Fu Yun stepped inside the door and stepped on a soft brocade carpet.

This is an elegant study room, with a large huanghuali wood table next to the window, with inkstones from Taohe Stone and pens from Shanlianhu. On the wall are Wu Daoxuan's paintings of immortals and Huai Su's wild cursive stickers.

This is not a place that ordinary people can afford to live, but Fu Yun is very familiar with it. He spent most of his childhood here.

A palace maid who came in with a water basin knocked over the water in her hand and knelt down on the ground with great joy, "Your Highness, why are you back?"

…

The emperor's eldest son, who had been practicing in the Immortal Mountain for many years, suddenly returned to the palace, and the news quickly spread throughout the palace city of this small coastal country.

At this moment, Fu Yun, who was wearing a cloud-patterned plain robe and his hair in a bun, was sitting in a quiet room.

Sit cross-legged with your knees crossed and hold your hands in front of you.

This has been the most familiar posture to him since childhood, but for some reason, in a familiar home, his heart can never be at peace.

Why do I feel such a strong sense of anxiety when I just go home to visit relatives?

But he has always been a very self-restrained and self-disciplined person. Even if he is suffering in his heart, he still works hard to calm down his breath.

In a calm state, subconsciously let the spiritual consciousness cover it, hoping to find the source of one's own unquiet mind.

Divine consciousness spread out like a tide. In the corridor not far away, two palace maids were walking with food boxes in their hands and talking quietly, "How can there be such a person as His Highness in the world? When I saw him, I felt drunk. This

When we come back from the trip, will he not go up the mountain again?"

Further outside, in the palace where his younger brother Fuzhen was, the two chamberlains looked solemn.

"Have you ever inquired carefully? Why did the eldest son of the emperor suddenly come back? Is he going to live in the palace forever from now on?"

"The emperor's eldest son has been both civil and military since he was a child, and he has also received the fate of immortality. He has a very high reputation in the eyes of the officials. If he covets the position of the East Palace, His Highness will be in danger."

"If you send someone again, be sure to keep an eye on every move over there."

At the other end of the palace, in his mother's bedroom, his younger brother Fu Zhen was leaning beside his mother, begging for a beloved thing.

"Sit down. How old you are, and you still look like this." The Queen pushed him away and scolded, "Your eldest brother is back, learn from him more. As long as you can be half as good as your brother, I will be relieved."

."

Fu Zhen was not angry and said with a smile, "I don't want it. My brother wants to be a god. I can't compare. I'm just a monkey under the mother's knees. I just can make my mother smile on weekdays."

"

Mother doted on him and touched his forehead with her finger, "You."

Farther away in the palace academy, an old gentleman blew his beard and got angry at a group of little kids who couldn't memorize a book. "When the eldest son of the emperor was in the academy, there was not a single article that he couldn't memorize. I never let the master do this."

I'm sorry, how can you not set an example?"

The little prince who had just been slapped on the palm, the little princes murmured,

"Brother, eldest brother, is our role model. I've been tired of hearing this since I was a child. Do you think eldest brother has really never been slapped on the palm by his master?"

"Brother Huang is a god and doesn't need to sleep. I thought he would learn faster than us."

"My nun in the palace said that the eldest brother of the emperor had read through the Four Books at the age of seven."

"I also heard that gods don't need to eat or go to the toilet. So if you study every day, you won't easily make Master angry. I always want to relieve myself in school, and I was scolded by Master just now."

"It seems like there is no benefit to being a god."

Fu Yun withdrew his consciousness, but instead of getting the tranquility he expected, he felt an even more suffocating sense of restraint.

"Master, what's going on, disciple?" He sat in the Yellow Courtyard and asked his teacher in his heart, and even more so, his own heart.

The scenery in Huangting changes, as if returning to Xiaoyao Peak where vegetation grows freely.

The teacher in green clothes vaguely appeared in front of him and sighed, "Yun'er, you are fine with everything, but you just tie yourself too tightly. You can relax a little and don't have to work so hard every day and go out to play with your senior sisters and brothers.

Once the game is over, it doesn’t really matter whether our Xiaoyao Peak ranks first in a competition like this.”

Fu Yun thought puzzledly. I have been taught by my master since I was a child, and I have paid tribute to my master's kindness. Naturally, I want to win the first prize in the competition so that my master can be proud of me. This is what a disciple should do.

Master smiled and said, "Master loves you as a person, Yun'er, not the aura around you. Even if you don't take first place, you are still a good disciple that Master is proud of."

Sitting on a high branch of a tree nearby was a girl chewing an apple. "Why do you have to be so stubborn at such a young age? Here, I am the senior sister, and you, the junior junior, just have to play with peace of mind."

"

Fu Yun looked at the face blackened by soot and felt a thump in his heart.

In the still water in front of him, a door slowly rose up and was tightly locked with thick iron chains.

Fu Yun took a deep breath, stretched out his hand, broke the heavy shackles, opened the door and walked inside.

…

Mu Xue sat busy at her familiar workbench.

The silver moonlight shines into the house from the window and shines on the mountains of large and small puppets piled up in the corner of the house.

Mu Xue didn't know how long she had been working here. It seemed that the master's order had not been completed yet. She had to continue to refine it for a long time.

But she didn't feel irritated or tired because of this. Staying in such a quiet and uninhabited space, with these puppets who would never hurt her, made her happy and at ease.

There is no need to deal with the violent and greedy master, no need to face those faces distorted by jealousy, and no need to risk danger and fight with terrifying monsters.

As long as you make what you like patiently, comfortably and slowly.

No one will come to disturb her, and no one will come to hurt her,

Enjoy this feeling of loneliness forever.

She concentrated on putting a spiritual stone into the chest of the little puppet in her hand, as if giving it a heart.

finished.

Mu Xue let go of her hand, and the puppet opened its blue eyes and turned its small body in the moonlight.

The windows became wider than ever, and more moonlight filtered in, smearing silver shavings on the messy tabletop.

"Thank you, my master." The little puppet clasped his hands and saluted Mu Xue, then reached out to hold her.

Mu Xue pulled her thin little arms, and her whole body floated up from the ground. She was pulled by the little puppet and flew out through the window.

The large and small puppets in the room that had been with her for countless years and were almost all her hard work all started to move, followed behind them, formed a mighty procession, and flew towards the bright moon in the night sky.

The sparks of human activity on the ground are getting smaller and smaller. The stars in the sky are gradually within reach.

The puppets held hands and slowly gathered together, converging into a red dragon. The dragon's roar sounded, and the dragon turned its flexible body, carrying Mu Xue on the dragon's back, shaking the water and sky, and swaying all the way to the depths of the star-studded sky.

superior.

"What's wrong with me?" Mu Xue asked.

The little puppet in front of her pulled her, its blue eyes like stars and mist, "You have entered the Tao through magic, and you have become a demon. Since then, you have used the body of the universe to hold the handle of yin and yang. You have escaped from the sea of ​​suffering and come out of the maze.

, no longer need to suffer in the world.”

"Really? Have I attained enlightenment as a demon?" Mu Xue was so happy that her long-cherished wish came true and she laughed.

The giant red puppet dragon beneath him chanted a song, and countless children's voices filled the sky.

"The sky has its longevity, and the earth has its time. The mountains may collapse, and the sea may be exhausted. Only I, the devil, can be at ease. I am the same body in Taixu, and have no restrictions. I ride on the red dragon and fly across the universe. The way of heaven is not restricted, and my life span is boundless.

.The greatest happiness in the world is none other than this."

The comfortable cool breeze blew across their cheeks, and in the distant singing, the earth became farther and farther away from them.

Mu Xue's mind felt relaxed, as if there was a warm current flowing through her limbs, the boundaries of her body gradually disappeared, and she was flying freely in the starry sky.

She spread her limbs and wandered in Taixu, and the world turned into a huge blue ball of light in front of her eyes. She seemed to have gradually lost her identity, and her consciousness was integrated into everything.

On the ground, a tiny ant struggled to lift food several times its own weight and hurriedly ran towards the direction of its nest. A huge and extremely wide chasm appeared in front of it.

Countless partners gathered from behind,

"Step over."

"Step over."

Everyone shouted in unison.

A tiger in the jungle knocked down a fleeing deer, biting the soft neck with its sharp teeth. The hot and sweet blood moistened its hungry stomach until the sweet prey stopped struggling.

Dragging the dead prey back, several little tiger cubs ran out of the nest happily with their eyes shining brightly to greet their mother who returned with food.

The hunters in the wooden house took off the bride's hijab and happily followed their instincts to kiss the healthy-skinned woman. They were about to complete a huge mission to continue the race in this small house.

In the splendid palace, the aging queen had just died. The young heir burst into tears and leaned over to kiss his mother's old forehead and say his final goodbyes.

Time seemed to only last a short moment. Mu Xue, who was wandering in the void, experienced the joys and sorrows of thousands of creatures. She understood their joys and sorrows, and understood their desires.

This is an unprecedented and indescribable feeling.

Incarnate as a demon, transcend the six realms, and no longer be as narrow-minded as before.

But for some reason, there seemed to be a thread stuck to her heart, thin and lingering, soft and strong, connecting it to a far corner of the world.

Mu Xue opened her eyes. In front of her eyes was the vast universe, with stars large and small. Her heart was always led by that thin thread.

The little puppet floated in front of her, "Stop thinking about it. The road is your ultimate pursuit. There is supreme happiness here, isn't it?"
To be continued...