Half a month later, Zhongzhou.
Midnight.
Inside Prince Wenren’s residence, Zhou Ran slammed the letter he had just opened down onto the table. “What do you mean the time isn’t right?! Cen Shuang is already dead. If Imperial Brother still can’t find me a human candle to extend my life, I’m going to die! And if I die, I’ll make the Liang family of Lintu and the entire Zushan Sect be buried with me!”
He was shouting himself hoarse, with none of the composure expected of imperial nobility. Xiang Zhao said, “Your Highness, please calm yourself. His Majesty and Her Majesty the Empress Dowager are already thinking of a solution. As for the others…”
Zhou Ran stared at her coldly. “What? Imperial Brother doesn’t intend to deal with them?”
Xiang Zhao said, “The Liang family of Lintu is Her Majesty the Empress Dowager’s maternal clan and has deep-rooted influence at court. As for the Zushan Sect… His Majesty said the Zhou clan has longstanding ties with Zushan. Emperor Xuanming was once rescued by a Zushan Daoist when he was in danger, and His Majesty also has an old acquaintance with Yue Jingming. Neither side is one we should provoke.”
“Liang Yun and Yue Jingming nearly got me killed!” Zhou Ran’s eyes bulged with fury. “I am his own younger brother! Go back and ask Zhou Lie whether, if I hadn’t taken that poison for him back then, he would still be sitting securely on the throne today?!”
Xiang Zhao lowered her voice. “Your Highness, mind your words.”
Zhou Ran laughed from sheer anger. “Fine. He and Mother think I’m useless now, so they no longer care whether I live or die. If that’s how it is, I don’t need to care about our brotherly affection either. If they aren’t afraid of the people of the realm boiling over with resentment, then I’ll—”
“Your Highness!” Xiang Zhao suddenly cut him off sharply and whipped around toward the pitch-black doorway of the side hall.
Zhou Ran understood immediately and shouted, “Guards!”
Well-trained hidden guards silently filled the hall, closing ranks around Zhou Lie, who was seated at the head.
Xiang Zhao said in a deep voice, “Since you are already here, why hide yourself? Why not come out and show yourself?”
A rich, heavy fragrance instantly spread through the entire hall. Someone strolled lazily out of the darkness and leaned against a coiling-dragon pillar, flicking open a fan with a smile. “Long time no see, Miss Xiang. And…”
“Your Highness.” His shimmering peach-blossom eyes were full of teasing amusement.
Xiang Zhao and Zhou Ran had both seen this man before, though they had not dealt with him much. Xiang Zhao immediately grew wary. “Your Highness, be careful. He is a fox demon.”
Zhou Ran shouted angrily, “Impudent monster! You actually dare come back? Did Liang Yun and Yue Jingming send you to kill me?!”
“This has nothing to do with them. Those two are softhearted to a fault. If you’re waiting for them to come kill you, dream on.” Xiao Chunhe grinned. “I simply remembered all of a sudden that you were still alive. I tossed and turned, unable to sleep, so I came to take your life.”
Zhou Ran’s expression twisted. He roared, “Kill him!”
The hidden guards moved at once, but before any of them could touch Xiao Chunhe, one after another their eyes went blank and their movements slowed to a stop. Their expressions varied wildly, as though their minds had been stolen away.
“No, it’s an illusion!” Xiang Zhao had lost her cultivation, but she still noticed the abnormality almost immediately and instinctively reached for her sword.
“Now, now, good girl.” Xiao Chunhe snapped his fan shut over her wrist and smiled at her. “Yue Jingming spared you, so it would be awkward for me to kill you. Besides, there’s an unborn child in your belly. Just pretend you never saw me, all right?”
Xiang Zhao stared at him in shock. “A child?”
“You’re not very bright.” Xiao Chunhe tapped her lightly between the brows. Xiang Zhao immediately lost consciousness. He caught her before she fell and laid her on the floor, then rose and strolled toward Zhou Ran. “Aiya, I really am the kindest fox under Heaven. For a fox demon, refusing to kill the innocent is such a precious virtue. Don’t you agree, Your Highness?”
He grinned. A vicious light flared in his scarlet eyes, and savage black veins instantly spread over half his face. The handsome, roguish features abruptly twisted into a fox’s visage. Before Zhou Ran could scream, that terrifying face was already inches away, jaws opening toward him.
“Ah!” Zhou Ran shouted, but the sharp teeth stopped just before him.
Xiao Chunhe closed his mouth and grinned. “Just kidding. I wouldn’t dare eat you.”
Still badly shaken, Zhou Ran scrambled backward on hands and feet. “I-I am a prince of Great An! You’re nothing but a fox demon. How dare you eat me?!”
Xiao Chunhe nodded vigorously. “Exactly, exactly. This humble little demon wouldn’t dare.”
Zhou Ran immediately found his courage again. “Then hurry up and get out!”
Xiao Chunhe flicked his fan. A cold flash swept past, and Zhou Ran’s feet were severed from his body. Blood sprayed as Zhou Ran screamed and dragged himself forward.
Xiao Chunhe wiped his cheek, glanced in disgust at the blood on his fingertip, and followed at an unhurried pace, fanning himself. “Faster. Or I’ll take your hands next.”
Zhou Ran broke down and crawled faster. “I have no grudge with you! Why are you trying to wipe me out?!”
“How could we have no grudge?” Xiao Chunhe said helplessly. “You really thought I had so much free time that I came along with them just to play the chivalrous hero? Since you asked, Your Highness, I may as well let you understand before you die.”
“Stop crawling!” he suddenly barked, cutting off Zhou Ran’s arms as well.
Zhou Ran let out a miserable howl.
Xiao Chunhe seized him and dragged him close. His expression was ice-cold, his scarlet eyes fixed on Zhou Ran without blinking. “You should have died when the poison spread through your whole body and rotted you away. Your mother and imperial brother found a spirit medicine for you. They wrapped you in the pelt of a fox that had cultivated for a thousand years and preserved this body of yours. Otherwise, even if you had survived, you would have been hideously disfigured.”
Zhou Ran’s lips trembled. “Please, please don’t kill me. I can give you anything. Gold, treasure, power, women! Whatever you want, I’ll give it to you!”
Xiao Chunhe murmured, “At first, I didn’t think much of it. But some time ago, by sheer chance, I went through a rather unusual experience. Just having half one’s face ruined and one leg crippled was enough to be bullied and beaten by anyone who pleased. Yet you got to remain completely intact and continue being a prince. It really is…”
He gave a soft laugh. His scarlet eyes turned stiffly until they met Zhou Ran’s, then he smiled brilliantly. “Far too unfair.”
A shrill scream tore through the hall. Hot blood splattered across the windows as the hoots of owls echoed outside, and the night wind carrying the smell of blood swept through Prince Wenren’s entire residence.
…
Expressionless, Xiao Chunhe tossed the corpse aside. He picked up the still-twitching heart, bit into it, paused, then finished it in a few bites and licked the blood from the corner of his mouth.
Only after he had eaten his fill did he carefully lift the red fox pelt he had peeled free. Tilting his head, he rubbed his cheek against it with intimate affection. “Mother.”
Blood from the pelt smeared half his face, making him look almost like a vicious ghost reborn.
The fox pelt was cold and had no warmth at all. Xiao Chunhe pressed his lips together, rolled it up, and tucked it into the small kerchief at his waist.
He had been about to leave when inspiration struck. He took out the bottle of poison Xiao Wen had given him and evenly sprinkled it around Zhou Ran’s corpse, tracing a neat outline around the body.
The bottle bearing the crest of the red fox clan of Zixu Mountain was placed squarely in the middle of the table.
* * *
Hundreds of li away.
A cold wind swept past, and the man meditating beneath a tree abruptly opened his eyes.
Yue Jingming lowered his gaze. The little fox was sleeping soundly across his legs, and the small pendant hanging from one drooping ear rose and fell evenly with each breath.
On the other side of the fire, Liang Yun and Ye Shijiu were sprawled asleep in every direction.
But something was still wrong.
He reached out and stroked the little fox. “Chunhe?”
The little fox rolled over, exposing its snow-white belly. The orange pendant also gleamed brightly in the firelight. Yue Jingming lowered his eyes to it… It was smaller than the pendant on Xiao Chunhe’s real body.
The furry little fox was placed on top of a bundle, with a handkerchief still covering its belly, but the person who had tucked it in was nowhere to be seen.
A teleportation formation flashed in the dense forest. Xiao Chunhe leaped out of it, staggered forward a step, then steadied himself.
He pinched a corner of his sleeve and bent his head to sniff. The heavy stench of blood hit him full in the face. Irritated, he shook out his sleeve and clicked his tongue.
A quarter of an hour later, at a hot spring somewhere in the mountains, a bright red little fox leaped into the water. Crimson immediately spread through the pool.
Xiao Chunhe swam back and forth three times before washing away all the blood. Then he dried himself with magic and changed into brand-new clothes from the inside out.
“Ha. There’s no way anyone can smell it now.” He proudly flicked his fan.
“Smell what?” A cool, familiar voice suddenly sounded behind him.
“Ah!” Xiao Chunhe yelped and nearly fell back into the water. He spun around and found himself facing Yue Jingming, sword strapped to his back.
Xiao Chunhe laughed dryly. “Brother Yue. It’s you.”
Yue Jingming’s expression cooled further. “When did you regain the ability to take human form?”
Xiao Chunhe answered stiffly, “J-just now.”
For the past half month, he had stayed by Yue Jingming’s side in fox form. Man and fox had gotten along extremely well. They had not needed to observe all the etiquette and rules that governed people, nor had they needed to confront the No-Thought One-Mind Art or the demon-gu directly. Eating and sleeping together day after day, they had become almost inseparable.
“Is that so?” Yue Jingming looked expressionlessly at the pool of bloody water behind him and the blood-soaked robe lying on the bank.
Xiao Chunhe braced himself. “Yes.”
Yue Jingming said coldly, “Where did you go in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?”
Xiao Chunhe replied, “To bathe.”
“Where did the blood come from?” Yue Jingming asked.
“I got hungry in the middle of the night, caught a live rabbit, and accidentally got some on me,” Xiao Chunhe said.
“You normally roast rabbit and sprinkle it with cumin,” Yue Jingming said.
Xiao Chunhe: “…”
Yue Jingming’s voice turned colder. “This is human blood.”
Xiao Chunhe narrowed his eyes. “Tsk. Brother Jingming, I have my own affairs to attend to. Friends are allowed to have secrets, aren’t they?”
Yue Jingming’s brows lowered. “Friends?”
Perhaps because he had spent so long with Xiao Chunhe in fox form, with the little fox acting spoiled every day and showing its nature without restraint, seeing Xiao Chunhe suddenly return to human form and reveal his sharpness and distance made Yue Jingming unexpectedly displeased.
Xiao Chunhe changed the subject. “All right, all right, let’s not talk about this now. I’ve eaten, drunk, and finished bathing. Let’s hurry back and sleep.”
Yue Jingming did not move. His voice remained cool. “You could already return to human form, yet you still had me giving you true qi every day.”
He did not begrudge the true qi. What bothered him was Xiao Chunhe’s deception.
Xiao Chunhe tipped his head back with a long sigh, walked over, and put both hands on Yue Jingming’s shoulders. “Good Rongxi, I had a reason for not changing back. After what happened with our past lives, being face-to-face was bound to be awkward. We needed some time to settle ourselves. Otherwise, if we both stayed trapped in those memories and acted on impulse, we’d only create more trouble.”
Yue Jingming knocked his arms away. “Qiu Rongxi and Jichuan belong to the previous life. In this life, I only regard you as Xiao Chunhe. What impulse would there be?”
“You can fool other people, but not me.” Xiao Chunhe teasingly poked his shoulder. “After we came out of that past-life illusion, you practically started taking care of me like I was your own son. Granted, my true fox form is extraordinarily adorable, but ask yourself honestly. Were you really not affected?”
Yue Jingming fell silent for a moment.
“My good Daoist, if you want to sleep with me once, or several times, I certainly won’t refuse. But if you want to seriously talk about love with me, forget it.” Xiao Chunhe lightly hooked a finger beneath Yue Jingming’s chin, leaned closer, and affectionately rubbed his cheek against Yue Jingming’s. “When I’m a little fox, my fox nature is stronger and I naturally like clinging to you. Human form is different.”
Yue Jingming looked at him. “How is it different?”
Xiao Chunhe slowly let his smile fade. A scarlet gleam passed through his eyes. “I’m a half-demon. I don’t care about all the rules you humans do. When I’m hungry, I can eat pheasants or rabbits, and I can eat people too. To me, there isn’t much difference.”
Yue Jingming frowned. “You went and ate someone?”
Xiao Chunhe licked his lips, his gaze sweeping over Yue Jingming’s dark brows in the moonlight before settling on his mouth. Then he abruptly seized Yue Jingming by the neck and kissed him without warning.
Yue Jingming struck at his shoulder, but Xiao Chunhe took the blow and did not retreat. Instead, he wrapped an arm around Yue Jingming’s waist and pressed him against the damp rock wall, forcing his mouth open despite his resistance.
Anger flashed through Yue Jingming’s eyes. He caught Xiao Chunhe’s wrist, twisted it back, and sent true qi into him. Xiao Chunhe’s demonic qi surged and blocked the attack. Gripping Yue Jingming’s waist, he used his knee to force Yue’s legs apart and held him pinned against the rock as he continued the unwanted kiss.
“You—” Furious, Yue Jingming formed a seal and struck toward his dantian.
“Mm…” Xiao Chunhe grunted. “Go ahead and kill me.”
Yue Jingming’s hand stopped dead just before his lower abdomen.
Xiao Chunhe used his tongue to push something from his own mouth into Yue Jingming’s throat, forcing him to tilt his head back and swallow. Only then did he lightly bite the corner of Yue Jingming’s mouth. His shadowed fox eyes were full of desire and possessiveness. “Taste it?”
Yue Jingming tasted a strong metallic tang and forced himself to stay calm. “Did you feed me charm incense again?”
Xiao Chunhe laughed until he trembled and licked the small cut at Yue Jingming’s mouth. “A living person’s heart. Good wife, you’ve never tasted one before, have you?”
Yue Jingming’s face changed. The bloody taste seemed to flood his mouth. He shoved Xiao Chunhe away, turned aside, and retched.
Xiao Chunhe folded his arms and leaned against the rock wall. He tugged at the corner of his mouth, but could not quite make himself smile.
Yue Jingming sealed several major acupoints, pressed against his Shanzhong acupoint, and forced his meridians into reverse circulation until he vomited up the piece of bloody flesh. Still feeling contaminated, he poured true qi through his body and forced out a mouthful of blood essence as well, only then purging the taste completely.
Xiao Chunhe frowned, but his voice remained deliberately flippant. “A single piece of human heart disgusts you this much. If you were really with me, it would be far more than this. Why make things difficult for yourself?”
Yue Jingming raised his eyes coldly and wiped the blood from his lips. “If you have no intention of anything more, why keep provoking me?”
Xiao Chunhe smiled. “Of course I like you. But liking someone doesn’t mean there has to be an outcome. You may not fear death, but I do fear the demon-gu taking my life.”
“I told you I would help you,” Yue Jingming said.
Xiao Chunhe said helplessly, “You can’t even resolve your own No-Thought One-Mind Art.”
Yue Jingming covered his mouth and coughed up blood again. His body swayed and he dropped to one knee. Xiao Chunhe’s expression changed and he instinctively reached out to support him. “You—”
At that moment, Yue Jingming’s blood essence and a formation activated together. A yellow talisman slapped onto Xiao Chunhe’s forehead. He looked up in shock into Yue Jingming’s cool gaze, and with a soft poof, he changed back into his little fox form.
Yue Jingming caught Xiao Chunhe by the scruff and lifted him up to eye level.
Xiao Chunhe tried to turn human again, but the yellow talisman on his forehead completely sealed his power. He flew into a rage. “You actually schemed against me?!”
“You were the one behaving recklessly first,” Yue Jingming said calmly. “Your killing intent is too heavy. Just now, you were already showing signs of qi deviation. We’ll talk again once you’ve calmed down.”
Xiao Chunhe exploded. “I am perfectly calm! Believe me when I say I’ll eat you in one bite?!”
“I believe you.” Yue Jingming tucked him into his robes. “You can dig out my heart right now if you want.”
Xiao Chunhe opened his mouth and bit at Yue Jingming’s chest, but could not bring himself to bite down for real. He irritably spat out the scrap of cloth caught in his mouth and said bitterly, “I advise you not to meddle in other people’s business.”
“Your affairs are my business.” Yue Jingming lowered his eyes to him.
“You can turn a blind eye even if I eat people?” Xiao Chunhe looked up at him fiercely.
Yue Jingming said, “You do not kill indiscriminately. I trust you.”
Xiao Chunhe froze.
Yue Jingming continued, “Becoming Dao companions requires mutual willingness. Whatever the reason, if you do not want it, then we will leave the matter here. From now on, we will only be friends.”
Xiao Chunhe opened his mouth, and suddenly his heart felt strangely empty.
“But Xiao Chunhe, even friends should share hardships and treat one another honestly.” Yue Jingming said with complete seriousness, “I treat you sincerely, and naturally I hope you can do the same for me. That is true for you, Liang Yun, and Ye Shijiu alike.”
Xiao Chunhe lowered his head. “I didn’t mean to hide it from you. I have my reasons. I can’t tell you.”
“All right.” Yue Jingming rested a hand on his forehead. “Then tell me when you can. I’ll remove the talisman, but you are not allowed to run.”
Xiao Chunhe: “…I won’t run.”
Heavens. Did this Daoist think he was dealing with a child? If Xiao Chunhe did not run, then he was no fox at all!
Yue Jingming removed the talisman. The fox in his arms instantly became the living, breathing Xiao Chunhe again. They were so close their noses nearly touched, breaths mingling in the small space between them. Xiao Chunhe’s gaze fell on Yue Jingming’s still slightly swollen lips, and he swallowed unconsciously.
Yue Jingming stepped back. “Let’s go back.”
Xiao Chunhe licked his lips, rubbed his nose, and followed.
But then again, if they could find a way to remove the demon-gu, wouldn’t that mean they could both be willing? An occasional kiss and a little pain would hardly matter.
He was not the kind of fox who insisted on getting trapped in one line of thought. He cheerfully accepted this new solution, hurried a few steps to catch Yue Jingming, and casually draped an arm over his shoulder. Leaning against him, he buried his face near Yue Jingming’s neck and took a deep breath.
Yue Jingming stiffened all over. He was about to push this fox, who had no sense of boundaries whatsoever, away when he felt Xiao Chunhe lick his neck. His scalp prickled and he shoved him aside at once.
Xiao Chunhe looked at him in confusion. “I can’t even lick you?”
When he had been a little fox, he had licked Yue Jingming almost every day. Sometimes his fingers, sometimes his ears or neck, sometimes his chin. Yue Jingming had never pushed him away then.
Yue Jingming’s expression showed faint anger. “No.”
Xiao Chunhe suddenly understood. “Fine, fine. I’ll turn back into a little fox and lick you.”
“You—” Yue Jingming had complicated feelings. “It doesn’t matter what form you take. No. Would you do this to Liang Yun?”
“Have I lost my mind? Why would I lick Liang Yun?!” Xiao Chunhe looked horrified, almost enough to make him vomit up the heart he had just eaten.
Yue Jingming drew a deep breath. “Then since Liang Yun and I are both your friends, we should be treated the same. Conduct yourself properly.”
With that, he turned and walked away.
“Aah…” Xiao Chunhe let out a long sigh, leisurely fanning himself as he followed. “Brother Jingming, good fellow Daoist, wait for me~”
See? Playing dumb worked when he was a little fox. Once he turned human, it stopped working.
How infuriating.