Chapter 490: A Dark Cloud

The Daoist sat on the mountain, clouds and mist rolling below the mountain. At the junction of the clouds and the terraced fields, houses could be vaguely seen. He did not know how many more layers of terraced fields were below.

Recently, it had been almost all sunny days, very warm.

Sometimes there were clouds, sometimes there were not.

Sometimes the clouds were in the sky, sometimes in the mountains, sometimes so high that it took a long time to reach them, sometimes so low that they were level with the mushroom houses below the mountain, rising and falling like the tide.

Occasionally it rained, also in bursts. The rain would stop and it would clear up, and suddenly it would rain again.

Lin Jue sat here and went nowhere, just watching this paradise, this scenery like a pure land in the mortal world, basking in the sun every day, feeling that his mood was extremely good.

Sleeping when he wanted to sleep, regardless of when he woke up.

Daydreaming when he wanted to daydream, letting time flow past him, the sun and moon rotating above his head.

At other times, he would read books and comprehend the Law.

What surprised Lin Jue a little was that although the ancient book recorded "break and re-connect", and mentioned "disperse and re-gather" when recording "break and re-connect", the book actually did not record "disperse and re-gather". When Lin Jue arduously comprehended "disperse and re-gather" from Teacher Fuyao, the ancient book was slow to react.

When the ancient book finally reacted, Lin Jue opened it, only to see a blank page, radiating golden light, waiting for him to fill it. By this time, two months had passed since he arrived in Yunzhou, from the winter before the new year to the spring after the new year. Teacher Fuyao was not a competent teacher at all, but Lin Jue had comprehended the essence of this "disperse and re-gather" from it.

It was indeed as Lin Jue had thought before—

By comparison, "break and re-connect" was more difficult for him to learn, while "disperse and re-gather" was more suitable for a Daoist of the Many Yaoguai Law Sect like him, and it was much easier to comprehend.

At the same time, this also confirmed some of Lin Jue's thoughts—

The first owner of the ancient book, "Lin Zhongxian", was a Realized One, and the subsequent owners probably only reached this point at most, and perhaps did not even attain the Dao. For them, even if they searched for spells in the world, they had their own limitations. As for the skills of True Lords, gods, and even Emperor-level Great Powers, they were both unfathomable and not so common, and it was even possible that only one person in the three realms knew them, so naturally, it was very difficult for the owners of the ancient book to search for them and record them.

This "disperse and re-gather" was like this, and the great divine ability displayed by Lady Lady Yao Hua at Dangshan in Huizhou back then was also like this.

"No matter..."

Lin Jue looked at the blank page in the ancient book, holding a pen in his hand: "I will write it for you."

Two lines of text had already been added above—

Disperse and re-gather, a spell for nourishing the spirit.

As the name implies, the soul flies away and returns, the spirit scatters and re-gathers.

This was the introduction Lin Jue wrote, and he had not finished writing it yet.

As for the previous page, "Soul Extinguishing Technique" had been completely written, and all the content had been recorded in detail.

After a little thought, Lin Jue put pen to paper again.

Just at this moment, a figure walked up from below.

Lin Jue turned his head to look, and it was a dark and thin girl of fifteen or sixteen, looking like a local, wearing local clothing, holding a coarse earthen bowl in one hand, walking carefully across the narrow ridges of the terraced fields below like a folk performer walking a balance beam.

"Terraced field fish! Beef stew!"

The girl carried the bowl to the bottom, suddenly jumped lightly, as if she had no weight, and jumped to the top of the mountain.

Stretching out her hands, she handed the two bowls to him.

In one of the bowls was a curved fish, fried and then boiled. The fish skin had become a scorched yellow, wrinkled tiger skin, with soup on top, looking very flavorful.

In the other bowl was a bowl of beef stew, with skin-on beef, beef offal, and tendons, looking very soft and rotten, soaked in a slightly brownish, oily, and shiny soup, in which ginger, scallions, and some seasonings not common in the Central Plains could be seen, smelling very fragrant.

Lin Jue looked at her hands, then looked at her:

"How did you become like this?"

"I went down to play and saw a person, and she looked like this!

I became the same as her!" The girl said seriously, "Then others won't think I'm a monster!"

As soon as you open your mouth, everything is exposed.

However, Lin Jue did not expose her, just nodded and looked at her a few more times.

He discovered that his fox could shapeshift last year, and the fox had mastered this skill even earlier.

He did not know if this counted as shapeshifting or transformation.

Because it was clearly different from the shapeshifting of other monsters—

Other monsters had a fixed image when shapeshifting, but it did not. It changed at will, often becoming whoever it met. Except for a relative preference for females, it had no other taste preferences. Even so, it had turned into an old man down the mountain or a middle-aged herbalist.

And it did not often turn into a human, only doing so when it had a specific need.

Lin Jue believed that the key might not be in cultivation or skill, but in the heart.

Lin Jue had specifically studied this.

When other monsters shapeshifted, their cultivation also varied. Overall, those with too shallow cultivation certainly could not shapeshift, but it was not the case that those with deep cultivation could necessarily shapeshift. Most had a process of "opening the aperture".

The process of monster shapeshifting was also varied.

Some monsters saw few people. One day, they saw someone who matched certain impressions in their hearts, and once they "opened the aperture", they shapeshifted. The appearance after shapeshifting was at least seventy or eighty percent similar to this person.

Some monsters saw many people, and in their hearts, they had their own image. When the time came, it would naturally manifest. Because this image was born from the heart, it was very likely that while being human, it also carried some characteristics of the monster's original body, and had the monster's cognition of itself. Therefore, some monsters, after turning into humans, could not only be seen at a glance as not being human, but could also be seen at a glance as what their original body was, and some of their personalities could also be seen.

Of course, there were misjudgments.

There were also monsters who were experts in the human world and particularly cared about their image. Before and after shapeshifting, they would spend a lot of effort to sculpt their appearance.

And the reason why monsters often appeared in human form after shapeshifting, even maintaining human form when not dealing with people, must have an important reason: they respected humans, believing that humans were the smartest, that humans were the spiritual leaders of all things in the world, and that the world was dominated by humans. Therefore, they longed to shapeshift, maintained human form, and actively learned human language, writing, clothing, and etiquette.

Clearly, the Nine-Tailed Fox did not respect humans.

At least his own fox did not have this consciousness.

And it had not yet opened its aperture.

It had only mastered the skill of changing into a human.

Today, it must have gone out to deal with the people in the mountain. As for the purpose of dealing with them, it was clearly in the two bowls in her hands.

"Where did you get this?"

Lin Jue asked while taking it.

"The fox bought it with money!"

"Where did you buy it? Are there restaurants in this mountain?"

"Someone died! They haven't buried them yet! Many people went! I saw them pay money to eat, and I thought you hadn't eaten for a long time, so I also paid money to buy food!" The girl said to him, "I took out the money! They told me to go over there and sit and eat, but I didn't sit, I chose two bowls of dishes from the table and brought them back for you!"

"Hmm?"

Packing food before the feast even started was not a good habit.

Moreover...

Lin Jue looked at these two bowls of dishes.

Now that the world was in turmoil, although it might not affect this hidden place deep in the mountains, the mountains should not be rich either. She likely took the two best bowls of dishes from someone's table.

"Where did you get the money?"

"I dug it up when I was digging a hole!"

"Gold, huh..."

Then there was no need to pursue it.

"And this!"

As she spoke, she suddenly opened her mouth—

Her whole face immediately turned into a fox, opening its big mouth, and then she actually reached her hand into her mouth. That hand stretched extremely long, and she actually took out a coarse bowl from her belly, with another coarse bowl covering it.

"Red rice!"

Uncovering the coarse bowl on top, it was a bowl full of red rice that was piled into a point.

It was not the kind of red rice that was red to black, nor was it bright red rice. Overall, it was not much different from white rice, only slightly red on top, loose and distinct, served in this bowl.

"Eat!"

The girl with the fox head handed the bowl to him.

"This..."

"This?"

"Many thanks." Lin Jue took the bowl and found that there was no saliva or anything like that on it. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief, and then he earnestly educated her, saying, "In the future, for things like this that you want to eat, don't just put them in your mouth like this. It's best to use a food box, bamboo tube, or jar to hold them. It's best not to put them in your mouth."

"Why?" The fox girl was puzzled, "It's meant to be eaten into the mouth anyway!"

"But I'm the one eating it."

"You even eat the pills vomited by ghosts!"

"... Fair point."

"Forget it if you don't want to eat!" The fox girl took the beef stew back from his bowl, "You are a Daoist, you don't eat beef!"

"Who said that?"

"Junior sister said so!"

"She's talking nonsense." Lin Jue said, "Besides, I've already become an immortal."

"Are you not a Daoist after becoming an immortal?"

"I am still a Daoist. But the rules made up by others don't constrain me."

Lin Jue took it back from her hands again.

A bowl of terraced field fish, the skin fried crispy and fragrant, the soup flavorful. A bowl of beef stew, the fragrance rich, the soup base delicious. Taking a little soup and water, putting it into the slightly red and loose, distinct rice, a light scoop with chopsticks and a big mouthful went into his mouth, as if it would run into his mouth by itself. Even as an immortal, he ate extremely comfortably.

"Poof..."

The girl turned back into a white fox and ate with him.

Clouds rolled and relaxed above his head, carrying the sunset light. The terraced fields below also reflected the blue sky, sunset, and colorful clouds one by one, taking on colorful colors.

"Tell me, did Xu Yi plant the mountains full of flowers?"

"Don't know!" The fox said vaguely, "But I"

"went out to play today, passed by the mushroom village, and saw the fruit trees planted next to the mushroom houses, they have already bloomed!"

"The flowers here bloom early."

"Why?"

"Maybe they are more diligent."

"The fox is also diligent!"

"Yes..."

"When can you find a cloud?"

"That requires waiting. It depends on fate. It also depends on whether it suits my heart." Lin Jue said, pointing to the golden clouds in the sky and the terraced fields below, "What do you say if we pick a colorful cloud and go back?"

"It won't be colorful after a while! It will turn gray!"

"That's true..."

"Eat quickly!"

The fox urged him.

Just as they were talking, the person and the fox glanced inadvertently, but both saw that in the terraced fields below, clearly in the twilight light, the reflections of golden and pink clouds, suddenly a dark cloud seemed to flash past rapidly.

The person and the fox first lowered their heads to look at the terraced fields that looked like water mirrors, turned their heads along the direction it left, and then both raised their heads to look at the sky.

Only at this time, it had almost disappeared.

It was so fast that it could be called ghostly.

"It's going to rain!"

"What was that?"

The sunset had already set, the glow in the sky was gradually changing, the mirrors in the mountains reflected the crimson, and the person and the fox sitting on the mountain top were both puzzled. ===== CHAPTER 491 =====