So I Had No Choice But to Stop Being the White Moonlight – Chapter 138
by Little PandaConcerning My Cultivation and Turning My Wife into a Rabbit
Dual Cultivation
If once doesn’t work, do it twice!
The voice carried a hint of teasing, a layer of levity floating amidst the oppressive pressure.
Beneath pitch-black robes, a slender silhouette leaned against the door.
Red hair caught the eye in the dimness, falling unrestrained beside her face.
She looked at Chi Qian, and behind her mask, her eyes held openly mocking laughter. Then, suddenly—her expression changed.
In the green light, a sword thrust toward the person standing in the doorway.
The figure who had been teasing a second ago now seemed prepared, dodging the blade with a sidestep.
The levity in her eyes vanished instantly. The woman sharply deflected the silver sword’s attack, and Chi Qian watched it suddenly reverse course with a spell, returning to her hand.
Chi Qian’s eyes went cold. The spiritual energy suppressed beneath her robes released through the sword in her hand.
She didn’t know this person’s identity, but hearing such casual teasing, she sensed this person held an unusual position here.
She’d already broken into this place—why fear facing off against someone from the Demon Realm?
“Little beauty, quite wild, aren’t you.” The woman looked at Chi Qian’s gaze and laughed.
She knew an unavoidable head-on confrontation with Chi Qian was coming, and waved her hand to summon her magical artifact.
Weapons in the Demon Realm differed from those in the Cultivation World, favoring the strange and treacherous.
Just as Chi Qian saw her raise her hand, a whip came rushing toward her.
The scorpion-tail ornament at the whip’s end dripped with venom.
A black shadow swept past. Chi Qian steadied Shi Jinlan in her arms with one hand and bent backward, dodging cleanly.
Because of this, her heart sank.
Looking at the scorpion-tail whip that obediently returned to its master’s hand, she was almost certain this person was the current ruler of the Demon Realm—the “Little Highness fond of women” that the people at the stall had been discussing.
This was bad.
Chi Qian was only at the Soul Formation stage. To defeat the Demon Venerable, the System would need to give her a real cheat code.
The Demon Venerable didn’t seem to be fighting seriously, clapping twice at Chi Qian’s clean dodge: “Impressive skills.”
Red gauze permeated the area, exuding an eerie stillness.
Chi Qian gripped her sword. The voice felt inexplicably familiar, but the situation allowed no time for thought. The instant the Demon Venerable flung the whip again, she raised her sword and struck back.
Silver light slashed through masses of black qi, red fabric and gauze fluttering chaotically.
The whip couldn’t bind the sword; the sword couldn’t cut the whip.
Facing this situation, Shi Jinlan in Chi Qian’s arms curled into a complete white ball.
Just being a rabbit, watching for when Chi Qian would seize an opening.
“!”
A streak of silver flashed through the dim light. The sword suddenly pierced through the scorpion tail trying to coil around it.
In just an instant, Chi Qian caught the opening the Demon Venerable had revealed, sword in hand, pointing directly at her throat.
But the moment her sword stopped before the Demon Venerable, Chi Qian hesitated.
She wondered why the Demon Venerable hadn’t dodged. Then, as she came face-to-face with the person, the mask was cut by the blade, revealing a face Chi Qian knew intimately.
Red hair fell in disarray, and a pair of bright eyes smiled boldly at her.
Chi Qian couldn’t believe her eyes, yet suddenly found the earlier “duel” made sense.
—The current Demon Venerable turned out to be Song Tang!
“Tangtang?!” Chi Qian was shocked. “You… it’s really you?”
“Your reaction is too slow.” Song Tang looked at Chi Qian’s sword and gently pushed it aside. “You almost killed me, you know.”
“Little Thirteen, missed me?” Song Tang looked at the black cat hiding nearby and reached over to pick it up.
Thirteen was completely an opportunist. Seeing Song Tang possessed such powerful magic, it didn’t struggle, playing the role of a cute kitten. It let her pet it, and even cooperatively called out: “Meow~ (I did miss you! Haven’t seen Miss Song in ages!)”
“Heh, so good.” Song Tang stroked Thirteen. The cat suited her perfectly in this moment.
“You fence-sitter!” Chi Qian watched this scene, first snorting at Thirteen, then—confident in her own skill level—responding to Song Tang’s earlier words: “As if you wouldn’t be.”
If a grand Demon Venerable was defeated by someone who just reached Soul Formation, that would be far too removed from the plot.
Still, Chi Qian remained puzzled: “Why are you here? Is this another mission?”
“More or less.” Song Tang gave a reluctant nod.
“But didn’t you go with Ah Yuan to some research project…” Chi Qian spoke, finding it stranger and stranger, especially given the current situation.
Dim light fell between her and Song Tang, as if illuminating everything for Chi Qian: “You and Ah Yuan didn’t actually go to a research project, did you?”
Song Tang, however, was certain: “Ah Yuan and I did participate in a research project.”
Then she told Chi Qian: “This is that project.”
As her words fell, the ball of fur in her arms suddenly moved.
Chi Qian had a vague feeling. She looked down at Shi Jinlan, who was pretending to be an ignorant rabbit: “Did you know too?”
In truth, Shi Jinlan very much wanted to keep pretending to be a rabbit.
The collar of Chi Qian’s clothes perfectly cradled her, the thick fur against her skin, warm and soft in her embrace.
She stayed silently curled inside, wanting to enjoy this feeling for one more second.
But even this one extra second was broken by her slight movement.
“Yuan Ming, as the Main System, is incomplete. This is her final trial.” Shi Jinlan replied seriously.
The words sounded calm, yet made Chi Qian suddenly look toward Song Tang.
And Song Tang also revealed the full truth: “Ah Yuan is now the renowned Changci Xianjun of Shangyun Heavenly Prefecture. She took the form of a demon clansperson to approach me, intending to kill me and maintain the eternal peace of this world.”
Though it was just a simple plot summary, Chi Qian’s heart ached hearing it.
She seemed to understand why Shi Jinlan had brought her to this world.
“For the sake of the world’s people, she must sever emotions and love, becoming the deity who protects this realm.” Chi Qian summarized.
Chi Qian felt that emotions were something that couldn’t be clearly explained—just as she would fall in love with Shi Jinlan a thousand times even if she forgot everything.
And Yuan Ming would surely fall in love with Song Tang again, watching herself sink with clear, cruel awareness into the abyss she had woven with her own hands.
Song Tang knew what Chi Qian was thinking. When she accepted this mission, she had already foreseen her ending.
But so what?
Being able to spend another lifetime with Yuan Ming—she was happy.
After all, they were also in love in this world.
Only…
“Ah Yuan has too much emotion. This trial is meant to teach her that the people of the world are far more important than personal love.” Song Tang said.
“This is a story destined for a bad ending1 from the start.” Chi Qian’s voice was low.
“Just one of the stories.” Shi Jinlan raised her head, her soft fur brushing against Chi Qian’s palm. “After completing this trial, Yuan Ming will return. She and Song Tang won’t have a bad ending.”
“Mm.” Chi Qian understood.
The four of them all had long journeys, composed of story after story.
Yet even so, she would still feel sorrow for one of those stories.
“So your tyrannical behavior right now is all an act?” Chi Qian looked at Song Tang.
“My conscience struggles with it.” Song Tang covered her heart, yet there was a different emotion suppressed in her eyes. “But sometimes when I see my subjects, I feel sad. Why are the people of our Demon Realm destined to live in a place without sunlight?”
“It is merely the cycle of wax and wane.” Shi Jinlan said calmly. “Calm is destined to give way to turbulence. Extremes turn to their opposites.”
“Yes.” Song Tang sighed. “When that time comes, I hope you’ll help gather my whole corpse2.”
As Song Tang spoke, she began entrusting her posthumous matters to them.
But her eyes had just swept past Chi Qian when she paused.
Song Tang had been so focused on talking to Chi Qian that she hadn’t noticed where Shi Jinlan’s voice was coming from.
Now she stared at this talking rabbit hidden in Chi Qian’s arms, jumping out of her posthumous-matters mood: “Hiss, President Shi, how did you become a rabbit?”
Hearing this question, Shi Jinlan’s harmless face showed some reluctance.
She silently looked up at Chi Qian, a pair of long ears resting on the back of Chi Qian’s hand. This made Chi Qian laugh awkwardly and raise her hand: “Um, it was me. I accidentally turned Shijie into a rabbit.”
“Hah? Hahahaha.” Song Tang first froze, then burst into laughter.
Her laughter carried the style of the Demon Realm—incredibly bold, layered with mockery.
Perhaps she hadn’t expected the once formidable President Shi to become such a harmless rabbit. She laughed until she leaned against the wall, barely able to straighten up.
Seeing Shi Jinlan’s expression grow darker, Song Tang remembered she would need to return to the System and deal with Chi Qian and Shi Jinlan in the future. She slowly suppressed her laughter and said to them: “It’s fine. What the Righteous Path can’t find, we have plenty of.”
“You have a way?” Chi Qian’s eyes brightened.
“Of course.” Song Tang nodded, a layer of teasing in her eyes. “Here, there’s no problem that Dual Cultivation3 can’t solve. Just enter her Spiritual Abode4 and you’ll find where the problem lies!”
Saying this, Song Tang extended her fingers: “If once doesn’t work, try twice!”
Chi Qian stared at the two extended fingers, blinking blankly.
She felt that after becoming the Demon Venerable, Song Tang had completely revealed her true nature—mocking Shi Jinlan whenever she pleased, saying such outrageous words5 as casually as anything!
Dual Cultivation.
Is that even something you can say?
Chi Qian stood frozen, lowering her head to look at the little rabbit in her arms.
That fuzzy head had two long ears that hung like braids, harmless as could be, making it hard to connect with what Song Tang had just said.
But Shi Jinlan seemed provoked by Song Tang’s earlier laughter, and spoke to Chi Qian in her mind: 【Let’s try it.】
The Demon Realm seemed to have no day or night, always overcast.
A cold moon hung above the window lattice, casting a dim light into the room.
Regarding Dual Cultivation, Chi Qian had only read about it in novels before. Now, holding this soft white ball of a rabbit, she couldn’t help feeling nervous: “Forgive me, Shijie.”
“Mm.” Shi Jinlan responded calmly to Chi Qian, as if giving her a reassurance.
A gentle, deep breath brushed past Shi Jinlan’s fuzzy ears. Chi Qian then closed her eyes, attempting to enter Shi Jinlan’s Spiritual Abode.
White light surrounded Chi Qian’s mind. Before her seemed to stand a heavy door, carved with patterns, exquisitely crafted.
Chi Qian moved her body, preparing to push hard, but unexpectedly, with just a flex of her wrist, the tightly closed door was easily pushed open.
Dust twined in ethereal green smoke. Cold wind blew past—a vast, desolate emptiness.
Chi Qian stepped over soil covered in fallen leaves, gazing at this dark-toned earth, feeling this place wasn’t particularly full of vitality.
Is this Shi Jinlan’s world?
Circling past dead branches that looked like zither strings, Chi Qian followed her intuition deeper.
After walking for who knows how long, she smelled the humid scent of evaporating lake water. The clouds and mist before her gradually parted, revealing a small island in the center of a lake.
Lake Island.
Chi Qian looked at the seemingly isolated island, and a familiar feeling washed over her.
She knew it wasn’t an isolated place, but rather a pure land Shi Jinlan had carved out for herself after countless terrible experiences.
The green smoke, washed by water, became clean and clear.
Chi Qian lightly rose on her toes, wanting to reach the center of the lake to embrace that green smoke.
Lotus petals were the best thing to gather the green smoke. The slowly blooming flower bud actively reached for the green smoke, strand by strand, taking it all into its embrace.
Moon shadows fell on the couch where they embraced in sleep. Shi Jinlan leaned against Chi Qian’s embrace, her soft form suddenly tensing.
The author has something to say:
Lanlan: wu ~
Qianqian: wa ~
Pigeon: shed the tears of a single pigeon
Footnotes
- BE — Bad Ending. Chinese internet slang borrowed from English gaming terminology. In contrast to 'HE' (Happy Ending), a 'BE' story is one where the protagonists end tragically or apart.
- Quánshī (全尸) — whole corpse. In Chinese culture, dying with one's body intact is considered important for the soul's peace. Asking someone to 'gather one's whole corpse' is a request to ensure one's body remains complete for burial, showing trust and intimacy.
- Shuāngxiū (双修) — Dual Cultivation. A practice in cultivation fantasy where two cultivators merge their spiritual energy together, often through intimate or ritual means. It can strengthen both participants' cultivation and heal spiritual wounds or imbalances.
- Língfǔ (灵府) — Spiritual Abode. In cultivation fantasy, this is the internal spiritual space within a cultivator where their core consciousness and spiritual energy reside. Another cultivator can enter this space during Dual Cultivation to help heal or strengthen the host.
- Hǔláng zhīcí (虎狼之词) — literally 'words of tigers and wolves.' Chinese internet slang for shocking, outrageous, or scandalous speech, often with sexual innuendo. It describes words that are bold or inappropriate to say aloud.
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