A strong scent of blood, laced with all sorts of medicinal herbs, assailed his senses, followed by a suffocating sensation as if falling into a bottomless abyss.
Just as Yun Mu entered the Tub, he choked on several mouthfuls of water before managing to hold his breath, narrowly avoiding an untimely end before things had even begun.
Judging by the sound just now when he hit the ground, he’d thought this Tub was quite large—but was it really this absurdly big?
Feeling nothing but water beneath his feet, with not even the bottom in reach, he instinctively shifted his posture, intending to swim upward first.
He certainly didn’t want to drown in here before he’d even had a proper medicinal bath.
After all, in his opinion, such a ridiculous cause of death—if it really happened—would be utterly unprecedented, and likely go down in history as a source of endless shame.
He definitely didn’t want future generations, while poring over the annals, to double over in laughter at
“In the fourth year of the Dali Era, a man of Bai Yao drowned in a medicinal bath.”
Reaching out with his arms and kicking with his legs, he began to try swimming upward, but strangely, no matter how much effort he put in, it felt like he was treading water in place—he couldn’t move forward at all.
The medicinal water clung to his skin with a leaden weight, pulling him backward bit by bit.
Just as he was feeling lost, suddenly, a familiar power surged up from within him.
A streak of ink-black flashed through his mind, and the boy who had been unable to breathe freely before suddenly found himself gulping air without even thinking.
Though he could still feel the presence of the medicinal water on his body, in front of his face there now seemed to be a space where he could breathe.
How peculiar.
“Wait, just now Miss Luo Yi clearly came in with me, didn’t she? Where did she go?”
He hadn’t even had a chance to savor this strange state before he blurted out the question, suddenly realizing something was amiss.
He waved his arms about, searching for the girl he’d just spoken of, but found nothing.
“That’s odd… did she go up first? Or could it be…?”
An utterly absurd possibility floated into his mind—
Qin Luo Yi had sunk downward.
So, following the principle that it was better to err on the side of caution, Yun Mu flipped his body in the water and began splashing his way down.
The power within the medicinal bath still clung to him, but this time, it seemed to help instead, propelling him rapidly to the bottom of the Tub.
There, using his sense of the fluctuations in the air, Yun Mu found Qin Luo Yi curled up in the corner, her entire body shrouded in a green, ghostly light.
Just as he had guessed, the girl had already fallen into unconsciousness.
“Miss Luo Yi! Wake up!”
He reached out to grab her hands, but the instant he touched her, an icy coldness straight from the depths of his soul made him instinctively pull back, only to grit his teeth and grab her again.
He knew now wasn’t the time to shrink away.
“Miss Luo Yi, are you alright?”
He called out as he shook her body, but seeing he couldn’t get any response, he had no choice but to pull her into his arms.
“My apologies,” he muttered, deciding that her being able to breathe came first.
Following the length of Qin Luo Yi’s arm upward, Yun Mu felt along until he touched her face, then pressed his own face to hers, sharing that tiny patch of air where one could breathe.
Cold breath struck him full in the face.
This time, the chill reached not only his soul but also his features—a chill that, contrasted with the scalding heat of the medicinal bath, was sharper than a winter wind.
He trembled uncontrollably, but did not let go; if anything, he only held on tighter.
His consciousness, caught between extremes of fire and ice, grew even clearer.
His senses sharpened as his mind became more alert.
“Miss Luo Yi… If you don’t wake up soon… I’m really going to have to give you mouth-to-mouth…”
His trembling voice was barely louder than a mosquito’s, yet it somehow broke the silence like magic.
“Mouth-to-mouth? I see you sticking so close and even tearing my sleeve—aren’t you really planning something indecent against this princess?”
Suddenly, the girl’s gentle voice sounded.
“Ha… Miss Luo Yi? You’re awake…?”
“Mm, I’m awake. But you haven’t answered me yet—what exactly were you trying to do to me?”
Yun Mu didn’t reply, just smiled faintly, feeling a weight lift from his heart.
He loosened his grip, about to push her away, but found himself pressed against something soft.
In the next instant, an icy aura surrounded his whole body as the sealing technique that Tu Shan Yun Xi had used to temporarily suppress Qin Luo Yi’s power shattered.
A surge of power erupted, whipping the medicinal bath into a frenzy, even making the entire Tub tremble.
“Little Yun, hold me tight.”
As she spoke, her arms hugged him tighter, and Yun Mu did as she said, embracing her closely.
“Little Yun, about that mouth-to-mouth—do you still mean it?”
“Huh? Uh…”
Before he could answer, he felt a pair of lips as soft as water touch his own, and his mouth filled with a sweetness like peach blossom cakes.
The power that had been spilling from the girl’s body now seemed to find its home, surging into Yun Mu through the meeting of their lips and the tip of their tongues.
Meanwhile, the medicinal bath generated an even stronger force, wrapping around them and pressing their already close bodies even tighter together.
***
After a long time, Yun Mu’s eyes snapped open to see the bamboo forest rustling and the moon reflected on the water’s surface like a painting.
“I… I can see?”
He reached out to touch the leaves before him, but they dispersed like mist at his touch, so he drew his hand back.
“An illusion…?”
Though he couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed, curiosity soon won out and he continued forward.
In a daze, he caught a glimpse of a young woman bathing in the water.
He spun around, but couldn’t banish the image of the branches growing wantonly from the girl’s back from his mind.
When he looked again, the scene spun and changed completely.
“Mother, Mother, Luo Yi wants to be like you and heal all the world’s illnesses with her own power someday!”
On the upper floor of a tower, a little girl in white with her hair in twin ponytails danced about as she spoke, cake crumbs still clinging to her lips.
Sitting before her was a gentle-looking woman with soft, curved eyes.
“So… this is Miss Luo Yi’s childhood?”
Yun Mu stood where he was, watching the affectionate mother and daughter, but didn’t step forward to disturb them.
“Mother isn’t that amazing—some illnesses even I can’t cure.”
The beautiful woman reached out to pat the little girl’s head and smiled, “And actually, I don’t want little Luo Yi to have this power, either.”
“Huh? Why? I think this power is great.”
“Because… Mother doesn’t want… to let… little Luo Yi, you…”
The words broke off intermittently, and no matter how close Yun Mu drew, he couldn’t catch the rest.
The scene faded away.
This time, only a cliff remained before him, with a young girl sitting at its edge, hugging her knees and gazing at the moon as she muttered softly.
“Miss Luo Yi?”
He called out gently, but there was no reply, so he walked forward a few steps.
“Are you alright?”
Still no answer, but the girl’s voice grew clearer—it was a song with a light, bright melody, drifting over on the wind.
“The road is long and far, as I go eastward, the geese grow fewer.”
“My mother lets go of my hand, telling me to hurry and run.”
The cheerful tune made his heart tighten, and he walked faster.
The lyrics of the song became clearer.
“Spring lively, autumn bleak, running round and round again.”
“My little Paper Kite, it’s gone.”
Not until he reached her did he hear her sing, this time with a hint of tears—
“My little Paper Kite, it’s gone…”
He stopped, knelt on one knee, and pulled the girl into his arms.
“It’s alright, if you want to cry, then cry. I’m here, it’s alright…”
But he heard no weeping, only that childish voice continuing the song—clear, lovely, and playful, yet tinged with endless sorrow.
The geese have gone, the kite has vanished, spring passes, autumn fades—everything, everything, vanishes like burning incense.
“All that medicinal bath used up—such a quantity, are you sure Xiao Mu’s body will be alright?”
“Don’t worry. With Qin Luo Yi here, there’s no problem with the amount.”
“That reasoning… is exactly as I expected, which is why I arranged for that human girl to enter Bai Yao in the first place.”
“And the Empress of Tu Shan herself is now playing the afterthought?”
“Not at all, I’m just thorough,”
“Heh…”
In the valley, the Tub had vanished, leaving only a boy and girl, warm and damp, lying together on the grass.
Nearby, Eleven and Tu Shan Yun Xi stood, gazing down at them.
“…Are you planning to let this girl keep hugging Xiao Mu forever?”
“A little longer won’t hurt. It’ll do them both good.”
Eleven gestured at the starlight still flowing between them, then glanced sidelong at the woman beside her.
“What, you future mother, starting to get jealous of your son already?”
“Not quite. I just don’t want my family’s cabbage to get trampled by a pig.”
“Isn’t that about the same thing?”
“Not even close…”
“Whatever you say.”
Tu Shan Yun Xi chuckled softly and, after sensing their auras, bent down to pick Yun Mu up in her arms once their connection finally broke.
Qin Luo Yi, meanwhile, was lifted by her youkai power and floated in the air.
“By the way, Eleven, wasn’t that date you mentioned coming up soon? I remember it’s once every thousand… or ten thousand years? Are you sure you want to use so much of your essence blood before then?”
“It doesn’t matter. What matters more to me is whether Yan Xing will keep her promise to Xiao Mu.”
With that, Eleven reached out, trying to take the boy into her own arms, only to be dodged.
“For a boy you’ve only just met, is it really worth pouring so much of your heart and soul into him?”
“Of course it is. Besides…”
As she reached out again, this time Eleven caught hold of Yun Mu’s right wrist.
“Aren’t you also busy running around trying to adopt him as your foster son? What identity do you plan to disguise him with this time—going to use up another tail?”
“He’s not like Huai Zhi, as you well know,” Tu Shan Yun Xi said, trying to swat Eleven’s hand away, only to be blocked, “So I plan to let Xiao Mu win over those little youkai with his own strength—in the Boundary Monument Illusion.”
“Boundary Monument Illusion? You mean you’re going to have a greenhorn like Xiao Mu go up against all your Bai Yao little youkai?”
“In Bai Yao, there’s nothing more convincing than strength. Besides, aren’t you helping him train? What, are you… lacking confidence in yourself?”
“I have confidence, but…”
“But what?”
“Can you hand Xiao Mu over to me for now? I’m his family, after all.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“Master counts as family?”
A retort shot back.
“That’s still closer than a future mother.”
“Ha, looking for a fight, are we?”
“Not really, but if you want to, I’m happy to oblige.”
Not far away, at the cave entrance, Tu Shan Huai Zhi—who’d come to check on Yun Mu’s progress—promptly turned and walked back the way she’d come upon witnessing the scene.
“Haha, nope, not my business. My turn will come in a few days, I’m in no hurry, none at all.”
Clearly, this little fox demoness had no intention of causing trouble at a time like this.