You, a monster, still want to travel to the West?

"?"

Qingxin, who had been standing aside without saying a word, suddenly asked a question. The little Taoist boy looked up and was about to speak, but saw Bodhi Patriarch raised his hand to signal her not to speak.

Patriarch Bodhi looked intently at Xia Zhiming, who was coiled on the ground, and shouted, "You little snake, do you deserve a beating?"

"My disciple came into the world in a dream, why is Master angry?" Xia Zhiming was a little confused.

Patriarch Bodhi shouted, "The world is in chaos, and the flowers are gradually becoming confusing. You have wisdom and are not afraid of it, but you know that Qingxin has never entered the world in this life!"

"But, how can one leave the world without entering it..."

Xia Zhiming suddenly realized something mid-sentence, raised his head and said, "Master, I just want to take the little sister in my dream away..."

Halfway through his words, he saw Patriarch Bodhi laugh, wave his hands and sigh: "How can one leave the world without entering it? What a natural wisdom!"

After laughing, Patriarch Bodhi stroked his beard and said, "How can such an opportunity be forgotten like a dream? Qingxin, Zhiming, please step forward."

The man and the snake followed the master's instructions and stepped forward. The girl clearly didn't understand the situation. She pinched the sleeve of her Taoist robe and called out in a soft voice, "Master..."

"Don't act like a little girl." Patriarch Bodhi seemed to want to scold, but his voice was full of tenderness.

After a moment's thought, the old man took out two red ropes from his arms, circled them, tied them into loops, and tightened them. After a while, a concentric knot was formed in the middle of the two red ropes. Then he rubbed the red ropes slightly, and the two red ropes became one.

Patriarch Bodhi: "Qingxin, please extend your hand..."

Qingxin responded, raised her hands and tugged at her left sleeve.

Patriarch Bodhi picked up the red string and shook his head: "Right."

Xiao Qing was confused and quickly switched hands. Xia Zhiming, standing next to him, was already nervous – why did his master's actions feel so familiar?

Before he had time to think about it, he saw the red rope in Bodhi Patriarch's hand flash with golden light and then move without wind, slowly tying a knot on Qingxin's wrist.

Then the other end of the red rope began to extend and stretch. After a while, the red rope was put around Xia Zhiming's neck again and tied into a knot.

From then on, the red string gradually faded away and soon became invisible and disappeared...

"Master! Could this be?" Xia Zhiming suddenly looked up at Patriarch Bodhi - could this be Yue Lao's red rope?

"Master?" Qing Xin was a little confused and called out softly.

Patriarch Bodhi shook his head and said, "Please leave. From today on, you will not need to go to the main hall after noon..."

"Yes..." x2

(Please see the cover for Qingxin's character)

Chapter 8: Smells good!

As Patriarch Bodhi finished speaking, the man and the snake had no choice but to leave the meditation room.

After they got out of the door, Qingxin bent down and stretched out her hand to lift him up. With a few taps of her little feet, she quickly found a pavilion to sit down, and placed Xia Zhiming directly on the stone table in front of her.

"Zhiming Zhiming, can you please tell me what's going on?" Xiao Qingxin lowered her head and looked at the white snake shaking its head on the table, her eyes full of curiosity.

On the stone table, Xia Zhiming calmed his head, which had been slightly dizzy from the little girl in front of him. After coming to his senses, he didn't rush to speak. Instead, he carefully looked at the little sister from the previous year.

She was wearing a long blue robe, her long hair tied up in twin buns with two blue ribbons. Her big, watery eyes on her fair and tender face were looking curiously at herself at the table.

The girl's eyelashes are particularly long, and she blinks them with an innocent look. She has a delicate nose, a small mouth, and regular facial features. She is simply a natural beauty.

"Why are you looking at me? Zhiming, say something!" Qingxin saw the stunned look of the junior brother in front of her, and stretched out her little hand to fiddle with his tail.

"I don't feel at a loss..." Xia Zhiming nodded slightly.

"Huh?" Junior Sister Qingxin was stunned.

Xia Zhiming coughed lightly and quickly changed the subject: "The skills I practice can allow me to travel in my dreams, but I haven't transformed yet, so I thought of taking you with me..."

"I already understand that," Qing Xin quickly interrupted him and asked another question: "What kind of Taoist magic was that red rope just now? Do you know it? I've never seen Master use it!"

"Uh..." Xia Zhiming was suddenly speechless and didn't know what to say for a moment.

"Tell me quickly! Tell me quickly!" The little senior sister's face was full of curiosity.

Xia Zhiming turned his head away somewhat embarrassedly, and after thinking for a moment, he used a more literary expression: "A hundred years of love and affection bind two hearts together, and a thousand miles of fate binds them together through a thread."

"!" The little senior sister opened her mouth slightly, with a look of shock on her small face!

"But Master didn't tie a double heart knot."

Qingxin breathed a sigh of relief, but saw that Xia Zhiming changed his words again.

"That's a love knot, usually symbolizing eternal love. I guess Master cast a spell to allow us to connect with each other."

"That's almost the same!" Junior Sister Qingxin's pretty face flushed with anxiety, and she slammed her little hand directly on the stone table.

"No, I have to go find my master!" The girl stood up suddenly, turned around and went to find Bodhi Patriarch.

"Don't be anxious, this red rope can be cut." Xia Zhiming quickly stopped his senior sister. If she ran away, would he be able to walk down the mountain?

"Really?" Xiao Qingxin turned her head and pouted as if she was a little unconvinced.

"Why would I lie to you? Usually, it's the matchmaker in the sky who pulls the red string, and he has a pair of scissors that can cut the red string. I figured that since Master can pull the string, he should be able to cut it, too."

"Huh, that's not bad~" The junior sister immediately understood the situation, thought about it, returned to the table and picked up Xia Zhiming again. She raised her hand as if to put it on his neck, but her hand paused and she didn't move.

Xia Zhiming didn't think too much about it. He raised his head and wrapped it around the girl's shoulders twice.

The junior sister now looks like a little loli, so young that it makes people completely unable to arouse any other thoughts. Anyway, he just thinks that the master has arranged a marriage for him.

Qingxin shuddered slightly at his action, holding her breath for a moment before saying anything. She looked up, found a direction, and walked over without looking away...

"Zhi Ming."

"what happened again?"

"What does it mean to feel like you're not at a loss?"

"You even remember this?"

"Say!"

"..., I compliment you on your good looks."

"Hmph~"

The two chatted and soon passed by many quiet rooms and Zen houses and arrived at the backyard.

Unlike the jade carved railings in the cave, the small backyard has only three rooms, simple and bright with white walls and green tiles.

After entering the courtyard, Qingxin pushed open the door to the wing room on the right and walked in. She turned around and glanced at Xia Zhiming who was looking around. The girl thought for a moment and raised her hand to lock the door...

The room suddenly became quiet, and Xia Zhiming took a look at the layout of the room.

It was almost noon, and the hollow doors and windows were covered with yellowed oil paper, but the sunlight shining into the house did not seem dim.

There weren't many things in the room. The lacquered wooden bed was covered with a small quilt. There weren't many things on the dressing table either. The clothes hangers, basin racks, and stools were all neatly arranged.

All in all, apart from having a bit more life in it, it is no different from Sun Wukong's bedroom.

Well... except for the milky scent.

Xia Zhiming stuck out his tongue and carefully identified it to confirm that he was not mistaken.

After all, it was still in the shape of a snake, so Xiao Qingxin couldn't tell what someone was doing. Sitting on the bed, the girl took off her cloth shoes, then reached up to lift the hem of her Taoist robe and untied the rope tied around her calf. She took off her tabi to reveal her tender little feet, which she placed beside her thigh.

Someone put out his snake tongue and nodded imperceptibly - it smells good!

……

Beside the bed, the young sister placed her tabi on the small table beside the bed, crawled to the center of the bed on her knees, crossed her legs, and asked, "Zhiming, what should we do next?"

"I'd rather you lie down and sleep..."

"Oh~" Xiao Qingxin didn't understand what was going on, but she still lay down on the bed obediently and put the white snake on her lower abdomen.

"Close your eyes...calm your mind...concentrate..." Xia Zhiming began to guide the junior sister. He also coiled up his snake body and soon closed his eyes to start today's practice.

……

No! Today I'm taking my little sister out to play!

Chapter 9: Sleepwalking in the Human World

Afternoon——

The sun shone brightly, casting a shadow over the mountain forest. Along a forest path, a little girl, wearing a green Taoist robe and her long hair tied in twin buns, hummed a song as she strolled along. A five-foot-long white snake, as thick as the girl's arm, coiled around her delicate neck.

"Hmph, hmph~"

Qingxin hummed an unknown tune and paced around, occasionally coming across a ripe wild peach. She would reach out and put it directly into the box.

Seeing the happy look of the little sister, Xia Zhiming, who was hitchhiking, finally couldn't help but complain:

"Qingxin, where's your flying cloud? We've been out for almost half an hour, and you're still wandering around in the back mountains..."

"Tsk, this mountain is called Rotten Peach Mountain, and I don't even know the spell you mentioned~" Xiao Qingxin curled her lips, as if she was unhappy that a little snake had ruined her mood.

"What about the Five Elements Escape Technique?" Zhiming asked again.

"Why do you only pick things that I can't do!" The girl stretched out her little hand and patted the snake head on her neck and scolded.

"Okay, then I won't say anything." With someone in the house... under his neck, Xia Zhiming could only shrink his head and stop talking.

Seeing him like this, Qingxin raised the corners of her mouth slightly, her eyes rolled around, and she raised her little hand and made a gesture. Then, golden light appeared and the girl stepped out.

Xia Zhiming only felt a flash before his eyes, and found that they had appeared a hundred meters away from before.

"Golden light on the earth! Or shrinking the earth into an inch?"

"Stupid! This is the magic of speed!"

"Um... Seventy-two Earthly Fiendish Techniques?"

"Zhiming, you really understand~"

"I understand, but the question is—why don't you, Little Senior Sister, fly with the wind?"

"The sun is so strong, I don't want to suffer this!"

"..." Xia Zhiming was speechless. Looking up through the dense trees overhead, he saw the sky scorching with heat. After a moment's reflection, he quickly nodded in agreement.

"You're really smart. Anyone who goes out to sunbathe in this awful weather must be seriously ill!"

"Hmph~"

After receiving someone's praise, Xiao Qingxin snorted proudly, obviously very proud.

Since it was a spell, the journey was of course much faster. There were few people in the mountains and forests, so Qing Xin let go and cast a spell, moving across the mountains, steep ridges, and dense forests...

Two hours later——

The setting sun shone obliquely among the mountains. A man and a snake looked at the dilapidated temple before them and fell into deep thought...

Xia Zhiming, who was somewhat skeptical about his life, couldn't help but ask, "Qingxin, we must have walked at least a hundred miles, right? Why haven't we seen any towns yet?"

The girl also frowned, bent down and rubbed her calves, pouted her lips and muttered: "I'm walking along the mountain road, which shouldn't be the case..."

“You don’t know the way???”

Xia Zhiming's entire snake was startled. He raised his body and looked at the bitter-faced little Loli. He saw that the little sister's pretty face was slightly red, her big watery eyes were slightly flashing, and her silver teeth were biting her lips. She turned her head away as if a little embarrassed...

So cute!

Xia Zhiming couldn't bear to blame her, so he could only speak softly, "Generally speaking, it's easy to get lost if there are forks in the mountain road, but if you follow the water source downstream, there are nine out of ten ways you'll find people."

"Oh, I get it..." Xiao Qingxin also knew that she had made a mistake in the heat of the moment, so she admitted it obediently.

"Let's just stay here tonight?" Xia Zhiming stretched out his tail and pointed at the dilapidated temple in front of him.

The temple seemed long abandoned, devoid of activity. Atop the broken gate hung a plaque inscribed with the words "Liugou Temple." Looking inside, dust and silk screens littered the ground, making it a perfect setting for a horror film.

Beside him, Xiao Qingxin looked at the dilapidated temple and nodded. He stretched out his hands, pinched his fingers, and muttered something:

Bang!

A strong wind blew up, pushing the temple door open in an instant. The sound of blowing was heard inside the temple, mixed with the sounds of rats, insects, and occasional knocking on wood.

After a while, a gentle breeze swept away all the smoke, dust, debris, snakes and insects. The sharp-eyed Xia Zhiming even spotted a neatly packed nest of rats...

Xiao Qingxin suddenly turned around, as if she had thought of something: "By the way, should I leave a mouse for you?"