"Little girl, what heavenly sin did you commit to be punished here?"
A sweet - looking and energetic girl appeared in the void. Her big eyes were sizing me up with interest. I always felt like I had seen her somewhere before.
"Don't scare her."
A man's voice came from behind the girl. A tall and handsome man with deep - set features stepped out of the void and stood beside the red - clothed girl. The man had long silver hair, loosely tied in a bun at the back of his head. His narrow phoenix eyes were looking at me with a hint of a smile. "This is an old acquaintance I haven't seen for a long time."
I couldn't help but take a few steps back.
The red - clothed girl did look a bit familiar, but I had never seen this silver - haired handsome man before!
"Really?"
Without taking a step, the red - clothed girl suddenly appeared in front of me. She pursed her lips and smiled as she nudged my shoulder. My body dispersed like a wisp of dust and took a long time to gradually coalesce again.
"Du Xinghe, you've been doing well these years. You'd rather suffer yourself than eat people."
The silver - haired handsome man raised his eyebrows and said, "Granny Bai didn't misjudge you back then..."
"Back then... Granny Bai?"
I was even more confused. When I was learning Taoism from Granny Bai, I never met such a man!
"Hey! Mu Yuan, are you saying you knew this little fellow back in the Republic of China?"
The red - clothed girl seemed to remember something and clapped her hands, laughing. "In your current form, she won't recognize you!"
The extremely handsome silver - haired man's smile became even more obvious. He reached out and tucked a stray hair behind the red - clothed girl's ear. "Don't always call her a little fellow. Du Xinghe is much older than you in terms of birth month!"
"She's still a little fellow. Doesn't she look young? Eighteen or nineteen? About the same age as our daughter!"
The red - clothed girl pouted.
"Mu Yuan?!"
I didn't care about the red - clothed girl's "little fellow" address. I was startled by the name "Mu Yuan".
The Mu Yuan I knew didn't look like this!
He was clearly a white wolf that appeared in front of me with Granny Bai!
... I had never seen him transform into a human. I thought he didn't have enough spiritual power to maintain a human form like Granny Bai.
"You... weren't you a wolf? How come you can turn into a human in just a few years?"
For animal spirits to transform into humans, they have to go through the heavenly and human tribulations. A hundred years is just a blink of an eye for them. What great fortune is needed to transform into a human form!
"Mu Yuan used to disdain being human."
The red - clothed girl glanced at the man behind her. There was a hint of pride in her expression, like a little girl showing off. "If it weren't for me, he'd probably still be walking on four legs!"
"Uh..."
Sure enough, he was a wolf! So arrogant. All animals aim to transform into humans and cultivate to become immortals, but this seemingly over - confident Mu Yuan actually looked down on humans!
"I'm his wife! My name is Lu Aruan."
The red - clothed girl happily hooked Mu Yuan's arm.
"Lu Aruan?!"
Hearing this surname, I suddenly realized why I felt this girl looked familiar. She looked a lot like a girl named Lu Xiyu, but Lu Xiyu was more gentle, not as lively and charming as this red - clothed girl.
"Are you related to Lu Xiyu?" I couldn't help but ask.
"Ah! You know Xixi?! "
Lu Aruan opened her mouth in surprise and shook Mu Yuan's arm vigorously. "It seems Xixi has made another friend!"
Mu Yuan lowered his head and smiled, doting on his wife.
"I'm Xixi's mom. But I died early. Xixi grew up relying on my cousin. Do you know my cousin? Lu Tianchang."
Lu Aruan didn't show a trace of sadness when talking about her death, as if it were an ordinary thing.
Her voice was fast and clear. Her big, black and lively eyes stared at me without blinking.
"I know Master Lu. He's been very kind to me."
Lu Tianchang had taken good care of me over the years. The magical tools he refined were sold to me at a very low price and were constantly supplied to me.
"Then you were doing well in the human world. How did you end up here?"
Lu Aruan looked at me curiously and asked, "This is the land of ghosts. Even if you're a soul, you shouldn't be in this place!"
"She's not a human soul."
Mu Yuan said calmly, "She's an incorruptible bone raised by the Du family of corpse - drivers."
"Then... how could she not eat people?"
Lu Aruan frowned. "I know the Du family. Even when I was alive, their family was already in decline. They weren't a powerful clan and couldn't afford to raise an incorruptible bone."
"Du Xinghe left the Du family. She ran away with her reserve food."
Mu Yuan must have learned about my whereabouts from Granny Bai. As he explained to his wife, he slowly walked towards me and said, "Were you destroyed by someone's divine soul?"
I shook my head with a bitter smile. "No, I was backfired by my own Yin Five Thunder."
"Oh?!"
Mu Yuan was a bit surprised.
"A friend's child was possessed by an evil god. That thing refused to leave the child's body. My Five Thunder would harm the child's physical body."
I briefly told him about Xue Shuo's matter and then said dejectedly, "I've already scattered my soul. I'm afraid I can never go back."
Thinking of Si Jiangchen holding me, I felt a bit sad. He said he wanted to marry me. Now that I'm dead, he must be heart - broken!
"Don't worry! Du Xinghe, you're an incorruptible bone, already half - ghost and half - immortal. How could you be so easily destroyed!"
Lu Aruan pursed her lips and didn't seem to care at all. "If you want to go back, we can help. You're our daughter's friend, and also our friend. Mu Yuan, let's send this little fellow back! Otherwise, Xixi will lose another friend!"
"Okay."
Mu Yuan seemed to obey his wife in everything. And it seemed that he could control everything in this space. He just held out his palm, and immediately a bead that refracted a dazzling white light like ice crystals appeared in his palm.
"... This is my demon pill."
His voice slowly reached my ears. "Take it and you can return to the human world smoothly."
"That's impossible?!"
I knew that mountain spirits would absorb the essence of the sun and moon and refine pills that contained supreme spiritual power. This was their life - source. Without this demon pill, the spiritual power they had cultivated for thousands of years would be destroyed. How could I accept Mu Yuan's demon pill?
"I'm not giving it to you."
Mu Yuan pushed his palm forward, and the demon pill slowly moved in front of me. "This is just a pass to travel between the two worlds. When you return to the human world, please give this to my daughter. Consider it a gift from me to her son."