CHAPTER 456: CHAPTER 456: HEALING

The sun was setting in the west, gradually disappearing into the clouds. The remaining twilight spread from the edge of the Cloud Sea, resembling a burning fire, slowly sinking into the night.

The mystical beasts in the surrounding mountains and forests gradually grew quiet, each returning to their nests to rest. The sound of water flowing from a nearby mountain spring became increasingly distinct, the sound of the clear spring flowing over stone slabs... brought some yellowed memories to the dazed mind of the Snake Princess.

She remembered a small village, a few hilltops, recalled a group of unsophisticated rural villagers, and the snacks and wine brews they offered on stones. She remembered the children who picked fruits in the mountains, and the spring water flowing through the mountains.

The snacks tasted delicious, the spring water was refreshing, and the children... she hadn’t seen them for so many years.

She wasn’t even sure how much of those memories were true, how much was hallucination after eating poisonous fruit back then, and how much was beautified in nightmares and illusions from being confined in the Demon Suppression Tower for years of sleepless days and nights.

The large serpent lowered its head and saw a big plate of fruits placed on the table in the center of the pavilion. True Man Yuanhe pushed the fruit platter forward with that annoying old face of his wearing an annoying smile, looking up at her.

"These are the fruits you love to eat—it’s just that for the past couple of days the medication I gave you was new, with special properties, so your ration was halved and you went hungry. The term is over today; you can eat at ease."

The Snake Princess’s several heads circled around the fruit platter, as if suspecting it was poisoned.

Seeing this, True Man Yuanhe laughed: "Rest assured, there’s no new medication this time, nor do you need it anymore—truthfully, I prepared these fruits for you by noon today. I just didn’t expect you’d get so hungry as to sneak into someone else’s room to steal food, and it took me half a day to find you... If I’d known, I would’ve released you earlier."

"Yuanhe old swindler," the Snake Princess abruptly raised her head, staring straight at True Man Yuanhe, "what scheme are you plotting this time? Don’t think I’m easy to deceive—you’re not that generous! Tell me, are you trying to fool me into going down the mountain, only to claim I’m escaping and then catch me again to make snake stew..."

"Believe it or not," True Man Yuanhe chuckled gleefully, after a few seconds he lazily leaned against the pavilion’s column, giving a flick of the horsetail whisk while the Snake Princess’s doubts deepened, "you should have noticed yourself—doesn’t your mind feel clearer? Is that violent impulse gone? Still experiencing hallucinations or auditory illusions? Do you still occasionally think you’re an earthworm, a centipede, or an inchworm?"

With every word he spoke, the Snake Princess paused, and after pausing several times, the large serpent finally dropped the look of forced suspicion and anger, somewhat guilt-riddenly drooping her head: "I, I noticed. But I dare not believe it! How could it suddenly..."

True Man Yuanhe stroked his beard, glancing at the Big Snake Demon: "Struck by lightning."

Snake Princess: "...?!"

"I’ve been treating you for years. Logically speaking, it should’ve long erased the ’demonic nature’ born out of your inner demon possession, yet all these years you never completely recovered. It was due to that one final ’push,’ that lightning strike—after years of tempering your heart and body, the accumulation was finally refashioned into a strand of intelligent spiritual light by the thunder in the Demon Suppression Tower."

The Snake Princess tilted her head, seemingly still not understanding.

Facing her dumbfounded reaction, Yuanhe burst into laughter in irritation, raising his hand to give one of the serpent’s heads a not-so-light tap with the horsetail whisk: "Silly girl, you’ve transcended the tribulation—you’re no longer a monster; you’re a demon immortal."

The Snake Princess thought for a moment, bowed her head, and began to eat the fruit.

After eating for a while, she suddenly looked up: "Then why didn’t you strike me earlier?!"

"... That’s overcoming tribulation! Overcoming tribulation! It requires fate and luck! When it’s meant for you to transcend, it doesn’t matter if you’re hiding at the Bottom of Nine Netherworld; when it’s not, tying yourself to a lightning rod only means a pointless death. Besides, how was I supposed to know when you’d reach the point of readiness to aid you beforehand?"

The Snake Princess’s human head uttered an "oh," while her other heads were still busy eating, especially the dog head, which nearly gnawed around the plate’s edge—which took her several more seconds before she realized again: "Ah, so I can really leave now?"

True Man Yuanhe nodded: "I just said, the choice to stay or leave is yours."

The Snake Princess uttered another "oh," her heads collectively lowering to hurriedly devour the remaining fruits on the plate, then she turned to crawl down the mountain: "Okay, I’m off then."

Her serpent form moved like the wind, vanishing almost in the blink of an eye along the winding, shadowy mountain path, melding into the gradually darkening sky.

True Man Yuanhe held the horsetail whisk, staring for a few seconds in the direction where the Snake Princess left, hesitantly opened his mouth, "Sh-she really left."

Then, after a few more seconds, seeing the now empty mountain path, he automatically took a couple of steps towards the outside of the pavilion: "Girl, not coming back?"

No echo came from the mountain path.

Finally, True Man Yuanhe sighed softly, shook his head, and turned back to the pavilion.

On the stone table, there was one shriveled tangerine left in the platter.

Yuanhe sat down, picked up the tangerine, and slowly began peeling its wrinkled skin.

A black-and-white spotted dog head suddenly emerged from the darkness beside him, snapping up the tangerine in his hand.

Yuanhe abruptly raised his head, looking at the large serpent crawling back through the pavilion pillar: "Didn’t you leave!"

"Yuanhe old swindler!" the Snake Princess raised her head arrogantly, "I have no money!"

True Man Yuanhe: "?"

The Snake Princess continued in a self-righteous tone: "I heard you need to buy a ticket to ride the Immortal Boat—give me money!"

True Man Yuanhe glared at the arrogant large snake for a long time, finally slapping his thigh in annoyance: "I knew it, this trouble isn’t so easy to shake off—let’s put the matter of traveling expenses aside for now. I must first teach you a few techniques for shape-shifting, at least learn to transform into a human form, if nothing else, even a half-human half-snake form would be good, it’s better to at least conceal your body a bit."

"Why?" Snake Princess frowned, "You think I’ll scare people if I go outside? Didn’t you say I’m no longer a monster? Moreover, it’s not like people in the world haven’t seen monsters before. If they get scared, it’s because they’re cowardly..."

"Because with your appearance, one person would take up seven seats on the Immortal Boat!" True Man Yuanhe huffed and puffed in annoyance, "I have to dig into my own pockets every few days to compensate Senior Brother’s medicine garden because of those useless disciples, where do I have so much money to buy you a seat on the Immortal Boat!"

Upon hearing this, Snake Princess was instantly furious: "Aren’t these seven heads now because of you, you old scoundrel! If you hadn’t attached a dog’s head onto me, I originally only had six heads!"

"You take up seven seats not because you have seven heads—but because of your seven or eight meter long tail! See if you can curl up and fit into a chair after you’ve coiled yourself!"

Snake Princess was taken aback.

Then she obediently drew her heads back, curling herself up in the pavilion.

"Go on and teach, what’s the first step?"

...

Night had fallen; by the time Yu Sheng returned to No. 66 Wutong Road, the Immortal Lamps around Cloud Viewing Platform were already lit, the elegantly styled lamps rising from the clouds, illuminating the mountain paths and peaks.

But despite the enchanting nightly scenery of the Immortal Mountain and Cloud Sea, the comforting lights and the plain yet familiar living room that welcomed him as he pushed the door open were what truly put him at ease.

As soon as Yu Sheng walked in, he saw Luna cleaning in the living room, one Erin with a painting frame on her back was sitting on the sofa watching TV, two Erins behind Luna were chattering and making a mess, while another Erin sat on the coffee table, intently fidgeting with the "Omen Wandering Star."

Hu Li was flying in the air, one hand holding a small bucket and the other a scraper, seriously repairing the dent in the ceiling caused by the Omen Wandering Star.

Hearing the sound of the door opening, Hu Li immediately jumped down from mid-air, happily greeting him at the entrance: "Savior, you’re back!"

Her face was covered in putty, and even her fuzzy big ears had quite a bit of dust that had fallen from the roof, but her smile was as bright as ever.

Behind her, the Erin on the coffee table just waved a hand without lifting her head, while Luna came over, ceremoniously bowing like a knight (despite holding a broom in her hand), and stammeringly spoke: "Welcome back."

Yu Sheng smiled and greeted Luna, then his gaze passed over the fox girl’s head, turning to the ceiling of the living room. He saw that the dent had been patched up, and although the repair work wasn’t exactly professional, it was clear she had put a lot of effort into it—who knew how long she had been tinkering with it.

"Where did you get the putty?" Yu Sheng asked curiously.

"I got it from Sun! I went to the valley, and Sun happened to be there with his people fixing up the plumbing in some new houses in Fairy Tale Town, so I asked him for some quick-drying putty. After it dries, I’ll still need to sand it and then paint it... I also asked him for some latex paint!"

Hu Li cheerfully said with a look of seeking approval on her face, shaking the small bucket in her hand towards Yu Sheng.

"I didn’t know how to use it at first; I learned from the master craftsmen on site."

Listening to Hu Li’s words, Yu Sheng was surprised and glanced at the roof she had worked hard to fix, suddenly smiling, raising his hand to rub the fur behind the demon fox’s ears.

The fox girl’s eyes narrowed happily.

Yu Sheng shook the large basket he was holding.

"I brought some delicious food back from the Immortal Banquet Hall and grabbed a few chicken leg meals from the Special Service Bureau canteen..."

Before he finished his sentence, he felt the world blur before him, and both the basket and the demon fox girl in front of him disappeared, leaving only a shadow darting towards the dining room.

"Wash your hands first! And wash your face too!" Yu Sheng called out from behind, amused and helpless, "And save some for me—I’m not hungry at the moment, I’ll eat later."

"Okay, Savior! Got it!"

Yu Sheng shook his head with a helpless smile, then walked over to the coffee table, looking at Erin who was sitting there cross-legged, toying with the Omen Wandering Star.

"How’s that ball doing?" he asked casually.

"Seems to be fine," Erin said, casually setting the Omen Wandering Star beside her head, which wobbled in the air and began orbiting around the little puppet’s head just like before.

Yu Sheng clicked his tongue in wonder at the sight, and then noticed the other three Erins likewise in the living room: "...how did you manage to handle the ’chaos’ issue with this thing? Four of you in one place, yet it doesn’t blow its top into the sky?"

Erin then raised a finger.

A faint trace of black thread floated off her fingertip.

"Simple, I made it spin like a top..."