The end of the flashback
Yan Dan, not understanding, casually replied, "Of course, you don't mean..." Before she could finish speaking, she suddenly felt a cold wind blowing in front of her. Looking up, she saw Zi Lin standing there, his face as black as the bottom of a pot, almost squeezing out the words through clenched teeth: "You lotus spirit, you've got quite the nerve."
He had only come back to retrieve the letter sent by the fox clan and write a reply in his own hand, but he happened to overhear Yan Dan sowing discord.
Yan Dan gave a dry laugh: "Master Zilin, you've misunderstood, really..." She took a step back while kneeling, trying to hide behind Yu Mo. But Yu Mo simply flicked his sleeves and stood up.
Zi Lin took two steps closer, his tone gloomy: "It seems you really want to be buried in the ground and planted, and I will naturally grant your wish."
Yan Dan glanced at the calm-looking Yu Mo, then at the ferocious-looking Zi Lin, and suddenly blurted out, "So your true form is a mountain tortoise?"
Even long afterward, when you think back on this sentence, you'll still feel that it was a stroke of genius.
According to Yan Dan's later reflections, she was awakened by the words "buried in the soil." Every time she tried to see Zi Lin's true form, she would see a round, yellowish-brown thing, like a blurry shadow, not very clear. She often wondered what it was, but never found the answer.
Zi Lin was stunned for a moment, then blurted out, "How did you know?"
Yan Dan was speechless, unable to utter a word for a moment.
Neither of them spoke again, and they just stared at each other, wide-eyed.
Yu Mo strolled to the door, when he suddenly heard Zi Lin's furious voice: "Today I will definitely tear you, you lotus spirit, to pieces! You stop right there—" As he said this, a teapot whizzed past him, and then a vase flew past his sleeve, crashing into the door and shattering into pieces.
Yu Mo smoothed the creases on his sleeves, where he had rested his elbows on the edge of the table. A faint smile played at the corners of his lips. "Idiot, or..."
Outside the courtyard, a long, cold wind swept by, scattering the white plum blossoms and releasing a faint, cool fragrance in the crisp air. A hundred years had passed in a flash, like a dream; he thought everything would be different now.
It seems that in the end, only the world changed, but the person remained the same.
It's still the same look I've always missed.
From that day on, Yan Dan officially became enemies with Zi Lin, which led to their hatred growing stronger over the next twenty years, until it escalated into a deep-seated grudge.
There's a saying in the mortal world: "A pair of bickering lovers."
However, the word "joy" has nothing to do with Yan Danzilin; they are indeed enemies.
Yan Dan had discovered Zi Lin's earth-shattering secret, and for several nights in a row, she would wake up laughing. It was simply too ridiculous—the majestic and solemn Lord of Zi Lin's Mountain was actually a mountain tortoise in his true form. With this secret in hand, she naturally wouldn't waste it. She would use it to blackmail Zi Lin whenever she could, and then watch with great relish as Zi Lin became furious.
Being a mountain tortoise isn't shameful; what's shameful is that he doesn't dare speak out, because other demons will use his tortoise persona to speculate and overthink things. Then the Purple Scale Mountain Lord would be completely stripped of his authority.
So Yan Dan strolled past Zi Lin with a cheerful smile every day, quite content.
In the blink of an eye, winter has passed, spring has returned, and the mountain peach blossoms are budding, fresh and tender pink.
Yan Dan picked a peach blossom bud and placed it in a ceramic jar on the windowsill. The water was drawn from the lake, clear and blue. The damp fragrance of the peach blossom was always soothing.
Yan Dan loved to take a nap by the lake, basking in the spring sunshine, and then dozing off. At that moment, it seemed as if the sun, moon, and stars had stopped.
As she did every day before, she returned to her room from the lakeside, only to find a tall and imposing figure standing behind the door. Hearing the noise, the man turned his head slightly, and Yan Dan quickly called out, "Master Yu Mo."
Yu Mo gave a faint "hmm" and didn't say anything.
This was Yu Mo's first time visiting her place; he was truly a rare guest.
Yan Dan hurriedly pushed open the door: "Mountain Lord, please come in and sit down."
Yu Mo took the hot tea she offered, took a sip, and said slowly, "I just stopped by to visit. Are you getting used to your stay?" He turned his head and looked at the ceramic jar and fresh flowers on the windowsill, and smiled slightly, "I always felt that my place was rather dull. It turns out that something was missing."
Yan Dan nodded: "The peach blossoms here are very beautiful."
"This year is the best, and you just happened to be there."
Yan Dan smiled, revealing her teeth: "Looks like I'm not unlucky." Her cheeks were slightly flushed from the sun, delicate and fair. As she smiled at Yu Mo, he couldn't help but reach out and brush his hand past her temple, then abruptly withdrew it.
Yu Mo coughed lightly, lowered his eyes slightly, and remained silent.
As Yan Dan sat facing him, she suddenly thought of Ying Yuan—she could now recall him calmly. Ying Yuan wouldn't notice a pot of flowers on the windowsill; he was the Qingli Emperor, always preoccupied with various worries. Therefore, he wouldn't pay attention to many things—mostly trivial, insignificant matters.
"Mountain Lord, this jar and these flowers aren't particularly eye-catching, how did you notice them?"
"I just happened to see it and took note of it. What's wrong?" Yu Mo frowned, as if he had thought of something. "Don't always provoke Zi Lin in the future."
Yan smiled and said, "I didn't provoke him. He's the one who got angry."
She turned to look out the window; the sun was setting, and it was almost dusk. "It's almost dinner time. Mountain Lord, would you like to stay for dinner?" She asked casually, figuring Yu Mo wouldn't stay anyway. Bai Ling was a very good cook; every dish she made was exquisite and delicious, comparable to the imperial chefs in the palace.
To everyone's surprise, Yu Mo nodded slightly and said decisively, "Okay."
Yan Dan was troubled. She disliked trouble, so she only knew how to cook simple dishes. When she was too lazy to cook, she would fill her stomach by absorbing the essence of heaven and earth. Oh well, Yu Mo should know that she couldn't offer him any delicacies if she wanted to stay.
Yan Dan brazenly placed the vegetables, radishes, and tofu on the table, glancing at Yu Mo's expression. There was nothing unusual about it, but she didn't touch her chopsticks.
She thought for a moment and then realized, "I definitely washed all the vegetables thoroughly; there's no sand in them."
Yu Mo hummed in agreement and said with a smile, "I know." He picked up a piece of food with his chopsticks, tasted it, and said in a low voice, "Is your cooking skill alright?"
Yan Dan bit her chopsticks and said, "Mountain Lord, you've come at an inopportune time. Actually, the fish soup I made was even better; it was as smooth as cream and incredibly delicious." As soon as she finished speaking, Yu Mo's hand holding the chopsticks trembled slightly, and he asked in surprise, "Mountain Lord, did I say something wrong?"
Yu Mo said in a flat tone: "Is 'smooth as cream' referring to fish soup? You're ignorant and incompetent."
After finishing the meal, Yu Mo didn't rush to leave. He pondered for a while before saying, "I've been thinking of going out for a walk lately. Yan Dan, would you like to come with me?"
Yan Dan paused for a moment, then said, "Okay, where shall we go?"
"Let's go to the Jiangnan area; the weather is just right now."
Yan Dan calculated the days. If she went to Jiangnan, the round trip would take nearly half a year, which meant she would have to spend the Dragon Boat Festival away from home. When she entered the demon register, the clan leader had told her that in the mortal world, there was realgar wine to ward off evil spirits during the Dragon Boat Festival, which was very powerful for demons.
But she doesn't have any demonic aura, so there's nothing to be afraid of, right?
Yan Dan was overjoyed at the thought of going out to play and said ingratiatingly, "Mountain Lord, I'll cook fish soup for you to try next time. You'll probably think it tastes good."
Yu Mo kept a straight face, neither warm nor cold: "Is that so?"
It wasn't until she went to Nandu that year and met the flower spirit girl who took the strange eye from Yu Mo that Yan Dan finally understood why Yu Mo would have that expression whenever she mentioned fish soup.
Anyone would feel uneasy seeing the corpse of their own kind cooked and served on a plate in front of them, let alone having that corpse boiled into a soup and then boasting about how delicious it was...
Twenty years have passed in the blink of an eye, life flowing by like a noisy river. Zi Lin's face darkened with rage; Bai Ling's eyes crinkled with laughter, yet she could instantly transform into a demon—her face-changing skill was unparalleled; Dan Shu's dazed and silly appearance was occasionally quite adorable; Yuan Dan stroked his chin, saying that his wives were either too beautiful to be interesting, or too interesting to be beautiful—it was truly a headache…
Yu Mo remained indifferent and calm, and Yan Dan could never figure out what he was thinking.
Then, he met that young Taoist master on the banks of the Zhangtai River in Nandu.
When we met, we were young. Looking back at that bright moon, the willows of Zhangtai echoed with the sound of the Qiang flute. Yan Dan wrote this poem after betting with Prince Lin. Back then, we were young and passionate. That year, the willows and peach blossoms along the Zhangtai River were in full bloom. After circling around, we finally returned to where we started.
"May I ask your esteemed name, Celestial Master?"
"Tang Zhou".
Do you know who I am?
Even if he wanted to tell her, he wouldn't be interested in knowing.
"My immortal title is Emperor Qingli Yingyuan."
"If I ever see you again, I will recognize you immediately."
But in the end, he still couldn't recognize him.
“I always have a dream. In the dream, I am in a completely unfamiliar place, where there is nothing but endless white mist. I seem to be trying to catch up with someone in front of me, and I keep running in the sea of clouds. Every time I am about to catch up, that person will suddenly disappear.”
Yan Dan once thought that even if Ying Yuanjun never saw again, it wouldn't matter. Because she would be his eyes.
"I think this is a memory from a long time ago. Even after a thousand or a hundred years, I can't remember anything else, but I can still remember that person's back. I just want to see her again. At least, when I look back in the future, I won't just remember a back."
"I will stay with you until we find the artifact."
Yan Dan thought back to how she ultimately lacked the courage to openly admit to Ying Yuanjun that she truly loved him. How could she joke about something like that? But in the end, she still backed down. So, to make up for her past regret, she would accompany this mortal on his long journey to find the ancient artifact.
She thought it was the right thing to do.
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