Chapter 62

Chapter 62

Xia Ke’er lay motionless on the bed, looking half-dead. Her eyelids drooped, and she had no energy at all.

When Xie Qingling and Ye Anran entered, Xia Ke’er did not even raise her eyes. She looked ready to die at any moment.

The room remained silent for a moment.

Xie Qingling walked to the bed and stood over Xia Ke’er.

“You would rather die than break the contract?” Xie Qingling gave her one final chance.

“I’m sorry. I can’t imagine how I’m supposed to live without Xia Tian… It would be like the world losing its mountains and rivers, its wind and moon, even the sun. How could anyone live?” Xia Ke’er lowered her head. “I did something wrong. Please grant me release.”

Ye Anran gritted her teeth and stood in silence. She turned her head away and closed her eyes, unable to bear the bloody scene that was about to unfold.

After perhaps three or five seconds – or perhaps a little longer – Ye Anran heard Xie Qingling speak while her eyes remained tightly shut.

“Have you ever considered something?” Xie asked.

“What?”

“Why did Xia Tian seek you out?”

“…Why did he seek me out?”

“The world is vast, so why did he choose you? Why would a half-Immortal grant your every whim and let you take whatever you wished from him?”

Xie Qingling’s questions sent Xia Ke’er deep into thought.

It was not that Xia Ke’er had never considered this question. She simply never found an answer – or perhaps feared the answer – and so pretended not to think about it or care.

Now, Xie Qingling had forced her to confront the truth that had always lodged in her heart. Xia Ke’er cried out in anguish, “I don’t know. I truly don’t know. Just kill me!”

Xie Qingling sat on the bed. As though she had not heard, she continued, “Xia Tian said he thought you were a kind, good woman, so he chose you. He hoped you would help his cultivation so he could attain immortality. But you… you were blinded by greed and betrayed all his good intentions. Not only did you fail to help his cultivation, you damaged it.”

“You’ve caused Xia Tian a great deal of trouble, Xia Ke’er,” Xie Qingling said.

“Stop talking, stop talking… Don’t say any more! I won’t listen! I won’t!” Xia Ke’er, who had just calmed down, grew agitated again.

“You’re always so selfish. You think only of what you want and never what Xia Tian wants. Why can’t you grant his wish for once? Or was your so-called love merely an excuse? You won’t even set him free. He’s a fox of the wild mountains. He isn’t yours alone.”

“If you break the contract, you may forget him, but – ” Xie Qingling lowered her gaze to the sorrowful fox. “He will remember you forever.”

Ye Anran stared, dumbfounded.

Had Xia Tian truly told Xie Qingling so much?

Or was Xie Qingling administering another dose of “talk therapy”?

Ye Anran no longer dared to speak.

One glance at Xia Ke’er left her unable to find any words that could describe that fox face.

Grief, guilt, anguish, infatuation… Countless emotions intertwined, finally becoming a painful whimper in her throat.

“I agree,” Xia Ke’er said.

Tears streamed down her face. “I’ll break the contract.”

She wailed, then spoke as quickly and desperately as she could, as though afraid she might regret it. “You… erase my memories!”

Xie Qingling nodded. “Don’t worry. You won’t feel any pain.”

Ye Anran was speechless.

Opening her eyes, Ye Anran looked at Xie Qingling’s perfectly calm face and had no idea what to say.

Had Xie Qingling truly resolved everything by coaxing and deceiving Xia Ke’er like that?

Ye Anran had thought Xia Ke’er would not escape death…

Xie Qingling signaled Ye Anran with her eyes to hurry, before Xia Ke’er changed her mind.

At the prick of one silver needle from Ye Anran, Xia Ke’er closed her eyes.

Incense first, then needles. When Xia Ke’er woke the next day, the problem would more or less be resolved.

Ye Anran still could not quite process that the matter had ended so smoothly.

She looked up at Xie Qingling. “Did Xia Tian really say all that to you?”

“Of course not. I barely know him.”

“Then you…” Then how had she made it all sound so convincing? Even Ye Anran had almost believed her!

“It was worth a gamble. Xia Ke’er responds to kindness, not force. The facts prove I succeeded.” Xie Qingling spoke with perfect righteousness. “Besides, my guess makes complete sense. If it weren’t for his cultivation, what reason would a half-Immortal have to come to the mortal realm?”

“Oh. That’s true.”

“All right, the matter is resolved. I’ll ask the Director for instructions.” Xie Qingling quickly activated her earpiece, paying no attention to whether a call before dawn might disturb Ling Fang’s sleep.
Once the call connected, Ling Fang’s voice came through. “How’s the situation?”

He sounded remarkably alert. He probably had not slept either and had spent the whole night handling official business.

Xie Qingling replied, “Director, Xia Ke’er has agreed to break the contract. Please give us our next instructions.”

Ling Fang paused. “You resolved it that quickly?”

“Yes.” Xie Qingling answered with a perfectly straight face. “We reached an understanding with Xia Ke’er through relatively harmonious and amicable means. Once Senior Anran erases Xia Ke’er’s memories, the contract can be broken.”

“All right. I’ll take over from here. Come back and get some rest. You’ve worked hard today.”

“Understood.”

Having witnessed everything, Ye Anran’s mouth twitched. She no longer had the slightest idea what the words “harmonious and amicable” meant.

The Director would chew them out if he found out, wouldn’t he?

But… she certainly was not going to tell him. Hehe.

Xia Ke’er had fallen and injured herself. What did that have to do with Xie Qingling?

“Senior Anran, I’ll be going, then.” Xie Qingling turned back to Ye Anran. “Keep an eye on Xia Ke’er. The Director will come over soon and handle the rest himself.”

“Wait, but… I wanted to ask, how much of Xia Ke’er’s memory should I erase? How far back should I go?”

Xie Qingling thought for a moment. “Erase everything from the past two years – no, make that three years. Everything from when she met Xia Tian onward.”

That was an enormous span of time…

“If I erase that many memories at once, what if it affects her life afterward?”

Xie Qingling was stumped as well, but she soon thought of a solution. “It’ll be fine. The Logistics Department will find a way.”

Ye Anran stared at her. “…Huh?”

Xie Qingling left.

The roar of a motorcycle engine rose and echoed through the night sky. The sleeping housekeeper did not hear it. With Ye Anran’s calming spell upon her, she had no idea so much had happened that night.

–

Xie Qingling slept without dreams.

With such a major matter settled, she slept exceptionally well.

By the time she woke, it was already nine in the morning.

Just in time for work.

She was still on leave, though. Even if she did not show up on time, Ling Fang probably would not say anything.

Xie Qingling stretched, then headed downstairs full of energy.

She was about to find some breakfast and placate her empty stomach when she spotted a message Ling Fang had left for her on the whiteboard in the lobby:

I left some documents and case files for you on the table. Take some time to read them, then deal with the fox’s follow-up arrangements.

Xie Qingling stared at the message in silence.

Fine.

He had left her no room to refuse.

Biting into a piece of bread and carrying a cup of coffee, Xie Qingling went to the conference table and opened the documents Ling Fang had left her.

They contained a rough account of the incident, a preliminary after-action report.

Among other things, they had finished counting the people in the audience whose health had suffered after their human vitality was drained.

Thirty-four people had fallen ill: twenty-five middle-aged or elderly people and five teenagers. The remaining four were all young or middle-aged adults.

Those in relatively good physical condition would recover after about seven days of bed rest.

Those in poorer condition would have a harder time of it, their illnesses recurring as they alternated between improvement and relapse.

They would require special treatment.

Ling Fang had already requested that headquarters send a Talisman-Water Master from the Meishan School to assist with their subsequent treatment.

Only at the end of the document did she reach the section about how the fox would be handled.

Xie Qingling finished reading the entire document as she ate breakfast.

When she looked up, she saw Xia Tian’s shrine inside the cabinet against the wall.

Shrines were usually placed on the third floor, but Xia Tian was not a righteous god they worshiped, so naturally he was not entitled to such treatment.

Xie Qingling took out the shrine, placed it on the table, and said, “I don’t know if you can hear me, but I think I should tell you anyway.”

“Xia Ke’er ultimately chose to set you free.”

“I don’t know what sort of agreement the two of you had, but don’t think about disturbing her again.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Xia Tian’s ethereal voice drifted from the shrine. “I know. I felt the contract break this morning.”

“Thank you, fated one. You have done me a great service.”

“Don’t thank me yet, and don’t call me that,” Xie Qingling said. “I’m not your fated one. I’m the person who is going to seal you away.”

Xia Tian fell silent for a moment before asking, “What will you do with me?”

Xie Qingling said, “We’ll find a remote mountain wilderness no one can reach and seal you there, so you can never set foot in the mortal realm again. You will be unable to leave this shrine and may only continue your cultivation in the place we choose for you. Don’t try to enter a world where you don’t belong. It would end badly for both sides.”
“You don’t belong in the mortal realm. Neither your abilities nor your identity are suited to it,” Xie Qingling said. “You only resemble a human now, but even if you truly cultivated until you became human, you would still be something extraordinary. Our department will not allow you to continue roaming the mortal realm. There is a saying in our world: those who are not of our kind cannot share our hearts. The danger is not merely that good and evil stand opposed. The fundamental problem is that our positions differ. You are not like us, and that means you cannot survive here. If you mingle with the mortal realm, you will cause a great deal of trouble.”

“You have cultivated for so many years, learned human nature, and filled your speech with Buddhist aphorisms. You should understand what I mean, shouldn’t you?”

“I understand.”

“But…”

Xia Tian said, “I can no longer return to the mountains and forests.”

Xie Qingling showed no expression. Her voice remained flat as she said, “Don’t try begging for mercy or pretending to be pitiful in front of me. I won’t sympathize with you, and I won’t help you. My colleagues and I are still working overtime to clean up the mess you caused. Whether you want to return or not, we will send you back.”

“As a mighty half-Immortal who endured untold hardships to attain your cultivation, do you not feel even the slightest compassion for all living beings?”

After a silence that lasted an unknown length of time, Xia Tian heaved a deep sigh.

He said, “At first, I was no half-Immortal. I was only a fox demon cultivating in the mountains.”

“Grandmother said foxes possessed spirituality beyond compare. As long as one had the wisdom to comprehend the Way and did not take life, it was easy to achieve enlightenment and attain immortality.”

“Grandmother was also a fox demon, but she did not survive the Heavenly Thunder Tribulation. She failed to cultivate a human form and achieve enlightenment. She told me I was the most gifted child in our clan and that I must continue cultivating diligently.”

“Later, my clansmen died one after another, until no one remained around me. A solitary demon, I ran alone through the wilderness and worshiped devoutly beneath the moon. I prayed and prayed, bowed and bowed. My mind grew ever clearer, my cultivation ever deeper, but I also grew ever lonelier.”

“I passed the Child Trial, survived the Wheel-Rut Tribulation, and endured the heavenly thunder. I became human – a fox spirit with a human form.”

“I was a fox spirit, yet no longer a fox. I was a monster, yet had no companions. I wanted to be human, but every human feared me.”

“Loneliness… I was so lonely. I do not know how many years I spent in those mountains. I planted flowers and tended grass, but they could neither speak nor answer. When the wind came, they waved their hands. When rain fell, they bowed their heads. That was the greatest response they could offer me. I could speak in a human tongue, yet knew no one to whom I could speak.”

“I once kept a rabbit, but it only feared and avoided me. It could not understand why a fox would raise a rabbit. It soon died. Life passes quickly, and compared with my existence of hundreds or thousands of years, it was no more than a mayfly born at dawn and dead by dusk.”

“I searched for other fox demons. I wanted to find companions. I did not want to run through the wilderness alone, nor curl around a stone and sleep by myself. I also searched for a god who could grant me a blessing, or someone who could guide me through my confusion, but I found neither.”

“Then I met Ke’er.”

“She was afraid of me, yet she listened to me speak. She wanted to flee, yet always came back.”

“She told me about the mortal world, and I told her about the mountains. I stopped wanting to search. I was no longer lonely. Once I entered the world of men, I could no longer return to those lonely mountains.”

“I yearned for everything in the mortal realm. Once I had known a warm embrace, I no longer wished to endure the cold stone.”

“To leave the mountains and enter the human world, I deceived her. I was no household immortal, yet I let her enshrine me as one.”

“She invited me into her home and worshiped me with wholehearted devotion. Her faith was sincere, and I was delighted.”

“A demon who receives worship can also attain immortality. But what is stolen will always remain stolen. I became a half-Immortal, while Ke’er suffered the retribution.”

“This is my karma, my karmic burden, my fate, my sin… I will repay it myself.” Xia Tian’s voice suddenly shifted, turning much more solemn. “I did not tell you this tale of suffering to beg for your understanding.”

“I will give you the inner core I cultivated over a thousand years to repay the debt of sin I owe. But… I ask that you guide me through this trial and grant me enlightenment.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Xie Qingling’s body suddenly went rigid. She could not move. Smoke curled around her, veiling everything in shadowy shapes.

She seemed to have been pulled into another realm, cut off from the world outside. Only this small corner remained, offering them shelter.

Xie Qingling saw a white fox standing before her upright like a human. He clasped his forepaws and bowed, then asked, “Look at me now. Do I resemble a human, or a god?”