The man selling rabbits carefully packed the elder sister rabbit and handed it to the buyer. "Just do whatever with it when you get home," he said.
"Here you go." The buyer handed the silver to the seller and left with the rabbit meat.
The young rabbit watched the buyer walk away, gradually disappearing from view, and began to cry uncontrollably.
The rabbit seller frowned, crouched down, and looked at the young rabbit. "If you keep crying, you'll be the next one slaughtered," he warned, then stood up.
The young rabbit paid him no mind and continued to weep.
At the same time, the elder sister rabbit's soul drifted to the soul spirit's feet. The soul spirit, who hadn't intended to meddle, looked down at the transparent rabbit form of the elder sister and crouched down. "Do you want me to help them?" he asked.
"Yes," the elder sister rabbit replied, tilting her face upwards.
The soul spirit hesitated.
"Please, they have sentience, especially my little sister. If they die like this, they... they will become vengeful spirits. If you save them, they won't." The elder sister rabbit pleaded, looking up.
The soul spirit gazed at the elder sister rabbit's face, then at the seller of rabbits, who was still trying to attract customers. "Don't you hate the man who killed you?" he inquired.
"Does hate help?" the elder sister rabbit countered.
"I don't know, but..."
"If you don't save them, I will save my sister. And then, you'll regret it," the elder sister rabbit stated coldly.
"You're threatening me," the soul spirit exclaimed in surprise.
"Actually, I'm a sick rabbit. My lifespan isn't long. But my sister, she's not like me. I don't hate that man. I'm only grateful that he freed me from my pain. However, my sister will become a vengeful spirit," the elder sister rabbit explained.
The soul spirit lowered his gaze and said, "I'll save you. But you must tell your sister your true situation."
"Alright," the elder sister rabbit agreed.
The soul spirit nodded. "Fine, I'll go then." He stood up.
That day, the soul spirit, using his own methods, knocked out the rabbit seller and freed each of the rabbits from their cages, leading them to the woods near the Cultivation Sect.
"Thank you," the young rabbit said, tears welling in her eyes as she looked at the soul spirit.
The soul spirit smiled at the rabbit and then called out, "Come out and explain yourself."
Immediately, the voice of the elder sister rabbit echoed, "Avenge me. He can help you become demons." With that, the voice vanished.
Recounting the events of that day, the soul spirit's eyes were filled with regret.
"So, you were manipulated by a dead rabbit," Feng Qi Shi said.
The soul spirit nodded in shame. "Yes."
"Then you shouldn't have taught them demonic arts!" Mu An Xiao exclaimed indignantly.
The soul spirit looked at Mu An Xiao's angry expression. "I refused to help, and they left without bothering me. But the next day, the rabbit seller returned with a group of people. If I didn't help, they would all die, so I intervened and scared them all away. From then on, no one dared to come here. They all said the rabbits of the Cultivation Sect were rabbit spirits, and no one dared to eat them anymore."
"Was the Cultivation Sect already in decline at that time?" Feng Qi Shi asked curiously.
The soul spirit nodded. "Yes. The incident caused quite a stir. After that event, all the disciples who had entered the Cultivation Sect left. Only a group of rabbits and a rabbit farmer remained. I later inquired, and that person had simply run out of money and resorted to selling rabbits."
"It was you who taught those rabbits how to transform into human form, wasn't it?" Mu An Xiao stated plainly.
"Yes, and no. It was during that time..." The soul spirit frowned slightly. "I worried they might be discovered, so I told them I would teach them how to transform into human form using demonic arts. But who knew... they seized the opportunity to discover another set of demonic arts, ones that involved absorbing human souls, and thus transformed into human form."
"The ones you taught them... they don't harm people?" Mu An Xiao glanced at Hong Yan and asked.
"Of course, they don't harm people. They are just ordinary demonic arts," the soul spirit said excitedly. xxs壹贰
"Then... how long does it take?" Mu An Xiao inquired, using this as an opportunity.
The soul spirit thought for a moment. "If they have cultivated for over ten years, it only takes two days."
"And for those who have cultivated for nearly fifty years?" Mu An Xiao felt as though she had found an opportunity for Hong Yan.
"That can be done instantly," the soul spirit replied with ease.
"If it's so simple, why did they do it that way?" Mu An Xiao wondered.
"They were only three years old at that time."
"Then they were quite powerful," Mu An Xiao chuckled.
"Powerful? What's powerful about it? If they weren't rabbits from the Cultivation Sect, they wouldn't have succeeded," the soul spirit said disdainfully.
"True. The people of the Cultivation Sect were inherently strange and wicked. Naturally, those rabbits absorbed some of that malevolent energy, making cultivation for them less difficult," Mu An Xiao said, showing prejudice towards the Cultivation Sect.
Feng Qi Shi watched Mu An Xiao without a word.
"You're not wrong," the soul spirit agreed.
Mu An Xiao asked, "By the way, you did them such a great favor, why do they still restrict your freedom?"
"I advised them not to treat humans poorly, and they became angry. Then they imprisoned me within the Cultivation Sect. Only when an immortal arrives can I be taken out," the soul spirit confessed honestly.
"It was you who gave Shi Yi the red pill, wasn't it?" Mu An Xiao stated directly.
The soul spirit lowered his head. "Yes. He went there to steal food. I observed him several times, then approached him and gave him the pill, asking him to help me. Little did I know, I would end up waiting for so many years. If I had known that guy's efficiency was so low, I wouldn't have trusted him."
"Logically, shouldn't you be more powerful than them?" Mu An Xiao asked, frowning at the soul spirit.
"I am powerful, but they are many. If I speak too much, the consequence is being tickled. That feeling," the soul spirit shivered, "it's painful just thinking about it."
Mu An Xiao and the others were speechless.
The soul spirit looked at the expressions on their faces and smiled. "I know it sounds childish, but that feeling is truly agonizing."
"I can understand that," Mu An Xiao suddenly said.
"Why are you everywhere?" Feng Qi Shi frowned, looking at Mu An Xiao.
Mu An Xiao shot Feng Qi Shi a glare. "Tell us the rabbit spirits' plot."
The soul spirit lowered his head.
"You're afraid to say, or you don't want to say?" Feng Qi Shi shifted his gaze from Mu An Xiao's face and looked down at the soul spirit.
The soul spirit pursed his lips. "Actually, they are all quite kind. It's just that their current rabbit queen... she constantly remembers her sister's dying words. She can't let go of those words."
"I can understand that," Hong Yan suddenly said.
Immediately, they turned their attention to Hong Yan.
Hong Yan propped herself up on her four short legs and said, "Her sister was a good person, but her sister never liked humans. That's because her sister was once captured by people from the Cultivation Sect and used for immortal refinement. After she returned, her sister's health deteriorated day by day. But for the sake of being with her sister, she always pretended to be fine. Her sister told me," she paused, then continued, "she swore to protect her sister with her life and not let her suffer any harm."