Transforming into a stunningly beautiful fox spirit, leaving a scar on the heart of a prodigy.

Li Changgeng did not leave.

After saying "like someone I know," he fell silent for a few moments. The wind blew in through the cracks in the ruins, causing the hem of his robe to flip back.

"Since you wish to become my disciple," he said, his voice a little lower than before, "come here tomorrow."

He pointed to the withered tree at the corner of the street.

The tone was very flat. It was no different from a street vendor selling grilled meat saying "three coins a skewer".

But Su Chang'an noticed his hand as he put away the water bag.

He pinched the opening of the pouch between his thumb and forefinger. The drawstring was already twisted. But he didn't loosen his grip. He paused for a moment. Then he paused again. Finally, he slowly tucked it back into his bosom.

Gu Tianhu responded.

"it is good."

One word. The voice was incredibly steady.

The two parted ways. Li Changgeng walked east. Gu Tianhu walked west. Their steps were neither fast nor slow. Their footsteps crunched evenly on the frozen mud.

We turned into an empty alley.

Gu Tianhu leaned against the wall.

Her hands emerged from her sleeves. All ten fingers were trembling. Not from cold. It was a trembling that seeped from the very bones. She clenched her fists, then relaxed them, then clenched them again. She repeated this three or four times. Her fingernails dug a row of white marks into her palms.

Su Chang'an was trapped in those eyes and could do nothing.

She can only watch.

Watch Gu Tianhu's chest rise and fall. Watch her Adam's apple bob up and down. Watch her lips pressed into a thin line, so tightly that the corners of her mouth turn white.

Then she heard a heartbeat.

It's not hers. It belongs to this body.

thump.

Thump. Thump. Thump thump thump thump—

It's abnormally fast. It's so fast it feels like it's about to burst out of my chest.

Su Chang'an was stunned.

Throughout the entire conversation, Gu Tianhu's heartbeat remained steady, no different from that of a cultivator in deep meditation.

She even suppressed her heartbeat in front of him.

Until Li Changgeng was far away. Until she was sure there was no sign of any living thing around her. Until she leaned against the cold earthen wall.

My heart has just started beating.

Su Chang'an's nine tails twitched deep within his sea of ​​consciousness.

She didn't want to admit that she recognized this feeling. But she did.

In the sealed cave, late at night when Chen Xuan was sixteen. After she sent him out, she crouched alone in the darkness.

She was trembling like that too.

-

The next day. Under the withered tree.

Li Changgeng arrived on time.

He changed into a clean long gown. It was greyish-blue. The collar was neat. His hair was retied and tied back with a new cloth strip.

Su Chang'an stared at the cloth strip for two breaths.

It's new. He used the old one yesterday.

Gu Tianhu arrived on time. He was still wearing the same gray robe and the same old cloth shoes. His hair was still held up with a wooden hairpin.

Li Changgeng taught her a basic sword technique.

Very basic. Su Chang'an recognized it at a glance. This sword technique was the most basic introductory technique of the Supreme Forgetfulness Sect, the kind that even disciples at the Knocking Gate Realm disdained to practice.

Gu Tianhu stood opposite him, his feet shoulder-width apart. He held a scavenged wooden stick in his right hand as a sword.

Li Changgeng made a starting stance.

Gu Tianhu followed suit.

You made a mistake.

The wrist angle was off by a few degrees, and the footwork was also incorrect. The center of gravity was too far forward.

As Su Chang'an watched this scene, only one thought occupied his mind.

She's pretending.

What was the Ancient Celestial Fox's cultivation level? Su Chang'an wasn't sure, but judging from the aura in the scene transmitted through the spiritual vein, it was at least at the Great Saint Realm or higher. She could execute this sword technique even with the tip of her tail.

But she stood there. Making mistakes earnestly.

The mistake was natural. It wasn't the exaggerated kind of mistake made intentionally; it was the kind of mistake a true beginner would make. His legs felt weak, his arms were stiff, and he paused for a moment when changing moves, as if he was recalling the movements.

When Su Chang'an taught Chen Xuan in the sealed cave, Chen Xuan was eight years old. It was the first time he held a sword. His wrist was also tilted at a fifteen-degree angle.

What did she do back then?

She tapped Chen Xuan's wrist with her tail and said, "It's crooked, try again."

Li Changgeng walked behind Gu Tianhu.

"wrist."

He reached out his right hand, grasped Gu Tianhu's wrist, and turned it back fifteen degrees.

His fingers touched the back of her hand.

Gu Tianhu's body stiffened.

Only for a moment.

Then she changed her posture, adjusting her angle to follow his force. The movement was fluid and natural.

Li Changgeng released his grip and took a step back.

"Again."

Gu Tianhu nodded. They began again.

This time we did it right.

-

The video started to speed up.

Su Chang'an witnessed many sunrises and sunsets.

Gu Tianhu followed Li Changgeng, posing as a rogue cultivator.

She cooked for him.

Su Chang'an watched her squatting in front of the stove, frantically throwing things into the pot. Too much salt. Too little water. The vegetables were chopped into uneven sizes.

It was done very poorly.

Su Chang'an knew this was all an act. Because in his memories of the snowfield, Gu Tianhu's movements as he manipulated the spiritual herbs with his claws were more skillful than any pharmacist's.

She helped him sort the herbs.

More than a hundred kinds of herbs were laid out on the table. Gu Tianhu had mistakenly identified two of them, confusing red peony root with white peony root.

Li Changgeng frowned as he corrected her.

Gu Tianhu lowered his head, looking as if to say, "I've got it."

Su Chang'an sneered inwardly.

Red peony and white peony. Something any rogue cultivator at the Knock Gate Realm could distinguish.

She sat beside him, lost in thought, while he practiced his martial arts.

This act of "daydreaming" fooled Li Changgeng, but not Su Chang'an.

Because Su Chang'an could sense what was happening inside this body.

The essence of the celestial fox is in motion.

An extremely faint wisp. So fine as to be almost imperceptible. It originated from the ancient fox spirit's dantian, traveled along her fingers, and seeped into the ground where she sat.

Beneath the ground lies a spiritual vein.

The spiritual vein is connected to the location where Li Changgeng practices his martial arts.

His primordial essence mixed with spiritual energy, surging into Li Changgeng's meridians from the soles of his feet. His acupoints were loosening. The previously blocked spiritual pathways were gradually being cleared.

he does not know.

All he knew was that he had suddenly had an epiphany recently. His cultivation speed had increased by 30%. The stagnation in the flow of spiritual energy had disappeared.

He thought it was an awakening of his talent.

He thought that he had reached a bottleneck in his swordsmanship.

He even jokingly said to Gu Tianhu, "You're lucky; you've caught a good time following me."

Gu Tianhu smiled.

"It's pretty good."

Su Chang'an did not laugh.

Because she saw a number.

It wasn't given by the system. She deduced it from the body's fundamental fluctuations using her peak Quasi-Emperor level perception.

Ancient Celestial Fox's cultivation level is declining.

Compared to the tenth day, the original essence in the dantian decreased by 10%.

Compared to the thirtieth day, the tenth day saw a further decrease of 10%.

She was burning herself.

Little by little, they poured their lives into Li Changgeng.

Su Chang'an's tail was tangled into a knot in his sea of ​​consciousness.

She did the same thing in the sealed cave.

She used the essence and blood of demons to make soup for Chen Xuan. She used her own life force to maintain the false sun and moon. She used her own life to feed that brat until he grew up.

She felt like she was making a deal. Goodwill was exchanged for cultivation level. Origin was exchanged for a chance to live.

She never does business at a loss.

But what about Gu Tianhu?

Three thousand years ago, there was no system. There was no favorability system. There were no quest rewards.

What is she after?

-

One snowy night.

Outside Luoyan Town, a bonfire rises in the open field.

The fire wasn't burning very well. There wasn't enough dry firewood, so some wet wood was mixed in, and the smoke was very pungent.

Li Changgeng leaned against a rock, holding a wine jug in his hand.

He drank too much.

Su Chang'an could tell from the rhythm of his speech. The intervals between words had lengthened. His tongue occasionally got tied.

Gu Tianhu sat opposite the fire. The hem of her gray robe draped over her knees. The firelight reflected on her face, casting the shadow of the wooden hairpin on her forehead.

"I used to have a master," Li Changgeng said.

Gu Tianhu didn't move.

"She taught me everything."

The damp wood in the fire popped with a loud crack.

"Then she left."

Li Changgeng raised the wine jug and took a sip. His Adam's apple bobbed.

"I've been looking for her for many years."

He put the wine jug down on the stone. The bottom of the jug hit the stone with a dull thud.

"I stopped looking for her later."

Gu Tianhu placed his hands on his knees. He didn't move.

"Because I've figured it out. She doesn't want to be found."

The wind blew the smoke from the bonfire towards Gu Tianhu. She didn't dodge. Smoke got into her eyes. She blinked.

"If she doesn't want to be found," Li Changgeng's gaze fell on the fire, "then I will teach what she taught me to more people."

His voice was very low, so low that Su Chang'an had to concentrate fully to hear him.

"In that case, even if she's gone, she's still alive."

Gu Tianhu sat opposite the campfire.

The firelight illuminated her face. Her lips curved into a smile, the curve as perfect as during the day. No more, no less.

A stranger will give a polite smile after hearing a touching story.

Su Chang'an looked at the arc.

Then she saw Gu Tianhu's right hand.

The hand slid down from the knee and into the sleeve.

Clench each of your five fingers tightly.

Start with the little finger. Then the ring finger. The middle finger. The index finger. And finally the thumb.

Squeezing until the knuckles turn white.

Squeezing so hard that my fingernails pierced my palm.

Blood seeped from his palms, trickling down between his fingers and onto his cuffs. The fabric at the cuffs absorbed the blood, darkening a small patch in color.

She didn't utter a sound.

The fire crackled and popped. Li Changgeng was still watching the fire.

Gu Tianhu sat opposite him, a polite smile on his face. Drops of blood from his sleeve fell onto the snow, leaving small, dark red craters.

Su Chang'an's consciousness was trembling.

It's not because of blood.

It was because she finally saw clearly what that curve—that perfectly controlled curve of the corners of her mouth—was.

That wasn't a smile.

That was the last layer of skin left on a person's face after they had used all their strength to suppress everything they wanted to say, do, and reach out.

Su Chang'an couldn't close his eyes.

She was trapped in those eyes.

The scene freezes here; Gu Tianhu's blood is still dripping. Li Changgeng is still watching the fire, and the wind is still blowing.