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墨書 Inktalez
Xing Ruyi was taken aback.
She had seen centipedes before, but she had never encountered one as large as this, let alone one with a woman's face.
In the dawn before sunrise, the centipede raised its head and locked eyes with Xing Ruyi. Despite the strange appearance of that face, Xing Ruyi could still tell it was a woman's face, with slender eyebrows, watery almond-shaped eyes, and a nose above a mouth that resembled a cherry. This was a face that should have been considered beautiful, yet it was now on the body of a massive centipede, making Xing Ruyi feel not only goosebumps all over but also causing her hair to stand on end.
The centipede seemed to see through her thoughts, its mouth curling into a slight grin as it emitted a sound reminiscent of an infant's cry.
Xing Ruyi felt her scalp tingle and quickly took a step back, her eyes fixed on the slightly ajar wooden door. She vowed that if she had known that after dawn, she would encounter neither The Watchman's Wife nor the new clerk A Niu from her shop, she would have blocked that door tightly.
At that moment, the centipede was crouched by the door, and Xing Ruyi held her breath as she silently ignited a bundle of ghost fire.
The door moved, and the wooden bolt made a faint clinking sound. Xing Ruyi took a deep breath, but the bluish ghost fire at her fingertips unexpectedly fizzled out. Instinctively, her eyes darted toward the wooden door, and sure enough, the centipede launched a swift attack; all she could see were those wildly thrashing legs coming toward her.
For a moment, she forgot to counterattack and even forgot to use Ghost Technique, standing there dazed as an image flashed through her mind of herself being crushed into a pancake by the centipede.
"Whoosh!"
A gust of wind swept in, followed by a familiar voice that mixed coldness with a hint of tenderness: "Fox Demon!"
"Fox?" Xing Ruyi instinctively replied, then reminded herself that this might be an illusion created by the Giant Centipede.
Before she could finish her thoughts, she was spun around by the wind. When she opened her eyes again, she found herself stiffly lying in a warm embrace. Her face flushed red as she instinctively tried to break free; however, a slightly suppressed, hoarse voice came from above: "Be good, don’t move. Let me hold you!"
"Fox?" Xing Ruyi looked up to see the incredibly handsome face of the fox. She turned around and cupped his face in her hands, realizing for the first time that fox spirits could also have facial hair. The stubble felt slightly prickly against her fingers and had traces of dust on it. Her eyes filled with concern as she scolded him softly: "Have you not rested at all on your journey? Fox, how dare you treat yourself this way without my permission?"
"Don't cry!" The fox wiped away the tears from Xing Ruyi's eyes with a sigh and pulled her tightly into his embrace. "I missed you; I couldn't wait even for a moment."
"Foolish fox, I'm right here at the Yun Family Gathering. Earlier, Moxuyou tricked me into leaving the Yun Family Gathering to find you. I thought it over all night and ultimately decided to stay here. I know you have your reasons for not wanting me to follow you. If I disobey and go looking for you because of Moxuyou, I might just cause you more trouble. How about you? Are you hurt? Let me see quickly." Xing Ruyi said as she tried to break free from the fox's embrace.
The fox smiled contentedly and held her even tighter.
"I'm fine, not suffering at all, and I'm not injured. I'm still your Yin Chensi, your charming fox."
"You're lying." Xing Ruyi accused with red eyes, "You've clearly starved yourself thin! And your face feels rough; I can't imagine how long you've been exposed to the wind and sand. Plus, you've grown a beard. I thought... I thought fox spirits didn't grow beards."
"What? Are you disgusted by me?"
"Yes, I'm disgusted." Xing Ruyi wrinkled her nose, "I'm disgusted that you've made yourself look like this yet still manage to look so good. It's really unfair for Master."
"Old age is indeed unfair!" The fox chuckled from deep in his chest, "How could someone as good-looking as me only have eyes for you?"
"Yin Chensi, are you asking for a beating?" Xing Ruyi said as she playfully threw a light punch at the fox's body. However, when her fist landed, it was very gentle. She bit her lip and pressed her forehead against the fox's chest, murmuring softly, "Yin Chensi, I miss you so much, really, really miss you. If you don't come back soon, I'll go find you in Qingqiu, regardless of whether Moxuyou sets a trap for me on the way."
The fox let out a light breath and gently rubbed his chin against Xing Ruyi's head: "Fortunately, I'm back!"
"Yes, fortunately you're back; otherwise, I would have been crushed into a Fox Demon pie by that Giant Centipede that was about to become a spirit." Xing Ruyi laughed through her tears and shyly rubbed her nose against the fox. "By the way, how did you know I was here? If you had come any later, we might not have seen each other."
"I wouldn't have missed you; even if I hadn't come, Yin Yuan would have." Though the fox said this, Xing Ruyi could tell he was worried.
"Alright, let's hug when we get home. This is someone else's place after all; if we're seen by others, they'll definitely laugh at us." Xing Ruyi blushed and poked the fox with her finger. "Do you know the origin of this Centipede? Although the Yun Family Gathering is in a mountainous area, such a large Centipede must be something extraordinary. By the way, did you see its face? It looks like a woman's; I suspect it's female and might transform into human form in a few days."
Despite looking tired, when the fox heard what Xing Ruyi said, he couldn't help but chuckle. He affectionately scratched her nose: "At first, I didn't believe Yin Yuan when he said you'd become more foolish after I left; now I finally believe it."
"What does it mean?"
"You really think this creature is that easy to cultivate?" The Fox walked over to the Giant Centipede. "This earthly being, if it wants to become human, faces challenges no less difficult than a human trying to become a deity. Besides enduring harsh training, it must go through numerous trials. Just looking at this thing, at best, it has a bit of spirit. If it wants to cultivate into a human, it would take at least several hundred or even thousands of years; there’s hardly any hope."
"But I clearly saw it had a woman's face. Could it be that I was seeing things?"
"You’re not seeing things; you were just overly startled and didn’t look closely." The Fox said, crouching down and reaching out toward the Giant Centipede's face. "Come here, look closely."
To be honest, Xing Ruyi didn’t want to look, but in front of the Fox, she didn’t want to show fear. So she could only slowly move behind the Fox, half-closing her eyes and leaning slightly forward.
"Don’t be afraid; this thing is already dead." The Fox said, quickly revealing something from the Giant Centipede's face, uncovering a semi-transparent Human Skin.
"What is this—" Xing Ruyi blinked rapidly. "A Human Skin Mask? What does the Giant Centipede need this for? Is it hoping to blend in among humans?"
Recalling the strange scene where she and the Giant Centipede were staring at each other through the window, Xing Ruyi couldn't help but twitch her lips. "No wonder it didn't attack directly earlier but instead crouched outside the window to stare at me. It wanted to test whether this mask on its face would work."
"Fox Demon!" The Fox stood up and ruffled her hair with its free hand. "If I had known you would become so clumsy without me around, I would have kept you by my side."
"Stinky Fox, how dare you call me stupid!" Xing Ruyi glared at the Fox. "Fine, considering you rushed back to save me, I'll allow you to take back what you just said."
"Take it back?" The Fox shook its head. "Not a chance!"
Faced with a stubborn Fox, even Xing Ruyi could only sigh helplessly.
"Forget it; I’m not exactly a clever Ming Ren. Compared to you, a refined fox, I have even less intelligence. So your goodness and your correctness—who told you that you are the man chosen by me, Xing Ruyi?"
The fox narrowed its eyes slightly and then revealed a helpless smile.
"This Human Skin is sewn onto the Giant Centipede."
The fox raised the Human Skin in its hand towards the white light outside the window. Xing Ruyi finally understood what White Fox's earlier words meant, as there were very clear needle holes along the edge of this Human Skin. Looking closely, there were also some threads left on the face of the Giant Centipede. However, Xing Ruyi couldn't comprehend why anyone would sew a human face onto a Centipede.
"What kind of person hides behind the Giant Centipede? How could someone be so twisted as to sew such a beautiful woman's face onto a Centipede? Does he have some special fetish, or is he so enamored with this Human Skin that he hurriedly sewed it onto his pet just to see it all the time? It doesn't make sense; I can't understand it."
"Since we can't make sense of it, let's not think about it. The truth will reveal itself in time," the fox said as it searched for a piece of cloth in the room to wrap up the Human Skin. Then it cast a spell to incinerate the corpse of the Giant Centipede. In just a moment, the room returned to its original state, except that there was now a handsome fox present.
Footsteps sounded outside the door again, and this time they clearly belonged to a human. Xing Ruyi opened the door and glanced outside, only to see The Watchman's Wife looking up at her.
The simple Wooden Door framed a black-clad Woman standing quietly there. The dawn light illuminated her, creating a rather unique scene.
"Sister-in-law, you're back?"
Xing Ruyi called out, smiling at the Black-Clad Woman at the door.
The Woman nodded, her gaze cautiously scanning through the slightly ajar window into the room.
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