Chapter Seventy-Three: Reunion

Another chapter will follow soon!

The campfire crackled and roared, burning the wood with sharp pops and crackles. Chen Jianchen sat beside the flames, watching intently, wholly unaffected by his surroundings.

Squeak!

The mouse demon, curled up to one side, suddenly perked up its little ears and stood upright, as if it had detected something. It glanced about warily, alert to the slightest movement.

“Master, I sense something unusual.”

With a leap, it sprang onto a nearby rock.

Chen Jianchen responded with a soft “Oh?” and stood up, scanning the area. He saw a flash of white in the woods to his right, and then, swift as the wind, Ying Ning’s beautiful figure appeared, dashing towards him.

“Master, be careful!” cried the ever-loyal mouse demon, not understanding the situation. Its small body tensed, ready to hurl itself in front of the fox to block her path.

Chen Jianchen chuckled, “Don’t move. She’s one of ours.”

One of ours?

Xiao Yi’s mind blanked for a moment, and in the next instant, it saw the fox leap into Chen Jianchen’s arms, nuzzling affectionately into his chest, almost as if she were being coquettish.

The mouse demon stared so hard its little eyes nearly popped out. Hastily, it turned away, mumbling, “See no evil… see no evil…”

Yet curiosity got the better of it, and it could not resist sneaking a glance back to see exactly what was happening—even though its master had expressly forbidden it from spying on Chen Jianchen. But under these circumstances, how could it possibly restrain itself?

The mouse demon’s spiritual sense was sharp; it had already sensed that the fox was, like itself, a demon who had attained spiritual power. But the fox’s aura was vastly stronger and radiated a pure, mellow energy. This made it clear: the fox was no ordinary demon, but one who had received orthodox Daoist teachings and walked the righteous path.

Envy…

That was Xiao Yi’s first feeling.

For both humans and demons, the opportunity to be enlightened in the orthodox Daoist arts was a rare fortune. This was the main reason the mouse demon had pledged itself so loyally to Chen Jianchen; it believed this path was the way forward.

Now, upon seeing the fox spirit, its faith in its master’s extraordinary nature only deepened.

At this moment, the fox and the master finally separated and sat by the fire, each unrolling their writing materials, communicating by writing instead of speech.

So the fox could not speak.

Realizing this, the mouse demon felt a flicker of pride, thinking itself superior in at least one regard. But observing the fox spirit’s posture—sitting upright, focused, lifting the brush with reverence and precision—it was clear she was well-practiced. Xiao Yi could not help but sneak closer, stretching its neck to peek at her writing. On the paper, each character was neat and well-proportioned, with a delicate, elegant style. Instantly, it recalled the tangled, illegible scrawls left by its own claws, and felt deeply ashamed…

“Ying Ning, how did you know I was here?”

“Heh, sir, don’t forget I have studied the Daoist arts.”

“So that’s it. I overlooked that. The marvels of Daoist methods far surpass the ordinary.”

“Indeed. Sir, what brings you to me so suddenly?”

“It’s not sudden. I’ve always wished to come, but never had the chance. Today the academy is on holiday, so I finally could.”

“Is that so? I thought you’d forgotten me long ago.”

Reading this line, playful yet tinged with a hint of accusation, like a young girl acting coy, Chen Jianchen broke into a cold sweat and wrote, “How could I…? Now, let me introduce you to a new companion.”

He called out, “Xiao Yi, come here and greet her.”

At his words, the mouse demon promptly performed a nimble somersault, landing steadily before Ying Ning. Placing its tiny paws together in a respectful salute, it opened its mouth as if to speak, but hesitated, unsure how to address her.

Ying Ning’s lips curved into a smile, and she wrote with her brush, “Call me elder sister.”

The mouse demon was overjoyed and chirped sweetly, “Hello, elder sister!”

It had little talent for reading and writing, but was extremely worldly-wise—far more so than Ying Ning.

Ying Ning blinked in surprise, then wrote, “You can speak?”

The mouse demon, suddenly regaining its confidence, puffed up a little and related its own experiences in detail.

When she finished listening, Ying Ning wrote, “So that’s how it is. Since you now follow our master, I have some Daoist arts I can pass on to you.”

At these words, the mouse demon was over the moon, nearly spinning three hundred times on the spot, or perhaps about to perform its signature mouse dance. Instead, it fell to the ground with a grateful kowtow. “Thank you for your guidance, elder sister.”

Even using the formal phrase “guidance”—Chen Jianchen found this both amusing and exasperating. These two little demons seemed to get along famously.

Ying Ning wrote again, “Sir, the night is deep and the frost heavy. Why don’t you both come with me to my cave dwelling to rest?”

“Very well.”

Now that Ying Ning was here, he naturally wanted to see the Pine Reclining Cave. He only wondered how far it was—if the road was treacherous, the journey might prove difficult.

Just as he was mulling over this, Ying Ning opened her mouth and spat out an object.

Originally only the size of a finger, once exposed to the wind, it expanded at once, its hues mottled—like an ancient scroll.

Without Ying Ning uttering any incantation, the scroll slowly unrolled. Characters and paintings floated across its surface, teeming with information, all in motion like rippling water, compelling and mesmerizing. Once his gaze fell upon it, he found it impossible to look away.

This is…

Chen Jianchen was filled with astonishment and delight.

Ying Ning wrote, “This is the ‘Kunlun Jade Purity Daoist Scroll’ my master forged into Dao form. It possesses manifold wondrous powers. Once refined, it can be summoned and retracted at will…”

With her detailed explanation, Chen Jianchen finally grasped its profound mysteries—

The Pine Reclining Cave was once the abode of the Kunlun adept “One Leaf Heralds Autumn.” After his death, he left behind the complete Daoist legacy, which Ying Ning inherited. Though they had never met, Ying Ning had always revered him as her master. That “Kunlun Jade Purity Daoist Scroll” was a true Daoist scripture, recording many of the Kunlun Sect’s esoteric arts—vast and unfathomable, incomparable to the “Invisibility Spell” manual given by the Daoist of the Guanghan Sect. The difference was as great as heaven and earth.

No wonder the wolf demon had been willing to do anything to seize it.

This Daoist scroll had always been anchored in the Pine Reclining Cave; whoever claimed the cave would claim the scroll. Back then, Ying Ning had not yet refined the Dao scroll and could not take it with her. When the wolf demon seized the cave, he stole a simple spell from it. Yet that spell was later dispelled by Chen Jianchen’s Demon-Dispelling Brush, and the resulting clash awakened the brush’s powers, leading to the birth of the “Three Virtue True Chapter.”

After many days of arduous cultivation, Ying Ning finally refined the “Kunlun Jade Purity Daoist Scroll” and could store it within her elixir field, but had only mastered a tenth of its arts—most of them elementary.

When her explanation ended, Chen Jianchen and the mouse demon leapt onto the scroll. Ying Ning joined them, reciting a spell, and the scroll floated out like a flying carpet, drifting toward the back hills of Maple Mountain.

Night deepened, the stars and moon faintly aglow.

The scroll, like a boat, wove its way through the dense forests, forming a strange and wondrous silhouette…