of it in the woods ahead," Cai Shun said, pointing towards the bushes.

Seeing Xie Baoqiong slowly walk around to the back of the bushes, she stopped under a tree outside the bushes and shouted a threat: "If you run away, the boy who was captured with you in the carriage won't survive either. Don't blame me for not warning you."

The loud voice startled a flock of birds on the treetops, and the dark mass of birds flew away in a chaotic manner into the distance.

Xie Baoqiong responded and turned to disappear deeper into the bushes.

Looking back to make sure Cai Shun's view was blocked by the bushes, Xie Baoqiong lifted her clothes and lay down on the ground.

The excuse of relieving himself was just to lure people over. He was, after all, a demon cultivator, so he naturally didn't have the worries of mortals who needed to go through the cycle of life.

A gentle breeze rustled through the woods, and he felt as if he had returned to the days he spent in Sishui Mountain.

Although the land beneath him was indeed a corner of a mountain range called Sishui Mountain, he always felt that something was missing from the surroundings.

Unexpectedly, not long after he lay down, a rustling sound suddenly came from the bushes beside him.

The sound was getting closer.

Xie Baoqiong turned her head to look at the source of the sound.

The leaves on the bushes trembled constantly, and a shadow was vaguely visible through the gaps in the leaves.

Suddenly, a red fox's head popped out from the lush green leaves:

"A small tombstone!"

A red, two-tailed fox leaped out of the bushes and landed on Xie Baoqiong's chest.

Su Xiaochun opened her pointed mouth, as if to say something.

One hand quickly grabbed his pointed mouth, and Su Xiaochun's fox-like eyes showed confusion. He put his two front paws on Xie Baoqiong's hand, pulled his mouth out, and curiously brought his black jade-like nose close to his friend to sniff.

Xie Baoqiong sat up, holding the fox in her arms, and briefly explained what had happened in a low voice, focusing on her next task of following Cai Shun to find the real culprit.

As Xie Baoqiong was explaining, Su Xiaochun, who had been lazily resting her fox head on Xie Baoqiong's neck, suddenly raised her head upon hearing the words "fox spirit," placed her front paws on Xie Baoqiong's shoulders, and leaped to the ground.

"Little tombstone, I'll go with you."

Xie Baoqiong turned her head to look at the fox walking out: "Then shrink down and hide in my sleeve."

"There's no need for all that trouble..."

Cai Shun, who was guarding Xie Baoqiong in the bushes, leaned against a tree trunk and glanced at the carriage from time to time.

He estimated the time and shouted into the bushes, "Hey kid, stop dawdling."

Only his own voice echoed through the woods. Cai Shun frowned and thought to himself, "Oh no, that brat might have run away, right?" He quickly straightened up and hurried towards the bushes.

"Here she comes." Just as Cai Shun was about to step into the bushes, Xie Baoqiong poked half her body out from the bushes.

"I just saw something in the woods," Xie Baoqiong said playfully.

Cai Shun knew the adage "good intentions can kill the cat," and in his line of work, all he had to do was look after himself.

"I don't care what's in the woods, as long as you don't run away, nothing else is my business."

A red fox with two tails...

Then, his thoughts gradually went blank, as if something had changed.

A stone and a fox watched silently as Cai Shun, who was standing in front of them, gradually became dazed.

"Xiaochun, well done." Xie Baoqiong patted the fox's head in her arms.

“Of course.” The two fox tails swayed leisurely. “My illusion magic is among the best of my generation.”

With the problem solved, Xie Baoqiong looked at the fox under her command and suddenly remembered a question: "Xiaochun, what are you doing here?"

Although this place can be considered part of the Sishui Mountain area, their activities were almost always on the main mountain, and they would rarely venture this far.

"Recently, there have been rumors of fox spirits in this area. I've come to see if it's my older sister."

As a result, during the few days I was here, I didn't see a single fox, let alone a fox fur.

I finally saw a carriage pass by during the day, so I followed it. Then I saw you getting out of the carriage in the distance, so I came to find you.

Su Xiaochun spoke with a hint of surprise, then sniffed and said disappointedly, "But my older sister would never do something like kidnapping a human cub. She already has me, her fox cub."

Xie Baoqiong grabbed the fox's tail, which had stopped swaying and was drooping downwards: "So, are you still going with me?"

"Of course I'm going! I want to see what kind of scoundrel this fox who's ruined my sister's reputation really is," Su Xiaochun said indignantly, taking a deep breath.

He jumped out of Xie Baoqiong's arms, and the moment he landed, he transformed into a young man, waving in front of Cai Shun.

Cai Shun's dull eyes gradually brightened. He saw Su Xiaochun appear in front of him, but before the doubts in his heart could even surface, they were blown away by a gentle breeze.

Cai Shun's gaze swept over Xie Baoqiong and Su Xiaochun, then he slapped Su Xiaochun on the back:

"You two are dawdling! Hurry up and go!"

The moment Cai Shun turned his head, Su Xiaochun's human head was replaced by a fox's head, and the eyes of a wild beast stared unhappily at Cai Shun's back.

Xie Baoqiong, who was beside Su Xiaochun, quickly reached out and tugged at Su Xiaochun's hand.

Just a second before Cai Shun turned around, Su Xiaochun transformed back into human form. Seeing the two still standing there, she said fiercely, "What are you dawdling for? Get in front of me."

Xie Baoqiong pulled Su Xiaochun along and walked forward.

Cai Shun followed a few steps behind the two, his eyes fixed on the two in front.

Su Xiaochun whispered in Xie Baoqiong's ear, "When we see that damn fox spirit, I'm going to knock the person behind me unconscious and throw him into the woods."

The laws of Heaven forbid cultivators from killing, but knocking someone unconscious does not count as murder.

"Yes, we need to drag it far away from the cave, otherwise it will smell bad," Xie Baoqiong reassured her.

...

The three walked back to the carriage in front of the dilapidated temple. Cai Shun glanced back at the carriage, and something vaguely flashed through his mind. He had only caught two people in the few days he had been in the capital. Oh well, at least he had caught the people the higher-ups had asked for.

He stopped looking at the empty carriages and turned to see Ji Fei sitting on the threshold of the main hall through the gate of the dilapidated temple. He instructed, "You two go inside the temple." He wanted to lead the horses to graze first.

A gust of wind lifted a corner of the carriage curtain, and Xie Baoqiong saw the empty carriage. In a good mood, she smiled and followed Cai Shun's advice, walking into the temple.

Su Xiaochun followed closely beside Xie Baoqiong as they entered the courtyard, her hands forming a hand seal as she prepared to deal with the other person in the temple.

Before he could even cast his illusion spell, Ji Fei, who was sitting on the threshold, didn't seem to notice anything amiss: "What are you two doing here?"

"The man guarding the carriage let us in. He's probably going to feed the horses," Xie Baoqiong said.

Ji Fei got up and looked around. Just as Xie Baoqiong had said, Cai Shun was leading a horse outside the courtyard. "There are still goods on the cart. Why doesn't he pay more attention?"

Ji Fei muttered something to himself, then turned and walked towards the carriage.

But when his gaze fell on the two people standing at the door, he stopped in his tracks. The people in the car outside were at least unconscious and tied up with ropes, but these two were standing perfectly fine. Although he had checked that the dilapidated temple only had this one door, the most important cargo was one of these two people.

So Ji Fei turned back and walked up to the two of them, only then did he realize something was strange.

He only saw Xie Baoqiong and Qi Gui on the night of the temple fair. It was dark that night, and he didn't get a good look at Qi Gui's face.

He only remembered that the two were of different heights, one tall and one short, but he couldn't recall which one was taller or shorter.

He looked down at Qi Gui's feet, and saw that they were at the same height as where Xie Baoqiong was standing:

"Your head..."

Before he could finish speaking, Ji Fei's expression gradually became blank, and his eyes became dull.

Su Xiaochun withdrew her hand. "This is also resolved."

Xie Baoqiong also mentioned Amei's matter: "There's still one person who hasn't returned. That person is a demon, but what is their true form..."

He tilted his head and thought for a while, feeling that Amei's scent was familiar, but he couldn't remember: "I'm not quite sure."

"Don't worry, it's not a powerful demon like Senior Xin, my magic will be enough." Su Xiaochun pulled Xie Baoqiong to sit down on a worn-out prayer mat in the temple. "If a new powerful demon arrives in the Sishui Mountain area, news will definitely spread among the spirits..."

Su Xiaochun suddenly stopped, "Did you sense the presence of other people in the temple?"

"Ah-Jung." A timid voice came from the corner of the palace entrance.

The two looked in the direction of the sound and saw a white duck with gray flecks fly over the threshold and land on the ground, running towards Xie Baoqiong with a "clunking" sound.

Su Xiaochun warily watched the little demon entering from outside the hall, and raised her hand to block Xie Baoqiong.

Xie Baoqiong gently took Su Xiaochun's hand and caught Qi Gui, who had thrown himself into her arms.

"who is he?"

"who is he?"

Two completely different tones simultaneously uttered the exact same words.

A strange and eccentric figure.

A soft, gentle voice.

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Author's Note: Xie Baoqiong: They are all my good friends (^ω^)