Chapter 2
Edward Quan ·
I pushed the pill away and became stern.
“I wasn’t poisoned. I lied to the elder to get you out of trouble. Where’s the fox demon?”
Unless we caught the real culprit, he remained a suspect.
This scheming serpent wouldn’t survive a thorough investigation.
He hesitated.
【I beat it beyond recognition. Will Master be suspicious?】
【I’m supposed to be useless in front of her.】
“The team wounded it badly. Even a boy sweeping the courtyard could catch it.”
I casually offered him an excuse.
He nodded immediately.
“I locked it in the back.”
He led me deeper inside.
A red-eyed creature with a human body and fox’s head was chained to the stone wall, baring its fangs.
It roared when we approached, clawing wildly and rattling the chains.
“Careful, Master. Something’s wrong with it.”
He blocked my path.
I examined it closely.
This red fox had only recently shed its tail. Its transformation wasn’t even complete. Fifty or sixty years of cultivation at most.
How could it enter our sect, kill a disciple, and escape the Law Enforcement Elders?
4
“It’s completely deranged. It won’t answer anything.”
He had tried everything without extracting a statement.
“Then let’s examine its demon core.”
I drew my sword and pierced its chest.
As I prepared to open it, the fox’s mouth curved in a strange smile.
Its body exploded.
Blood and flesh flew everywhere.
Mặc Thanh pulled me into his arms.
A sickeningly sweet, foul smell reached me.
“Poison!”
He forced the Detoxification Pill into my mouth.
Then groaned in pain.
Two red marks appeared at his brows, like underworld petals swaying in the wind, hauntingly beautiful.
His legs became a jet-black tail coiled beneath him, radiating danger.
Dark-red slit pupils held an inhuman coldness.
He watched me like a venomous snake watching a frog, ready to swallow it at any moment.
“Leave, Master!”
Red-eyed, he pushed me away.
【Damn it. What poison is this? My blood’s burning dry.】
【Master is so beautiful. Like a ripe berry. One touch and…】
【No. I can’t hurt her!】
“The Fox clan’s special poison.”
I sighed.
My lie to the elder had become real.
Only Mặc Thanh needed the antidote, not me.
“I’m fine!”
He trembled violently but tried to stay composed.
“You can’t endure this.”
I gently touched the red marks at his brows.
Jade-white skin, finely sculpted features, dark-red lips lending an uncanny beauty.
Like an enchantress from a ruined shrine, capable of bewitching any scholar.
“Master… aren’t you afraid?”
Astonished, he caught my finger.
“Why fear a little snake demon?”
I gave a scoffing laugh.
“I’m not little. I’m very big!”
His tail stirred indignantly.
“I’m five hundred.”
“Enough nonsense. How do we remove the poison?”
I stroked his tail.
The black scales were cold as ice, yet gave off a strange heat.
“You know how, Master.”
He licked his lips, eyes bright.
“Bear with it a moment.”
Lowering my eyes, I held his tail…
5
His face flushed. His breathing quickened. His tail stiffened.
Then he screamed.
“Hold still. Don’t shout!”
I drew a dagger and cut the tip of his tail.
Pink-tinged black blood poured out.
“Master, it hurts!”
His face twisted. His hands clawed five deep gouges into the wall.
A rather brutal antidote.
But I couldn’t bring myself to use the other method.
Humans and demons walked different paths. Once master and disciple crossed that line, there would be no return.
“I think I’m dying.”
Pale-faced, he weakly cradled his tail.
【If I die, Master, take my gallbladder. Don’t let anyone else benefit.】
【My skin can make artifacts, my flesh pills, my bones swords.】
【Make full use of my corpse.】
Hearing him, I was torn between laughter and helplessness.
My hardened heart wavered.
I remembered meeting him.
Heavy snow beneath red plum blossoms.
He looked at me curiously, eyes clear and blue as a jade sky.
I took him up the mountain.
Five years together, morning and night.
Quiet as he was, he remembered everything I said.
Somewhere along the way, he had made a place in my heart.
“I must have owed you in another life.”
Sighing, I wrapped my arms around his neck.
6
It took all night to remove his poison.
He recovered his human form, refreshed.
I dragged myself out, exhausted, and delivered the fox’s corpse to the Law Enforcement Elder.
“You’ve had a hard time. Removing poison and catching demons.”
Mysteriously, he produced a little book and winked.
“Keep it. Useful.”
I looked at the cover, turned red and then pale, and pushed it back.
“Thank you. I appreciate the thought.”
“That fox was strange. Only decades of cultivation, yet it crossed our protective formation freely. Please investigate.”
“Rest assured. I’ll get to the bottom of it.”
He became serious at once.
I took the opportunity to leave.
Back in my cave residence, I summoned Mặc Thanh.
“Why did you infiltrate the Mystic Clarity Sect?”