Xin Xiu had never ridden a horse before. In her previous world, she once passed by a horse ranch during an outing and expressed interest in trying horseback riding. However, her lazy companion that day immediately gave up at the mention of riding, complaining about how tiring it was and how it would make their bottoms sore. They wanted to go home early and laze around instead. Unable to persuade her reluctant companion, Xin Xiu regretfully missed the opportunity to learn horseback riding.
Now, however, she had finally mounted a horse and found it remarkably similar to riding a large motorcycle. All modes of transportation shared this characteristic: theoretical knowledge was useless, and one had to actually ride to learn.
Following the narrow road away from the city, Xin Xiu was confidently galloping on horseback by the time the city walls disappeared from view. She felt she might possess some innate driving ability, thinking that even if she were to travel to the future and pilot a mecha, she'd probably learn quickly.
Lost in these thoughts while sitting on the horse, Xin Xiu didn't bother controlling its direction, treating it like an autonomous vehicle. The horse was docile and obedient, seemingly having its own destination as it trotted forward steadily.
In this era, there were no highways between cities. Apart from the yellow earth exposed by frequent foot traffic, everything else was wild grassland reaching up to one's calves. Once away from cities and villages, one could look around for a long time without seeing another person. People didn't travel for leisure in those days; with underdeveloped transportation, ordinary folks found leaving home to be quite an ordeal.
After riding for a while, Xin Xiu felt her bottom getting sore from the bumpy ride.
She dismounted and let the horse graze nearby while she took out her map. However, instead of eating grass, the horse approached her, gently nudging her shoulder with its head, then backing away to gaze at her with its large eyes.
Puzzled, Xin Xiu asked, "What's wrong? Not eating grass? I stopped to let you rest, don't you want to?"
This black horse she had casually acquired was completely different from its unsightly former owner. It was quite handsome, with big eyes and long eyelashes, a long black mane draped over its slender neck. Though not particularly muscular, it had long limbs, and its gaze especially resembled that of a refined yet melancholic young man.
Xin Xiu: "..." She was taken aback by her own imagination.
She knocked on her forehead, laughing at herself, "I must have been single for too long if I'm finding a horse handsome and refined."
The horse with its clear eyes and distinct features kept giving her that melancholic, pleading look. Unable to understand horse language, Xin Xiu had no choice but to try mounting it again. As soon as she did, the horse continued forward. Xin Xiu began to understand that the horse seemed to want to take her somewhere.
Her curiosity piqued, Xin Xiu didn't stop and let the horse carry her through the night. By dawn, the horse appeared extremely tired, but when it saw city walls appear in the distance, Xin Xiu clearly felt it perk up, its weary steps becoming light and quick once more.
Soldiers guarded the city gate, but their demeanor was lazy. They gathered to one side, laughing and talking loudly, paying no attention to people entering and leaving the city. Xin Xiu rode her horse directly into the city, noticing that the animal had a clear destination in mind. Like a gust of wind, it galloped to a mansion in the western part of the city. Upon seeing the large doors of the residence with lanterns bearing the surname Ji, it finally stopped, letting out a long, mournful neigh.
Xin Xiu dismounted, rubbing her sore bottom and stroking the horse's mane. "I thought you were in such a hurry to find a mate," she said. "Why did you bring me here? Is your wife inside?"
The black horse knelt on its front legs, lying down and gazing at the Ji family's main gate, tears flowing from its large eyes.
Xin Xiu: "..."
She crouched down, "Why are you crying, young man? Don't cry, you're such a big horse."
The horse hung its head, like a person overwhelmed with grief. At a loss, Xin Xiu stood up and knocked on the door. After a long while, someone came to open it – an elderly man with a worried expression. Seeing her, he asked confusedly, "Who are you?"
Thank heavens, although his accent was thick, Xin Xiu could understand the old man's words through a combination of guessing and context. She asked, using both words and gestures, if the household wanted to buy a horse. The old man struggled to understand, then waved his hand, seemingly indicating that only the master of the house could decide such matters.
Xin Xiu said, "If you don't want to buy, that's fine. I have a horse I'd like to give to your master as a gift."
A horse was not cheap in those times. The old man, probably never having encountered someone offering money at the door like this, looked at her with surprise and confusion, muttering something. When he spoke quickly, Xin Xiu couldn't understand him. Just as she was getting a headache, a small sedan chair stopped at the entrance, and a drunk young man stumbled out.
The young man had a decent face, but his sleazy demeanor ruined its harmony. Seeing him, the old man hurried forward to support him. Xin Xiu heard the term "Young Master" in his address, realizing this young man must be the master of the Ji family.
The drunk man heard a few words from the old man and became delighted. Who would refuse something offered for free? He immediately had a monkey-faced attendant lead the black horse into the compound, then quickly shut the main gate with a bang, as if afraid Xin Xiu might change her mind, leaving her outside.
Xin Xiu shrugged and turned to find a nearby shop to sit down in, ordering a bowl of noodles. How long had it been since she'd had a proper hot meal while traveling? She was tired of just bread and dried meat – it got boring quickly.
The noodles weren't very oily, but they smelled delicious. Topped with a spoonful of dark sauce and a few crisp, green vegetables, it was quite a feast. Xin Xiu finished most of it, then sipped some of the broth, satisfying her stomach before asking the shopkeeper's wife about the Ji family across the street.
The shopkeeper's wife was very enthusiastic. Even though communication was difficult, she didn't lose patience. Instead, she seemed excited to share what she knew about the Ji family. The gossip flowed vividly from her eyes, brows, and mouth, undeterred by the language barrier.
Xin Xiu got the gist of it. The Ji family was wealthy, and both the master and mistress were kind-hearted people who had raised a good son. He was handsome and had passed the imperial examination to become a scholar at a young age. Unfortunately, a few months ago, the Young Master Ji somehow fell in with bad company.
He invited a Taoist priest to stay at their home, treating him to the best food and drink. Since then, he stopped studying and began drinking and gambling everywhere. Even when his parents fell ill from worry, he didn't care and became even more unrestrained. In the blink of an eye, he had squandered most of the family's wealth. This had become a topic of discussion among the townspeople, who couldn't help but comment on this strange turn of events.
Xin Xiu pondered this, forming a bold guess, though she wasn't sure if it was correct.
Leaving the noodle shop, Xin Xiu returned to the Ji family residence, but instead of going to the main gate, she went to the side where there was a green wall. The high wall posed no challenge for her; she could jump onto it with a single leap. On the other side were several bamboo groves. Xin Xiu brazenly snuck into the courtyard, even taking the time to pluck a bamboo branch.
She found the stable and saw the black horse confined inside, with two other horses in adjacent stalls. Compared to them, the black horse seemed particularly agitated, constantly ramming its head against the post.
"Hey, hey, take it easy," Xin Xiu went over to hold the horse's neck. "My friend, don't be hasty. Let me ask you, did you bring me here because you want my help?"
After asking twice, the horse seemed to understand and nodded repeatedly.
Xin Xiu said, "Then let me first verify my thoughts. I just remembered I brought something that might be useful."
The items her master had prepared for her were all stored in the panda Dingdang's belly. Xin Xiu had briefly looked through them earlier but hadn't given them much thought. She rummaged in the panda's pocket for a moment and pulled out a mirror – the kind of small makeup mirror that young ladies carry.
Xin Xiu called this mirror the "demon-revealing mirror." Her master had only briefly mentioned it, saying it could help her distinguish whether the people she met were actually human, in case she encountered ill-intentioned demons or monsters. However, she never expected that the mirror's first use would be to determine whether a horse was actually a person.
She held the mirror up to the black horse, and soon an image appeared on its surface. It showed a haggard but handsome young man with long black hair tied in a braid. Xin Xiu glanced at the horse's mane – it was the braid she had casually plaited out of boredom during their journey. Well, it turned out to be the man's hair.
The face of this young man was almost identical to that of the drunk Young Master Ji she had seen earlier.
The situation was now clear. Evidently, this horse was the real Young Master Ji, who had somehow been transformed into this state.
Xin Xiu: "I see you've been eager to return home all along. So it was homesickness driving you."
These words caused the black horse to weep again. It... he knelt down on both knees, bowing to her. Though unable to speak, his meaning was clear – he was begging for her help. He must have noticed her extraordinary abilities earlier, which is why he had brought her here with hope.
"Alright then, you wait here. I'll go check out the one impersonating you, see what kind of creature it really is." If it turned out to be a monster, that would be interesting – she had never seen an ordinary human world monster before!
Xin Xiu snuck to Young Master Ji's room, where she found him sound asleep. She climbed directly through the window and held up a mirror to his face. She was disappointed to find he was just an ordinary person, though his true appearance in the mirror was quite ugly – buck-toothed, small-eyed, and covered in pockmarks.
How could an ordinary person change their appearance, let alone turn someone into a horse? Looking at him, he didn't seem like any kind of extraordinary person, so someone must have helped him.
Remembering the gossip about the Taoist Priest this man was supporting, Xin Xiu guessed that the priest was likely behind all this.
Xin Xiu reached into Panda Dingdang's pouch and pulled out a sword, but after a moment's thought, she put it back and took out two talismans instead. The Taoist Priest's quarters were in the southeast corner of the Ji residence. When Xin Xiu found him, she saw him in the middle of refining elixirs.
She had seen Elder Yansha refine elixirs before – now that was true mastery. The technique of the man before her was clumsy; one look told her he was self-taught, without proper instruction. Without a word, Xin Xiu hurled a lightning talisman at him.
She didn't aim for the middle-aged, squinty-eyed Taoist Priest, but rather at his elixir furnace. After two thunderous booms, the furnace exploded, taking the room with it. The amateur Taoist Priest was blasted away by his own furnace, crashing into the flower bed in the courtyard along with the door, knocked unconscious.
Xin Xiu thought to herself: Although I knew he wouldn't be too difficult to deal with, wasn't this a bit too easy?
Xin Xiu had truly stumbled upon a stroke of luck. This Taoist Priest did have some real skill; if they had faced off directly, Xin Xiu might have had a tough time. But she had caught him at the critical moment of elixir refinement when all his focus was on the furnace. The elixir he was refining was highly volatile and couldn't withstand any external disturbance.
If the lightning talisman had struck the Taoist Priest's head, it might have just frizzled his hair. But hitting the furnace caused a devastating explosion that destroyed the entire room – even Xin Xiu hadn't expected such a dramatic outcome.
While he was unconscious, she quickly bound him with chains.
These chains were among the tools her master had prepared. Once locked with these chains, unless she released them with her spiritual power, they were nearly impossible to break free from. Generally, they could restrain anyone with less than 200 years of cultivation. Xin Xiu tugged at the middle-aged Taoist Priest's beard, estimating that he probably didn't have 200 years of cultivation, which put her mind at ease.
The next step was simple – wake up this Taoist Priest and interrogate him.
When the middle-aged Taoist Priest painfully regained consciousness, he was initially ready to fly into a rage. But upon realizing he couldn't break free from the chains, his expression quickly changed. He eyed Xin Xiu warily, unable to determine her background.
Xin Xiu: "You're the witch who turned the real Young Master Ji into a horse, aren't you? Tell me, how do we change him back?"
The middle-aged Taoist Priest opened his mouth, and Xin Xiu understood most of what he said: "We are fellow practitioners. If you release me, I can naturally help him change back..."
"Smack."
Xin Xiu stepped on his face, flashing a smile. "Don't waste words. If I lose patience, I won't want to hear anything and I'll just cut out your tongue."
Perhaps her act as a psychopath was convincing, as the Taoist Priest trembled and spoke through gritted teeth. It was simple: mix a few herbs for the horse brother to eat, and have him spit out the horse hair wrapped in a talisman from his stomach.
Xin Xiu: "So how do you turn a person into a horse? I'm very curious, teach me, won't you?"
The unfortunate Taoist Priest with his face under her foot: "..."
