Chapter 26.1
Zhai Wangyou could see nothing. She did not know whether she was inside or outside the dream. But because it was the Dream-Entering Grass, she unconsciously relaxed her mind and spirit, just as she had said before—letting her do as she wished…
The wind swept through the valley…
“Eldest Senior Sister, if there is a chance in the future, will you wear red for me?” Xi Zhou lifted her head. Eldest Senior Sister in wedding robes would definitely be extremely beautiful. Unfortunately, she was afraid she would not be able to see it.
“All right~” Zhai Wangyou returned slightly to her senses and answered softly. For some reason, unease and panic kept stirring in her heart.
“Eldest Senior Sister, my name is Xi—”
Before she could finish speaking, her voice vanished.
The figure in midair turned into pale purple points of light. In the end, they gathered into a small, almost transparent bead.
The pale purple bead rapidly descended, facing the sea wind as it silently sank into the valley, until it disappeared without a trace.
“Mm? Your name is Xing?” Zhai Wangyou reached out, but both her hands grasped empty air.
As if sensing something, she reached up and removed the sash covering her eyes.
There was only her in the room, as though everything just now had merely been a dream.
A few steps away, the Purple-Gold Cover lay lonely on the ground. The Dream-Entering Grass inside had somehow broken into two halves.
Zhai Wangyou sat blankly on the bed, staring at the Purple-Gold Cover. She murmured, “Are you still here?”
No one answered.
The autumn night was cold. Bone-piercingly cold. So cold that even the heart ached with it.
The sun and moon alternated, and autumn winds rose once more after another year.
Xi Zhou woke in a daze. The sunlight was a little dazzling, and she quickly raised her hand to block it. What entered her eyes was a patchwork of tree shadows.
“Awake?” A somewhat familiar voice sounded.
Xi Zhou looked up. Aside from tree branches and yellow leaves, she saw no person.
“You slept for two or three years. Did you sleep your brain broken?” The voice sounded again, its tone carrying disdain.
This time, Xi Zhou heard the direction clearly. It came from the upper right.
She looked over and saw a tree. On the bark about half a person’s height from the ground, human facial features had appeared.
She narrowed her eyes and recognized it. “Tree demon senior?”
Was this the other side of Fan Boundary Mountain? The mortal world? She had not died. The heavens had opened their eyes. She had not died…
“Since you’re awake, hurry and explain. Why did you have my little fox’s scent on you more than two years ago? This is the body I painstakingly forged for my little fox. How could you use it?” The tree demon looked at Xi Zhou as she sat up, her tone full of confusion.
Back then, she had forged this body using a wisp of the little fox’s living soul. In the end, the little fox had been unable to wait and had run into the cultivation world, never to return.
More than two years ago, just as the tree demon had finished forging it, this body had been occupied by someone else.
The tree demon looked Xi Zhou over. Clearly, when they had met before, this grass demon had not had the little fox’s scent on her. Why had it suddenly appeared? And it was strange too.
Because that faint, barely detectable scent was very much like the scent she had smelled on the little fox’s birth mother when she had first encountered the little fox and been entrusted with her before death. Could this grass demon be the reincarnation of the little fox’s birth mother?
Xi Zhou sat up, her eyes full of question marks.
What two or three years ago? What little fox scent? What body?
Why could she not understand a single sentence?
“Senior, why don’t you explain what you just said in detail? Starting from that two or three years ago part.”
The tree demon looked at Xi Zhou’s completely confused expression. With her eyesight, she could naturally tell that this grass demon truly did not understand. So who was supposed to be asking whom here?
She patiently began explaining from the moment Xi Zhou had suddenly occupied the body she had forged for the little fox…
“Now it’s your turn. Where is the little fox?”
Xi Zhou was still dazed.
She had slept for almost three years! Three years!
Was Eldest Senior Sister all right?
“I’m asking you a question. Is your brain really broken?” The tree demon swept over a branch and pushed Xi Zhou’s shoulder.
Xi Zhou froze again.
Little fox. She did not seem to have had any contact with any little fox. No, wait, she seemed to have seen one before. The fox phantom that night.
She carefully recalled it and slowly explained.
“At the time, that fox phantom didn’t seem to have consciousness. It also looked like it wanted to hurt Eldest Senior Sister, so in a panic, I swallowed it.”
After saying this, she felt a little guilty. She could not really have swallowed the little fox, right…
After listening, the tree demon frowned. “That’s not right. This wisp of living soul is still here, so the little fox should still be alive. Think again. Are there any details you haven’t explained clearly?”
Xi Zhou shook her head. Aside from that one time, she had never encountered anything else related to foxes again.
Eh?
She suddenly remembered something and looked at the tree demon expectantly. “Senior, during these three years, did Eldest Senior Sister come here? She was entrusted by you to look for the little fox, so she should have come, right?”
The tree demon glanced at her expression. “Zhai Wangyou came once. She said she had failed my trust and would come again once she had news of the little fox. Since she hasn’t come since, I suppose she never found any news.”
Seeing how obviously Xi Zhou cared, the tree demon held back the words at the tip of her tongue. Poor child.
“Senior, what is that expression?” Xi Zhou looked at the tree demon’s face, which was both pitying and hard to describe, and suddenly felt something was wrong.
The tree demon hesitated, then asked, “What is your relationship with that Zhai Wangyou? Dao companions?”
They should be. The first time she met them, she had already seen it. There was a blending of spiritual energy between that human and this demon. In particular, the spiritual energy on Zhai Wangyou’s body matched this grass demon’s aura to an astonishing degree.
Xi Zhou’s breath stopped.
Dao companions?
Her heartbeat suddenly quickened, but she worked hard to keep her face calm and casual. She said lightly, “Why does Senior think we are Dao companions?”
The tree demon curled her lip. “Zhai Wangyou has a wood spiritual root. Grass and trees do share the same source, but even so, her spiritual energy should not match you, a grass demon, so well—unless you have blended together. Also, you clearly can transform, so your cultivation cannot be low, yet you have no spiritual energy at all. I imagine you two used some method: one gave without holding back, and the other absorbed everything completely. That is why her cultivation broke through so quickly.”
When Zhai Wangyou had come for the last time, her cultivation had already broken through to the Spirit Division stage. This grass demon truly had deep feelings. She had silently given so much.
What a pity. After sleeping for three years, that person had already found a new Dao companion and even had a child. Truly lamentable.
Seeing the tree demon look at her with pity again, Xi Zhou could not help explaining, “It’s not what you think. I didn’t give without holding back, and Eldest Senior Sister didn’t absorb everything completely…”
Eh? Why did it feel like this senior had said it wrong, but also somehow got everything right?
Between her and Eldest Senior Sister, who exactly was the one asking? And who was the one giving?
Seeing her fall silent, the tree demon raised her brows. “You have now completely become human. Your lifespan is only a few short decades. Why not forget the past, seize the present, and live comfortably in the mortal world?”
Xi Zhou’s expression froze.
Completely became human? She had originally been human, okay?
But…
She took a deep breath and looked toward the mountaintop. That place could directly lead to the cultivation world…
The tree demon easily guessed her thoughts and could not help saying, “The mountaintop was sealed three years ago. The only entrance is at the foot of the mountain. If you want to go, you can only blend in with this year’s new disciples going to test their spiritual roots.”
Xi Zhou’s thoughts were exposed. She said quietly, “I only want to see her one more time. That would settle my heart.”
Between them, shallow or deep, neither had ever made anything clear.
But deep in her heart, there was always a secret expectation. Perhaps Eldest Senior Sister treated her differently. Just like Senior had said, life was only a few short decades. Why not let herself live according to her heart?
The tree demon did not discourage her. It was fine if she went to see her. Once she gave up, she would stop hoping.
“You woke at the right time. Tomorrow is the ninth day of the ninth month. I’ll help you sneak in, but you must help me with something.”
She had originally been thinking about taking the risk of going to the cultivation world herself to find the little fox. Now that she had a better and safer method, she was naturally happy to see it happen.
“What does Senior want me to do?”
The tree demon drew a talisman and tapped it onto Xi Zhou’s forehead. “You have the little fox’s scent on you. With this talisman, you can transmit your voice to me from a thousand li away three times. It will also guide you by following that scent to find the little fox. After you see her, tell her that I’m about to die.”
Seeing Xi Zhou’s shocked expression, she added, “Of course, it’s to trick her. Even if you die, I won’t die.”
Xi Zhou rolled her eyes, then asked worriedly, “What if I don’t have spiritual roots?”
If she was sent straight back, wouldn’t that be very awkward?
“You have them. But no matter how many spiritual roots you have, you must stay grounded and take things step by step.”
Xi Zhou’s eyes lit up. Did that mean she had outstanding talent? Could she be a single spiritual root like Eldest Senior Sister? That way, she could directly enter the inner sect, making it easier to see Eldest Senior Sister.
The next day, the ninth day of the ninth month, the Double Ninth Festival.
Xi Zhou followed nervously behind thirty youths. So the tree demon senior’s method was invisibility, and it even had a time limit. Once Xi Zhou entered the cultivation world, she would become visible. What a scam.
If she had no spiritual roots, she would absolutely be caught. Was Senior reliable or not?
The mortal imperial family led them to the entrance. Deacon Hall disciples came to receive them, guiding the thirty youths into the cultivation world.
The moment the entrance opened, Xi Zhou held her breath and walked inside. The Deacon Hall disciple receiving them counted the number of people and said strangely, “Wasn’t it thirty? Why is there one extra person?”
Everyone looked at one another. In the end, their gazes landed on Xi Zhou, and their eyes could not help lighting up.
What an alluring beauty.
Xi Zhou laughed dryly. “Haha, I was added in at the last minute. Um… my father paid a lot of money.”
The Deacon Hall disciple frowned and thought that the people from the mortal world were becoming more and more careless in their work. He nodded and did not ask anything further.
The youth in front of Xi Zhou seemed like he wanted to say something. Seeing that everyone else was quiet, he raised a brow, took out a waist token, shook it at Xi Zhou, and made a hand gesture.
Xi Zhou was dazzled by his movements and had no idea what he was trying to express. She could only smile perfunctorily.
The youth turned his head back smugly, and the group descended the mountain in orderly fashion.
The disciples of the three great sects were already waiting beside the spiritual root stone, eyeing the new disciples closely.
When they saw the last person, many people’s pupils could not help shrinking. What a bright and alluring beauty. If such beauty entered a sect, at the very least, she would be noticed by inner disciples. The only question was whether she had spiritual roots.
Xi Zhou sensitively noticed everyone’s gazes. When they looked at her, something seemed a little unusual. She touched her face. After waking up, she had only cared about coming back to find Eldest Senior Sister and had forgotten to look in a mirror.
Her original appearance might not have been peerlessly delicate, but it was still passable. That tree demon senior seemed unreliable. She could not have reshaped her face badly, could she?
Her eyes were still eyes, her nose was still a nose. It should be normal, right…
This time, even fewer new disciples had spiritual roots. Among the thirty people in front, only five had spiritual roots, and there was only one dual spiritual root. There was not a single single spiritual root. The others were all three-spiritual-root and four-spiritual-root.
The aptitude of mortal noble children was truly getting worse and worse, everyone thought.
When it was the final person’s turn, Xi Zhou met everyone’s gazes and placed her hand on the spiritual root stone. In an instant, five lights of different colors lit up.
She forcibly restrained the joy in her eyes. The disciples without spiritual roots had not lit up any light. This meant she had spiritual roots, right? Having spiritual roots was good. It seemed the tree demon senior was still reliable. But what did five lights mean? How many spiritual roots was that?
No way…
A bad premonition suddenly rose in Xi Zhou’s heart. Then she heard the Deacon Hall disciple in charge of recording say, “Record it. The sixth person has five spiritual roots. Aptitude: lower-lower grade. She may become an outer sect servant disciple.”
Xi Zhou’s expression froze on her face.
Five spiritual roots! Lower-lower grade!
Would they dare add another “lower” to that? No wonder the tree demon senior told her to keep her feet on the ground. In this case, she had no choice but to be grounded…
Next came the time for the three great sects to introduce themselves. As in previous years, the speeches were the same old routine.
Xi Zhou looked toward the three great sects. She did not recognize the leader from Yudao Sect, nor the one from Medicine Sect. As for Tianjian Sect’s leader, he was a familiar face. He seemed to be that only single-spiritual-root disciple from three years ago. What was his name again? It seemed his surname was Zhou.
The new disciples made their choices one by one. In the end, only Xi Zhou and the youth in front of her were left.
“Hey, I’m going to Tianjian Sect to find Third Brother. Come with me.” The youth’s tone carried command as he walked toward Tianjian Sect, waving at Xi Zhou.
Everyone could not help glancing over. Xi Zhou rolled her eyes inwardly. She was going to Tianjian Sect anyway.
Seeing that she had indeed followed, regret flashed through everyone’s eyes. So this flower already had an owner. They just did not know whether the soil around this flower was easy to loosen.
After boarding Tianjian Sect’s flying boat, Xi Zhou honestly stood in a corner. The youth seemed to know the leader. After going over to greet him, he walked toward her.
“Did you see? That Senior Brother leading the team is called Zhou Baihui. He’s my third brother. He has a single spiritual root and established his foundation in only three years. Although I only have dual spiritual roots, I’m also very impressive. In the future, just follow me.”
The youth’s words carried a boastful tone, but Xi Zhou’s mind wandered slightly.
Foundation Establishment was enough to lead the team?
In the past, weren’t they all Golden Core cultivators? And she felt that the people who came to recruit new disciples this time had a very indifferent attitude, as if it did not matter whether they recruited anyone. Was it because none of them had single spiritual roots?
“Hey, beauty, I’m talking to you.”
Xi Zhou frowned. “Who are you?”
The youth took out that waist token again. “My name is Zhou Zhouzi. I am the Fifth Prince.” His imperial father said he was a son of Great Zhou, a son of all the people.
Xi Zhou raised a brow. “Zhouzi? Sounds like pork knuckle. Not bad.”
“It’s Zhouzi. Zhou.”
Xi Zhou closed her eyes and directly played dead. Right now, she only wanted to hurry to Tianjian Sect and see Eldest Senior Sister. She did not care whether he was Zhouzi or pork knuckle.
Zhou Zhouzi still wanted to speak, but when he saw a disciple looking over, he silently shut his mouth. People in the cultivation world were truly boring. One by one, they were like mute gourds. Having mouths but not using them to talk was such a waste.
The moment they entered Tianjian Sect, Xi Zhou felt the talisman on her forehead grow faintly hot. The talisman faintly pointed north. She looked toward the mountain peak standing not far away.
That was the direction of Beishan Peak.
Could it be that Eldest Senior Sister had already found the little fox?
“Female disciples, follow me. You may call me Senior Sister Lü. Male disciples, follow Senior Brother Feng.” A middle-aged woman spoke calmly to Xi Zhou, her face showing no emotion.
“Greetings, Senior Sister Lü.” Xi Zhou greeted her.
The other party nodded and led her to her residence. After settling her in, she left.
Xi Zhou looked around, flipping through the cultivation essentials she had just received, as well as the three hundred and sixty sect rules that had to be memorized.
Outer disciples were not allowed to go to the inner sect without reason. Every gate had guards. Those who trespassed would be punished according to sect rules…
She closed the book. It seemed she could not rush things.
Xi Zhou then remembered something and got up to walk to the mirror. After seeing her own appearance clearly, the corner of her mouth could not help twitching.
These peach blossom eyes. These red lips. This was her?
It could be said that this appearance had nothing to do with her original delicate looks. There were only two words for it: alluring and charming.
She looked left and right in the mirror and worked hard to comfort herself. The nose and the space between her brows and eyes still had a little resemblance.
No. She could not endure this…
The tree demon’s voice sounded beside her ear. “Why are you calling me? Did you find the little fox, or did you see your Eldest Senior Sister?”
Xi Zhou touched the talisman on her forehead, her tone complicated. “Senior, why did my appearance change?”
There was silence on the other end. Then came the tree demon’s flustered and exasperated voice. “This talisman can only transmit sound three times in total. You wasted such a precious chance just to ask this? Is that important?”
Xi Zhou paused, inexplicably guilty. “Not… not very important?”
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