All Heavens: Sharing Talents with Countless Mes

Chu Yang tossed a silver ingot onto the counter: "I want a decent meal, a big pot of hot water, and someone who knows how to mend clothes..."

He was speaking for a moment when his gaze shifted to Su Wanwan, who was carrying a pile of clothes, and his tone immediately changed.

"Forget it, no need to look anymore, she knows how."

The shopkeeper was taken aback for a moment, then immediately laughed and said, "Oh, good, good, so this young lady is very skillful."

Su Wanwan's smile was almost too strong to hold back, but she still had to speak softly and gently: "Please forgive my rudeness, shopkeeper."

Chu Yang turned and walked upstairs: "Don't just stand there, come with me."

On the second floor, Tang Sanzang and Sun Wukong shared a room, Chu Yang had a room to himself, and Su Wanwan was arranged in the small room next to his. The room door was small, the window faced the backyard, and although the bed was narrow, it was much better than sleeping on a pile of straw.

Su Wanwan breathed a slight sigh of relief when she entered the room.

At least tonight, I don't have to sleep next to that white donkey.

She had just put down her bundle when Chu Yang's voice came from outside the door.

"Miss Su, don't lie down, come down and eat. After you finish eating, mend your clothes."

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then replied, "Coming."

A table of dishes had already been set out in the lobby downstairs.

Braised carp, stir-fried seasonal vegetables, a large bowl of steaming hot mutton soup, and a stack of freshly made flatbreads. Sun Wukong sat there, his chopsticks almost leaving afterimages as he swung them around. When he saw her come down, he greeted her warmly, "Miss Su, come quickly, if you're any slower I'll eat for you too."

"Thank you, Great Sage."

As soon as she sat down, Chu Yang pushed a stack of clothes towards her: "Eat first, then replenish your energy. After you've replenished your energy, then go to sleep."

"Young master really does have a good memory." She smiled gently.

"Of course." Chu Yang said, biting into his pancake without looking up. "I don't have many other good qualities, but I'm very good at remembering things."

Tang Sanzang picked up a piece of green vegetable and coughed, "Benefactor Chu, it's not too late to mend clothes tomorrow."

“Master, we might have to travel again tomorrow. Let her finish it all tonight while we have a lamp, a table, and needle and thread.” Chu Yang said, looking up at Su Wanwan. “What do you say?”

What else could Su Wanwan say?
She could only nod, her smile gentle: "Young Master Chu is right."

That night, fewer and fewer customers were downstairs, and in the end, only their table had its lights on.

Su Wanwan sat under the lamp, head bowed, sewing socks for Tang Sanzang. The stitches were fine and dense, truly a skillful hand. Her lowered eyelashes trembled gently in the candlelight, the tip of her nose glowed in the lamplight, and her hair fell loosely beside her cheeks. She looked gentle and quiet, almost like a completely different person from the disheveled figure she had been washing dishes and pots by the river a few days ago.

After finishing the last piece of cake, Sun Wukong rested his chin on his hand and looked at her: "Miss Su, you really know how to nourish yourself!"

"I know a little bit." Her hands kept moving, her voice soft and gentle. "When I was little, my family was poor, so I had to learn everything myself."

Chu Yang was drinking soup when he heard this and raised his eyelids: "Didn't you say that you were weak since childhood, that you were taken care of by your older brother, and that you had never cooked before?"

Su Wanwan paused.

The next moment, she smiled, her expression showing no sign of panic: "I mean I've never cooked, but I've learned a thing or two about sewing. If a young lady can't even do this, wouldn't people laugh at her?"

Chu Yang grunted an "oh," seemingly unsure whether he believed her or not, and continued drinking his soup.

Su Wanwan lowered her head, but her palms were already damp with sweat.

Late into the night, she finally finished mending all the clothes. When she returned to her room, her back was so sore she could barely straighten up. But this time, she didn't go to sleep immediately. Instead, she opened the window, gazed at the moonlight outside, and seemed lost in thought.

She originally just wanted to mingle with these people and find an opportunity to bite into Tang Sanzang's flesh, even if it was just a little bit of blood.

But over the past few days, the one she couldn't figure out the most was Chu Yang.

Knowing she was a fox spirit, he neither exposed her nor killed her, nor allowed her to approach Tang Sanzang. Instead, he kept her firmly by his side, using her in various ways. But when the night road was difficult to travel and the mountain wind was too cold, he would silently stir the fire a little bigger and throw her the cleanest straw mat. On the rainy night, he complained that she was slow at burning the fire, cursing her as useless, but then threw his only oilcloth raincoat on her head.

Sometimes she hated him so much she wanted to grind her teeth, and other times she inexplicably... didn't hate him as much anymore.

The moonlight outside the window was so white and cold that it made the well platform in the backyard look like it was covered with a layer of frost.

She stared at the moonlight for a long time, then finally closed the window and lay down fully clothed.

The next morning, the town was still shrouded in a light morning mist.

The crowing of roosters echoed from the depths of the alley, the shops along the river began to remove their doors, the stalls selling soy milk and fried dough sticks were steaming hot, and the number of pedestrians on the street gradually increased.

Tang Sanzang got up the earliest, and as usual, after washing up, he stretched his limbs in the backyard. Sun Wukong squatted by the well washing his face, complaining that the water was too cold, and after a couple of sips, he grimaced and cursed. The white dragon horse was swishing its tail in the stable, while the white donkey stuck its head out, stubbornly gnawing on a piece of wood by the trough.

When Chu Yang pushed open the door, his hair was still half wet and he was holding a half-eaten meat bun in his hand.

"The shopkeeper said there's an old mountain path a dozen miles west of the town, and it's closer that way." He took a bite of his bun and said casually, "But there are bandits causing trouble there, and someone was recently robbed. We need to hurry today and get over there before dark."

Sun Wukong flicked the water droplets off his face: "I don't care if I go too. If the bandits dare to come, I'll go too. I'm just itching to get my hands dirty."

Tang Sanzang adjusted his sleeves: "If they are truly bandits, persuade them to leave if possible, and try your best not to harm them."

"Master, you should say that to Brother Monkey." Chu Yang finished his steamed bun in two bites, then turned to look at the stairwell. "Miss Su, where is she? Is she dead in the house?"

There was a moment of silence upstairs, followed by the sound of hurried footsteps.

Su Wanwan hurried down the stairs, wearing an outer robe. Her hair was tied up in a rather hasty bun, with a stray lock of hair still falling by her temple. She hadn't slept well last night, and there was a hint of weariness in her eyes, but her face was still too beautiful. As soon as she came downstairs, even the waiter busy in the backyard subconsciously glanced at her a few more times.

"Please forgive me, sir, I overslept."

"Good to know." Chu Yang tossed her a paper bag. "I saved two steamed buns for you for breakfast. Eat them on the go. After you finish, grab the pot and let's go."

Su Wanwan caught the paper package, but before she could speak, suddenly, the white dragon horse tied up in the backyard snorted loudly, raised its head, and its ears stood straight up.

The white donkey stopped gnawing on the wood and suddenly became restless, circling around in place, its braying unusually sharp.

Sun Wukong, who was wiping his face, suddenly stopped.

The hint of laziness in Chu Yang's words vanished instantly. He glanced at the outside of the courtyard wall and raised his eyebrows slightly.

"What's wrong?" Tang Sanzang sensed something was amiss and asked in a low voice.

"Something's here." Chu Yang patted the crumbs off his hands, his voice flat. "And it's not coming for you."

As soon as she said that, all the color drained from Su Wanwan's face.

She almost instinctively took a half step back, her eyes fixed on the direction of the courtyard gate. For the first time, her usually gentle and charming pupils revealed an almost instinctive fear.

Seeing her expression, Sun Wukong's eyes lit up, and he immediately grinned, "Oh, is this person we know today?" Su Wanwan didn't answer.

Her fingertips began to tremble, and her heart pounded wildly, as if it were about to burst through her chest. She was all too familiar with that approaching demonic aura, so familiar that it sent chills down her spine.

How could it be him?
How did he end up here?

Didn't she conceal her presence very well the whole way?

The wind outside the courtyard suddenly picked up, as if a dark cloud had pressed down on the sky. The wooden door of the inn swayed without wind, making a creaking sound, and the petals of the crabapple tree in the corner of the courtyard fluttered down, as if being violently shaken by an invisible hand.

The shopkeeper and the waiter were busy at the front when they suddenly heard something strange happening in the backyard. They peeked out and were blown back by a gust of cold wind, yelling "Oh my god!"

"Young Master Chu..." Su Wanwan's voice softened, and the feigned gentleness in her eyes vanished completely, replaced by genuine panic. "I...I suddenly remembered that I have some personal matters to attend to, and it's inconvenient for me to continue our journey with you all. I'll leave your bundles here, and my clothes have been mended. Shall we...shall we part ways here?"

As she spoke, she turned and tried to rush towards the upstairs window.

But the moment he moved, the back of his collar was grabbed.

Chu Yang lifted her up with one hand, like he was carrying a ruffled fox cub, and asked in a nonchalant tone, "Why are you running?"

Su Wanwan stumbled as she was pulled, her face pale when she turned around: "Let go of me! It'll be too late if you don't leave now!"

"Too late for what?"

"He...he's coming for me!" Her voice was extremely low, her breathing erratic. "Don't worry about me, let me go, I can run away myself—"

"You can't run away." Chu Yang pulled her behind him. "Stand still, don't shake."

"Chu Yang!" This time she didn't even bother to call him "Young Master Chu," her eyes reddening with anxiety. "You don't know who he is!"

“I don’t know who he is.” Chu Yang tilted his head, giving her a half-smile. “But I know that if you rush out now, you’ll probably be beaten back to your original form and then someone will grab you by the tail and swing you around the streets. That would be so embarrassing.”

Su Wanwan froze for a moment, almost bursting with anger: "You..."

"Calm down." Chu Yang's hand was still on her wrist, not strong, but incredibly steady. "I'm here for you."

Those three words were spoken casually, like a casual remark, but for some reason, Su Wanwan's trembling heart inexplicably faltered for a moment.

Just then—

"boom!"

The inn's courtyard gate was suddenly flung open by a gust of wind, and the two wooden doors slammed against the wall, shaking the entire courtyard.

A billowing black mist surged in from the stone steps outside the door, instantly filling the backyard with a chilling, demonic aura. Within the black mist stood a tall figure, draped in a dark purple robe, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist. His face was handsome yet excessively sinister, with two thin, curved bluish-black bone horns on his forehead, and a single vertical pupil in his eye as cold as a knife.

As he stepped into the courtyard, the soles of his boots crunched over the petals scattered on the ground, and black mist trailed behind him, making the air seem to sink.

"Su Wanwan," he said, his voice low and deep, like cold iron slowly dragging across the ground, "you're quite the runner."

Su Wanwan froze, and almost instinctively shrank back a little behind Chu Yang.

Sun Wukong stepped forward, carrying his golden cudgel, and tilted his head to examine the other party: "Oh? One with horns? What is this thing? A hybrid of a bull demon and a wolf demon?"

A flash of malice appeared in the newcomer's eyes, but his gaze did not fall on Sun Wukong. Instead, he bypassed him and fixed his gaze on Su Wanwan.

"I've been searching for you for three hundred miles." He walked in step by step, his black boots making a dull sound on the brick floor. "You stole things from my cave, killed two of my capable men, and still dared to hide among a bunch of bald monks and mortals seeking refuge. You've got some nerve."

Tang Sanzang frowned and looked at Su Wanwan: "Female benefactor, this..."

Su Wanwan's lips moved, her face was pale, but she couldn't say anything for a moment.

Chu Yang spoke first: "What's in the cave?"

The demon king finally turned his gaze to his face, looked him up and down, and sneered: "Boy, you'd better mind your own business. She's a fox demon, best at bewitching people and spouting nonsense. You're protecting her now, but one day she'll bite your throat, and you won't even have time to cry."

As soon as he said that, the courtyard fell silent.

Su Wanwan's heart clenched painfully, her fingers clenching until they turned white.

coming.

This was the moment she feared most.

No matter how well she acted around these people these days, once her identity was exposed in public, the monk would be wary of her, the monkey would beat her, and as for Chu Yang—this black-hearted guy usually made her do whatever she wanted, but when it really came down to it, who knew if he would just throw her out and have some peace and quiet.

She almost dared not look up at their expressions.

But the next moment, Chu Yang simply said "Oh".

"So that's what you mean." He stood there, showing no surprise whatsoever. "I thought it was something important."

The Demon King's expression changed slightly: "What do you mean?"

“What I mean is,” Chu Yang said lazily, cracking his knuckles, “that she’s a fox demon, and we’ve known that for a long time.”

The Demon King was taken aback.

Su Wanwan also suddenly raised her head and stared blankly at Chu Yang.

Sun Wukong, leaning on his golden cudgel, grinned broadly: "That's right, I saw through her a long time ago. With her meager skills, her tail is practically wagging out of her eyes, and she's still pretending to be a refined lady. I thought you were going to uncover some earth-shattering secret, but this is all?"

Although Tang Sanzang was still somewhat surprised, he sighed softly, put his palms together, and said, "This humble monk was indeed a bit slow to realize. But since Benefactor Chu and Wukong already knew, I suppose they know what to do."

The demon king's eyes finally darkened completely.

He clearly hadn't expected that his aggressive arrival and the revelation of his identity should have immediately exposed the fox demon, yet these people didn't even flinch.

He stared at Chu Yang, his voice growing even colder: "Since you know she's a demon, why are you still protecting her?"

"What's wrong with protecting her?" Chu Yang retorted.

"She stole my treasures and killed my men; she deserves to die!"

"That's an internal dispute among you demons," Chu Yang shrugged. "She's on my side now. It's not appropriate for you to arrest her in front of me, is it?"

Su Wanwan's mind went blank for a moment, as if a string had been plucked hard.

She originally thought that even if Chu Yang didn't hand her over, he would at most just find it troublesome and stop her as a side effect. (End of Chapter)