Lend Me a Hand

When he was little, when his father and mother thought he still did not understand much and was only a child, they told him many stories. Most were about sprites and mountain ghosts, like the tales villagers told children on summer nights while fanning themselves beneath the great tree at the village entrance.

But Li Yunxin knew that everything his parents had said was true. Many details bore out their words—they were both people with stories to tell. And so he knew what sort of origins these sprites truly had.

The Great Dao was formless, and heaven and earth possessed spirits. Since there were spiritual things, even a stone or a chair might, through some twist of fate, develop awareness and cultivate a spirit body.

The most common were naturally creatures close to humans. Humans were the spirit of all spirits, their minds awakened early, understanding rites and civilization. After being close to humans for a long time, those blessed with a sudden spark of insight could also develop spiritual intelligence. Or those that had lived long in the wild mountains, heard true scriptures near temples and Daoist monasteries, and absorbed incense offerings were likewise prone to becoming sprites.

But becoming a sprite, awakening intelligence, and understanding a little of worldly affairs did not necessarily mean understanding human feelings or the human heart.

An infant cast among wolves might still grow into a human-shaped beast, let alone something that had been a different kind from the start.

Some sprites gained a measure of cultivation but could not rid themselves of their beastly natures. They committed every manner of evil, even craving human flesh. Others used divine powers and spells to beguile human minds and disrupt the bonds and order of society.

There were also those who understood the rules and devoted themselves solely to cultivation, but they were rare in the end.

Thus, when disciples of the Dao Tradition and the Sword Sect traveled the world to undergo trials, they would also eliminate such sprites. This was merit.

Li Yunxin's parents were fairly open-minded people, but they had little fondness for such things as well. Asking before slaying a demon whether it had harmed the local people was already rare tolerance.

But Li Yunxin himself was actually quite interested in these things... In his era, who had not imagined a romance between a scholar and a fox immortal? A red sleeve added incense beside the reader at night—how many poets and men of letters had yearned for such a scene?

What was more, his parents had told him that sprites liked Danqing Daoists best.

A Danqing Daoist in the Transformation Realm already possessed the divine power to make paintings real. When they encountered a sprite that had cultivated a spirit body but possessed no physical form and could only possess something, if they showed great kindness and gave it a body, that would be a blessing as immense as being created anew.

Thus, Li Yunxin had initially believed that this sprite had instinctively sensed the extraordinary spiritual aura generated by the painting array, then acted according to its own instincts and preferences, intending to help him.

It could conjure the illusion of a female ghost and create a blinding trick like a Ghost Wall, so it clearly had some skill. Though such petty tricks were not worth mentioning before disciples of the Dao Tradition or Sword Sect, they were more than enough to deal with ordinary people—even a swordsman who had swallowed a tyrannical pill and forced out formidable inner power at the cost of his life.

But...

This sprite actually knew the words "Danqing Daoist"?

Disciples of the Dao Tradition and Sword Sect would hardly kindly tell it such a thing. And ever since the Painting Saint had fallen two thousand years ago, even the term Danqing Daoist had nearly vanished from the secular world.

It must have a story.

And judging by its odd, yin-yang manner of speaking and disconnected words, it seemed to be one that understood some human affairs, yet did not necessarily comprehend human rites and etiquette completely.

What were the Three Sacrifices? Ox, sheep, and pig—the highest standard for an emperor's sacrifices, also called the Grand Prison. This foolish little demon had actually asked whether he had brought the Three Sacrifices.

Sure enough, it was a foolish little demon that only half understood the ways of the world.

Li Yunxin smiled and reached out to stroke the clay statue. "Just a little cat demon, yet you have quite the appetite."

The temple suddenly fell silent. After a while, Li Yunxin finally heard it say, "Huh? Cat demon? Oh my, I'm not a cat demon. Mm? I'm Three-Flower Madam. Ah... Three-Flower Madam, how dare you! Eh? How did you know I'm a cat demon? Tell me? Huh? I'm Three-Flower Madam!"

"That title of yours... Three-Flower Madam. Aren't you just a calico cat? And you talk like a lunatic—the whole species is full of lunatics,

so what else could you be but a cat?" Li Yunxin curled his lip. "Little cat demon, if you want meat or incense offerings, that can be arranged. But first, you must help me deal with the man outside. Did you make that female ghost earlier? You did well. But I can teach you something even more fun."

Several breaths had passed since Li Yunxin entered. The swordsman should have arrived by now.

But the other man should not dare to follow him inside. What had happened earlier was enough to make him understand that this youth was different from those people from the escort agency—a foe he had to take seriously. If he meant to kill, he had to make certain of the kill.

He poked his head out to look and found that the swordsman had indeed rushed out of the woods. But faced with the dilapidated temple that had suddenly appeared before him, he looked uncertain and alarmed. He pointed the slender sword in his hand diagonally ahead, then slowly made his way toward the temple gate—with an incomparably cautious internal martial arts footwork that clearly concealed some mysterious transformations.

But it made him look like he was breakdancing.

"Mm? Fun? Oh, good, good! Hmph, no Three Sacrifices, and this Madam... mm? First give me a... mm... a body? Eh? Then this Madam will help you, hmph... What fun thing? Mm?"

Li Yunxin suddenly felt a faint breeze rise beside him. It swirled past him, rolling up a small patch of dust from the ground.

This should be the sprite's spirit body.

Sprites cultivated magical power and intelligence, but they had no pills or methods like humans used to temper their bodies. Naturally, their bodies would die. Once the body died but the divine consciousness remained, it became something like a ghost after a person's death. That was a spirit body.

This little cat demon was quite bold—not attaching itself to something rich in spiritual energy, but letting its spirit body wander about. If a bolt of heavenly lightning happened to strike nearby at that moment, it would be scattered to the winds, body and soul destroyed.

"Stupid cat. That man wants to kill me. If you don't help me settle the matter before us first, how can I help you settle the affairs after death?" Li Yunxin watched the swordsman from behind the ruined door. "That idiot killed a girl just now. I'm very unhappy about it, and I want him dead. Help me kill him, and afterward I'll paint you a portrait for you to attach yourself to. Find any temple to enshrine it in, and you'll be worthy of incense offerings. Whether you can attain the true fruit in the future will depend on you."

The cat demon gave a rumbling sound. "Eh? Incense offerings? Oh my, good. Mm? No, hmph, first give me a body, hmph..."

"You stupid thing!" Li Yunxin frowned and snapped in a low voice. "A mere sprite dares bargain with me?! Do you not know I am a Danqing Daoist?! Your blessing is right before your eyes, yet you do not know to cherish it? Mm?"

The cat demon fell silent for a while. "Oh my... oh... then tell me... the fun thing, mm..."

Its voice sounded aggrieved, like a little cat whose ears had been pressed down after a slap. It also sounded like a child begging for candy, only to be hit instead.

But sprites were sprites, after all. They were different from humans.

Li Yunxin frowned again and said softly, "Let me ask you—can you..."

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