13 That Means Yousre Still Human (1/2)
”Awh, Huang'er! Do you really miss me that much? Why are you crying?”
”Eh?”
She was crying?
Hikari touched the edge of her eyes with a finger. It was a bit damp. Ah, indeed, a lone tear had escaped without her notice.
Aah. She had been living in this strange world for almost a year. While she wasn't alone, there was nobody who knew about her old self. Even Kokuo, whom she had told about her reincarnation, never addressed her by her real name.
To suddenly meet an old acquaintance once again, to hear her name spoken out loud... even if it was that old vixen, it still made him sentimental.
...How embarrassing.
”Hehehe~ I'm soooo happy!”
The naked beauty collapsed onto the smaller girl, enveloping her in a bear hug.
”Daji... get off me... no, wait, first of all, get some goddamn clothes!”
With difficulties, she finally managed to push the woman off.
”Hmm? Don't like what you see~?”
The woman's hands playfully crawled over her own chest, massaging her two sacred mountains seductively.
”...Not interested.”
She had seen this display so many times in the past thousands of years that she had literally grown numb.
”Boo~! Huang'er is still cold as always!”
With a poof, a set of clothes descended upon her. It was a piece of loosely-tied robe, with the collar opened up to show off her chest and shoulders while leaving the rest to the viewer's imagination.
Ugh... in a way, it was even worse than being naked, wasn't it? She suddenly felt her well-tempered resistance slowly crumbling.
Showing a mischievous grin, Daji scrutinized the girl from head to toe.
”By the way, Huang'er, you've also become cute, hmm~? I didn't know that you actually like this kind of thing.”
”I-It's not like I wanted it. The pond was extremely chaotic at that time!”
”Is~ that~ so~?” She giggled. ”I remember that time when you sneaked to mount Emei to see Ying'er, so it's because of this reason, hmm~?”
”Shut it.”
Her tone turned cold in an instant, causing Daji to shiver from fright.
'Ah, that topic is still taboo, huh...'
”Huang'er, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up. Please be lenient to this sister, okay~?”
She hugged the girl from behind, unwilling to part even after being pushed again. In the end, Hikari was the one who relented first.
”Okay, fine... don't worry about it.”
She gave the woman's head a gentle pat.
”Hmm~ pet me more~”
”Yeah, yeah...”
Pat, pat, pat...
”Still, this is an expertly-done disguise,” she remarked. ”You're applying chakra around your body to create a material projection?”
”Fufufu, interesting, isn't it? Unlike us cultivator that could change our entire physique after reaching immortal stages, the people in this world changed their appearance in this way. I think they called it Transformation Technique.”
”Hoo...”
When she gave the skin a push, it sunk in a bit before elastically springing back up. It felt real, as if they weren't made out of chakra.
”Actually, I just mold them to mimic how our qi bodies were made. It takes a lot of concentration, though. The people of this world doesn't bother to keep it for long, they just use it as distraction during battle or intelligence gathering. At least, that's what the dogs in this household had told me.”
Ah, right, all this time, she was actually...
”You... out of all the people that you could reincarnate into, you ended up as a dog...”
A male one, even!
”Right? I was surprised when I found out. Then again, I just fully regained my memories a few days ago, so it didn't strike me too hard. If I started as a dog from birth, I might have gone insane!”
Made sense, she also didn't drink that Five-Fragrance Tea before reincarnating, so...
Hmm? A few days ago?
”You know that a human's soul degenerate whenever they reincarnated into a lower-ranked beings, right? When we first met, my soul was still that of a mere dog. When I found you, however, something within my soul resonated with yours, causing my memories to resurface. At first, it was just a sudden desire to get closer to you. As time went by, however, the image within my mind grew clearer.”
”So that's why you're so attached to me!”
Everything suddenly made sense now. Hikari suddenly wanted to laugh.
”It must've been fate! Fate dictates that me and Huang'er can never be separated!”
”Yes, yes, whatever you say...”
Fate, was it? That's such a nice way to put it.
...
Fate...
”By the way, Daji...”
”Hmm~?”
She stared at that pair of sapphire-blue eyes, the rarity that had entranced countless Lords and Emperors in the past.
”Why are you reincarnating too? The Yang Dynasty is supposed to be an era of peace. I don't think any major fight had broken out by the time I descended to the underworld.”
”...Huang'er, do you really have to ask? I did it because of you.”
”Huh?”
Daji pouted, clearly dissatisfied with her dumbfounded response.
”You left without telling me. When I found out that you're going to enter the circle of reincarnation, I quickly went down to the underworld as well. Life without you... I don't want to think about it.”
”You can just enjoy your time in the new era...”
”Hmph,” she snorted. ”Why are you still so dense after all these times? Those years of cultivation must've rot a part of your brain.”
Why was this woman getting so uppity all of the sudden...?
Nevermind. There was still something that she had to find out from her.
”Daji, back then, you were queueing for Lady Meng's Five-Fragrance Tea as well, right? Did you see the culprit who'd torn down the wheel of karma?”