Chapter 64: The Mirror’s Past

“Huuu…”

The vortex in the mirror was dark and profound. After Rabbit Tuan was sucked in, he kept plummeting downward endlessly, unable to see the end of the swirl.

The biting gale battered his rabbit ears, making them tremble nonstop. He flailed his little paws, instinctively trying to climb upward, but it was no use.

At that moment, a white shadow landed beside him and scooped Rabbit Tuan into a warm embrace. Rabbit Tuan twitched his pink nose and caught the scent of incense from the other, along with a faint metallic tang of blood.

A lock of silver hair brushed past his eyes. Rabbit Tuan realized the one holding him was Dao Qing. He didn’t struggle. Though he despised Dao Qing, he knew the man had appeared here to protect him.

That mirror was too eerie. For the sake of his little life, it was better to stay in Dao Qing’s arms. At least if something happened, there would be someone to block it first. Even if they died, Dao Qing would go before him. Thinking that way, it didn’t seem like too bad a deal.

Rabbit Tuan proactively burrowed into Dao Qing’s collar. After an unknown time in the darkness, he suddenly sensed light ahead, as if they had fallen out of the vortex.

“Plop!”

They plunged into water—icy, bone-chilling water. Rabbit Tuan was instantly frozen stiff, but Dao Qing quickly cast spells to repel water and cold, isolating him from the frigid liquid and allowing him to breathe freely underwater.

Earlier in the hall, while fleeing Dao Qing’s pursuit, Rabbit Tuan had resented the man’s overwhelming power. But now, he could only feel grateful. Thankfully, Dao Qing’s cultivation was profound and he knew so many spells. Otherwise, falling into water this cold alone might have drowned or frozen him to death.

“Gurgle…”

Rabbit Tuan blew out a string of bubbles and poked his little head out from Dao Qing’s collar. He saw they had dropped into an incredibly deep ice lake. Below was murky, dim water, and above was a thick, cracked layer of ice. Dao Qing was swimming upward with him.

The little Rabbit Tuan clung to Dao Qing’s clothes, riding the dragon carriage in peace—until he glimpsed a massive, shadowy form lurking vaguely in the dark depths below. He panicked a bit and patted Dao Qing with his paw, bubbling out, “Swim faster! There are demons below!”

Dao Qing said nothing and accelerated their ascent. After a few moments of swimming, with a “splash,” he gripped the ice layer, braced his arms, and agilely leaped onto it.

Rabbit Tuan poked out, climbed onto his shoulder, and surveyed the surroundings. He couldn’t help but stare in a daze.

Dawn was breaking. A red sun slowly rose, illuminating the vast, pristine white snowfields.

As far as the eye could see, there was barren, snow-covered wilderness without a blade of grass. The earth lay blanketed in thick white snow, devoid of any signs of life. Only in the extreme distance were there a few undulating mountain ranges, where the dark green of pines and cypresses could faintly be seen.

Rabbit Tuan knew this absolutely wasn’t near Shangjing. Even the coolest Cang Mountain should have melted its snow by this season—how could there be such thick snow?

Moreover, the time was wrong. Back in the hall, it had just been bedtime. How could it be dawn so soon? So, either the mirror had teleported them somewhere else, or this was an independent little world inside the mirror.

Either way, Rabbit Tuan’s mood soured. He glared viciously at Dao Qing. If not for this guy, how would he have stumbled into the mirror? It was all this stinking dragon’s fault!

Rabbit Tuan huffily swatted Dao Qing with his ears. “Where are we? Is this a mirror mini-world?”

“It’s not an independent little world.”

Dao Qing gazed around and withdrew his eyes. “We’re still in the original world.”

Rabbit Tuan relaxed upon hearing that. Even if push came to shove, he could still use his rabbit fur to call Xuan Yang for rescue and have him cast a spell to bring him back.

But he hadn’t expected Dao Qing’s next words to douse him like a bucket of cold water.

“But it’s not the original time.”

Dao Qing said, “The Ancient Mirror’s power is to return to the past—perhaps ten years, perhaps a hundred or a thousand. I don’t know the exact year.”

Rabbit Tuan went slack for a moment. After the mental blow, his frustration transformed into towering rage, propelling him to leap off Dao Qing’s shoulder and form a little snowball that he smashed into Dao Qing’s knee.

“You stinking dragon, you stinking eel! Jump into the pot and steam yourself to atone!”

…

After Rabbit Tuan tired himself out from fussing, Dao Qing tucked him into his pocket.

Dao Qing strode across the snowfields, his silver hair flowing with a beautiful sheen under the sunlight. His plain white Daoist robes nearly blended into the snowscape as he headed toward the distant mountains.

His Sleeve Universe happened to contain the Yarrow Stalks. Before setting off, he had divined a hex, asking which direction offered a path to survival. The result pointed due east, aligning perfectly with the mountains.

Rabbit Tuan huddled in Dao Qing’s collar, embarrassedly grooming his fur. He was leaking milk again.

No way was he letting rabbit milk stain Dao Qing’s clothes. After agonizing a bit, he quietly asked, “Do you have a handkerchief?”

His Jade Token hadn’t shattered yet, so he could retrieve things, but it only held various gold, silver, jewels, and a few sets of ornate court robes. No food or daily necessities. Once he got back, he absolutely had to prepare a full set and store it inside.

Dao Qing seemed far more experienced in this regard. He produced a handkerchief from his sleeve. Rabbit Tuan took it and draped it over his belly. In moments, it soaked up the milk and was half-drenched.

Rabbit Tuan asked dispiritedly, “Why don’t you transform into dragon form and fly to the mountains? How long will it take just walking on two legs?”

Dao Qing replied, “I’m internally injured. Reverting to my true form would worsen it. If danger arises, I might not be able to protect you fully.”

As he spoke, he coughed muffledly, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the snow, staining it a vivid, demonic crimson.

Rabbit Tuan jumped in fright. He had noticed Dao Qing’s pallor earlier and smelled the blood, but he hadn’t realized the injury was so severe. For a Dragon Clan member with a body tough as gold and stone to be hurt this badly—what immense power must have done it?

He quickly figured it out. “Was it Xuan Yang Daoist who injured you?”

The mirror vortex hadn’t felt dangerous when he experienced it. If not the Ancient Mirror, then it had to be the Holy Monarch.

Dao Qing cast a spell to clean the blood from his mouth and the ground. “Yes.”

“Serves you right.”

Rabbit Tuan huffed. “If you hadn’t insisted on dragging me back to the Back Mountain, Xuan Yang Daoist wouldn’t have come looking for me. It’s all your fault in the end—how else would I have fallen into the mirror? Don’t think saving me makes me grateful. It’s what you owe me!”

After saying that, he braced for Dao Qing to toss him out. But Dao Qing merely fell silent for a long while before murmuring, “I’m sorry.”

“…?” Rabbit Tuan poked his head out suspiciously. “You’re actually apologizing to me?”

Dao Qing said, “You’re right. The fault is mine. I got you involved, and that’s why the Ancient Mirror sent you to the past.”

“At least you have some conscience…” Rabbit Tuan muttered under his breath.

“My mistake was capturing you in the Ancestral Master Hall,” Dao Qing said. “When we return, I’ll take you to the Back Mountain and make sure to cure you of your promiscuous ways.”

“Slap!”

The sopping handkerchief flew onto Dao Qing’s handsome face. Rabbit Tuan flew into a rage. “Who’re you calling promiscuous? Where am I promiscuous, you lecherous dragon? You’ve got the nerve to call me that?”

Dao Qing peeled off the handkerchief, the sweet milky fragrance lingering in his breaths. He glanced down at it and casually stored it in his Sleeve Universe.

He tucked a fresh handkerchief into his collar, right onto Rabbit Tuan’s belly. “I’m different from you. For a hundred years, I’ve upheld the precepts and rules without a single fleeting romance.”

Rabbit Tuan disdainfully hugged the handkerchief. “I don’t buy it. Who’re you fooling, pretending to be some chaste fierce dragon?”

Whether demons or beasts, mating was instinct. Rabbit Tuan had no prior experience because too many little animals had wanted to mate with him back then, traumatizing him. Plus, his natural desires were faint; he wasn’t troubled by rutting seasons. That was why he’d never been with any demon.

Dao Qing wiped the milk stains from his face and pointed to the bright red Virgin Mark between his brows. “I have a Virgin Mark.”

“So?”

Rabbit Tuan didn’t quite grasp what that meant. “Having a Virgin Mark means you’re a virgin?”

“Yes,” Dao Qing said.

“So what? Can’t you fake that? I could dot one on myself and pretend I’m a virgin too.” Rabbit Tuan kicked his feet.

Dao Qing halted and took out a cinnabar box. “You can try.”

Rabbit Tuan: “?”

How did this dead eel have everything on him?

In this icy wasteland, with Dao Qing injured, Rabbit Tuan felt studying this was untimely. But Dao Qing had stopped dead, as if he wouldn’t budge until Rabbit Tuan dotted one. He really cared about proving his purity.

Sighing helplessly, Rabbit Tuan took the cinnabar box and dipped his paw in, pressing a bright red paw print onto his leg.

Miraculously, the cinnabar was like evaporating water—it was quickly absorbed by his body without a trace. Rabbit Tuan incredulously flipped his paw back and forth; even the crevices were clean.

“Fine…”

Rabbit Tuan awkwardly handed back the box and looked up—straight into Dao Qing’s cold stare.

He bristled instantly. “How do you prove yours is real and not tampered with?”

“I knew you’d ask that.”

Dao Qing’s voice was icy. He produced an extremely fine writing brush from his sleeve. “Watch closely.”

He dipped the tiny brush lightly in the cinnabar box, tugged down his collar to expose his collarbone, and dotted lightly below it—a small, vivid red Virgin Mark, like a beauty mark.

He chose the spot below his collarbone so Rabbit Tuan could see clearly. Rabbit Tuan watched it not fade, then grudgingly pawed at it. It truly didn’t disappear.

Dao Qing asked, “Do you have anything else to say?”

His tone was frigid. Rabbit Tuan had planned to shut up but couldn’t resist contradicting him.

“Even if your Virgin Mark is real, so what?”

Rabbit Tuan patted his collarbone and lifted his little head arrogantly. “I might not be able to make one stick, but I can make yours vanish. If I sleep with you right here, when you get back to the Daoist Temple, everyone will see you’ve lost your purity. They’ll eye you strangely, wondering who deflowered you. Sorry to say—it’d be me, the one without a Virgin Mark.”

“So don’t provoke me. Push me too far, and I’ll sleep with you, steal that chastity you’re so proud of. Then everyone will know you lost your virtue before marriage, and you’ll be unwanted goods…”

Dao Qing pinched his three-lobed mouth. “Shut up.”