Immortalis

White Dog Twelve

"He was nothing like I imagined."

Chu Qiqi sat on the ground, recalling the past, a faint smile still appearing on her face.

"He later told me that he had my parents send me away because my family already had two children. Although the village had become slightly wealthier during those years from gathering Howling Whistles, Howling Whistles weren't available every season. With three children in the family, he feared we wouldn't be properly raised. Knowing my family had relatives in White Lead Town, he deliberately frightened my parents into sending me away so I could grow up safely."

Chu Qiqi smiled bitterly: "White Dog was still quite young when he met my parents. He truly couldn't think of a better method and could only say this. And what he said was indeed correct - after I went to White Lead Town, I actually lived better, though I undeservedly bore some unlucky reputation."

"So you mean White Dog actually made you leave the village for your own good."

Zhou Huai frowned - the cause and effect here was indeed unexpected.

Although White Dog had been confined to White Dog Village since birth, he maintained a kind heart and never held malice toward the villagers. Instead, he would use his status and position to do things that benefited them.

Chu Qiqi stood up, stroking the luminescent stone, her face full of sorrow.

"In the past, this room had no light at night. White Dog feared candles would burn his books, so he only used this luminescent stone for illumination at night. Many times when I saw him, it was under this very stone."

Chu Qiqi smiled bitterly: "Later, I learned to secretly sneak into the village myself. Each time, I had to wait until dark when the night watchman fell asleep before I could sneak into the ancestral hall. We even secretly came out together several times. That was the first time I saw him under moonlight - he truly didn't seem like someone from this mortal world. Every strand of his hair was silvery white, standing there so ethereal I didn't dare stare at him for too long."

After White Dog descended from his divine pedestal before her, they spent many nights whispering and laughing together in the ancestral hall. Even relying on just a small luminescent stone, White Dog once drew a portrait of her.

He had told Chu Qiqi how lonely he had been all these years alone in this ancestral hall. His parents had married and soon given birth to him, whereupon White Dog's mother, unable to endure living constantly in the ancestral hall, hanged herself.

From that moment, White Dog understood clearly that as long as he remained in this small ancestral hall, any woman who stayed with him in the future would meet a tragic end.

When saying this, tears nearly fell from White Dog's glass-like eyes. He didn't actually resent the villagers who made him live here, because he truly couldn't withstand sunlight. Without them, he would have starved to death outside long ago.

Yet ironically, they revered him, feared him, but no one grew close to him. All these years, only Chu Qiqi alone listened to his stories in the dead of night, only Chu Qiqi alone held his hand and joked with him.

He wanted to stay with Chu Qiqi, but he couldn't bear to betray the White Dog villagers who had raised him since childhood.

Thus, the two could only meet secretly at night, back and forth like this for a full six months.Chu Qiqi still remembered the first time she took White Dog out to gaze at the moon. As they sat on the hillside, White Dog suddenly told her that an interesting newcomer had recently arrived in the village. It seemed the person had learned of this place through Medicine King Mountain and immediately asked whether disciples from Medicine King Mountain would come here seeking medicine.

Like all who came to see White Dog, this visitor would bring benefits to the village each time they met, along with many new books—some even containing internal cultivation techniques.

Initially, White Dog assumed this person was like all the others: those who came seeking a deity surely harbored desires of their own. Yet, surprisingly, this individual asked nothing of White Dog, only wishing to converse.

The visitor claimed to be one who communed with the heavens and revealed that while the heavens reside above, they are not beyond reach. A century ago, a celestial being had fallen to earth, merging the celestial with the terrestrial. Since then, methods to reach the heavens had emerged on earth—anyone with determination could comprehend celestial principles and glimpse Tian Ting.

At the time, White Dog listened in confusion but instinctively felt that someone who communed with the heavens might understand his plight. After several meetings, he cautiously inquired whether those who commune with the heavens must abandon love and attachment.

When White Dog posed this question, Chu Qiqi’s image filled his thoughts. Though he had read extensively since childhood and had limited interaction with people, he recognized this nightly longing for Chu Qiqi’s visits as yearning.

Hearing this, the visitor’s face broke into a knowing smile.

He explained that those who commune with the heavens must distance themselves from worldly affairs to walk alongside the celestial. However, as fellow seekers, he understood the hardships borne by the heaven-chosen. If White Dog wished to renounce his celestial path, he could offer assistance.

"Who is this person?"

Yang Wujian sensed something amiss before Chu Qiqi finished speaking.

The visitor claimed to want nothing, yet deliberately catered to White Dog’s interests by bringing books, gained his trust, and then offered help—it sounded deeply suspicious.

Chu Qiqi clenched her jaw. "He was an elderly Daoist with an exceptionally pale face. He told White Dog to call him White-faced Guest."

White-faced Guest?

All three gasped simultaneously.

Recalling the haunted mansion and Baihe, Yang Wujian stepped forward urgently. "This person is definitely malicious. What else did he do?"

Chu Qiqi startled. "Is he famous? I’ve asked everywhere over the years, but no one has heard that name."

Shen Qingshi’s expression turned grave. "He’s notorious in Ghost Market for exceptionally cruel murders. His visit to White Dog was certainly calculated."

"He did... have ulterior motives."

At these words, Chu Qiqi clenched her fists tightly.

She remembered her final nighttime meeting with White Dog.

By then, they had laid everything bare. Having grown up in Baiqian Town, Chu Qiqi was straightforward by nature and had repeatedly asked White Dog to leave with her, but he always refused. That night, perhaps emboldened by the beautiful moonlight, she gathered her courage to ask once more.

"You’ve been their deity for so long. It’s time to think of yourself."

Chu Qiqi pleaded fervently, but this time, White Dog slowly nodded.

He said he had resolved to leave White Dog Village, but couldn’t simply vanish. Instead, he must make the villagers believe White Dog had died, so they could live well thereafter—even without faith in deities.White Dog continued, saying that the White-faced Guest had already agreed to help him. He claimed to be skilled in disguise techniques and could find a recently deceased corpse, cover it with stone powder, and pass it off as White Dog. Afterward, he would act as a divine messenger to inform the villagers that White Dog had shed his mortal form and returned to the Meat Well. From then on, the villagers would need to live on their own.

This was a win-win solution, the White-faced Guest said, as long as White Dog told him the method of harvesting the Howling Whistle Flower, he would help White Dog this once.

"Howling Whistle... could it be..."

Zhou Huai thought of the tragic state of White Dog Village in the end, and his expression suddenly changed.

After the incident at the Yin residence, they already knew that the White-faced Guest was eccentric in his actions and might not keep his word at all.

Yang Wujian frowned, "White Dog believed him, didn't he? He wanted to leave with you but didn’t want to hurt the villagers’ feelings, so he had no choice but to trust what the White-faced Guest said."

Chu Qiqi’s face turned deathly pale, "He had to believe it because he didn’t want to let me down either. That day, he told me to go back to White Lead Town and wait. In two more days, after he came out of the village, he would come find me."

That day six years ago remained vivid in her memory.

Chu Qiqi, overjoyed by White Dog’s promise, happily returned home. Little did she expect that a day later, she would first encounter Yin Quer in the town.

As it turned out, that day was the scheduled time for Medicine King Mountain to visit White Dog Village to request medicine. Yin Quer arrived as agreed and was equally surprised to see Chu Qiqi.

If anything, Yin Quer could be considered the matchmaker between Chu Qiqi and White Dog. However, Chu Qiqi couldn’t tell anyone about White Dog, so she simply arranged with Yin Quer to go to White Dog Village together the next day and wait outside the village for White Dog to emerge.

Yet, she never imagined that when they arrived at the place, she would be met with such a hellish scene.

The ground was littered with lifeless bodies—the entire village, not a single survivor.

The White-faced Old Daoist stood holding Howling Whistle pollen, smiling as he looked at the trembling White Dog.

It was also the only time in all those years that he stood under the sunlight, before the bodies of the villagers who had raised him.

"You see, it’s not fate’s choice—this is the outcome."

The White-faced Daoist was still smiling.

"I don’t know what he did to them, but by the time I arrived, the villagers’ bodies were already covered in Howling Whistle pollen. White Dog seemed to go mad, trying to chase after the old Daoist, but he was showered with pollen. After that, the beasts came..."

Chu Qiqi trembled all over, as if the mere memory was unbearable. Her ten fingers clawed at her face, tearing her already ravaged skin until it bled.

"I wanted to save him, but those creatures had already bitten into him. The old Daoist came to grab me, but Sister Yin rushed forward and fought with him. Then, I fell into the pollen, covered all over. I knew if I stayed like that, I would be bitten to death, so I jumped straight into the river beside the village. At that time, I was covered in wounds and quickly lost consciousness. Because of that, the Howling Whistle pollen on my face wasn’t washed off. When I woke up, my face was already..."

All these years, Chu Qiqi had never spoken of that day’s events to anyone. She didn’t dare.

She knew that the White-faced Guest might still be alive somewhere. If she made a public stand, she might end up dead like the people of White Dog Village that day, long before the truth could come to light."I was bedridden for a long time afterward. Only after I recovered did I learn that Sister Yin had also died—gone mad somehow... I suspect that old Taoist must have done something to her. Thinking Medicine King Mountain would seek justice for her and protect me, I went there. But they claimed Sister Yin had colluded with evil cults, and her body had been burned to ashes. Knowing no one would believe me, I resolved to find the man she loved. I searched and waited at the foot of the mountain, but he never stepped forward to defend her."

Chu Qiqi shed tears, still remembering the proud expression on Yin Qu'er's face whenever she spoke of her beloved.

Yet this man had failed her for six whole years.

"Now I live only to clear Sister Yin and White Dog's names. That day in town, I saw someone who looked exactly like her and couldn't help following you. Then I overheard that her beloved had burned her body. I couldn't restrain myself—I tried to kill him at the inn. But as I stabbed him, I thought: all these years, I've been too afraid to speak the truth alone. How am I any different from him..."

Chu Qiqi's tears fell faster, until she curled into a ball among White Dog's old books.

"I should have died six years ago."