Chapter 160: A Coincidence

“What does that have to do with me?” Hu Li raised his eyelids and shot her a glance, snorting coldly. “You and I merely met by chance. We have crossed paths only once, and we do not even know each other’s names.”

The girl in red stared at him, despair gradually surfacing in her eyes—the despair of one on the verge of death. After a long while, she closed her eyes, as though she had resigned herself to her fate, and answered softly, “That is true. Whether I live or die has nothing to do with you.”

With that, she lowered her head and lightly touched her forehead to the ground. Then she prostrated herself and apologized. “I am sorry. I did not know my place and offended you, fellow cultivator.”

Her name was Feiyi.

Seeing her lifeless, dispirited appearance, Feng Ke’er felt an inexplicable tightness in her chest.

Hu Li said nothing more. He merely watched Feiyi in silence.

Feiyi rose with a bitter smile and spread her arms. It was as though a stone had fallen into a still pond. Ripples spread outward from her body, and amid the shimmering waves, her figure gradually faded.

The negotiation had failed. That wisp of divine consciousness was about to dissipate.

At that moment, Hu Li’s eyes suddenly brightened, and he called out urgently, “Wait!”

Feiyi stared at him in confusion.

Hu Li pointed at her chest. “What is that?”

Following his finger, Feiyi lowered her head and looked at her chest.

A beast fang hung there. Slender and pointed, it was white as fine porcelain and about the size of half a thumbnail, fastened around her neck with a red cord.

Feiyi gently stroked the fang and smiled. “This? It is a keepsake left by my late father. He once told me that when he descended to the lower realm to undergo his tribulation, a friend gave it to him. I am sorry, but it is the only memento my father left me. I cannot give it away.”

As she spoke, she calmly tucked the fang back inside her robes.

She had always worn it close to her body. When she had just bowed to the ground, she had accidentally exposed it.

“Your late… father?” Hu Li lifted his brows, his expression extremely peculiar.

Feiyi lowered her eyes, sorrow clouding her face. “Yes. Twelve hundred years ago, my father reached the end of his allotted lifespan and passed away.”

Hu Li drew in a sharp breath. Then he closed his eyes and fell silent.

Feiyi’s figure finally vanished completely amid the ripples.

Once that wisp of divine consciousness had entirely dispersed, Feng Ke’er could no longer hold herself back. She made a small sound to announce her presence—and, at the same time, to demand an explanation.

Yuanfang, what do you think? She was not the great detective Di Renjie! She had only wanted to hear some gossip. Why did everything have to become a criminal investigation and riddle-solving session? Was he deliberately trying to exhaust her?

Hu Li opened his eyes. Whether speaking to himself or explaining the matter, he murmured, “How could this have happened? How could Senior have passed away? Senior once did me a great kindness. I swore that after ascending, if fate ever allowed me to meet Senior again, I would repay him properly. I never imagined that today I would meet his descendant and learn that he had already passed away more than a thousand years ago. Alas…”

At last, Feng Ke’er understood what had happened.

Back in the lower realm, the fox had once received guidance from a fake immortal senior. Feiyi was that senior’s daughter. The beast fang Hu Li had given the senior served as proof.

“Was that fake immortal senior also a phantom fox?” Unable to resist, she indulged in another bit of gossip.

Unexpectedly, Hu Li shook his head. “No. Senior’s true form was a silver foxhound.”

“A silver foxhound.” Feng Ke’er smiled. No wonder he felt so close to her. It was simply a counterfeit seeing the genuine article. Admiration had arisen naturally.

Hu Li snorted.

Feng Ke’er’s thoughts shifted, and she gave a soft cry of surprise. “That doesn’t make sense. A silver foxhound is a dog. How could he have a daughter who belongs to the phantom fox species?”

Hu Li nodded. “I find it very strange as well. The phantom fox clan never interbreeds with outsiders. By all rights, Senior could not possibly have had a daughter like Feiyi. Master, are you certain that Feiyi’s true form really is a phantom fox?”

“Of course I’m certain. I saw it clearly. She is a red-furred phantom fox.” As soon as Feng Ke’er finished speaking, she covered her mouth and burst out laughing. Look at that cuckold’s hat he was wearing!

“Master, why are you laughing?” Hu Li asked, baffled.

“Nothing. I was thinking that perhaps they were adoptive father and daughter.” Feng Ke’er coughed lightly and suppressed her laughter.

All right, perhaps her awareness was simply too far ahead of its time. In an era when the institution of marriage had yet to take definite shape, men had not yet developed the instinct to defend the color of their own hats.

Hu Li gave a faint “Oh,” as though he had secretly made up his mind. Clenching his fist, he muttered, “Tomorrow, I’ll go look for Feiyi again.”

Having read his thoughts, Feng Ke’er naturally knew that he intended to lend Feiyi a hand.

The following morning, as soon as the market opened, Hu Li went straight to the Myriad Directions Tower and headed up to the second floor.

“Welcome, fellow cultivator.” This time, the person who received him was not Feiyi, but someone else—a man, also a slave beast with a red mark between his brows. His cultivation was the same as Hu Li’s: the first level of the seventh rank.

Hu Li asked, “Where is the red-clad slave beast from yesterday?”

Approaching another person’s slave beast without going through her master and attempting to woo her would have been unethical. Thus, he did not mention Feiyi by name.

“The red-clad slave beast?” The man froze for a moment, then quickly understood. With his eyes lowered respectfully, he answered, “Feiyi… she is not here.”

“Not here?” Hu Li knitted his brows. “Do you know where she went?”

The slave beast shot a quick glance toward the eastern corner. A jade ornament about a meter high stood there.

“May I ask why you are looking for Feiyi?” He made an inviting gesture. “How about we move over there and discuss it in private?”

Hu Li possessed an innate ability to read minds and saw through the man’s thoughts. He nodded cooperatively. “Very well.”

Beneath a flower window in the southwest corner stood a round stone table and four stone stools. A small jade incense burner with two handles sat atop the table, thin wisps of smoke curling gently from it. The corner was elegant and secluded, an excellent place for conversation.

“Please, take the seat of honor.” The slave beast led Hu Li to the seat by the window while he himself stood respectfully to one side, hands hanging at his sides.

Perhaps it was merely a coincidence, but he happened to be standing with his back turned toward the jade ornament.

Hu Li did not stand on ceremony. He walked over, swept up his robe, and sat down in a broad, imposing manner.

“Yesterday, on Feiyi’s recommendation, I purchased a formula for a Spirit-Protecting Pill from your establishment. But after I returned, I discovered that the jade slip was completely blank. There was nothing in it at all. I came today to ask Feiyi about it.”

“So that is what happened. Perhaps Feiyi was careless and forgot to remove the restriction from the jade slip yesterday.” The slave beast smiled. “I wonder whether you brought the jade slip with you?”

Hu Li did not expose him. Instead, he cooperatively took the jade slip from his storage pouch and placed it on the table. “Here it is.”

The slave beast picked it up. Red light appeared in his palm and spread over the jade slip. A moment later, he withdrew the light and returned the slip to Hu Li with both hands, bowing as he apologized.

“Indeed, Feiyi forgot to remove the restriction. I am very sorry to have made you come all this way. The restriction has now been removed. Please inspect it yourself.”

Hu Li simply pocketed the jade slip with a carefree smile. “You are too polite, fellow cultivator.”

With that, he rose to leave.

The slave beast respectfully escorted him to the stairway.

After leaving the Myriad Directions Tower, Hu Li took out the jade slip and was just about to cover it with his divine sense when a fair hand suddenly slapped him on the shoulder.

“Who is it?”

Hu Li immediately turned around.

Damn it. Someone had approached him at close range, and he had not sensed a thing.

But once he saw who stood behind him, he quickly concealed his alarm and greeted her with a beaming smile and a clasped-fist salute.

“So it is Fellow Cultivator Zeng. I have you to thank for your guidance last time.”

The female fake immortal surnamed Zeng, whom he had met briefly in the mission hall, raised her brows with a smile. “Young Master Hu has an excellent memory.”

“The feeling is mutual.” Hu Li chuckled.

The female cultivator gestured toward the Myriad Pills Tower behind him and asked casually, “I saw Young Master Hu coming out of this building. Are you an alchemist?”

Hu Li gave an embarrassed laugh. “How could I possibly know how to refine pills? My supply of Spirit-Protecting Pills is nearly exhausted, and my master is in seclusion. I have no idea when she will emerge. I had no choice but to buy the formula, gather the ingredients according to it, and find an alchemist to refine the pills.”

At that, the female cultivator’s eyes flashed brightly. “So your master is an alchemist?”

Hu Li laughed again without denying it.

The female cultivator immediately blossomed into a smile and enthusiastically invited him to attend some sort of pill-appraisal gathering three days later.

“A pill-appraisal gathering?” Hu Li did not appear particularly interested.

She hurriedly explained, “It is actually only an identification session. Not long ago, I obtained a bottle of pills I had never seen before. I consulted many alchemists, but none of them knew what kind of pills they were or what effects they possessed. So I had no choice but to invite a number of friends to help identify them. Since your master is an alchemist, Young Master Hu must have extraordinary knowledge. If you would be willing to honor my humble residence and offer a little guidance, I would be deeply grateful.”

“She consulted many alchemists”? In the Spirit Realm, which alchemist was not proud and arrogant? Could they really be so easy to consult?

Hu Li glanced at her and smiled as he agreed.

After bidding farewell to the female cultivator surnamed Zeng, Hu Li once again covered the jade slip with his divine sense.

The moment he read it, his expression changed dramatically. He immediately teleported back to the cave dwelling.

“What should I do? What should I do?”

He rubbed his hands vigorously and paced around the cave dwelling like a spinning top.

Feng Ke’er sat cross-legged inside the space sphere, propping her chin in both hands. She said listlessly, “Fox, do you really have to get so deeply into character?”

Just watching him made her dizzy.

She truly did not know what to make of him. Put kindly, he had an extraordinarily vivid imagination and was always prepared for danger. Put less kindly, he suffered from full-blown persecution paranoia.

That Feiyi had merely asked him for help. As it happened, she was also the daughter of an old friend of his. Yet this fellow had twisted the matter every which way, insisting that nothing in the world could be such a coincidence. It had to be a trap. Someone must have set their sights on him.

Then, the moment Feiyi’s divine consciousness dispersed, he had begun acting suspiciously and staging this entire performance.

But as it turned out, he had actually guessed correctly this time.

First, something really had happened to Feiyi. Under the pretext of removing the restriction from the jade slip, her fellow slave beast had inserted an additional message into it. The message stated that Feiyi possessed exceptional aptitude and had reached the third level of the seventh rank in only three thousand years. Her master was deeply wary of her and intended to sell her to someone else for a good price.

In the Spirit Realm, most people preferred slave beasts they had raised from a young age. For a slave beast purchased midway through its life, the first thing done after the transaction was to cripple its elixir sea. No wonder Feiyi had said that three thousand years of cultivation could be destroyed in an instant.

Second, someone really had approached him on this outing to “woo” him and seek a relationship.

Was it truly a coincidence?

Could it really be a coincidence?

As previously agreed, Feng Ke’er had watched everything from the sidelines. She was so shocked that both eyelids twitched repeatedly.

They claimed they did not like killing, but in truth, people in the Spirit Realm preferred to scheme in secret, didn’t they?

Compared with them, she still preferred the lower realm, where people simply shouted, fought, and killed.

To be continued.

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The Heavenly Passage Codex, Chapter 160: Coincidence, complete.