The spirit fruit has ripened, and the time draws near (thanks to the big shot "SQ37" for becoming an alliance leader)

There was no running water in the Daoist temple, only mountain spring water.

Chen Du had originally been in the habit of washing his face and brushing his teeth in the courtyard. He wasn't particular about it, and the leftover water was just right for watering the tree. Now that Yunzhi was here, he generally washed up in his room.

Side-Swept Bangs, on the other hand, didn't care where he washed. The cat still jumped onto his back whenever he washed his face. As he bent over and rubbed his face, the cat would also concentrate on licking a paw and rubbing its face, their movements almost perfectly in sync.

Why hasn't Yunzhi come back yet?

Does she have that much stuff to move?

Chen Du wondered.

Could it be she's not coming back?

By now, he couldn't tell whether that would be a good thing or a bad thing.

On the one hand, he really would be rid of a major threat. On the other, he had already gone to great lengths to cultivate a relationship with her so he could obtain cultivation knowledge from her, and his efforts were about to bear fruit. If she left and never returned, he had no other lead at the moment on how to escape the temple's restraints.

By the time he finished washing his face, the cat had finished at the same time. As soon as he stepped out, he saw Yunzhi standing outside the door.

"Immortal Master~"

Yunzhi wore a mournful expression, her voice lilting and rising at the end, as though she were tearfully pleading her case.

Chen Du was baffled.

An hour later-

The two sat in the reception hall, facing the television. Chen Du sat in a grand preceptor's chair. There was another beside it, but Yunzhi didn't dare sit in it. Instead, she sat on a small stool a little behind him.

The cat was racing wildly around the room.

"Recently, our province's cultural relics and archaeology department received reports from local residents that, after days of continuous rainfall, a mountainside in Pingle City, under the administration of Yidu City, collapsed, exposing an ancient tomb. An archaeological team promptly rushed to the site to conduct a survey and excavation, confirming that the burial site was a rare example of an old Song-dynasty tomb reused in the Ming dynasty."

On the television, a cordon had been set up in the mountains. A group of people in raincoats were surveying and excavating the tomb exposed by the landslide.

A reused old tomb? What does that mean?

Chen Du stared calmly at the television.

That's my tomb! My things!

Yunzhi stared nervously at the television.

"According to archaeology specialists, the reuse of old tombs was also popularly known as 'borrowing an ancient tomb.' Feng shui beliefs were widespread during the Ming dynasty, and many feng shui practitioners believed that ancient tombs from previous dynasties were located where the veins of qi converged. Some people of the time found it difficult to find a new burial site with suitable feng shui, so they borrowed old tombs from previous dynasties. In remote areas, this method even allowed ordinary people to cross class boundaries and secretly use tombs of a higher grade."

"So that tomb wasn't yours after all."

"The fox spirits in books all borrow ancient tombs to live in. Besides, where would Yunzhi get the money to build a new tomb that big?" Yunzhi said with a woeful expression. "The person was dead anyway, so there was no use having such a big tomb. But Yunzhi never touched anything inside."

Just then, the television said:

"Preliminary findings indicate that this tomb is a rare case of a woman borrowing a man's tomb. The original tomb was built to the specifications of a prince or nobleman during the Southern Song dynasty, while the later occupant may have been a woman from the Ming dynasty. Furthermore, the original owner's bones and belongings were not completely cleared out, a rare case of the two coexisting. The search for the later owner's remains is still underway."

The later owner's remains are right beside me!

Still, it did corroborate Yunzhi's claim that she "never touched anything inside."

"You're quite conscientious."

These details fleshed out the picture of her character in Chen Du's mind and helped him decide how to treat her.

"That was only proper."

Yunzhi struggled to keep up with him.

Compared with his relaxed manner, she was clearly much more distressed.

"In the ancient tomb, the team of archaeological experts discovered a painting, Brocade Weaving among Bamboo, suspected to be an authentic work by Tang Bohu."

"That's mine!"

"Really?"

"It's an imitation."

"A set of porcelain. Experts speculate it may have come from the Cheng Kiln."

"That's mine too!"

"Did it really come from the Cheng Kiln?"

"Factory seconds."

"A wooden bed, made from a rare single piece of golden silk nanmu, in excellent condition."

"What about that one?"

"That's genuine."

The two went on asking and answering while the footage on the television continued.

"It is understood that although the Ming dynasty had no explicit law reserving golden silk nanmu exclusively for the imperial family, nanmu of this size was controlled by the imperial family, and commoners were forbidden to fell it without authorization. Pingle was one of the places where nanmu grew, but local people could only use small pieces to make furnishings..."

"I found that in the mountains myself! I cut it down myself!"

"And several sets of women's burial garments..."

"I wore those! I really liked them. I could have used a spell to alter them and worn them again!"

"A silver-plated bronze mirror with a flower-and-bird design."

"That was a gift from an old friend."

That was the thing Yunzhi hated to part with most. Looking at it, she really couldn't hold back any longer. She turned to Chen Du and asked, "Forgive me for asking, Immortal Master, but where are these people taking my things?"

"I don't know," Chen Du answered truthfully. "I imagine they'll put them in a museum."

"What kind of place is that?"

"A place specifically for displaying cultural relics to the public."

"May I ask, Immortal Master, is there a way for me to get them back?"

"?"

What could I possibly do?

Can you still take things out once they've gone into a museum? Oh, I suppose they can be sold off illegally, but I'm not the museum director! Besides, do you know I'm cultivating a secret method and can't go down the mountain or use even a trace of magic power?

"Didn't you say they'd only just started excavating when you arrived? Since you know illusion techniques, why didn't you use one and sneak out the things you couldn't bear to part with before they knew what was inside?"

"I was afraid they'd bomb me with missiles."

"..."

The answer was so plain and straightforward that it left Chen Du speechless.

"I was also afraid that if I used spells carelessly in front of mortals, Immortal Master would blame me when I came back."

"..."

That's my fault too?

Chen Du thought about it and found himself quite satisfied.

She could have done that, but she hadn't. What did that show? It showed that everything he had instilled in her was working perfectly. When dealing with him and with this era, she no longer dared act as recklessly as she pleased.

That meant his plan was now close to foolproof. He only had to wait for the spirit fruit to ripen, and it would be the perfect time to trade it for cultivation knowledge from her.

Seeing him say nothing, Yunzhi tentatively asked for permission. "Then could I catch up with them now and use an illusion technique and the Night Wandering Palace Method to steal them back?"

"Don't go doing anything foolish."

Chen Du thought it over, then shook his head.

"When the things were still in the tomb, that was already your best chance. But if you weren't sure enough to act then, how can you act rashly now that they've been cataloged and just appeared on the news? Besides, criminal investigation methods are advanced now, and there are surveillance cameras everywhere. It's like this television: you can know what's happening throughout the world without stepping outside. Surveillance works the same way. Places you think are deserted are actually right under someone else's nose. If something goes wrong, you getting caught would be the least of it. If they discover you're not human, that would be a major problem."

"Not even with the Night Wandering Palace Method?"

"Cities are brightly lit everywhere now, as bright as day, and some cameras can see in the dark too. Can you guarantee you won't be spotted at all? You'd be better off focusing on cultivation and making plans gradually. Just treat this as fate."

"But..."

"Aren't you afraid they'll bomb you with missiles?"

"That's true!"

Yunzhi calmed down at once.

Now that she was calm, her expression also turned solemn. She continued sitting straight and proper, staring at the television.

Whenever the archaeological team on television brought something out, her gaze followed it. Every sentence the reporters and experts said in introduction was another stab to her heart. The more precious they made those things sound, the deeper she felt the knife sink into her heart.

But she really was afraid of missiles.

She had been watching the news these past few days, and missiles were flying all over the place down the mountain. Whenever she had just begun to marvel at how magnificent the cities in the human world below had become, the scene would change, and a city would already have been blasted into ruins.

Surely only Immortal Master could deal with power like that with ease?

She was only a little yao, trembling with fear.

Even so, she hadn't given up.

The wisdom of mortals was indeed astonishing, but the mysteries of magic were just as hard to fathom.

She had heard of quite a few methods for taking objects from a thousand li away, and had also learned the saying, "Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated in a hundred battles." Right now, she was only a yao with shallow cultivation and meager skills, and she knew very little about the world down the mountain. But given time, both would increase, and sooner or later she would get her things back.

Mm, for now I'll obediently do odd jobs here for Immortal Master, cultivate slowly, and learn about the human world down the mountain.

"That's right. After we finish watching the news, bring out the bobo chicken a devotee gave us and mix it up to eat. Try a famous local snack. I guarantee you'll be satisfied."

Chen Du, meanwhile, breathed a sigh of relief.

He had finally managed to talk his way through it again.

Another day of matching wits.

Just then, the situation suddenly took a turn.

Chen Du was watching television when a glance out of the corner of his eye told him something was wrong.

"Side-Swept Bangs, where did you catch that bug you're eating? I told you not to eat random things!"

The delicate, quiet-looking black-and-white cat lowered its body and turned to stare at him with wide eyes. Then, without a moment's hesitation, it grabbed its little snack in its mouth and bolted.

Chen Du followed the cat outside, just in time to see spiritual light blaze in the courtyard. As the night wind blew, an indescribable fragrance wafted toward him.

The fragrance was irresistible. It seemed to bypass the sense of taste entirely, stirring a longing deep within the soul and reaching straight for a living creature's innate desire to transcend the ordinary.

The precious tree in the courtyard shimmered with flowing colors, casting a rainbow glow over the ground.

The fruit had ripened.