Daylight blazed beyond the window. The cool morning breeze stirred the lattice, and bursts of birdsong drifted from far away.
Xiao Chunhe slapped the table, making everyone turn toward him at once. Pointing at the fox possessing Zheng Bing’s body, he exclaimed in delight, “You fox spirit may be stupid, but you’ve got a good pair of eyes! On account of those eyes, I’ll spare your life. Otherwise I’d dig out your heart and eat it with my wine.”
Dressed in rich brocade, he lounged rakishly against the couch as comfortably as if he were in his own home, every inch the master of the place.
His sister was still beneath Xiao Chunhe’s feet, and his demon core was in the other man’s hands. The fox dared to be angry but not to speak, grinding his teeth so hard they nearly cracked.
Yue Jingming glanced at Xiao Chunhe and held out a hand. “The demon core.”
“What demon core? Isn’t it in your hands?” Xiao Chunhe planted one bent leg against the edge of the couch, leaned back against the bolster, and smiled up at him. “My, your memory is terrible.”
Yue Jingming stood before him with the light at his back, his expression unreadable, though his voice cooled slightly. “And the chalcedony from earlier.”
Xiao Chunhe curled his lips and narrowed his eyes lazily. “He already said the two of us couldn’t be better matched. Can’t I keep it for you?”
The little fat fox was still diligently fanning him. The ice in the basin gradually melted, wisps of white vapor spreading through the room. Sunlight poured through the lattice and dyed the drifting mist a hazy rouge color, while the strange fragrance suddenly intensified severalfold.
The little fat fox went rigid and toppled onto the table. The fox possessing Zheng Bing’s body also lost focus for an instant, and the entire house began to tremble with a soft rustling sound.
Yue Jingming seemed not to notice. His hand remained steadily extended before Xiao Chunhe as he looked straight into his eyes. “Give them to me.”
Xiao Chunhe’s smile remained, but a flash of displeasure crossed his eyes.
The rouge-colored currents froze in midair. Even the insects and birds fell silent.
“Ah—fine, fine, fine. Here.” Xiao Chunhe dragged out the words and slapped the demon core and chalcedony into Yue Jingming’s palm together. “You only ever know how to be fierce with me. With everyone else, you’re all pleasant and mild.”
Yue Jingming put away the fox demon core and the Chalcedony Demon Heart separately, then turned to the fox. “Take me to Zheng Hanwen.”
The fox immediately agreed and nodded. “Please follow me.”
Zheng Han stayed close behind Yue Jingming as they went out. The fox turned back toward the room. “Isn’t this masked young gentleman bringing my sister along too?”
Yue Jingming’s face covering had already been shredded during the fight, but half of Xiao Chunhe’s face was still securely masked. Even as everyone else prepared to leave, he remained sprawled bonelessly across the couch with his head tipped back, letting the little fat fox fan him.
Yue Jingming was silent for a moment before walking back to the couch. “Young Master Xiang, aren’t you coming with us?”
Xiao Chunhe lay there like an extravagant brocade-and-jade rug. At the question, he tilted his head, only for tears to slide from his eyes along the bridge of his nose. The streaks on his face looked especially pitiful in the soft sunlight.
Seeing someone who normally grinned all day crying like this left Yue Jingming rooted to the spot. “What’s wrong?”
“I only made a harmless little joke, and you were already so fierce with me. What will become of me in the future?” Xiao Chunhe looked as though nothing in the world could wound him more deeply. “I’d even entrust my life to you, yet you distrust me this much.”
“I…” Yue Jingming was rarely rendered speechless. He had no idea why this man had suddenly burst into tears, no idea how Xiao Chunhe had arrived at that conclusion with such perfect self-righteousness, and even less idea how to answer him.
If it had been one of his junior brothers or sisters on the mountain, he would already have given them a stern lecture. But this man was impossibly difficult, and scolding him would probably only produce the opposite effect. Besides, they were neither relatives nor close companions. Yue Jingming had no standing to lecture him.
After careful consideration, he looked seriously at Xiao Chunhe. “Do not make jokes like that so casually in the future.”
Xiao Chunhe drew a deep breath and held out a hand. “I’ve cried until I have no strength left. Pull me up.”
Yue Jingming took his hand and hauled him upright, immediately releasing him again. “Let’s go.”
When Xiao Chunhe saw Yue Jingming pick up the urn, he took the little fat fox by the paw and followed behind. Only after a while did he lick the tears from the corner of his mouth.
Salty.
Yue Jingming handed him a handkerchief.
Xiao Chunhe raised his brows, accepted it, mashed it over his face, and rubbed. “Why doesn’t this one smell nice?”
Without looking back, Yue Jingming said, “I used up the soap pods I brought down from the mountain.”
Xiao Chunhe sounded disappointed. “So that’s why.”
Yue Jingming said, “…”
＊
To their surprise, Zheng Hanwen was extremely young. He looked no older than twenty-four or twenty-five and bore a fair resemblance to Zheng Bing. At that age, however, there was no possible way he could have fathered the twins Zheng Bing and Zheng Han, especially when they were the youngest children in the Zheng family.
“I knew this day would come sooner or later.” Zheng Hanwen was not surprised to see them. He leisurely drank his tea. “My unworthy son was ignorant and offended you both. Please, sit and have some tea first.”
“There is no need for tea,” Yue Jingming said. “Squire Zheng, both your son and daughter are entangled with fox demons. Were you aware of this?”
“Of course I was.” Zheng Hanwen seemed to sink into old memories, a nostalgic smile appearing on his face. “They were born to my wife, Lady Xie. We placed great hopes on the two of them, but unfortunately Lady Xie died in difficult labor the day they were born. The twins were delayed too long as well, leaving their minds somewhat weaker than those of ordinary children… May I ask, Daoist Master, what would you do if you encountered such a situation?”
Yue Jingming said, “All things have their destined course. But as their father, I would still seek physicians and medicines in hopes of curing them. Even if they could not be cured, I would raise them properly into adulthood.”
Xiao Chunhe glanced at him, seemingly surprised.
“That is what I did as well. Unfortunately, perhaps everything truly does have its destined course, as Daoist Master says. Several years ago, their fevers would not break, and they seemed about to follow my late wife into death. I sought out every famed physician and Daoist I could find, yet nothing helped.” Zheng Hanwen sipped his tea and sighed. “Fortunately Heaven took pity on me. By chance, I obtained two immortal prescriptions. After I gave them the medicines, not only did their illnesses disappear, they could even speak like ordinary people.”
“What sort of immortal prescriptions?” Yue Jingming frowned.
Zheng Hanwen turned toward him, his smile unchanged. “One male and one female fox spirit, each with at least three hundred years of cultivation. Skin them alive and remove their demon cores, then grind their flesh and bones finely into paste and make pills to be swallowed. Place the demon cores on my children, then carefully nourish them for three years with the vital essence of living people… Finally, find a medicinal catalyst with a fate of utmost purity and utmost yang, and the process is complete.”
As he spoke, his gaze settled on Yue Jingming.
Xiao Chunhe immediately stepped in front of him and rubbed his arms in disgust. “What kind of bullshit immortal prescription is that? It sounds more like a crooked, heretical art!”
Zheng Hanwen smiled. “I searched everywhere for that final medicinal catalyst and could never find one. Who would have thought the two of you would come straight to my door?”
The fox went deathly pale. “That’s wrong. My sister and I were clearly invited here by you to bring wealth and improve your fortunes. If what you say is true, how could we not remember it?”
“Your heads had already been smashed to pieces. Naturally, I could not allow you to remember any of that.” Zheng Hanwen looked at him with almost paternal affection. “If you remembered, how could you extend my children’s lives?”
The fox stared at him in disbelief. “Then what is the Chalcedony Demon Heart?!”
Zheng Hanwen said, “The Chalcedony Demon Heart is nothing more than a fox heart stained with a little moyao blood. It is another ingredient in the prescription.”
Tears ran down the fox’s face. “So my sister and I are already dead? But our descendants are still here, and we can still take our true forms… That’s impossible.”
“What descendants? The whole fox den was wiped out. They were all killed to keep you company.” Zheng Hanwen took another sip of tea. “The only reason you can still manifest your true forms is that your demon cores are inside my children. Strictly speaking, you ought to be called fox ghosts.”
Hearing this, the little fat fox raised a paw and touched its furry cheek. In a small voice it asked, “I’m dead too?”
The fox wrinkled his nose, bared his teeth, and lunged at Zheng Hanwen. “I’ll kill you!”
Zheng Hanwen suddenly spat a mouthful of tea at him. The fox screamed as though scalded. Flesh sloughed from his body like dry, brittle leaves, exposing stark white bone beneath. The sight was so miserable and pitiful that it was difficult to look at.
Yue Jingming immediately transferred some true qi to him and fed him a pill. Only then did the fox on the floor stop screaming.
Zheng Hanwen laughed loudly. “A mere fox spirit dares oppose a human? Letting you enjoy these past years was already an extraordinary mercy on my part!”
He raised a hand and clapped three times. Dozens of heavily armored soldiers suddenly poured into the room. Their blades had been soaked in cinnabar and strong liquor, and each carried demon-binding ropes. Dozens more Daoists and monks appeared in the courtyard, and in the blink of an eye they had raised altars and begun their rites.
Zheng Hanwen said lightly, “Refine him and the fox spirit in the urn to mend my children’s souls and extend their lives. Chop up these two living men and use them as medicinal catalysts.”
Xiao Chunhe exploded, “I’m not someone of utmost purity and utmost yang! Why are you chopping me up?!”
Zheng Hanwen looked at him with distaste. “You count as half of one. No loss there.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the armored soldiers surged forward to seize them, while several Daoists took the opportunity to bind the fox and snatch the urn.
Yue Jingming swept them aside with one stroke of his sword, grabbed the fox, and shoved him back. The fox hugged the urn containing his sister and wept. The real Zheng Han shrieked in terror, but someone seized and bound her.
“This is so damn annoying!” Xiao Chunhe bared his teeth. One sweep of his fan cut through Zheng Han’s ropes. He stuffed the little fat fox, which had wet itself in fright, into his clothes, flipped the fan in his hand, and sliced open several soldiers’ throats. Scalding blood sprayed across his face, painting it a vivid red.
The entire room went silent for an instant.
Dark-red beads of blood clung to his lashes. He blinked and met Yue Jingming’s gaze, then caught sight of Yue Jingming’s still-sheathed sword and scoffed. Turning away, he launched into a killing spree with his fan.
Yue Jingming had no choice but to move even faster, striking the major acupoints of soldiers and Daoists to knock them unconscious. He finally caught up and raised his sword to block Xiao Chunhe’s fan, which had already severed he knew not how many heads. “Enough! They are only ordinary people!”
“Those foxes never committed evil either!” Xiao Chunhe glared at him. “They’re trying to chop you up for a medicinal catalyst, and you still want to take their side?!”
“Every grievance has its source and every debt its debtor. I will deal with Zheng Hanwen myself. Why indiscriminately kill the innocent?” Yue Jingming had to rescue people from beneath Xiao Chunhe’s fan while also guarding against the very people he saved attacking him. By now, he had already suffered several cuts.
“So much for ‘every grievance has its source and every debt its debtor.’ I don’t see any difference between you and those Daoists helping a tyrant commit evil. All of you are sanctimonious hypocrites!” Xiao Chunhe seized a Daoist by the neck and twisted hard.
Yue Jingming caught his wrist and forced it aside, then kicked the terrified Daoist out of reach. Pinning both of Xiao Chunhe’s arms, he said sternly, “This is not the time to argue. We leave first and discuss it afterward.”
Xiao Chunhe stared at him fiercely. “Why should we leave? This is the perfect time to kill people!”
“Xiang Gong!” Yue Jingming thundered, both face and voice severe. “You are human, not a demon. Do not fall into demonic obsession!”
Xiao Chunhe’s chest heaved twice. He wrenched free, grabbed Zheng Han from the floor, and smashed through the window. His cold voice drifted back from outside.
“I know.”