Sang Dai: “…His temperament is good??”
Uncle Chen’s voice carried a smile as he swiftly lifted the steamer, and the fragrance of osmanthus filled the air.
“Master’s temperament is quite good, and he’s very patient. He studied here for a month. Whatever I asked him to do, he did. Later, I bravely asked him if he liked osmanthus cakes. If he did, he could just tell me, and I would send them to the Beast Hall. Why did he have to learn how to make them himself?”
“What did he say?”
“He said the girl he liked liked osmanthus cakes, so he planted over a hundred osmanthus trees in the Beast Hall. The last time he came here, he bought a bag of cakes, and the little girl ate them all. He wanted to make them for her himself.”
Sang Dai fell silent.
When Su Xuan was sixteen, she was only fifteen.
She glanced at the shop’s packaging: yellow oiled paper tied with light blue thread, the end of the string tied in a cloth knot.
On her fifteenth birthday, after dealing with the evil spirits in September, and after catching the last Beast Queen and returning to the Sword Sect’s rear mountain, she had found a bag of osmanthus cakes placed in the courtyard.
There was a line of words pressed under the bag:
— Just out of the pot, eat while it’s hot.
Shen Ciyu had come that day too, and when he saw the osmanthus cakes in the courtyard, he smiled and said, “Although the Madam is busy, she still remembered your birthday. She must have sent these cakes.”
Sang Dai had thought it was Madam Shi who had sent them. She ate the whole bag of osmanthus cakes while sitting in the courtyard.
Whenever her birthday passed and she hadn’t gone down the mountain to exterminate evil, but stayed at the Sword Sect, someone would always come to deliver cakes. She had never found it strange. Madam Shi had never mentioned it, and since the cakes were harmless, she simply ate them without concern.
It turned out that all along, it had been Su Xuan watching over her.
After Ying Heng left, only Su Xuan remembered her birthday.
Sang Dai suddenly grew quiet.
Uncle Chen was steaming the cakes and sighed, saying, “The outside world keeps saying that the Beast Realm’s Lord might have some unspeakable secrets, that’s why he hasn’t married after all these years. But I’ve always known he’s been waiting for someone. When you and the Lord came to buy cakes, I knew right away that you were the girl he talked about when he was young.”
“Our Lord is actually a very good person, with a good temperament. He’s loyal and dedicated, a good Beast King, and he’ll be a good husband too.”
Uncle Chen rambled on and talked for over an hour with Sang Dai.
When the osmanthus cakes were done, he cut them into small pieces and wrapped them up.
Uncle Chen picked up seven or eight bags of cakes, lifted the curtain, and came out, handing the cakes to Sang Dai.
“Madam, take them and eat while they’re still warm.”
“Thank you.”
Sang Dai took the bags and was about to pay.
Uncle Chen refused: “Madam, no need to pay. The Lord has helped me so much. If it weren’t for him coming here often, I wouldn’t be able to keep this shop running in such a remote place.”
He firmly refused to take the money, insisting it wasn’t much, so Sang Dai had no choice but to accept.
She took the cakes and bid him goodbye. “Thank you, Uncle Chen.”
As she walked out of the alley, Sang Dai looked up at the sky.
Indeed, after autumn arrived, the Beast Realm saw much more rain, with several showers each month. The sky was dark, and after staying in the shop for over an hour, it was already noon. Many people with umbrellas were walking in the streets.
She had been gone for six hours. She wondered if the little fox had cried. The punishment was enough. He should know his mistake by now and would never dare to lie to her again. She had promised to go to Zhenhua Crossing with him in the afternoon.
The sword cultivator returned to the Beast Hall with the osmanthus cakes.
She didn’t go through the main entrance but used teleportation to enter through the back door. The barrier of the Beast Hall didn’t affect her, and Su Xuan’s spiritual energy had never been defensive toward her.
Sang Dai landed in the small courtyard from the roof. The osmanthus flowers were soaked by the rain, scattered all over the ground, and the cold wind carried the fragrance of the flowers.
There was no one in the courtyard.
Sang Dai frowned slightly. Could it be that Su Xuan went out to look for her?
She pushed open the main hall door, and it was completely empty, not a soul in sight.
The Nine Ring Hairpin on the bed had disappeared; it must have been taken by Su Xuan.
Sang Dai turned around and left the main hall, intending to find Su Xuan, when a figure hurriedly approached from outside.
Sang Dai was surprised. “Young Master Liu?”
Liu Lixue seemed very urgent. Upon seeing Sang Dai, his eyes brightened. “Miss Sang, I sensed a fluctuation in the barrier, so I came to check. It’s really you!”
Sang Dai sensed something was off and her heart tightened. “Young Master Liu, what’s going on?”
Liu Lixue quickly walked up to her, so anxious that he forgot his manners. He grabbed the wide sleeve of her robe and tried to pull her outside.
“The Lord’s mating period has advanced. Not long after you left, it triggered. He’s not even conscious now.”
Sang Dai’s heart sank immediately. “Wasn’t it supposed to be tonight, when the moon is full?”
“No.” Liu Lixue looked back. “When you left, he panicked and took the wrong path. The poison from the Heart-Resolving Herb wasn’t fully neutralized yet, and he was relying on his spiritual energy to suppress it. But today, in his panic, he forgot to suppress the poison. All he could think about was finding you, and the lingering poison triggered his mating period.”
Liu Lixue exerted great force, practically dragging Sang Dai toward the rear mountain.
As they neared the mountain, Sang Dai felt a lingering pressure.
It was the spiritual energy fluctuation of that little fox.
Liu Lixue grabbed the sleeve of Sang Dai’s robe with one hand, swiftly teleporting them through the forest.
“I know you’re upset that the Lord kept things from you, but Miss Sang, to him, you are more important than his own life. No matter what our Lord has done, his wish for you is that you live well and are happy. That has never been a lie.”
Sang Dai’s breath was quick, but she didn’t respond to Liu Lixue. From the moment she was dragged along, to later when she grabbed Liu Lixue’s sleeve and pulled him to teleport with her.
“Tell me where he is.”
Liu Lixue pointed the way. Though the rear mountain was vast, they reached the edge of the barrier in no more than a quarter of an hour.
The peacock stopped. “This is the middle of the rear mountain. The Lord went up on his own. Zhenhua Crossing is at the summit. A nine-tailed fox in mating season will repel anyone approaching. I can’t go in, but I know it’s at the top.”
The barrier was faintly visible, and the residual pressure was overwhelmingly terrifying.
Liu Lixue’s expression darkened slightly. As a full-fledged Nascent Soul cultivator, he couldn’t withstand the pressure from a fully realized Grand Ascension cultivator.
He pointed toward the mountain path. “It’s up there. Miss Sang, you need to find him.”
The moment his words finished, Sang Dai disappeared from the spot.
Liu Lixue looked at the empty mountain path, his lips pressed into a thin line, and his hand unconsciously clenched into a fist.
Sang Dai really had returned.
From the beginning to the end, she never once considered abandoning Su Xuan.
—
The mountain was enormous, and the entire mountain was filled with Su Xuan’s spiritual pressure.
Sang Dai didn’t have the Silver Feather or the Nine Ring Hairpin. After drawing out Changmang, her head was a bit overwhelmed.
“Master, I can only sense the Lord’s presence, but the whole mountain is filled with his energy.”
Sang Dai sighed in frustration and reluctantly put Changmang back into her Qiankun pouch.
She searched for nearly a quarter of an hour, her anxiety growing.
He was at the summit, but the forest at the top was dense, and she couldn’t find him.
She didn’t dare stop, continuing her search up the mountain.
The summit was filled with bamboo groves, several areas of them. Sang Dai searched through each one.
Just as she was about to leap past one and search the next, a faint cry of pain suddenly came from the forest behind her.
Sang Dai abruptly stopped.
She turned to look.
The dense bamboo stood in rows, and from afar, there was nothing but endless darkness. The Beast Realm had just had a light rain, and the entire forest was thick with moisture. A thin mist obscured Sang Dai’s vision.
She strained her ears to listen but didn’t hear the sound again.
Sang Dai furrowed her brow and immediately teleported into the forest.
The sound of rain fell like scattered pearls, growing warmer the deeper she ventured. That warmth felt more like…
Hellfire.
Her urgency grew as she realized that the presence of Hellfire here meant the little fox was nearby.
The mist gradually dispersed, and Sang Dai reached the end of the forest. Just as she stopped, before she could get a clear view of her surroundings, her waist was suddenly swept up. She didn’t have time to speak before being pulled off the bank.
She didn’t fall onto the hard ground. From all directions, warm spring water surrounded her, faintly carrying the fragrance of bamboo.
Sang Dai coughed as water choked her, and before she could steady herself, someone grabbed her elbow and lifted her up.
She coughed softly, weakly leaning against the person’s shoulder, her chin resting against his collarbone as she continued coughing.
Her clothes were drenched. It was still raining outside, but around them, there was a faint barrier blocking the rain, making the water fall outside the protective shield. Looking up, she could only see the dense branches and leaves.
Sang Dai took a moment to recover before she looked at the person in front of her.
He wasn’t wearing any clothes. The warm spring water swirled around him, and the mist obscured his body. Sang Dai could only see his chest and collarbones above the water. His skin had taken on a deep shade of pink, beads of water covering his forehead and body, indistinguishable between sweat or water from the spring.
The desire in his eyes was intense, and his two furry fox ears were drooping, lifeless.
He looked at Sang Dai with a complex expression.
Injustice, choking, fear, and yearning.
“…Who told you to come here? Go away.” The little fox turned his head, his voice choked with tears. “Didn’t you say you didn’t want me anymore?”
Sang Dai fell silent. She was the one angry, yet he was throwing a tantrum.
Sometimes, the little fox really acted like a child.
“If you don’t want me, then go. I’ll handle the mating period on my own.”
His words were laced with bitterness.
Sang Dai raised an eyebrow. “Handle it on your own?”
“I’ll handle it. If you hate me, then leave. Why are you here if you don’t want me?”
The little fox was so wronged that tears fell from his eyes, hanging from his chin, ready to drop.
Sang Dai smiled faintly, turning his face to make him look at her.
She deliberately put on a stern face and asked, “So, should I leave?”
His tail around her waist suddenly tightened, and the hand gripping her arm loosened, as if he wanted to crush the ungrateful sword cultivator.
Su Xuan’s lips pressed tightly together, the water in his eyes visible. His body trembling as it leaned against her.
“If you want to leave, then go.”
Sang Dai stared directly into his eyes.
[The mating period is so painful, Dai Dai, don’t leave!]
“Should I really leave?”
“If you want to leave, then leave. If I die here today, don’t worry about me.”
Sang Dai: “…”
The tail around her waist tightened so much that it felt like it would snap her waist in half.
She looked down, seeing the tail coiling around her waist. Three of the nine tails were tightly wrapped around her waist, while the other six were draped over her legs or wrapped around her arms.
She was completely enveloped by him.
Sang Dai fell silent.
Her silence became an unspoken acknowledgment.
The little fox was incredibly wronged. “If you want to leave, then go. The marriage is off, whether I live or die, it’s none of your business!”
His voice clearly trembled with tears, sounding like a little wronged wife.
“I’m not leaving.” Sang Dai poked at his tail. “I can help you.”
Su Xuan’s tears instantly stopped.
Sang Dai lifted her gaze to look at him. “I told you, I’ll go through the mating period with you. This time is like this, and from now on, it’ll be the same every year.”
“I love my little fox so much. I could never leave him. How could I not want him?”
“I’ll go through the mating period with our little fox every year, right here, with him.”
Su Xuan blinked. His drooping ears suddenly perked up, and the tails wrapped around her waist loosened. The tail wrapped around her legs gently brushed her calf.
The little fox instantly went from cloudy to sunny, grumbling as he kissed her face. “Dai Dai, Dai Dai, I’m dying of discomfort…”
His delicate arms wrapped around the little fox’s neck, and she tilted her head, kissing his Adam’s apple.
“Su Xuan, do you know what you did wrong?”
Su Xuan’s body stiffened.
He tightened his embrace around Sang Dai’s waist, leaning down to nuzzle her neck. “I was wrong. I’m sorry, Dai Dai.”
The little fox buried his face in her neck, rubbing against her. His voice was hoarse with regret.
Sang Dai lifted her gaze to look at him.
The little fox’s furred ears were damp from the water. His cheek rested against her neck as he nuzzled her, looking truly frightened by her leaving. Tears were falling nonstop.
“I really was wrong. I shouldn’t have hidden these things from you. You have the right to know. It was my mistake. I acted on my own, thinking I knew best. Dai Dai, I’m really sorry.”
“You scared me. You really scared me. I cried because I was so scared. When you left, my mind went blank. I was terrified.”
He had really been frightened. When he saw that the Nine Ring Hairpin and Silver Feather had been removed, his mind went blank.
He fumbled for the jade token, running out in a panic to send people to look for her.
Su Xuan choked on his words, his voice full of tears. “Dai Dai, don’t scare me… I’m so scared…”
Sang Dai’s heart quickly sank. She gently held his hot face and kissed him. “I didn’t leave. How could I leave? I like you so much.”
She hugged the little fox, soothing him softly.
Su Xuan kept apologizing. “I’m really sorry. I was afraid you wouldn’t accept it. I was scared you’d be sad…”
Sang Dai gently lifted the little fox’s head from her neck, kissing his chin and wiping away the tears on his face. “Am I really that fragile in your eyes?”
Su Xuan hurriedly protested, “No, it’s really not like that!”
Sang Dai was strong and brave, and he would always love her.
Sang Dai smiled and said, “Su Xuan, I’ve told you before, the past cannot be changed, and death is irreversible. The destruction of the Weisheng family was because of me, but what can I do by constantly wallowing in self-pity? Will they come back to life, or will the true culprit be caught because of it?”
“Dai Dai…”
“My connection to the Four Sufferings may cause the Four Realms to try to kill me, and you’ve been dragged into all this because of me. What should I do? Leave you, never meet you again in this life?”