I Raise My Wife in a Supernatural Story (Infinite) - Chapter 53

The two of them stepped out of the house together, both dressed in clean, crisp athletic sets. Bai Qing wore her favorite white as usual. Before they left, Qi Yan helped her tidy her hair. Bai Qing normally used a silver-white forehead band to bind her hair, but since she was wearing modern clothes, she had to change her style. She allowed Qi Yan to gather her waist-length hair into a high ponytail. This was not only practical for movement but also complemented her sharp, refreshing athletic look.

Qi Yan also tied her own hair up. Before heading out, she pulled Bai Qing in front of the mirror and stared for a long time, feeling thoroughly satisfied.

They were wearing matching tracksuits, though one was pure black and the other was pure white. With their long hair tied into ponytails using different colored hair ties, they looked remarkably coordinated. The more Qi Yan looked at them, the more she felt they were a perfect match.

Qi Yan pursed her lips, trying to keep her smile from becoming too obvious. She felt a surge of joy in her heart but did not want to show it, so she simply kept her expression tight as she led Bai Qing outside.

Because they had left so early, the residential area was nearly empty. Even the early commuters had not yet emerged.

Qi Yan sighed again. “It really is too early. Look, the breakfast stalls are only just setting up.”

At the entrance of the neighborhood, an auntie was just starting to prepare a stall for egg-filled pancakes. For the countless time that morning, Qi Yan sighed with regret as they walked past the food.

Bai Qing looked at her, then at the stall, and said, “We will eat when we return.”

“Will there still be food left when we get back? We are going mountain climbing!” Qi Yan said, sounding utterly dejected. “I wonder if I will starve to death.”

Bai Qing let out a soft laugh but did not respond to the dramatic remark.

They took a taxi to the Western Hills mountain range. The driver followed Qi Yan’s instructions and stopped at the edge of a desolate, uncultivated part of the mountain. As he scanned the QR code for payment, the driver could not help but offer some advice.

“Young lady, this place is completely deserted. What are you two doing here? Two girls alone in a place like this must be careful. This is not a developed tourist attraction.”

If Qi Yan had not insisted on this location, the driver likely would never have had a reason to bring passengers here.

“Young lady, why don’t you go back? It will be difficult to catch a taxi home from here. If you want to climb, it is the same everywhere. Let me take you to the developed scenic area instead.”

Even after they stepped out of the car, the driver leaned his head out of the window to try one last time. He was roughly the same age as Qi Yan’s parents and had children of his own. Seeing these two beautiful girls insisting on climbing a dangerous, wild mountain made him worry as if they were his own family.

However, the two of them would not listen. Bai Qing remained silent throughout the exchange, maintaining a cold, aloof expression that made her seem distant and unapproachable. The driver did not dare speak to her, so he kept pleading with Qi Yan. In the end, his efforts were futile. The young girl remained smiling but was adamant about entering the wild hills.

The driver sighed and drove away. He knew everyone had their own path, and he could not stop someone who was determined to seek adventure.

This wild mountain was truly desolate. Not a single person was in sight, and the terrain was difficult to navigate. Most of the paths were steep dirt slopes, which were a far cry from the paved stone steps found in tourist resorts.

Bai Qing moved effortlessly, landing lightly on a pavilion not far ahead. She turned back to wait for Qi Yan to catch up.

Qi Yan was leaning heavily on a trekking pole, practically climbing on all fours. She looked up at Bai Qing. Seeing the woman in her pristine white clothes looking so effortless made her feel a surge of annoyance. Gritting her teeth, Qi Yan trudged upward while mentally plotting how to lecture this “stinky fox.”

To train her, the fox intentionally stayed just far enough ahead to be seen, acting as a guide to lure her further up the mountain.

It is too much, Qi Yan thought. It is only my first day of early morning exercise! This intensity is so high that I will be exhausted by the time we get back.

To her surprise, Bai Qing did not move this time. She stood in the pavilion with her hands behind her back, waiting as Qi Yan poked her way in with the trekking pole and collapsed onto the floor.

Qi Yan was utterly spent. The moment she entered the pavilion, she leaned against a pillar and gasped for air. She felt as though her heart was going to explode. If it kept beating this hard, she wondered if it would simply give out.

She sat there paralyzed, looking up at Bai Qing, unable to say a single word. After such intense exercise, stopping suddenly made even speaking a struggle.

Bai Qing stood beside her and took her hand. A stream of cool spiritual energy flowed from their joined palms into Qi Yan’s body. Under Qi Yan’s startled gaze, the energy slowly followed her blood flow and circulated through her entire being.

“The more beautiful and serene a place is, the more it nurtures the essence of Heaven and Earth,” Bai Qing explained patiently. She used her spiritual power to help Qi Yan smooth out her chaotic pulse. “The places humans call ‘deserted’ deep forests are the best training grounds for spirits and monsters.”

“I am having you climb mountains for what humans call ‘physical fitness.’ This is the first step in the cultivation of all living beings. Even the tree spirits rooted in the soil must move.”

Qi Yan had caught her breath by now and asked, “How does a tree move?”

“The fluttering of branches and leaves is movement.”

Bai Qing’s spiritual energy moved steadily through Qi Yan’s body, clearing her pathways. “Using my spiritual energy to help you clear your meridians after intense exercise is a shortcut,” she said.

Qi Yan’s mind raced, and she asked, “Then couldn’t everyone just find a good master? If their master did this for them, wouldn’t they get twice the result with half the effort?”

Hearing this suggestion, Bai Qing looked at her with a complicated expression. She showed a moment of clear hesitation as if there were something difficult to say.

This look made Qi Yan even more curious. She pressed on, “Is it not allowed? Is this method not available to everyone?”

She insisted on knowing the reason. Bai Qing pursed her lips before saying, “Of course not. A master is, after all, just a master. There are some things a master cannot do.”

“What can a master not do?” Qi Yan blinked, looking confused and adorable.

Her breathing had leveled out, and under Bai Qing’s guidance, her meridians showed signs of opening. She was proving to be a promising candidate for cultivation.

Bai Qing narrowed her eyes in satisfaction and withdrew the flow of spiritual energy, though their hands remained joined. Neither of them made a move to let go.

“There are many things a master cannot do, just as there are things your parents cannot do,” Bai Qing said, tilting her head with a smile. “This act of using one’s own spiritual energy to clear another person’s meridians is something no outsider can do. In all the world, only one type of person can do it. This person must be a Daoist companion.”

That sentence left Qi Yan stunned. Her large eyes blinked several times before the full weight of the term “Daoist companion” finally hit her.

“You… I…” Qi Yan stammered for a long time. She was unable to form a coherent word because she was blushing so intensely.

It seemed her heart rate, which had just stabilized, was skyrocketing again, and it was completely beyond her control.

She wanted to raise her hand to cover her wildly thumping chest, only to realize their hands were still interlaced. She could even feel a fine layer of sweat being shared between their palms.

Qi Yan instinctively pulled her hand away and looked to the side. “What do you mean ‘companion’? We are just…”

She wanted to ask how they could possibly be companions, but she knew deep down she could not argue. They had formed a spiritual contract, so they were, in fact, Daoist companions.

Bai Qing sat leisurely beside her and said, “Spiritual energy is deeply private. Unless it is a companion whose souls are interconnected, using spiritual energy to intrude into another person’s body to clear meridians is extremely dangerous. If there is resistance, both parties risk chaotic blood flow. That is why I said there are things masters and parents cannot do.”

Interconnected souls! How shameless!

Qi Yan fanned herself with her hand, trying to cool her face before she turned completely red.

“It is just a spiritual contract made by accident. You make it sound as if we have made some eternal vow!”

Some people might not have much skill, but their pride remained stubborn.

Bai Qing smiled but did not argue. She was in an exceptionally good mood, a state of pleasure that Qi Yan did not quite understand.

There were some things she did not state directly. While they were technically companions, it had been a forced situation from the start. However, if either party harbored true resistance toward the other, the spiritual energy would not have flowed so smoothly.

Recalling the sensation of her energy moving through Qi Yan’s body without a single obstacle, Bai Qing couldn’t help but smile. This proved one fact: Qi Yan felt no resistance toward her at all, even if she had never admitted it.

Bai Qing decided to keep this discovery as her own little secret for now.

After resting in the pavilion for half an hour, Qi Yan felt her strength return. With Bai Qing’s help, she felt refreshed and ready to climb further.

“Shall we go?” Her eager expression was bright and full of youthful vitality.

However, Bai Qing remained seated and shook her head. “That is enough for today. We will not climb any further.”

“Why?” Qi Yan, who had been warming up to continue, turned back in surprise. “It has only been an hour. Is it over already?”

“By the sound of it, do you want me to put you through harsh training?”

“Well, not exactly. I just find it strange. I thought you were going for a difficult workout! Especially since you dragged me out of bed so early.”

“Everything must be done step by step. It is only the first day, and your training intensity has already been high. This is enough.” With that, Bai Qing stood up and walked to the edge of the pavilion. Habitually, she tried to tuck her hands into her sleeves, but since she was wearing modern clothes, she simply stood with her hands behind her back, quietly watching the ground outside.

Curious, Qi Yan leaned over to see what she was staring at, but she saw nothing but dirt.

“What are you doing? If we are not training, are we not going home?” Qi Yan gave her a little nudge.

Bai Qing shook her head. “Did you not want to find San Shui and the others to be your teammates?”

Qi Yan froze, then nodded blankly. “Yes. But…”

But how were they going to find them?

Before she could ask, Bai Qing’s right hand moved. She pressed her index and middle fingers together to form a seal. A white light flashed at her fingertips, and as she chanted a silent mantra, the sky above the pavilion instantly changed color. In a heartbeat, the clouds shifted, and the bright, sunny day was swallowed by dark, heavy clouds.

This was the first time Qi Yan had seen such a spectacle outside of a storybook. Despite her surprise, she felt a faint thrill. She grabbed Bai Qing’s free left hand and asked, “This will not affect normal people, will it?”

Bai Qing did not speak. Her right fingers traced an invisible line through the air. As the sky churned, the ground began to vibrate, as if a rare earthquake had struck the Western Hills.

Qi Yan gripped Bai Qing’s hand tightly, feeling the earth shaking beneath her feet, terrified the mountain might collapse the next second.

The mountain did not collapse. Instead, the soil in front of Bai Qing suddenly churned upward. A figure abruptly popped out of the earth, leaving Qi Yan speechless.

“Oh my! Who on earth has disturbed this old lady?”

The person who appeared was a short, elderly woman. Her white hair was pinned back in a bun, and she leaned on a long staff carved with a coiling snake. She was dressed in black brocade that looked centuries old.

As the old woman appeared, the sky returned to a clear blue and the tremors stopped, as if nothing had ever happened.

Bai Qing nodded to the old woman and said calmly, “Mountain Goddess, it has been a long time.”

Mountain Goddess?!

Qi Yan was stunned again. She quickly sized up the unremarkable little old lady. She was shocked that this was the “Mountain God” often mentioned in myths.

Television was full of lies. The Mountain God was not a little old man; it was a little old lady!

Wait, aren’t there supposed to be many mountain gods? Like one for every mountain?

Qi Yan’s head was full of questions, but she could not get a single word out. She stood there like a statue, listening to the conversation between Bai Qing and the Mountain Goddess.

The old woman squinted as she looked at Bai Qing. After a moment, her eyes widened in disbelief. “You! It is you! The Bai girl from the Kunlun Snow Mountains!”

Qi Yan blinked. This was the first time she had heard of Bai Qing’s origin. She only knew she was a snow fox, but she had never known her exact home.

Bai Qing’s eyes crinkled slightly as she nodded. “How have you been, Granny?”

“Fair, fair.” The Mountain Goddess waved her hand, leaning on her snake staff as her expression grew more serious. “You have been silent for a hundred years. Now I see your soul is damaged and your spiritual power has not even recovered fifty percent. Girl, what happened? Do you need this old woman’s help?”

The Mountain Goddess was powerful. With just a few glances, she had seen through Bai Qing’s condition. Qi Yan looked at her with admiration.

Bai Qing shook her head. “My body is fine. There are simply matters here yet to be resolved, so I cannot stay long. Once everything is settled, I will explain it all to you personally. I sought you out today because I have a favor to ask.”

The Mountain Goddess had known Bai Qing for centuries and understood her temperament. She did not push further.

“What could you possibly need to ask me?”

“I want to ask Granny to help me find a few people. Once found, there is no need to disturb them. Just let me know where they are.”

“Is that all? That is a small matter indeed.” The Mountain Goddess waved it off dismissively, then looked at Bai Qing again, frowning. “To come to me for such a thing, have you lost contact with your own subordinates as well?”

Bai Qing was, after all, the King of the Fox Clan.

It finally clicked for Qi Yan. As a Demon King, Bai Qing could not possibly be alone. She had to have other demons under her command. But since the seal was broken, Qi Yan had not seen Bai Qing look for any others. Now that the Mountain Goddess pointed it out, she realized it in hindsight.

The expression on Bai Qing’s face remained calm. She simply said, “To be honest, Granny, I was sealed for a hundred years by a strange talisman. The world has changed drastically. My soul is damaged, and I cannot establish contact with the Kunlun Realm, so I must make do for now.”

She did not explain everything, but the Mountain Goddess understood. A hundred years ago, the entire immortal realm had undergone significant turmoil. It was not a disaster that befell only one person or the Demon Clan alone.

Bai Qing kept it in the back of her mind that once her soul was repaired, she would thoroughly investigate the events of that year.

Qi Yan listened, her mind in a fog. She did not fully understand, but she could sense the gravity of the situation.

She was smart and could guess a few things from their brief exchange. After the Mountain Goddess left, she remained frowning, her hand still tightly clutching Bai Qing’s.

Bai Qing turned to her, reaching out to brush a stray hair from her forehead. “What is it?”

“You were not the only one sealed by a talisman a hundred years ago. The wolf demon by Wu Shuang’s side is proof. What exactly happened back then? From what you and the Mountain Goddess said, the entire immortal realm suffered a massive trauma. Why?” Qi Yan looked at her with concern. “Will you still be in danger?”

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