Love Travels through Time (My father who traveled through time and space to cultivate immortality came back to pick me up) - Chapter 17
Chapter 17: Testing
The Buddha cave was pitch black, illuminated only by a single oil lamp.
The wick let out a “pop”, shattering the silence.
The first to snap out of it was Yin Changli.
As if nothing had happened, he took a sip of tea, his voice calm and steady: “Thank you.”
The Tuntun mouse put down the teapot, scratched its face with its front paws, skirted around the dagger embedded in the desk, and leaped down, returning to Xiang Haikui’s side before transforming back into the beautiful youth.
“Xiao Bai, what’s going on?”
Xiang Haikui asked him via secret transmission.
“Dao Chen’s behavior just now was exactly like Uncle’s.”
Bai Xingxian’s temples were sweating, and he wiped it away with his sleeve.
“So, it was completely instinctive on my part.”
“Your proficiency is honestly heartbreaking.”
While talking to him, Xiang Haikui kept an eye on Yin Changli from the corner of her vision.
His face was hidden behind the Buddhist scripture, his expression unreadable, but the way he sipped tea and read…yep, it was just like her boss.
Xiang Haikui figured out the reason: “Dao Chen used to follow Senior Yin for a full hundred years, so it’s normal he picked up his mannerisms.”
Her boss was, well, a real dog when it came to dealing with people.
If he went out to buy a pack of spicy strips, nine out of ten people he met would’ve probably been scammed by him.
But elegant? Absolutely.
Noble? No doubt.
Wherever he stood, he was the center of attention, like he had a spotlight on him.
Even she couldn’t resist imitating his hairstyle, sticking decorations by her temples.
“Makes sense.”
Bai Xingxian nodded in agreement, but then a new doubt arose.
“But when he was serving Uncle, I wasn’t even born yet. How did he know to raise an empty cup toward me?”
“This…”
Xiang Haikui recalled Dao Chen’s terrified expression after being stabbed by the dagger earlier.
When he came back, it was like he’d become a different person.
“Could it be that when Senior was forging the dagger, he hid a clone inside it? The dagger pierced Dao Chen, and Boss’s clone possessed him?”
A cunning rabbit has three burrows and her boss was constantly being hunted down by all sorts of people, so having a few extra clones was totally normal.
Bai Xingxian’s eyes lit up.
“Xiao Kui, you’re so smart! That’s totally possible!”
“But even if this clone of Senior doesn’t recognize me, it clearly knows you. Why wouldn’t he acknowledge you?”
Xiang Haikui couldn’t make sense of it.
“Right.”
Bai Xingxian’s head was now a swirling mess too.
“What if Dao Chen is just playing tricks? Who knows what he’s scheming now?”
“Uncle once said, when the situation is unclear, the best approach is to stay still until the enemy moves.”
Xiang Haikui: “So we observe first?”
Bai Xingxian: “Mm.”
“Everyone, the night is deep. This humble monk shall retire.”
Yin Changli closed the scripture and looked at them.
“Sleep if you want.”
Xiang Haikui, her scalp tingling at the thought that he might be her boss’s clone, still had to maintain caution.
“I’m here to keep an eye on you, not as your guest.”
Yin Changli could tell that this little girl was stubborn.
He didn’t argue, simply removed his monk’s robe, lay down in his inner garments, and turned to face the stone wall, his back to them.
His earlier instinctive reaction had helped him understand a few things.
Lu Xiqiao probably had nothing to do with him, but the hamster demon and the girl seemed to know him.
Especially the mouse demon and their relationship must have been extremely close.
Yin Changli couldn’t remember anything.
He couldn’t tell if they were loyal or had already betrayed him, so he didn’t dare expose himself.
After all, right now, he didn’t have even a sliver of self-preservation ability.
His soul had suffered severe damage and was still struggling against Dao Chen’s consciousness and the sword protecting him.
Anyone with a bit of cultivation could kill him effortlessly.
He had to be careful.
Once again, the night was quiet, a lone moon hanging high.
On the desert outside the pass, three little monsters “gulugulu”-ed as they hopped across the sand, tracking Yin Changli’s aura.
Liu Yixing and Luo Yunxiu followed behind the creatures, circling endlessly in the desert.
During the day, the little monsters refused to come out, huddling in their beast bag because the sand was too hot.
They could only move at night.
Dehydrated quickly, Luo Yunxiu kept drizzling floral-scented dew from a jade vial onto her delicate cheeks, her mood foul.
“Brother Liu, didn’t you say this time would work? Why are these three ugly freaks running in circles again?”
“Patience. Catching Yin Changli requires patience.”
The ever-confident Liu Yixing soothed her.
“If they’re lingering between sand pits and burrows, it means Yin Changli was here.”
“Then why did the trail vanish?”
Luo Yunxiu found him utterly unreliable.
Liu Yixing explained eagerly: “There are signs of a fight here. There must’ve been a battle during the day, probably casualties. Yin Changli likely couldn’t hold on and abandoned his body to possess someone else.”
“A different body now? Then how do we find him?”
Luo Yunxiu paused, recalling Yin Changli’s unfairly handsome face, a pang of regret in her heart.
After all, back when that senior was still serving in Underworld city, he single-handedly raised the entire underworld’s beauty standards.
Liu Yixing grinned.
“This is a good thing. We just need to investigate who fought here today and check them one by one. The snake-hunting beasts will definitely recognize him…”
So, from the tribe to Silver Sand City, after eliminating all other possibilities—
Their final stop was the Buddha cave.
Inside, Yin Changli, utterly exhausted, had truly fallen asleep.
If they attacked, he had no way to resist anyway.
After resting, Yin Changli woke up and only for his eyelids to twitch violently.
Xiang Haikui and the other two stood with their arms crossed, surrounding him from three sides, six eyes staring unblinkingly at him.
Lowering his gaze, Yin Changli slowly put on his monk’s robe under their scrutiny, picked up a scripture, and walked out of the cave.
The three followed like clingy shadows.
“Well?” Xiang Haikui asked.
“The more I look, the more it seems like him.”
Bai Xingxian’s voice trembled, barely suppressing the urge to revert to his original form and follow at his feet.
Observation alone wasn’t enough—time for a test.
Xiang Haikui asked, “Xiao Bai, what does your uncle like most? Hate most?”
Bai Xingxian thought.
“Loves his hair the most, hates others touching it.”
Xiang Haikui glanced at the shiny bald head ahead.
“Next.”
Just as Bai Xingxian was about to speak, she added, “No, it has to be something Senior didn’t have before but does now, or vice versa. Something Dao Chen couldn’t possibly know.”
This stumped Bai Xingxian.
“Nothing. You don’t know this, but my uncle is extremely old-fashioned, stubborn, and sentimental… In the five hundred years I’ve been with him, his habits never changed.”
“I’d never have guessed.”
To her, he seemed like a restless playboy who couldn’t sit still.
“No choice then, time for my ultimate move.”
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
Bai Xingxian was curious.
“What ultimate move?”
They communicated secretly, while Lu Xiqiao stayed silent.
Whatever they did, he’d follow.
He was certain that this was the calm before the storm.
Something big was about to happen.
And it did.
The moment they stepped out of the cave, Xiang Haikui suddenly opened her sword case, drew Tiankuang, strode past Yin Changli, spun around, and pointed the blade at him!
The tip hovered less than half an inch from his throat.
Yin Changli stopped, his gaze cooling as he looked at her.
Xiang Haikui gulped, mentally shouting “Yin Changli” before yelling aloud: “Hanpi!”
(T/N: This is a modern Chinese internet slang term, often used humorously or mockingly like calling someone a “dumbass” or “doofus”.)
Yin Changli’s brows furrowed in confusion but before he could react, the girl sheathed her sword and ducked behind him.
“Every time I cursed at Senior to his face before, Tiankuang would get excited. This time, no reaction at all.”
Xiang Haikui told Bai Xingxian.
“But it could also be due to Tianren Sword’s influence.”
Bai Xingxian felt this test wasn’t conclusive.
Ahead, Yin Changli understood that they were testing him.
So, his real name was Hanpi?
What a strange name.
