Chapter 12 - Silver Fine-toothed Comb
"This young master, your cute little sister has been looking at my sugar figurines for a long time. How about it, buy her a string? Ten wen coins for one string, not expensive, not expensive..."
This mortal city, which worships immortals and gods and is backed by the Star Moon Pavilion, truly was somewhat extraordinary. Luo He thought to himself, this attire of his—black robe and fox mask—wouldn't look like a good person even in the cultivation world, yet here, almost no one minded.
The night was like water, yet it could not flow into this street filled with song and dance.
The sugar vendor, carrying a fine-toothed comb, seized the opportunity and came over, saying with a face full of smiles.
"Have you no eyes to see? Who would be siblings with this baleful star?"
But before he could finish speaking, the girl's voice from the side had already sounded.
The vendor was stunned for a moment, constantly looking between the two... The strange person wearing a mask didn't respond either. It turned out this little sister was the master.
Aiyo, I truly misjudged.
"Young Lady, don't be annoyed, don't be annoyed. It's because I'm old and my eyes are dim, haha..."
The frowning girl glanced at Luo He. Seeing his eyes show a hint of helplessness, her expression then relaxed. Afterwards, she put on airs again, and pouting her lips, asked:
"These sugar figurines of yours, can you make them on the spot?"
"Of course. I daren't say for other things, but this craft of mine, I've honed it for several decades. In all of Gengyang City, you won't find anyone better than me..."
"Alright, alright, less nonsense."
The girl impatiently interrupted him. Afterwards, she pointed at Luo He's face.
"Based on this white fox mask of his, make one for me."
"......"
"Ah, this, Young Lady, I usually make human figures..."
"Can't make it?"
"Can, definitely can."
Under the girl's slightly threatening expression, two drops of sweat trickled down the vendor's forehead. While inwardly cursing his bad luck, he began to make it with his hands.
The girl shot Luo He a mocking and smug look. With her hands behind her back, she directly started humming a song.
After a short while, a bright yellow fox sugar painting was handed to the girl.
"You, pay."
"......"
"What are you looking at me for? Are you expecting me to pay?"
I don't have money.
Luo He sighed in his heart. He knew she was deliberately making things difficult for him; who would carry mortal currency on them for no reason?
He took out a spirit stone and handed it to the vendor. Under his astonished gaze, the two disappeared into the crowd, going with the flow.
...
"What are you staring at me for?"
The girl ultimately couldn't withstand Luo He's deep and profound gaze. She put down the half-licked sugar painting in her hand and glared at Luo He with dissatisfaction.
"Do you think we in the Demonic Sect live some kind of carefree life? Every day we live in constant fear; there isn't a single comfortable day."
"Strolling through a divine festival and eating a sugar painting is nothing! There are plenty of demonic cultivators who run off to the mortal world, hide their identities, get married, and have children!"
The girl seemed to recall what kind of life the person before her usually lived. Her expression paused for a moment; afterwards, she still reverted to that sour-faced appearance.
"Hmph... What's the point of saying so much to you? Anyway, you're just a quiet gourd who won't speak. Casting flirtatious glances at a blind man, pei pei pei."
Halfway through speaking, she suddenly had a bright idea. Holding the skewer, she held the drawn mask in front of her own face.
The young girl's eyes peeked out from the gaps in the sugar painting, making it so Luo He couldn't clearly see her expression.
"If you can let me see what you look like under your mask, I'll take you back to see my Young Lady, how about it?"
"I suppose you have reasons why you absolutely must find her."
"......"
Luo He actually didn't have any aversion to his own appearance.
Becoming like this was not his wish, nor was it his fault. He had no reason to be concerned about it; he just didn't want to attract attention because of that horrifying appearance.
If satisfying her curiosity would do it, Luo He actually didn't mind that much.
Luo He's hand, after a long time, rested on the clasp at the front of his mask. What came from under his fingers was the rough sensation of his skin, as if it had been scorched by flames.
If she wants to see, then let her see.
The young girl couldn't help but hold her breath for a moment, but Luo He's hand stopped.
"...?"
Ignoring the puzzled gaze of the young girl before him, Luo He's pupils turned golden for an instant, his gaze shooting towards a certain direction as if piercing through something.
That was a trace of the eye technique he had once cultivated, which could inwardly view souls; it happened just at the moment he had intended to remove his mask.
He seemed to feel a deep gaze that struck straight to his soul. He couldn't help but look over... It was the divine statue of Her Ladyship the Sovereign Emperor, still being paraded through the streets at this time.
But after his gaze swept past the divine statue, Luo He looked at souls, and among the blurred souls of tens of thousands of people, he saw a figure flash past.
Male body, female soul.
It was that person who called himself Shen Huai.
She seemed to sense Luo He's gaze.
In Luo He's spiritual vision, she turned her head unhurriedly. Across the sea of people, their two souls gazed at each other.
Luo He could only vaguely make out on her thin, strange, and evil facial contours, a meaningful smile appearing.
And then, it vanished in an instant.
"......"
"Hey, what were you looking at just now?"
Luo He gave the girl a deep look and shook his head.
"...If you want to ask my Young Lady for help, then at least don't hide things from my Young Lady."
"Even if you think you're doing it for her own good, she won't be happy."
The young girl put away her teasing expression and said word by word.
She also couldn't understand why, whenever this fellow's eyes moved, she knew what he meant... This feeling was so annoying.
Seeing her attitude was like this, Luo He didn't dwell on it much longer and immediately walked in that direction.
And what he had just seen, Shen Huai's gaze of silent extinction, as if cast from the Netherworld... actually lingered in his heart for a while, refusing to leave.
...
"You have no money? No money and you still came to eat?"
The stall owner looked at this young man before him, who had eaten more than ten bowls of his ice dessert and then said he had no money, and was so angry he almost jumped up from his seat.
This fellow, dressed and looking all ethereal and respectably roguish, yet he can't even fork out this little bit of money?
"This young master, you'd better not be joking with me. Look at you, wearing gold and jade; surely you wouldn't default on a debt to a commoner like me, right?"
"Haha..."
Hearing the stall owner say this, Shen Huai sat there and laughed twice. Although he had a remarkably immortal-like and handsome appearance, for some reason, the stall owner only felt this laughter was effeminately charming to the point of being somewhat coquettish.
"Don't you worry first. Sit here and wait a moment; someone will come to pay for me shortly."
"Before you came, I said pay for one bowl when you eat one bowl. You've eaten more than ten bowls already! I'm old and frail, I can't run. If I don't watch you and you just run off, what then?!"
"Oh my, speak of the devil, and he arrives."
In the crowd, she locked onto him.
Discovering there was still someone following beside him, her smile widened a few degrees more.
So Shen Huai stood up and shouted loudly in that direction:
"Brother Luo He, you've come at just the right time! I didn't expect to meet you here again after the Immortal Ascension Trial. It truly is fate!"
"Im-Immortal Ascension Trial?"
These mortals were not without having heard of this event's existence. Seeing Shen Huai's otherworldly appearance and hearing him say this word... for a moment, they all regarded him as a cultivator who had come to the mortal world seeking pleasure, and the sound of discussion, for a moment, actually became inaudibly low.
"I ate some things from this shop owner and didn't bring any money. Would Brother Luo He be willing to pay for me?"
Passing through the crowd, Luo He, in his black clothes and fox mask, walked straight over.