The Cunning Fox and the Deceiver

“Su Yao?” Xu Qingzhu murmured, his gaze falling. Having recognized Su Mo from the very beginning, how could he not know it was an alias? ‘Using a false name… it seems she’s still putting on an act,’ he mused. The girl before him now seemed as cunning as a fox. Yet, truth be told, he was also a ‘deceiver,’ and their relationship was merely one of mutual exploitation.

Stepping out of the room, the two of them, clad in dark robes in broad daylight, resembled agents on a clandestine mission. Granny Huang had left long ago; one would find the silent, stooped old woman beneath an ancient tree beside the fields, if they were to search the countryside.

“Clang.” As the door closed, they bypassed the village paths, opting instead for the great mountain behind the house, intending to traverse it directly. Avoiding the villagers seemed to be an unspoken rule between them.

It was autumn, and the air had grown crisp. Leaves swirled down the mountain slopes, carpeting the forest path in a golden-yellow layer. There was no clearly defined mountain path, but fortunately, both were cultivators, making their journey effortless.

“Young Master Xu, where exactly are we going?” Su Mo, unable to contain her curiosity, craned her small head and tugged at his sleeve. Turning back, he seemed disinclined to elaborate, merely stating:

“To meet a friend.”

“Oh?” Su Mo was puzzled. While the original novel offered sparse descriptions of Xu Qingzhu, it did mention: After mistakenly believing the Su family had murdered his parents and relatives, he had embarked on a frenzied quest for the Su family members, intent on their demise. Under such a dark cloud, he had been almost entirely alone. The few figures who occasionally appeared by his side, apart from his childhood sweetheart Lu Yanling, were his highly intelligent White Tiger mount and his spirit sword. There had been no mention of friends. ‘Who could he possibly refer to as a friend?’

“There’s a clear pond ahead; we can fill our water here.” Xu Qingzhu halted. Searching towards a patch of bamboo grove, they heard the distant, ethereal tinkling of flowing water, which seemed to elevate amidst the calls of birds in the forest. It was an ethereal symphony of nature. ‘If only one day there were no pursuits or calamities, building a small hut in a bamboo grove, and playfully teasing birds, would be a refined pleasure.’

“It’s truly beautiful,” Su Mo couldn’t help but murmur. Stepping on fallen bamboo leaves, Xu Qingzhu looked back at her, remarking casually:

“This kind of scenery is worth praising? Where is Su Yao originally from?”

Su Mo, believing Xu Qingzhu to be the ‘Gentleman Xu’ from the book, failed to detect any probing intent in his words. She merely leaned against a green bamboo, grasping its lush, moist stalk as she sighed:

“Before, I was always busy, whether in public or private. When passing through the wilderness, I was merely a passenger in a carriage, catching only fleeting glimpses. If I could live in a place like this someday, and amuse myself by playing with birds in my leisure, that would be a true joy.”

“Such restrictions; Su Yao’s family must be quite strict then,” Xu Qingzhu said sympathetically, yet the moment he turned away, his expression transformed into one of cold indifference and disdain. Neither of them knew, however, that they would indeed build a forest hut together in the future, spending their idle time playing with birds. Though the birds Su Mo played with… would possess the ability to change size, and even spit.

The water was so clear it revealed the bottom. Fish swam within it, yet through the reflection of drifting clouds, they seemed to float without support. As if swimming through the air. ‘My language arts textbook truly didn’t lie,’ Su Mo mused, her slender fingers tracing the water’s surface, startling the swimming fish. But what delighted her even more was the water, like a pristine mirror, reflecting her own image. Her skin was like white snow, her teeth pearly, her lips crimson. In a moment of surprise, her eyes, clear as a deer’s, revealed a shy maiden. With a slight frown, a faint sorrow touched her brows, as if she were recalling spring joys shared with friends amidst falling snow, longing for them yet lamenting the present snowfall. Yet, her entire demeanor was elegant and refined, imbued with the scholarly air of one well-versed in poetry and literature. She resembled a talented scholar even more, so much so that as her gaze swept into the distance, a flicker of brilliance sparked in her eyes. But if one were to gaze into those ink-dark eyes for an extended period, they would perceive a will as unyielding as bedrock. She was both a blossoming young girl and a woman of unparalleled talent. Yet, at a time when she should have been brimming with ambition, a deep urgency lay hidden within her eyes. Fortunately, she possessed confidence.

“Gurgle…” As he filled his water gourd, Xu Qingzhu observed the ‘narcissistic’ girl. ‘How strange, to be captivated by her own reflection.’ If he were to argue, Xu Qingzhu couldn’t find a reason. Her beauty was indeed bewildering. This, perhaps, was also why Xu Qingzhu had decided she would be his ‘wife.’

But it was time to leave, he said:

“My dear narcissist, it’s time to go.”

‘A lie doesn’t wound, but the truth cuts deep.’ Hastily pushing herself up from the water’s reflection, Su Mo casually patted her skirt, her cheeks slightly flushed, and retorted:

“I was thinking about something, not staring in fascination.”

“Mm.” Xu Qingzhu put away his gourd, surveyed the mountain terrain to determine their path, and responded indifferently. Without waiting to see if Su Mo had caught up, he merely brushed his sleeves and walked away.

‘Damn it! Can a man even be called a narcissist?’ Su Mo cursed internally, gritting her teeth and huffing as she followed.

“Hiss…” A poisonous snake on the bamboo flicked its tongue, its cold, vertical pupils watching the two depart. After a while, it slithered down the bamboo and slid towards a certain spot. Until, passing a patch of moist earth, it was seized by a withered arm.

“My precious, what have you found?” A disheveled old man emerged from the soil, his sharp fingers tearing open the snake’s skin, then smearing and eating its black-red blood. Licking his lips, he grinned, his gaze fixed on the direction Su Mo and Xu Qingzhu had taken. “Hehehehe, I said that boy wouldn’t get far with his heavy injuries, didn’t I find him after all…” Plucking maggots from his ear, he hunched his back and pursued them like a chilling gust of wind.

Elsewhere, Su Mo kicked a pebble, watching it tumble down the steep mountainside, occasionally striking branches, bouncing from one spot to another, until it finally vanished into the tall grass. “We’ve been trekking up this mountain all morning, and he still won’t say a word. How boring… My phone, my computer, where are you?” Su Mo fumed, kicking a stone whenever she felt restless, enjoying the clatter it made. Xu Qingzhu, for his part, seemed to have discovered something. He no longer rushed along, but would pause every now and then to carve something, doing so with considerable stealth. Su Mo couldn’t decipher it; although each symbol differed, perhaps they were novel markers? As they continued, the terrain grew higher, and the mountain’s cold mist intensified, completely obscuring the distant scenery.

After the two had departed, the disheveled old man followed, rubbing a bump on his head as he cursed:

“Damn it! Who’s been randomly kicking stones!” Heaven help him, he had been pelted by stones the entire way. Whether he hid in the tall grass, behind tree trunks, or even squeezed into small hollows, the stones somehow managed to strike him with uncanny precision. He repeatedly believed he had been discovered. If his precious poisonous snake hadn’t detected any abnormalities, he would have lost his patience and charged forward for an all-out attack!

The terrain was high, the mountain mist too dense to disperse, and even the sun couldn’t penetrate it. In the vast expanse of white, towering mounds of earth resembled solitary graves, and in the hazy gloom, it seemed as if specters drifted. Su Mo knew that ghosts and monsters existed in this world, but she typically relied on magical artifacts to ascertain the safety of a location. Otherwise, she would have to wait for the spectral entities to reveal themselves before her spells could perceive them. As for certain cultivators who could ‘snatch souls from a thousand miles away’ or ‘summon ghosts from above and below’— ‘Each has their specialty; I cultivate the thunder element for combat.’

‘Xu Qingzhu loves practicing the sword, and he’s also obsessed with the path of poison later on. He hasn’t discovered that talent yet, has he?’ Su Mo mused, scrutinizing his back, only to see him pointing a finger at her, gesturing a meaning.

“Huh?” Tilting her head, Su Mo had never encountered such a gesture before.

“Idiot, I told you to hide behind me.” Xu Qingzhu strode over, pulling her behind him with one hand. His gaze indifferent, he watched the figure rapidly flying through the white mist. At that moment, an insidious laughter echoed from all directions:

“Hehehehe, you boy, you certainly made me search for you!”