Returning Cloud Mountain.
Although this place lay within the territory of the Human Race, it sat in a remote border region right beside the Demon Race’s lands.
At the foot of Returning Cloud Mountain was an unnamed little town.
Tranquility and ease were always its main tone.
Time moved slowly here, and even the proud sunlight seemed a bit lazy.
Outsiders rarely came to disturb this town.
However, today a purple-haired woman arrived in the small town.
Her features were exceptionally beautiful—stunningly so.
A unique charm not quite of the Human Race showed on her face.
She appeared both majestic enough to look down on all living beings and captivating enough to seize people’s hearts.
Her figure was tall and curvaceous, her proud bearing making many women in town feel ashamed of their own appearances.
Such a striking outsider walking into the town caused the boys who had just begun to feel the stirrings of love and who had lived here year-round to blush instantly upon seeing her.
Their hearts pounded like war drums, and they wanted to break free of their male restraints to approach and speak with her.
But the invisible icy mountain of aura around this woman made the boys unconsciously retreat.
She found a tavern in town that looked somewhat aged and stepped inside.
She ordered a few small dishes and the most expensive wine in the shop, then drank alone.
It was still morning, so the tavern was empty except for the woman and the tavern owner couple behind the counter.
“Boss.”
The plump woman in coarse clothes responded and came out from behind the counter, trotting over to the table with an uneasy smile.
“Honored guest, what can I do for you?”
“I’d like to ask about something. Is there any family with the surname Bai in this town?”
“Oh, surname Bai…”
The plump boss narrowed her eyes, furrowed her brows in thought for a long time, then spoke slowly.
“Honored guest, there isn’t any in town. You know, the Bai surname isn’t common. If there really was one, I’d definitely remember it clearly. Are you… here specifically looking for someone?”
“Mhm…”
The woman sounded somewhat disappointed.
She let out a long sigh through her nose, one filled with regret frozen for ten thousand years, heavy enough to feel slightly oppressive.
Inside the counter, the taciturn man who had been quietly mending clothes suddenly lifted his head and looked at the plump boss.
His voice, neither loud nor soft, echoed emptily in the tavern.
“Have you forgotten? Up on Returning Cloud Mountain, there’s a family with the surname Bai.”
“Oh, right, right!”
The plump boss slapped her forehead, her chubby cheeks and body jiggling.
“Oh my, if my husband hadn’t reminded me, I really would have forgotten. Yes, there is indeed a Bai family up on Returning Cloud Mountain.”
As she spoke, a look of recollection appeared on the plump boss’s face.
“It was about ten or almost twenty years ago. Back then my tavern had just opened. A family with the surname Bai moved up on Returning Cloud Mountain—a father and son.”
“That father… oh wow, he was truly the most handsome man I’ve ever seen in my life! Not only was he good-looking, his medical skills were amazing too! Everyone here called him Divine Doctor Bai.”
Hearing the excitement in his wife’s voice and seeing the spring-like blush on her face, the man behind the counter glanced sideways and let out a cold snort tinged with jealousy.
Hearing this, the woman’s expression became complicated and hard to describe—there was joy at touching upon the truth she had sought for so many years, mixed with a fear of something.
Her voice was hoarse, as if forced out from her throat while suppressing it.
“Divine Doctor Bai… his full name… is it Bai Jinyu?”
“Yes, yes! Honored guest, the person you’re looking for is Bai Jinyu, Divine Doctor Bai.”
“Same name, same surname. It should be the same person, but I need to see him to confirm.”
As soon as these words left her mouth, the plump boss’s face stiffened for an instant.
She turned her head and exchanged a glance with her husband.
Then she rubbed her hands uneasily back and forth on her apron for a long while before stammering, “Um… honored guest… there’s something you might not know yet… Divine Doctor Bai… passed away ten years ago…”
Crack.
The sound of the wine cup shattering exploded in the tavern.
The woman jerked her head up to look at the boss.
The faint joy that had been on her face was torn apart into overwhelming anger and regret.
Her beautiful features twisted together from pain.
Although there was no wind in the tavern, it seemed as if the howl of a gale could be heard.
The plump boss was frightened by her sudden change and staggered back several steps, her voice trembling with fear.
“H-honored guest?”
This call brought the woman back to her senses.
She bit hard on her lower lip and lowered her head slightly.
At this moment, a trace of moist mist had already gathered in her black pupils.
“I’m sorry. I’ll compensate you for the damaged item. Please… tell me more about Divine Doctor Bai…”
“All right, all right.”
The plump boss swallowed hard and calmed her pounding heart.
From her words, it was clear that Bai Jinyu had been an exceptionally good person.
His medical skills were unparalleled, yet he never took pride in them.
If a family was in difficulty, he wouldn’t charge a single coin.
As she spoke, the plump boss’s tone also took on a trace of a sob.
“My old mother’s illness was cured by Divine Doctor Bai. Sigh, what a pity that good people don’t live long…”
Suddenly, as if remembering something, the plump boss loudly asked her husband behind the counter, “By the way, have you heard any news about Qingran lately?”
“No. I asked around a few days ago. There’s been no news of Qingran for almost a year now. No one knows where he went. We went up to Returning Cloud Mountain to look, but their house is empty too.”
“Qingran…”
The woman rolled the two words carefully in her mouth.
“Bai Qingran? Bai Jinyu’s child?”
“Yes, honored guest. He was a very handsome boy, and kind-hearted too. It’s just that this past year he’s vanished like he evaporated from the mortal world. No one knows where he went.”
A fire rekindled in the woman’s black pupils—the hope for Bai Jinyu’s last bloodline.
She set down a silver ingot, carefully asked for the exact location of Bai Jinyu’s home, then hurried out of the tavern.
***
Halfway up Returning Cloud Mountain sat a modest courtyard.
The woman stood outside the courtyard.
Dark, unclear emotions churned in her black pupils as she stared fixedly at the wooden door before her.
Her fingertips trembled; she hesitated for a long time, not daring to push it open.
From her conversation with the plump boss earlier, she had almost confirmed that the people who had lived here were the Bai Jinyu she had been searching for all this time. But…
Truly acknowledging it also meant the woman had to accept the reality that Bai Jinyu had already returned to the yellow earth.
After a long while, the wooden door creaked open with a groan.
Inside the courtyard grew a lush, flourishing large tree.
Its green shade spread like a canopy.
Beneath the tree sat a wooden table and chairs, but because the residents had been gone for so long, a thick layer of dust covered them.
The chairs lay scattered on the ground. Overall, the place looked somewhat dilapidated and desolate.
She entered the main house.
Although dust covered everything inside, it was clear that before Bai Qingran disappeared, he had kept the room very clean.
Looking around, many familiar items inside the house stabbed at the woman’s long-sealed memories like knives, one by one.
This was the residence of Bai Jinyu—the place she had been searching for all along.
The woman carefully walked through every corner of the house.
Her memories unfolded like a scroll, and the regret growing within them spread through her entire body.
After a long time, she slowly withdrew and walked to another room—the one belonging to Bai Qingran.
The woman searched carefully.
Something felt off here.
The state of many items in the room—for example, the plate of pastries that had been reduced to nothing but dry shells and the fine insect eggs around it—indicated that Bai Qingran must have encountered some sudden situation and disappeared abruptly.
The woman’s heavy, suppressed breathing echoed in the room.
Her divine sense spread out like a tide, sweeping over the surroundings of the small courtyard before finally locking onto a somewhat lonely grave not far away.
Before the tombstone, the woman stood in silence. The sky suddenly changed from clear to overcast, and raindrops began to fall gracefully.
She could no longer control the sorrow crashing wildly inside her chest, nearly bursting out.
The woman dropped to her knees in the muddy ground, trembling as she reached out to gently stroke the three characters carved on the tombstone that were etched into her bones: Bai Jinyu.
“Jinyu… sob sob… Luo Jiuge has come to see you… Jinyu… I’m sorry… I’m sorry… I should have persisted back then… I’m sorry… Jinyu… I should have told you… how much I loved you…”
Rainwater—or perhaps tears—blurred Luo Jiuge’s vision.
Amid the pouring rain, she clung desperately to the cold tombstone like a despairing, helpless child, crying out in anguish.
A flash of light passed.
Luo Jiuge could no longer maintain her human form.
A pair of purple fox ears popped out from her hair, and a large purple fox tail lay limply on the ground, stained with filthy mud.
The divine sense of a Demon Emperor Stage powerhouse had long since detected the body sleeping peacefully beneath the thick layer of soil.
It was the person Luo Jiuge had loved to the point of madness—the greatest, most obsessive regret of her first half of life.
After a long time, her sobs gradually weakened.
Luo Jiuge’s fingers slid down, gently caressing the five characters “Filial Son Bai Qingran.”
The sorrow and grief in her black pupils that could move heaven and earth had already transformed into extreme coldness and determination.
“Jinyu, no matter the cost, I will definitely find Bai Qingran and bring him back to the Fox Clan.”