I Raise My Wife in a Supernatural Story (Infinite) - Chapter 26

“I’ve said it many times, I am not a Samoyed!” The snow-white fox stood by the roadside, head held high with an air of haughty pride.

“Wow, look at it, so noble and majestic! So handsome!” Two passing female university students stopped to stare at the white fox, chattering excitedly.

Bai Qing couldn’t help but bare her teeth in displeasure.

“Seems fiercer than the usual Samoyed. Aren’t Sammies supposed to be dopey and cute?”

“You’re the dopey one! This venerable one is not a Samoyed!”

Qi Yan gave an awkward laugh, gently patting Bai Qing’s back as she quickly led her away.

“Even if you argue with them like this, they still can’t hear you.” Qi Yan muttered under her breath once they were out of earshot.

Bai Qing scoffed. “If not for you stopping me, this venerable one would have taught those mortals a lesson! Otherwise, they’d dare compare me to that stupid dog again!”

Just then, an actual Samoyed trotted past. The silly dog, tongue lolling happily, mistook Bai Qing for one of its own and excitedly tried to pounce on her.

“How dare you!”

Bai Qing instantly bared her fangs. The Samoyed sensed the danger and froze in place, ears flattening in fear.

Normally, when faced with a threat, a dog would instinctively adopt a defensive stance. But with Bai Qing, it was different, there was no growling or aggression, just sheer terror. The dog didn’t even think to fight back, immediately cowering and trying to flee, dragging its owner behind it despite the leash.

“What’s wrong? What’s going on? Baby, why are you running?!” The Samoyed’s owner, a young man, struggled to hold back his panicked dog, nearly getting yanked off his feet as the dog bolted.

Qi Yan covered her face with one hand, shopping bags in the other, and gestured for Bai Qing to hurry home.

“My dear ancestor, I give up. Why bother picking a fight with a dog?”

“It disrespected me!”

Alright, judging by her tone, the ancestor was genuinely offended, insulted by a dog.

Qi Yan had no choice. Fortunately, they had already finished shopping, so she quickly ushered Bai Qing back home.

“I should’ve never taken you out in the first place,” Qi Yan grumbled as she unlocked the door. “And yet, you were the one who insisted on coming.”

“This venerable one came out to familiarize myself with your modern society!” The snow fox stood on the doormat, paws shifting restlessly, clearly agitated.

Seeing her like this, Qi Yan immediately understood and sighed in resignation before heading to the bathroom.

The whole thing was ridiculous. That morning, after breakfast, Qi Yan had mentioned going to the supermarket. With a new carnivore in the house, the fridge was running low, and she needed to stock up.

Given the current situation, it seemed she wouldn’t be free from supernatural troubles anytime soon which meant Bai Qing wasn’t going anywhere. She had to prepare for an extra mouth to feed long-term.

She had originally planned to go alone, but Bai Qing insisted on tagging along, claiming she needed to understand modern society.

“I’ve been sealed in that book for over a century. I have no idea how much your human world has changed. Since I’ll be living here from now on, I should at least learn the basics.” That was how Bai Qing had put it, the snow-white fox sitting there solemnly stating her case.

At this moment, Qi Yan took out a damp towel from the bathroom and crouched down to wipe the paws of Bai Qing, who was still rubbing them on the doormat.

“So, after going out, did you get familiar with anything?” The tone alone made it clear how exasperated Qi Yan was as she held one of Bai Qing’s paws with one hand and wiped it with the damp towel in the other.

She wiped meticulously, ensuring the fox’s snow-white fur was spotless.

The snow fox seemed momentarily stunned, staring fixedly at the human crouching to clean her paws, even forgetting she could have used a cleansing spell to tidy her fur.

Her earlier paw-rubbing had just been an expression of frustration, a childish display of her beastly instincts.

Once all four paws were clean, Qi Yan stood up, casually stroking the snow fox’s fluffy head as she said gently, “There, all clean now!”

Bai Qing looked up at her, turned her head away with a soft huff, then trotted off to curl up on the sofa.

“Over a hundred years, your human society has changed a lot,” Bai Qing remarked, her gaze following Qi Yan as she moved around the room, watching her busy herself. “I remember before I was sealed away, the world was at war.”

Qi Yan paused mid-motion, instantly recalling certain historical events and roughly guessing when Bai Qing must have been sealed.

“During wartime, someone actually had the leisure to seal you away?”

Bai Qing’s heterochromatic eyes gleamed with an inscrutable light as she fixed her gaze on Qi Yan. “That’s exactly what I wanted to talk to you about. During wartime, do you know what this world had in abundance?”

Qi Yan asked, “What?”

“Lost souls.”

Qi Yan froze, slowly setting down what she was holding before turning to stare at Bai Qing.

Those blue-and-gold eyes remained unwavering. “There were many cultivators who strayed onto dark paths demonic practitioners, evil spirits, malevolent demons. In that era, scum seeking shortcuts to ascension through wicked means were everywhere. I suspect that’s how I fell into some unknown person’s trap.”

Bai Qing studied Qi Yan’s expression and, unsurprised to see confusion there, didn’t mind spelling it out more clearly: “What I mean is, this might be the hidden truth behind that Supernatural Tales. A hundred years ago, I was already a demon king who had cultivated for over a thousand years, no one in the demon realm had lived longer than me. That book sealed me away for two possible reasons: first, it needed to devour my power; second, it needed to keep me away from the human world though I haven’t figured out why yet.”

Qi Yan gradually caught up with her train of thought, realizing Bai Qing was analyzing why Supernatural Tales had sealed her in the first place, and instinctively followed along: “I think those two possibilities aren’t mutually exclusive. Imagine this, whatever it is wanted to devour your power, so it sealed you within the book’s divination slips. But after over a hundred years, it still hasn’t succeeded, so it could only keep you trapped indefinitely. It might want to consume you, but it also fears you that’s why it had to imprison you forever.”

“Fear?” Bai Qing narrowed her vulpine eyes.

Qi Yan sat cross-legged on the carpet. “One thing I don’t understand, if it sealed you away for over a hundred years, why did the seal break so easily when I stumbled upon it? If it wanted to keep you imprisoned forever, how did the divination slip containing you end up in the beginner’s pool?”

This was something she truly couldn’t wrap her head around. She didn’t think there was anything particularly special about herself, why would simply drawing a card break this curse? It made the curse seem so worthless.

Bai Qing looked at her and said, “I’ve told you many times you and I share a one-of-a-kind compatibility. Even the thing that trapped me probably never expected such a coincidence.”

That damned compatibility again.

Qi Yan scratched her head. No matter how many times Bai Qing said it, she still couldn’t understand. Maybe she could grasp the concept, but she couldn’t accept it. Just like how she’d ended up in this cursed storybook, she kept asking herself, why? Why her? How could it be her?

But Bai Qing kept telling her there was no reason. It was just a coincidence. It had to be her. Maybe this was fate.

“This fate really isn’t fair to me.” Qi Yan slumped over the coffee table, utterly defeated.

Bai Qing stared at her intently before suddenly asking, “Being with me, does it truly displease you so much?”

Qi Yan sighed in resignation. “Wouldn’t anyone be unhappy? This whole situation is just so sudden, how is it any different from an arranged marriage? People don’t do that these days!”

The snow fox tilted its head in confusion. “Is there something about me that displeases you?”

“Ugh!” Qi Yan exhaled heavily, feeling like this fox just wasn’t on the same wavelength. “It’s not that there’s anything wrong with you. You’re beautiful, powerful, and you’ve protected me, you’re great. But none of that is a reason for me to suddenly accept this ‘arranged marriage.’ You keep saying we’ve formed a spiritual bond, that for demons, a spiritual bond is equivalent to a lifelong commitment that it’s incredibly important. Well, for humans, lifelong commitments are important too! I want to be with someone I love, not get dragged into some escape game and then suddenly married off without warning.”

The more she spoke, the more desolate she felt. Covering her face, she groaned, “I’ve lived 22 years and haven’t even experienced love, yet here I am, already married! Ah! My parents don’t even know I’m seeing anyone if they found out I got married out of nowhere, they’d be furious!”

The thousand-year-old demon king didn’t understand her current feelings, only catching that she’d never been in love before. So he said, “I’ve never been in love either, yet here I am, bound to you by a spiritual contract.”

Qi Yan: “…”

Am I supposed to feel honored?

Whatever. This fox just didn’t get her frustration.

“We’re not even having the same conversation.” Qi Yan gave up on continuing the topic. In this fox’s eyes, the spiritual bond was everything, once formed, it was done, whether there were feelings or not.

But she, as a human, wasn’t like that. She wanted her partner to be someone she truly loved, not some ridiculous contract that would make people laugh if she told them about it!

Suppressing her resentment, Qi Yan could only think about escaping this storybook in the future and along with it, this absurd “marriage.”

Lately, after leaving the storybook, Bai Qing’s spiritual power had been so depleted that he couldn’t even maintain his human form, let alone spare the energy to read Qi Yan’s thoughts.

“Anyway, the situation now is that I accidentally broke your seal, and we share the same goal to find a way out of this storybook!” Qi Yan stood up again to start unpacking the groceries she’d bought. “From what I can see, the simplest and most straightforward method is to clear all the levels. As long as I meet the conditions to escape, I can leave!”

Her thoughts were naive, and she instinctively didn’t consider Bai Qing’s issues. At this stage, she was only focused on her own affairs and hadn’t given much thought to anything related to Bai Qing. Otherwise, with her intelligence, she would have noticed a problem: since the sealed oracle had been lifted, why was Bai Qing still obediently following her into the dungeon? Why hadn’t her spiritual power been restored yet?

Bai Qing merely glanced at her indifferently and said nothing more.

Although the oracle had been lifted, Bai Qing could still feel an invisible thread connecting her to the storybook, like a kite suspended in the sky, its string still held by a mysterious force. To truly break free from the storybook’s constraints, the current situation wouldn’t suffice, she still needed to find the hidden mastermind pulling the strings behind the scenes.

She had some suspicions in mind but wasn’t planning to share them with Qi Yan just yet. Given their fragile relationship, there was no need to say too much. For now, they were merely fighting their own battles.

After storing the groceries and meat she had bought in the fridge, Qi Yan wiped her hands and sat back on the sofa, turning to look at the snow fox curled up beside her, resting with its eyes closed.

Sensing her gaze, the fox opened its eyes and looked at her, silently asking if there was something she wanted.

Qi Yan said, “I have to go to school tomorrow. Will you be okay at home alone?”

The fox nodded its head up and down, indicating it would be fine.

“I’ll make your meals for tonight.”

The snow fox nodded again. “Quite the busy life for a student.”

“It’s not too bad. I’m about to graduate, and I haven’t been to school much in the past year. Most of my classmates are already interning.”

“And you?”

“Me? I signed a contract with a publisher for a comic series.”

“You can draw?” Bai Qing sounded surprised.

Mentioning her passion, Qi Yan brightened with a smile. “Yeah, I studied traditional Chinese painting, but I also draw comics.” She pointed to another room in the apartment that was always kept closed. “That’s my studio.”

Bai Qing glanced at it briefly before looking away. The fox’s expression was hard to read, and Qi Yan couldn’t tell if she was interested or not.

“Have you redeemed the rewards from the storybook yet?”

“Ah, oh!” Qi Yan felt inexplicably deflated. She had hoped to share her love for art with someone, but Bai Qing showed no interest at all.

As an only child, Qi Yan had no siblings to share her life with. Her parents, though loving, didn’t understand art, they had simply supported her hobby out of respect since childhood. Once she became an adult, her carefree parents had all but stepped back, living their own lives, traveling the world, and rarely staying home.

Before Bai Qing had followed her back to this apartment, Qi Yan had lived a life where she was mostly alone. Even during her first two years of university, when she lived in a dorm, her relationships with her roommates were merely passable they could grab a meal together, but there was no deep connection.

Qi Yan wasn’t planning to use her points recklessly. Those points were valuable to both her and Bai Qing, so she had to be cautious.

She took out the three oracle slips and the brocade pouch from the novice dungeon and laid them on the table. Bai Qing straightened up, examining them closely, even leaning in to sniff them lightly.

Qi Yan watched her in surprise. “What’s wrong?”

“No, it’s nothing. I just wanted to examine for myself what kind of treasure these slips that can seal me actually are.”

Qi Yan lowered her head to look at the three slips in front of her, stroking her chin as she said, “I feel like they’re not quite the same as the one that sealed you.”

“Oh? How so?”

“Hmm, I can’t quite put my finger on it. But when I unsealed your slip in the beginner’s instance, I took a glance the talisman drawn on that slip was much more intricate, completely different from the simple patterns on these.”

Bai Qing raised his eyes to stare at her. “You can remember that talisman?”

“I have a keen eye for drawings. That talisman was extremely complex. I couldn’t reproduce it perfectly right now, but I could slowly recall it.”

Qi Yan placed her hand on the slips, and with a thought, she unsealed all three. Three beams of light intertwined in the air, each a different color blue, purple, and gold making Qi Yan’s heart race with excitement.

She remembered that when she drew Bai Qing in the instance, it had also been a golden light!

Rubbing her hands together excitedly, Qi Yan marveled at her luck being someone with a Luck stat of 99, she had actually drawn another gold card from the beginner’s instance reward slips!

“Come on, let me see what I got this time!”

The three beams of light intertwined before vanishing, disappearing into Qi Yan’s virtual player inventory.

“Let’s see the blue card is 10 points, the purple card is 20 points and the gold card is huh?”

A big question mark popped up over Qi Yan’s small head.

Bai Qing, intrigued by her expression, leaned in closer and saw Qi Yan pull out, a stick from her game inventory?

Well, “stick” wasn’t quite accurate, it looked more like a tree branch.

“……”

Both human and fox fell into silence, staring at each other before simultaneously looking back down at the branch.

Qi Yan held it up to her eyes, turning it left and right, up and down, but couldn’t find anything special about it.

“This is a gold card? You’re not messing with me, are you?!” She pinched the branch and suddenly waved it in the air. “I get it! This must be a magic wand! I must have drawn the most magical wand from Hogwarts!”

She swung the branch around for a while, but nothing happened, leaving her deflated.

Bai Qing looked at her like she was an idiot and sighed. “Items usually have descriptions. It can’t just be an ordinary stick if it’s a gold card. Check the details.”

“Oh, right.” Reminded by Bai Qing, Qi Yan quickly opened her virtual screen and pulled up the branch’s description.

[Divine Wood Branch] A fragment of an ancient divine tree that fell into the mortal world. Possesses the power to turn stone into gold and decay into wonder, brimming with the essence of life.
Basic Usage: As a fragment of the divine tree, the owner can use it to heal a fatal wound once. Each branch can be used five times, with a cooldown of one day per use. Entering a new scenario resets the cooldown but does not restore the usage count.
Advanced Usage: When combined with other compatible items, the Divine Wood Branch can produce extraordinary effects, transforming into a higher-tier item.
PS: Only branches with remaining uses can be upgraded. Once all uses are exhausted, the item becomes useless. Use wisely.

“Healing! And for fatal wounds too! Amazing!” Qi Yan instantly stopped disliking the branch, cradling it in her hands instead. Though it looked plain, its abilities were truly remarkable!

Bai Qing was more concerned about the so-called synthesis: “If you’re lucky enough, you might obtain a certain item in the future that matches it, and its functions will be upgraded then.”

Qi Yan carefully tucked away the Divine Wood Branch and said, “That’s all in the uncertain future. Who knows if I’ll ever draw another gold card? For now, let’s focus on the present, whatever I draw is what I get.”

She was adaptable and lived in the moment, knowing overthinking wouldn’t help.

After that, Qi Yan occasionally went to school. With just two months left before graduation, she had submitted her final project for her advisor’s evaluation and still had some pre-graduation procedures to complete.

After three days of rest, Bai Qing successfully regained her human form. Once her spiritual energy recovered somewhat, she resumed her habit of disappearing into the ring and rarely coming out. She accompanied Qi Yan daily, gradually adapting to the rhythm and lifestyle of modern society.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, a month had passed.

Lately, Qi Yan had been feeling that the time to re-enter the storybook was approaching. She couldn’t help but grow nervous about the unknown dangers and horrors of that world.

One night, as Qi Yan lay in bed asleep, she suddenly jolted awake. The ring on her left hand grew faintly warm, followed by a violent, dizzying whirl. She was swept into a raging wind, plummeting into an unknown world.

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