"Come back, Lan Ming. There's no point in you lingering in the human world without a significant purpose," Ha Han persuaded.
"No. You should be the one returning to the Celestial Realm. You don't need to take me back there," Lan Ming replied in a flat tone.
Ha Han remained silent for a moment, appearing to ponder something in his mind. Until finally, he seemed to come up with an interesting idea. "Fine, if you don't want to. I can't force you," he said calmly.
Lan Ming raised an eyebrow, feeling puzzled about why Ha Han suddenly changed his mind. His heart suddenly became uneasy. "What are you planning, Ha Han? I'm sure you won't let me go so easily," he said suspiciously.
"What's the point of forcing you if you don't want to listen yourself? Wouldn't that be pointless?" Ha Han replied nonchalantly.
Ha Han's sudden change in behavior to seeming indifferent only intensified Lan Ming's suspicion.
"Don't make me angry, Ha Han. Haven't I lived in your shadow enough all this time?" Lan Ming rebuked.
Ha Han didn't answer, instead he simply ignored Lan Ming. He disappeared and vanished from sight in the blink of an eye.
Lan Ming, finding Ha Han's sudden disappearance irritating, tried to calm himself down to not be consumed by emotions.
"I'll never understand your way of thinking, Ha Han," he muttered to himself.
***
Upon returning from the forest, Lan Ming went back to the cottage and wanted to take Je Xi shopping at the market.
"How was your conversation earlier? Is everything okay?" Je Xi asked worriedly. The Sound Goddess even thought that Lan Ming and Ha Han might have argued as usual and destroyed the forest where they met.
"I don't know. Ha Han acted strangely earlier; I'm a bit suspicious of what he's planning in his mind," Lan Ming said, taking a bamboo woven bag and then inviting Je Xi to go to the market.
"Strange? Did something happen between you two?" Je Xi didn't understand the meaning of Lan Ming's words.
"I'm not sure either. But for some reason, Ha Han behaved as if he didn't care when I said I didn't want to go with him back to the Celestial Realm," he explained while closing the cottage door.
Je Xi nodded as she listened to Lan Ming's explanation. However, she could still draw a conclusion from Lan Ming's words. Ha Han might indeed be planning something related to Lan Ming.
Instead of dwelling on it, Je Xi chose not to think about this issue too much for the time being. She followed Lan Ming, who had already walked ahead towards the market.
***
"Wasn't it you back then?" Lan Ming asked as he recognized the young man he had seen before. The young man who had carried Bi Kwe while she was drunk from drinking the magical liquor.
The young man actually wanted to deny it, but it was useless because Lan Ming seemed to recognize him.
"What can I do for you, sir? Are you interested in buying this woven fabric?" the young man offered instead of answering Lan Ming's question.
Lan Ming narrowed his eyes, looking at the woven fabric being sold by the young man. The fabric looked beautiful, emitting a soft scent reminiscent of the characteristic aroma of peony flowers.
"Alright, I'd like to buy it." Lan Ming decided to purchase the woven fabric; perhaps Ying would be pleased to receive it. Lan Ming then handed over some coins he had to the young man.
As the young man was about to accept the coins from Lan Ming, suddenly someone pulled his hand, causing the coins to scatter onto the ground.
"Don't accept money from the Wind God!" someone intervened, preventing the young man from taking the coins from Lan Ming.
The young man was surprised and immediately turned to the source of the voice. "Brother, what are you doing here? Didn't you say you wanted to rest?"
Lan Ming sighed. He picked up his scattered coins and handed them to the young man. "Please take this money; I want to buy your woven fabric," he said, focusing only on the transaction at hand. He noticed that Je Xi seemed a bit frightened when she met Bi Kwe, the Sound Goddess hiding behind her.
"You seem so relaxed, as if what happened before wasn't a problem for you," Bi Kwe looked displeased with Lan Ming's attitude, which seemed as if nothing had happened between them.
"I don't want to make a scene with you, Bi Kwe. So calm down a bit," Lan Ming said as he took the woven fabric offered by Chan Do, who was the fabric seller.
"If you try to avoid like that, you're just belittling me!" Bi Kwe's anger flared up when meeting Lan Ming.
Lan Ming ignored Bi Kwe after thanking Chan Do. He turned and took Je Xi back to shopping at the market, leaving Bi Kwe busy grumbling to herself.
"Stop it, Brother. It's better for us to focus on selling this woven fabric to make money. If you don't want to help, you should go back to the cottage and rest," Chan Do felt a headache dealing with Bi Kwe's overly talkative and trouble-seeking behavior.
Bi Kwe was about to scold her brother for not defending her. But her scolding was suddenly cut short when she saw Chan Do suddenly throwing a piece of wood near Je Xi.
"What are you doing, you fool?!" panicked Bi Kwe, thinking Chan Do was attacking the Sound Goddess for no reason.
Chan Do didn't answer. Instead, he ran towards Je Xi and seemed to want to catch something.
Bi Kwe tried to stop her brother's potentially dangerous action. But unexpectedly, Chan Do seemed to be doing the opposite.
A small snake continued to follow Je Xi from behind her. And it seemed that the Sound Goddess didn't realize the presence of the danger. Fortunately, Chan Do saw the snake and immediately caught it.
"I didn't even realize there was a snake near me. Thank you for saving me," Je Xi said gratefully for being saved by Chan Do.
Seeing the face of the Sound Goddess, Chan Do was instantly captivated by her beauty. Her lovely face with delicate features and soft voice made him enchanted. So much so that Chan Do didn't realize that the snake he caught was now biting his hand. Initially, nothing happened, but slowly Chan Do's hand began to be covered with scales like a snake's.
Lan Ming, seeing this, realized that the snake caught by Chan Do was not just any snake but a Divine Snake. The snake was often kept by high-ranking combat gods or left to live freely in the Death Swamp. The snake was capable of delivering a fatal effect to gods bitten by it, which was why the Divine Snake was often used as a weapon in fights among gods.
"Lǐng wǒmen qù fēng zhī chéngshì!" Lan Ming recited a teleportation mantra. And quickly, he moved Chan Do, the Divine Snake, and himself into his Wind City dimension.