Side Story 3: The Chronicles of Qiankun (Part 1)
Snap—
The door was flung open and swayed in the crisp morning breeze.
Dan Shu, covered in a snow-white ball of fur, pounced on the bed, yanked Yan Dan out from under the covers, and wailed, "Yan Dan, Sister Yan Dan... Waaaaah, something terrible has happened, waaaaah..."
Yan Dan was filled with rage. She was lying in bed having a sweet dream when she was awakened by the little wolf demon's cries, which sounded like pigs being slaughtered and sheep being butchered. She was furious beyond measure.
Dan Shu hugged her and shook her, her cries growing louder: "If Father sees this, he will definitely kill me. He said I am a disgrace to our wolf clan, and there is no wolf demon in the world more foolish than me, waaaaah..." As he cried, he suddenly hiccuped.
The little wolf demon was quite naive, something Yan Dan had noticed long ago, even before his father defended him, saying that his son Dan Shu was just too young to understand. Being able to transform into human form usually meant being an adult, and being an adult meant not being young anymore. It was extremely rare for someone like Yan Dan to be underage when he transformed into human form.
She patted Dan Shu on the back and asked gently, "What happened? Didn't you make progress in your cultivation recently and even get rid of your tail? Why would your father kill you?"
Between hiccups, Dan Shu spoke haltingly, "My ears... my ears aren't working..."
The little fox that had been clinging to his head lifted its body, revealing its rather asymmetrical ears.
It turned out that Dan Shu had just made his tail disappear and was thinking of moving the wolf ears on top of his head to the sides of his face. However, he somehow misused his strength, and instead of moving the ears to the sides, they became asymmetrical on top of his head.
Yan Dan threw back the covers, put on her outer clothes, and washed up. As she did so, she wrung out a towel and handed it to him, saying, "Wipe your face. I'll help you think of something. If all else fails, we can ask Master Yu Mo for help."
As soon as she finished speaking, the little fox staggered and clung to Dan Shu's hair, crying pitifully. Dan Shu cried out, "It hurts, it hurts! Zi Yan, don't grab me so hard! Sister Yan Dan, you see, I really can't go to Lord Yu Mo."
So we settled for second best.
Yan Dan sighed and began rummaging through a stack of books about cultivation on the table. These books were all left by predecessors, and Yu Mo had a complete collection of them, which she had borrowed to read over the past few days.
Dan Shu wiped his face and squatted pitifully to the side, watching her flip through the book.
Yan Dan flipped through one book after another, then suddenly said, "This Qiankun Technique should be usable... The book says that once upon a time, a donkey demon transformed into a human and its hooves grew onto its face. It used the Qiankun Technique to move the hooves to the soles of its feet. If we used this to move your ears to the side of your face, it should work too, right?"
Dan Shu's spirits lifted, and she patted her chest, saying, "I'm not afraid, Sister Yan Dan, go ahead and try!"
Yan Dan couldn't help but tap him on the head: "If anyone should be afraid, it's me. Don't you know that the caster of the spell can be harmed by the magic? I'm in much more danger than you." She pointed to the round stool next to her: "You sit here, I'll give it a try."
Dan Shu sat upright on the stool, but her back was trembling. She stammered, "What if... what if it doesn't work out in the end, and my ears end up on my feet?"
Yan said indifferently, "Then you should change into a bigger pair of shoes."
She carefully read the incantation three times before making a hand seal with her left hand and starting to chant it over Dan Shu's head. Just as she was chanting the last few words, she suddenly remembered that the little fox was lying on his head. What if something went wrong and the little fox grew onto Dan Shu's face? If that happened, she wouldn't need Lin Lang and Zi Lin to do anything; she might as well just find a rope and strangle herself.
"Ziyan, go downstairs for a while." Yan Dan reached out and moved the little fox onto the table, focusing intently on reciting the last few incantations. But as she recited the last word, the little fox suddenly jumped up and landed on top of Dan Shu's head. Yan Dan felt dizzy and her vision blurred. She looked down with difficulty and saw her own body sitting on the table, slowly falling backward as it lost the support of its soul. Meanwhile, her separated soul was rushing towards the little fox.
It's over. Her mind raced, and before the souls could completely leave her body, she immediately cast a soul-locking spell, freezing Dan Shu and the little fox in place.
With a thud, Yan Dan felt her body jolt and rolled to the ground, seeing stars. She groaned in pain and realized with horror that she was making low moaning noises.
No, it can't be, right?
Yan Dan rubbed her eyes and saw a fox paw in front of her. She looked around and saw that the furnishings in the room were still the same, but everything had become much larger.
She and Ziyan swapped bodies.
Fortunately, she had cast a Soul-Locking Spell beforehand, so the little fox and the little wolf demon that had taken over her body wouldn't run around. The Soul-Locking Spell was a forbidden technique, and even Yu Mo Zi Lin couldn't use it, so naturally, no one but her could break it. Of course, forbidden techniques usually backfire on the caster, but through her tireless study, she had transferred the backlash to the recipients. After they woke up, they probably wouldn't be able to sleep for ten days to half a month.
Yan Dan struggled to jump towards the pile of books on the table, then struggled to flip through the books, finally struggling to look at the large regular script characters.
The fox's paws kept slipping, and she had to be careful not to tear the pages of the book. After all, those were Yu Mo's collections, and if she damaged them, Yu Mo might get angry and bury her in the lotus pond by the door for his amusement.
Yan Dan jumped onto the book, trying diligently to find a way to break the Qiankun Technique, but she couldn't find a solution no matter how hard she searched. Was fate trying to kill her, wanting her to be a fox forever? But that wasn't the worst part. She vaguely remembered that Zi Yan was still over 150 years away from taking human form. How was she supposed to endure such a long period?
And then, how was she going to explain this to everyone? If Zi Yan were to live in her shell, given his current clinginess with Dan Shu, and imagining the scene of her shell desperately clinging to Dan Shu, moaning and groaning... Yan Dan shuddered twice, then used her paws to pry open another book.
This must never happen.
If she can't recover in the end, she should just euthanize herself...
She was buried in her books, deep in thought, when she suddenly heard very light, steady footsteps approaching the door. The footsteps sounded so familiar; could it be—
Yan Dan jolted awake, scrambling out of the pile of books, and froze on the spot. You could even hear the creaking of her fox bones.
Yu Mo stood by the door that Dan Shu had flung open, paused for a moment, and then stepped inside. He looked down at Yan Dan's body lying on the floor, then slowly raised his head to look at the fox-like Yan Dan amidst the pile of books on the table.
Yan Dan was in a state of panic, like a pot of porridge. What should she do? Should she pretend to be nonchalant, or should she act like Zi Yan was afraid of him? Just as she was getting anxious, she saw long, strong fingers sweep over her head, pick up a book, and flip through it for a few moments.
Yan Dan froze, suddenly remembering that the book Yu Mo had picked up was the one that recorded the Qiankun Technique. Could he possibly have figured something out? If he found out that she had only intended to help Dan Shu straighten her ears, but had ended up swapping shells with the little fox, she would be ridiculed relentlessly. This was far too embarrassing.
Yu Mo gently put the book down again, turned his head to look at Yan Dan's body lying on the ground, seemingly oblivious to the world. He looked at her for a while, and a smile inexplicably appeared on his lips. He bent down slightly and took the cover in his hand.
Yan Dan squatted on the table and breathed a sigh of relief. Yu Mo probably hadn't noticed.
But suddenly, she felt a chill run down her spine. Why was Yu Mo holding her hand? Could it be that he actually had some unknown fetish?
Yan Dan tumbled off the table with a thud, landing on her back. Yu Mo heard the noise, exchanged a glance with Yan Dan for a moment, then suddenly stood up and walked out.
He... he just left like that? At least her body was still lying on the ground; he didn't even move her to a softer spot. Yan Dan turned over, furious. Yu Mo was far too heartless towards her.
She looked up and saw that Yu Mo, who had just walked out the door, suddenly turned back, walked straight up to her, grabbed her by the neck, and lifted her up.
Yan Dan gazed into his deep, dark eyes, a strange hope rising in her heart: Had he still recognized her? Actually, that wouldn't be so bad; perhaps he would have a way to turn her back. It was just that Yu Mo's grip on her hand made her really uncomfortable.
Yu Mo carried Yan Dan, who looked like a fox, out of the house and closed the door behind him. After a few steps, he ran into Bai Ling.
Bai Ling, holding several neatly packed outer robes, smiled slightly and said, "Mountain Lord."
Yu Mo nodded slightly, and after turning the corner, he left Yan Dan aside and walked away without looking back.
Yan Dan rolled on the ground and angrily stretched out her fox paw at his back.
Yu Mo, I hate you.
After a period of emotional distress, Yan Dan decided to rely on herself. First, she needed to climb back to her room to continue studying the demonic arts in the ancient texts.
She jogged along, stumbling for a while, when a gust of cold wind suddenly swept past her. She quickly shrank back and rolled away.
Amidst the swirling leaves, Tang Zhou's sword-wielding figure flashed. "A handsome young man," Yan Dan thought, rubbing her fox paws inwardly.
Tang Zhou stopped his swordplay, stared at her for a moment, and then suddenly bent down and pulled her into his arms.
Yan Dan sighed inexplicably, realizing that her senior brother was indeed kinder.
Tang Zhou rested his chin on the hilt of his sword, a smile playing on his lips: "These three-tailed spirit foxes are quite rare; I didn't expect to find one here."
The little green snake demons watching behind him immediately chimed in, "This is the fox spirit Linlang's younger brother. She brought him here last year."
Tang Zhou hummed in agreement, raised his hand to pat Yan Dan's head, and murmured, "I thought..." He put down the fox-like Yan Dan and turned to walk towards the little green snake demon.
Yan Dan was stunned for a moment: He just left like that? No way, she originally wanted to use Tang Zhou's help to get back to her room quickly.
The green snake demon asked, "Young Master Tang, aren't you going to see Miss Yan Dan today?"
Tang Zhou hummed indifferently, "I ran into your mountain lord earlier, and he said Yan Dan was still asleep, so he didn't go to wake her."
Yan Dan was furious. Yu Mo was such a scoundrel! Even if she was really asleep and hadn't woken up, shouldn't he at least have helped move her from the floor to the bed? And Tang Zhou too! He didn't even bother to check on something so unusual, what a waste of their life-and-death friendship!
"Then shall I show you around here today, young master?" The Green Serpent Demon gracefully walked to Tang Zhou's side, smiling sweetly.
Hey, Tang Zhou is a Taoist priest, specializing in exorcising ghosts and demons. Aren't you afraid he'll sell you out?
Yan Dan met the little green snake on her first visit to Yelan Mountain. They were both sent there as concubines to be chosen by the mountain lord. But in the end, Yu Mo chose her.
Actually, the little green snake was very beautiful and had a lovely figure, but it's understandable that Yu Mo didn't choose her in the end.
The flowers adorning the little green snake's head were all very beautiful and delicate, but even the prettiest flowers, when adorned all over the head, wouldn't look very appealing.
Yan Dan ran dejectedly towards her house, her steps uneven, when suddenly a drop of water fell from above and hit her forehead.
She glanced at the sky; the weather was fine today, not like it was going to rain. She slowly looked up and saw a huge bat spirit hanging upside down on the treetop, drooling and staring at her, slowly revealing its sharp, gleaming fangs.
Yan Dan froze, and by the time she came to her senses, she had already rolled down the hillside and landed headfirst in a puddle of mud.
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