The Black Tai Sui

Bai Lingmiao, suffocating, felt herself float upward, drifting to the roof beam of the ancestral hall. When she looked down, she saw her own body below, eyes rolled back, along with the Da Shen's red bridal veil.

"So this is what dying feels like?" Bai Lingmiao looked down, trying to see her own body, but there was nothing there—empty, hollow.

Suddenly, a thought struck her, and a spark of joy ignited within. "Mother and Father can't have gone far yet. I can still catch up to them!"

But just as she lifted her head, ready to set off in search of her family, she found the entire starry sky sealed off by clusters of indescribable things.

Staring at those constantly shifting shapes, Bai Lingmiao was certain they were Immortals, and all of them from the Bei School. The emotions they had just absorbed had not yet faded.

"I'm already dead. What more do you want from me?"

As she spoke, she tried to pass through them, but was instantly repelled, sent tumbling down until she was hanging upside down, face to face with her own rope-bound body.

She saw that her form was now completely transformed. Her eyes, which should have been pink, had been replaced by long, narrow, blood-red, bestial orbs.

Even more disturbing, her face had split open in several places, and inside those cracks, more beastly eyes stared back at her.

Suddenly, Bai Lingmiao saw her other self raise a hand covered in long claws, grab her own head, open her mouth wide, and swallow herself whole.

The tumbling snake scales pierced Bai Lingmiao's skin, effortlessly cutting through the taut rope.

Bai Lingmiao crashed heavily to the ground. Before she could collect herself, a searing pain erupted from the depths of her mind, making her clutch her head and scream.

The agony was unbearable. She had never felt such pain before.

Then, a single character—'Two'—appeared in her mind, cold and devoid of any warmth.

This was her task for the month. If she failed to complete it, the consequences were left to her imagination.

And it was predictable that this number would only increase.

Bai Lingmiao, her neck bruised purple, lifted her head in despair toward the pitch-black roof beam.

From the moment she had become a spirit-dancer, her life was no longer her own. She could not even die.

Her previous experiences had secretly filled her with a small sense of pride—she had finally been able to help Senior Brother Li. But now, the Immortals were finally baring their claws.

She remembered the words Li Zhi had spoken before his death: "In my next life, I'll never be a spirit-dancer again. It's too damn suffocating."

At this moment, she finally understood what that senior had meant. As a spirit-dancer, she was nothing but a slave to these Immortals, with no freedom whatsoever.

"Wuwuwu..." Bai Lingmiao buried her face in her hands, squatting in the pitch-black ancestral hall and weeping loudly, her sobs echoing endlessly within the walls.

The Da Shen, admiring the moon, seemed to recall something at the sound of her crying. It let out a contemplative sigh from its three mouths beneath the red veil, then drew a jade pendant from its bosom and gazed at it for a long time.

"Dad?"

"No, it's not Dad. It's Shifu."

"Dad?"

Li Huowang had run out of patience trying to correct him. He bitterly regretted ever going to that noodle stall earlier. You can't even eat a bowl of noodles without getting into trouble.

"Ga ga ga!" The ducks in the cage beside him squawked, fraying his nerves. He had no idea what was happening today, but so many people were heading to Silverstar City to sell their goods that the wide road was completely jammed.

"...Dad?"

"Alright, shut it." Li Huowang pulled out two more plugs of wool and stuffed them deeper into his ears.

After waiting in the carriage line for half the day, they finally reached the checkpoint. When Li Huowang showed his Supervisory Heavenly Office medallion, they were immediately waved through.

Back in the bustling Silverstar City, Li Huowang let out a sigh of relief. He steered the carriage toward the inn. After such a long journey, they had finally arrived.

When he saw the makeshift earthen kilns set up at the crossroads, Li Huowang was puzzled. "What are those?"

"Taoist, it's Mid-Autumn Festival today. Don't you know you build earthen kilns for Mid-Autumn?" the Monk was the one who cleared up his confusion.

Li Huowang flicked the reins and shook his head. "Where I'm from, we don't have that custom."

"Then what customs do you have?"

"We don't have any customs. We just eat mooncakes."

After Li Huowang had settled in at the inn, the sky outside gradually darkened. Silverstar City, which normally enforced a strict curfew, had been granted a rare reprieve.

Lantern-lit markets and children carrying pomelo-skin lanterns transformed the entire city into a sleepless spectacle of light.

Li Huowang waited at the inn for Tuoba Danqing to arrive. But as he waited and waited, the only thing that came was a messenger pigeon carrying a letter.

"Today is the Moon Festival. I must return home to reunite with my wife and children. If there is business, we can discuss it in detail tomorrow evening."

Seeing this note, Li Huowang felt a surge of discouragement. Even the Supervisory Heavenly Office takes holidays off?

He gained a new understanding of this vast organization.

For a moment, as he sat in the room, his gaze was lost. What was he supposed to do next?

"What else can you do? Have the holiday, too. Besides New Year's, Mid-Autumn is my favorite," the Monk chimed in from the side.

"Have the holiday? With who?"

"With us," Red Central piped up.

Li Huowang looked at the four hallucinations before him, then walked to the window and whistled down at the stable yard, where Bun Bun was guarding the cart.

Bun Bun immediately let out a "Woof!" and scrambled excitedly up the stairs, tongue lolling.

He called for a waiter and ordered a full banquet from the kitchen, to be delivered to his room.

With enough silver, he got everything—chicken, duck, fish, meat, the works. Watching Bun Bun wolf down food under the table, Li Huowang picked up his chopsticks, took a piece of three-yellow chicken, and chewed.

The chicken tasted good, but Li Huowang felt it was utterly bland. He picked up the ceramic wine jug and took a long swig straight from the mouth, and with his low alcohol tolerance, he was instantly drunk.

Staggering, Li Huowang raised his cup, swaying unsteadily as he toasted the full moon in the sky. "It's still not as good as those times out in the wilderness, fishing lumps of dough out of an iron pot."

"Dad?"

"Hey! Son!" Li Huowang kicked at Bun Bun with his foot. "The three of us are having Mid-Autumn together!"

He had no idea when he fell asleep, but when he woke up, Bun Bun was crouched low, baring its teeth and growling threateningly at a black tentacle emerging from Li Huowang's body.

Li Huowang bent a finger and flicked the tentacle. It instantly retracted back into his navel. "So the Black Tai Sui can come out on its own now?"

This might have been bad news, but at the moment, Li Huowang couldn't really bring himself to care.

"Go. Watch the cart." With a flick of his hand toward the door, Bun Bun tucked its tail between its legs and slunk away dejectedly.

Li Huowang sat up, picked up his chopsticks again, and continued eating the banquet that had long since gone cold.

After eating and drinking his fill, Li Huowang sat by the window and pulled out a book. This time, it wasn't the Three Character Classic anymore, but a more advanced text: the Thousand Character Classic.

"...The Sword Juque, the Pearl Yeguang, Fruits prized are the plum and the apple, Vegetables valued are the mustard and ginger. The sea is salty, the river is fresh, Fish glide, birds soar..."

As he recited, he heard a faint, slurred echo near his ear. It was chaotic at first, but gradually, it grew clearer.

"...Music and joy, noble and base, rites distinguish the honored and the lowly. The superior harmonizes, the inferior obeys; The husband leads, the wife follows."