Li 1, the bewildered madman in the mountain village
On the day Huaiwen descended the mountain, everyone came out to see her off. Huaiwen laughed heartily and waved goodbye to everyone, who wished her a victorious return.
Her bright smile brought peace and joy to everyone.
The bright sun has just risen, the sky is blue and the clouds are white, a gentle breeze is blowing, and those who want to write stories are setting off.
Saving his life was Huaiwen's top priority when he went down the mountain. Therefore, Liu Min sent him to find the Immortal Sorrow Grass.
The herb "Fairy Sorrow Grass" has a sympathetic effect. If a single herb is broken in two and ingested or injected into the body within two hours, the two halves will sense each other's condition. If one half is injured, the other half will feel the same way, essentially creating a shared experience.
Because they share a common understanding and are bound together, they will naturally not fight each other during this period. However, the duration is difficult to estimate, as it could be just a moment, the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, or even longer.
However, even such things are difficult to obtain. This is because the Immortal Sorrow Grass grows in the Illusory Realm. Just like its name suggests, this place is difficult to distinguish between reality and illusion.
After several days of arduous travel, Huaiwen decided to find a place to stay. There was only one small village nearby, too small to have an inn, so he could only ask to stay at a villager's house for the night. However, the villagers hesitated when they saw that Huaiwen had brought two little ghosts with him.
They were hesitant to receive him and stammered a polite refusal to accept Huaiwen. Onikiri was disappointed; they weren't bad people, so why were they being rejected like this?
Huaiwen found it strange. When ordinary people refused them, their eyes didn't show fear or apprehension. But today, they knocked on several doors, and each house had this expression, making it hard not to wonder what was going on.
Since that was the case, Huaiwen didn't intend to knock on any other doors. They walked outside, and as darkness fell, it suddenly started to rain. They spotted an old house in the distance and hurriedly ran over to take shelter from the rain.
Huaiwen stood under the eaves, patting the water droplets off her body. She turned to the side and, through the half-open, dilapidated door, saw a person lying on their side inside.
The person was turned to the side, so Huaiwen couldn't see their full appearance. Her heart tightened, and she lowered her head, making a "shh" gesture to Onikiri, who was talking beside her.
The two little monsters quickly quieted down. They fearfully hid on the other side of Huaiwen, grabbing his clothes with one hand and unable to resist peeking inside.
The person inside seemed to sense the intense gaze from outside. He turned around and looked towards the door. Huaiwen met his eyes, and a flutter rose in her heart. The face was new, but the eyes felt strangely familiar.
The rain chimes on the eaves outside were making a clear, tinkling sound as water flowed. The person inside sat up straight and lazily asked, "Who's outside?"
Huaiwen came out from the doorway: "Brother, we apologize for disturbing you. It's raining outside, may we come in and take shelter from the rain?"
"This land isn't mine, so it's up to you."
Huaiwen nodded and led the two little ghosts behind him inside. They each occupied their own space, not disturbing each other. However, Onikiri was hungry again, and its cries echoed throughout the room.
A slight awkwardness hung in the air. Huaiwen glanced at the person next to her and saw that he was resting with his eyes closed and wearing a white coat. She assumed he was a Taoist priest who was just passing through and looking for a place to rest, like her.
While eating rations in Demon Slayer, Huaiwen didn't think too much. She turned around and cautiously asked the person if they wanted some.
The man opened his eyes, looked at her, smiled, and reached out to take it: "Okay."
This action seemed to ease the tension between them. For some reason, Demon Slayer suddenly became bolder and asked him without restraint if he had also been refused accommodation by the villagers, which was why he had come to this dilapidated but elegant house.
After swallowing the mouthful of dry food, the man replied without changing his expression, "No."
"Then what are you doing here?" Huaiwen asked curiously.
The man's gaze met Huaiwen's. He looked at Huaiwen with interest and said flippantly, "I've come for... someone."
Huaiwen's subconscious told her that something was wrong with what she was saying. She instinctively moved back, preparing to turn around, grab the Demon Slayer, and run away. But just then, someone burst in. They were soaking wet, and looked like they had come in to take shelter from the rain.
"Are there still people inside?" one of them, whose hair was standing on end, said.
"Excuse me," said another woman with delicate features.
With five people suddenly entering, the room became somewhat crowded. Huaiwen couldn't leave now, as Onikiri was too tired to leave. Huaiwen sighed and could only temporarily abandon his escape plan, moving his body away from the man in white.
Moreover, she was now captivated by the five people in front of her. The aura emanating from them was clearly different from that of ordinary people, and also different from that of demons.
She knew where this aura came from; she had encountered people with the same aura before. More importantly, they all wore the same token. Clearly, the torrential rain had left the five of them somewhat disheveled and unable to hide their tokens.
This token betrayed them; only newly promoted priests would wear such a token. Although Huaiwen was not a priest, her master was a retired priest, and her master's disciples would return to pay their respects when they first ascended to become priests.
She had seen how people in the past flaunted their divine tokens.
Huaiwen remembered her master saying that when a god descends to the mortal realm, it's either to cultivate or because something has happened.
So she still asked the group, "Fellow Daoists, you have extraordinary bearing, are you disciples of which immortal master?"
The group was very wary, only saying they were disciples of a certain sect, who had come down the mountain for training. But Huaiwen immediately saw through their ruse. The sect they mentioned was always noisy, with members dressed in uniform and making a grand entrance, while they clearly had nothing.
Since they are lying, then they didn't come down to cultivate; rather, something happened in this area that required their intervention.
Huaiwen looked at the five people meaningfully, and some thoughts began to form in her mind.
Night fell quietly, and the rain stopped.
No one left during the night.
Huaiwen tried several times to move away from the person next to her, but that person would move closer to her. There were many people here, including the priest, so she thought for a moment and gave up struggling again.
With so many priests around, he wouldn't kill her, would he?
From a distance, the two priests appeared to be cuddling together, their behavior intimate. They were exchanging glances, and Huaiwen knew exactly what they were saying without even guessing.
Well, it's not like this hasn't happened before.
I might as well just go to sleep.
In the still of the night, without moonlight or starlight, it was pitch black. Huaiwen didn't know how long she had slept; she woke up in the darkness.
She tilted her head back and looked at the man, whose breathing was steady, thinking this was a good opportunity. Turning her head in the darkness, she was startled to find a large face staring at her so close that she let out a soft scream.
Her shout suddenly woke the person behind her, who quickly grabbed her waist and pulled her into his arms.
A shrill female laugh echoed inside the room, waking everyone up, and the laughter gradually faded into the distance.
Huaiwen leaned back to look at the person who had embraced him, and patted his arm: "It's alright now."
"Still trying to escape?"
Huaiwen panicked at that moment. She turned her head away and remained silent. The person behind her pulled her even closer, his chin resting on her head. Their bodies were completely intertwined, and the other's heat made Huaiwen blush involuntarily.
If she didn't answer, she might take further action, so Huaiwen could only hold onto his arm and say, "I'm not running away anymore."
The people behind Huaiwen succeeded, but they didn't release her. It wasn't until a priest shouted, "Jingze! What's wrong with you! Jingze!"
"What's wrong, Mo Heng?"
The priest named Mo Hengdi knelt down, checked Jing Ze's breath, and suddenly knelt on the ground: "He...he...is not breathing."
Huaiwen quickly rolled out of Xuan Ye's arms and hurried over in the darkness. Suddenly, the whole room lit up, and she looked back to see that Xuan Ye had lit a fire.
"Not breathing!?"
Mo Heng said in a tearful voice, "I don't know! He was like this right after that laugh... What should I do, Shi Yuluo?"
They were all newly appointed junior priests, sent down to deal with the demonic infestation in the area as part of their assessment. Who knew they'd encounter such a situation on their very first mission? Before they even found the demons, their own men had already perished.
No one had ever said that becoming a priest could lead to such a quick death.
Shi Yulu frowned and swallowed hard: "Report to Lady Zhenli first."
Mo Heng stood up, sobbing, and took off the token hanging from his waist. He went outside and poured a trace of magic onto the token, saying, "Quickly tell Lady Zhenli and ask her to come and save us."
Mo Heng then turned back and stood next to the priest with his hair standing on end, asking worriedly, "What do we do? Cang Lun, what do we do?"
The priest named Canglun looked at the other two priests, then glanced at Huaiwen and Xuanye standing behind them and teased, "You're not afraid of people, but you're afraid of being an official."
"That's right, with such a cowardly attitude, I don't know how he ascended to become a priest." The person who said this was Rong Yun.
Mo Heng defended himself, feeling wronged: "I ascended to heaven by doing good deeds in a very legitimate way."
Rong Yun rolled her eyes and scoffed, "Yeah, yeah, you're the only one in the world who knows how to do good deeds, okay?"
"Stop arguing! There are other people here. Are you shouting so loudly because you want them to know we're priests?" Shi Yulu clenched her fists and shouted at the two through gritted teeth.
The four of them turned around in unison to look back at Huaiwen, who was grinning, Xuanye, who had a cold face, and the two little devils who had just woken up.
With his hands on his hips, Rong Yun shouted at the other priests without hesitation, "We've already said it, what can we do? Erase their memories? We're not high-ranking priests, we don't have that ability!"
Mo Heng fiddled with his fingers and said weakly, "If others find out who we are, will we fail the test?"
Instantly, the four priests fell silent.
The first rule of the priest examination is to conceal one's identity.
In the silence, a voice suddenly rang out: "If they don't tell, then no one will know."
Another moment of silence followed.
Demon Slayer understood the unspoken meaning and rushed to Huaiwen's side, his determination to die for his cause evident. The standoff between the two did not last long.
With tears welling in his eyes, Mo Heng clasped his hands together and asked pitifully, "Will you tell anyone?"
Huaiwen shook his head with a smile and sincerity. Mo Heng then pointed to Xuan Ye behind Huaiwen: "What about him?"
This worried Huaiwen, as there was a demon king behind her. She couldn't make the decision herself. But the person behind her didn't answer, so Huaiwen had no choice but to turn around and look at him with expectation and pleading.
The other person had an arrogant demeanor. He shifted his gaze to meet Huaiwen's eyes, his eyes conveying only the meaning of "it has nothing to do with me".
With a hardened heart, Huai Wen turned around and smiled at the four junior priests in front of him: "He doesn't know either."
Rong Yun's eyes widened as she pointed at Xuan Ye and questioned, "He didn't say anything, how do you know he wouldn't?"
Huaiwen turned her head and glanced at Xuan Ye again. The other man tilted his head and looked back at her with interest. Seeing this, Huaiwen had an idea. She turned back to the four of them and said, "Because he is my little follower."
Xuan Ye lowered his eyes and his lips drooped.
"Oh, no wonder. You're all dressed similarly and sleeping together," Mo Heng said, as if suddenly realizing something. "If Lady Zhenli finds out that you've discovered our identities, we won't pass the test, and we'll be..."
Cang Lun quickly covered Mo Hengdi's mouth to prevent him from revealing more information. Shi Yulu, as the one with the most leadership qualities among the four, stepped forward past Rong Yun to thank Huai Wen and Xuan Ye.
Huaiwen was initially startled by Mo Heng's suggestion of sleeping together, but Shi Yuluo's words quickly calmed her down. Besides thanking them for not telling anyone, the other party also asked them not to interfere in the matter.
Huaiwen shook his head, and Shi Yulu became nervous. She asked why.
"Because I'm the only one here who has ever seen what she looks like."
This is a fact, and no one can refute it.
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