Melody of the Dreaming Moon was a technique that Yoshika had learned from Yan Yue. Supposedly passed down through the generations from mother to daughter, but after learning where Yue’s maternal ancestry led, she had to wonder how much of that was true. A curiosity to explore later, perhaps.

In the meantime, what mattered to Eui was that she could use the technique to create a connection with whoever heard the melody and draw them into an illusory representation of her soul. It was completely different from Yue’s body-snatching or her apprentice’s dream invasions, but that was just how cultivation went sometimes—each practitioner expressed their techniques in their own unique ways.

In the years since she’d obtained her soulscape, Yoshika hadn’t had much cause to use Melody of the Dreaming Moon. It was much simpler to just physically bring people into her soul instead. However, it still had some applications.

For one, it was much more energy efficient. Bringing Eunae, who was on the cusp of xiantian, into her soulscape when they were so far from Jiaguo would have been an enormous burden when an illusion would do. More importantly, however, the exposure of her soul went both ways. This meant that they’d be able to explore Eunae’s soul as well—though not quite as thoroughly.

The two sat across from each other in meditation as Eui quietly hummed the melody. When first learning the technique with Jia, they’d quickly learned that neither of them were musically inclined, but they could rely on the harmonies between them to carry their song. With just Eui’s body present, she had to cheat a bit and draw on Kaede’s experience. Luckily for her, Hayakawa Kaede was a surprisingly adept singer.

Eui’s song faded into the background and the world dropped away beneath them as the technique took hold. The image of Yoshika’s home in Jiaguo formed around them, and Eunae did a double-take as she opened her eyes.

“Oh! Hello, Yoshika. For some reason I was expecting you to still be Eui.”

Yoshika shrugged. Since Melody of the Dreaming Moon exposed the true form of her soul—or at least an interpretation of it—she always appeared in her unified persona within the technique’s illusions.

“I am. Just between us, nothing’s really changed. All of my aspects are me, I just present myself differently depending on which body is acting.”

“So you’re just...what, pretending?”

“Well, not exactly, no. There’s more to it. Presenting myself as Eui doesn’t just mean behaving a certain way. It’s a different way of thinking and feeling, too. I’m still Yoshika, and I feel everything my other aspects do, but here and now, between the two of us, I’m Eui first.”

Eunae hummed thoughtfully.

“I see. Your relationship with identity is quite complex, I suppose. Well then, I’ll continue calling you Eui, if that’s what you prefer.”

“I don’t mind either way, but thanks. Now, enough about me—are you ready to contact your inner spirit?”

“I’m not sure. What should I do?”

Yoshika hesitated. She’d never actually used Melody of the Dreaming Moon this way before, but she intuitively understood how it worked.

“It would be easier if you had your own soulscape, but start by focusing on something comfortable and familiar that you associate with your spirit half.”

Eunae grimaced.

“Comfortable and familiar aren’t generally things I associate with that part of myself.”

“Just try. There’s no rush.”

She sighed and sat back against the couch, closing her eyes and wrapping her tails around herself as she focused. Gradually, Yoshika felt a gentle pull against the shape of her illusion, which she didn’t resist. As she surrendered control of the scenery, the world once more shifted into a luxurious and well-decorated bedroom.

The central focus of the room was a huge and very soft-looking bed decorated with sheer curtains in light blues and purples. Aside from the bed, the room had only a few furnishings—an ornate chest at the foot of the bed, a neatly organized but well-used vanity, and a sizable walk-in closet filled with robes and dresses for every occasion.

It was neatly organized, but very clearly lived in. There was no accommodation for visitors—a private space, not meant for entertaining guests.

Yoshika took in the space curiously.

“This is your room?”

Eunae sat up on the bed, where she’d ended up after shifting the illusion.

“My bedroom here in the palace, specifically. You said comfortable and familiar, and I usually see my inner spirit in dreams. It was the best I could think of.”

“It makes sense. I’m just surprised at how...fancy it is. You’re usually so humble that it’s easy to forget that you’re still a princess.”

“Thank you, I think. I do take comfort in certain luxuries, and there are some aspects of royal status that I can’t help but enjoy.”

Yoshika shrugged.

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“I’m not judging. I know that we’re the weird ones for preferring things to be more basic and plain.”

Eunae smiled.

“It’s part of your charm. So now what? I don’t see my ancestor anywhere.”

“I’m not entirely sure. The first time we used this technique was with Rika, and our inner spirits took our place to chat with her. It was a weird experience, like we were there, but not there.”

“That doesn’t really help.”

Yoshika chuckled.

“I guess not. The illusion is like a shared dream, and a lot of the same rules apply. Just focus on an idea and feel your way along. You might not get the exact result you’re looking for, but it should move in the right direction.”

“And here I thought that raising a few disciples might have improved those infamous teaching skills of yours.”

She stuck out her tongue at Eunae.

“Don’t act like you’re any better. Just try, it will make sense once you get a feel for it.”

Eunae sighed and sat up in the lotus position, holding her hands out in front of her. After a minute or two, a small green flame appeared between her hands and began to slowly expand. As it grew, it gradually took shape, forming into a small fox, then larger as it grew more and more tails.

Finally, with a flash of light, the human-sized fox hopped off the bed and resolved into a ghostly spirit with pure white fur, stained black at the tips of each of its nine tails and the ends of its paws. It stared up at Yoshika with its piercing blue gaze and cocked its head.

“You again? Haven’t you meddled enough? Here to steal more of my fire?”

Yoshika raised an eyebrow.

“Since I told Eunae, you already know why I’m here.”

The fox sniffed and looked away.

“It’s polite to ask. Not that you’d know anything about manners.”

Eunae grimaced, her face turning red with embarrassment at her inner spirit’s snooty attitude.

“I’m sorry about that. She’s always like this.”

Yoshika covered her mouth and giggled.

“Yeah, I remember. Don’t worry, my most dominant inner spirit is a cat, I’m used to it.”

The spirit fox swished her tails indignantly.

“Hmph! You don’t know anything. So my descendents are concerned, are they? What’s wrong, my other half? Worried that I’ll devour your soul and wear your skin like a dress?”

Eunae furrowed her brows.

“Is that a possibility?”

“No. Not anymore. Perhaps it never really was. Certainly some other, older part of myself would have desired it, but you have nothing to worry about.”

Yoshika exchanged a worried glance with Eunae.

“Do you know anything about those older parts of yourself? Are there any out there that we should be aware of?”

The Kumiho sniffed.

“How should I know? I’m just a tiny fragment passed on by my daughters. As far as I can tell, most of my fragments never fully awaken after the initial struggle for dominance within our host.”

“But there have been some that did?”

“Hrm, maybe. But don’t assume that I know more than you. The one you call Seong Heiran, her fragment might have awakened, but I only know that because my other half does. However, she’s dead and gone. A failure just like me.”

Yoshika crossed her arms and frowned.

“You awakened because of Eunae’s spiritual cultivation. She made her soul stronger, which made you—as part of her soul—stronger. Heiran wasn’t a spiritualist, though.”

“Tsk, wrong! I was awakened before my other half learned how to listen. How else could she have borrowed my power?”

“Okay, but then how?”

The fox leapt back up onto the bed and nuzzled into Eunae’s side, waiting for Eunae to pet it before responding.

“If I knew the answer to that, my daughters would have revived my original self long ago. It may be as simple as random chance.”

Yoshika pursed her lips. They weren’t getting anywhere with questioning—not that she’d expected to. The Kumiho’s fragment had a different way of framing things, but as Eunae warned, she didn’t actually know more than they did. If she was going to learn anything, she’d have to delve deeper, into the ancestral memories of the Kumiho—the instincts the spirit’s fragment had inherited from its progenitor.

Historically, that had not gone well whenever they’d tried it. Of course, back then, Yoshika didn’t even realize that’s what they were doing. Using Eunae’s power as a bridge connected their soul directly to the Kumiho fragment and plunged them into soul communion, like a selective form of joint cultivation. It gave the fragment a lot of power over them, and even with Eunae’s relatively tame inner spirit, that was dangerous.

That was one of the reasons why Yoshika was using Melody of the Dreaming Moon, rather than direct joint cultivation with Eunae. It put a gap between her and the spirit, just to be safe.

“Kumiho, would you be willing to share some of your ancestral memories with us? I’m concerned about what your descendents have planned, and I think you might hold the key to understanding it.”

The fox snorted.

“Ah, there it is! The little thief can’t help herself, can she, my other half?”

Eunae smiled ruefully as she idly stroked the fox’s fur.

“It’s not stealing if she asks nicely and we share willingly, now is it?”

“What else is one to call it, when they take without giving anything back?”

“I think Yoshika has given us far more than she’s taken. Not the least of which includes each other.”

Kumiho huffed and jumped from Eunae’s lap, landing on the floor in human form—identical to Eunae apart from a complete lack of clothing and a full nine tails.

“You’re too generous for your own good—but since you are me, I must suffer the same failing. Very well, meddler. Though I warn you, ancestral memories are just that—ancestral. I do not know what you hope to glean about the living by exploring the experiences of the dead.”

Yoshika shrugged.

“I’m not entirely sure either, but if my intuition is right, then I don’t think we’ll have to dig too deep to find what we’re looking for.”

“So you say. Very well, prepare yourself—this will not be pleasant.”

She held out a hand, which erupted in green flame. Yoshika waved her hands urgently.

“Wait! There’s got to be a better way to share your memories than that, right?”

The Kumiho’s fragment smirked.

“Oh, probably. Catch!”

She tossed the ball of Soulfire at Yoshika. It arced lazily through the air, trivially easy to avoid. Yoshika could move out of the way or simply resist the attack and seize back control of the illusion, but she didn’t. She placed her faith in Eunae, closed her eyes, and allowed the fire to engulf her.

It was as painful as she remembered.