Chapter 4
Edward Quan ·
Only in dreams!
“There’s nothing between Master and me!”
“Remember the map on the mountain of blades? I saw him leave it there. He put it there for you.”
“Impossible! He must have dropped it by accident.”
Xu He gave me an indescribable look.
“If there’s nothing between you, why would he let you use the Liquan Cup?
“And he didn’t even hold you responsible for breaking it.
“Those bites on his neck were yours, weren’t they? Your fangs are sharper than Yuyao’s.”
He’d left me speechless.
But I couldn’t tell him it had all happened in dreams.
I could only stamp my feet in frustration.
“There is absolutely nothing between Master and me! And there never will be!”
Then I looked up.
My aloof, untouchable master stood a short distance away.
How much had he heard?
I hurried after him.
“Master! Listen! Senior Brother misunderstood!
“I was explaining things. He thinks our relationship is improper. If that gets around, it’ll damage your reputation.
“And... and my identity already causes you enough trouble. I don’t want to make more.”
Xie Qingjun stopped.
I walked straight into his back.
It hurt so much my eyes watered.
“I’m sorry. I won’t talk nonsense again. Believe me. I won’t have any improper thoughts about you.”
He turned and backed me into a corner.
His low voice carried an emotion I couldn’t read.
“What if your master has improper thoughts about you?”
Voices drifted toward us.
Panicking, I pushed him away and ran back to my room.
My heart wouldn’t settle.
What had he meant?
Thoughts about me?
What sort of thoughts?
What sort of thoughts could a master have about his beloved disciple?
I lay awake all night.
Naturally, I didn’t see him in a dream.
When I finally decided to ask him, I heard he’d gone into seclusion again.
The last person to see him had been Fairy Yuyao.
Someone had even seen them embracing.
For some reason, my heart sank.
“I told you there was something between them.”
“I saw it myself! They were holding each other tightly!”
I stopped listening and prepared for that day’s trial.
Crossing a sea of fire wasn’t especially difficult for a fox demon.
Molten rock rained down. I dodged it nimbly.
Until the final stretch.
A huge boulder suddenly fell directly ahead of me.
I meant to move.
A surge of spiritual force locked me in place.
Not far away stood Fairy Yuyao.
Wearing my face.
“That day, I turned into you,” she said. “Master embraced me without a second thought.
“Tell me, if you disappeared, could I take your place?
“His favorite disciple.”
I struggled with everything I had.
Useless.
All I could do was watch the molten rock descend.
Then darkness swallowed my vision.
I could see nothing.
Failing one round left almost no chance of completing the rest.
Yuyao appeared before everyone with my face.
Not one person suspected her.
An illusion had changed my own features into those of an ordinary stranger.
I tried to prove who I was.
No one believed me.
They thought I was a madwoman who imagined herself Song Qingqing.
I found Xu He.
Even he wouldn’t believe me.
“Senior Brother! It’s me! Yuyao put an illusion on me!
“Remember what you told me about Master?”
His expression hardened.
“You even eavesdropped on that?
“I can’t sense any illusion on you.”
It had to be an advanced spell.
There was only one person left.
Master.
16
Interrupting a master’s cultivation was a grave offense.
Interrupting Xie Qingjun in seclusion was worse.
If I angered him, I might be expelled from the sect.
I crouched among the bushes and watched him sit beneath the Ice Spring waterfall.
Water thundered over him.
His eyes were tightly closed. An unnatural flush colored his face.
He seemed to be murmuring something.
Signs of cultivation deviation.
Without another thought, I rushed in to interrupt him, wrapped my arms around his waist and shook him.
“Master! Wake up!”
His eyes opened.
They were clouded with uncontrolled desire.
He caught me tightly.
“You came to me of your own accord.”
He was cultivating the roots of desire. If that practice went awry, the only remedy was dual cultivation.
Before I could speak, he kissed me.
He was overwhelming, yet restrained enough not to injure me.
His power stirred my demonic nature. My orange fox tail appeared, wet with spring water.
I clung to him, distressed.
“Master... do you know who I am?”
He paused and touched my cheek.
His gaze was still dazed.
“Qingqing.”
I trembled.
In the water, I caught sight of my reflection.
Somehow my true face had returned.
My eyes shone with tears as I looked at him.
He released my lip.
I gave up resisting the moment.
Let it be another dream.
Without dual cultivation, Master would die.
Dual cultivation followed beside the spring. In the shifting reflection, my fox eyes gradually turned violet, a sign of the intensity of the encounter.
17
When I woke, I ran.
After washing away every trace of the night, I went straight to the trial grounds.
Yuyao was there.
I had to expose everything and leave her no chance to escape it.
The test of spiritual roots had already begun.
Yuyao, still wearing my face, had completed the final round.
Everyone was congratulating her.
They watched “Song Qingqing” climb the dais to welcome Master from seclusion.
None of them knew that last night their lofty, aloof master had held me close and whispered my name.
But to reach that dais, I had to take the test.
Before their astonished eyes, another Song Qingqing stepped onto the testing platform.
“Isn’t that Song Qingqing? Then who’s up there?”
“Why are there two of her?”
“This one must be an impostor. Could two people in our sect really look exactly alike?”
I placed my hand on the platform.
Spiritual energy coursed through me.
Cries erupted around me.
“What is that?”
“Such powerful demonic energy!”
“She’s the fox clan’s princess!”
Dark energy enveloped me, shutting out the noise.
I could barely breathe.
On the testing platform, a glowing violet crystal heart slowly emerged.
“Demons and immortals are sworn enemies!”
“A fox demon killed Master’s mother!”
“Kill her!”
“Kill her!”
The “Song Qingqing” on the dais vanished.
Every accusation turned toward me.
I staggered, hardly able to stand.
Respectful voices sounded around me.
“Master.”
Xie Qingjun had appeared without my noticing.
He stood in white robes, looking at me with an expression I couldn’t untangle.
Then he spoke.
“Confine her to the dungeon for now.”
18
In that cold, damp dungeon, I couldn’t understand why he’d done it.
Last night, we had been so close.
Today, he had locked me away.
Because I was supposedly the fox clan’s princess?
Or was it true?
Did the death of his mother stand between us?
I fell asleep again.
That night, dream-Xie Qingjun was different.
He only held me.
And apologized, over and over.