Accompanying the Phoenix

35: Reminiscent of the Past

The girl was shaking like a leaf. Shen Li thought it best to just release her.

In her happiness, Shen Li forgot Xiao He had sacrificed herself for the one she loved, that even if she looked like Xiao He, this was her reincarnated form so she would have no memory of her previous life. Unlike Xing Zhi who retained his memories, she would have lost hers. Without that memory she was freed from the past. In this life, she didn't know Prince Rui or the heartbreak of that love.

Shen Li was silent for a moment, then she took a step toward the girl and asked, "Your abilities aren't even that great, yet you dare set up a stall like this to harm others? How brazen. Aren't you afraid the mountain god will punish you?"

With her head lowered to her chest the girl whispered that the mountain god was gone, captured some time ago.

Xing Zhi and Shen Li shared a glance.

"When? Did you see who did it?" Shen Li probed. Her voice came out unintentionally sterner than she meant it to.

It scared the girl, and though her lips trembled, she refused to say more.

"Really? I didn't even beat you this time..." Shen Li sighed in disappointment. From her side, Xing Zhi laughed.

The sigh made the older woman exert a great amount of effort to look up from the ground. In a hoarse voice she asked, "Great immortals, you are sparing our lives?" Shen Li had only shaken her twice, but it was enough for her to understand the disparity in their strength so she was very respectful when she spoke.

"Neither my child nor I wish to engage in such a malicious trade, but we were forced to do so because we had no other choice. We've only robbed passersby of their money. We take what we can, but we've never physically harmed anyone!"

"When did you put up the stall? And why were you compelled to do so?" Shen Li asked.

Thinking about it made the greened eyed python sigh. "This child's father is a mortal. Together as a family we used to live in the forest surrounding Yangzhou. It was a hard life but we got by on the food he grew and the game I brought back from the mountain. Then three months ago something strange happened. The trees started withering away and the grass stopped growing. Thick miasma spread everywhere and nothing grew. I'm sure it's related to the mountain god's disappearance."

It clearly made her anxious just remembering. "The mountain god disappeared... The other supernatural beings said the god was taken away by someone named Fusheng Men."

Shen Li wrinkled her brows, that name again. It seemed, although he was from a small immortal sect, he was a rising power capable of not just kidnapping immortals around the capital, but also using demon magic. Even Shen Li began to doubt her conviction. Did someone from the demon realm really break through the barrier and enter the mortal realm?

"I had to take this child and hide here. There wasn't anything to eat. Out of desperation we came upon the idea of robbing passersby of their money and any food they had with them.

"What about your husband?" Xing Zhi asked quietly, not concerned about Fusheng Men. "He's not here with you so how is he getting by?"

"He..." The woman hesitated for a moment before fording forward honestly. "He was a Taoist priest before we married. Things were peaceful and we lived together without incident but he never laid down his duties. When the miasma spread down the mountain he had me and our daughter leave the area while he and his disciple went to Yangzhou. He said the miasma would be difficult to deal with and it would affect the city."