When Su Zhai woke up, Shi Yeshan had already gone off to Ziqian Hall with Fang Chengye again.
They had stayed up rather late the night before, and the man hadn't even bothered to wake her. If someone came calling and saw her still asleep, who knew what they might say behind her back.
Su Zhai felt a bit uneasy about it. She ate breakfast as usual and went out for a stroll, but on the normally smooth flagstone path in front of her home, there was a conspicuous stone lying about. She picked it up and found it looked rather strange.
A layer of gray coated its surface, but inside it was purple. When held up to the sunlight, she could see it faintly glowing within.
It didn't seem like something from the mortal world.
"What are you looking at?"
Chu Yi asked from beside her. "What's that in your hand? How do you have this thing?"
The demonic qi was so thick it was practically spilling out.
Hearing the seriousness in her tone, Su Zhai held the stone out with one hand. "Is this yours?"
"Of course it's not mine." Chu Yi frowned and snatched the stone away. "This is a piece of remains, do you understand? The remains of a great demon lord."
Judging by the look of it, this person's cultivation base was extraordinarily profound—rare even in this world. Even after being dead for years, the demonic qi refused to disperse.
Chu Yi examined it for a moment, then said in surprise, "How come the demonic qi has disappeared again?"
In the span of a breath, it had turned back into an ordinary piece of bone.
Chu Yi tossed it aside and quickly figured it out. "It seems it's afraid of my righteous aura. Hah!"
Su Zhai naturally couldn't understand any of this, but she knew Chu Yi's cultivation base was not low. Frowning with worry, she asked, "Why would demon remains appear near my home?"
"That's perfectly normal. Qiling Peak has abundant Spiritual Qi here, so demons and monsters have always roamed about. A few hundred years ago, there was a great battle nearby, and countless demons and monsters died here. There are plenty in the mountains." Chu Yi tilted her chin up. "Want me to take you in for a look?"
It was just that the piece in Su Zhai's hand wasn't quite normal—that moment when demonic qi burst forth had even startled Chu Yi into coming to check.
Su Zhai glanced at the mountain behind them. "So that's how it is."
Early in the morning, the back mountain was still shrouded in a dense dark green, as if even sunlight couldn't pierce through it.
She had never actually gone into the mountains before. Though she was tempted by Chu Yi's suggestion, Shi Yeshan had specifically told her not to go in lightly.
Su Zhai was mulling over a tactful way to decline, but when she turned around, she only saw Chu Yi's face slightly tense, wearing a somewhat displeased expression. She couldn't help but ask curiously, "What's wrong with you?"
Chu Yi was just a little regretful, because she had originally decided to keep her distance from Su Zhai. Yet the suggestion to take her into the mountains alone had slipped out without a second thought, and now it wasn't easy to take it back.
She looked at Su Zhai with a burning gaze and said in a low voice, "Are you coming or not?"
Please refuse.
Su Zhai: …
She didn't dare refuse.
"Well then, I'll go in with you for a look." She forced a smile. "But my husband said this mountain is very dangerous. Cultivator Chu, if we run into danger, I'm afraid I might… well, hold you back."
So maybe we should just forget it.
"Your husband? What would an outer sect disciple like him know?"
If Shi Yeshan ever found out that she, Chu Yi, was a personally taught disciple of Immortal Lord Ziying, he'd probably be so shocked his eyeballs would fall out.
Chu Yi said disdainfully, "Besides, are you doubting that I can protect you?"
Su Zhai said quietly, "…No, I'm not. You're extremely, extremely powerful. We all know that."
She went home and left a note for Shi Yeshan, then wrapped up two pieces of cake to bring along, treating it like a spring outing.
The two of them entered the mountain with mutual reluctance.
The piece of remains was casually discarded by the roadside.
About the time it takes to burn a stick of incense later, the pale sky suddenly split with a streak of purple qi, which vanished just as quickly.
The trees on Qiling Peak were lush and low, and all sorts of strange little sounds rustled through the dense forest. Even in broad daylight, a miasma spread through the woods. Su Zhai stuck close to Chu Yi every step of the way, afraid of getting lost.
Chu Yi casually pointed at a small stream. "This is where I caught that fish last time."
The water flowed quietly, the riverbed clear, meandering on its own in the uninhabited deep mountains—peaceful and serene, undisturbed by anyone.
It suited the little Fish Spirit's temperament quite well.
"Mm-hm." Su Zhai glanced at it cautiously. "That little fish probably went back."
Chu Yi didn't say anything. She simply led Su Zhai around with her hands behind her back, hoping to finish this excursion quickly.
The longer she spent by Su Zhai's side, the more uncomfortable Chu Yi felt—there was even a sense of guilt creeping in.
But as they walked back and forth, the two of them only kept circling in place.
Even Su Zhai could tell something was wrong. She asked carefully, "Can we go back now? It's almost noon."
"…There's a labyrinthine array here. I accidentally walked into it." Chu Yi coughed softly, then suddenly asked her, "Can you cut down trees?"
Getting out would be easy—just slash down the purple camphor trees nearby with one sword stroke, since they were the foundation of the formation.
But… Chu Yi couldn't take a life.
Today Shi Yeshan came home early. Fang Chengye escorted him to the courtyard gate and enthusiastically invited him over for a meal in a few days, but Shi Yeshan declined in a flat tone.
"Alright then." Fang Chengye smiled. "Daoist Shi, I'll be heading back now."
The man still drove his ox cart home, the setting sun gently enveloping his figure, casting a shadow shaped like a beast upon the ground.
Shi Yeshan watched for a moment, then turned away with little interest. He stepped up the stone stairs to the courtyard gate. "Zhai-niang."
Su Zhai was not at home.
The courtyard gate was not locked either, merely left ajar.
Ever since Hua Fan had afflicted her with Heat Venom last time, Su Zhai rarely went out at this hour. Shi Yeshan stood in the courtyard for a brief moment as the dusk light dimmed, casting a somewhat somber shadow across his face.
He turned and picked up a lantern before leaving.
To the naked eye, Shi Yeshan's gait was no different from an ordinary person's, yet in the blink of an eye, he had already traversed a long stretch of road. He arrived at Liu Erniang's door and knocked. "Su Zhai?"
A dog's bark sounded from within Erniang's courtyard. Shi Yeshan knew then that Su Zhai was not here either.
He still waited patiently for Erniang to open the door, but the lantern in his hand suddenly slipped and fell toward the ground—then hovered silently in midair.
Shi Yeshan frowned, looking at the fragments in his palm.
Those were the lantern's handle, which he had been gripping in his hand and had unconsciously crushed to pieces.
Liu Erniang hurriedly opened the door, and in that instant, the lantern returned to Shi Yeshan's hand as if nothing had happened. He asked directly, "Is Su Zhai not at your home?"
"No. I went to look for her early this morning, but she wasn't home." Liu Erniang studied Shi Yeshan's figure standing in the dimming twilight and felt a sudden inexplicable unease, yet she still added softly, "Su Su doesn't really have anywhere else to go. She has no kin in the village, and you, great Immortal Lord, are always busy. I see her alone all the time, looking rather downcast. Perhaps she went to the back mountain to clear her mind."
Shi Yeshan was silent for a moment. "She told you she's been feeling downcast?"
Su Zhai had never said such a thing. In fact, Su Zhai didn't particularly enjoy interacting with the villagers.
She could sense that subtle rejection and malice.
But Liu Erniang sometimes saw her all alone and couldn't help feeling uneasy about it, so she covered her mouth with a light laugh and said, "That's right. If only she had a child to raise by her side, she'd be able to chat with the other wives in the village."
She had been about to press the matter of having children while the iron was hot, but Shi Yeshan's expression remained indifferent. Liu Erniang couldn't quite gauge his mood, so she stepped aside and said warmly, "Don't stand out here talking. Come inside and sit for a while. Su Su will surely be home soon."
"It's too late. I won't disturb you."
Shi Yeshan left Liu Erniang's home, but instead turned toward Fang Chengye's house.
The Fang family's fence was low, and the couple happened to spot Shi Yeshan, both coming over enthusiastically to greet him.
"Daoist Fang." Shi Yeshan clasped his hands in salute. "I've been grateful for your care these past few days. In a while, I'll bring my wife to visit and thank you in person. Would that be convenient?"
He had just declined Fang Chengye's invitation, and now he had changed his mind—quite naturally so.
The couple was rather flattered, readily agreeing and exchanging a few pleasantries, though they couldn't persuade Shi Yeshan to stay for dinner.
As he left, Shi Yeshan glanced at the gaunt black dog tethered by their door.
His gaze was light, but the big black dog seemed to sense something in an instant. It immediately propped up its filthy body and barked with all its might, a sound that shook the heavens—until Fang Chengye snatched up a carrying pole and struck it hard across the back, after which it whimpered and dared not bark again.
Shi Yeshan didn't linger. He searched the entire village front and back, but found no trace of Su Zhai.
Chu Yi was missing as well.
By now, night had fully fallen. Shi Yeshan extended his divine sense straight into Chu Yi's sea of consciousness, only to find her thoughts in complete disarray.
He spoke first, calling out, "Chu Yi."
Chu Yi was still trapped in the labyrinthine array. Su Zhai was no longer by her side, and she was already irritated, so she snapped, "You bastard! Looking for death! Dare to make another sound and see what happens—I'll level your nest with a single sweep of my sword!"
Immortal Lord Ziying's tone turned slightly heavy. "Wretched creature."
That plain, flat utterance made Chu Yi's body tremble.
Her curses died in her throat. Her heart sank halfway, and she stammered, "Patriarch? It's you? Why are you looking for me at this hour?"
"Where are you?"
"I'm right on Qiling Peak." Chu Yi answered honestly. "Following your teachings, Patriarch, I cultivate diligently every day and never stir up trouble."
Immortal Lord Ziying seemed to sigh. "Where are you now?"
"…Inside a labyrinthine array on Qiling Peak."
Chu Yi added sullenly, "This array can't hurt me in the slightest. If it weren't for that frail, pitiful mortal young lady beside me, I'd have fought my way out long ago."
Immortal Lord Ziying said nothing more.
After waiting a long while, Chu Yi asked in confusion, "Patriarch? Patriarch?"
The Patriarch was already gone. He had appeared suddenly and departed just as quickly. Though it was without warning and utterly inexplicable, there must surely be some profound purpose behind it.
Chu Yi believed this without a doubt.
Night had fallen, and thick miasma permeated every corner of Seven Peaks Peak, making it impossible for Shi Yeshan to easily determine Su Zhai's location. His divine sense swept grandly across every inch of the mountain, finally touching upon where she was.
A tiny figure, crouched beneath a tree stump, arms wrapped around her knees as she curled up. Her emotions were calm.
Even indifferent.
Withdrawing his divine sense, Shi Yeshan no longer rushed to find her. Instead, he gazed into the distance toward the labyrinthine array, recalling Liu Erniang's words that she always seemed so listless.
Trapped in this small world, bound to him as husband and wife—was she truly so unhappy?