Time-traveling island

Deep in the mountains, there is a village that has been abandoned for a long time.

More than a hundred households in the village have disappeared without a trace, leaving only dilapidated houses, cobwebs under the eaves, weeds growing on the village paths, and the ancestral hall at the village entrance has been destroyed for many years.

But after nightfall, the sounds of opera singing and pipa playing came from an abandoned temple on the west side of the village. The singing was clear and bright, but the pipa playing was muddy and hoarse, which surprised people.

Upon closer inspection, it becomes even more horrifying:

On the stage of the dilapidated temple, a beautiful woman with a graceful figure walked lightly onto the stage to sing a duet with a red-furred fox as tall as a person.

The beautiful woman smiled charmingly and sang: "My lord, when will you return home? I will wait until the sea dries up and the rocks crumble, but I will never see you again... my beloved."

A burst of chaotic laughter erupted from the audience.

The red-haired fox spoke in a human voice and sang in a woman's voice: "Third Sister, my immortal roots have appeared. Now I have entered the immortal sect and can no longer accompany you, Third Sister."

Another burst of laughter erupted from the audience. Some asked, "Which immortal sect is this?" Others asked, "How does it compare to our Falling Phoenix Mountain?" Still others said, "Are there any immortal sects that take in fox demons? I'd like to join one too."

Immediately afterward, someone cursed, "Those stinking Taoist priests in the city beat us up whenever they see us, and you still want to seek immortality?"

The audience below the stage was surprisingly a group of fox spirits!

A few tree spirits and mountain monsters, about a hundred of them, gathered in front of the temple stage next to this dilapidated village to listen to a play.

The actors are demons, and the audience is also demons. The demons sit or lie down, some in human form and some in demonic form, making them especially terrifying in the dilapidated temple deep in the mountains and forests.

Just as the slender and beautiful woman was about to continue singing, a piece of paper emitting white light floated down in front of her, causing her to freeze in surprise.

The red fox who was singing along with her was also taken aback. Then, remembering something, she let out a shriek, her fiery red figure flashing past as she pounced on an old woman sitting in a wicker chair among the demons, shouting, "Grandma, the sword immortals are attacking!!"

The demons were startled. The ginseng spirit, who looked like a chubby four or five-year-old child, cried out, "Don't eat me! My medicinal properties haven't lasted three thousand years yet!" Then it burrowed into the ground and fled first.

"Don't panic."

The old woman calmed the demons and looked around, but saw no human cultivators casting spells. The mountains and forests were empty, and the strange talisman appeared out of thin air, as if it were a rare celestial treasure.

She was greatly surprised and, looking at the beautiful woman on the stage who was in a daze, called out, "Xiao Yao, come here."

For some reason, the fox demon on the stage reached out her slender, snow-white hand and grabbed the paper. She walked over while looking down at the words on it. By the time she reached the old woman, she had already finished reading the words on the paper, and a strange expression appeared on her beautiful face.

"Sister, what's this? Let me see!"

Perhaps seeing that there was no danger, the red fox next to the old woman transformed into a girl of fifteen or sixteen years old and reached out to snatch the paper from her sister's hand.

"This is mine!"

The fox demon held up the paper in her fair hand. The two sisters played around for a while, but were scolded by the old woman. The paper then fell into her hand.

"Mother-in-law."

The fox demon hesitated, but her younger sister guessed what she was thinking and smiled, "Sister, do you want to be employed by this immortal lord named Lin An?"

The fox demon remained silent, only gazing at her mother-in-law.

The old woman examined the talisman that had fallen from the sky again and again, unable to figure it out. She could only slowly say, "Xiao Yao, tell your mother the truth, do you really want to go to the city?"

The fox demon lowered her head and fiddled with the hem of her clothes. Her younger sister smiled and said, "My sister has wanted to go out for a long time. She often stands on the mountain gazing eastward. Once, she saw someone going into the mountains to gather herbs and even wanted to drag me over to ask him... Hmm!"

Her sister covered her mouth with her hand.

The old woman sighed softly, glanced at the lesser demons surrounding her, and said slowly in a hoarse voice, "Humans and demons are irreconcilable enemies. You haven't seen it, so you naturally don't know the methods of human cultivators. There are countless cultivators outside, but few are truly dedicated to seeking the Dao. When they see you, they only know how to kill and never reason with you."

The fox demon whispered, "Grandma, I'm all grown up now."

The old woman glanced at her shapely figure and nodded, saying, "You've been in human form for quite some time now."

The fox demon nestled against the old woman, acting coquettishly: "Grandma, I've also learned three levels of the fox clan's inner cultivation technique; I already have the ability to protect myself!"

The old woman was secretly surprised to see Xiao Yao's seductive charm revealed unintentionally. She had never taught Xiao Yao the seductive arts of the fox clan, yet Xiao Yao had mastered them without a teacher. How could an ordinary male cultivator resist such natural charm?

The fox demon took the paper from the old woman's hand and laughed, "This thing fell from the sky. We don't know which immortal lord crafted this magic weapon. Perhaps it's Xiao Yao's good fortune."

He added, "Or perhaps nothing is wrong at all."

The old woman frowned and thought for a long time before finally agreeing, "Alright, you can go now."

The fox demon beamed with joy, her stunningly beautiful face revealing barely suppressed delight.

The old woman took out a jade pendant and handed it to her, then instructed her, "This jade pendant can conceal the demonic aura on your body. Also, remember this saying: 'Where there's life, there's hope.' If you are captured by those shameless cultivators, obey them if you should, and you'll have your day."

After hesitating for a moment, he said vaguely, "Male cultivators are still men. If you use some methods, they will listen to you in no time. Then you can find a chance to escape."

The fox clan possesses an exceptional talent for the art of bewitching people.

"Yes, Grandma, Xiaoyao remembers!"

The fox demon, eager to leave, readily agreed, and impatiently bit her slender finger to write her name on the paper with her blood:

Su Zhuoyao.

A flash of white light appeared, and the demons had vanished without a trace.

……

Earth, Pacific Ocean.

After waiting for several minutes, Lin An finally saw Su Zhuoyao.

I was stunned again.

She wore a coarse linen dress, her jet-black hair was tied into a thick braid that reached her slender waist, and she wore a simple jade hairpin on her head. Her earrings were two small, green gourds. Her snow-white skin contrasted sharply with the coarse linen dress, and her lips were as red as blood.

When she raised her eyebrows and looked at Lin An, her eyes were captivating and alluring.

The Su Zhuoyao before him seemed like a peerless beauty from the countryside, possessing an indescribable charm:

To praise her as infinitely beautiful is too vulgar; to praise her as pure and pretty is to fail to describe her allure.

The ancients said that adding one part would make it too long, and subtracting one part would make it too short, which is very apt for her.

"...Young Master Lin."

Wang Wanxiu whispered to herself, her expression somewhat self-conscious.

The two women summoned by Young Master Lin were quite different. One had an unusual appearance with long, pointed ears, yet she was exceptionally beautiful, like a goddess descended to earth. The newcomer, though dressed in coarse linen, was also a stunning beauty.

She alone, having fled from the border to Jiangnan, had been traveling for months and was now pale and thin. In front of these two peerless beauties, she could not help but feel ashamed of herself.

"Hello, are you Ms. Su?"

Lin An snapped out of his daze and greeted Su Zhuoyao, who was over a hundred years old and whose identity he did not know.

To his surprise, Su Zhuoyao, with her fair skin and beautiful face, dressed in a coarse linen long dress, smiled at him, stepped forward gracefully, and bowed, singing in a theatrical voice, "Immortal Lord, this humble servant greets you."

Lin An didn't realize for a moment that she was an opera singer?

Seemingly sensing something was wrong, Su Zhuoyao's face flushed. She had been cultivating in the mountains since childhood and had never spoken to outsiders. Subconsciously, she used the tone of voice she used on stage...

"You're too kind, Miss Su. Just call me by my name."

Lin An wasn't too surprised; what happened today was already bizarre enough.