“All right, all right. This isn’t on you, Mr. Xu. Daoist Master Xu simply needs to put more work into his human-skin techniques. His craftsmanship isn’t refined enough yet.”
Qin Shu gave Xu Min a couple of perfunctory words of comfort, immediately pushed all responsibility onto Daoist Master Xu, and started discussing business before the poor fox spirit had even managed to stabilize his emotions.
“Does the Xu family have any connections that could get our young corpse-herder here an entry pass? We need to enter the Dragon Palace and find something that can save a life.” Qin Shu pushed Liu Yang Yang forward. “It’s for his granny.”
Xu Min froze briefly before turning to study Liu Yang Yang seriously. He raised a hand and wiped at the reddened corner of his eye, brushing away tears that might or might not actually have existed.
“A corpse-herder. Yun City… Immortal Master Liu comes from Phoenix Village?” he asked softly, all the while quietly dragging a chair sideways and repositioning himself so Liu Yang Yang’s tall, broad frame blocked Pei Zhao from view. Only then did Xu Min secretly breathe a little easier.
“You’ve heard of us? What an honor, what an honor! Phoenix Village also handles corpse repair and funeral transport for yao cultivators. Come on, let’s add each other on WeChat. If you ever need a corpse moved, contact me directly. Since you’re one of Brother Qin’s acquaintances, I’ll give you a permanent twenty-percent discount.”
Liu Yang Yang completely failed to notice the undercurrent of terror passing through the room. He merely assumed Xu Min was timid by nature and enthusiastically pulled out his phone to pitch his services.
Xu Min halfheartedly resisted before eventually adding him, apparently finding nothing unlucky whatsoever about corpse-herding services. In fact, he seemed faintly tempted.
“This humble one’s mortal remains are currently being properly enshrined by the Xu family, so I have no need for such services myself… but, ah, every little fox spirit in this world lives a bitter life. Countless die far from home.”
“How can that be?!” Liu Yang Yang immediately smelled a business opportunity. “Come to think of it, I’ve met quite a few yao cultivators, but fox spirits really are rare…”
“They are too weak and delicate, yet every part of their bodies is precious. Naturally, survival is difficult. Some little foxes have their pelts stripped away to make fur coats, their claws removed to forge magical artifacts, and even those bright, affectionate eyes of theirs dug out by malicious people and turned into evil objects.”
Xu Min spoke slowly as he edged closer without drawing attention to the movement. A trace of lingering sobbing remained in his soft voice, lending his gentle words an extra layer of desolation. “Even those who merely wish to live out their lives peacefully and find the destined love of this lifetime—a good man they can rely on—may still be murdered by cultivators who kill their wives to attain the Dao, reduced to sacrifices for a man’s ascension. Pitiful. Truly pitiful.”
Elio’s Notes: “Killing one’s wife to attain the Dao” is a dark cultivation-fiction trope in which a cultivator sacrifices or murders a spouse in pursuit of severing worldly attachments or achieving a breakthrough.
“That’s outrageous. People still do that nowadays?! Mr. Xu, you seem kindhearted, so you need to be careful. Don’t let some terrible man deceive you.” Liu Yang Yang grew genuinely indignant, without once considering that he himself might be the one being deceived. He immediately lowered his prices again. “If you ever need me to handle a little fox’s remains, I’ll give you thirty percent off!”
“Many thanks, Immortal Master Liu…”
“No, no, don’t mention it. You’re too polite…”
Qin Shu abruptly discovered that Xu Min was extremely skilled at coaxing idiots.
First, he showed weakness. Whether he appeared as a fluffy fox ball or a trembling, handsome young man, Liu Yang Yang automatically classified him as something fragile that required careful treatment.
Then Xu Min would tell a few miserable stories with tears shining in his eyes, smile afterward, and make pretty promises about repaying kindness in this life or the next. Liu Yang Yang had never once been respectfully addressed as “Immortal Master” before. After all, corpse-herding was a mysterious and taboo profession in ordinary society.
Liu Yang Yang fell for the entire routine completely. In the blink of an eye, Xu Min had charmed him dizzy enough to slash the price of his expensive services again and again, and Liu Yang Yang no longer seemed remotely afraid of Xu Min’s status as a dead spirit.
Qin Shu opened his mouth, then closed it again. He thought about it and decided not to interfere. Corpse-herding really was expensive, and if Xu Min had managed to negotiate his own discount, there was no reason for Qin Shu to get involved. Besides, they were the ones asking Xu Min for help right now.
Fox spirits were naturally clever, and Xu Min, who had successfully hidden himself within human society without leaving a seam, was even more so. As long as Liu Yang Yang continued standing in front of Pei Zhao like a sturdy wall, Xu Min’s brain could function at remarkable speed. He knew exactly what Qin Shu wanted.
“Student Qin, don’t worry. When lives are at stake, helping is only right. This humble one is no ungrateful white-eyed wolf. After receiving human offerings for centuries, naturally I should repay humanity properly.”
Now that he had successfully haggled down the price, Xu Min’s voice became even softer. Smiling gently, he plucked a strand of faintly golden hair from his temple and blew lightly across it. Qin Shu narrowed his eyes and caught a glimpse of faint blue-green yao energy flickering around the strand.
The tuft of hair trembled beneath the yao energy as though it were alive, then nimbly slipped out through the window and flew rapidly into the distance.
“Please wait a little while, Immortal Masters. I’ve sent a secret message. There should be a reply within the time it takes an incense stick to burn,” Xu Min explained gently.
Fangfang tilted his head curiously as he watched the tuft of hair disappear and could not resist reaching out to grab at it. Pei Zhao, who was drinking milk tea, gave him a mild glance, and Fangfang obediently returned both hands to his lap.
“Zhaozhao, this kid really listens to you. He doesn’t dare act up at all.” Qin Shu noticed every tiny detail in the room and could not help laughing. “Didn’t you say you hate children? I’m starting to think you’re actually pretty good at managing them.”
“He isn’t particularly young. Appearance and actual age are two different concepts. I already told you to be wary of any elderly person or child who looks weak but somehow refuses to die.” Pei Zhao glanced at Qin Shu as well, his position unwavering. “I hate children.”
“All right, all right. I’ll remember, Teacher Pei. I’ll definitely be more careful next time.” Qin Shu pulled over a chair, sat down, and dragged Pei Zhao into his arms so Fangfang could no longer cling to him.
The light inside the study room suddenly seemed divided into two distinct halves. Liu Yang Yang stood in the middle, taking advantage of the wait to clean his bloodstained sewing kit. He washed it, disinfected it, then burned some strange herbs for a second round of purification.
Whenever he moved around and stood up, his enormous frame seemed to reach from floor to ceiling. If he so much as rose onto his toes, he looked capable of smashing straight through the ceiling, and his body alone blocked half the sunlight in the room.
The illuminated half fell over Qin Shu’s face. Xu Min, meanwhile, remained hidden in the tall man’s shadow.
Xu Min’s eyelid would not stop twitching. He desperately wanted to advise Qin Shu not to remain so close to Pei Zhao, yet he could not produce a single trustworthy reason or any concrete evidence.
The problem was that Xu Min vaguely knew who Pei Zhao was. Back when he had first sewn on a human skin and come to No. 2 High to replace the real Xu Min at work, that money-loving old Daoist from the Xu family had already dropped some vague hints.
Those hints would have been better left unsaid. After all, the foxes of the Xu family had originally migrated from Tushan in ancient times. Xu Min’s ancestral bloodline was pure enough, his mind sharp enough, his life long enough, and his experience extensive enough—but unfortunately his curiosity was also just a little too strong.
That curiosity had actually led him to accidentally guess Pei Zhao’s identity. Of course, Xu Min could only occasionally think about the matter in the privacy of his own mind. Pei Zhao had never spoken of it himself, so Xu Min would never dare reveal it aloud.
Unfortunately, possessing the combined identity of a fox yao and a ghost made Xu Min’s life extremely unpleasant. At any moment he felt ready to puff up his fur, shriek and flee, or curl himself into a ball and hide inside the yang energy of a human, escaping the suffocating danger nearby.
“Mr. Xu, why does your complexion look so bad? Did something happen to that secret message?” Having finished packing his sewing kit, Liu Yang Yang turned toward him and asked curiously, breaking the room’s silence and nearly startling Xu Min out of his chair.
“N-no, nothing happened. The reply simply hasn’t arrived yet. I’ve been busy with work recently and probably haven’t rested enough. I’m feeling a little dizzy…” Xu Min laughed awkwardly and hurriedly tried to suppress his fear while discreetly edging even closer to Liu Yang Yang.
“Oh. Then how about I massage your neck and shoulders? Dizziness is usually a cervical-spine problem. Someone like me who specializes in taking corpses apart knows exactly where to press for the best results—and where to press if you want someone dead. Pair that with the red-paper herb Granny A-Shu grows, and a few squeezes can practically shove a slipped disc right back into place.”
Liu Yang Yang rubbed his hands together and casually began advertising Phoenix Village’s medicinal herbal compresses, apparently having forgotten altogether that Xu Min was technically a ghost.
To Qin Shu’s surprise, Xu Min did not refuse. With another few deft sentences, he even negotiated a discount on the herbs before personally submitting himself to Liu Yang Yang’s terrifyingly powerful massage. His true goal, naturally, was simply to remain physically close to Liu Yang Yang and gain some sense of safety.
An untouched virgin body that had never touched red meat—a perfect vessel of pure yang—was precisely the kind of thing fox spirits loved most in the world, and the closer Xu Min stayed, the more comfortable he felt. Even those hands that nearly crushed his cervical vertebrae gave him an unusually profound sense of security.
Qin Shu’s expression grew strange. He quietly moved his own chair farther away, then reached over and covered Fangfang’s confused eyes. The longer he watched the two of them, the stranger their atmosphere became. He had barely understood what was happening before they somehow grew naturally close at incredible speed.
Yet no matter how he looked at it, this did not resemble flirtation. It looked more like a fox spirit scamming an idiot, except the fox spirit himself was committing the scam while frightened half to death.
This was not really an appropriate occasion to say anything, however, and Pei Zhao seemed wholly indifferent. So… fine. They could simply drink their milk tea and wait for the reply.
…
After a long ten minutes, a living snow-white fox climbed in through the window. Its fur was glossy and sleek, its belly round, and a jade slip was clenched between its teeth.
The little fox moved with remarkable agility, leaping straight into Xu Min’s lap before spitting out the jade slip. Its fluffy tail wrapped around him as it rubbed against Xu Min affectionately for a long while, behaving so adorably that it clearly had no intention of leaving.
Qin Shu’s eyes grew brighter and brighter. He realized this fox was not even a fox yao but an ordinary fox, merely one that had been raised extraordinarily well. Its spiritual nature was so powerful that it seemed capable of exhaling great quantities of spiritual energy with every breath, like a tiny spirit born naturally from heaven and earth.
Xu Min had long since become immune to little foxes acting spoiled. He picked it up by the scruff, tossed it backward into Liu Yang Yang’s arms, and smiled while Liu Yang Yang scrambled frantically to catch it. Xu Min then decisively crushed the jade slip in his hand.
Golden light flashed. The jade slip broke down into fine fragments of spirit stone, which Xu Min personally fed into the little fox’s mouth.
“S-so extravagant…” Liu Yang Yang carefully cradled the soft bundle, his pupils practically shaking. “Mr. Xu, this little thing doesn’t even seem impressed by spirit-stone fragments. Don’t tell me it was raised on treasures of heaven and earth?”
“You could say that. The Xu family has been wealthy for a thousand years and has accumulated considerable resources. We have always treated our unenlightened fox relatives very well. Once they become accustomed to the family, they are household foxes.”
Xu Min wiped his hands and stopped paying attention to the lazy little fox. He turned toward Qin Shu, looking slightly troubled. “Student Qin, the Xu family cannot spare an additional place at the moment. However, there is indeed a human cultivator selling a teleportation pearl for the Dragon Mother’s birthday banquet. His requirements are rather strict. The price is extremely high, and he will only trade treasure for treasure. The exchange must also be collected in person…”
“What kind of treasure does he want?” Pei Zhao tilted his head.
Xu Min shuddered and, unable to stop himself, pressed tightly against Liu Yang Yang before answering in a trembling voice. “R-rare objects. Defensive magical artifacts, life-saving divine medicines… anything capable of preserving his life at a critical moment.”
Liu Yang Yang was startled by Xu Min suddenly crowding so close. He looked left, then right in total confusion, but did not dare speak.
Pei Zhao ignored Xu Min’s instinctive fear and merely considered the matter. “This cultivator has probably offended a yao cultivator. Otherwise, he wouldn’t casually give up an opportunity to enter the Dragon Palace merely in exchange for something that can save his life. That’s fine. Time and place?”
“J-Jiangcheng Cemetery. The other party requires the transaction to go through an intermediary,” Xu Min said, drawing a deep breath and trying to remain calm beneath the shelter of Liu Yang Yang’s yang energy. “Each side handles its own fees. Little ghosts carry the goods and messages between parties.”
“Oh, I know that one!” Liu Yang Yang seized the opportunity to speak and relieve the awkwardness. “One anonymous client paid me like that before. They had me go into the mountains during the third watch and find a particular grave mound. Damn, it scared me half to death. The grave was covered in hell money, and the moment I got there, a little ghost crawled out of the dirt and handed me gold bars.”
Third watch in a cemetery, little ghosts transporting things, hell money… The more Qin Shu listened, the more familiar the arrangement sounded.
“Mr. Xu, back at the ghost market, one stall owner told me that gray-market transactions involving Mojin Commandants followed the same procedure. Is this that kind of thing?”
Now that he no longer had to speak directly to Pei Zhao, Xu Min’s complexion immediately improved. “Yes. Intermediaries usually come from reputable tomb-robbing groups. Humans, ghosts, and yao exchange goods through them, and occasionally there are even small underground auctions. There is no after-sales service, however. Unless someone urgently needs to dispose of dirty goods, ordinary people rarely seek them out. It is a gray market, after all. Robbing one another, murder for treasure—anything can happen.”
Qin Shu listened attentively. “If there’s so little oversight, what happens if the intermediary becomes greedy and decides to keep the pearl?”
“If they can afford to offend the owner, kill everyone involved, and eliminate every loose end, then perhaps they really would keep it,” Xu Min answered cautiously. “But there is a reason this kind of gray-market system has survived for so many years. The intermediaries are very good at judging whom they can afford to provoke. Anyone who looks even slightly dangerous is someone they absolutely will not touch.”
“I see. I probably look fairly easy to bully, though.” Qin Shu considered the matter carefully before looking toward Liu Yang Yang’s muscular frame. “Brother Liu, I’ll have to trouble you to provide the intimidation.”
“What trouble? Brother Qin, that sounds way too distant. We’re practically brothers. Besides, I’m the one asking all of you for help in the first place, so really…”
Liu Yang Yang agreed without hesitation. His reason for coming to Jiangcheng was precisely to find the remains of the Dragon’s Eldest Son, Qiuniu.
The Dragon Mother’s birthday banquet was fast approaching. Earlier was better than later, and Xu Min had conveniently established the connection today. After a brief discussion, they decided to go during the third watch that very night and secure the teleportation pearl as soon as possible.
After seeing the little fox off and arranging the time for them, Xu Min quietly began edging toward the study-room door, hoping to make his escape without anyone noticing. Unfortunately, Qin Shu rose and intercepted him, inexplicably pulling him into the corridor.
The study-room door closed softly behind them. The corridor was deserted, with only muffled piano music drifting from the far end. The female ghost who had been secretly listening to the music had long since slipped away, proving herself several times cleverer than Xu Min.
Qin Shu looked at Xu Min, all traces of amusement suddenly disappearing from his dark, unfathomable eyes. For some reason, Xu Min seemed to glimpse a faint crimson glow hidden deep within them, like a poison lethal enough to kill on contact.
He had grown stronger.
Only a few days had passed since Xu Min had last seen him, yet the fox spirit’s sharp senses were already screaming warnings. Speaking to Qin Shu from a distance was still tolerable, but standing this close made uneasiness creep through Xu Min’s heart. Qin Shu himself might not even have realized that the invisible pressure surrounding him had become an uncanny kind of authority.
There was the scent of dragonkind, the scent of phoenix, the powerful death energy he had absorbed in the underworld, and traces of some other corrupted presence Xu Min could not identify—something that made every hair on his body stand upright.
Xu Min instinctively pressed his back against the wall, seeking a sense of safety that did not actually exist.
“S-Student Qin, is there something else?” he asked weakly.
“It’s about the psychological counseling I mentioned before, Mr. Xu… about Pei Zhao. If speaking face-to-face is too stressful, you could conduct the session over video instead.” Qin Shu lowered his voice. “I don’t expect him to suddenly resolve everything that’s bothering him, but he needs to talk to someone—someone who can actually understand what he’s saying. Keeping everything bottled up inside forever can make a person twisted.”
“A video… a video session…”
Xu Min froze. He had never expected Qin Shu to devise such a foolproof workaround, leaving him momentarily unable to invent a convincing excuse. He cautiously studied Qin Shu’s serious expression while struggling desperately inside.
He could not afford to offend one of them, and he could not afford to offend the other either. Fox spirits were supposedly born to charm rulers and win favor. Other foxes could lie drunkenly in an emperor’s arms, yet Xu Min had already died once and somehow his life was still this miserable.
Being forced to impersonate a human and go to work every day was bad enough. His workplace also happened to be Jiangcheng No. 2 High School, this terrifying place where one moment of carelessness could send him dancing repeatedly along the edge of death.
After wallowing in self-pity for a moment and secretly resolving to smash Daoist Master Xu’s incense burner at the first opportunity, Xu Min lowered his head and gave a long sigh. “All right. But Student Qin, this humble one can only agree if you promise me something.”
“Go ahead.”
“If Student Pei decides to kill this fox to silence me, please try to talk him out of it. Do your best to leave me one ghostly life…” Xu Min did not dare look at him and forced out a dry laugh.
“Mr. Xu, you’ve helped us so much. I’m more likely to send you gifts in thanks than anything else. If some conflict really does happen, of course I’ll do everything I can to resolve it peacefully.”
Qin Shu paused, frowning slightly. “But I genuinely don’t understand why all of you think Pei Zhao is terrifying. What exactly is frightening about him? Am I blind? No, that can’t be right. My eyesight is excellent.”
Xu Min coughed. His expression became complicated as his gaze repeatedly darted toward the crack beneath the study-room door, clearly wanting to say something but hesitating.
The confusion on Qin Shu’s face, however, was so natural and genuine that its sheer purity sent a chill through Xu Min, somehow making Qin Shu even more frightening than Pei Zhao himself.
Xu Min heard him continue, “Mr. Xu, the roast chicken I gave you on New Year’s Eve was something Pei Zhao told me to buy. Don’t you think that proves he’s actually very considerate and kind? So… can you give me one example? What exactly about Pei Zhao makes you believe he’s the kind of person who would kill you to keep you quiet?”
Xu Min glanced once more at the crack beneath the door. Everything was quiet, with no unnecessary movement whatsoever.
He drew a deep breath and finally ventured in a cautious whisper, “…He might not even be human.”
“Oh, I know that.” Qin Shu’s expression did not change in the slightest. “Anything else?”
“…Isn’t that enough?”