"Brother Chen, wait a moment!"
"Hmm? Oh!"
Though this Highest Clarity Disciple had just been holding forth on how "the more beautiful, the more uncanny, and therefore the more dangerous," the timid look on the little girl's face silenced him. He merely sighed softly, slipped down from his donkey, and stood aside to listen to her exchange with Xing Yan.
"Little sister... why are you stopping me? Is there something you need?"
"Big brother, take me with you!"
That was her answer. She looked somewhat frightened, but her voice was firm.
"Huh? Why? Didn't I yesterday... ahem!"
Not only was Chen Ziping astonished by the little girl's blunt opening, but Xing Yan was also deeply surprised. Neither of them knew what this strange little girl meant by it.
Seeing Xing Yan's bewildered expression, the little girl who had taken human form from a strange beast explained in her still-childish voice. As she spoke, she seemed unsure how to choose her words, and whenever she reached something complicated, her account became rather tangled. Fortunately, Xing Yan was quick-witted enough to gather roughly what had happened.
It turned out that the little girl herself did not know where she had come from. She had been alone since she was small, with no "parents." All she knew was that, from her earliest memories, she had lived among Luoyang's wild hills and bamboo groves. After some years, she happened to glimpse people passing by and envied their appearance. With a turn of thought, she had naturally transformed into her present shape. From then on, she often mingled in Luoyang's marketplaces.
Yet many things she had initially considered perfectly natural gradually proved very strange in other people's eyes. After hearing enough pointing and whispering, she finally understood that she was different from them: they were