Special

(PS: As expected, I tested positive. Please bear with me over the next few days. I'll probably only be able to manage one or two updates a day, depending on my condition and when I get back from IV drips. My initial estimate is that it'll take at least five days or so. I'll do my best to update twice a day, but if I can't, there's no need for everyone to wait for the second update.)

"...Her fate has changed."

A Scabby-headed Monk and a Lame Taoist squatted inside an abandoned Mountain God temple. Before them lay a roast goose. Neither minded the filth on their hands as they tore into it and ate, but both wore grave expressions, as though they were not eating goose, but a person.

As they ate, the Scabby-headed Monk suddenly said, "Something's wrong with the Crimson Pearl Immortal Herb."

The Lame Taoist said nothing. He snatched up the goose's rear and took huge bites. The Scabby-headed Monk watched him speechlessly for a while. Only after the entire piece was gone did the Taoist finally speak. "Something is wrong. According to her fate, she should have wept herself to death, tasting the bitterness of love and the bitterness of human hearts in this lifetime. Only then would the Divine Luminary Attendant's refinement of her have truly taken flavor. There were still three or four more procedures, two or three reincarnations to go, but she would eventually have become a great medicine. Yet now, something has gone wrong."

How could the monk not know? He said unhappily, "That's why I came to meet you. The Divine Luminary Attendant... is not someone to be trifled with. If we fail to bring this about for him, once his true spirit awakens, who knows how he'll torment us?"