The Fox with Five Tails

Chasing the Wind dug furiously out of the lake, not even calling out his favorite “Dad” once. He quickly lay down, revealing the king character mark on his forehead, releasing Li Shiyin’s Primordial Spirit.

That was his subsidiary soul space. If he didn’t let her out soon, Li Shiyin would likely be eroded and become his subsidiary soul as well.

Li Shiyin emerged from Chasing the Wind's king character mark, slowly growing from a small dot at the lakeside into normal size. She stood at the bank of the lake.

Seeing her Primordial Spirit bright and refreshed, she did not seem like someone who had just survived a life-and-death battle. Instead, she looked as if she had just enjoyed a sumptuous feast.

“Chasing the Wind, thank you!” She patted his big head, then turned to call out, “Master!”

Li Shiyin’s Primordial Spirit was almost as powerful as Qin Ran’s now. Qin Ran nodded, aware that she had gained tremendously this time.

“Hurry back, don’t linger outside,” he instructed Li Shiyin.

Only then did Li Shiyin fly back to her physical body, embracing Night Rain Sword.

Seeing Li Shiyin’s Primordial Spirit withdraw into her Sea of Consciousness, Qin Ran squatted down and placed his hand on Chasing the Wind’s wet fur. “Does it hurt a lot?”

“Mm-hmm!” Chasing the Wind nodded pitifully.

Although he had absorbed quite a bit of Devouring Demon Willow’s Primordial Spirit and repaired the damage to his subsidiary soul space, making his soul and space stronger, the previous injuries and swelling still made him very uncomfortable.

Qin Ran rummaged through his universe bag and took out a pill he had refined while researching the Awakening Grass. It was very beneficial for souls.

He took out two pills and fed them to Chasing the Wind.

With her Primordial Spirit settled back into her body, Li Shiyin flew over from the side and also squatted down in front of Chasing the Wind, pressing her hand against his wet fur. “What’s wrong with you?”

“My head hurts,” Chasing the Wind replied.

“Didn’t you absorb Devouring Demon Willow’s Primordial Spirit? You even shared some with me...” Li Shiyin wondered.

Chasing the Wind pawed at the king character on his forehead. “This got more powerful, but it still hurts inside.”

Li Shiyin started massaging Chasing the Wind’s head to soothe him.

Qin Ran lifted his hand, absorbing all the water out of Chasing the Wind’s fur into a spheric water ball, which he tossed into the lake.

“You two head back first,” he said, standing up to face Tushan Youyou floating down from the sky.

It was still drizzling. Tushan Youyou landed at the lakeside, surveying its ravaged state.

Qin Ran walked over to stand beside Tushan Youyou, also looking out at the lake. “Even if Li Shiyin and Chasing the Wind had died, you still wouldn’t have lent a hand, right?”

For some reason, neither had used any techniques to keep the rain off.

Tushan Youyou's hair was wet and plastered to her forehead. She brushed it aside, exuding charm.

She smiled. “They wouldn’t have died because you wouldn’t have let them. I don’t believe you didn’t have other contingencies.”

Qin Ran fell silent because he did have other plans. In the worst case this round, he would have stepped in at the risk of full backlash destruction of his Primordial Spirit. He would have died, but Li Shiyin and Chasing the Wind definitely would not.

However, he didn’t want to mention those now. What he wanted to say was that he was very unhappy with Tushan Youyou's complete inaction throughout.

If not for her just watching the show, Li Shiyin and Chasing the Wind wouldn’t have had to fight so desperately.

The silence ended. Qin Ran suddenly asked, “When are you leaving?”

“Why would I leave?!” Tushan Youyou said, bewildered.

From her perspective, it was Qin Ran who had betrayed her, Qin Ran who owed her. Why should she be the one to compromise and leave Dan Peak?!

“I can learn spell formations here, I have an absolutely safe environment to cultivate... I have no reason to go,” she said with a smile that lit up this gloomy rainy day.

Seeing that she didn’t understand, Qin Ran clarified bluntly that he was giving her a reason to leave, a reason why she must leave: “Dan Peak doesn’t like you very much.”

He personally was very unhappy with her. And having survived death, Li Shiyin and Chasing the Wind surely wouldn’t appreciate what she did—or didn’t do—during the battle either. So the two of them definitely wouldn’t be friendly to her in future.

In short, Dan Peak did not welcome Tushan Youyou's presence.

The rain grew heavier, raindrops rippling the lake surface. Tushan Youyou watched the ripples, ripples also undulating in her heart.

Behind her, Li Shiyin massaged Chasing the Wind’s forehead as they headed for the log cabin.

Tushan Youyou knew she was absolutely in the wrong for not helping during the battle, but still...

“It was you, Qin Ran, who used me first. I merely responded in kind,” she argued. “An eye for an eye, this is fair. What right do you have to banish me?”

“A pawn?” Qin Ran looked up at the gloomy sky, at the rain that seemed to fall endlessly out of nowhere. Softly, he said, “My only disciple Li Shiyin is a pawn. Chasing the Wind whom I raised up is a pawn. Long Qiqi who's learning alchemy from me is a pawn. Not only you—everyone connected to me is a pawn in some way. Although I don't mean our relationships are truly like that between player and chess piece...

“But that's not the point. The point is the end result: Dan Peak doesn't welcome you.”

Tushan Youyou continued keeping silent as she watched the expanding ripples on the lake. After a long while, drenched thoroughly in the rain, her alluring figure faintly visible through her wet clothes, she gave her final answer: “I'm not leaving.”

“Hmph!” Qin Ran looked up at the overcast sky, at the rain that seemed to fall endlessly from the void.

He lifted a hand, absorbing the rainwater from his body into a spherical ball, then shaped it into an umbrella canopy shielding him from more rain.

As he headed for the log cabin, he said, “Suit yourself.”

Tushan Youyou stood alone by the lakeside all night in the cold rain, watching new sprouts grow out of the lightning-struck charred trunk of Devouring Demon Willow. But ultimately, she did not leave Dan Peak.

She returned to Fox Cave and did not emerge again for a long time.

When Li Shiyin and Chasing the Wind were locked in their deadly battle with Willow Daoji, Long Qiqi had been in the living room of the log cabin, standing by the glass window watching it unfold.

She watched Li Shiyin and Chasing the Wind fall into disadvantage, watched Chasing the Wind make his desperate gamble devouring Willow Daoji, watched Li Shiyin plunge heedlessly into his subsidiary soul space, watched Chasing the Wind writhing in agony in Sword Washing Lake. His anguished howls reached her ears, yet she was powerless to do anything.

Having only just built her foundation, her talent was lacking and her cyclonic energy very unstable. Releasing even a bit of baleful energy or sword qi on that battlefield could have cost her life.

So she could only watch, expressionless as the scene played out before her eyes.

Fortunately, they emerged victorious in the end. With Li Shiyin and Chasing the Wind unharmed, she finally relaxed.

Only then did she give Tushan Youyou a long, deep look.

When Li Shiyin and Chasing the Wind entered the cabin, Long Qiqi was seated nonchalantly on a wooden chair, poised like a master tactician surveying battle developments from a thousand miles away.

She casually asked Li Shiyin, “Chasing the Wind’s fine now?”

“He’s fine, just needs to recuperate for a couple days,” Li Shiyin replied.

Long Qiqi looked over Li Shiyin as well. “What about you?”

Hardly fitting for a master tactician.

“I'm even more perfectly fine!” Li Shiyin said happily. “That battle was so fun, I even comprehended a new sword technique. It's the Primordial Spirit leaving the body that can injure Primordial Spirits—a very powerful sword technique! I'm going to ask Master to give it an impressive name later!”

Seeing Li Shiyin grinning foolishly, Long Qiqi hesitated, still unable to voice the “I'm sorry” on the tip of her tongue.

She hadn't expected Willow Daoji's Primordial Spirit to be so powerful. She'd assumed it would be barely a flickering candle in the wind... Fortunately, everything worked out in the end.

Long Qiqi was still putting on her act of calmness and drinking tea. Li Shiyin, however, had already grabbed the weiqi board from the coffee table and shouted loudly,

“Chasing the Wind, come! Let's battle another five hundred rounds!”

When Qin Ran returned, Li Shiyin and Chasing the Wind were pecking at each other incompetently over the weiqi board. Long Qiqi watched from the side, shaking her head helplessly. Seeing him, she asked, “What's up with her?”

“Still don't know yet,” Qin Ran said.

“Oh.”

Li Shiyin was in the middle of placing pieces when she saw Qin Ran. She raised her hand, “Master, give me an impressive name for that technique too!”

“You want to name the technique where you command the sword with your Primordial Spirit as well?” Qin Ran asked.

Although embarrassed, Li Shiyin still nodded. It was a sword technique she had comprehended through her own ability, so why couldn't it have a name?

“Then call it Sealing Dust and Ceasing Thoughts,” he suggested.