Immortalis

White Dog Nine

"Even the White Dog wouldn't accept her?"

Shen Qingshi, with his keen hearing, immediately asked: "What does that mean?"

The rabbit vendor snorted: "When White Dog Village sent her away to be raised elsewhere back then, it was because the White Dog said she would eventually bring great disaster if she stayed in the village. Yet she insisted on returning from time to time. Later, White Dog Village met with disaster, and she suffered divine retribution—her face was completely ruined. Now even children are afraid when they see her."

"What?"

Yang Wujian frowned: "So there are survivors from White Dog Village? Was she in the village when the incident happened?"

The rabbit vendor shook his head: "Who knows? They say she disappeared for several years, and when she came back, her face was ruined and she stopped speaking."

At this, all four of them sensed something amiss. But when they tried to pursue the woman, they found she had already vanished from the streets.

With no other choice, they returned to the inn, thinking that since the day to worship the White Dog at the Meat Well was approaching, if the woman came every time, they would eventually encounter her.

Early the next morning, as soon as Yang Wujian stepped out, he saw Song Lan and Shen Qingshi emerging together from a room. Song Lan smiled and said, "Rabbits don't eat much. The vegetable leaves we gave should be enough for it."

Shen Qingshi nodded, even glancing back into the room as he closed the door, as if afraid the rabbit might vanish right before his eyes in the blink of an eye.

"Seems there's quite an art to raising rabbits."

Yang Wujian remarked coolly at the sight: "Troubling Elder Song Lan to give instructions first thing in the morning."

In response to his sarcasm, Song Lan merely smiled: "Miss Yang may not know this, but rabbits shouldn't be kept in cages all the time. Eventually, they need to be let out to roam. By getting them accustomed to it early, they won't run wild even when released later."

The three waited a while longer until Zhou Huai woke up yawning, and then they set off toward the Meat Well.

This time, with the road built by the town, it took them just over half an hour on horseback to reach a rather abrupt small temple by the roadside. At first glance, it resembled a scaled-down version of White Dog Village's ancestral hall.

"This Lu Hai has really invested heavily. Seems he's utterly convinced the White Dog can help him rise swiftly in the world."

Yang Wujian dismounted but didn't hurry into the temple. Instead, he walked a few steps further to observe the abandoned ancient mining site from Northern Xiang's era.

Northern Xiang had six emperors in total, who nearly excavated all the mineable sites in the Central Plains. They used gunpowder to blast mountains, creating countless bottomless fissures and chasms. Yet, for some reason, some of these were never mined for ore but were heavily guarded to keep people away.

The "Meat Well" before them—a pitch-black, fathomless pit—was one such place.

"Miss Yang, what do you think is really down there?"

Zhou Huai gazed mesmerized at the dark hole in the distance.

Since childhood, he had researched many matters related to the Hero's Tomb and thus knew very well that after Northern Xiang excavated twelve Meat Wells, they left them idle. Folklore claimed that the Northern Xiang emperor once sent people into the Meat Wells, but those who entered never returned.

After all, regardless of which Meat Well it was, anyone who ventured deep inside would lose their sanity, ultimately meeting only death within.

"Who knows? Perhaps there really are immortals living down there."

Yang Wujian chuckled softly.

Regarding the mining endeavors, though he couldn't comprehend them, he had to thank the Northern Xiang emperor.

For the Longevity Palace, despised by everyone in the martial world, the only places in this world that could shelter them were these lightless mining tunnels.The two returned to the front of the temple, where Shen Qingshi had already unlocked the door. Inside the small temple, old desks and beds were neatly arranged, but the thick layer of dust covering them clearly indicated that White Dog had likely never "returned."

"There's quite a lot of stuff here."

Yang Wujian stepped inside and looked around. No matter how he viewed it, these furnishings didn't seem like something a deity would use.

At the very least, a deity probably wouldn't need to read so many books.

He casually pulled out a few scrolls from the shelves and quickly discovered that the collection contained everything from the Four Books and Five Classics to unofficial histories and anecdotes from previous dynasties.

Digging deeper, he even found sword manuals and internal cultivation techniques from various martial sects.

Yang Wujian was stunned: "How could there even be cultivation techniques here? Where did White Dog get all these things?"

"Probably 'tributes' from devotees," Song Lan speculated. "White Dog had no worries about food or clothing but couldn't leave the building. These must have been his only way to pass the time. Those who came to see White Dog in the past wouldn't arrive empty-handed. Perhaps these books were the 'offerings' White Dog truly cherished."

Yet the temple housed hundreds, even thousands of books, some so damp they had crumbled to dust. It was impossible to imagine how many White Dog must have read during his time in the ancestral hall.

"If White Dog was just an ordinary person, not a divine vessel, how could he offer people guidance?"

Suddenly, Shen Qingshi spoke while looking at the aged scrolls: "I suspect these books are what taught him how to be a deity."

Though confined since birth to a lightless ancestral hall, being worshipped as a god naturally required some ability to divine heavens and earth.

Yang Wujian understood her meaning: "So you're saying White Dog wanted these books to save himself? He was already a god - if he failed to meet the villagers' expectations, he wouldn't know what might happen to him."

Zhou Huai had a sudden realization: "Are you saying he managed to deceive White Dog Village for over a decade using what he learned from these books?"

"Though luck must have played a part, listening to what that county magistrate said earlier, don't you think he actually didn't do anything?"

Yang Wujian now found it laughable upon reflection.

"White Lead Town is a mining settlement where accidents are common. People here leave home prepared never to return. Naturally, in such a place, there would be those seeking to exploit loopholes for profit and murder. If you went through the county office's cold cases, you'd inevitably find some who slipped through the cracks."

Shen Qingshi added: "These are things even non-deities could figure out. But being in his position, those he guided would be predisposed to believe it was White Dog's divine power."

"But no one could endure living their entire life walking a tightrope like that."

Song Lan sighed.

All these years, Lu Hai had maintained such unwavering faith in White Dog that even after White Dog's departure, he didn't dare touch anything here.

Though White Dog was no longer present, his "awe-inspiring power" remained undiminished.Song Lan said, "His father somehow learned the method of harvesting Howling Whistle Flowers, thus attaining this position—one could say he got what he sought. But for this child... forcibly elevating a person to divine status must be immense torture for the village's second White Dog. Before his father died, he urged him to meet more people hoping to alleviate his loneliness, yet this only led more people to worship him as a god."

He didn't continue, but the remaining implication was understood by the other three.

The White Dog couldn't live like this forever.

Perhaps having reached his limit, he simply ended it all, using the White Dog Village's unique Howling Whistle Flowers to summon wild beasts that devoured the entire village?

The four fell into silence until Zhou Huai accidentally knocked down a scroll from a high shelf. As he crouched to pick it up, he unexpectedly discovered something tied beneath the bed.

"What's this?"

Zhou Huai pulled out the object and found it was a painting scroll and a luminous stone.

When he unrolled the painting, his expression suddenly froze: "This..."

It depicted a woman.

However, unlike typical portraits of women, the figure in this painting was crouching. Her hair was freely flowing, revealing half her face, as if she were drawing on the ground.

"Who would paint a young lady from this angle in a normal portrait?"

Zhou Huai couldn't help but marvel: "Wouldn't the lady be angry seeing this? No full face visible, no graceful figure shown."

"You're quite experienced, young master."

Yang Wujian found it amusing—Young Master Zhou was full of theoretical knowledge, yet when it came to crucial moments, he couldn't even distinguish between men and women.

"No... I was just casually mentioning..."Zhou Huai hurriedly tried to defend himself when Shen Qingshi suddenly spoke: 'Earlier you mentioned that disciples on Medicine King Mountain were spreading rumors that Yin Qu'er had a lover at the foot of the mountain.'" Do you think it's possible that lover was the White Dog?"

"What?"

The other three were startled.

Song Lan asked, "What makes you say that?"

Shen Qingshi said softly, "You mentioned Yin Qu'er had visited White Dog Village multiple times for medicine, meaning she likely saw the White Dog many times. Her melancholy after returning to the mountain suggests her romantic path might have been troubled. The woman in this painting isn't standing or sitting not because she doesn't want to, but because she can't. The White Dog, being a revered deity, could only be seen once every six months. Private meetings would have to be secret, which is why this woman is crouching like this."

"That seems plausible, but isn't it a bit far-fetched?"

Zhou Huai thought for a moment: "The mountain disciples said she had a lover, but that doesn't mean she actually did. Last time Miss Yang said women in this world aren't necessarily troubled only by lovers—perhaps she was just frustrated about not obtaining medicine?"

Yang Wujian shared this sentiment and was about to agree when Shen Qingshi suddenly loosened his hair tie, letting his long hair cascade down.

"You..."

Shen Qingshi was already quite delicate-looking—with his hair tied, his gender was ambiguous, but once loosened, he appeared almost entirely feminine.

Zhou Huai's eyes widened, countless words seemingly stuck in his throat. He stared at Shen Qingshi for a long time, ultimately forming one peculiar thought:

So there really are men in this world who look like this—no wonder Elder Song Lan favors this type...Zhou Huai grew increasingly astonished the more he looked, and Yang Wujian, seeing his expression, immediately knew this fool still hadn't seen through Shen Qingshi's true identity. He couldn't help rolling his eyes: "Young Master Shen, what are you trying to do?"

Shen Qingshi didn't answer, merely crouching down to assume the exact same pose as in the painting, using her finger to draw on the ground.

She already closely resembled Yin Qu'er, and now with her hair let down, Song Lan beside them couldn't help feeling momentarily dazed.

"Although Yin Qu'er probably isn't the woman in this painting, you two truly look alike."

He unconsciously murmured these words, and the next moment, he met Shen Qingshi's icy gaze.

"Earlier you didn't even suspect the person in the painting might be Yin Qu'er. Only one person in this world would know for certain that Yin Qu'er's lover wasn't White Dog - and that would be Yin Qu'er's lover himself."

Shen Qingshi stood up, looking directly at him.

"Can you explain now, Elder Song Lan?"

She asked calmly: "These past few days, when you've been showing me all kinds of kindness, what memories of Yin Qu'er were you recalling?"