"I’m sure it isn’t.” Yung said, “But when are you actually planning to head into the forest for the foxmoths?"

"We have reached an agreement with Youjin Gengxin of the Selenosilver Valley," An Ping nodded at both Yung

and Youjin Liu, "This hiring, we will see to its completion before the sects leave for the Moonvalley trade city."

"The other sects have agreed to stay out of the matter unless they receive explicit permission from the Su fox clan," Youjin Liu said, his eyes looking at Su Xiya biting and trying to pull away the twig Yung had taken out, "with the decree from Fairy Su—"

"Woof!" Floofy arf’ed.

"Fairy Su Nanya," Youjin Liu added.

"Then that’s it. We’ll be havin’ three Imperfect Heaven 3rd realm cultivators on our side, and four at the peak of the Imperfect Heaven 2nd realm!" Ziyou Maque said, "Our tiny gang can't contribute much on that front other than me, but we've mapped out about a hundred and forty miles surrounding the tiny cave, the chaos-spring, and the voidrift."

"That was immensely helpful, not to mention the centuries worth of madlander scrolls documenting the nearby flora and fauna you have agreed to open to us. And besides, we have agreed to go with Leader Free Sparrow's plan. You know the habits of the fiends around this part of the forest better than anyone, and your proposed idea has the best chances of success." An Ping said. Her face was yet stern, but Yung heard the respect in her voice clearly.

"That's good, makes me feel better yes?" Ziyou Maque grinned, and An Ping shook her head. "But the plan needs changin’. Young Yung, tell me this new information."

Yung breathed deep. Om in, om out. "Nyanya’s missing foxball is in the cave."

There was silence, then some mutters of contemplative gasping, and finally a light laughter from the gang leader, "So it actually is a foxball hunt!"

"Disguised as a foxmoth hunt, disguised as a foxball hunt, disguised as a… well, you get it," Yung said. He decided to lay the cards bare. He wasn't that good at being a mastermind in the first place, and he could never forgive himself if omitting this information caused an avoidable tragedy. Silky was right. Being dishonest was bugging him in his sleep and he’d definitely regret it.

So Yung relayed the other things he had seen in Silky's vision.

"… Quite astounding. The foxmoths are using the foxball as some kind of… totem?" Youjin Liu said.

"Is this foxball what's attracting all those fiends? Or maybe a yaoguai of some kind, from all that worship?" Ziyou Maque guessed.

An Ping denied that with her hand at her chin. "These… domesticated chaosfiends should be too weak to make any significant changes to the occultic foxball in a mere five years even if they worshipped it day and night, for they are creatures with unsapient minds. How great can their capacity to suffer or be happy truly be? I cannot imagine a yaoguai being born just because of this scant amounts of Heart qi."

"I dunno, maybe some other dyin’ yaoguai or Heart qi cultivator or some kinda hungry ghost like in them Buddhist stories?" Ziyou Maque stretched, "Still, we must plan around it. The cave, or rather, the planar fragment, only lets weaker beings enter from what we’ve gathered so far. As long as the foxmoths don't wander outside, the gist of the plan should remain the same, yeah? Murder the beasties outside. Close the voidrift. Guard the chaos-spring. Then we can worry about what's inside the cave. We’ve gotta talk about the details, other than the gist."

An Ping and Youjin Liu nodded.

"Nanya and I will be present during the hunt. I need to recover the occultic foxball with my own two hands, remember?" Yung had wondered how much of this 'trial' Su Nanya had given him so long ago still applied. But he had his talks with the vixen, as did Silky, while Miss Maid and Floofy did their best to input valuable points and barks. Yung decided that there would be no danger with Nyanya sticking to him like glue, so he opted to see the trial through, even if it was for some strange mental satisfaction. He grinned, then bowed, "I appreciate any help you can give me."

"Think nothing of it," An Ping said, and the two leaders followed.

***

The sound of the slap rang out like a crisp echo of thunder.

Chao held his cheek, shocked. "Ling?"

The Madlander girl had tears in her eyes. She turned around and walked away. Her silhouette was lonely, and Chao knew that if he did not chase after her, he would regret it.

But perhaps that was fate too.

Chao sighed a tired breath. If he chased after Ziyou Ling, he would regret that even more.

His sight was set. And no force in the world could stop it. Yet he had to admit, Brother Yung was right.

For right now, he was weak.

And the only advantage he had over others was to give his all in the pursuit of one task, one yin. He could not divide his attention to many tasks and still expect to succeed at all of them. Since his mind and soul possessed no Divine Sense to try, nor the Harmonious Heaven realm ability to split it into many threats of consciousness.

"I should have been clearer with her, and Ling wouldn’t have misunderstood me." The boy lamented. After that talk with Ziyou Yung, Chao had realized that he truly could not give his all to the madlander maiden. Not in good faith. Because from now on, he would give his all to one person, exclusively. Until he was strong enough to come back for his Ling. Until he reached the highest levels of Unfolding Heaven and his soul cultivated a true and mighty divine sense.

For today, he was weak.

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All this time, he had been hesitating, loathe to let go of the string that connected him to Ziyou Ling at every last second, yet too filled with shame to commit his soul to the maiden who had made him a man.

And so Chao had finally mustered up the courage to admit that to Ziyou Ling today despite the shame creeping upon his face. A true man should regret nothing! And here he was, admitting his wrongs!

“That night was a mistake. I wish I could take it back.” Chao had said to the girl. He was talking about taking back his primordial yang even though such notions were an impossibility. Cooked rice could not be uncooked, not by mortals at least. And now that his rice was cooked, that was one more disadvantage added to giving his all to Su Nanya and her still intact primordial yin.

Ziyou Ling broke down in tears. Chao could not understand. She slapped him and ran away. Chao had wanted to explain why losing his primordial yang to her was so detrimental to both of them. He was sure that if they openly talked about their regrets, as Brother Yung was so talented in doing, Ziyou Ling would understand. She would wait until he was strong enough.

But she slapped him, and ran away. Perhaps that too was one more evidence supporting Chao’s lamentation, that his regret about that night is not unfounded.

Because she was not his soul mate.

Su Nanya was.

Even now, her regal, royal might beckoned his tired, crippled spirit root. Her yin called for his yang across time and space. Across distance, from that top echelon of the Dim Gold Hotel.

Chao shook his head and walked towards the city exit.

"Oh, wicked man of yang. Let us see by what gall you dare desire the heavens." Her voice was sweet, her command was golden. She had listened to Chao’s plight even without him having to utter a single word, their yin and yang beckoned to each other like two lost lovers.

Su Nanya, had listened. Ziyou Ling, did not.

The least Chao could do was be honest with both of them, and himself too.

Chao's mind wandered once more to the top suite, where the Fairy Fox lived. Only one man had access to that secret garden where the yin flowers bloomed for no one but the true men of yang. It was infuriating, for that lucky man had a yang as weak as a castrated goat, a steer bull domesticated only to be butchered for his meat and not as the stud of the herd, not as the one who would be given the right to pluck the blooming flowers, to be the gallant stallion.

Instead, that man was a cowardly Madlander boy with an active ambition to not surpass the heavens. To be a good little kept servant, to be the eunuch who’s only job was to whisper sweet flatteries upon Su Nanya’s ears.

Chao recalled the strange back-and-forth he had overheard the other day.

‘How are our tail?’

‘Fluffy!’

‘How are our ears?’

‘Perky!’

‘You also said that about our, what was it that you had muttered? Cutie Patootie? Thicc Apple Derrière? Such unoriginal an emphasis.’

‘Uhh, your ears are f-foxy?’

‘We are pleased.’

Chao was confused on what Cutie Patootie or Thicc Apple Derrière meant, perhaps some rare treasure she had shared, of one kind or other? But one thing he knew for sure. The vixen was flattered by the eunuch’s sleazy flattery. Which was unacceptable!

Maybe I should take notes from Brother Yung. If that is the type Su Nanya likes, then I too shall become her ideal. Chao did not agree with romantic exclusivity. His heart still called for Ziyou Ling in one small corner. Yet if Ziyou Yung was so favoured by Su Nanya despite his meagre talents, only because the boy was willing to ‘give his all’, then Chao believed that if he did the same with his Harmonious Heaven grade physique and affinity, it was far more than enough to steal away her eyes.

There is no way Su Nanya is actually planning to take Brother Yung as a consort. Chao thought to himself despite the rumours going around, saying that when the Madlander boy enters the princess's room every dawn, the scary maid would escape the chamber with a red face, after which all sorts of moans and groans would echo out.

Chao couldn't help but laugh. No cultivators, even those with strong divine senses, could peek or eavesdrop into the royal suite where Su Nanya lived. That would be death by a million painful cuts, yet as swift as stepping on an ant.

Moreover, as if the unpluckable fairy who had refused the courtship of heroes with far greater talents than even Chao himself would ever deign to let herself be defiled by the touch of an ambition-less weakling with no yang to speak of.

That was not how the world worked. Here, only strength mattered. To be in love, to keep love, to steal love. One had to be strong, lest the stronger take away what was rightfully his.

Brother Yung is not one of the strong. And he admits it so shamelessly! …he is a nice man. But merely so. His affection towards Su Nanya is misplaced, worse than a court eunuch trying to sire a child with the empress.

It was more likely that the bored princess had taken Ziyou Yung as a disciple. A servant nonetheless, whom she could train to serve her clan because of his strange Heart qi abilities and soul contract with the yaoguai. A curious toy, a talent to be kept, merely a pastime in her short trip to their rural area.

And Brother Yung must mistakenly think of that as Su Nanya reciprocating his feelings. Chao chuckled, and he had much good reasons to believe this deduction.

The cultivation technique Brother Yung was using to refine his Heart qi was one given to him by the princess, as the boy had honestly shared. But it was not a technique that cultivated the yang, the Essence qi of the flesh and blood. Chao would have noticed if that was the case. It only had very basic body enhancing capabilities.

In the world of cultivation, is it not common sense to take advantage of each and every damn unfair advantage one could muster? How else would one challenge the heavens? For Su Nanya, her extreme yin physique would be her foremost priority to nurture, as merely that one talent could take her to Harmonious Heaven when cultivated properly. Is that not why she purposefully stagnated her cultivation for decades, not forcing a breakthrough to the meridian building realm despite having the resources to do so?

Quire clearly, she was searching for the perfect extreme yang to pair her yin with.

So why, by the mad heavens, would she ever mingle her yin with a boy who is not even cultivating a yang-specific Essence qi refining technique? After saving her chastity for decades, would she really be foolish enough to throw that all away for an untalented madlander boy with a questionably glib tongue?

Chao did not think so.

The fox princess’s past ambition and actions prove her to be quite thoughtful, despite how others mock her tantrums. And Chao could see, with his innate vision, the colour of the primordial yin painting the celestial vixen in that blushing amorous hue.

And so, despite the silly rumours, Chao could only be envious that perhaps the princess was helping Brother Yung with cultivation, that perhaps he was receiving private, one-on-one tutelage from the vixen of some Su fox clan body cultivation technique to make up for his lacking talent in all other fields that mattered.

Even if that scary maid would then head up to the princess’s chamber again after exactly two hours and forty minutes each and every time, with supplies to clean the bed and the floor and the window curtains, and requisitioning all of the hotel’s bedsheets supplies and air-freshening aromatics. Even if this daily routine of hers would add violent fiend-fat fuel to the unseemly rumours.

He wasn’t at all worried that they were having sex, unlike what the rest of the gossipers on the restaurant floor seemed to think.

After all, with Ziyou Yung’s pathetic physique, his body must be riddled with a sea’s worth of impurities. With each step progressed in body cultivation, he must be discharging many years worth of toxic gunk quite violently all over the sheets and window curtains.

If only the gossipers had Chao’s innate vision, they would stop their annoying chatter every morning the scary maid came down.

And besides, this rumour was started by the Xiu Jiujiu girl according to his good brother Wang Lihou, and the girl seemed to have an insecure appreciation towards Brother Yung.

Peace had made them weak, these Dim Gold denizens. They did not know the true maxim of this world of cultivation.

Here, the strong did not scrub stains off of bedsheets.