Chapter 11

Ji Tanyin, female, over a span of a thousand years, there have been 503,524 women with this name across the world. Between the ages of fifteen and twenty, most of them are eliminated. In the vicinity of Yuancheng, another eighty to ninety percent are excluded, yet the remaining number is still considerable.

Lord Meishan sorted through the records until his hands and feet were sore. That was bearable, but the frightening part was that after searching repeatedly, he still couldn’t find the woman who perfectly matched the criteria of the high priest. Even more terrifying was that the girl from Yuancheng who did meet the criteria was not named Ji Tanyin, nor was she from a family of craftsmen. The celestial book even clearly stated: This girl died at eighteen.

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Lord Meishan handed the celestial book to the high priest and cautiously asked, “Do you think you might have remembered the name wrong? Is it her?”

Yuan Zhong looked at the book repeatedly until he saw the portrait in the top left corner and couldn’t help but utter a surprised “Oh.”

There was no mistake.

The portrait was indeed of the Ji Tanyin he knew, a girl from Yuancheng. But she wasn’t named Ji Tanyin, wasn’t a craftsman, and died suddenly at eighteen.

This only left the possibility of borrowing a corpse to resurrect a soul, which explained why Zi Fei couldn’t find any flaws.

The Ji Tanyin he knew was a craftsman, and her skills seemed quite exquisite. She had a Qiankun bag, and his left hand couldn’t kill her… Yuan Zhong suddenly asked, “This is a record of a thousand years. Do you have any older ones?”

Lord Meishan’s legs went weak, and he sighed, “At most, only records of up to five thousand years.”

“Can you trace who made the Qiankun bag?”

Lord Meishan shook his head.

“It was made by an ancient craftsman. After the war between gods and demons, all records were destroyed. The celestial book doesn’t contain such ancient information. No one in the world can trace it.”

Yuan Zhong pondered for a while and then suddenly smiled, whispering, “Well, let’s leave it at that.”

Lord Meishan was nearly in tears.

He had spent ten days without eating, drinking, or sleeping to find information for him, and ended up finding nothing.

Wasn’t this effort all in vain? Damaging his reputation was a minor issue, but the two jars of “Drunk Life and Dreaming of Death” would be wasted!

“I’ll have the two jars of ‘Drunk Life and Dreaming of Death’ delivered in a few days,” Yuan Zhong, seeing through his little thoughts, laughed even more.

“At least we found some clues. Thank you.”

Lord Meishan’s expression immediately brightened like a clear sky after rain. The Meishan Residence, which had been gloomy with rain for many days, finally saw sunshine, and a rainbow appeared over the lotus pond. The little ghosts chattered and gestured, rejoicing.

Yuan Zhong led his bird of paradise out of the Meishan Residence. The river that had flooded the entrance disappeared, revealing a small wooden bridge covered in flowers with a fragrant scent.

He looked around and then smiled back at Lord Meishan, saying, “Though I don’t know why you’re upset, don’t be so startled in the future, or you’ll waste this beautiful scenery.”

Lord Meishan blushed deeply.

In fact, he was just confessing his love to Xin Mei and was accidentally caught by that war ghost general.

Fu Jiuyun once said, If you like someone, you should let her know.

He had mustered the courage to confess to Xin Mei. Although the result was less than ideal, he was still happy for her, even if he ended up acting crazy and wailing twice.

“At least…” Yuan Zhong sighed softly.

“At least she exists in a place you can see and touch… Well, I’m off. Take care, Meishan.”

The high priest’s last two sentences were deeply meaningful. Lord Meishan saw him off, closed the door, and thought for a long time without understanding what he meant.

The Fox clan was always so mysterious.

Now, where to go?

Yuan Zhong rode on the back of his bird of paradise, gazing into the distance, where the sky was vast and the clouds were light. The warm summer breeze caressed his face and clothes. Despite the expanse of the world, he suddenly felt at a loss for where to go. The initial excitement of shaking off Ji Tanyin had long disappeared.

Unable to find any clues about Ji Tanyin, he felt a hint of fatigue.

From a young age, he had followed Elder Ding Xu because of his indestructible left hand. Elder Ding Xu intended to shape him into the sharpest blade of the Fox clan.

He learned many dishonorable things and committed many dishonorable acts, which made the priest, Xin Mao, shake his head and sigh whenever they met.

He had to be suspicious; too many people harbored ill intentions towards the Fox clan, and even more coveted his left hand.

A moment of slack could spell disaster for the Fox clan. For the gods, to see the gods again, they had to sacrifice everything—these were the teachings of Elder Ding Xu.

But he grew increasingly weary. The eyes, like black gemstones in his dreams, seemed to drift farther away, so distant they seemed like a dream.

He even doubted if the vision from the high platform was a figment of his imagination.

Over the years, many of his clansmen died, including many young ones, like Zi Fei. Their deaths felt worthless. Elder Ding Xu showed no reaction, but Yuan Zhong found it harder to accept, with the dying gaze of the priest Xin Mao becoming clearer in his mind.

Eventually, Elder Ding Xu issued the order to kill Li Chaoyang and Xin Mei. He knew who Li Chaoyang was, but Xin Mei was just a mortal. Because she married Li Chaoyang’s son, Elder Ding Xu wanted her killed to provoke the war ghost clan and maximize conflict.

He didn’t want to carry out this order; he was tired of it all.

Leaving this way seemed good. No matter where he went, without his left hand, Elder Ding Xu wouldn’t dare be too reckless.

As for Ji Tanyin… Yuan Zhong looked around again. The mountains were verdant, and the sun shone brightly. She had probably long lost his trail by now.

Who was she, really? The celestial book had no answers, and Ice couldn’t contain her. His initial suspicion about investigating her had gradually turned into curiosity. Could she be an old ghost like Fu Jiuyun?

Yuan Zhong flew aimlessly on his bird of paradise, a vague sense of regret creeping into his heart. If Ji Tanyin were here, the chase between them might have been quite interesting.

As soon as this thought arose, he quickly pushed it out of his mind, refusing to dwell on it any longer.

By the end of the eighth lunar month, Yan City was already enjoying crisp autumn weather. As the capital of Chen Shang, a northern great nation, it might not have had the grandeur of Gao City in Tianyuan, but it was the place where humans, demons, and immortals mingled the most.

The terrain of Chen Shang Country is perilous, surrounded by vast and towering mountains. Many immortals have opened up caves within these mountains, creating blessed sanctuaries.

The mountains are also home to countless rare spiritual herbs, precious spiritual birds and beasts. Even the famous Xin Xie Manor, known for breeding spiritual birds and beasts, has a branch in Yan City. Therefore, when Yuan Zhong landed his magnificent and noble bird of paradise in front of an inn in Yan City, the attendant didn’t even bat an eyelid, remaining remarkably composed.

“This esteemed immortal, we are currently running a promotion at our inn. If you stay in a top-tier celestial room, the daily rate is one tael of silver. Stay for three days, and you get one day free, totaling two taels of silver. If you stay for ten days or half a month, the discounts are even more extensive. Similarly, we have first- and second-tier celestial rooms with various discounts. Please choose according to your preference.”

The attendant calmly handed him a meticulously crafted booklet, detailing the various room options from celestial to demonic tiers, enough to dazzle anyone.

Yuan Zhong instinctively reached for his money pouch—empty! He painfully recalled that he had thrown all his silver ingots to distract Ji Tanyin and her mechanical bird that night.

He searched his pockets for a long time, then checked his sleeves, his hair, and even removed his shoes to look inside, but found nothing of value. Finally, he calmly adjusted his sleeves and, under the attendant’s disdainful gaze, led his bird of paradise away.

This was truly a case of an esteemed high priest being stumped by a lack of money. He had never experienced a day without money. Was he now supposed to resort to trickery like those low-level little immortals and demons, turning leaves and grass into silver to deceive mortals?

The more Yuan Zhong thought about it, the more feasible this idea seemed. It was around lunchtime, and the enticing aroma of various foods filled the streets, making his stomach growl. Conveniently, there was a small shop across the street selling dumplings with an incredibly fragrant broth made from beef bones. Yuan Zhong casually plucked two feathers from his bird of paradise, which looked at him with a mix of displeasure and disdain, and turned the feathers into silver.

“Boss, two bowls of dumplings,” Yuan Zhong said confidently, handing the silver to the elderly, bleary-eyed shop owner.

The owner chuckled and pulled out a purple copper-embedded glass lens from his pocket, inspecting the silver for a few moments before angrily throwing it back. “You shameless immortal! Trying to trick an old man with silver made from bird feathers!”

Yuan Zhong was stunned. How had mortals become so astute? How had he seen through the fake silver? Was that small lens some kind of magical artifact?

“He looks so young, yet he’s doing such dishonest things…” muttered a passerby.

“Who knows which immortal family he’s from, leading such a beautiful mount and behaving like this…” another bystander commented.

“Last time, a monkey demon tried to trick people with silver made from monkey hair. The world’s changing, and people’s hearts aren’t what they used to be,” lamented a third passerby.

Yuan Zhong, expressionless, slowly walked away with his bird of paradise.

The world was vast, yet he didn’t even have money for a bowl of dumplings. How desolate and pitiful!

Turning a corner, he silently wiped away a tear from his bird of paradise, who was also famished.

Suddenly, he felt a gentle tug on his clothing. Turning around, he saw a large yellow dog staring at him eagerly. By its paw was a small cloth bag, bulging with unknown contents.

Yuan Zhong looked at the dog, then at the bag, and back at the dog, suddenly realizing something was off.

He grasped the yellow dog’s paw, feeling not the warm fur of an animal but something else—was this a mechanical dog? It was crafted so realistically!

Then, could it be that the bag contained…

Yuan Zhong hastily opened the cloth bag, and sure enough, there were five silver ingots inside, exactly the ones he had thrown to distract the mechanical bird that night.

He quickly looked around, and in a distant alley, he caught a glimpse of Ji Tanyin’s green clothing. She was hiding behind a tree at the entrance of the alley, only revealing her eyes. She alternated between looking at him and the silver ingots in his hand.

In the end, he couldn’t avoid her after all. Had she been following him from the shadows all along?

Yuan Zhong held the silver ingots in his hand and found himself inexplicably wanting to laugh, and indeed, he chuckled.

He slowly approached Tanyin, smiling and sighing at the same time, and said, “Well, then, would you like to eat dumplings?”