Jin Se

Chapter 14

"Ai ouch!" Shi Wuduan heavily sat on the ground. He turned his head and saw the side of Bai Li's thin face pressed against his shoulder. It seemed that Bai Li was too weak to even lift his head, his shoulder hurt from where his chin was jutting into his shoulder. From afar, Shi Wuduan could tell with a glance that it was Bai Li, but now that they were closely pressed against each other, the person before him started to seem unfamiliar.

Shi Wuduan finally, belatedly, began to wonder, how did a pink dumpling-like maiden suddenly turn into a man?

Luckily, he was still young. Even though he randomly called out "wife" and "mother-in-law," in truth, all he knew about those matters were the words themselves. He used them to bad-mouth and disgust the fox king, nothing more, but at heart he was very ignorant. He didn't understand anything at all about what it meant for men and women to have feelings for each other, so he only felt slightly awkward and didn't actually have any major reaction. He dubiously pushed Bai Li's shoulder softly and asked, "Are you little... little Li-zi?"

Bai Li forced himself to raise his spirits, using him to prop himself up, pressing a hand against his chest, and said softly, "Why did you come here? Leave... leave quickly."

It really was Bai Li.

Shi Wuduan startled for a moment, feeling rather lost. How was it that Bai Li grew up and turned into a man? Didn't that mean he couldn't be his wife then? It must be that he didn't grow correctly. It was definitely because his mother didn't treat him well. Ai, no wonder people say "girls go through eighteen changes." It turned out that growing into a woman from childhood to adulthood was strangely difficult indeed.

If he couldn't be his wife, then he couldn't be his wife. Shi Wuduan was very good at not taking things to heart. Even if he turned into a man, he was still little Li-zi. In the future, he'd just find someone else to be his wife, little Li-zi could just be a ... a sworn brother instead, and it'd all be good.

Then the Cuibing bird cried out. Standing on his shoulder, it seemed vaguely anxious. Shi Wuduan looked back. There was a large crack in the ground stretching from the entrance of the Fire Lotus Cave. Even denser black mist was seeping out, so dark you couldn't see to the bottom, as if the final layer of hell laid below.

Aside from Shi Wuduan and Bai Li, who were protected by the astrolabe's green light, even the yao king Bai Ziyi was curled up on the ground. Her ears had turned into that of a fox's; she was on the verge of returning to her original form.

The astrolabe's green light was becoming dimmer and dimmer. Shi Wuduan felt a stagnant sensation in the pit of his stomach. Standing before the chasm made him short of breath.

Bai Li forcefully grabbed Shi Wuduan, his fingers sinking into his shoulder. He managed to shakily stand up from the ground, "Leave ... hurry, leave!"

Shi Wuduan hurriedly clambered up, stumbling a few steps from Bai Li's dragging, followed him around the chasm, and headed towards the center of Fire Lotus Cave. There must have been secret paths in the cave. As Bai Li walked, his blood ran along his arm and dripped from his fingers. His deathly pale face seemed almost ashen. Shi Wuduan thought for a moment, then said to Bai Li, "Little Li-zi, turn a bit smaller, I'll carry you!"

He stooped for a while, waiting for Bai Li to get on his back, but didn't sense any motion from him. He turned his head to ask, "What's wrong?"

Only after a good while did Bai Li softly say, "That... is merely a transformed appearance," his teenaged voice already starting to deepen. His voice was somewhat hoarse, his expression complicated, as he looked at Shi Wuduan. After a moment, he gloomily smiled and said, "I'm very happy that you came to save me, but I've been deceiving you...."