Chapter 258 A Hundred Years

The weight of a century in this world, a fleeting dream, is no lighter than any other living being.

The three fox maidens, Su Yu'er, sat quietly at the table. Not until the smoke from the incense burner had completely dissipated did they slowly return to their senses. They felt as though they had gained some understanding, as though something were blocking their chests, wanting to be spoken, but when they went to open their mouths, they found that no language could describe such emotions.

Hu Mei sighed wistfully, her chin propped on one hand. "I think I understand why so many of our sisters long for the human world. It doesn't feel as good as I originally thought, but it's still good, and it feels more real."

Su Yu'er, rarely, nodded in agreement.

She raised her eyes to look at Wei Yuan, who was leaning against the door, thought for a moment, and then put forward a suggestion that immediately gained the agreement of the two fox maidens—

"Should we go to the city outside and see those two old people?"

For some reason, Qingqiu, which had always forbidden young fox maidens from going out, surprisingly agreed this time. However, the old fox guarding the path to Qingqiu smiled and put forward another request, saying, "However, you need to find a trustworthy guide."

It was said that this old fox was already very old.

In his youth, he had roamed the human world, leaving behind the name of a celestial fox.

After encountering some events, he gave up the outside world's prosperity and returned to Qingqiu to guard this crucial road. Not many fox demons in the entire Qingqiu country knew the old man's name, nor did they know his age, but everyone had an impression that, in their childhood, they had all asked the old fox for candy.

And after growing up, they had heard him tell stories.

Therefore, as they grew older, they became more respectful of him.

Faced with the words of such an elder, the three fox maidens had no choice but to return and block the relieved Sili Colonel at the door.

Because this matter of going out was ultimately due to him, Wei Yuan had to take responsibility. This time, it was different from when he arrived at Qingqiu. Previously, he had relied on a token to open the passage, but this time he was going through the main entrance.

Guarding the gate of Qingqiu was an old man with pure white hair and beard.

The three fox maidens walked in front. It was clear that Qingqiu in reality was different from Qingqiu in dreams. Apart from Su Yu'er, Hu Mei and Su Yan'er were both somewhat excited, constantly whispering to each other, and occasionally they couldn't help but laugh. Wei Yuan walked behind them.

Su Yan'er and the other two bowed to this old fox immortal of unknown age before walking out of Qingqiu.

As Wei Yuan passed by, the old fox smiled and cupped his fist in salute:

"These three children will be troubling the General."

Wei Yuan was surprised, then returned the salute before following them.

Su Yu'er and the other two were waiting outside. Su Yu'er turned her head to look at this place connecting the two realms, vaguely seeing the Qingqiu guard saying something to the human youth, but she didn't pay it any mind.

The structure of the city in dreams and the human world in the mortal realm was not too different in general.

The three fox maidens cast a simple invisibility spell, while Wei Yuan only concealed the sword behind his back.

They crossed that bridge and walked onto the old road lined with tall sycamore trees on both sides.

In the distance ahead, they could see the tall flagpole erected at the school. The intersection of the dreamlike impression and reality made one feel a sense of emotion in their heart. Wei Yuan bought some fruit, went to the hospital, and claimed to be a friend of the old man's grandson, entrusted to come and see them.

The old man on the hospital bed had fallen asleep again.

The old lady was very surprised that someone had come to visit and quickly asked him to sit down.

She was about to pour water, but Wei Yuan naturally wouldn't let the old lady do such a thing. He washed the fruit and placed it on the cabinet next to the hospital bed. Watching the old man's peaceful expression, the old lady next to him said somewhat embarrassedly, "It's rare for you to make a trip, it's really too much trouble for you, young man."

Wei Yuan smiled and said, "What trouble is it?"

"It's rare to see the two of you walking along, happily and harmoniously. I'm very envious. It's a rare opportunity to meet you in person, I can't let this chance pass."

Wei Yuan chatted with the old people here, while in the invisible world, the three fox maidens, either graceful or charming, listened from the side, soft hair sprouting fluffy ears. Some stood quietly, while others sat on the windowsill, swinging their legs, their eyes full of curiosity.

Trivial little things.

Just ordinary life, but witnessing their lifelong affection, it felt different.

Su Yan'er and Hu Mei listened very carefully.

Su Yu'er was originally listening attentively, but she slowly noticed a strange aura.

Her delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly. She originally didn't want to cause any trouble, but this aura was too pungent, making her extremely displeased. After a little thought, she still softly mentioned it to Wei Yuan, concealing the true purpose, only saying that she wanted to take a walk around the area. Wei Yuan didn't seem to think much of it, just nodded in agreement.

Su Yu'er remained in an invisible state and walked out of the ward.

She followed the aura that made her unhappy.

The further she walked towards the northeast, the stronger the aura became. Finally, she stopped in front of a ward. Su Yu'er followed behind a nurse who entered the room, then looked at one of the beds. Lying on the bed was an extremely emaciated young man, his eyes tightly closed, and the aura that made her feel strange and displeased was emanating from him.

There were family members next to him, wiping away tears and complaining to others.

Su Yu'er pondered, lightly tapping her finger, using the fox demon's magical power to make a slight change, so that these family members would slowly recount what had happened.

She glanced at the medical record in the nurse's hand.

Name: Du Hongyi.

Age: Twenty-nine.

………………

Du Hongyi was reported missing seven days later.

The person who reported it was his fiancée.

Because Du Hongyi had not returned home for a long time, she felt very uneasy. At first, she thought that because Du Hongyi had previously said that he planned to go to Changbai Mountain for a trip on this business trip, she thought that he was having too much fun and was delayed. But later, she found that something was wrong. She couldn't get through to his phone, and there were no replies to his messages online.

And after asking people in his workplace, she realized that Du Hongyi had been out of contact for so long.

This caused her to panic and she quickly reported it to the police.

Later, the police investigation revealed that Du Hongyi had already returned here by car on the day he climbed Changbai Mountain. But when they checked the surveillance, they found something extremely strange. After getting off the car, he walked dazedly towards a remote place. In the end, it was only with great difficulty that they found Du Hongyi by directly searching the mountain with search dogs.

His entire person, for some reason, was as thin as firewood.

He was lost in a stupor. After waking up, he just shouted Azi, Azi, as if he were crazy. He didn't recognize the people around him, and he sternly questioned why these people wanted to separate him from his wife when he was clearly at home with her!

Speaking of this, Du Hongyi's mother couldn't help but wipe away her tears again.

"That wasn't any mansion or house!"

"When they found him, he was just lying straight in a coffin, almost gone."

"After he was rescued, he wasn't like a person at all, like a wild fox or dog in the wilderness. We could only send him here to see."

As she spoke, she began to cry again. The surrounding relatives and friends quickly comforted her, but when they looked at Du Hongyi, who was asleep under the effects of the tranquilizer, there was some pity in their eyes. Su Yu'er stretched out her finger and stirred it slightly in the void. An invisible energy from Du Hongyi's body was drawn to her finger. Her face showed some disgust.

She glanced at the room, and after walking out, she summoned Su Yan'er and Hu Mei, briefly explained the matter, and then showed them the energy, saying:

"It's a wild fox spirit."

"This kind of fox spirit harms people outside, sucking their yang energy to ruin our Qingqiu's reputation. It's clearly their evil deeds, but in the end, it implicates our lineage."

Su Yan'er said, "This...what should we do? Inform the elders?"

Hu Mei's eyes lit up slightly, and she rubbed her fists, saying, "The few who are in charge of Qingqiu now don't like to interfere in human affairs. It's definitely useless to talk to them. Why don't we capture this harmful wild fox spirit and take it back? Or send it to the Jinyiwei in the human world! Hehe, that way, those clan elders will definitely look at us with new eyes!"

Su Yan'er was also slightly tempted.

They were all young, always somewhat reckless and impulsive. Plus, they came from a famous clan, so they didn't really look up to these wild monsters who took crooked paths to harm people. The three of them discussed it a little and decided to personally deal with this guy.

Su Yan'er then said, "Should we tell Young Master Wei?"

Su Yu'er thought for a moment and shook her head, saying, "It's better not to."

"I saw that he doesn't seem to have much cultivation, and his magic is weak. Yesterday, he only relied on that spiritual beast to capture the evil daoist. Those wild fox spirits are best at targeting men, and their magic and supernatural powers also have many bewitching methods. Now that his spiritual beast isn't by his side, we shouldn't harm him instead."

"Let's think of a way to distract him."

"Okay."

Wei Yuan was chatting with the old people when he suddenly heard a clear voice in his ear:

"Young Master Wei, Young Master Wei."

"We really want to have the desserts that the girls outside like now. Could you please buy some milk tea for us? I want vanilla flavor."

"I just want lemonade."

"Hehe, we'll trouble Young Master Wei."

Wei Yuan was slightly stunned, then helplessly agreed to these requests. The old man was casually saying that when his old partner woke up today, the doctor asked in puzzlement, but his old partner mumbled that he had dreamed of a young man pushing him, and then he woke up, which made the doctor confused. It's impossible that there are really gods, right?

The little nurse next to him mumbled, "Who knows?"

"Maybe there are, who knows? The world is so big."

This statement made the old lady laugh, and she looked at Wei Yuan and said, "What do you think, Little Wei?"

"Well, modern times still require science."

"It's probably just an ordinary dream of the old man, no need to explain too much."

Wei Yuan answered, then raised his eyebrows slightly, seeing from the window that three fox maidens who had cast invisibility spells were heading in one direction. Wei Yuan had promised the old fox immortal to take care of these three fox maidens, and he was also curious about what these three guys were going to do.

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, he got up to say goodbye.

The old lady was surprised and said, "Aren't you going to sit for a while longer?"

Wei Yuan smiled and said, "No, I still have some things to deal with."

His voice paused, and he sincerely said, "There may not be many opportunities to meet in the future, I hope the two of you can continue like this."

Perhaps because it was rare for someone to say such things so solemnly, the old lady was surprised for a moment, then slowly nodded in agreement:

"Thank you."

Wei Yuan smiled and walked out.

A young man with a backpack was walking in quickly. Wei Yuan politely made way, letting him come in first. The old man on the bed seemed to have been awakened by the footsteps and slowly opened his eyes, turning his head to see who was so noisy, but he saw that it was his grandson.

Before he could be happy, his gaze fell on the man who was smiling and nodding to his grandson, then walking out the door. Even though he was getting older and had seen through things, the old man still felt a shock in his heart, almost instinctively wanting to sit up straight.

The arriving young man quickly tried to stop the old man's intense movements:

"Hey, hey, wait, Grandpa, you've just recovered, lie down first."

But the old man pushed his hand away in disgust.

Unfortunately, with this interruption, the young man had already left.

The old man had no choice but to sigh and lie down. The old lady saw her grandson and was happy in her heart, smiling as she handed over the newly washed fruit, exchanging a few pleasantries, and said, "Look at you, child, why didn't you stop your classmate just now?"

"Classmate? What classmate?"

The young man looked blank.

The old lady said in astonishment, "Wasn't the young man who just walked out your friend, here to see your grandfather in your place?"

The young man shook his head and said, "No."

"This is the first time I've seen him."

"I've seen him."

It was the old man on the bed who spoke. He lay down, his head resting on the pillow, but he felt his mind buzzing. He was silent for a long time and said, "It was he who pushed me in my dream, and I woke up. And, and I always feel like I've seen him before..."

It was as if he had returned to his youth, riding his bike, awkwardly striking up a conversation.

His peripheral vision caught sight of something.

Next to the road, there was a young man in black carrying a sword.

At that time, the trees on both sides of the road were not so old, and the leaves could not block the road.

He couldn't believe it, and said almost dreamily:

"I've seen him before."

"Seventy years ago."

"He was exactly the same then as he is now..."

The room was silent.

ps: Thank you to 番茄加柠檬 for the grand reward, thank you~

Three thousand eight hundred words~I've discovered that as long as I stay up late, the schedule that I've adjusted will collapse again, lying like a corpse.