After that day, Xie Zhuo became reluctant to go outside.

He no longer followed Xie Ling around, and seemed to have lost his fondness for the wind and flowers outside. It was as if from that day on, he had become withdrawn.

Each day, tribe members would come to offer soul power to Xie Zhuo. After completing the ritual, he would sit in his tent staring blankly, remaining still for several hours without moving at all. Only the occasional swaying of his large tail would tell me that he was still alive.

I watched this, feeling anxious and helpless.

I knew that the outside wind and moonlight could no longer penetrate through the tent flap into this space.

I needed to find a body that could move freely to contain my spirit; only then could I reach Xie Zhuo’s side again.

I began frantically searching like a headless fly.

Someone whose spirit could match with mine… I still hadn’t found anyone, but I was different from before!

My perspective had broadened. I had tried flowers and stones, and with so many things in this world, why should I limit my attention only to “humans”?

I could certainly try other living creatures.

So, after Xie Zhuo stopped leaving his room, I also started to “not be human.”

I attempted to “chase” an ant and tried to “enter” a butterfly.

But without exception, I failed each time.

Entering a living body that already had its spirit was much more difficult than entering rocks or flying flowers.

Even though these creatures’ spirits were so tiny, they each had their persistence…

I spent a very long time looking for a tiny spirit that could match mine.

The time was so long that I almost despaired.

I began to doubt myself. Was I truly a unique spirit in this world, so unique that almost no spirit could match mine?

In the past, I might have felt proud of this. But now, I only feel overwhelming anxiety about my uniqueness.

And it seemed that heaven wanted to push me to the edge of desperation before showing me hope.

One afternoon, after watching Xie Zhuo receive his offerings as usual, I floated out of his tent to search for “living creatures.”

I wasn’t picky anymore—flies, mosquitoes, whatever I encountered were my potential “matches.”

I tried them all!

Not one succeeded…

In my disappointment, at the edge of the ice-snow forest, I suddenly heard a weak whimper—the sound of a small puppy.

I floated over and saw a light yellow puppy at the very edge of the ice-snow forest.

It lay on the ground, extremely weak. Its eyes were almost closed, using its last strength to make plaintive calls, sorrowful and helplessly struggling.

One of its hind legs appeared to be born deformed, a short stub on one side of its body, trembling unconsciously.

Not far from the puppy was a large dog, slowly walking away.

The puppy’s calls seemed to cause the large dog some reluctance; it occasionally looked back, but ultimately continued walking away step by step, finally disappearing into the vast wilderness beyond the forest.

The puppy had been abandoned by its mother and was almost at death’s door.

I floated to the puppy’s side, watching it weakly struggle for life, feeling that it was as pitiful as Xie Zhuo…

And the moment this thought arose!

As my spirit touched a spot on the little white dog, I suddenly felt a wave of warmth!

Then, my entire spirit was accepted into the little white dog’s body.

The weak, struggling yet warm little dog’s body…

Just like that… it accepted me.

My spirit matched with this dying spirit!?

Why?

I didn’t understand, unable to grasp the key to spiritual compatibility. I had merely thought of Xie Zhuo the moment I saw it…

I simply felt sorry for it, just as I felt sorry for Xie Zhuo…

Thinking this, suddenly, within the body, a warmth seemed to flow through, as if resonating with my emotions.

It was as if this tiny spirit had sensed my sympathy and emotions and was responding to my feelings, gently comforting me.

It was telling me that despite being small, struggling, and dying, it was willing to provide a place of refuge for me who empathized with it…

I suddenly realized that so-called compatibility wasn’t like my previous forceful entry and control of rocks and flowers.

I also needed to empathize with this spirit.

If I only had thoughts of using it, then of course, there could be no compatibility.

In that moment of realization, I also understood why Master God Ji could find one compatible soul after another in the sealed Undying City.

Because…

As a deity, he had comprehended the suffering of all things. In the Undying City, every spirit he matched with was because he and they empathized with each other.

After those thousands of years, that’s why he possessed the most compassionate eyes among all deities…

Understanding this principle, I suddenly felt mentally clear, although now in this body, I could hardly say where exactly my mind was located…

But in this instant, I seemed to perceive more clearly the patterns of this world, the will to survive in the crevices of all things, the relentless forward momentum in the bloodstream.

I seemed to… understand this world a little better.

And it was this bit of understanding that allowed me, while breathing with the little white dog’s body, to keenly capture the scattered soul power floating in the air and between heaven and earth.

Using this soul power and the techniques I had once learned in Kunlun, I repaired the meridians in this body. Then I gradually felt my breathing become smoother, and the pain in my body slowly dissipated. With the little white dog’s three remaining intact legs, I supported the body to stand up.

I staggered a few steps.

Good! I had found a body with a compatible spirit, and I had healed this dying body!

At last!

I had become a dog!

I immediately rushed eagerly toward Xie Zhuo’s tent, using my remaining three legs to run with the speed of eight horses!

After Xie Zhuo disappeared, I had waited for such a long time. It had been too long since I had truly “met” him.

The urgency I felt now was unlike anything I had ever experienced in this life.

I ran desperately toward him, through the forest, through the settlement of the Snow Wolf Tribe, causing many tribe members to exclaim in surprise, until I crashed through the tent flap, almost “three-limbed” off the ground, flying into his tent like a projectile, then landing on the ground beside his bed.

I stood firmly on my three feet, looking up at Xie Zhuo, who was sitting on the edge of the bed.

Having received soul power every day, he was now quite powerful. Of course, he had heard the commotion I made running outside, and could certainly predict what kind of creature would burst before him and when.

But when he saw me, his eyes still widened in surprise and astonishment.

I held my head high, gazing at him without blinking, and then…

I stuck out my tongue and wagged my tail.

The instinct of being a dog! I couldn’t control it at all!

The emotions I had suppressed for too long in my heart could not be calmed, and I could no longer restrain myself. Finally, using my three legs, I climbed onto his bed. The movement was clumsy, the posture was awkward, but I managed to climb up.

Xie Zhuo seemed frightened by me, this little puppy. He stared at me blankly, as if completely unsure what to do, frozen in place.

“Xie Zhuo, Xie Zhuo!” I called to him in my heart, but all that came out of my mouth were puppy-like “woof woof” sounds.

I used my fluffy head to push his hands away from his body, my three legs working hard to scramble over him, until I had pushed my entire body into his arms, letting his scent envelope me completely.

“Finally, I appear before your eyes again.”

In his arms, I looked up at him, and he blinked, looking back at me. Then he finally raised his hand, but he was somewhat cautious, not afraid of me, but… as if afraid he might break me. His hand hovered, not coming down.

I stood up a little and nudged his palm with my nose.

The moist nose tip was a bit cold, like ripples stirring in his palm. He slightly withdrew his hand.

“Don’t be afraid,” I pawed at his hand, “You won’t break me!”

I woofed and then pawed at my ear, “Look, now I have ears just like yours.”

“Woof, woof, woof!”

Again, giving in to instinct, I wagged my tail. The tail moved rapidly like a leaf in a strong wind, making “pat, pat, pat” sounds against his leg.

I excitedly told him, “I also have a tail just like yours now!”

“Woof, woof, woof!”

Xie Zhuo didn’t speak, but after looking at me for a long time, I saw the large tail behind him begin to wag slightly too.

See, how wonderful, today, you’re a little happier again.