The next morning.
“Knock, knock, knock! Knock, knock, knock!”
The urgent and heavy knocking shattered the quiet inside the room harshly.
“Ugh…… Who is it?!”
Lu Qiancha was abruptly awakened. Half-asleep, she turned over, her small face scrunched up as she instinctively hugged her fluffy tail like a pillow.
Then, she let go of her tail, rubbed her drowsy eyes with one paw, while the other impatiently flicked at her ear — clearly the image of someone whose sweet dream had been disturbed.
Beside her, Shangguan Yunzhu was also woken by the noise. Her delicate brows furrowed slightly as she yawned lazily, still half-asleep.
Quickly tidying her robes, she took a few steps forward and with a creak pulled open the heavy wooden door.
In the morning light, an old figure stood outside, leaning on a dark wooden cane.
“Village Chief?”
A flicker of surprise passed through Yunzhu’s eyes as she looked up toward the still dim sky. “So early… has someone in the village been attacked by a wild beast?”
She instinctively guessed the worst.
“No, no, no,” the Village Chief shook his head slowly, a faint smile tugging at his dry lips. “The Shan Shen Lord… has always protected us. The village children won’t be troubled by wild beasts.”
His clouded gaze passed over Shangguan Yunzhu’s shoulder and landed precisely on the still groggy Lu Qiancha inside.
His voice was hoarse, like smoke rasping in his throat, then deliberately raised a bit.
“This old man has come to invite you, Xianzi,” his cane tapped the ground, making a muffled thud thud, “and this little girl who’s staying here with you, to attend the Shan Shen Lord’s Shenshou Ritual.”
“Hm?” Yunzhu raised a brow at this, confusion knitting her features. “But Village Chief, didn’t you say that I, an outsider, carry an unclean aura? Rushing in… might offend the Shan Shen’s dignity?”
“Ahahaha—”
An abrupt, grating laugh burst from the Village Chief’s throat, like dry leaves scraping over gravel — harsh and utterly cold.
His gaunt face trembled as he forced out more laughter.
“Xianzi, you flatter yourself. The grace you’ve shown by protecting our village these past three months, the Shan Shen Lord surely sees it! If you weren’t worthy, then no one in this entire village would be worthy of the Shan Shen’s honor!”
Startled?!
A strange feeling flickered through Shangguan Yunzhu’s heart, but she didn’t pry further. Composing herself, she nodded. “Then… when will the ritual begin?”
“Please wait a moment, Xianzi.” The Village Chief’s gaze lingered on Lu Qiancha as he said, “This old man must first rouse every household in the village…”
“Once everyone is ready, we will depart immediately!”
His eyes, half-hidden under heavy eyelids, gleamed with a hint of impatience.
“Do you need my help?”
Looking at the aged figure, Yunzhu kindly offered.
“No need for you to trouble yourself, Xianzi!”
The Village Chief waved his hand repeatedly, his hoarse voice filled with forced gratitude but hollow at the same time. “You have already done so much for us… this small matter, let this old man handle it.”
Having said that, he wasted no more time. Leaning on his cane, he shuffled away with surprisingly brisk steps into the hazy morning mist.
“Take care, Village Chief.”
Watching the frail figure vanish into the fog, Shangguan Yunzhu gently closed the door. Turning around, her amber eyes now filled with curiosity, she looked at the little wolf pup fidgeting at the bedside.
“Xiao Qiancha, what do you think about this…?”
“What else can I think?” Lu Qiancha waved her small paw casually, tone lazy as if it were no big deal.
“The ship will find its pier naturally, and a soldier will block an attacker. It’s just a god worship ceremony, what’s there to fear?”
“I’m worried,”
Yunzhu frowned slightly and crouched by the bed, lowering her voice with seriousness. “What if the so-called ‘Shan Shen’ has long since fallen into evil and corruption… can the two of us handle that?”
She was well aware of the Shan Shen’s power — even if it was only the small Shan Shen of this wild land, it was still a sanctioned and worshipped Cheng Shen of the Yinjian, and no matter how faint the incense, it was a Guixian; the power a Guixian possessed was far beyond what two Hua Shen Realm mortals like them could challenge.
By now, Lu Qiancha was fully awake. Her blue eyes clear as ice, she stopped swinging her feet and tapped lightly on the edge of the bed with her claws, the faint tap tap echoing softly.
“Don’t worry, Junior Sister Yunzhu.” Her voice was steady and calm, with a trace of nonchalance.
“The Shan Shen is an official god appointed by Di Fu — a real employee of Heaven and Earth. If it had really gone wrong and fallen to evil… the Di Fu would’ve been in an uproar by now!”
“No need for little shrimps like us to sense it — the Juhun Suolian would have crossed Yin Yang already, dragging it off to the Shiba Ceng Difu to be reprimanded.”
Her analysis was sharp and targeted at a core contradiction. “So, if the anomalies here really do relate to the ritual objects… that only proves one thing—”
“What thing?”
Lu Qiancha raised her eyes, blue and sharp, looking toward the village outside the window. Her tone was resolute. “The god the villagers have been worshipping day and night, at its root, is not a Shan Shen!”
“Not a Shan Shen?!”
A chill ran through Shangguan Yunzhu’s heart. “Then what is it?”
“Heh,”
Lu Qiancha wrinkled her nose and snorted disdainfully. “A Yaomo Jingguai… all the bloodthirsty, mind-corrupting, life-force sucking creatures that roam the mountains and fields trying to build their power!”
She paused, her gaze growing darker and colder, as if appraising with a near merciless scrutiny.
“What exactly it is… hard to say. But if we only consider the worst, the greediest, and the most sinister possibilities — we won’t be wrong!”
“Xiao Qiancha, you’re so clever.”
Shangguan Yunzhu didn’t hold back her straightforward praise, her eyes shining with admiration.
Hearing this, Lu Qiancha’s fair little face remained calm and unruffled, but the big tail behind her seemed to be injected with joy, becoming like a little broom that kept brushing over the bed.
She suddenly hopped up onto the bed frame. High up… uh, not quite high enough, the bed was too low.
Still not satisfied, she tiptoed vigorously on her white little feet until her sight just barely surpassed Shangguan Yunzhu sitting on the low stool.
Her blue eyes lowered slightly, and her pink lips curled into a deliberately arrogant smirk, speaking in what she thought was her most “condescending” tone: “I’m not clever, you’re just too dumb.”
Shangguan Yunzhu tilted her head a little, looking at this little girl who had painstakingly built up this “full-of-authority” pose.
She knew very well that Lu Qiancha was deliberately taking revenge for what happened last night.
Instead of getting annoyed, Yunzhu’s smile deepened, her eyes bending into crescent moons, voice soft. “Yes, yes, only our Qiancha Baby is the smartest.”
“Bang!”
Lu Qiancha was struck by Yunzhu’s words as if hit by lightning, her body suddenly stiffened and she seemed to step on invisible ice, instantly losing her balance. She fell hard onto the solid floor.
“Ugh~”
A stifled whimper escaped her throat as she scrambled into a sitting position like a duck, two tiny paws instinctively clutching her poor tailbone.
Her wide blue eyes quickly filled with tears, trembling on the verge of sobbing.
“Xiao Qiancha!”
Yunzhu’s heart clenched at the sudden fall, rushing over anxiously. “Where did you hurt? Does it hurt?!”
At this moment, Lu Qiancha gave up sitting properly and sprawled on the floor like a frightened rabbit, her tail raised high.
She refused to let her backside touch the cold floor — that would stir up bad memories from Bei Juluzhou.
Struggling, Lu Qiancha raised her little face, the remaining tears swirling in her blue eyes, voice full of grievance and disdain. “Where… where on earth did you learn such… such weird phrases?!”
The chill and goosebumps caused by the words “Qiancha Baby” still tingled on her skin.
“From Qingfeng.”
Yunzhu blinked innocently and confessed, “He used to care for me every day, calling me ‘good girl’ and ‘baby’ all the time…”
“Eww~!”
Yunzhu even made an exaggerated goosebump gesture, “Back then, him saying stuff like that was really creepy.”
“More than just creepy!”
Lu Qiancha’s face fell flat, her voice as wooden as a plank.
“Coming from Qingfeng’s mouth, it’s definitely creepy.”
Yunzhu changed tone and looked down at the pitiful blue fluff on the floor, her voice sweetening by degrees.
“If it were Xiao Qiancha wanting to call me ‘Yunzhu Baby’… I wouldn’t find it the least bit cringey!”
“I-I-I find it cringy.”
Lu Qiancha spat the words out one by one through clenched teeth, her blue eyes silently pleading “Please stop.”
“You should stop listening to Qingfeng’s nonsense. If you learn too much… your brain will really degenerate.”
“Ahem,”
Yunzhu coughed lightly to hide her smile, but her gaze once again fell to the area near the tightly raised base of the tail… shouldn’t we… apply some ointment?
That spot looked like it had taken quite a hard hit.
“Nooooo…”
Lu Qiancha flatly refused Yunzhu’s kindness. The fall actually didn’t hurt much, but the psychological shadow was very large.
“Are you really okay?” Yunzhu asked anxiously, pointing at her reddened eyes. “You’ve even been crying…”
“I said I’m fine.”
Lu Qiancha shook her head, and slowly, bit by bit… pushed herself up from the floor. But Yunzhu keenly noticed that the little wolf pup’s calves were clearly trembling.
“Tsk, you like to show off so much?”
Yunzhu clicked her tongue quietly and furrowed her brows. Her heart churned with a mix of worry and amusement: clearly so hurt she could barely walk, yet refusing help? Who taught her to be so stubborn?
Swish.
Without hesitation, Yunzhu stepped forward in a flash, her arm sliding around Lu Qiancha’s slender waist like an iron clasp that could not be refused.
“What are you doing?!” Lu Qiancha’s eyes widened in shock, like a frightened fawn.
“Helping you apply medicine.”
Yunzhu’s tone was calm and resolute, her deep amber eyes filled with nearly overflowing tenderness.
Her other hand deftly pulled a small white jade ointment bottle from her storage pouch, the bottle’s surface glowing with a gentle luster.
Before Lu Qiancha could protest, Yunzhu sat firmly on the edge of the bed.
“Ugh—?!”
Lu Qiancha felt the world flip upside down, her back pressed down, then firmly held against Yunzhu’s warm and supple thighs.
This scene… felt so familiar…