C183 — Kill the Nine-Tailed Fox (19)

Compared to Fu Jiuyin, the little snow squirrel huddled in the corner of the cave looked truly pitiful—listless, with his fur all messy and unkempt.

Fu Jiuyin glanced at the miserable-looking Shen Jue, the corners of his lips tilting upward. With a small lift of his finger, he broke through Xue Wenchun’s barrier with ease. He stepped leisurely into the cave and plucked the still-curled-up snow squirrel into his hand.

Once lifted, the squirrel’s tail instinctively twined around Fu Jiuyin’s hand in a gesture almost like seeking affection. But it loosened quickly.

Lowering his eyes, Fu Jiuyin’s fingers brushed the squirrel’s slightly swollen belly. His fox-like eyes narrowed as he probed with spiritual power, then said,

“You swallowed another demon beast’s inner core?”

Shen Jue hadn’t expected Fu Jiuyin to come for him, but since he had, at least it meant freedom from Xue Wenchun’s grasp. Being caught this time was unexpected, but not without its advantages—it let him gauge Xue Wenchun’s strength, and it extinguished his impulse to strike on his own.

After a pause, he squirmed free of Fu Jiuyin’s hand and climbed up along his arm, settling on his shoulder to sit. Then he began his complaint.

“That demonic cultivator forced me to eat it. He wanted me to find you—he wants to kill Xie Chen and sign a contract with you.”

Fu Jiuyin’s expression remained unchanged. Since the day he was born, countless people had schemed against him. None of them had ever entered his eyes; to him, they were all mere ants.

Shen Jue studied Fu Jiuyin’s face. Seeing no response, he pressed his little paw twice against Fu Jiuyin’s shoulder.

“Fu Jiuyin, what do we do now?”

Fu Jiuyin turned. In just an instant, they had left the cave and appeared elsewhere.

Shen Jue squinted against the rush of fierce wind. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself staring into Xie Chen’s somewhat surprised gaze.

Xie Chen’s eyes lingered a few moments on the snowfield squirrel perched on Fu Jiuyin’s shoulder before turning back to Fu Jiuyin.

“Senior, you’ve returned.”

“Mhm.”

They were beside a lake, one very much like the one Shen Jue had seen before—unfrozen despite the cold. Fu Jiuyin walked to the edge of the lake and sat down, then cast a glance at Xie Chen.

“Has that thing come out yet?”

Xie Chen shook his head.

The corner of Fu Jiuyin’s lips curved. “Knows how to hide, does it? Fine. We’ll wait it out. If it’s not out by dawn, you’ll go down yourself.”

“Yes.” Xie Chen responded at once.

Shen Jue didn’t know what lurked in the water, but from their words, it seemed they would be keeping watch until morning. He was tired now, but too afraid to sleep—if he closed his eyes, who knew whether Fu Jiuyin would still be by his side when he woke? So he forced himself to stay awake, perched on Fu Jiuyin’s shoulder.

But after a while of struggling against drowsiness, he finally curled up into a ball and drifted off, dozing on Fu Jiuyin’s shoulder.

Xie Chen sat down beside Fu Jiuyin. He had been focused on the lake, but after some time he couldn’t resist glancing sideways at the sleeping Shen Jue.

“What? You like him?” Fu Jiuyin’s voice cut in suddenly.

Xie Chen immediately looked away, calm. “No. I was just wondering if he’s uncomfortable sleeping like that.”

“He swallowed another beast’s inner core. He’ll be drowsy for a while.” Fu Jiuyin reached out, grabbed Shen Jue from his shoulder, and tossed him into Xie Chen’s lap. “Watch him. The core that demonic cultivator forced on him isn’t any common thing—this fellow’s got some luck on his side.”

Xie Chen froze briefly, only to see the squirrel stir awake in his lap. Shen Jue blinked, shook his head drowsily, then spotted Xie Chen’s face. His furry ears twitched faintly. After a long pause, he sluggishly crawled back toward Fu Jiuyin.

This time he didn’t climb up to his shoulder—he settled on Fu Jiuyin’s leg instead, curled up, and went right back to sleep.

The fox’s humanoid lap was much warmer to sleep on.

Xie Chen pressed his lips together, turned his face aside, and said softly,

“Senior, you’d better take care of him yourself—he’s recognized you as his master.”

—

Shen Jue slept straight through till morning. When he finally woke, he discovered that only he and Xie Chen remained; Fu Jiuyin was nowhere to be seen.

Almost the moment Shen Jue stirred, Xie Chen noticed. He lowered his head, looking at the snowfield squirrel crawling up from his lap. After a brief pause, he asked,

“Are you hungry? I have some food in my storage ring.”

As he spoke, he produced a handful of hazelnuts.

Since his capture by the demonic Sect, Shen Jue hadn’t eaten hazelnuts once. The sight of them made his eyes instinctively light up. Still, he shot Xie Chen a cautious glance before snatching one nut and hopping a few steps away to eat.

Xie Chen, seeing this, simply drew out a handkerchief and set the rest of the hazelnuts on it. His gaze then returned to the surface of the lake.

Shen Jue finished two or three before stopping. Following Xie Chen’s line of sight, he asked,

“Fu Jiuyin went down?”

“Mhm. Senior got angry—he said he’d personally teach that creature a lesson.”

Just as the words fell, the lake’s surface exploded with a towering splash. A streak of crimson shot out of the water, accompanied by a pleading cry:

“Lord Nine-Tailed Fox! I was wrong, I was wrong! I’ll hand over my rib right away!”

Fu Jiuyin emerged; his scarlet robes were drenched, and his long black hair was soaked through. The silver-white ribbon binding his hair clung against his right cheek. Crystal droplets slid from the flame-shaped mark at his brow, traced down his throat, and disappeared into his collar.

His fox-like eyes gleamed with a chilling green light, and behind him, nine long tails swayed lazily in the air like the branches of winter plum.

In his hand, he held a creature half as tall as himself—a fish, but not quite.

Its head and tail were piscine, but its middle was that of a child three or four years old, complete with two tiny human arms.

The moment Xie Chen saw Fu Jiuyin return, he immediately rose to his feet. Shen Jue, on the other hand, instinctively scuttled backward.

Fu Jiuyin pulled a rib from the strange fish’s body, then tossed it back into the water. Yet only moments later, the creature swam back up, timidly holding out a snow-colored pearl.

“Lord Nine-Tailed Fox, this humble one offers this to you!”

Fu Jiuyin handed the rib to Xie Chen with a flick of his wrist. His gaze swept over the pearl in the monster’s hands, one brow lifting.

“And what’s this supposed to be good for?”

“It’s beautiful!” the fish blurted instantly. “You can inlay it into a magic weapon.”

Magic weapon?

Shen Jue glanced at the rib now in Xie Chen’s hand. It still glowed with a faint white radiance. Could it be Fu Jiuyin had brought Xie Chen here to forge such a weapon?

He thought back carefully—in past lives, Xie Chen did obtain a new celestial weapon, one that had even stirred envy among his sect.

Back then, Shen Jue hadn’t accompanied them, so he’d never known Fu Jiuyin had gone to such lengths—laboring to gather materials for someone else’s weapon. Truly, he treated Xie Chen differently.

Meanwhile, Fu Jiuyin kicked the strange fish back into the lake.

This fox was notoriously picky with food. In truth, he had entertained the idea of feasting in the frozen lands; after all, the demon beasts of Tianshui Sect couldn’t be eaten, since they were being raised by others. But upon arriving here, he found that every beast was bizarrely grotesque, enough to make one’s stomach turn. Eating them was out of the question.

So, he had no interest in devouring that freakish fish. He merely snatched its most precious rib—and gave it a thorough beating for good measure.

Fu Jiuyin didn’t take the pearl, but the strange fish was relentless. It swam up again, and when Fu Jiuyin refused, its gaze shifted first to Xie Chen, then finally landed on Shen Jue.

“Yo! What a peculiar little mouse! You should keep this pearl.”

The fish forcibly tossed the pearl in front of Shen Jue before plunging back into the depths with a splash.

Shen Jue lowered his head, eyeing the pearl before reaching out his tiny claws to pick it up. But just as he hugged it to his chest, he was suddenly lifted off the ground—Fu Jiuyin’s fingers pinched him neatly by the scruff of his neck.

“How’s the absorption of that inner core coming along?” Fu Jiuyin asked.

“About done,” Shen Jue answered. After half a month of dizziness, he was much better now.

“Perfect. Some ugly beasts won’t dare come out when they sense me, but with you… you’re useful bait.” Fu Jiuyin’s lips curved into a sly smile.

—

Over the next few days, Shen Jue cooperated, once again playing the role of lure—just like back in the forbidden grounds. Fu Jiuyin stripped away his own aura from Shen Jue, letting him draw the beasts out of their lairs. In just a short while, Fu Jiuyin had gathered five different materials, among them a merman’s eyeball.

That eyeball, Fu Jiuyin had gouged out with his bare hand. By then, Shen Jue’s fur was soaked through, the culprit being the merman’s slobber.

That merman hadn’t tasted fresh meat in ages. The sight of Shen Jue had sent stars flashing in its eyes, and instead of devouring him immediately, it licked him first with its long tongue, savoring the flavor.

Fu Jiuyin had waited—he wanted the merman distracted and excited before taking action. It wasn’t until the creature began shoving Shen Jue toward its mouth that Fu Jiuyin struck.

The merman shrieked as its eye was torn out, the sound a piercing cry like a twisted song, eerie enough to raise gooseflesh. Almost instantly, dozens more mermen swarmed in, drawn by the sound.

They were beautiful yet terrifying—blue-haired, blue-eyed, with mouths full of fangs. Their gazes burned with malice as they locked on Fu Jiuyin and Xie Chen. The sodden snow squirrel at the side was entirely ignored.

Unhurried, Fu Jiuyin sealed the eyeball into a jade vial and tossed it to Xie Chen on the shore. Then, licking his lips as his green eyes swept over the approaching mermen, he murmured,

“I wonder… do sea fish taste different from those on land?”

With that, he gestured sharply. A colossal wave surged forth, crashing down with a thunderous boom, splitting into a rain of fireballs that rained upon the sea.

Within the frozen lands, mermen were near overlords—unlike the solitary beasts who each ruled their own domain, mermen thrived in numbers, battling only among themselves beneath the waves. Few creatures could stand against their swarms.

But none of them had anticipated a nine-tailed fox so ferocious he sought to roast them all alive. Recognizing the impossible odds, they scattered like frightened birds. Only the one whose eye had been gouged out clung stubbornly to its prize—even in retreat, it dragged its “meal” along.

Fu Jiuyin, disappointed by their quick dispersal, lowered his hands. But his sharp gaze suddenly flicked elsewhere.

“Senior…” Xie Chen realized Shen Jue was missing. Before he could finish, Fu Jiuyin cut him off.

“That demonic cultivator has arrived,” Fu Jiuyin said with a crooked smile. “I was going to wait until the weapon was finished before letting you spar with him. But since he’s shown up early… we’ll test your blade now.”

Xie Chen glanced toward the direction the merman had fled, brows knitting slightly.

—

Meanwhile, Shen Jue was being dragged down into the deep sea, the merman’s claws clamped tightly around him. Seeing no rescue in sight, he could only gather qi and cast a spell.

A strike of magic seared into the merman’s body as Shen Jue shifted back into human form, struggling upward.

The wounded merman let out a wail, but with a furious lash of its tail it caught hold of Shen Jue’s trailing tail, which he hadn’t had time to put away.

Shen Jue cried out in pain, spinning back to unleash another high-level spell, his free leg lashing out in a fierce kick that smashed into the merman’s face.

The creature, though battered, refused to release him. Unlike the others, it had already lost its eye for Shen Jue’s sake—its rage burned too deep to let go. Even through tears of pain, it dragged Shen Jue downward, hauling him inexorably toward the ocean’s abyss.

 

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