The sheep's furry nose puffed out air, its front hooves pressed together, and its body unable to fully stand upright like a human, forming a half-bowed stance. Its mouth opened and closed, its tongue tip shaping sounds.
Beneath the delicate tile eaves, the goat unexpectedly spoke human words.
Those present froze collectively in a mont of stupefaction.
Li Chenghang, seeing such a strange scene for the first ti, trembled all over as he tried to stand, and then suddenly collapsed back to the ground.
It was this sudden collapse that snapped Chen Yi out of his trance.
Even though he had long suspected that this goat was unusual, when it truly spoke, he was nevertheless astonished.
How peculiar.
Staring at the speaking goat, Yin Tingxue rubbed her ear, recalling how she could hear the goat's voice earlier but could not make out the exact words.
Chen Yi narrowed his eyes slightly, scrutinizing the goat and suddenly thought of sothing. His gaze shifted to its lips—two central incisors, four teeth... likely three years old.
"Who are you?"
"I go by the na Li Xian."
"The... Li Xian?" Chen Yi glanced at Li Chenghang.
Li Chenghang's pupils contracted sharply, his mind blanking, and in the next mont, he scrambled forward frantically.
He stared, wanting to get closer but not daring too close, incredulous: "My father... was also called Li Xian."
"Hang'er, it's ," the goat said aloud.
Li Chenghang was dumbfounded, sizing it up again before falling to the ground once more.
His father had died three years ago, causing him to leave the bureaucracy to mourn and honor the deceased for three years.
At this mont, Duan Siyuan's wife was the first to recover, looking at the goat with suspicion and asking tentatively, "Are you truly Uncle Li?" Growing up in the sa small town, they were neighbors, and she had known Li Xian, a local scholar teaching at the academy, since childhood.
Li Xian did not deny it, nodding affirmatively.
Chen Yi didn't wait for Li Chenghang to process what was happening but stared deeply at the goat calling itself "Li Xian" and asked, "Is this a case of possession?"
"It's not," Li Xian shook his head in denial.
"Oh? Do explain."
Chen Yi scrutinized the goat again, observing its horizontal pupils—not as round as a human's—and its small fra identical to an ordinary goat. The Possession Arts typically stuffed a human inside animal skin but could not achieve such flawless integration. This goat bore no traces of that technique.
"And you ntioned you killed Duan Guan's wife—what's that about? Explain that, too."
Li Xian nodded his goat head and began telling his tale from start to finish.
As soon as he started, Duan Siyuan's wife trembled violently, collapsing to her knees.
...
Li Xian spoke first not of Duan Guan's wife.
But of her son, Duan Siyuan.
Duan Siyuan, who had lived alongside her day and night, was not human but a ghost.
Not just any ghost—he was one of those ghost children raised through evil rituals in the Southern Barbarian Land.
It's said that during the era when the region was known as Bai Yue or Shan Yue, deep within the forested hills, villagers who lived in fortified enclaves often had a shrine in their hos. On this shrine stood a dried figure of an infant—newborns who had tragically passed shortly after birth, dehydrated into mummified ghosts. These figures were offered food and drink, accompanied by a pair of bowls and chopsticks before the altar—not for wealth, not for land, but for vengeance. When hardships befell the families, the ghost child would seek revenge and protect its kin.
Thus, once others learned a household was raising such a ghost child, they would often maintain a respectful distance.
Duan Siyuan was one such ghost child, but unlike the others, he was removed from the shrine and kept close by Duan Guan's wife. Sohow, over ti, he gained sentience and eventually beca indistinguishable from an ordinary human.
Except for occasionally hearing things others couldn't or seeing things no one else could.
Duan Siyuan's wife, hearing this, turned pale, struggling not to glance toward Duan Siyuan's room, but fear surged through her, sending chills over her body. Her teeth began chattering uncontrollably.
She abruptly rembered Chen Yi once ntioning how yellow weasels would raise a child and, upon adulthood, demand a knighthood. Yet she couldn't have imagined that Duan Siyuan was a ghost infant.
Chen Yi, too, had questions and asked, "Why would Duan Guan's wife deliberately raise a ghost infant?"
Yellow weasels stealing children wasn't as adept as the ghost bird, but they could risk everything to steal one if they truly wanted, and it wasn't entirely impossible.
Li Xian replied slowly, "This Duan Guan's wife wasn't rely a yellow weasel, but a deceased one."
"A yellow weasel ghost?" Yin Tingxue interjected, startled.
It turned out humans weren't alone in becoming ghosts after death—creatures could, too.
The thought unsettled her mind—what would ghosts themselves turn into after dying?
Li Xian nodded before continuing, "I spent three years as a goat in the company of Duan Guan's wife and ca to learn parts of the truth. As for why she acted in such a way, let continue..."
...…
Duan Guan's wife died seeking a knighthood.
In today's world, all mortals know that yellow weasels demand knighthoods when blocking the road. Not easily deceived anymore, people mostly flee at first sight or, worse, brandish blades and hunt them down, skinning the demons and taking their gallbladders.
Precisely because of this, yellow weasels skilled at stealing chickens began stealing children instead, raising them arduously into adulthood to demand knighthoods.
Unfortunately, Duan Guan's wife belonged to a traditional sect.
At first sight, an arrow struck her dead. Her demon skin was split open, her gallbladder removed, leaving behind a vengeful soul wandering the mortal plane.
Living yellow weasels sought knighthoods from the living; deceased ones naturally sought them from the dead.
Thus, Duan Guan's wife adopted the shrine-raised ghost child and nad him Duan Siyuan, nurturing him into adulthood.
As for when Li Xian encountered her—during his journey to the Capital City to sit for the imperial exam—disaster struck. A monstrous wave killed everyone aboard his ship, including his lifelong friend. He alone survived.
Duan Guan's wife appeared then and declared his life was her gift. Li Xian, indebted, naturally pledged to repay her kindness co the next life—be it as an ox or horse.
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