Transforming into a stunningly beautiful fox spirit, leaving a scar on the heart of a prodigy.

The winds of the North never stop, and they feel like knives cutting your face.

Chen Xuanshen stepped into the snowdrifts, his feet sinking into the shallows.

He walked slowly, but every step he took was firm and solid.

The fluffy white ball on his head was also restless, bouncing with his steps and occasionally letting out a couple of dissatisfied whimpers.

"Take it easy!"

Su Chang'an's voice came from above, muffled, sounding like he hadn't woken up yet, "It's so bumpy I feel like I'm going to throw up my dinner from last night."

Chen Xuan reached up and touched the top of his head, pressing the fluffy ball down and tucking it into his collar.

It's warm there, and there's no wind.

"The snow is too thick," Chen Xuan explained, his voice hoarse.

Su Chang'an snuggled into his arms a couple of times, finding a comfortable spot to settle down.

She's really weak now.

In order to create this avatar, he even broke through the seal. His original body is probably paralyzed in bed and unable to move.

This fragment of soul is pitifully weak; it struggles even to take human form and can only maintain its spherical shape.

"How much longer do we have to walk?" Su Chang'an asked.

"Three days."

"Three days?" Su Chang'an bristled in his arms. "Are you trying to starve me to death? This is the middle of nowhere, there isn't even a wild mouse in sight."

Chen Xuan didn't speak. He took out the hard, rock-hard pancake from his pocket, broke off a small piece, and handed it to his collar.

Su Chang'an poked out his pointed little mouth and took a sniff.

He turned his head away in disgust.

"I won't eat it."

"That's all we have," Chen Xuan said. "There's a post station ahead; we'll buy you meat when we get there."

Su Chang'an rolled her eyes, even though her eyes were now just slits and the whites of her eyes were not visible at all.

"I'm a demon, I don't eat this stuff."

She pulled her head back. "You eat it yourself. Eat more. You're so skinny, it hurts my skinny body."

Chen Xuan's hand stiffened for a moment.

He stuffed the small piece of biscuit into his mouth and chewed it vigorously.

It has no taste and it hurts your throat.

But he ate with great relish.

The food Su Chang'an cooked for him in that cave before was terrible, but it was hot.

That's the taste of home.

This pancake tastes alive now.

"How have you been these past few years?"

Su Chang'an's voice suddenly softened, no longer as sharp as before.

Chen Xuan paused for a moment while chewing the biscuit.

"Good."

"Good my ass."

Su Chang'an cursed, "Do you think I'm blind? The calluses on your hands are thicker than my heels. And that sword on your back, it's all dulled like a saw blade, did you use it to chop rocks?"

Chen Xuan subconsciously touched the broken sword on his back.

He won it in the sect competition. Although it wasn't some kind of divine weapon, it had been with him for three years.

He broke three ribs for this sword.

"It's from practicing martial arts," Chen Xuan said.

"Practicing martial arts?" Su Chang'an sneered. "Practicing martial arts can make you smell like a dead person? When you hugged me just now, I could smell it clearly. It was the smell of blood, and I can't wash it off."

Chen Xuan fell silent.

He didn't want to talk about it.

I don't want to talk about how he crawled out of piles of corpses over the past five years.

I don't want to say how he was chased all over the mountain by a fifth-tier demon beast because of that piece of sky-mending stone.

I don't want to talk about how he was trampled underfoot in the sect, and how he trampled those people back one by one.

Those things are too dirty and too tiring.

Su Chang'an was that pure and innocent nine-tailed fox spirit. Although she had a sharp tongue, she shouldn't have listened to these things.

"say!"

Su Chang'an scratched his chest. "Are you mute now?"

Chen Xuan looked down at the fluffy ball in his arms.

"That's really good."

He forced a smile, though it looked worse than a grimace, and said, "No one dares to bully me."

Su Chang'an remained silent.

She peeked out from her collar and climbed up Chen Xuan's arm to the back of his hand.

That hand was rough, with a long scar on the back of the hand that stretched from the base of the thumb to the wrist.

That was a knife wound.

Judging from the degree of healing, it must have been left about six months ago.

Su Chang'an stuck out his tongue and licked the scar.

It was damp and scratched, making my skin a little itchy.

Chen Xuan shuddered and tried to pull his hand back.

"Don't move."

Su Chang'an pressed down on his hand, "It's filthy, let me disinfect it for you."

Chen Xuan stopped moving.

He watched as the tiny, furry ball, no bigger than his palm, lay on the back of his scarred hand, licking it again and again.

My eyes feel a little hot.

This woman is still so foolish.

Even though he was so weak, he still had the mind to care about his minor injuries.

"Where did that stone that mended the sky come from?" Su Chang'an suddenly asked.

Chen Xuan's heart skipped a beat.

"I found it."

"Bullshit." Su Chang'an raised her head, her small eyes fixed on him. "In this remote and impoverished northern region, you think you can find a Sky-Mending Stone? Do you think it's just a roadside pebble?"

Chen Xuan didn't dare look at her.

"I really found it... in a ruin."

Which site?

"...Tomb of Ten Thousand Beasts"

Su Chang'an gasped.

The Tomb of Ten Thousand Beasts.

That was a notorious and ominous place in the Northern Region, said to contain the remains of an ancient demon, its malevolent aura soaring to the heavens.

Let alone a mere cultivator at the Foundation Establishment Realm, even a great cultivator at the Transformation Realm might not be able to emerge unscathed.

"Are you crazy?"

Su Chang'an slapped his hand with her claws. "You'd risk your life for a piece of junk?"

"I want to see you."

Chen Xuan's voice was low but firm: "I'll go anywhere as long as I can see you."

Su Chang'an looked at him.

This kid has grown up.

He's no longer that little brat who would just hide behind her and cry.

His eyes were fierce, like those of a wolf cub that hadn't yet grown up.

But beneath this fierce energy lies a stubbornness that's willing to risk everything.

"Fool."

Su Chang'an muttered something.

She climbed back up into Chen Xuan's collar, her voice muffled, "Don't go there again, that place is unlucky."

"Mm," Chen Xuan replied.

The wind picked up a bit more.

Chen Xuan pulled his cloak tighter to block the wind from his chest.

"Which sect are you in now?" Su Chang'an asked.

She needs to find out more about this kid.

The system task says to help him retrieve the Supreme Bone, so we need to know how strong his current backer is.

If it were a third-rate sect, she would have to go to great lengths to find him a new place.

Chen Xuan didn't stop walking.

"The Supreme Sect of Forgetfulness".

Su Chang'an rolled around in his arms.

"where?"

She thought she had misheard.

"The Supreme Forgetfulness Sect." Chen Xuan repeated.

Su Chang'an heard it clearly this time.

She froze completely—no, the whole ball froze.

The Supreme Forgetfulness Sect.

She knows that name well.

It's so well-done it couldn't be better.

In the game "Shinto", the Supreme Forgetfulness Sect is one of the top forces in the Central Continent.

But this is not the point.

The key point is that the founding ancestor of this sect is that old immortal who used Falling Phoenix Slope as a medicinal field and harvested Phoenix Dao Fruits every three hundred years!

That is, the mastermind behind the scenes who forced the monk to have his heart ripped out and forced Su Qing to self-destruct.

Moreover, he is the arch-enemy who, in future storylines, always wants to capture the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox to refine medicine.

This kid...

Have we stumbled into a den of thieves?

"Say that again?" Su Chang'an poked her head out from under Chen Xuan's collar, her little paws clutching at his collar, her eyes wide and bulging. "Which sect did you join?"

Chen Xuan was taken aback by her reaction.

"The Supreme Sect of Forgetfulness."

He said, "The largest sect in the Northern Region is also the strongest."

Su Chang'an felt his head buzzing.

What kind of situation is this?

The child she had raised with such care ran off to become the disciple of her mortal enemy in order to save her.

Moreover, the cultivation method is "Supreme Forgetfulness of Emotions"?

She knew the sect's cultivation methods; they emphasized severing the seven emotions and six desires to cultivate a pure and untainted Dao heart.

In the end, it becomes a heartless killing machine.

No wonder this kid looks like he's about to die, and he hasn't been able to utter a sound for ages.

So he went crazy from practicing martial arts?

"Who told you to go?" Su Chang'an gritted his teeth.

Chen Xuan shook his head.

"I went by myself."

"Because they are the strongest."

Chen Xuan gazed at the distant snow-capped mountains, his eyes calm. "Only the strongest sect has the resources to make me stronger. Only by becoming stronger can I save you."

Su Chang'an remained silent.

She looked at Chen Xuan's cold, hard profile.

This kid has no idea what the Supreme Forgetfulness Sect is.

All he knew was that it would make him stronger.

To achieve this goal, he sold himself to the devil.

"Who is your master?" Su Chang'an asked.

"I don't have a master in the outer sect," Chen Xuan said. "I rose through the ranks by fighting my way up, and now I'm the top disciple in the inner sect. In a few days, I'll be going to Zhongzhou to participate in the grand competition."

Su Chang'an breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, I haven't formally become an apprentice yet.

If I really become that old geezer's disciple, the family hierarchy will be all messed up.

"Refund."

Su Chang'an said firmly.

Chen Xuan was taken aback, looked down at her, and asked, "What?"

"I said, quit that lousy sect!"

Su Chang'an jumped up and down on his shoulder, "What kind of good place is that? The name itself is ominous! 'Supreme Forgetfulness,' forget your ass! If a person has no feelings, what's the difference between them and a stone?"

Chen Xuan frowned.

"But……"

"No buts!" Su Chang'an interrupted him. "I'm quitting just like that! You know how weak you'll become if you practice in those shabby places that teach the Path of Heartlessness too much?"

Chen Xuan's face instantly turned red.

"You... what nonsense are you talking about!"

"I'm talking nonsense?" Su Chang'an sneered. "I'm a vixen. Do you think I know more than you? That kind of cultivation technique will eventually kill you off! Are you even going to take care of me in my old age?"

Chen Xuan was speechless.

Of course he didn't know any of this.

All he knew was that the Supreme Forgetfulness Sect's swordsmanship was the fastest and most efficient at killing.

"Listen to me."

Su Chang'an brushed her bushy tail against Chen Xuan's neck. "We don't care about that lousy chief. When we get to Zhongzhou, I'll take you to find someone better."

Chen Xuan pursed his lips.

He didn't want to back out.

He worked his way up in that sect for five years before finally reaching his current position.

Those were resources he risked his life for.

But looking at Su Chang'an's "I'll explode if you don't listen to me" attitude.

He couldn't bring himself to refuse.

"it is good."

Chen Xuan finally nodded, "I'll do as you say."

Su Chang'an was satisfied.

She pulled her collar back up and yawned.

"That's right."

"That kind of broken technique that turns people into stone is better left unpracticed."

"We are human beings, flesh and blood."

"If you can't even feel pain anymore, what's the point of living?"

Su Chang'an's voice grew softer and softer.

Chen Xuan listened to the steady breathing coming from his chest.

He touched the broken sword.

The highest form of detachment is forgetting emotions.

He stayed in that sect for four years, and he did feel his heart growing colder and colder.

Sometimes, after killing someone, looking at the blood on the ground, I feel no emotion at all.

He thought this was what it meant to become stronger.

But today.

Because of this warm, fluffy ball in my arms.

He felt as if a crack had appeared in the frozen part of his heart.

hurts a little.

But it's also a little heartwarming.

"it is good."

Chen Xuan said softly.

He quickened his pace.

In the wind and snow, the boy's figure no longer seemed so lonely.

Because he knew.

Regardless of whether the road ahead leads to the Supreme Forgetfulness Sect or a mountain of knives and a sea of ​​fire.

As long as the ball in my arms is still there.

He is still Chen Xuan.

Chen Xuan, who could cry, laugh, and feel pain.

This scene is just as the poem describes:

The northern frost chills to the bone, the hard bread is hard to swallow, and the road ahead seems endless.

The rebellious son mistakenly entered the path of ruthlessness, and the fox spirit angrily rebuked the one who would kill his son.

The stone used to mend the sky was abandoned, sealing the gate with hatred; the broken sword was reforged, fueling the youthful madness.

From now on, we'll journey together through wind and snow, asking not about the path to immortality, but about the aroma of meat.