By the time Mei Man finished helping Qiu Yingling, it was already evening.
The remaining demonic qi was sparse, scattered throughout his sea of consciousness. Before she could find much of it, she was forced to leave because his sea of consciousness rejected the intrusion of outsiders.
Qiu Yingling did not display as many signs of his demonic form as he had last time. He was merely much weaker, his face so pale that not a trace of color remained. He lay against the couch, looking utterly drained.
Mei Man did not think her concern would be of much use—he had more than enough money to buy medicine, which was far more helpful than a few words of verbal concern. So she did not ask much. But just as she was about to leave, she suddenly stopped and stared fixedly at the secondary bell in his hand.
“Senior Brother,” she asked suddenly, “could you lend me the bell you’re holding for a while?”
Qiu Yingling opened his tired eyes and smiled. “Manman, this secondary bell isn’t for sale either.”
“…Who said anything about selling it? It’s just that—” Mei Man casually made up an excuse. “My luck with money has been pretty good lately. I think it may be because of this golden bell. If I carry another one, perhaps my fortune will improve even more.”
The excuse made sense. After all, she was the sort who loved money more than life itself.
Qiu Yingling knew that she had saved up quite a private fortune, yet she was extremely frugal with food, clothing, and daily expenses, unable to bear spending any of the money she had accumulated.
Back at the Qiu residence, after she realized that Qiu Heyang had a talent for drawing talismans, she had followed him around like a ghost for three days. Thinking she would fawn over him like everyone else, Qiu Heyang had cheerfully asked her what she wanted. In the end, she had asked him, “How do you draw a Wealth-Bringing Talisman?”
Qiu Yingling did not give the matter much thought. The primary and secondary bells were only useful when both were present, allowing the soul to leave the body and enter the sea of consciousness. Keeping only one secondary bell served no purpose, so he handed it to her.
As he gave her the secondary bell, he suddenly asked, “Has Immortal Lord Shen been in seclusion these past few days?”
Mei Man was just about to reach for the bell, but paused at his words.
She nodded.
Qiu Yingling smiled. “Manman, it seems the Immortal Lord thinks highly of you. Usually, whenever he enters seclusion, he won’t allow anyone into his cave abode—not even Heyang. Yet you can come and go as you please.”
That was because the Immortal Lord had already been tied up by her, Mei Man thought expressionlessly.
Naturally, she could not say that aloud. Instead, she replied, “Perhaps the Immortal Master is worried that I have nowhere else to go.”
The moment she finished speaking, she snatched up the secondary bell and ran.
These two bells would be very useful, but not yet.
For now, the most important thing was to return to the library before the white wolf chewed through the Dragon-Binding Chain.
As soon as she entered the cave abode, Mei Man heard a long, mournful wolf howl drifting through the enormous cavern.
She looked at the puppet guarding the entrance and asked in disbelief, “Has it been howling this whole time?”
The puppet nodded.
“…What stamina. Its throat is practically hoarse, and it still refuses to stop.” Mei Man had him close the cave-abode doors, then went with him to the Clearheart Pavilion.
When they arrived, the white wolf was trying to bite through its chain. It bit down several times, clawed at it several times, then let out a few more howls.
The moment it saw Mei Man, it arched its back. Every muscle in its body tensed, and it bared its teeth, making its face look especially ferocious.
Mei Man pulled out a strip of dried meat.
The white wolf immediately fell silent. Its blade-like tail drooped behind it, swaying slightly, while its cold gaze fixed on the food in her hand.
Mei Man said, “Sit.”
The white wolf bared its teeth, a low threatening growl rumbling in its throat.
Without hesitating, she turned to the puppet instead. “Sit.”
The puppet learned even faster than a dog. It instantly lowered itself into a sitting position, tilted up its neck, and narrowed its eyes slightly, looking as though it were waiting for her to pat its head.
After she gave it a few perfunctory pats, it opened its mouth and took the strip of dried meat from her hand.
Mei Man’s hand froze in midair.
Why did this feel so strange?
“…Good dog,” she said hesitantly. She withdrew her hand, took out another strip of dried meat, and said to the white wolf, “Sit.”
This time, the white wolf understood and sat down properly.
Mei Man tossed it the dried meat. After it finished eating, she said to the puppet, “Shake.”
The puppet raised its right hand.
They clasped hands and shook them up and down.
After rewarding it, Mei Man said, “Good dog,” then picked up the half-length wooden stick and held it out toward the white wolf.
“Shake,” she said.
The white wolf nearly attacked the stick again.
Once it confirmed that she was not trying to attack it, it stared thoughtfully at the stick. Then it suddenly raised its right forepaw and placed it on the wood.
“Good dog! Good dog!”
For some inexplicable reason, Mei Man felt as though she had won some sort of contest, even though there had been no one competing against her.
She tossed the white wolf a strip of dried meat. As it bit down on the meat, its slanted gaze fell upon the hand she was holding out to pat its head from a distance. Its tail, which had been lying on the ground, suddenly swayed.
Mei Man did not notice. The puppet, however, which had been standing beside them the entire time, suddenly seemed to have a revelation and blurted out, “You shouldn’t call the Immortal Lord that.”
“What?”
“You shouldn’t call the Immortal Lord that,” the puppet repeated.
Mei Man instantly grew nervous. Ever since she was little, there was one thing she feared above all else: What if someone in this world could read minds, and all it took was one glance for them to see every dark thought she harbored? What would she do then?
That thought surfaced again now. She had never openly expressed her dissatisfaction with Shen Shushi, merely muttering to herself from time to time that his judgment of people was terrible and that he was far too rigid.
Seeing how solemn the puppet looked, she assumed it possessed some kind of mind-reading technique and anxiously asked, “What way?”
“Good dog.”
“Ah?” Mei Man was bewildered.
“The Immortal Lord is not a dog,” the puppet solemnly reminded her.
“…Then are you?” Mei Man simply could not be bothered to say more to that idiot. She was thinking that if she continued like this, perhaps she could train the white wolf to obey her commands and become useful to her.
She had noticed last time that Shen Shushi seemed to have no memory of what happened when he transformed into a wolf, nor could he control the wolf’s every action.
He and the wolf seemed more like two separate individuals.
Mei Man was fantasizing about teaching the white wolf more commands and then ordering it to perform all sorts of mischief at Qiu Yingling’s cave abode when she heard a faint crack.
The sound was so soft and subtle that she paid it no attention. The Clearheart Pavilion was made of wood, and after so many years, it was only natural for the floorboards to creak when stepped on.
She began teaching the white wolf to roll over. As long as she called out, “Down,” it would roll onto the ground and expose its fluffy belly.
There was no particular use for teaching it this command. If it ever went berserk and tried to bite her, perhaps it would come in handy.
The two people and one wolf continued their antics back and forth. Once Mei Man got into it, she almost wished she could teach the white wolf well enough to perform tricks at Qiu Yingling’s cave abode right then and there.
The trouble began when she taught it to pounce.
She completely overlooked the fact that this wolf was larger than a full-grown tiger. After jumping on the wooden floor for far too long, it pushed off with all its strength. When it landed, it smashed straight through the floorboards.
The iron chain suddenly pulled taut. One end was firmly locked to a stone pillar, while the other tightened around the white wolf’s neck, yanking it into the air and swinging it back and forth.
Its previous ferocity vanished at once. It let out a pitiful series of whines and yelps.
Mei Man was splattered across the face by the dust kicked up from all directions. She coughed several times and waved her sleeve to disperse the dust hanging in the air, then hurried forward.
The white wolf hung suspended above the ground, thrashing wildly. There was no trace left of its earlier viciousness. It was blowing hard through its nose and crying out repeatedly.
Mei Man had no intention of murdering her master right after becoming his disciple. In a panic, she shouted to the puppet, “Quick! Grab the chain and pull it up!”
She had been prepared to pull the white wolf up together with the puppet, even if it cost them their lives.
After all, although she had trained herself to possess some strength, she was still incapable of hauling up a ferocious beast weighing several hundred pounds. As for the puppet, he had a slender frame as well.
Who would have thought that the moment she stepped diagonally opposite the puppet and grabbed the iron chain with him, she felt the chain sliding upward.
Mei Man stared in astonishment at the puppet’s impassive face.
He looked as though he wasn’t exerting any strength at all, yet he effortlessly pulled the suspended white wolf up.
Out of the corner of her eye, a shadow rose from the ground like a mountain. She abruptly turned around and saw the white wolf being hauled up by the puppet—facing her and pouncing straight at her.
“Wait—ah!” Mei Man only had time to let out a short, muffled cry before the white wolf knocked her to the ground, her face plunging into a mass of soft, warm white fur.
