Chapter Two: Memories of the Past

Mo Shen had been sent by his senior brothers from the Lingfeng Sect into the perilous Forget-Sorrow Forest to carry out a mission. But who would really send a lowly outer disciple, barely at the first stage of Qi Refining, to search for the Yunlin Flower in such a dangerous place? The Yunlin Flower was something of a local specialty in the Forget-Sorrow Forest, meticulously catalogued in the Lingfeng Sect’s compendium of spiritual plants. It shouldn’t have been hard to find, but the trouble was that one needed to have reached at least the fifth stage of Qi Refining to survive in this forest. Wasn’t this just sending him to his death?

Yet, who could blame Mo Shen for his breathtakingly beautiful face? The senior and junior sisters in the sect all showered him with concern and affection, while his cultivation level remained low, stoking the jealousy of his fellow male disciples. Despite his indignation, the fact remained that his cultivation was insufficient. Swallowing his grievances, Mo Shen accepted the mission, descended the mountain, and entered the forest to pick the Yunlin Flower.

He had not expected that upon entering a cave, he would hear the soft, broken sound of weeping—a gentle voice tinged with a chill, stirring the young man’s heart at just the right pitch. Drawn as if by fate, Mo Shen stepped deeper into the cave and saw before him a youth dressed in azure robes.

Strangely, the youth seemed to be enduring immense pain, his body curled tightly in a corner. In the darkness, a patch of eerie blue-glowing Yunlin Flowers flickered nearby. Mo Shen found himself unable to resist walking toward the youth, his gaze fixed. The bamboo-green outer robe had fallen open with the youth’s movements, revealing the white inner garment and a glimpse of delicate, pale skin—enough to arouse anyone’s curiosity. The dark green hair ribbon had come loose, letting three thousand strands of blue-black hair cascade down, clinging to the youth’s sweat-dampened cheek. At a single glance, Mo Shen’s eyes were utterly captivated.

Even so, Mo Shen forced himself to look away—not only because the youth was glaring at him coldly, but also because, beneath the youth’s back and between his hips, there was an unexpected addition: a fluffy, white fox tail.

“Are you… are you a fox demon?” Mo Shen asked, curiosity clear in his voice yet untinged by fear.

Su Raochen looked up at the boy before him, barely in his eighteenth year. His ink-black hair fell softly over his brow, half-shielding long, almond-shaped eyes, within which galaxies seemed to swirl—utterly unafraid. His slender, slightly curled lashes fluttered like butterfly wings; his lips, tinged with crimson, parted in wonder. Delicate—this was Su Raochen’s first impression of him.

“I…” He tried to answer, but was cut off by a fresh stab of pain in his chest.

“Don’t speak. My name is Mo Shen, and you…” Mo Shen’s eyes widened in surprise as he looked at the broken stem of a Yunlin Flower nearby.

“You refined the Yunlin Flower! Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? Yunlin Flowers are only useful when mixed with the proper herbs—otherwise, they’re deadly poison! Are you trying to get yourself killed?” Mo Shen didn’t know why he was speaking so much to a stranger he’d just met, but the situation left him no time to consider it.

“Is… is that so, I…” Su Raochen’s words trailed off as his eyes closed, and he lost consciousness, leaving Mo Shen alone in mounting anxiety.

In the stone grotto of Shangshan Hall—

“Father, what is going on? Why have you never once spoken to Raochen about the seal since he was little? Isn’t the Yunlin Flower supposed to lift the seal? Did he find something out?” Lin Fan demanded as soon as he entered the cavern.

“Slow down,” Lin Zehai replied, “You’re asking so many questions at once—how am I supposed to answer?”

He continued, “The matter of the seal is simple enough. I feared you were too young back then, and too loose-tongued. If I’d told you, you might have told Raochen, and then all your mother’s efforts would have been in vain.”

“You knew Raochen’s mother? What kind of person was she?” Lin Fan couldn’t help but ask.

“That’s a long story,” Lin Zehai sighed. “Raochen’s mother was my dearest friend, the beloved daughter of a powerful noble in Qingqiu. From a young age, she yearned to see the outside world. At a time when wars between nations were frequent, Qingqiu, to protect its people, joined forces with several elders to place a seal on the nation, intending not to lift it until peace returned. But… who would have thought she’d use that window to disguise herself as a maid, flee her home, and slip into the human world?”

He paused, then went on, “With her noble nine-tailed fox blood, she transformed into a beauty who could topple kingdoms and became the secondary consort to a prince. At first, everything was wonderful—a handsome couple admired by all, and she enjoyed a period of happiness. But it didn’t last. In the second year, the prince, greedy for power and wealth, married a princess as his primary consort. The princess, proud and arrogant, was vexed to find that a concubine outshone her in beauty and subjected her to constant humiliation. The prince, meanwhile, looked on with indifference. In the end, pregnant and desperate, she escaped, gave birth to Raochen in a guesthouse, and sent word to me. Disillusioned by worldly matters, she named him Raochen, hoping he would not be troubled by the dust of the mortal world.

“But who could have foreseen that the child would be a throwback? Normally, even the white foxes of Qingqiu must cultivate for thousands, even tens of thousands, of years to achieve the nine tails—only then attaining immortality and indestructibility. Yet he was born with all nine. If things went on, he’d either end up as a mere elixir for old cultivators or be kept as a forbidden treasure.

“Fortunately, he was still very young and knew nothing of spiritual power, let alone how to use it. After discussing it, his mother and I decided to seal away his powers. To do so, I sacrificed a hundred years of cultivation, while she… gave her life.”

The cave fell silent—who would have imagined that the little brother who’d been beside him every day could have such a tumultuous background?

“Then, what about Raochen’s surname? Isn’t the surname of the Qingqiu foxes Tu Shan? But Raochen…” Lin Fan was still incredulous.

“That’s because his mother, to avoid suspicion, dropped the ‘You’ from the more obscure clan, You Su, and changed it to ‘Su.’”

“Well, you have to believe it now. Ah, fate truly toys with us…” Lin Zehai finished speaking and left for the main hall to see to his patients, leaving Lin Fan to stand alone in silence.