Reentry

In the breakfast shop, Yin Yunze sat in an empty corner, waiting for his steamed buns and thinking about what had happened the night before.

Thanks to the wild fruit that had been sour enough to jolt him awake that morning, Yin Yunze was absolutely certain that the sacrifice for rain and the fox immortal's followers had not been a dream. They had really existed.

Though it was somewhat misshapen, Yin Yunze had managed to identify the fruit through an image search.

It was a wild fruit that also existed in the real world and grew in early spring.

It was nowhere near early spring in Yin Yunze's current season. Late autumn was almost upon him.

Besides, even setting the season aside, no poor fool in the real world would plant wild fruit with no economic value whatsoever.

Let alone slip it into Yin Yunze's hand without anyone noticing.

After a rational analysis, Yin Yunze thought it made more sense to believe he had truly encountered a fortuitous opportunity than that someone had gone to who knew what expense to play such a prank on him.

In other words, entering another world and bringing objects back from it were both real.

Fortunately, today was one of Yin Yunze's rare days off, giving him plenty of time to investigate.

The most important question before Yin Yunze now was how he could return to that world.

If it had been nothing more than a one-time experience ticket, then the fortuitous opportunity was hardly any different from a dream.

As he pondered, a server brought Yin Yunze a steamer basket of piping-hot buns and a cup of hot soy milk.

Thinking didn't stop Yin Yunze from eating breakfast. He picked up a bun with disposable chopsticks and was just about to put it in his mouth.

"Lord Fox Immortal? Are you there?"

A little girl's timid voice sounded beside Yin Yunze's ear.

The voice was faint and elusive, as though it came from a great distance.

Yin Yunze's hand paused. Just as he was wondering whether it was a hallucination, a wisp of purple smoke appeared in his mind.

As though it had a mind of its own, the purple qi traced shapes in the void. Soon, a great door appeared in Yin Yunze's mind, solidifying from an illusion into reality.

Looking at the door, Yin Yunze suddenly gained an understanding. As long as he entered it, he could return to the world he had seen yesterday.

Forgetting all about breakfast, Yin Yunze put the bun back in the steamer basket, concentrated, and imagined himself pushing the door open and stepping through.

As he did, Yin Yunze found that he really had passed through the door. Then an image utterly different from reality appeared before him.

Inside a dilapidated little temple, a woman sat slumped against a wall, looking utterly drained.

A little girl knelt before Yin Yunze, praying for something.

The appearance of this ancient scene did not obstruct Yin Yunze's view of the real world.

In other words, Yin Yunze now had two views at once: the bustling breakfast shop in reality and the silent, ruined fox immortal temple.

The difference was that he saw the real world with his eyes, while the ruined temple seemed to appear directly in Yin Yunze's mind.

Having two views at once felt rather strange, so Yin Yunze first closed his eyes in the real world and concentrated on the ancient setting.

"You... ahem, for what purpose dost thou summon me?"

Yesterday, Yin Yunze had thought it was a dream, so he hadn't worried about his image.

Now that he had discovered it was all real, Yin Yunze thought he should put on the airs of Lord Fox Immortal.

"Lord Fox Immortal..." Yin Yunze's affected manner, however, only puzzled the little girl. "What are you saying?"

The little girl's confusion shattered Yin Yunze's act before it had even properly begun.

Meeting the little girl's innocent gaze, Yin Yunze couldn't help feeling as awkward as if he had tricked a child into calling him emperor.

"Ahem!" He coughed to cover his embarrassment. No longer bothering with airs, Yin Yunze gave up and said, "I'm asking what you called me for!"

"Oh, well..." The little girl glanced at the pale-faced Widow Sun, then said to Yin Yunze, "Mother and I haven't had anything to eat or drink for a whole day and night! Lord Fox Immortal, could you let Mother and me go home and find something to eat first?"

Hearing this, Yin Yunze realized he had overlooked something.

There was nothing to eat or drink here. It really wasn't a place for a mother and daughter to live.

But looking at the little girl and Widow Sun, and recalling what had happened yesterday,

Yin Yunze thought that even if they went home, they might not be able to find enough food to fill their stomachs.

From what Yin Yunze understood of human nature, after he kept the two of them there yesterday, anything of even the slightest value in their home would have been carried off.

Preying on a household with no male heir was common enough even in peaceful times, let alone now, in a year of famine brought on by a great drought.

After a notorious fox immortal kept them behind, probably no one would have expected the mother and daughter to return in one piece.

Thinking of this, Yin Yunze couldn't help feeling a stir of pity and wondering how he could help them.

After all, Yin Yunze's rash choice yesterday bore some responsibility for the mother and daughter's present situation.

Of course, more importantly, the little girl was Yin Yunze's only follower right now! As for whether he could continue coming to this world, Yin Yunze thought she might be very important.

And since Yin Yunze had been able to bring those wild fruits from that world into this one, he could surely send things from the real world over there as well.

As soon as the thought occurred to him, Yin Yunze was struck by another sudden realization.

He had brought the wild fruits into reality yesterday because the little girl had offered them as a sacrifice.

Conversely, Yin Yunze could bestow things from reality upon the little girl as blessings.

However, both sacrifices and blessings consumed Incense of Faith—in other words, the purple qi that had just opened the door to that world for Yin Yunze.

It was precisely because he had taken those wild fruits yesterday and used up the Incense of Faith that Yin Yunze had found no trace of purple qi that morning.

Today, the little girl's call had produced new Incense of Faith for Yin Yunze, allowing him to open the door once more.

As he probed further, Yin Yunze also discovered a way to take advantage of the process.

If Yin Yunze bestowed a blessing directly, the power of incense offerings it consumed would come entirely from his own reserves.

But if a follower prayed for it, Yin Yunze could transfer that cost to the new Incense of Faith generated by the follower's prayer.

That way, not only would there be no loss of Incense of Faith, but the follower's gratitude after receiving the blessing would generate even more, allowing Yin Yunze to gain more Incense of Faith.

Quickly digesting this information, Yin Yunze said, "You want food? You only need to pray to me. As long as you-"

"Demonic lies to deceive the masses!"

Before Yin Yunze could finish, Widow Sun said weakly, "Wan'er, don't believe it! How could some wild fox demon hiding in the desolate mountains and wilderness have the ability to conjure food out of thin air? It would only be tearing down the east wall to patch up the west, using the Five Ghosts Transporting Method to take it from someone else's home..."

Yin Yunze was a little annoyed at first, but as he listened, he realized that Widow Sun was actually right.

What Yin Yunze was doing really was tearing down the east wall to patch up the west. He wasn't stealing from someone else as Widow Sun imagined, but moving things over from another world. Even so, Widow Sun wasn't wrong about the underlying principle.

But was that something an ordinary mountain villager would know?

Yin Yunze glanced at Widow Sun in puzzlement. Her speech and knowledge seemed rather out of place in this little mountain village!

"Mother, stop! You care about the people in the village, but have they ever remembered how good we've been to them?" At that moment, Xiao Wan'er showed a resolve utterly unlike her earlier innocence. "Lord Fox Immortal! Please grant me food!"