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"Bang..."
A loud noise echoed as the shadow collided with the Little Mud Man, surprisingly producing a sound like something solid, after which the shadow shrank and disappeared. The gleam on the small bronze mirror faded rapidly and it clattered to the ground.
Gu Shi Yi felt drained at that point, thumping onto the ground while clutching her injured left arm and gasping for breath. She was drenched in cold sweat, her vision flashing between dark and light, her body swaying as if about to collapse. In a panic, she bit hard on her tongue. A sharp pain shot through, bringing her back to reality.
When she looked up again, the clouds above had dispersed, and moonlight spilled over the earth once more. For a moment, there was nothing but the breeze and the sound of insects, the trees swaying, the fragrance of mountain flowers reaching her nose. It was as if nothing had happened, except for the acute pain in her left arm,
"Sss..."
Gu Shi Yi grimaced as she got up, stumbling over to carefully pick up the Little Mud Man. Now, its facial features bore an uncanny resemblance to the person in the mirror. Gu Shi Yi was overjoyed,
"Yanyan, we did it! We succeeded!"
At her words, the Little Mud Man nodded, moved its hands, and then lifted its legs, disbelievingly saying,
"I... I'm really in your world now?"
Gu Shi Yi nodded again and again, turning around with the Little Mud Man in her arms to take in their surroundings,
"Look, this is the Taoist temple where I live..."
The Little Mud Man looked up and around, noticing the decrepit flying eaves and dougong, the mottled red lacquer on the mountain walls. It was indeed not the concrete forest it was used to. Then it looked up at the vast moon,
"The moon where I come from is definitely not as big as it is here!"
So large that it seemed one could leap into Guanghan with a light jump from the mountaintop!
In the moonlight, the Little Mud Man moved its hands and feet, feeling the comfort of the moonlight bathing it. Seeing its natural movements, Gu Shi Yi, with a joyful smile on her pale face, said,
"Absorb the moonlight here, and I also need to sit in meditation to recover!"
That evening was extremely perilous for her. She had lost much of her Essential Blood, and her Mana had been completely depleted. Most critically, at the last moment, she had forced out every bit of her Essence of Pure Yin, an action that truly strained her. Without three to five months of recovery, she wouldn't be back to normal!
The Little Mud Man nodded and watched Gu Shi Yi move to the corridor. It, on the other hand, walked up and down, taking in its new surroundings and marveling at the magic of Taoist magic,
"A minute ago, I was still a Female Ghost in the mud of a fish pond, and the next minute, I'm already in another world. This place... It doesn't seem much different from our world, except the moon is bigger..."
In short, one rested while the other moved about, and before they knew it, the whole night had passed, and as the Jade Rabbit hid behind the mountains, darkness fell before dawn. Gu Shi Yi opened her eyes, glanced at the horizon and said to the Little Mud Man,
"Yanyan, you are a new soul in a body now. Even though this clay figure contains my pure yin blood, it can't protect you during the day. You can't be exposed to the sunlight. Come quickly!"
The Little Mud Man hastened towards her as instructed. After a night of movement, it seemed to have adapted to its clay body, its legs moving nimbly, and it was by her side in a blink of an eye. Gu Shi Yi carefully picked her up and placed her in her arms. Beneath her wide Taoist Robe was a fully mature and graceful figure. She smiled down at the Little Mud Man, nestled in her chest,
"Yanyan, am I squeezing you?"
After speaking, she proudly straightened up, and the Little Mud Man's mouth moved, making a rolling eyes expression. Gu Shi Yi laughed out loud,
"Even my future husband won't have such a blessing, but you got it first!"
The Little Mud Man sighed,
"Why don't you sew a cloth bag and put me in it?"
Though it was now a clay figure and could neither feel warmth nor cold, nor sense the slipperiness of the spot it lay on, the thought of being against her best friend's chest somehow felt awkward,
"It makes me feel a little uncomfortable!"
Gu Shi Yi rolled her eyes and snorted,
"Ungrateful!"
She didn't do it on purpose, for she had a Pure Yin Body and keeping the Little Mud Man close could nourish the ghost within. Seeing that daylight was approaching, without further ado, she collected everything in the yard and restored all the items she had borrowed from the Old Taoist Priest back to their original places. Then she gently patted her chest, saying,
"I hope the Old Taoist Priest won't notice!"
The Old Taoist Priest was usually confused, remembering clearly only the days he met with Widow Zhang in secret. The rest of the time, he was muddled, so he shouldn't notice!