Su Xuan remained silent for a long while before coming up with an answer.
“Dai Dai, you really are very popular with the spirit beasts.”
Sang Dai smiled, waving her hand. A wild beast with tusks in the distance froze for a moment before awkwardly walking over, even reducing its pace.
The wild beast had blood on its tusks, likely from a recent hunt. It was well-built, almost as tall as Sang Dai.
But it had spiritual awareness, and Sang Dai could tell instantly that this wild beast was different. It was the only one they had encountered so far with spiritual awareness.
When it reached her, it knelt in front of her. Sang Dai reached out and gently touched its forehead, and the wild beast let out a satisfied purr.
The little fox was furious. As a beast of ancient blood, he was a divine beast. Only Sang Dai could touch him. How could this impure wild beast be allowed to be touched by her?
Sang Dai glared at the little fox, who was trying to pull her away, and whispered, “I’m just asking it something.”
Her voice rose slightly at the end, carrying a tone of coaxing.
The little fox froze, his ears twitching and shaking on top of his head.
[Is my precious one acting coquettishly?]
Sang Dai rolled her eyes at him and continued to carefully groom the wild beast’s fur.
“It seems like you’ve lived for around three or four hundred years. Do you know if there used to be a sect on Kunshan?”
The wild beast raised its beastly eyes, its crimson gaze filled with simple confusion.
It opened its mouth and howled.
Sang Dai: “…”
Su Xuan smacked its head. “Can’t understand? Speak human language.”
The wild beast clutched its short, stubby paws to its head, looking at Sang Dai with tearful, confused eyes.
This male cultivator was beside this female cultivator. It liked this female cultivator, and although it wanted to swallow the male cultivator whole, the female cultivator seemed like she would get angry.
It howled again a few more times, and Sang Dai and Su Xuan both looked numb.
Although this wild beast had spiritual awareness, it wasn’t like the snow qilin and couldn’t speak human language. But since Sang Dai wasn’t a beast-taming cultivator, she naturally couldn’t understand animal speech.
She cautiously asked, “Do you know?”
“Awoo.”
That was likely a yes.
“Can you take us there?”
“Awoo.”
The wild beast lowered its body and raised its head, signaling for Sang Dai to climb on.
The sword cultivator hesitated, eyeing its seemingly prickly fur.
Su Xuan couldn’t bear it any longer. His human form vanished and transformed into a nine-tailed fox. He shrank his size; though he wasn’t as large as a mountain, he was much bigger than the wild beast and looked down at it from above with disdain.
Sang Dai thought the little fox was being rather childish, needing to compare sizes even in this situation.
The nine-tailed fox bent down. “Get on. The grass is too thick and will cut you.”
Sang Dai smiled and climbed onto his back, sitting comfortably on the wide back of the little fox. Two of his tails wrapped around her waist to steady her.
She patted his head. “Let’s go, you childish creature.”
The nine-tailed fox raised his proud fox head.
The wild beast: “…”
It glared at the annoying fox spirit with frustration.
The wild beast turned and rushed up the mountain path, moving swiftly as if the steep terrain was nothing.
Su Xuan followed behind. The nine-tailed fox’s tail swayed in the wind, and his fluffy fur protected Sang Dai from the cold breeze. Sang Dai held onto his neck and playfully pinched his ear.
The tip of the tail wrapped around her waist became even pinker.
The sword cultivator suppressed a smile and pinched the tail around her waist.
The little fox was a proud, jealous, but very cute and innocent creature.
The little fox’s eyes curved into a smile, and his beastly gaze was full of joy.
The wild beast led them to a dense forest.
It had been more than a hundred years since anyone had come here. The place was overgrown with thorns, vines, and tangled grass. Sang Dai’s heartbeat suddenly quickened.
Unconsciously, she tightened her grip on Su Xuan’s tail. The little fox noticed her unease and raised his head to look at her. “Dai Dai, what did you see?”
Su Xuan only saw a few houses hidden in the woods. Simple fences separated the buildings, and there were fewer than twenty houses in total. The bamboo fences were poorly made, and the bamboo houses were dilapidated, having not been lived in for many years. Several houses had collapsed.
Sang Dai jumped off his back, and Su Xuan transformed back into his human form. The tall demon cultivator took her hand.
“Dai Dai?”
Sang Dai struggled to speak. “I… I saw these houses in my dream last night. In my dream, I slept here for over thirty years…”
“The me after death… it seems I came to the Weisheng family…”
Su Xuan looked at the scene. The Weisheng family was small, with only around thirty members, so these houses could easily accommodate them.
As a Tribulation Stage demon cultivator, Su Xuan could vaguely sense the shattered barrier around them. Even though many years had passed, the fragments of the barrier still hadn’t dispersed. It had been forcefully shattered.
Sang Dai took a deep breath, turned, and patted the wild beast’s head.
The wild beast howled joyfully. The sword cultivator smiled at it. “You can go back now. Thank you for today.”
After watching the wild beast run off happily, Sang Dai finally had time to speak with Su Xuan.
“Yes, what I saw in my dream was indeed here. I’ve seen this forest, and I’ve seen these houses. Su Xuan, maybe the Weisheng family’s seal wanted me to come here.”
Su Xuan leaned down to meet her gaze and gently patted her head. “The Weisheng family’s seal has helped you a lot. Since it wants you here, Dai Dai, let’s go in and see what’s really inside.”
Sang Dai nodded. “Mm.”
The barrier had long been shattered, unable to stop them from entering. The place was a bit cold, with weeds everywhere, and every step they took required clearing the overgrown grass ahead.
This was the Weisheng family’s ruins, and Su Xuan dared not burn the weeds with his Hellfire. Instead, he carefully cleared the grass.
Sang Dai looked around, noting from the dilapidated bamboo houses that the Weisheng family had always lived in seclusion, rarely seen by the outside world. The houses were self-built, with farming tools in the corners, simple eaves, and somewhat makeshift fences, hinting at the passage of time from over a hundred years ago.
Su Xuan said, “Immortal Lord Bai Yu was the former leader of the Cangwu Taoist Temple. He retired three hundred years ago. He must have chosen to step down from his position after marrying your mother. Afterward, Immortal Lord Bai Yu disappeared from the Four Realms. Many people thought he had died. I suppose he, along with your mother, must have secluded themselves here.”
Sang Dai had only seen portraits of Bai Yu and Weisheng Xuan. There was very little information she could glean from those paintings, and she didn’t know what they were truly like.
All she knew was that they were deeply in love.
Bai Yu had been willing to give up his position as the leader of the Cangwu Taoist Temple, leaving behind fame and fortune as a Heaven-grade spiritual root wielder to live in seclusion with the one he loved. To protect his beloved and child, he endured ninety-seven knife wounds, fighting until he collapsed and died.
Weisheng Xuan had been struck, her heart pulse shattered by the intruder. The attacker must have had high cultivation.
Sang Dai said nothing, focusing on finding the bamboo house from her memory.
It was at the deepest part.
Standing before the tightly closed door, she could see that the Weisheng family had trusted each other. The fence, barely constructed, only reached her waist.
From the outside, she could clearly see everything inside the courtyard.
It had been clean in her dream, almost as if someone had cleaned it beforehand. But now, it was not like that.
It was ruined, old, dirty, and messy.
The swing in the corner of the yard only had a rope hanging from it, unfinished, clearly abandoned in haste by the owner who must have gone to face something.
Su Xuan tightened his grip on Sang Dai’s hand and softly asked, “Dai Dai, should we go in?”
From Sang Dai’s reaction, it was clear this was the same house she had seen in her dream.
Sang Dai’s gaze dropped, noticing bloodstains still clinging to the door. Tian Yuxue had said Bai Yu died before the door, and Weisheng Xuan fell in the yard.
“Dai Dai?”
“Mm, let’s go in.”
Sang Dai’s voice sounded calm, without a ripple of emotion. If not for the hand tightly clasped with Su Xuan’s, the little fox would have truly believed she had no emotional reaction at all.
The door must have been locked by Tian Yuxue, tied with a white cloth around the two door rings, tied into a dead knot. Sang Dai could only use her spiritual power to cut it.
The gate opened, and a grass snake slithered out of the overgrown weeds. Sang Dai didn’t pay it any attention.
Where there were weeds, it was inevitable to encounter snakes. The sword cultivator turned his gaze away, bypassing the snake, while the weeds around them were cleared by Su Xuan using his spiritual power.
Sang Dai said, “The man in black from my dream was sitting on the swing.”
She pointed to the unfinished swing in the corner. It seemed to have been made by that man in black himself, or perhaps it had been made by Sang Dai after her death.
“I lived in the room on the right side.”
Sang Dai pointed to the bamboo house again.
“Shall we go in and have a look?”
Sang Dai nodded. “Okay.”
In fact, the place was tidied up quite neatly, with everything in order, though covered in years of dust.
Once a house is abandoned, it quickly falls into disrepair. Along the way, they had passed houses that had either collapsed or had roofs damaged. But this house, despite the overgrown weeds and thick dust, seemed to be preserved as if someone still lived here, untouched and intact.
There were remnants of the shattered barrier here, giving off a slightly cold aura. It was likely set up by Tian Yuxue to protect the house from collapse or erosion. Therefore, aside from the dirtiness, there wasn’t much else wrong with it.
After her death, when she fell into a deep sleep, that person must have brought her here to live.
Sang Dai pushed open the door, and a cloud of dust rose up. Su Xuan used his spiritual power to sweep it away.
“Dai Dai, wait a moment.”
The little fox performed a cleaning spell, and the bamboo house was instantly tidied up.
He walked into the hall and opened the closed window. The room, having been empty for so long, carried a musty smell.
The two rooms on the sides were sleeping quarters, and the middle room seemed to be a guest hall.
Sang Dai followed her memory to the room on the right, and inside it was indeed just as she remembered.
A bed just big enough for one person to sleep soundly. The curtain was made of a light blue fabric suitable for either a boy or a girl, still covered in dust.
The room was small, not like the place where two partners would live.
Su Xuan came over, looked around, and picked up a few pieces of cloth from the table. “Dai Dai, this seems to be a place for children. The fabric pieces are cut in sizes that look like they’re meant for making clothes for a child.”
Sang Dai responded softly, “I can see that. I lived here in my dream.”
She was beginning to confirm where she was.
Sang Dai turned and left the room, walking to the opposite room.
The little fox had already used his cleaning spell to tidy up the dust, although the smell was still unpleasant.
This was the room where the couple had lived. The main bed was spacious, and the bedding was a bit disordered, the quilt haphazardly tossed aside.
After the dust was swept away, Sang Dai saw the bloodstains that remained on the bedding. The dried blood was still faintly visible, and the iron basin nearby had dried out, though dark red stains remained on its sides.
Including the cloth bundles carelessly discarded on the floor, this room was different from the small side room. The side room had been neat and orderly, but this one looked like a tangled mess.
After Tian Yuxue buried the Weisheng family, she rushed to find Sang Dai, without taking time to clean up. She only left the barrier to protect the house from being eroded, allowing it to survive the passage of time.
Tian Yuxue had also said that Weisheng Xuan hadn’t even given birth to the child before her death.
Looking at it now, it seemed she had just given birth.
She likely didn’t even have time to spend with the child after giving birth. Ying Heng had received word and hurried over. Weisheng Xuan must have quickly handed the child over to him, and then gone out to lure the enemy and cover Ying Heng’s escape.
Weisheng Xuan, weak and powerless, was struck down, her heart pulse shattered. This suggested that Bai Yu had likely died at that time too and was unable to protect her.
Bai Yu may never have even seen his newborn child, let alone known if it was a boy or a girl.
By the bedside was a jade hairpin. Sang Dai picked it up and gently wiped away the dust on it.
This jade hairpin was one she had seen in the mural at Linglong Town. It was the same one Weisheng Xuan had worn, the pattern resembling the shape of osmanthus flowers, with exquisite craftsmanship.
The jade was mutton-fat jade, and it still felt warm to the touch, almost as if it carried Weisheng Xuan’s body warmth.
Su Xuan had opened the window to air out the room, and a breeze from outside swept in, dispersing the heavy, stale air and bringing in a chill.
Sang Dai absently touched her face.
She heard Su Xuan calling her name, and when she looked up, she saw her reflection in his clear, amber eyes.
Her expression was empty, but she was crying.
She had never met Weisheng Xuan or Bai Yu, but seeing the bloodstains on the courtyard gate, the blood on the embroidered quilt in the room, the unfinished swing in the yard, and the unstitched clothes in the right wing, she couldn’t help but feel a pang of sorrow.
Her birth had been eagerly awaited, but it was also her birth that had brought this calamity.
“Dai Dai…” Su Xuan wiped away her tears, gently cupping her face. “Your parents always loved you. The Weisheng family chose to protect Immortal Lord Ying Heng with their lives to ensure you could leave. No one will blame you for this. You’ve done nothing wrong.”
Sang Dai closed her eyes, tightly gripping the jade hairpin in her hand.
She knew, of course, that she had done nothing wrong.
It was never them who were at fault.
Sang Dai took a deep breath, wiping her tears away.
“I don’t blame myself.” Her voice was low but resolute. “I just… feel a little sad.”
“Su Xuan, I really don’t like death. I truly hate it.”
Su Xuan gently ruffled her hair. “I know, Dai Dai. It won’t happen again. You won’t lose anyone anymore.”
“Dai Dai, we’ll be fine.”
Seeing the concern on his face softened her heart. She raised her hand, wiping away the remaining tears, and nodded lightly. “I know, Su Xuan. Let’s clean up the room—”
“Who!”
Before she could finish her sentence, the little fox’s expression turned cold, and he interrupted her in a sharp tone.
In the blink of an eye, he had leapt out of the door, and Sang Dai’s face darkened. She placed the jade hairpin on the bed, drew her Zhiyu sword from her waist, and was about to follow.
Just as she took a step out the door—
A calm, gentle voice came from behind her.
“Ah Dai.”