"Do you know my master?"
"Your master?"
In the Funeral Shop, the fox and the cat exchanged glances.
Xu Qing pretended to be indifferent, silently browsing the ledger.
However, the corners of his eyes were always on the one fox and one cat, even though today's events were intricately linked to him, it didn't affect his enjoyment of the spectacle at all.
As for the old woman's death...
No matter how Xuan Yu and the Nine-tailed Fox before them viewed it, Xu Qing felt no burden.
The old woman committed suicide; what did it have to do with Xu Qing?
Besides, he had already arranged for the other's remains, although they were still left in the Box Garden, just not buried...
But this was quite reasonable, after all, even ordinary people observe the seven-day mourning period, so for an outsider like the old woman, keeping the body for a longer period was also quite logical.
"My master took me from my hometown hundreds of years ago, from that moment on, I followed her, traveling and cultivating, she is naturally my master."
Upon hearing Bai Qiuyu's words, Xuan Yu instantly snapped out of the shock from hearing about the old woman's death, the words of the female Divination Master in front of him were evidently more shocking.
"I too followed her to cultivate for a while hundreds of years ago, why have I never heard her mention you?"
"..."
The fox and the cat stared wide-eyed at each other over the counter for a while.
After some time, Bai Qiuyu was the first to be unable to withstand Xuan Yu's unblinking cat eye stare, she averted her gaze to the side, mocking herself: "Maybe she thought I was useless, a disgrace to her, unwilling to mention me to others..."
Xuan Yu almost blurted out: "Don't be deceived by her! I ended up being tricked to Yunmeng Mountain and lost my life!"
"What? You lost your life too?"
Bai Qiuyu was stunned.
"..."
Also? Xuan Yu looked at Bai Qiuyu, equally shocked.
"You were also fooled by the old woman?"
Xu Qing, observing from the sidelines, was watching with interest.
When the fox and the cat finished comparing notes and realized the truth about Madam Hai Wang stepping on two boats and deceiving both sides, Bai Qiuyu suddenly turned to Xu Qing:
"Shopkeeper, can this funeral paper be refunded?"
"No."
Xu Qing, who was flipping through the ledger, lifted his eyes and said lightly: "The contract is sealed, you and I have pledged to the Heaven and Earth Red Character Post by the lamplight, thus, there is no reason for changes."
Bai Qiuyu hadn't really intended to cancel the paper, she was just feeling stifled and aggrieved, but letting her neglect the old woman's final matters, she couldn't bring herself to do it.
Does she hate the old woman? A perfectly good Nine-tailed White Fox, just like that, she was forcibly severed of a tail and lost a life, saying she doesn't hate would be a lie.
But to say that the hatred ran deep, it wasn't down to the bones, after all, the old woman, regardless of being heartless, taught her many things, and took her through decades of cultivation, moreover, people were already dead.
Bai Qiuyu felt it was time to let go of the past and reconcile with herself.
"Huh, cheap for her!"
Xuan Yu, learning of the old woman's death a little later, still felt a pang of melancholy, it also didn't know what to feel at the moment.
Overall, not too happy, nor too sad.
Like losing something, but not entirely lost.
While Xuan Yu was in a daze, Xu Qing beside it spoke: "In my opinion, traveling and cultivating with that old woman, what's good about it? Hundreds of years passed without even a place to stay, eventually having to run to the disciple's house, seeking the disciple to arrange the final affairs, if anyone brought shame, it's got to be the old woman."
Hearing Xu Qing's words, Xuan Yu's forlorn emotions instantly dissipated, it suddenly understood why it wasn't as sad as Bai Qiuyu.
Because it had the Xu Immortal Family to support and rely on each other.
The little Funeral Shop was its home.
But Bai Qiuyu had no home, with the old woman's death, she didn't even have her last kin left.
Bai Qiuyu also heard Xu Qing's words, but for her, they meant something completely different in her ears.
She had no home, even arranging her master's final affairs, she had to go to her junior sister's house, on credit and borrowing for the funeral.
At this, Bai Qiuyu, the whole fox, felt even worse!
Xu Qing seemed completely oblivious; after experiencing everything that happened today, he understood this fox's disposition.
Legend has it that the foxes of Qingqiu possess spiritual wisdom, emphasizing deep emotions and obligations, if they form a bond with someone, they would perform many actions contrary to the self-serving and risk-avoiding nature of the demon kind.
Including but not limited to giving up their own cultivation achievements to assist the bond partner in achieving their goals.
These matched exactly with what Hu Baosong spoke: "The foxes of Qingqiu and the Tushan gathering all practice by forming bonds."
But the person Bai Qiuyu bonded with not only betrayed her, but also 'died' midway.
Simultaneously, Xu Qing understood why the other party was so persistent about arranging a burial for the old woman.
Simply because 'when birds fly back to their nests, foxes will always face toward their mound when they die!'
Birds fly thousands of miles but will eventually return home; when foxes die, they always face the place they were born.
In the eyes of the Fox Race, death is a very important matter.
Aside from the Fox Race, herd animals like elephants and monkeys also share this sense of emotion to some extent.
Bai Qiuyu, watching Xuan Yu and Xu Qing's conversation, felt increasingly desolate.
In her hundreds of years of roaming, she never encountered another Nine-tailed Fox.
The only encounter perhaps was over a hundred years ago, with someone possessing Tushan bloodlines.
Bai Qiuyu thought she had nowhere else to stay aside from returning to the ruins of the Qingqiu to continue talking to those skulls.
However, just as the female Divination Master felt dejected, the young man at the counter, whose ledger was about to tear from flipping, suddenly said: "Tomorrow is Erjiu Ming, since Daoist Bai and Xuan Yu stem from the same sect, that makes you senior sisters."