Xue Yunxue poured all her strength into running, her breath ragged as tree branches continued to scrape against her delicate skin.
"Damn wolf!" she cursed, anger tangled with fear. "I saved him—and this is how he repays me?!"
Her chest felt tight. Every step echoed with a sense of injustice.
Damn it…
"Why did I have to end up in the body of that cursed princess?" she complained inwardly, bitterness flooding her veins. She was not a murderer. She was not a tyrant. Yet now she bore the sins of a cruel woman she had never even known. She glanced back repeatedly, making sure the vicious wolf was no longer chasing her.
"Was there really no other body I could possess besides hers?" she murmured softly, almost in despair.
"Hmmm…" Moa's voice sounded thoughtful for a moment. "I don't have an answer to that. Perhaps you should ask Tao Ling directly."
"Tao Ling?" Yunxue frowned while continuing to run. "Who is that?"
"Oh, you know that old peach tree has a name," Moa replied cheerfully, as if their situation weren't dangerous at all. "Her name is Tao Ling."
Yunxue's steps slowed. She looked toward the forest as it began to darken. The shadows of the trees stretched long, and the cries of nocturnal beasts started to echo—night was fast approaching.
"After all this time, you're only telling me now that she has a name?" Xue Yunxue said irritably.
"Sorry, Sister Xue. It's just because I usually call her 'the old lady,'" Moa replied without the slightest guilt.
"How do I communicate with her?" Yunxue asked warily. "We're already far away, and night is coming. You know what it means to cross the Forbidden Forest at night—it's death at the very first step."
"Oh, no need to worry," Moa answered lightly. "I'm spiritually connected to the old lady. I can communicate with her telepathically. And I can connect your soul to hers as well."
Yunxue stopped.
She took a long breath, then returned to her human form. Her body felt light yet exhausted. She quickly put on the clothes she had bought that morning—simple garments. She was starting to feel that transforming back and forth was terribly impractical. Perhaps she should limit her beast transformations so she wouldn't have to keep changing clothes.
"Alright," she said at last, her voice steady despite her pounding heart.
"Do it."
The moment the words left her lips—
The golden peach mark on her wrist suddenly blazed with light. A sharp chill rushed through her, followed by a strange hollow sensation, as if all her strength were being drained in a single pull. The world spun. Her legs gave out. Yunxue collapsed to the ground as her consciousness slipped away, as though her soul were being torn from her physical body.
In a flash of gentle light—
She arrived in a place both silent and sacred.
Before her towered the Immortal Peach Tree, its trunk massive and ancient, its leaves shimmering green with a faint golden glow. The air was warm and soothing, like an embrace she had long forgotten.
Beneath the tree stood a woman.
She appeared to be around forty years old, yet Xue Yunxue knew her true age was far greater—perhaps as old as the world itself. And yet, time had not diminished her beauty in the slightest. Her face was graceful and gentle, radiating profound wisdom. She wore flowing white traditional robes, elegant and pristine. On her forehead glowed a crescent-shaped mark, soft pink and faintly luminous.
Yunxue stood frozen, awe and reverence clearly written across her face. Without realizing it, warmth bloomed in her chest—a strange yet comforting feeling.
"Welcome, Xue'er."
"Y-you… Tao Ling?"
Xue Yunxue asked softly, as if afraid her voice might shatter the sacred stillness. Though hesitant, her heart already knew—the woman before her was no ordinary being.
The woman smiled faintly.
"Yes," she replied gently. "I am Tao Ling—the Spirit of the Immortal Peach Tree."
Her slender hand lifted and rested against the peach tree's trunk with tender affection, as if caressing a companion who had stood beside her for countless millennia. A soft glow flowed from her touch, and her eyes shone with profound gentleness—calm, warm, eternal.
Tao Ling's voice drifted like a spring breeze after a long winter, each word soothing as it sank directly into the soul.
"You have suffered greatly since reincarnating into this world," she said slowly. "And I know… there is one question that has been tormenting your heart."
Her gaze settled fully on Yunxue, as though she could see the wounds buried deep within her soul.
"You must be wondering," she said softly,
"why I placed you into the body of a princess infamous for her cruelty… Hu Shui."
Xue Yunxue's chest tightened.
"Yes…"
The answer barely escaped her lips.
Her voice trembled. At some point, her eyes had begun to burn. She lowered her head unconsciously, her heart pounding erratically. Before Tao Ling, she felt small—not out of fear, but because of the gentleness that wrapped around her soul so completely.
It felt unfamiliar… yet deeply longed for.
Like standing before a mother.
"When your world was destroyed…"
Tao Ling's voice lowered, as though each word carried unbearable weight.
"My sister—the Spirit who guarded your world—tried to cast as many souls as possible into my domain in the final moment before its destruction."
She paused.
"But in the end," she continued softly, "you were the only soul I managed to save."
The light in Tao Ling's eyes dimmed. Her long lashes lowered, sorrow so deep it seemed to weigh down the very air.
"My sister… was destroyed along with your world," she whispered. "That was ten thousand years ago."
Xue Yunxue's chest felt suffocating.
Tao Ling exhaled slowly, as if soothing a wound that had never healed.
"But saving your soul was not the end of your suffering," she continued. "I could not find a suitable body for you."
She looked at Yunxue with eyes full of regret.
"Your soul is too pure. Your soul crystal is too powerful. The bodies of beast-men who died beneath this tree… none of them could contain you. They would shatter before your soul could fully merge."
She fell silent for a moment, then her voice grew darker.
"Until finally… I found a body named Hu Shui."
The name lingered in the air—heavy, ominous.
"From the very beginning," Tao Ling said slowly,
"that body had no soul."
Yunxue's eyes widened.
"Hu Shui's soul died when she was still very young," Tao Ling continued.
"And her body was manipulated by an evil spirit named Mo Yin."
Grief and restrained fury colored her voice.
"For her entire life, Hu Shui's body was under Mo Yin's control—a spirit that sought to completely possess her and turn her body into its vessel."
Tao Ling slowly clenched her fingers.
"But Hu Shui… was not a bad child," she said quietly.
"Her soul was pure. When her soul was destroyed, I sealed her body so Mo Yin could not fully possess it."
She closed her eyes briefly.
"The body remained alive… even though its soul was gone."
Silence fell.
"Unfortunately," Tao Ling continued heavily,
"Mo Yin was too powerful. He could still control Hu Shui's body from time to time."
Her gaze hardened.
"And when the body was no longer useful to him… Mo Yin discarded it into this forest. Dying. On the brink of death."
She paused.
"Fortunately, the talisman I placed upon her body guided her remains here."
Tao Ling looked back at Xue Yunxue.
"When I attempted to inject your soul into Hu Shui's body," she said softly,
"something happened—something even I did not anticipate."
A trace of lingering astonishment echoed in her tone.
"Your soul… bonded instantly."
Tao Ling released a long sigh.
"Whether it was the will of the heavens, or because that body had long been empty… your soul merged perfectly with Hu Shui's body."
She smiled faintly—bitter and complex.