Volume Two, Chapter One: Animal Paradise

In the early morning, as the sun was just rising, wisps of cooking smoke began to curl up from Banquet Moon Mound. Perhaps because Yibing had returned, the place was so quiet that not even the chirping of insects could be heard.

Fortunately, Hongkun and the others had made it back in time, otherwise the relief team would have set out. Seeing all of them safe and sound, the disciples couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. Their master had already vanished without a trace; if something were to happen to the eldest senior brother as well, Banquet Moon Mound would truly be leaderless.

There was still no news of the mad master; all the search parties had returned empty-handed, and only Uncle Xifeng had yet to come back. When Biyi heard this, she grew anxious and hurried straight to the Five-Colored Cave. Hongkun and the others discussed for a long time but came up with no good ideas, so they decided to wait quietly for their uncle to return before making any further plans.

That very day, the pond into which their master had fallen became the exclusive territory of the divine tortoise. The old fellow was living at ease: he either spent all day hidden beneath the surface or basked lazily on the shore. Although Hanyu and Meiniang had revealed their true forms, it would not do to lock them away in cages, so a remote side courtyard was set aside for the two of them. As for the little red-beaked sparrow, its powers were far too mysterious; it was kept confined in a birdcage, with a demon-restraining talisman affixed to the bars.

Although Hongkun had prepared medicinal herbs for their injuries, Hanyu and Meiniang grew weaker day by day. As their condition became increasingly dire, Yibing grew frantic, constantly seeking out his senior brothers for solutions, but both Hongkun and Hongpeng were at their wits’ end and could only hope for their uncle’s swift arrival. Even though Hongqin had regained consciousness, she was barely clinging to life—mute, unresponsive to anyone, though she accepted the food and water Yibing brought her without hesitation.

To comfort Hanyu and Meiniang, every day Yibing would gather some radishes and grapes for them to eat. The radishes and grapes of Banquet Moon Mound were, after all, immortal vegetables and fruits, and could somewhat help their recovery. The two women liked them, but could hardly eat much, barely tasting a few bites each time. Witnessing this, Yibing grew increasingly troubled, though he said nothing.

One day, as Yibing was picking grapes and nibbling as he worked, a fragrant breeze suddenly wafted from behind.

"Master’s wife... Uncle!" Yibing was so excited he couldn’t control his voice. He spun around and dropped to his knees with a thud.

"How did you know it was me?" Daoist Xifeng was momentarily taken aback—this chubby boy hadn’t even turned his head and already knew who had arrived.

"Uncle, you have a unique fragrance!" Yibing answered hastily.

"Fragrance?" Daoist Xifeng’s face lit up with pleasure.

"How should I put it... It’s faint, hard to describe, but very calming. Anyway, I can smell it..." Yibing nervously scratched his head.

"You little butterball, still so glib! Get up and answer my questions properly!" Daoist Xifeng immediately put on a stern face.

"Yes, sir!" Yibing quickly and cautiously stood up. After a few days apart, his uncle looked very haggard.

"Tell me, why did your master teach you the Dao?" Daoist Xifeng suddenly demanded in a harsh tone.

"To act on Heaven’s behalf, to vanquish demons and evil!" Yibing replied, though in his heart, he muttered, "Wasn’t it just to make up the numbers?"

"Hmph! Yet instead of slaying demons and eradicating evil, you’ve gone and adopted a whole brood of monsters and spirits!" Daoist Xifeng glared at Yibing, his eyes like lightning.

"No, uncle, I haven’t!" Yibing waved his hands in fright. "Let’s not mention Hanyu. As for Meiniang—no, the Seven-Tailed Fox—she was injured saving me. I couldn’t just abandon her! And that little red-beaked sparrow, I only kept her to keep her body from being left to rot in the wilderness! Oh, and Brother Tortoise—he’s helped me several times!"

"Ha! You even call a tortoise 'brother'? Come, tell me everything in detail!" Daoist Xifeng, surprised, led Yibing toward the nearby pavilion.

Inside the pavilion stood a stone table and two stone stools. Daoist Xifeng sat down formally, while Yibing dared not sit, standing with hands at his sides and recounting everything in detail. He began from the day he left Banquet Moon Mound, covering events day by day, from what Hongkun said to what Hongpeng did, missing nothing. After a while, Daoist Xifeng frowned and told him to stick to the main points and skip the trivialities.

Though a bit disappointed, Yibing obediently reorganized his thoughts. He started from losing his brothers while chasing the rabbit, to saving the plump girl and traveling together, then to venturing into Yu King’s Cave. When he described defeating the Azure Dragon with the magical iron, Daoist Xifeng grew curious, "What magical iron? Show me!"

Yibing quickly untied his belt and returned it to its original shape.

"You’re truly blessed with fortune..." Daoist Xifeng took the magical iron and examined it closely.

"You say it becomes whatever you think of? Show me—transform it!" Daoist Xifeng handed the iron back. Yibing hesitated briefly, and the iron instantly became a huge pink pouch.

"What’s this? Oh..." Daoist Xifeng realized halfway through—it was her own elixir pouch!

"I..." Yibing lowered his head in embarrassment. Perhaps because he’d once taken food from her, every time he saw Daoist Xifeng, this pink elixir pouch would pop into his mind—it had kept him from starving for three days!

"Change it into something else!" Daoist Xifeng couldn’t help but chuckle.

"Oh..." Yibing quickly changed it into a few other things—a sword, a baked bun, a single blade, a radish, a round fan, a rabbit leg... As the transformations grew wilder, Daoist Xifeng hurriedly raised a hand to stop him.

"Alright, that’s enough. Continue your story." Daoist Xifeng pointed to the stone stool, and only then did Yibing sit down, cautiously.

He gave only a brief account of meeting Meiniang after leaving Yu King’s Cave, nearly being captured, and especially omitted any mention of how he lost his soul. However, he described in detail how Hanyu risked her life to save him. Daoist Xifeng understood his intentions—though long-winded, she let him speak. But when Yibing recounted meeting Meiniang at night and giving her a Golden Elixir, Daoist Xifeng’s face darkened, "You’re very generous, little butterball!"

"Uncle, I just pitied her... She couldn’t follow the righteous path, so she turned to crooked ways, harming others and herself..." Yibing’s chubby face trembled.

"Hmph! She couldn’t follow the righteous path? Even without turning to evil, that’s still cultivation! You have such a soft heart—how did you manage to gnaw on that rabbit leg?" Daoist Xifeng said with disdain. Yibing’s heart skipped a beat. "Yes! Why didn’t I pity the rabbit back then?"

As Yibing described meeting the little black rabbit, how Mofeng helped him find Hanyu, and how he promised to bring it back to Banquet Moon Mound, Daoist Xifeng’s heart gave a start. "Heavens, there’s a little black rabbit too!"

Noticing his uncle’s strange expression, Yibing, already hesitating, decided not to mention giving the other Golden Elixir to Hanyu. He skipped ahead to their journey to Flat Horse Mountain and the Immortal Cultivation Conference. Describing how he was forced into the competition ring and turned a giant pot to defeat the Right Armor Sect, Daoist Xifeng finally burst out laughing, thinking, "This butterball really is a glutton—everything he transforms is either a rabbit leg or a cooking pot!"

Relaxed, Yibing recounted how they were invited to a sermon, ambushed by monsters, Meiniang arriving injured to save him from the Jade-Faced Lord, and how they broke through the Guiyuan Cave’s challenges to see the sun again. Daoist Xifeng listened quietly until he mentioned the white horse transforming into a tortoise.

"That tortoise said it had been inside the stone for a thousand years?" Daoist Xifeng asked, intrigued.

"Yes!" Yibing nodded quickly. Seeing his uncle fall silent, Yibing remembered something and asked, "Uncle, that teardrop moving about inside me—will it cause any harm?" This had always weighed on his mind.

"You don’t know?" Daoist Xifeng looked at him.

"Know what?"

"It will—but it’s a good thing. You’ll understand in time!" Daoist Xifeng smiled gently. Though Yibing was still puzzled, he dared not ask further.

After that, he told of their journey to the Double Fish Cave, the great battle with the Jade-Faced Lord, and rescuing their fellow cultivators, all in vivid detail. Daoist Xifeng listened with growing interest, even occasionally asking questions. Hearing that only they dared to ascend Yin-Yang Mountain to rescue others, Daoist Xifeng’s face showed praise. No matter what, her senior brother’s disciples had done him proud.

"Uncle, where is Senior Sister Biyi?" Yibing suddenly remembered the cold and beautiful junior sister.

"I left her to guard Five-Colored Cave." In truth, Daoist Xifeng had originally intended to bring her, but feared her sharp tongue would only complicate matters, so left her behind. As it turned out, Yibing was not as unreliable as she’d said.

"Oh..." Yibing looked crestfallen. He’d thought that his uncle’s arrival would mean Senior Sister Biyi would follow, and had even planned to offer her some grapes.

As he recounted their night at Sun and Moon Temple, their capture by the Palace of Ten Thousand Impurities, and the painting duel with Hongqin, Yibing became less enthusiastic. But seeing how attentively Daoist Xifeng listened, he grew animated again, especially when he described sneaking into the woods and accidentally smoking out Hongqin and the others—he told this part with great relish, though Daoist Xifeng kept frowning.

"Who would have thought she’d pull out a demon mirror and turn me into a sheep!" Yibing grumbled.

"A sheep that fat must be a comfortable ride!" Daoist Xifeng couldn’t help but laugh.

"How did you know?" Yibing looked at his uncle in surprise.

"I... You really were ridden? Hahahaha..." Daoist Xifeng was momentarily stunned.

"Hmph, I made sure to jostle her plenty!" Yibing replied awkwardly.

"Is that so?" Daoist Xifeng teased him. Yibing, pulling at his chubby face, hurriedly changed the subject. "Later I was locked in a sheep pen and found all the other captured cultivators inside. Soon my brothers were captured too, only Hanyu, Meiniang, and Miss Zhao escaped. Oh, and Brother Tortoise disappeared as well! Before long, Miss Zhao was also thrown in, but she seemed out of her mind—later I learned her spirit had left her body!"

"Her spirit left her body?!" Daoist Xifeng was astonished.

"Yes! She said her master taught her specially, afraid she’d have trouble escaping danger because she was too fat." Yibing nodded repeatedly.

"Is that girl as fat as you?" Daoist Xifeng’s eyes widened.

"Just about!" Yibing suddenly remembered the baked bun the plump girl had given him.

"Impressive, I must meet her one day!"

"Miss Zhao said that as soon as the demon mirror shone on her, she immediately let her spirit leave her body. Her body was turned into a sheep and led away, so her spirit wandered around, eventually finding Hanyu and Meiniang. At the time, Meiniang had disguised them both as demonesses—how Miss Zhao recognized them, I have no idea. Then they bumped into Brother Tortoise and snuck into the Pure Sound Palace together. I only heard bits and pieces from Miss Zhao and Hanyu, so I’m not clear on the details," Yibing summarized.

Daoist Xifeng nodded silently. To be able to let her spirit leave her body at such a young age—truly gifted.

"They found us, intending to rescue us right away, but didn’t know how to turn us back. While they were discussing, Hongqin appeared, saying she needed to select sheep as a gift for the True Person of Simplicity. Meiniang and Hanyu quickly stepped forward to handle her, coaxing Hongqin into allowing them to escort us—they took Senior Brother Hongpeng, Qi Yuanxiao, and me. On the way, Hanyu knocked Hongqin out, Meiniang let Miss Zhao possess her body, and Brother Tortoise untied us all. We planned to ambush the True Person of Simplicity, but..."

"But you were discovered in advance!" Daoist Xifeng interrupted.

"Yes! Uncle, how did you know?"

"With their meager skills, how could they fool that old demon?"

"...," Yibing hesitated.

"And then?" Daoist Xifeng urged.

"Then, not only did their ambush fail, but they were forced to reveal their true forms. At that moment, Hongqin—or rather, Miss Zhao—rushed over and grabbed the old demon, but was soon thrown aside. Then, an eye appeared on the old demon’s forehead, able to see Miss Zhao’s spirit, and she shouted she would extinguish her soul! Just then, Brother Tortoise brought the magical iron, and in desperation I transformed it into a tortoise’s head and struck her. She flew off, then turned into a wisp of black smoke and vanished."

"You turned it into a tortoise’s head? Ingenious! Had you turned it into anything else, you would have been doomed!" Daoist Xifeng shook his head repeatedly.

"Ah?" Yibing was alarmed and thought, "If I ever meet her again, I must remember: tortoise’s head!"

When Yibing finally finished his tale, Daoist Xifeng remained silent for a long time. Her heart was filled with both joy and worry—joy at his innate affinity with the immortal path, worry that his kind and upright nature was becoming more and more like her mad senior brother’s in the past.

"Uncle?" Yibing called anxiously.

"Ah?" Daoist Xifeng came to herself.

"Please, uncle, save Hanyu and the others!" Yibing dropped to his knees with a thud.

"Save them? If I don’t destroy them, they should already count themselves fortunate!" Daoist Xifeng’s face turned stern.

"Uncle..."

"Enough! Take me to see this menagerie of monsters and demons you’ve adopted!"