translator: baumkuchen  editor: ellabells

The two then continued up the mountain. They didn't dare to go touch any of the flowers or gra.s.s by the side of the road again. Anyways, Lu Qingjiu found that he and Yin Xun were basically the species at the very bottom of the food chain here…

Soon, Lu Qingjiu saw the stone tablet he saw the last time he was here. On the stone tablet was written the two words "Shuifu Village" in large, blood red letters. The stone table was very tall, who knew what kind of person had erected it here.

"Is this place Bai Yuehu's soul?" Lu Qingjiu asked Yin Xun.

"Oh… How do I put this," Yin Xun said, "This place is probably influenced by Bai Yuehu, but it's not his soul."

Lu Qingjiu was confused upon hearing this. In short, he truly knew too little about Yin Xun and Bai Yuehu's world. Following the trail, they walked up to the platform Bai Yuehu had brought Lu Qingjiu to before. This platform hadn't changed much since the last time he had been here. Below was still the rolling sea of clouds and within it were still the wenyao fish swimming along back and forth. 

Lu Qingjiu and Yin Xun were a little tired from the hike so they sat down by the side of the platform to rest for a while. As they rested, Lu Qingjiu spotted another trail by the side of the platform, seemingly headed towards an even deeper part of the mountain.

Lu Qingjiu said, "Say, why do you think Bai Yuehu brought us here?"

Yin Xun was currently engrossed in fighting with a weed from the side of the path. He wanted to pluck out the weed but the weed didn't move at all even when he used all of his strength. Hearing Lu Qingjiu's question, he replied without even turning his head, "I don't know, maybe he wants to do something he doesn't want us to know about."

Lu Qingjiu, "Such as?"

Yin Xun, "…Sneakily eating Xiao Hei and Xiao Hua?"

Lu Qingjiu's expression twisted for a moment. To tell the truth, he was truly a little afraid that after he went back, Bai Yuehu would tell him Xiao Hei, Xiao Hua and the little fox had all gone missing.

"You can stay here, I want to go up to the peak and look around." Lu Qingjiu was done resting. He stood up and brushed off his b.u.t.t.

Yin Xun finally gave up on fighting with that poor little weed. He said, "Hey, wait for me, let's go together."

The path became narrower past the platform and there was no longer lush vegetation by the sides like before, all of it turning into short ferns.

The path beyond was hidden in dense fog. Fortunately, there was only one path here so they wouldn't need to fear getting lost.

Lu Qingjiu continued to climb up the mountain.  But Yin Xun, who followed behind him, felt a little uneasy. He asked, "Qingjiu, ah, do we still need to go up?"

"What's wrong?" Lu Qingjiu asked.

"I'm… just feeling a little uncomfortable," Yin Xun said, "The fog here is too thick."

Lu Qingjiu said, "It should be fine."

Yin Xun breathed in through his nose and went silent.

Lu Qingjiu continued heading onwards. He usually wasn't such a curious person, but for some reason, he especially wanted to go up and take a look today to see what exactly was at the end of the fog.

Yin Xun, seeing that Lu Qingjiu's att.i.tude was firm, didn't continue to advise him. He just hugged his shoulders and quietly followed behind Lu Qingjiu.

After walking for about ten or so minutes, the fog lessened.

Lu Qingjiu was once again able to make out his surroundings. Unlike the beautiful scenery below the platform, their current surroundings could only be described as desolate. The soil originally on the ground had been replaced by black rock, and there wasn't a single living thing on the black rock, only fine sand.

A towering mountain appeared before Lu Qingjiu's eyes. This mountain rose into the clouds, its peak unable to be seen. The mountain was black and there wasn't a single trace of vegetation on it. The mountain was also covered in the smooth, black rocks, as if the surface of a mirror, making it impossible for one to imagine how to climb it.

Halfway up the mountain, there was a ring of dense clouds and mist. When Lu Qingjiu's gaze landed on the clouds, he was lost in thought for a moment, until Yin Xun asked softly, "What are you looking at?"

"There seems to be something in the clouds," Lu Qingjiu said, "Can you see it?"

"No." Yin Xun stared for a while, before shaking his head. "There's nothing there."

Lu Qingjiu said, "Maybe I saw wrongly…"

Yin Xun remained silent.

The weather over here was different from what it was like over at the platform. The sky was dark with the occasional flash of lighting and roar of thunder. That tall, towering mountain, was separated from the land around it by the sea of clouds like a lonely island.

Yin Xun sat on the ground and stared at the bottomless sea of clouds. His hand itched to do something so he found a rock and casually threw it into the sea. But who knew that when the rock entered the sea of clouds, they heard a splash, deep and far into the sea — deep in the sea of clouds, there was actually water.

"There's water below?" Yin Xun said, "There's actually water."

Lu Qingjiu said, "Is it strange that there's water?"

Yin Xun said, "It's not ah." He smiled, showing his cute tiger tooth. "How would there being water in Shuifu village be strange?"

Hearing this, Lu Qingjiu glanced at Yin Xun.

Having been sent here by Bai Yuehu for some inexplicable reason, Lu Qingjiu couldn't understand what Bai Yuehu was thinking. He could guess what that heavy rain outside might mean, but for the time being, he couldn't understand why.

There was another deep roar of thunder. This time, Lu Qingjiu finally got a good look at what was circling the faraway black mountain. It was actually a long dragon.

Even though he didn't see it too clearly, Lu Qingjiu could already confirm that he hadn't imagined it. The dragon circled around the black mountain, its head brus.h.i.+ng past its tail. Its body was extremely long. As it roamed through the clouds, it looked as elegant as a picture scroll. But in the next moment, it vanished into the thick clouds again. Lu Qingjiu was practically stunned silly.

This time, Yin Xun also saw it. His reaction was about the same as Lu Qingjiu's, but there was a bit of shock within his awe.

"How could there be a dragon here?" Yin Xun said, "Shouldn't dragons have already gone extinct?"

Lu Qingjiu said, "Extinct? But there are even mountain G.o.ds, why would dragons have gone extinct?"

Yin Xun said, "After I became a mountain G.o.d, I also inherited a portion of their memories." He answered, "The dragon race was different from other races, they had a reason behind their existence, usually to protect something. Since we entered modern society, faith has become more and more spa.r.s.e. It's said that the last dragon died out more than a thousand years ago…"

Lu Qingjiu, "What does modern society have to do with this?"

Yin Xun became aggrieved. "How could it not? Say, nowadays if you were to find ten yuan by the side of the road, would you think that it's because you're lucky, or would you thank the G.o.ds for their protection?"

Lu Qingjiu said, "…" Thinking about it like that, it really did seem true.

Yin Xun said, "Without faith, G.o.ds naturally cannot continue to exist, so these kinds of things also became fewer and fewer in number."

The matter of G.o.ds and ghosts, had always been that with faith, they existed, and without, they didn't.

Lu Qingjiu nodded, acknowledging Yin Xun's statement.

Lu Qingjiu had only gotten a single look at the dragon and didn't see its figure again. This world didn't have day and night and the sun and moon didn't change positions.

Without realising it, Lu Qingjiu and Yin Xun had already been here for more than eight hours. Just as Lu Qingjiu was wondering when they would get to go home, a familiar figure appeared from the fog behind him.

Bai Yuehu was back.

His appearance had changed drastically since their separation. His originally short hair had become waist-length. He was wearing a long, black robe, on it embroidered a giant dragon in flight with gold thread. Red jewels formed its eyes. Its appearance was full of life, as if it would fly out of the robe at any moment. The bottom of the robe was a little damaged, looking as if it had been burned by something. Seeing them look over, Bai Yuehu didn't say anything, simply raising his arm and lightly beckoning them over.

Yin Xun stood in place, unmoving, but Lu Qingjiu smiled calmly and walked forward. "Yuehu, back so soon?"

"En," Bai Yuehu said, "Let's go back home."

Only after he came closer, did Lu Qingjiu realised that there were three very obvious wounds on the side of Bai Yuehu's face. These wounds looked like they had been gouged out by something, especially attention-grabbing on Bai Yuehu's fair face. The wounds were incredibly deep. Even though they had stopped bleeding, they were a mess of blood and broken flesh. It looked like they were likely to leave scars.

"You're hurt." Seeing the wounds, Lu Qingjiu gasped.

Bai Yuehu turned his head slightly, raising a hand and touching it to his cheek. Seeing the fresh blood on the back of his hand, he raised his eyebrows, as if he hadn't actually noticed the wounds on his face. He said, "It's just a small wound, it's not of any importance."

Lu Qingjiu said, "Did you go and get in a fight with somebody?"

Bai Yuehu, "En." His gaze fell on the blood staining the back of his hand.

Lu Qingjiu miraculously understood what he meant. He couldn't help but laugh, then got out a clean handkerchief from his pocket, took Bai Yuehu's hand, and carefully wiped off the bloodstains for him.

Only then did Bai Yuehu let out a satisfied expression. His gaze also softened a little.

"Then did you win?" Lu Qingjiu asked another question.

Bai Yuehu looked at Lu Qingjiu. "Win?"

Lu Qingjiu thought for a moment, then changed his phrasing. "Did it taste good?"

Hearing this, Bai Yuehu let out a disgusted expression. "Absolutely terrible, tasted like stagnant water. Disgusting."

Lu Qingjiu couldn't help but laugh. He noticed that Bai Yuehu was wet, and even covered in a thick scent of blood. At first, he thought Bai Yuehu had accidentally got soaked by the rain, but after walking a little closer to Bai Yuehu, he noticed that what was dripping off of Bai Yuehu's robe wasn't water, but blood.

Bai Yuehu's black robe was soaked through with blood. From his words and current state, this blood clearly came from another creature.

The three men began heading down the mountain. Lu Qingjiu and Bai Yuehu made idle conversation on the way down. He asked what had happened to his hair, Bai Yuehu lifted up his hair, then said it'd be fine if he cut it after getting off the mountain, it was a bit of a side effect.

Lu Qingjiu jokingly said that he actually looked really good with long hair.

"It's troublesome," Bai Yuehu expressed in response to that, "When I eat, I have to tie it up."

Lu Qingjiu burst into loud laughter.

Just, for some unknown reason, after Yin Xun saw Bai Yuehu's appearance, his face hadn't looked so good. The usually talkative him didn't speak a single word on the way down, as quiet as a frightened quail. Lu Qingjiu gave Yin Xun a meaningful glance, but didn't ask him what was wrong.

They followed the trail off of Shuifu village's mountain. The rain had already stopped. White puffs of clouds hung in the sky. The fresh air after a spell of rain made people feel especially refreshed.

Lu Qingjiu initially thought that Bai Yuehu would directly s.h.i.+ft back to his original appearance, but unexpectedly, he walked into the house with this appearance, took a bath, and changed into his usual clothes, more like something an ordinary person would wear. Then, Lu Qingjiu saw him take a pair of scissors, walk into the courtyard and mangle his head of beautiful black hair with a few neat snips of his scissors.

Lu Qingjiu, "…You cut your own hair?"

Bai Yuehu said, "Yep."

Lu Qingjiu, "Aren't you scared of messing it up?"

Bai Yuehu said, "If that happens I can just grow it again."

Lu Qingjiu, "…Why not use magic to change it?"

Bai Yuehu, "Because it's troublesome."

Lu Qingjiu swallowed his saliva. "Then… why not go to a hairdresser?"

Upon hearing this question, Bai Yuehu's movements paused. Then, from his mouth came out two words: "No money."

Lu Qingjiu's mind went dizzy. It was as if he could see the first time he saw Bai Yuehu, standing outside the xiaolongbao shop, seriously staring at him — at the time, he had really wanted to ask why Bai Yuehu had needed to b.u.m off his dumplings, and now, he finally understood the reason which made his heart ache.

His family's fox spirit, was a poor fox, the kind that was poor to the point that he couldn't even afford to eat xiaolongbao…

The author has something to say:

Lu Qingjiu: What is it that makes you disdain the food of the mortal world?

Bai Yuehu: Poverty.

Lu Qingjiu: …