《Marriage By Fire: All Hands On Deck》 Chapter 1 - Intoxicated It was almost 11pm at night, feeling intoxicated, Fan Tiffany kept going through several glasses of wine, the rest of the guests that had come for the bridal shower, was slowly dwindling down. At after eleven, that was when her fiancee strode in to pick her up, feeling drunk and already beginning to feel a throbbing headache, Fan Tiffany kept laughing drunkenly at her fiancee Wang Feiyu. Half dragging, half carrying her away from the venue of the bridal shower, while she clung to him. They had only walked a few steps, when a woman walked up to them, ignoring Fan Tiffany to pant a kiss on the lips of Wang Feiyu. Bleary eyed, Fan Tiffany turned to see how her fiancee reacted to being approached by the strange woman. "Liying, what are you doing? Can''t you see I have my fiancee with me?!" Wang Feiyu asked in a tone that bordered on annoyance. "Oh?!" That was what came out of her mouth, as though dismissing her as being too irrelevant to be noticed. "Feiyu...who is she?!" Fan Tiffany asked in a groggy tone. Ignoring her, Liying rose on her toes to whisper into Wang Feiyu''s ears, "Come see me, when you drop her off. You know tomorrow is when you kiss your bachelorhood goodbye!" Afterwards she released him, walking away from the two. Fan Tiffany continued to watch the other woman until she became just a speck, nothing came from the mouth of her fiancee after the unexpected encounter, that seemed too familiar with him for her comfort. Within her, Fan Tiffany''s instinct kept telling her that there was something going on with her fiancee and the other woman, but she adamantly kept on denying it. Chapter 1 - News Flash This is a 2 in 1 story. The continuation of Vol. 1 is in Vol. 3, while Vol. 2 is a different story. Chapter 3 - Shame (1) Standing at the front inside the white chapel where Fan Tiffany''s wedding was supposedly meant to be held. Many of the guest who had received the wedding invite, were already sitting at their designated spot. Fan Tiffany decked in white, her sparkly flowing gown had tiny stones that sparkled from the light coming from within the chapel. Each guest sat on rows of pew, as several of them kept looking at their watches to see when the groom would be arriving. Already, murmuring was going on around, she could feel their eyes burning a hole at her back. It was said to be bad luck if the bride showed up at the front of the venue of the wedding before the groom. Earlier, she had taken her time to dress up and apply her makeup inside one of the practice room, usually reserved for the church band. The room quickly filled up with baskets of flowers coming from well-wishers that could make it and those that couldn''t make and had to send someone to deliver them on their behalf. Fan Tiffany looked at herself at the mirror''s reflection and saw the uncertainty reflected in her chocolate brown eyes, the makeup artist she had hired for her wedding artistically applied the makeup on her face, making her look daringly alluring. Anytime someone walked in to drop flowers in the makeshift dressing, they would talk about how pretty she looked and how blessed Wang Feiyu was to be married to her. The compliments took some of the tension that she felt from within, but there was still that underlying sense of doubt that she could not push aside since he gave her a lift home yesterday. Chapter 4 - Shame (2) Squaring her shoulder, and putting a determined look on her face, Fan Tiffany thanked the people that had tirelessly worked on getting her dressed and ready for her wedding. Bidding them farewell as she exited the room. Every step she took down the stairs made her feel as though she was about to make the biggest mistake of her life, but she kept telling herself it was all nerves coupled with stress and nothing more. At the foot of the stair was the flower girls all three of them in white pretty gown and nicely styled hair and the bridesmaids in green gown, also with a hair styled that was well put together. The flower girls who ranged from five to nine years of age followed behind, while the bridesmaids walked beside the bride. If nothing else had warned Fan Tiffany of how disastrous her wedding would be, the fact that her father who had remarried after her mother died , sent a message to her almost a week to her wedding about his intention of not attending, that should have being enough indicator that she needed to reconsider moving forward with the wedding plans. There was no replacement for him, because she felt that he would at the last minute change his mind and attend his only child''s wedding, but that was not the case, there was no father of the bride waiting to walk his daughter down the aisle to the front. Seconds passed by and later turned into minutes and still not sign of the groom, the low whispers were starting to get louder. "Wang Feiyu will come, I know he will!" Chapter 5 - Outrage(1) "Hehn?!" Jiu Wei''s charcoal black eyes widened so much that it would have fallen off its sockets. "Why are you still sitting?! The wedding would be ruined if you remain where you are!" Fan Tiffany kept tugging at the sleeves of the form fitting dark suit that her gorgeous neighbor wore for her special day. All of a sudden, every eyes in the hall zoomed on what was unraveling right in front of their eyes. The bride was pulling another man that wasn''t even the groom! Tongues began to wag and fingers pointed at the two as whispers swept across the nicely decorated chapel. "Sister Fan, please stop fooling around!" Sweat broke out from the forehead of the young man, for one he was being subjected to the gossip passing around the place of reverence, now everyone would think he and the bride to be had something going on between them. Chapter 5 - Shame (3) That was what Fan Tiffany kept muttering almost like a chant, in a way to steady her nerves and fight the fear that was growing steadily within her, but it was almost of no use. Her teeth dug firmly on her red lips as she struggled to fight back the tears that was gathering behind her eyelids. "Is the groom going to ever show up?!" On hearing the question that was loudly raised by the several of the guests, that was what spurred Fan Tiffany to turn around, as her mind kept screaming that there was no way she would survive the embarrassment of walking out of the wedding of her dreams without a groom. Searching through the guests until her eyes landed on Jiu Wei, he had on a nice black suit and white shirt, he was good looking, but did not fit the type of guys what she usually went out with. Jiu Wei sat on the second row; he sent a wave at her with a questioning look on his face when he saw her look in his direction. He saw her leave where she stood in front along with the bridesmaid, flower girls, best man who had on a nice suit on. For a moment Jiu Wei panicked, thinking she was about to run away from her wedding. On getting to where he sat, Fan Tiffany said, " Brother Wei! Please stand up!" Chapter 6 - Outrage(2) Chocolate brown eyes sparked as though lit by fire, the bride not wanting to be the center of mockery and unbearable shame, steadfastly held on to the person she now perceived as her anchor. Bending close until he could see the cleavage of her satin white lace studded gown, Fan Tiffany spoke so low that only the two of them could hear what was said. "Brother Wei, if you don''t stand up and walk up that aisle with me! I''ll announce to everyone seated that I''m carrying your child! Do you understand?!" Jiu Wei regretted accepting his neighbor''s wedding invitation, if only he had given an excuse and not shown up. Then he wouldn''t be facing the embarrassing situation she just threw him into. "A...Are.....you crazy?!" "You want to see if I can? Just watch me!" To prove she was dead serious, Fan Tiffany straightened up and with a serious look on her face she turned to face the guests in the chapel. Seeing the way she held herself almost like a bull that was about to pounce, sent a chill down the spine of Jiu Wei, which was almost paralyzing. "Everyone I''m...." The bride didn''t get to say what she wanted to the small crowd of well wishers when a hand reached to cover her mouth. The poor young man jumped out of his seat to stop her just in time. "That''s enough! I will go with you down the aisle!" In a last effort to save his face and reputation, Jiu Wei allowed himself to swept into the trap of his crafty neighbor, Fan Tiffany. Chapter 7 - Sealed Bargain(1) Jiu Wei could feel sweat gathering under the suit he wore for his neighbor''s wedding, he typically didn''t go out of his way to buy fancy clothes, but because of the instruction in bold on the invitation letter which stated that guests dress nicely. That forced him to dip into his savings to get a costly well made suit. Who would have known that it would save his face! "Sister Fan! Let''s be clear, we are not doing anything..." "What do you mean by that?" Fan Tiffany''s eyes narrowed as she looked closely at the man that was about to walk the aisle with her. Not a trace of smile could be seen on her face. "You know what I mean! Do I have to spell it out for you?!" Jiu Wei gave a harsh whisper at the glamorous woman that was hell bent on making him do as she wanted. "Brother Wei, you need to be more clear about what you mean! How else would I know?!" Jiu Wei suddenly felt sick to his stomach, knowing that he was about to deceive his family that was an hour away from him and also those that knew him at work. Never married in his life, he was now forced to walk the road of marriagehood. Chapter 8 - Sealed Bargain(2) Fine! I''ll tell you, so listen well! We are not consummating this marriage! I''m only doing this to prevent any misunderstanding from happening, okay?!" "If that''s what you want to believe. We don''t have much time! Hurry up before people start getting up to leave!" There was fear in the voice of Fan Tiffany, her voice shook slightly from what she imagined to be the nightmare of every bride. Guests leaving because the groom never showed up. "Promise me that we will not consummate this wedding!" "Is that all you can think of? Alright! If that is what would put your mind at ease then I, Fan Tiffany promise Jiu Wei not to sleep with him! Are you satisfied now?!" Angry that her dream wedding was about to be ruined, the young bride was frustrated that the man that she would be walking the aisle with was not even the person she had sworn her love to, Wang Feiyu! "Mother, your dear son''s will keep his chastity no matter what! This is only a temporary setback. I will continue to be your good son and marry a woman that is as gentle and loving as the Ivy!" With that thought in mind, Jiu Wei took the hand of Fan Tiffany and walked down the aisle to meet the priest that had been waiting on them. Chapter 9 - Sealed Bargain(3) "Remember to just play along! Whatever happens is only for today. We''ll deal with the aftermath later on!" Fan Tiffany spoke under her breathe to the man beside her as the two walked hand in hand to where the priest, flower girls and ring bearer stood. "Okay!" Not wanting to go through a round of argument with her, Jiu Wei simply agreed to what she said. Among the wedding guests were friends of the bride who sat closely together in the front seat. "Who is that man beside Tiffany?! Where is Wang Feiyu?!" "That''s not Wang Feiyu?!" "Haven''t you met him before?! Why are you even asking?! Of course that isn''t Wang Feiyu you idiot! What is Tiffany thinking?! Wendy, I thought you were there with Fei and I when she introduced Wang Feiyu to us. I still can''t believe she didn''t want a bridesmaid! Who does that?!" "Hush! Don''t call her that! I don''t think Wendy has seen Wang Feiyu before, you know Tiffany. How she likes to keep things really coded! May be she decided on a different man on her wedding day." "What?! That is insane! How can someone do such a thing like that?! Is she even in her right mind? Wendy back me up on that!" "Girls! You all need to keep it down, we are not the only ones here. Lu Wendy, Xiang Fei and Sun Ruoqi gossiped about their friend as they couldn''t quite place what was going on within the halls of the chapel. Chapter 10 - Sealed Bargain(4) "Father, I''m so sorry for making you wait." Untangling herself from the arm of the "groom", Fan Tiffany bowed before the ordination minister of her wedding. "It''s no problem my dear child. Were the both of you able to come to an agreement?" The elderly priest in white robes smiled kindly at the two youngsters ?ssembled before him, as the little children by their feet pouted after being made to stand for quite some time. "Everything has been taken care of, but Father...." "Yes, my dear child. What is it that weighs on your mind?" "I would like my fiancee and I to be called by our pet name when saying our oath." The smiled broadened on the face of the elderly priest, whose eyes twinkled with genuine happiness for the young couple whose union he was preparing to bless. Hair snowy white from old age rested on the head of the priest. The three flower girls dressed in white satin gown with basket of flowers in their hand, while the ring bearer wore a suit and bow tie, carrying plush cushion with a set of ring displayed at the center. "What would the both of you like to be called?" Turn from the bride to the "groom", the priest waited to be told their names. "Father, I want to be called NiNi baby and my fiancee is Big Wen." Chapter 11 - Sealed Bargain(5) The priest nodded in consent to what Fan Tiffany requested, smiling warmly at the couple for the love he thought they had for each other. Facing the congregation of well wishers, the priest then said, "Dearly beloved, the couple would like to make a special request regarding their marriage and I would like to plead with everyone seated to respect their decision." In a tone of solemnity, the priest ended his address and then faced the couple. "I will now begin." "Yes, Father." Almost at the same time, Jiu Wei and Fan Tiffany responded to the priest, their eyes remained on him as he began uttering the words that would bind them by many witnesses. "Dearly beloved, we are gathered together to join NiNi baby and Big Wen in holy matrimony." As the priest spoke, Fan Tiffany could feel her eyes beginning to twitch from nervousness, her mind temporarily slipping back to the time when she heard her phone vibrate with the text message from her then fiancee, Wang Feiyu. While waiting for him to walk down the aisle, thinking he was only running late. The message still fresh in her mind stung like nothing else. "Tiffany, I hate to do this to you, but I don''t think I''m ready to do this." That was when Fan Tiffany''s world came crashing down. Chapter 12 - Sealed Bargain(6) Within her, Fan Tiffany kept crying despite outwardly not visible. The priest had finished his line, when he motioned for the ring bearer to hold up the ring in preparation for the other part of what he had to say, which was the marriage vow. "Is there anyone seated here that is against the union of NiNi baby and big Wen?!" The voice of the priest rose several octaves high as he looked at the crowd of well wishers to see if any of them didn''t support the marriage of Fan Tiffany and the man he took to be the actual groom, Wang Feiyu not knowing it was Jiu Wei he was going to pair the bride with since a different minister saw the couple during the planning process of the marriage. "..." The hall was dead quiet, as none raised or uttered a word to deny the union of the couple. Satisfied that there was no voice of rejection, the priest then continued with the vows. "Do you NiNi baby take big Wen to be your lawfully wedded husband?" The priest turned to the bride as he read the marriage vow. "Yes, I do." In a voice that was audible to the man she was marrying and the priest that would join them in holy matrimony, Fan Tiffany fought the nerves that was eating into her body. Balling her hands by the side to steady their trembling. "Do you, Big Wen take Baby NiNi to be your lawfully wedded wife?" Chapter 13 - Sealed Bargain(7) Jiu Wei froze as he heard the priest''s question to him. "What should I do?! Am I really going on with it!!!!" As the struggle went on within him, the eyes of the priest became concerned at the man''s awkward silence. "Young man, if this isn''t what you want to do, you still have time to rethink. It doesn''t have to be today." With no veil, it was easy to see the bride''s face clearly. Sensing that he was about to back out from their arrangement, Fan Tiffany sent a frigid look at Jiu Wei. "Why do I suddenly feel that someone is trying to kill me!" Led by his instinct, Jiu Wen saw the look in her eyes, right there the second thoughts he was having fled from the intensity of her gaze which looked very much like she was going to beat him to death if he left her side. The eyes read, "If you dare step out of here! I''ll bury you alive!" Taking a deep gulp, Jiu Wei turned to face the priest. "I-I''m not having any second thoughts! I''m in love with her!" In an high pitched voice that didn''t seem convincing to both the priest and Fan Tiffany, Jiu Wei had to convince himself that it was the right choice to marry his neighbor. "Now, let''s continue with the vow." Chapter 14 - Sealed Bargain(8) "Did you see that?! Is the groom changing his mind?!" "That''s bad luck don''t say that, Wendy!" "But...it looked that way to me, didn''t you see the way the priest looked at him?!" "Wendy! Fei! The two of you need to cut it out! Why are you both trying to start a fight?! You''re too grown for all that!" Sun Ruoqi chastised her friends whom she felt were not acting their age. "Qiqi!!!" They both called out to her in protest at being called out on their friend''s big day. "Stop it! The both of you!" Sun Ruoqi pointed at the two who sat to her right on the pew, noticing that their bickering was drawing the attention of other people that sat by them. ------------- "Do you, Big Wen take NiNi baby as your lawfully wedded wife?" "Yes, I do!" Jiu Wei summoned up the courage within him to accept the vow that the priest read to him and Fan Tiffany. That was when a sigh of relief escaped out of the bride. Nodding in satisfaction that the young man in front of him had overcome his doubts. The priest went on to give the parting speech. "I now pronounce you man and wife, you may now kiss the bride!" Chapter 15 - Sealed Bargain(9) "Father! We forgot the rings!" The whole situation felt surreal to the groom, while he watched as Fan Tiffany called the attention of the priest to a critical item that was missing from the wedding. "Forgive me, my dear child. I''m getting along with age. Little child, can you bring the rings so that I can bless them and bestow it upon the groom and the bride?" Dressed smartly in his church suit and bow tie, the boy hurried came closer to where the priest was, who then laid his hand on the rings to bless them. "Dear Heavenly Father, may this rings serve as a medium to promote unity among the bride and groom, until death do them part." With that, the priest ended his prayers and asked the ringer bearer to stand in front of the couple. "You may now place the ring on each other." Jiu Wei bent to pick one of the rings and placed it on the left ring finger of Fan Tiffany. After, she too bent to take the last ring and place on the same finger as those of the groom. Flower girls held their baskets as they waited to be given the order to start spraying the new couple with flowers. The priest smiled broadly like a proud parent watching his child take their first baby steps. "I now pronounce you man and wife. You may now kiss the bride." It was then that Jiu Wei''s palms began to sweat profusely, never had he kissed a girl nor woman in his life and here he was, being asked to do so in the presence of so many people. Chapter 16 - Herculean task Jiu Wei saw the pretty picture that his neighbor turned wife was, zirconia vines woven into her hair in triple layers which made her resemble a queen. He looked at the pink glossy lips that he was told to kiss, the more he look the more scared he became. "I told you there is something wrong with the groom! The priest asked him to kiss Tiffany, look at him stand there like a statue!" Lu Wendy, although she had a shy nature. When among friends she became more outspoken. "I think Wendy has a point! What''s his deal? Does he want to marry Tiffany?!" "May be he is shy like Wendy, who knows? There is a saying that opposite attracts, it could be that he just feels weird kissing her in a loud crowd." The level headed one in the group, Sun Ruoqi soon quieten the doubt that the others had regarding the husband of Fan Tiffany. "Big Wen? It''s time to kiss your bride." Seeing the look of nervousness that was displayed by Jiu Wen, the priest gently nudged him to take the initiative to complete the ceremony. "Father, Big Wen is very timid. If you don''t mind, I''ll do the honors." Without being mentally prepared, Jiu Wei was grabbed by his tie and given a kiss so passionate, it had to take a loud cough from the priest to break the two apart. Chapter 17 - Signs ignored(1) Flashback... "Tiffany, why isn''t Wang Feiyu here?!" Wearing emerald green strapless gowns of mid-length, a dress code made by the bride, the three friends began walking the bride down the aisle in the absence of her parents who were both deceased. "That too, but isn''t this so wrong?! How can we be the one to walk her down the aisle? Shouldn''t that be the job of Tiffany''s uncle or male relative?!" Xiang Fei the sharp tongued one among her group of friends spoke about the bizarre nature of the bride''s wedding. "I already said that I don''t have a relative, at least not one that I''m remotely close to! If you all feel it''s too weird then it''s okay, I''ll walk myself anyways!" A look akin to sadness appeared in the eyes of Sun Ruoqi, Lu Wendy and Xiang Fei. They felt sorry for their friend who couldn''t experience what other brides could on their special day. "Tiffany, you look so gorgeous!" "Yes, she does. I bet, Wang Feiyu would not be able to keep his hands off you!" Xiang Fei seconded what Sun Ruoqi said, this was their way to break the ice from the tension that grew from pointing out the non-traditional method that their friend was employing for her wedding. "Where is Madam Wang?" Warning bells went off in the head of Fan Tiffany when her friend, Lu Wendy pointed out that the matriarch and only parent of Wang Feiyu was nowhere in sight. Chapter 18 - Signs ignored(2) Fan Tiffany forced a smile on her face, not wanting to give in to the ugliness that was rearing itself inside of her. "Look! They could be stuck in traffic, I''ll wait a little before calling them." The three friends looked at one another, neither was convinced of the things she said regarding the disappearing act of the groom. Out of them, Wendy who was the well endowed among the four of them, shifted from one foot to the other, anxious that her friend would be stood up. "I still think you should call him, at least call his mom! This is crazy! In which part of the world is a bride suppose to wait for the groom to arrive?! It should be the other way round!" The guests were starting cast curious looks at the bride and her friends, the outburst of Lu Wendy incited whispering to go round the hall. "Just stop, Wendy! You are being paranoid and that isn''t going to help Tiffany okay?! Just chill! If she sees that they haven''t shown up in like five minutes then I would personally call!" Neither of them was lacking in the looks department, which was why Sun Ruoqi felt confident that the groom would not put her friend in a difficult position. "Let''s not talk about it anymore. I''ll call Wang Feiyu, neither of you have to do it! Agreed?!" Chapter 19 - Signs ignored(3) It was her day, therefore neither friend wanted to annoy the bride by showing hammering on the issue. They each stood at each end, save the front which was left for her to walk majestically down the aisle. "Look at the bride! She is so pretty!" "Yes! She is beautiful!" "I wish I could do mine all over again!" "Oh my god! See those earrings! They are to die for!" "Right? Those look like Vivi Wang''s collections!" Several women swoon over the sparkly chandelier diamond earrings on Fan Tiffany''s ears. "What do you expect! I heard the bride is marrying into money!" "Really? Is the groom that loaded?!!" "That''s what a little birdie told me! Who knows if it''s true!" The group of women that joined in the gossip gave a snide comment and mockingly laughed at the bride and groom. Five minutes passed and there was no sign of neither the groom nor the family of the groom. Fan Tiffany nervously plucked at her wedding gown, as little by little her doubts grew until he could no longer take it anymore. "It''s almost ten minutes! Where is he?! Is he in an accident?! Please, let it not be!" About to reach into the gathering of her gown which had an hidden pocket, a special request that had to be made to the person that designed her wedding gown. That was when she felt the vibration of her phone. On unlocking the screen with the finger "U" pattern design. The message read, "Tiffany, I hate to do this to you, but I don''t think I''m ready to do this." Heartbroken, Fan Tiffany swore right there to become "Mrs. Somebody." The bride refused to allow her fickle minded fiancee to ruin her plans of becoming a married woman! Chapter 20 - Signs ignored(4) Stifling the urge to cry, Fan Tiffany squared her shoulders and resolved within her to make the wedding work in her favor. Turning round to look at the hall for an familiar face that would be susceptible enough to fall into her trap, that was when her eyes hit those of Jiu Wei, who waved back at her from where he sat. "That''s brother Wei! He doesn''t look bad, although his face is not my style. He''ll do for now!" The group of three friends watched as the bride left where she was, as she gathered the full length wedding gown raising it high enough for her to walk without tripping down the carpet. She then stopped at a particular pew to speak to someone from there. "Isn''t that considered bad luck for the bride to arrive before the groom?!" "Aiya! The way I see it, she''s doomed! I don''t see the groom''s family here! Is the wedding going to be held today?!" Fan Tiffany heard the biting words that some of the guest whispered about her, but she had to swallow the pain that burned like acid in her stomach while facing her kind hearted neighbor who had come through for her numerous times. "Brother Wei, I hope that one day, you''ll find it in you to forgive me!" Chapter 21 - A Ray Of Hope(1) Flash forward to present... "Congratulations! Mrs. Wang!" "Brand New Wife on Board! Come! Come! Let''s take picture with her!" "Oh my gosh! Fan Tiffany, so sorry this needs some getting use to! Tiffany! You''re now Mrs. Wang!" "Everyone with gifts, start putting them at the front!" Sun Ruoqi had long since left her other friends to begin directing the crowd of well wishers to place the gift meant for the newly weds. "You''ve left the single women''s club! Wow! Now it''s babies next!" "I don''t see the groom''s family?! Or are they coming later?! Because we need to start taking group pictures!" "Forget the groom''s family! May be they didn''t approve of the wedding that''s why it''s just the groom! I feel so sorry for his new wife! Are in-laws already showing themselves before the marriage even begins!" "Let''s not spoil the day with sour talks like that! I see other people are now going to turn in the gifts for the bride and groom. Let''s go before it gets too crowded!" "That doesn''t look like Wang Feiyu! Did the bride decide on someone else?!" "Hush! What if others hear you! It''s not our place to question the bride!" Out of the people that spoke, co-workers of the bride raised questions regarding the groom swapping that had taken place under their nose, making some of livid that they were not told of such changes. Chapter 22 - A Ray Of Hope(2) "Stop! Can''t you see people here! Do you want to be labelled a witch?!" "Ha! So I''m the bad one?! Just because I''m not stupid enough to fall for this sham of a wedding!" "No one is calling you stupid, it''s just that this is not the right time to confront her, why not wait until you see her at the company?!" "Did you just here yourself?! So she gets the privilege of being spoken to at a comfortable time? Is this what is call being reasonable?! Tell me!" It was around that time that Xiang Fei began to sense something was not right with the group that came from her friend''s company. "Hey! Wendy! Look at those two! I think they are angry with Tiffany!" Her eyes shone with excitement and fear, the other emotion stemmed from the negative outcome that could occur if a confrontation took place. "Do you think they are going to do something bad to her?!" Lu Wendy''s eyes became like saucers as she followed her friend to look at the people that might be a threat to their friend. Chapter 23 - Ray Of Hope(3) "Do you think we should let Qiqi know? What if they cause a scene?" Fearing that Fan Tiffany would be the center of ridicule, Lu Wendy wanted to protect her by letting the toughest in their group to handle keeping her safe. "You go let Qiqi know and I will try to stall them, okay?" Xiang Fei winked at her friend who also winked back before running off to get the attention of Sun Ruoqi. Since Lu Wendy was the most timid, her friend knew that there was no way she would boldly stand up for Fan Tiffany due to her shyness. The "I don''t care" type, Xiang Fei was more suited to handle the situation before backup arrive. Walking up to the man and woman whose heated tone had caught her attention, Xiang Fei pasted a fake smile on her face as she prepared to speak to them. "Hello, I''m I''m Xiang Fei. Are you by chance a friend of the bride?" Wanting to sound like she was approachable, Xiang Fei waited on them to reveal their intent to her. "Who is this big forehead asking us who we are to the bride? How did you know that? We could have being from the groom''s side!" Already hating her at site, Xiang Fei looked at the sharp faced woman in brown glittering gown with disdain. Chapter 24 - Ray Of Hope(4) Running like the scared cat that she was, Lu Wendy called out to her friend. "Qiqi! Qiqi!!!" Turning around to see what it was, Sun Ruoqi saw the panic in Lu Wendy''s dark eyes. "What could it be this time? I hope it''s not something serious." Her voice made some of the guest to turn in her direction, causing Lu Wendy''s face to turn several shades redder from embarrassment. "The way she''s walking I hope she doesn''t fall." Just as the thought crossed her mind, Sun Ruoqi watched as Lu Wendy tripped over the bag that one of the guests kept by the pews carpet. "Please don''t cry! Wendy!" It seemed luck was on her side that day, because her friend rose up gingerly from the floor without the help of anyone, while onlookers sent pitiful looks her way. "Phew! What a relief! I would have thought she''d cry." Sun Ruoqui smiled inwardly as her friend covered the distance between them. "It would seem that our shy Wendy is growing up." Her inner musing came to her end when she heard what Lu Wendy had to say. "Qiqi! I think some people from Tiffany''s company are trying to make trouble for her!" Chapter 25 - Ray Of Hope(5) Thinking quickly on her feet, Sun Ruoqi used her phone to dial the number of her driver. "Hello, Miss Sun." "Mr. Lu, I want you to drive as fast as you can to drop someone for me. It''s the bride and her husband, you know the vacation house at Shunyang district, that''s where I need you to take them! Please! It''s very urgent! You''re more familiar with Wendy, so I''ll send her with them so that there will be no mix up." "I''ll get the car ready, Miss Sun." The voice on the line replied coolly to his mistress, the fourth heiress to Chaoying Corp. The call ended and Sun Ruoqi faced her friend who silently stood by with a relieved look in her eyes. "Get Tiffany and her man out of here! My driver will take them to the property that grandpa left me! Leave the rest to Fei and I!" Lu Wendy stared open mouthed as her friend moved so fast to deal with the nerve racking situation. Not waiting to be told twice, she dashed to the other side of the hall to put into action what Sun Ruoqi had told her. The other began walking to where Xiang Fei was, her head was already concocting ways to do damage control. Chapter 26 - Ray Of Hope(6) "Tiffany! Hey! Over here!" Lu Wendy shouted at the top of her usual soft voice as she ran towards the couple who stood awkwardly by each other. "Wendy, is something wrong?" Although she wanted to say more, Fan Tiffany had an anxious look in her eyes as Lu Wendy ran like an headless chicken towards her. "Tiffany! We need to leave now!" Heaving with exhaustion which came from nerves, Lu Wendy tugged at Fan Tiffany''s hand, urging her to go with her. "But why?! There are guests that I haven''t even spoken to! What do you mean by leaving?!" The bride resisted the urge to throw her friend''s hand off from hers, while Jiu Wei watched from the side not willing to bu?? into the drama that played itself in front of him. Sweat covered the face of Lu Wendy causing her makeup to become all mushed up. "What do you mean by sabotage my wedding?! It''s already over and done! I don''t know where you''re getting these wild ideas from! It still doesn''t make sense why Qiqi sent you to me!" "God damn it!" Glaring at her friend, Lu Wendy muttered a cuss word as she forcefully pulled Fan Tiffany''s hand. Chapter 27 - Ray Of Hope(7) Jiu Wei''s mouth opened as he saw the woman he just got himself tied to being dragged away by some other woman. "She''s not right in the mind. Not that it''s suprising! Just look at the person I got married to! No wonder they are friends!" Thinking that he was free, that was when Lu Wendy called out to him. "Hey! You! Yes! YOU! You''re coming with us! Don''t just stand there like a statue!" Jiu Wei blinked several times to clear what he thought to be an illusion or some sort of dream. "Is she talking to me?" As though he spoke aloud, Lu Wendy called out to the groom again. "Hey! Stopping standing there! We don''t have all day!" Whether it was the aggressive tone or the way her eyes sparked with anger. Jiu Wei saw his feet move one after the other behind his new wife and her mentally imbalanced friend. Those that came close to the couple to give their well wishes had a stunned look in their eyes at the outrageous display by Lu Wendy. Chapter 28 - A Safe Haven(1) By the time they all got outside the silver blue sedan belonging to Sun Ruoqi was parked right at the main entrance of the chapel. A man dressed in dark suit with a military hair cut stood by the car, on sighting them, he hurried to open the backseat door. "Good morning, I''m Miss Sun''s personal driver, Lu Ming. The bride and groom can have the backseat. Miss Lu please wait for them to get in so that I can sit you in front." Fan Tiffany had to gather the flowing wedding gown in a free hand, while carefully lifting them up to enter into the car. Jiu Wei rushed forward to catch the edges of the gown which got caught on the hinge of the car door. "Thank you, Brother Wei! You''re a lifesaver! That gown cost me almost all my savings!" For some unexplainable reason, Jiu Wei felt a warmth in the region of his from the praise he received from his fake bride and neighbor. "Tiffany tell your husband to hurry up! What if those people come after you!" Jiu Wei snapped into action, joining Fan Tiffany at the back. The man named Lu Ming closed the door behind them and hurried to open the front door for Lu Wendy. Chapter 29 - A Safe Haven(2) "Tiffany! Tell me you why today of all days you went ahead to marry someone other than Wang Feiyu! Did he cheat on you?! Tell me!" Lu Wendy turned back to look at her friend, watching closely for any telltale sign that could clue her in on what could have caused her to make such a choice. "Let''s talk about this later, okay?!" "When would that later be?! Tell me when! Tiffany! You didn''t even warn any of us before tieing the knot with that guy over there!" To lay emphasis, Lu Wendy pointed to Jiu Wei who tensed up after being verbally attacked by his neighbor''s friend. "I don''t want to talk about it!" Fan Tiffany knew that Lu Wendy could appear timid in the presence of others, but she also had an aggressive streak to her whenever she was determined to find the root cause of a matter. "Wait a second! Were you seeing him all the time that you were going out with Wang Feiyun?! How could you?! Tiffany! How could you cheapen yourself for someone like that?!" Mad with rage, Lu Wendy careless spoke about Jiu Wei as though he was not present. Provoked by the outburst of Lu Wendy. Jiu Wei took it upon himself to defend his honor. "Hey! Watch your mouth! I''m sitting right here! I should be the one complaining and not you or sister Fan!" Chapter 30 - A Safe Haven(3) "HAAAAAAAA.....HAAAAAAA!!!!!" Fan Tiffany leaned forward and shouted in agitation at the empty air. "What! What is it?! Tiffany! Why are you shouting?! Is the dress too tight?!" Scared witless that something may have gone wrong with her friend and chalking it up to the wedding dress , Lu Wendy looked keenly at Fan Tiffany to see what could have led to the outburst. "Stop it! I really mean it this time! I want you both to just stop and leave me alone! I don''t want to hear anything! I''m tired and sore all over, just save it until later! How hard can that be?!" Seeing how the body of his new bride shook with anger and her eyes showing telltale signs of wanting to cry. Jiu Wei''s hands moved without conscious thought as though to console her. When it struck him on what he was about doing, Jiu Wei jerked his hand back as though stung by an insect. "I must have lost it! That''s what it can only be." Shaking his head in disbelief, the new groom moved to increase the space between him and Fan Tiffany while the driver watched the drama through the rearview mirror with a small smile on his lips. Chapter 32 - Experiment(1) Jin Caihe vehemently shook his head as though wanting to block the voice that was making his body quiver from an unquenchable thirst. With a flick of his finger, both sleeves of Jin Caihe was torn to shreds, from the force of the aura that was coming from Jin Tieguai. Fearful of what the other would do to him, the head teacher of the GuBaiJin sect broke free from the grasp of his student, running to the far end of the room, not that it would have mattered in any way, because there wasn''t any corners to hide. A boar shaped incense burner was burning by a small wooden table almost to the center of the room, there wasn''t much in terms of personal items in the DianShu. Jin Tieguai kept watching as his head teacher was running to increase as much distance between them, in no hurry whatsoever, he gazes continued to trail the other cultivator like a lion that had meat dangling in its front. He allowed Jin Caihe to do as he pleased for quite sometime before lifting his hand in a sweeping fashion to wards him. Suddenly the fully clothed cultivator no longer had a single piece of cloth on him, standing as n?k?d as the day he was born with his bu????ks facing the direction of Jin Tieguai, whose eyes feasted on the sumptuous meal that was right in front of him. Jin Caihe swung to face the one that caused him so much shame, for a moment he forgot that the front part of his body was in full display to the other cultivator, when he noticed the blunder, he quickly covered the embarrassing part with both hands placing them on top of the other. "You Lunatic! Pestilence! Good for nothing¡­You Bastard! H..How dare you do this to me?!" "Is that all you have to say?" "Y..You!" At a loss for what else to say, Jin Caihe angrily pointed at his student, red faced and heaving with indignation. Unable to take the lure of the delectable toned physique of Jin Caihe, he rapidly made his way to where the other was, who in a state of panic tried to ward off Jin Tieguai by using his spiritual energy to counter those of his student, but it was to no avail, as Jin Tieguai sensing his intent put forth a wall to deflect those of Jin Caihe. In one swift motion he pulled Jin Caihe and threw him on the soft quilted bedding of green, following soon after him. "Have you lost your mind? What do you think you are doing Jin Tieguai?!" It took but a second for Jin Caihe to regain a portion of his reasoning, before opening his mouth to speak to the other cultivator. The head teacher was lying on his back with his whole frontal in plain view of Jin Tieguai. "Do you have to ask? We all need to go with Senior Fu to get our Young Miss back!" Yan Hairong looked at the man she just saved from the depth of the water, he was very calm while speaking to her as though they were acquainted with each other for a long time. "Do you want me to shout now?" "Are you seriously asking me if you should call for help?" "Alright, I''ll shout now." "Don''t!" Mou Yaxin was about to open his mouth wide and shout at the top of his lungs when he heard Yan Hairong ask him not to, he smiled back at her, while leaning closer as the two finally landed on dry land. "Ha!" Yan Hairong winced in pain from the backlash that came from stepping into a large body of water. She didn''t have affinity for water like some of the fox immortals from her clan. Not long after, the fox princess fell to the ground by the side of the human she just rescued. "I didn''t even get to ask her name." Mou Yaxin placed the unconscious Yan Hairong on his back, as the two made their way into his hut not too far from the river. Day and night the human kept watch over his savior until finally on the ninth day, she began showing signing up recovering. Thirteenth night Princess Yan Hairong was already on her feet, as her spiritual energy was already restored from recuperating in the mortal realm, while unconsciously feeding from the emotion of the human that kept watch on her. Mou Yaxin dozed off and suddenly realized the the bed was empty, all this while, he slept on the floor while Yan Hairong took the bed. "Where is she?!" "Were you going to leave without telling me your name?!" Yan Hairong turned to face the human that had saved her life while in the mortal realm, the water had drained a portion of her spiritual energy, causing her to succumb to a deep sleep. "Fox Princess Yan Hairong." "Are you as legend says? Would I bewitched by you after spending many days together?" "Why would I take to a miserly human like you?!" The fox princess looked down her nose at the human, whom she considered beneath her, she couldn''t believe he dared to think that she would entice him and make him her mate. "Even if he is the last man in the entire universe! There is no way that. I, Yan Hairong of the fox clan would take such a man to be my mate!" Just as the thought filtered through her mind, she heard the man laugh out. "Why did you laugh?!" "You look angry that I said you would lure me with your powers. I''m Mou Yaxin, thank you for rescuing me at the river." The fox princess looked at the human in front of her, he was neither good looking nor came from a good family, she couldn''t stop from looking at him for one last time, before taking off to the air far from the reach of any human eye. "She really is a fox." Mou Yaxin smiled sadly as he looked at the midnight sky until he could no longer make out the shape of the white robes of Yan Hairong. "You stole my heart! At least come back and see me at least before I die, Princess Yan Hairong!" Mou Yaxin shouted the words to the night, not knowing that the sharp ears of the fox princess had picked up on what he said, "Silly human! It is not my fault that you foolishly opened your heart to me!" Shrugging her shoulders to dismiss Mou Yaxin''s declaration to her, Yan Hairong used her aura to open the gateway to the fox clan, putting away her experience in the mortal realm. But fate had a something planned for the fox princess, in as much as she didn''t want to see the human anymore. Yan Hairong will use her green flames to see what was happening in the mortal realm, "It''s not because I want to see him. I only want to know if anyone is in trouble!" That was what she used to justify her action, but when she saw him shiver from not having enough firewood to keep the night cold from entering his hut. The fox princess abandoned rational thought and left her room in the fox kingdom to the mortal realm. "You fool! Why didn''t you get more firewood?!" "You came back!" She went straight for the fire, adding her spiritual energy which made the flame gain strength and burn brighter. Taking off the cloak whose collar had white fur to drape across the body of Mou Yaxin. "Come closer." Mou Yaxin begged the proud fox princess with his eyes, who after a while succumbed to the pull of his gaze. He made way for her, as the two laid side by side on the narrow bed. It wasn''t long before Yan Hairong yield to the warmth of Mou Yaxin, as she snuggled against his ?h?st in sleep, soon after Mou Yaxin was fast asleep. This marked the beginning of how a fox princess from the fox clan became the wife of a human. The voices of his fellow disciples called out to him, as they saw how he treated his junior sister disciple with respect even in death. With eyes filled with admiration, they watched him stand on his feet and head back to where they were after he had paid his respect to Xu Hui. This made them fall to their knees too and bow in respect to Xu Hui. "Junior sister disciple Xu Hui, may your soul find peace!" The only person that didn''t pay respect to Xu Hui was sect leader Xu Zijun who thought that it was best not to make anything of her death. The female servants that were in the bedchambers of Li Jiao, ran after her to see where she was heading to, but when they saw her levitate and take to the sky, this made them stumble as a sense of incredulity overtook their mind from seeing the young mistress they knew flap the sleeves of her robe as though she was a bird. They stared with their mouths wide open, not once had they seen the daughter of their sect leader execute an action that was only seen among those that had spent ample time cultivating, even her cultivation base was almost none existent! How could she fly! That was really an head shaker for the maids. "Young Miss Li!" "Where are you going?!" "Please come back!" The lone figure kept moving through the air until not a speck of her form was seen by the servants. Trail of tears followed Xu Hui while soaring through the sunny skies, the sound of chirping birds from nearby trees rang in her ears, while floating in the air. Bypassing the marketplace which led to a nearby sect for the deep woods that led into the treacherous terrains of the BaoXu sect. Heading further from the bright skies into the blanket of thick forestry ahead. Within her, Xu Hui wished for the safe keeping of the sect from her past life. "Please! Let them still be alive!" Not too long since she awakened in a new body, Xu Hui kept pushing off the time to seek out her former sect, only to leave the protection of the YuanLi sect on hearing that they had fallen into the hands of the demon lord. With nothing to light her way, Xu Hui relied on the "sense" ability from her previous life to guide her out of the canopies of greenery to the path that led to BaoXu sect. YuanLi sect and BaoXu sect was divided by a wide expanse of thick forest, known to harbor many creatures that could either prove harmful or otherwise depending on the cultivator''s rank. Xu Hui heard strange noises, but chose to ignored them as she jumped from one tree branch to the other while moving within the forest. The aura surrounding her oozed with killing intent, from the moment she changed the nature of her aura, not a single sound was heard after that. "RRRRRIP!!!!!!!" Xu Hui turned around only to see that it was the right sleeve of her robe that had caught on one of the tree branches, causing a tear. A long time after, Xu Hui was starting to see glimpses of daylight ahead, that seemed to renew her strength, until she flew out of the forest into the charred destruction that laid ahead. "Young Miss Li! Young Miss Li! Are you awake?" Several maids that attended Fu Zian threw himself at Xu Hui, with the aim of going at her with his fists, but she twisted to the side to avoid his fists from landing on her, but that was not the only thing that caught Fu Zian off guard, although he knew that Li Jiao was never trained in combat nor cultivation, just a single flick of her finger caused the senior disciple to freeze where he was, before folding her hand into a fist. Xu Hui stopped dead on her track, dazed by the devastation that hit her in the face. Ashen bodies with dried up blood sprawled across the soft earth, gone were the magnificent building she once knew, which was now razed to the ground. Xu Hui fell to her knees and wept with abandon, as though a dam that dwelt within her was released, the ground on which she knelt took in the tears that continued to flow from her eyes. Regret, anger, disappointment and an overwhelming feeling of loss resonated in the heart of Xu Hui. "HAAHHAAAAAAAHAAAA!!!!!!" Xu Hui kept crying and laughing at the same time, such that anyone who passed by would have taken her for a madwoman. "Even if I have to become the very thing I detest, I must avenge my sect or die trying!" There was absolute resolve in the tone of Xu Hui, reflected in her eyes was an arching pain that came with coming to face with a loss. She eventually dragged herself to a sit in the lotus position with her feet crossed and did the unexpected. It was almost as if the heavens knew what she was about to do, as suddenly the sky that was once radiant with the sun shining through turn to an ominous dark cloud. A soul that was not supposed to exist in the world was about to perform an act that would cause foreseeable unrest in the heavens. During her time at BaoXu sect, Xu Hui was severely punished on numerous occasion for stealing into the library''s where the forbidden manuscripts with ancient practices were stored. Not once did she have the chance to put them into action until today. Locking her fingers all together with the left thumb placed at the center of her right palm, Xu Hui circulated the spiritual energy within her in preparation for what was to come. Afterwards, she placed both palm on the ground releasing her spiritual energy which flowed out of her palm as tendrils of purple. Absorbing the blood essence of the dead, during this she could see and hear the cries of horror from the members of her sect, some did not get the chance to make a sound as their death was instantaneous. The price to pay for practicing the blood flail technique was that the cultivator would exchange their life for using the varying reserve of spiritual energy that came from the cultivators that were sacrificed and the body would vanish away. When the last fragment of spirit essence was taken into the body of Xu Hui, the bodies began to disappear one after the other in a whiff of smoke. When Fu Zian descended at what used to be the entrance to the BaoXu sect, he saw what looked to be the daughter of his sect leader who was gazing downcast at the ground. "Li Jiao!" Fu Zian called out to her, while running to where she stood, the senior disciple came to a stop when he saw the eyes that gazed at him, there was no sparkly midnight in them instead he was looking at eyes that blazed with crimson glare. Xu Hui now walked the path of infernal cultivation, bearing the whole sect on her shoulders and the divine punishment that awaited her in the days ahead. The maids looked visibly distraught from seeing the daughter of their sect leader rush off from the courtyard of the YuanLi sect. "What are we to do now?! Sect leader is not here and Young Miss Li is also missing!" "Isn''t Young Miss Li acting a little different than usual?" "Be quiet! Hush! The walls have ears! Someone could be listening!" "Let her be! What is it to our sect if another sect is under attack? I don''t understand why Young Miss Li took off the way she did!" "Did you hear her ask of that sect...What is the name again?" "It is the one so faraway from us, the BaoXu sect." "Our YuanLi sect is up there with the GuBaiJin clan, a lower cultivation sect can never match up to our greatness!" "They used to be in the same rank as the ShenJiangShi clan, but still...that was many years back. There is no need for our Young Miss to save them some face." "We haven''t seen or heard anything from their side in many years, it truly is strange that at the mention of their name she ran off not telling any of us where she was going." "Our Young Miss is a maiden! To think YuanLi sect would lose face because of her!" How about Senior Fu? He is the only one left to talk to about getting Young Miss Li back before Sect leader Li gets wind of it." "Which of us will follow Senior Fu to look for Young Miss Li?" "Do you have to ask? We all need to go with Senior Fu to get our Young Miss back!" "He should be at morning lesson." The female servants ran in the direction of the south courtyard where they expected to see Fu Zian. A male disciple stood outside the entrance to the courtyard staring straight ahead. The maids curtesied, before one of them spoke of the reason for their presence there. "Greetings. We are Young Miss Li''s attendants, will it be possible for us to have a word with Senior Fu?" "If you could wait here, I will let Senior disciple Fu Zian know who is waiting for him." A moment later the disciple that kept watch on the south courtyard came back with the cultivator that the female servants had requested. Greeting was exchanged once again, but this time it was with a different disciple of the YuanLi sect. "Senior Fu Zian. Young Miss Li ran away when we told her that a BaoXu sect was part of the sects affected by demon invasion..." "..." Fu Zian was robbed of speech when he heard that the young mistress of his sect was nowhere to be found. He no longer paid heed to the words of the maid, in a series of fast hand motion he formed a seal with his finger tips, before taking to the air, leaving the female servants and the rest of the YuanLi sect behind in search of the lost child of his sect leader. ---------- Xu Hui made it to the front entrance of BaoXu sect, gone was the iron clad gates as they lay uselessly on the ground caked in dried blood. The young maiden landed forcefully on the soft dirt, walking into what was left of the once impressive structure. Forming a seal with both thumbs facing up and the other fingers intertwined in a fist, this caused Xu Hui to sail through the air in no time, the hand motion lifted her feet from the ground, as she kicked upwards to propel herself high in the air. "He should be at morning lesson." Xu Hui made it to the front entrance of BaoXu sect, gone was the iron clad gates as they lay uselessly on the ground caked in dried blood. The young maiden landed forcefully on the soft dirt, walking into what was left of the once impressive structure. Forming a seal with both thumbs facing up and the other fingers intertwined in a fist, this caused Xu Hui to sail through the air in no time, the hand motion lifted her feet from the ground, as she kicked upwards to propel herself high in the air. The female servants that were in the bedchambers of Li Jiao, ran after her to see where she was heading to, but when they saw her levitate and take to the sky, this made them stumble as a sense of incredulity overtook their mind from seeing the young mistress they knew flap the sleeves of her robe as though she was a bird. They stared with their mouths wide open, not once had they seen the daughter of their sect leader execute an action that was only seen among those that had spent ample time cultivating, even her cultivation base was almost none existent! How could she fly! That was really an head shaker for the maids. When they finally overcame their shock from seeing such an unbelievable move, the maids called out to her, but the cries seemingly fell on deaf ears. "Young Miss Li!" "Where are you going?!" "Please come back!" The lone figure kept moving through the air until not a speck of her form was seen by the servants. Trail of tears followed Xu Hui while soaring through the sunny skies, the sound of chirping birds from nearby trees rang in her ears, while floating in the air. Bypassing the marketplace which led to a nearby sect for the deep woods that led into the treacherous terrains of the BaoXu sect. Heading further from the bright skies into the blanket of thick forestry ahead. Within her, Xu Hui wished for the safe keeping of the sect from her past life. "Please! Let them still be alive!" Not too long since she awakened in a new body, Xu Hui kept pushing off the time to seek out her former sect, only to leave the protection of the YuanLi sect on hearing that they had fallen into the hands of the demon lord. With nothing to light her way, Xu Hui relied on the "sense" ability from her previous life to guide her out of the canopies of greenery to the path that led to BaoXu sect. YuanLi sect and BaoXu sect was divided by a wide expanse of thick forest, known to harbor many creatures that could either prove harmful or otherwise depending on the cultivator''s rank. The disciple bowed once again to his sect leader and his wife, awaiting their decision on what to report back to the ShenJiangShi sect. Jin Huiyan''s gaze lingered on those of her husband as she also awaited his decision. The sect leader of the GuBaiJin sect did not want to lose his position as the most respected cultivator, he had spies in all the other sects and knew of the demon invasion. His wife, Lady Jin on the other hand was in the dark about what had happened to the other sects. Jin Ruimin knew that if he had told her of his spies, she would never have supported him in his decision, therefore he never told her of what he knew about the other sects being under attack. "The best way to find out if it is really true that demons are now attacking other cultivation sects is to do a spirit travel." "No! Don''t do it! It is too dangerous!" "What other option is there, but this! ShenJiangShi sect and the YuanLi sect need answers, if I don''t provide them any, the GuBaiJin sect would end up losing face!" "But Jin Ruimin! What if someone with evil intentions attack your spirit while you are away?! Please! Reconsider!" "..." Lady Jin pleaded with her husband to look for a different solution to the problem they had on their hand, tears streamed down the face of the mistress of the GuBaiJin sect as she shamelessly begged her husband in the presence of one of their disciples. Sect leader Jin left his seat and sat on the ground, taking a lotus position with his hands held together in preparation for his spirit to leave his body and travel out to the other sects. Not that he was going to actually go through with it, but Jin Ruimin had to make a show of going through with the act in order to continue earning his wife''s trust. The young master of ShenJiangShi sect bowed to greet the sect leader of the YuanLi sect. "Young master Shi?" Li Guoliang was surprised to see the young master of the ShenJiangShi sect rather than the sect leader himself, allowing the disappointment to show on his face. "Sect Leader Li, please don''t let me keep you on your feet. I''m sorry, but my father is unable to see you that is why I am here in his place." Shi Yunxu smiled amicably to the annoyed leader of the YuanLi sect. He waited for the older cultivator to sit, before joining him afterwards. In order not to draw the suspicion of the YuanLi sect leader, Shen Chunqiu had to remain in the bedchambers of the young master of the ShenJiangShi sect, until the other had concluded his meeting with Li Guoliang. "Sect Leader Li, please explain t me the reason for your visit." Shi Yunxu continued to smile pleasantly at the other cultivator, while gritting his teeth silently in pain. Li Guoliang took a moment to gather himself before emptying his thought to the young master of the ShenJiangShi sect. "There is a hearsay going around in my sect that some of the other sects are under act by demons! Does the ShenJiangShi sect know of this?!" Shi Yunxu took a moment to ponder on what Li Guoliang told him, from the way the sect leader was acting, he seems to have taken the word of whoever may have carried the news to him. If he told the YuanLi sect leader that he was not acquainted with that piece of news going around, then this could make his sect to lose face with the YuanLi sect if it was actually true, but if it was the other way around and the rumor was found to be true then YuanLi sect would end up losing face to ShenJiangShi sect. Either way one of them would be embarrassed by the aftermath. "Sect leader Li, this may actually be true. The GuBaiJin sect and the ShenJiangShi sect have maintained a cordial relationship together, I will send a messenger bird to them to confirm what the both of us already know." Li Guoliang looked at the young master of the ShenJiangShi sect as though what he said was entirely absurd. "The ShenJiangShi sect knew?! Then why did you keep quiet and wait for me to show up! Why wasn''t a meeting of sect leaders called?! If the GuBaiJin sect was already in the know, then that is just plain irresponsible!" Shi Yunxu kept the smile on his face, as the YuanLi sect leader was boiling with indignation at what he saw to be a dereliction of duty. "The ShenJiangShi sect meant no wrongdoings, we didn''t want to act rashly by not taking the situation seriously." "At least, I as the YuanLi sect leader should have been told of what was going on, why did I have to hear such a thing from a male servant?!" The young master of the ShenJiangShi sect bowed his head in humility to the YuanLi sect leader, going along with the other cultivator until he hears back from the GuBaiJin sect regarding whether the allegation was true or otherwise. Fu Zian kept looking at the female cultivator that flew ahead of him, his mind was in disarray. He didn''t know what to think of the preposterous words that she suggested to him. Looking at her made him want to pull out his hair in frustration, he didn''t know if he could put of the pretense of her being the daughter of his sect leader. "Who would belive me, if I told them that she was not Li Jiao?!" He could already see the faces of the disciples at his sect laughter at him, there was no way he would ever be able to lift his head again around them and his sect leader. Depending on how the YuanLi sect leader took it, he could have his senior disciple caned to death or even sent of the sect to never return. "Which sect would ever take me? Definitely not GuBaiJin or ShenJiangShi! WuYangChen would be my last resort, but would they even think of taking someone that was discarded by a sect like the YuanLi sect? I don''t know anymore!" The senior disciple of the YuanLi sect shook his head as the last thought filtered through his mind, to dispel the dismal notion of becoming a reject by the other prominent sects. Fu Zian could not think of allying himself with any sect that was below those three, even if he wanted to lower his standards a little, the BaoXu sect that he would have probably joined was no more. Meanwhile, Xu Hui could sense the turmoil coming from the cultivator that was behind her, she kept moving through the air unconcerned by what could have been troubling the senior disciple of the YuanLi sect. The two were drawing closer to where the sect was, before Xu Hui motioned with her hand for them to cease flying and instead walk the rest of the way back to the sect. "Senior Fu Zian don''t you think we should walk rather than fly into the courtyard?! Surely you don''t want my father knowing that I came back with one of his male disciples and alone for that matter with none of my maids with us." Fu Zian looked at the innocent eyes that stared back at him, still reeling from the shock of the secret she would have withheld from him had he not stumbled upon it by chance. He blamed himself for being a coward and not mustering the courage to expose her deceit to the sect leader. "As you wish lady Li, but isn''t it too late for that, since we already flew by the market place." "Is that so?" Fu Zian changed to a more formal tone, watching as Xu Hui descended on the soft grass, while following soon after, they both began walking towards the purple gate of the YuanLi sect, which during the day was left open which several cultivators guarding the entrance, but at night the gate was kept locked and heavily protected. "Good day!" Fu Zian gave a salute to the disciples that stood at the gate, walking past them, but neither turned to return back his greeting. This unnerved the senior disciple, as he turned to face Xu Hui to see if she encountered a similar experience. Xu Hui waited until Fu Zian was already inside, before unveiling her presence to the cultivators at the gate. "Greetings Lady Li! We didn''t see you when you walked by, please forgive us!" All eight disciples gave a deep bow to the young mistress of the YuanLi sect. "It is I that should ask for your forgiveness for sneaking out and not telling any of you, please do not let my father know about this." They all nodded solemnly at Xu Hui, watching as she walked into the courtyard of the YuanLi sect. "What did you do? Why were they able to see you and not me?!" Fu Zian eyes narrowed with deep distrust at the maiden masquerading as the sect leader''s daughter. Rather than responding to his question, Xu Hui shrugged her shoulders, unwilling to let him know that she had shielding his presence on purpose in order to protect his reputation from being destroyed. With an apathetic smile on her face, she walked past him, heading in the direction of her bedchambers. A disciple ran into the Hall of forbearance where the sect leader of the GuBaiJin sect was having tea with his wife, Lady Jin. "Greetings Sect leader Jin! Greetings Lady Jin!" Jin Ruimin the sect leader of the GuBaiJin sect had an air of severity which bordered on being oppressive, but Jin Huiyan the mistress of the GuBaiJin sect was a stark contrast to her husband. She had a delicate and gentle air of refinement. They both set the tea down on the table before giving the disciple their full attention. After the disciple gave a salute to his sect leader and his wife, did he raise his head to face the both of them. "Speak! What brings you to the hall of forbearance?!" "A message was just delivered from the ShenJiangShi sect." The disciple hurried over to where his sect leader sat, to hand him the piece of paper that came from the messenger bird. Jin Ruimin opened the sealed letter to read what the other sect sent. After a while, he turned to face his wife, "Young master Shi wants to know if we at GuBaiJin sect know of other sects being invaded by demons." Lady Jin fair jade skin paled when she heard what her husband said, her lips trembled from the possibility of a war breaking out, if truly the demon realm had broken the peace treaty and began attacking other sects in secret. Reverently the female servants at the middle pushed off the bed cover to the far end of the bed, almost at the same time, they bent to wrap their arms underneath the back of Xu Hui to raise her up. The four at the foot of the bed slid their hands under her legs, gently placing feet covered in quilted stocking of purple to the floor. They bowed to their young mistress again before leaving her side to return to their previous position. "You said you feared for my father''s life, in what way?" When they heard the voice that was supposedly Li Jiao''s they all dropped down to their knees with their head lowered. "Young Miss Li, Jiyi ask permission to speak freely." "I am listening, speak!" None of them saw the irritation that had stolen across the face of Xu Hui, she just wanted the servant to spill out what she had to say without taking all the time in the world. "Young Miss Li, Sect leader Li flew out in rage from hearing that other sects were under attack by demons. He didn''t take any of the disciples with him when leaving for ShenJiangShi sect, I fear he may not be able to protect himself, should he have the misfortune of encountering them on the way back." "When did father leave?" "Sect leader Li has been away for two hours." "He probably has many things to discuss with the other sect, is that why you woke me up?!" "I beg of you Young Miss Li, please do not be offended by the words of your ignorant servants." The biting tone from Xu Hui made the female servants to trembled from where they knelt. "Which of the sects did you say was under attack by demons?" " Young Miss Li, it was ZaoQiang sect, KuShun sect, BaoXu sect, MoXing sect and GongKua sect." "BaoXu sect?! Are you sure it was BaoXu sect?! Raise your head, so that I can see if you are telling me the truth!" "Y..Young Miss Li..I speak no untruth, BaoXu sect was part of them." "BaoXu...." The color drained from the face of Xu Hui when she heard the sect which trained her to become a cultivator was no more. Without a single weapon in hand, Xu Hui fled out of YuanLi sect in search of the sect from her previous life, wishing that there would be remnants from the invasion by demons. Shi Yixing a senior disciple of the ShenJiangShi sect stood in front of the door to the bedchamber belonging to the sect leader''s son, waiting to be calling in by his servants. He waited outside for some time before the door slid back and instead of being shown in by a servant, he was met at the door by the sect''s physician, whom he curtsied in greeting to. "You have come to see young master Shi?" "Greetings Physician Shen Chunqiu. Shi Yixing has a message from Sect leader Shi for young master Shi." The young physician stretched his head as his eyes roamed round the courtyard to see if anyone other than the senior disciple was at the courtyard of Shi Yunxu. After a while, he stepped back for the disciple to come in, noiselessly sliding the door close behind them. Before this time, Shi Yunxu had been suffering from agonizing pain from the deep cut to his abdomen, after making the disciples that went on the night hunt with him to swear to secrecy, he had them get Physician Shen Chunqiu to sew his abdomen with golden invisible thread, who then applied medicinal herbs to the sutured skin, but all these came with a lot of pain and tears. On getting in, Shi Yixing gave a formal bow to the young master of the ShenJiang Shi sect. "Greetings young master Shi." Shi Yixing wasn''t too surprised to see the young master of the ShenJiangShi sect lie in bed, after all he had to waste his energy to go to where he usually had morning lessons only to be told that the disciple he was looking for was in his bedchambers. His first thought was that he was skipping morning lessons, it wasn''t until Shi Yunxu pulled aside the yellow quilt, did he see the bandage of white wrapped around his abdomen. His fair jade skin looked somewhat pale, a slight grimace appeared on his face, as though he was biting back from any outward show of pain. "Young master Shi why do you have something around her waist?" "Shi Yixing, promise me that this would not reach the ears of my father!" "I promise to keep my mouth shut and not let out what I saw in your chambers to Sect leader Shi." "Why did he send you to me?" "Young master Shi, your father wants you to speak on his behalf to sect leader Li." "Did Sect leader Li tell you the reason for being here?" "No young master Shi, he refused to talk about the nature of his visit in details, only saying that it is of great importance." "If not because his sect is still one of the leading sects, I would have sent you back to him to have myself excused. He is so pompous! Even taking our best Physician to his sect, leaving us with the son instead, as if the two of them could compare! Let just me get this over with!" The female servants ran in the direction of the south courtyard where they expected to see Fu Zian. A male disciple stood outside the entrance to the courtyard staring straight ahead. The maids curtesied, before one of them spoke of the reason for their presence there. "Greetings. We are Young Miss Li''s attendants, will it be possible for us to have a word with Senior Fu?" "If you could wait here, I will let Senior disciple Fu Zian know who is waiting for him." A moment later the disciple that kept watch on the south courtyard came back with the cultivator that the female servants had requested. Greeting was exchanged once again, but this time it was with a different disciple of the YuanLi sect. "Senior Fu Zian. Young Miss Li ran away when we told her that a BaoXu sect was part of the sects affected by demon invasion..." "..." Fu Zian was robbed of speech when he heard that the young mistress of his sect was nowhere to be found. He no longer paid heed to the words of the maid, in a series of fast hand motion he formed a seal with his finger tips, before taking to the air, leaving the female servants and the rest of the YuanLi sect behind in search of the lost child of his sect leader. ---------- Xu Hui made it to the front entrance of BaoXu sect, gone was the iron clad gates as they lay uselessly on the ground caked in dried blood. The young maiden landed forcefully on the soft dirt, walking into what was left of the once impressive structure. Forming a seal with both thumbs facing up and the other fingers intertwined in a fist, this caused Xu Hui to sail through the air in no time, the hand motion lifted her feet from the ground, as she kicked upwards to propel herself high in the air. The female servants that were in the bedchambers of Li Jiao, ran after her to see where she was heading to, but when they saw her levitate and take to the sky, this made them stumble as a sense of incredulity overtook their mind from seeing the young mistress they knew flap the sleeves of her robe as though she was a bird. They stared with their mouths wide open, not once had they seen the daughter of their sect leader execute an action that was only seen among those that had spent ample time cultivating, even her cultivation base was almost none existent! How could she fly! That was really an head shaker for the maids. When they finally overcame their shock from seeing such an unbelievable move, the maids called out to her, but the cries seemingly fell on deaf ears. "Young Miss Li!" "Where are you going?!" "Please come back!" The lone figure kept moving through the air until not a speck of her form was seen by the servants. Trail of tears followed Xu Hui while soaring through the sunny skies, the sound of chirping birds from nearby trees rang in her ears, while floating in the air. Bypassing the marketplace which led to a nearby sect for the deep woods that led into the treacherous terrains of the BaoXu sect. Heading further from the bright skies into the blanket of thick forestry ahead. Within her, Xu Hui wished for the safe keeping of the sect from her past life. "Please! Let them still be alive!" Not too long since she awakened in a new body, Xu Hui kept pushing off the time to seek out her former sect, only to leave the protection of the YuanLi sect on hearing that they had fallen into the hands of the demon lord. With nothing to light her way, Xu Hui relied on the "sense" ability from her previous life to guide her out of the canopies of greenery to the path that led to BaoXu sect. YuanLi sect and BaoXu sect was divided by a wide expanse of thick forest, known to harbor many creatures that could either prove harmful or otherwise depending on the cultivator''s rank. Xu Hui heard strange noises, but chose to ignored them as she jumped from one tree branch to the other while moving within the forest. The aura surrounding her oozed with killing intent, from the moment she changed the nature of her aura, not a single sound was heard after that. "RRRRRIP!!!!!!!" Xu Hui turned around only to see that it was the right sleeve of her robe that had caught on one of the tree branches, causing a tear. A long time after, Xu Hui was starting to see glimpses of daylight ahead, that seemed to renew her strength, until she flew out of the forest into the charred destruction that laid ahead. "Young Miss Li! Young Miss Li! Are you awake?" Several maids that attended to the sect leader''s daughter kept pounding on the door for her to open up for them to come in, the sound pulled Xu Hui from her sleep. "What is it?" "Young Miss Li! We fear for Sect leader Li''s life! " "Come in!" The door slowly slid to the side as ten female servants dressed in the purple robes of the YuanLi sect walked into the bedchambers of Li Jiao. They bowed in greeting to their sect leader''s daughter. "Greeting Young Miss Li!" "You can now raise your head up." "Thank you Young Miss Li!" Xu Hui was still stretched out under the purple floral bed cover, when the servants saw their young mistress had not sat up in bed yet after their greeting, they offered to lift her up from the bed. "Young Miss Li, would you like us to help you up?" Xu Hui in her past life did everything by herself with no servant to hold her by the hand. Now that she was Li Jiao, the young mistress of YuanLi sect, she knew in her heart that there was no way they would let her do as she pleased without reporting to the sect leader what they thought of his daughter. With a sweet smile, Xu Hui stretched out her hands to be lifted from the bed. "Do I scare you?! Is that why you thought I could not be Li Jiao?!" Xu Hui did not know why she wanted to know what Fu Zian thought about her current state. "Answer me! Are you Li Jiao?" "And if I tell you I am not her, what are you going to do?" "That can''t be? I have only read of soul transmigration from ancient writings at the sect''s library. There is no way I am looking at one!" "What if I tell you that I am not her, but Xu Hui a female disciple of the BaoXu sect." Fu Zian dreaded hearing the truth from the mouth of the maiden who had the face of his sect leader''s daughter, in truth he had his suspicions about her when she fought with him at the banquet held in her honor and also when she could make animate objects appear. The Li Jiao he knew did not possess any of these abilities, even if she tried for a million years there was no way she could reach that level of cultivation, the only explanation to this absurdity was that he was speaking to someone other than Li Jiao, a cultivator that called herself Xu Hui. ****Green tea: A bad person who pretends to be kind and friendly Xu Hui felt the exhaustion beginning to creep into her body from the blood flail technique she had just performed. "Ah! To think that I would one day use the blood flail." The thought ran through her mind, while staring at the ground, lost in thought, but a voice that called out the name she was now being referred to could be heard from within the roaring sound that echoed in her ears. "Li Jiao!" The somewhat familiar voice made her snap back to reality, as she stared at the youthful fair jade skin of the good-looking cultivator. "What are you doing here?! Hey!" Fu Zian called out to her, while trying not to look shocked by the drastic change in her appearance, the purple robe she wore now had dirt on them, the hair that was once held in a bejeweled hair stick now lay disheveled and unrestrained. He saw the moment when the bodies disappeared like smoke and carried into the air. His gaze met those of Hu Xui and what he saw in them caused a shiver of fear to run through his spine. Fu Zian did not know when the words fell out of his mouth, as he kept looking whom he presumed to be the daughter of his sect leader. "Who are you?" "Who do you think I am?" Xu Hui answered his question with a question, not replying directly to what Fu Zian. "I know that the one standing in front of me is Li Jiao, but the aura that I sense around you is nothing like hers!" Fu Zian raised his voice in exasperation not knowing what to make of what he saw, while he spoke a smug smile graced her lips, almost as though she was mocking his deduction. "I asked you, who do you think I am?" The senior disciple looked at her closely, not wanting to let his fears take away the rational thought in his mind. "If you know nothing, then stay out of my mind! Don''t try to put your nose into things that have nothing to do with you." Xu Hui spoke gently, while giving Fu Zian a pointed look. On the other hand, Fu Zian looked disoriented, what his eyes saw was different from what his instinct was telling him, which was that the person right in front of him could not be the young mistress of the YuanLi sect. "There is only one way to find out just who you are!" Not willing to give up on knowing if in truth his instinct was right or not, Fu Zian made the decision to launch an attack on Xu Hui who stood where she was unfazed by what she heard. "I still have a bone to pick from the other night at the banquet. Come at me if you are confident in your fighting skill, but don''t think for once that I''m the same as before." Fu Zian threw himself at Xu Hui, with the aim of going at her with his fists, but she twisted to the side to avoid his fists from landing on her, but that was not the only thing that caught Fu Zian off guard, although he knew that Li Jiao was never trained in combat nor cultivation, just a single flick of her finger caused the senior disciple to freeze where he was, before folding her hand into a fist. Xu Hui stopped dead on her track, dazed by the devastation that hit her in the face. Ashen bodies with dried up blood sprawled across the soft earth, gone were the magnificent building she once knew, which was now razed to the ground. Xu Hui fell to her knees and wept with abandon, as though a dam that dwelt within her was released, the ground on which she knelt took in the tears that continued to flow from her eyes. Regret, anger, disappointment and an overwhelming feeling of loss resonated in the heart of Xu Hui. "HAAHHAAAAAAAHAAAA!!!!!!" Xu Hui kept crying and laughing at the same time, such that anyone who passed by would have taken her for a madwoman. "Even if I have to become the very thing I detest, I must avenge my sect or die trying!" There was absolute resolve in the tone of Xu Hui, reflected in her eyes was an arching pain that came with coming to face with a loss. She eventually dragged herself to a sit in the lotus position with her feet crossed and did the unexpected. It was almost as if the heavens knew what she was about to do, as suddenly the sky that was once radiant with the sun shining through turn to an ominous dark cloud. A soul that was not supposed to exist in the world was about to perform an act that would cause foreseeable unrest in the heavens. During her time at BaoXu sect, Xu Hui was severely punished on numerous occasion for stealing into the library''s where the forbidden manuscripts with ancient practices were stored. Not once did she have the chance to put them into action until today. Locking her fingers all together with the left thumb placed at the center of her right palm, Xu Hui circulated the spiritual energy within her in preparation for what was to come. Afterwards, she placed both palm on the ground releasing her spiritual energy which flowed out of her palm as tendrils of purple. Absorbing the blood essence of the dead, during this she could see and hear the cries of horror from the members of her sect, some did not get the chance to make a sound as their death was instantaneous. The price to pay for practicing the blood flail technique was that the cultivator would exchange their life for using the varying reserve of spiritual energy that came from the cultivators that were sacrificed and the body would vanish away. When the last fragment of spirit essence was taken into the body of Xu Hui, the bodies began to disappear one after the other in a whiff of smoke. When Fu Zian descended at what used to be the entrance to the BaoXu sect, he saw what looked to be the daughter of his sect leader who was gazing downcast at the ground. "Li Jiao!" Fu Zian called out to her, while running to where she stood, the senior disciple came to a stop when he saw the eyes that gazed at him, there was no sparkly midnight in them instead he was looking at eyes that blazed with crimson glare. Xu Hui now walked the path of infernal cultivation, bearing the whole sect on her shoulders and the divine punishment that awaited her in the days ahead. The maids looked visibly distraught from seeing the daughter of their sect leader rush off from the courtyard of the YuanLi sect. "What are we to do now?! Sect leader is not here and Young Miss Li is also missing!" "Isn''t Young Miss Li acting a little different than usual?" "Be quiet! Hush! The walls have ears! Someone could be listening!" "Let her be! What is it to our sect if another sect is under attack? I don''t understand why Young Miss Li took off the way she did!" "Did you hear her ask of that sect...What is the name again?" "It is the one so faraway from us, the BaoXu sect." "Our YuanLi sect is up there with the GuBaiJin clan, a lower cultivation sect can never match up to our greatness!" "They used to be in the same rank as the ShenJiangShi clan, but still...that was many years back. There is no need for our Young Miss to save them some face." "We haven''t seen or heard anything from their side in many years, it truly is strange that at the mention of their name she ran off not telling any of us where she was going." "Our Young Miss is a maiden! To think YuanLi sect would lose face because of her!" How about Senior Fu? He is the only one left to talk to about getting Young Miss Li back before Sect leader Li gets wind of it." "Which of us will follow Senior Fu to look for Young Miss Li?" "Jin Caihe¡­" "That would be head teacher Jin for you, do well to remember that!" "You still think that you can put up airs in the position that we are both in?" To make Jin Caihe understand the gravity of the situation they were in, Jin Tieguai grabbed his rod in one hand, bending his head to lick from the base slowly and working his way to the tip. They were now in the direction of the east courtyard which was around where the quarters of the senior disciples and teachers was located. They leapt through many rooftops, cutting through many paths to where Jin Caihe was presumably heading towards. The DianShu was the private quarters of Jin Caihe and off limits to anyone, but the head teacher was so flustered by the unusual sensation growing within him, he could hear hissing as though it were from a snake over and again. Dread like dark murky water took over his mind, because of what he had read from the ancient writing at the library of gaiety. According to the ancient scroll, whoever heard the whisper of hissing wind which was likened to the hiss of a snake, the cultivator with the affliction, is said to have a strong Yang in them and would need the essence of the divine falcon beast to tame the overwhelming reserves of spiritual energy from consuming its host and causing instant death by bleeding from various orifice of the body. In the cultivation world, this is known to be a very horrible way to die. Jin Caihe flung the door open, turning back only to shut it behind him, but Jin Tieguai was having none of it, his hand held the door back from shutting close. "Go away!" "You keep telling to leave, but I know there is something wrong with you, please head teacher Jin what is happening to you." "It is no concern of yours, leave me alone!" "But you don''t sound as if you are okay." "How I sound is none of your business, just go, go!" The veins of Jin Caihe was standing from the strain of talking to his student, while fighting the terrible pain inside of him. The head teacher screamed at him; his eyes looked as though they were driven mad by what was attacking his body. Meanwhile, Jin Tieguai was really concerned about the way his teacher was acting so out of character. "Head teacher Jin, if you are sick just tell me, so that I can get help for you." "You don''t understand! It is not something that you can handle. Run away before you get hurt!" Jin Tieguai kept looking as though he didn''t understand what the other cultivator said, whose brows was now dripping with sweat and shaking from what could be said to be pain. One of his eyes had become the same shape as those of a green-eyed snake. "I said, stay away from me!" In a bid to push Jin Tieguai away from him, his hand met with those of his student, which caused a chain of event to take place. The falcon beast that was sealed within Jin Tieguai was let loose taking over the body of his host and wrapping him in an aura of azure blue. The two contrasting eyes of Jin Caihe widened when he saw the form of the beast overshadow those of Jin Tieguai, the shock made him stagger, as he was about to fall flat to the floor, his movement was halted by the searing touch of the one who could either save or destroy him. Eyes consumed by ?ust stared at those of Jin Caihe, like a predator looking at his prey. ****Pair cultivation: Using s?x to increase or improve spiritual energy to attain godhood or long life. Hiss of the wind... "I didn''t do anything wrong! They were making fun of me for no reason especially young master Jin!" "Did you look for me to let me know what they were doing to you?!" There was no mistaking the tone of anger in the voice of the head teacher, which showed he was not amused by the antics of his student. "Follow me, now!" "Is it only me that would be punished? How about the rest of them?" Jin Caihe was filled with rage at the way that Jin Tinguai chose to challenge him in front of his classmates. "Head teacher Jin, if you want to punish anyone, let it be me, I spoke without thinking to Jin Tieguai and I''m very sorry for not treating him with respect." The young master of the GuBaiJin sect gave a deep bow to Jin Tieguai, before offering the head teacher a bow to show repentance for the action that was committed. "Young master Jin is too kind, see him give way for that Jin Tieguai every time! I just hate him so much! Making everyone feel sorry towards him when he is always the one causing trouble for others!" "Young master Jin, there is no need to be punished with Jin Tieguai, clearly he doesn''t see what he did as wrong. I want you to be care of him in the future to prevent such occurrences from happening too often, as for the rest of you watch what you say and avoid speaking to him if possible. Now! Come with me to the hall of destitute." None of them uttered another word, as they saw Jin Tieguai walk behind their head teacher in the direction of the inner courtyard. Jin Caihe briskly walked in the direction of the hall of destitute with Jin Tieguai following behind, he had only taken many steps away such that his back and those of Jin Tieguai were no longer visible by the junior disciples that was when he felt a strange sensation crawling through his body. That caused him to stop in his stride, to clutch at his belly. "Head teacher Jin! What is the matter? Is something wrong?!" Concerned by the way the head teacher of the GuBaiJin sect was acting, Jin Tieguai drew closer to where he was bending as though he was in pain, he could see the aura of green that flowed rampantly around Jin Caihe. "N..Not..hing, Let''s¡­ke...keep going." The weak voice of Jin Caihe didn''t sound convincing to his student, who took it upon himself to place a hand on his arm and back to hold him up. "Get away from me!" As though possessed, Jin Caihe took off, running as though he was chased by some invisible fiend. Startled by the way his teacher was behaving, Jin Tieguai being who he was, began chasing after him. "Head teacher Jin! Wait! Where are you going?! The call to the other cultivator fell on deaf ears, as the cultivator known to be one of GuBaiJin sect''s best, continued to run as though he was a little child playing a game of hide and seek, that seem to bring out the naughtiness in Jin Tieguai who kept on with his pursuit of his head teacher. The residence of the GuBaiJin sect was in a remote hill far from the Gu town, lush trees and blooming flowers grew within the lime green walls and dark rooftops, there was also a lotus pond some distance from the courtyard where morning lesson took place. Jin Tieguai admired the sword that was held in front of him, the Xicong. Swinging the blade from side to side as the soft wind carried his robes. The dark of his eyes moved with mischief, while racking his brain for what form of devilry he could unleash. "Why isn''t there anything to do! I''m so bored!" He continued to walk within the outer courtyard, as he saw some of disciples from the same class stare at the pond that grew pink lotus flowers. "If only one of us could be so brave as to go in and pick one of them." "It doesn''t look too deep, how about we all go in together." "I''m too scared of water." "You are scared of anything Jing An! Stop being a chicken and follow us into the pond." The young master of the GuBaiJin sect chided his fellow classmate, not wanting to lose face with the rest of them. When Jin Tieguai them, he took it as a golden opportunity to cause some mischief. "Are you all going to keep staring at the water or not?" When they heard the voice of Jin Tieguai, they all turned to look at him, as their eyes widened with dread. "Oh no! It is Jin Tieguai! What do we do now!" "Good of you to be here at such a great time, why don''t you help us a little and get each of us a lotus flower from the pond." The young master of GuBaiJin sect smiled amicably with the number one troublemaker of the sect, waiting on the other to reply to his request. "And why should I? Are we supposed to be friends?" The good looking youthful disciple had his lips curved in an insolent smile while looking at Jin Dongbin, the young master of the GuBaiJin sect. "Leave him alone, he is a good for nothing who knows nothing about helping others!" "Young master Jin is way beyond his league, that''s why he wants to rub mud on his face." "What do you mean by rub mud on whose face?!" Jin Tieguai could no longer stand the insulting remarks of his classmates, while the young master of the GuBaiJin sect stood idly by as they made fun of him. Something within him let loose, as he ran towards his classmates, aiming for the son of their sect leader, pushing Jin Dongbin straight into the green pond. Water splashed on the robes of the disciples that stood by the edge of the pond. Three out of the four disciples reached for the hand of Jin Dongbin to pull him out of the water, who looked like a wet seaweed, after much tugging they were able to get him to dry land. Right around that time was when the head teacher of the GuBaiJin sect happened to pass by and saw what was going on, a stern look came over the face that was once like those of calm waters. "What is happening here?" When the junior disciples heard the voice of Jin Caihe, they ran to where their head teacher was, which was a few feet from them. "Head teacher Jin! Jin Tieguai pushed young master Jin into the pond!" "Is that true Jin Tieguai?" Jin Caihe gave the disciple that was accused a look full of distrust, while waiting on the other to answer him. "Let''s say I believe you, how do you plan on fooling your father, no..that''s wrong of me, how do you plan on fooling sect leader Li?!" "I have been able to pass off as his daughter all this time, haven''t I?" Fu Zian looked at Xu Hui not knowing what to say about the dubious character that he was faced with, not long after the thought crossed his mind, the sky opened and it rained down upon the two, soaking their robes. "When the time comes, it is only right to let him know that you are not his daughter." "Only when I have finished what I was brought back to do." "What do you mean?" "¡­" Xu Hui looked at him one last time, without any further words she rose to the air, soon followed behind by Fu Zian as the two flew back to the YuanLi sect, leaving behind the remains of a forgotten sect which was washed away by the rain. During her flight in the air, Xu Hui was circulating her spiritual energy to suppress the growing darkness that came with the use of a forbidden technique like those of the blood Flail. Using sheer will power to suppress the lure of darkness that was spreading like a disease within her body. Fu Zian sensed the change that came over the cultivator that flew in front of him, hardly able to pick the aura of evil. "Did you do something to yourself just now?" "What did you think I did?" "Answer me!" "Do I have to?" "Xu Hui or whatever your name may be! You better tell me before I expose your secret to Sect leader Li!" "Why don''t you go ahead if you dare." Xu Hui voice challenged Fu Zian to go with what he knew about her to the YuanLi sect leader, not in the least bit intimidated by his threat. "It seems that you have no face anymore! Shameless! Absolutely shameless of you to deceive your father...I..I mean, the father of Li Jiao!" "It is true that I have no shame okay?! But if you were in my place and faced what I went through then you would understand, not that I care if you do." The last word was said in defiance, because in truth Xu Hui in a way cared about what Fu Zian thought about the things she had revealed about herself to him. "Just tell me and stop beating around the bush! What is your level? If I could guess you are a little above me?" "Oh! You noticed?" Xu Hui turned to look at the senior disciple, who saw that her eyes no longer had the glare of crimson in them, instead they were now the midnight gems that he was accustomed to, the thought made Fu Zian feel funny on the inside while looking into her eyes. ".." When Xu Hui saw that he chose not to reply her, as his disposition was a sour one when suddenly faced with the harsh reality that he was now a level lower than the maiden he once saw as one who would never cultivate even if she were to have a change in her fortune. Xu Hui turned her head back, keeping her gaze centered on the journey ahead of them. Fu Zian noticed that the moment she had her right hand in a fist was when he felt as though something was squeezing his heart, not longer after, he began to cough out blood from the constant pressure that was aimed at his heart. "What..what did you do to me?!" Xu Hui kept looking at him in a lazy manner, watching as he continued to throw up blood on the soft earth. "Senior Fu Zian, don''t be like that, how are you certain that it was I that did that to you?" The soft melodious voice form Xu Hui belied the cruelty that she dealt to the other cultivator. "If not you! Who else could it be? A Ghost? A Demon? An evil spirit?!" "It seems you really have an active imagination, I have never cultivated once in my entire life, how then could I have done that to you? How?" "Li Jiao! You two faced green tea! How could you? How could you look me in the eyes and lie?!" "Aiya! Senior Fu Zian! You hold me in high esteem! I am but a feeble maiden doomed to spend my last remaining years in isolation, waiting for the god of death to free my wounded soul from the useless body I was born with. I speak no manner of lie to you." "Ha! That''s what you say, but have you stopped to look at your face? Especially your eyes?!" "What happened to my face?!" Xu Hui was so eager to know what could have changed in her appearance, that she held her thumb with the index finger and ring finger up with the rest curled to release a portion of her spiritual energy, while she closed her eyes with the image of a mirror formed in her head. A moment later, a sparkling jade clear mirror appeared on the palm of her left hand, as she looked down to see what Fu Zian meant by her face. Staring back at her in the mirror''s reflection was a pale faced woman who looked hauntingly beautiful with crimson eyes that reflected like red flames. After looking for a while at her reflection, Xu Hui raised her head up to look at Fu Zian who had a fearful look in his eyes. "Yan Xuequi! Where did you run off to?!" The princess of the fox clan ran straight into the arms of her Aunt, a woman dressed in simple yellow robes with a plain hair pin of brown wood on her hair. "Aunt Hairong! I missed you so much! The food at the fox clan don''t taste as good after you left." When the twins half fox and half human saw their cousin from the fox clan, they tossed the bamboo dragon fly that they were playing with on the floor to latch onto the feet of their cousin. "Quiqui!!!!!" The twin toddlers called out to the fox princess, while playfully tugging on the hem of her robes. After a while the two women finally broke from the embrace, as Mou Hairong gazed into the eyes of her niece. It was then that the twin took off to continue playing around the room. "Did you bring anything from the market on your way back?" Yan Xuequi could not meet the eyes of her aunt, for she had been distracted on her way to visit the Mou family. "Yan Xuequi, what are you hiding from your aunt?" The daughter of the Fox king, Princess Mou Hairong began tickling the stomach of her niece. "N..N..othing!..Stop..I''ll...tell you!" That was when Mou Hairong let go of the fox princess to here what the other had to say. "You won''t believe this! But I actually saw a male cultivator from a BaoXu sect!" The look on Mou Hairong mirrored the same wariness her niece had when she first encountered Lin Cheng in the woods. "Stay away from their kind! They are trouble! I''ll try to keep it away from father! But please, do not go near any of them! They only know how to use others like us! While going about parading themselves as the paragon of virtue!" Yan Xuequi could see the distaste that her aunt had for any one that came from any of the cultivation sects, she had heard her grandfather say on numerous times not to go near anyone that came from there, "What could they have done to warrant such hatred from my clan?!" Almost as if she knew what her niece was thinking, Mou Hairong said, "Don''t even think of trying to understand them or making friends with any of them! They are not worth it! They are all pretenders, every single one of them!" "I didn''t say anything!" "You don''t need to say a thing! I can see it written all over your face! You want to believe that they are not who your grandfather and I say they are, if that''s what you want to do, take off your title as princess of the fox clan! Only then can you do as you please without dragging the fox kingdom with you!" While the two were in a heated discussion, the twin boys were floating around the room, each had a green flame surrounding the simple blue robes that they wore. "Aunt Hairong! The twins can now use fox fire?! That took me a hundred years to form a tiny flame from the palm of my hand!Look! Their''s is covering their whole body! " One thing about half fox children was that they didn''t share the pointed ears as seen in children from the fox clan, their growth was slower than those of a child with full fox blood in them. "Mou Yidan! Mou Zimu! Stop fooling around and get down from there!" The little boys kept on flying around with their fox fire, angry that they were not listening to her, their mother whipped out her own green fire from the tip of her fingers to drag them from where they were, as the two fell to the floor. "Don''t even think about crying! Do you want to follow your cousin to back to the fox fortress?!" The twins stifled their cry, recalling the time their mother had taken them to see their grandfather on his birthday, the fox clan was a cold, dark place to the children. In as much as they loved to have their cousin around, they never wanted to visit her home since that day. They saw the eyes of their mother switch for a moment from black to slate blue. They didn''t need anyone to tell them that she was already fed up with the way they were acting. "Who is making my baby boys cry." When they heard the sound of their father''s voice from outside the door of the room. The twins ran out to meet him. Holding each toddler in his arms, Mou Yaxin gazed with his eyes full of love on the face of sons who were like mirror image of the other. "Ma wants us to go to grandpa''s house!" Although they looked like they were four years of age, the half fox half human children were very advanced in their manner of speech. "Don''t worry, I''ll talk to your mother about going to see your grandfather. No one can take you there unless I say so!" The twins so the look of anger on their father''s face in defense of them, thinking he was really going to rebuke their mother harshly for wanting to take them to the fox clan. "And Pa! Mom is so scary!" "How so?" That was when the both of them buried their head into the shoulders of their father, not wanting to reveal what their mother did, because doing so would also uncover what they also did, which was using their fox powers when they were in the mortal realm. Although, Mou Yaxin knew of his wife''s family in the other world unseen to human eyes, he hadn''t been there since his body didn''t possess any of their powers for him to cross through. He couldn''t see the fox powers in action because he lacked spiritual sense, but when someone floats in front of him, he knew without been told that they were definitely not human like him! He and Yan hairong met when he was drowning, due his boat that turned upside down from the force of the current was rapidly approaching those of the fishing boat. Although, it is said that foxes have an aversion to water, yet the fox princess drove into the raging water and rescued the local fisherman from being swept away by the current of water. "You can fly?" Mou Yaxin asked the woman that rescued him out of the water, while carried in her arms. "What a strange thing for a human to say. Shouldn''t you be screaming or shouting for someone to save you?" Yan Hairong looked at the man she just saved from the depth of the water, he was very calm while speaking to her as though they were acquainted with each other for a long time. "Do you want me to shout now?" "Are you seriously asking me if you should call for help?" "Alright, I''ll shout now." "Don''t!" Mou Yaxin was about to open his mouth wide and shout at the top of his lungs when he heard Yan Hairong ask him not to, he smiled back at her, while leaning closer as the two finally landed on dry land. "Ha!" Yan Hairong winced in pain from the backlash that came from stepping into a large body of water. She didn''t have affinity for water like some of the fox immortals from her clan. Not long after, the fox princess fell to the ground by the side of the human she just rescued. "I didn''t even get to ask her name." Mou Yaxin placed the unconscious Yan Hairong on his back, as the two made their way into his hut not too far from the river. Day and night the human kept watch over his savior until finally on the ninth day, she began showing signing up recovering. Thirteenth night Princess Yan Hairong was already on her feet, as her spiritual energy was already restored from recuperating in the mortal realm, while unconsciously feeding from the emotion of the human that kept watch on her. Mou Yaxin dozed off and suddenly realized the the bed was empty, all this while, he slept on the floor while Yan Hairong took the bed. "Where is she?!" He frantically searched within the hut for her, it was only when he stepped out did he see her about to take to the air. "Were you going to leave without telling me your name?!" Yan Hairong turned to face the human that had saved her life while in the mortal realm, the water had drained a portion of her spiritual energy, causing her to succumb to a deep sleep. "Fox Princess Yan Hairong." "Are you as legend says? Would I bewitched by you after spending many days together?" "Why would I take to a miserly human like you?!" The fox princess looked down her nose at the human, whom she considered beneath her, she couldn''t believe he dared to think that she would entice him and make him her mate. "Even if he is the last man in the entire universe! There is no way that. I, Yan Hairong of the fox clan would take such a man to be my mate!" Just as the thought filtered through her mind, she heard the man laugh out. "Why did you laugh?!" "You look angry that I said you would lure me with your powers. I''m Mou Yaxin, thank you for rescuing me at the river." The fox princess looked at the human in front of her, he was neither good looking nor came from a good family, she couldn''t stop from looking at him for one last time, before taking off to the air far from the reach of any human eye. "She really is a fox." Mou Yaxin smiled sadly as he looked at the midnight sky until he could no longer make out the shape of the white robes of Yan Hairong. "You stole my heart! At least come back and see me at least before I die, Princess Yan Hairong!" Mou Yaxin shouted the words to the night, not knowing that the sharp ears of the fox princess had picked up on what he said, "Silly human! It is not my fault that you foolishly opened your heart to me!" Shrugging her shoulders to dismiss Mou Yaxin''s declaration to her, Yan Hairong used her aura to open the gateway to the fox clan, putting away her experience in the mortal realm. But fate had a something planned for the fox princess, in as much as she didn''t want to see the human anymore. Yan Hairong will use her green flames to see what was happening in the mortal realm, "It''s not because I want to see him. I only want to know if anyone is in trouble!" That was what she used to justify her action, but when she saw him shiver from not having enough firewood to keep the night cold from entering his hut. The fox princess abandoned rational thought and left her room in the fox kingdom to the mortal realm. "You fool! Why didn''t you get more firewood?!" Yan Hairong sent the door flying from the fury that dwelt within her. "You came back!" She went straight for the fire, adding her spiritual energy which made the flame gain strength and burn brighter. Taking off the cloak whose collar had white fur to drape across the body of Mou Yaxin. "Come closer." Mou Yaxin begged the proud fox princess with his eyes, who after a while succumbed to the pull of his gaze. He made way for her, as the two laid side by side on the narrow bed. It wasn''t long before Yan Hairong yield to the warmth of Mou Yaxin, as she snuggled against his ?h?st in sleep, soon after Mou Yaxin was fast asleep. This marked the beginning of how a fox princess from the fox clan became the wife of a human. The voices of his fellow disciples called out to him, as they saw how he treated his junior sister disciple with respect even in death. With eyes filled with admiration, they watched him stand on his feet and head back to where they were after he had paid his respect to Xu Hui. This made them fall to their knees too and bow in respect to Xu Hui. "Junior sister disciple Xu Hui, may your soul find peace!" The only person that didn''t pay respect to Xu Hui was sect leader Xu Zijun who thought that it was best not to make anything of her death. "Lin Cheng! After Xu Hui has been buried, I want you to leave for the mortal realm and return only after your inner demons have been put to rest! Use this period to find enlightenment and put to rest your troubled spirit! I fear that you would continue to search for the cause of Xu Hui''s death which would only bring unrest to the BaoXu sect! Leave and only return when your mind and soul is at peace! I will allow you to be present as she is laid to rest, but you must leave immediately after! Your duties will be shared among your brothers until the day you return back to the sect!" The white haired man who looked as though he was seventy years of age, with long white beards and mustache had a look of severity as he spoke to Lin Cheng. Xu Zijun robes of purple had a sword by its side and a tassel on the other side. His white hair was regally held in a hair pin of silver that sparkled from the light coming from the paper lamps held by several of the disciples. When they heard what their sect leader said, their eyes widened in shock, to them that was as good as being exiled from the sect. It wasn''t an heavenly trial, so why was sect leader Xu telling Lin Cheng not to step foot into the BaoXu sect? Some of the disciples looked in confusion at their sect leader not knowing what to make of the decree. They also turned to face the disciple whom their leader gave the order to leave the sect after the burial of Xu Hui. "If that is what you wish for sect leader. I, Lin Cheng would leave for the mortal realm and return after gaining new experiences in the mortal realm and overcoming my negative emotions." Lin Cheng humbly accepted the punishment that his sect leader had handed him in front of the other disciples. This was his way of keeping everyone in line, while maintaining the semblance of peace that he strove for in his sect. Xu Hui felt her sleeve being yanked suddenly from behind, surprise colored the face of the femal cultivator. "What do you think you''re doing?!" Fu Zian was beyond angry by the way the "daughter" of his sect leader was acting towards him, he couldn''t stand being led by the nose, which was what Xu Hui did when they arrived at the gate of the YuanLi sect. "Explain to me! What did you do to me!" The senior disciple could not trust himself being around her, his eyes had distrust for Xu Hui. While hers mirrored one of mirth. "Is that why you drew the sleeves of my robe?!" "Answer me! What was the thing you did, while we came in through the gate?!" The smile of indulgence slowly withered away, as it was replaced by one of contempt. It all happened in a blink of an eye, taking the senior disciple by surprise. "Alright Fu Zian, since you want to know how I did it, how about I show you!" No sooner had the words left the mouth of Xu Hui, her eyes reverted back to the crimson color from when she used the blood flail technique. When Fu Zian saw the change in the color of her eyes, he knew what was coming next. "No! Don''t even think of doing it! Are you lost your mind?! What if the other disciples saw what you are about to do?! Even if you don''t care about your reputation! How about those of the YuanLi sect?!" On hearing what he said, Xu Hui threw her head back in laughter, for it was clear to her that the other cultivator was muddled headed. "Why are you laughing?! What is so funny?!!!" Ignoring the words of the senior disciple, Xu Hui stood where she was, as she dug her fingernail into the palm of her hand. She pressed on the soft jade skin of her palm, watching as blood began flowing out of the wound. With her index and middle finger pointed with the other fingers facing down, she brought the palm which the blood was flowing out from closer to the hand that was held up, which she began moving speedily in a circular motion, forming tiny beads of ball from them. "This is my first time trying this, I hope it don''t hit your vital organ." Xu Hui smiled coldly at Fu Zian, who no longer felt as confidence as he was, moments ago before challenging her. Closing her eye while savoring the breath of crisp air, Xu Hui allowed her spiritual energy to circulate within her, while release a portion of it that fed the blood beads floating in front of her. When Fu Zian saw the thing she had formed begin to grow in size, the fear almost made him fall to the ground. Not longer after Xu Hui opened her eyes and that was when she sent the corrosive blood beads towards Fu Zian, whose intent was to dissolve anything they touch and suck up spiritual energy. Jin Caihe struggled against the wave of p???sur? that came from his "dragon" being taken by the mouth of Jin Tieguai. The result of suppressing what his flesh craved, made him suffer from the backlash of the unstable storm of spiritual energy that was on the verge of shattering him to fragments of spirit energy. He squeezed his eyes shut to minimize the ?ssault to his senses, which Jin Tieguai was deliberately doing to him, whose robes was also torn to shreds by the force of the falcon beast aura. Jin Caihe clenched the soft covering of the bed tightly as though holding on to his dear life. By the time his student had worked his way to the tip, he began su?k?n? with much force on the head of his "dragon" so much that Jin Caihe could no longer hold it in anymore, releasing loads upon loads of his seed into the back of Jin Tieguai''s throat, who fought to maintain control by not giving in to the urge to cough up the warm milky thick sap that tasted somewhat salty. Tears slid down the closed lids of Jin Caihe, feeling humiliated that he had to depend on a disciple that was fourteen years younger than him. The thought that all the twenty seven years of keeping his Chasity to attain godhood was now all for nothing, because of his Yang being out of balance. It just had to be the most unreliable disciple in the GuBaiJin sect that had to come to his rescue!'' "I''m so happy! I finally got to see how you look when crying." "Go away you animal!" Stubborn to the bone, Jin Caihe refused to surrender to him, despite the demands of his body. Undeterred by this, Jin Tieguai switched tactics, letting his teacher''s rod fall out from his mouth. His eyes glimmered with renewed mischief, using the same hand he lifted one leg of Jin Caihe high up, to expose the pink bud that dwelt between the two rounded bu?? cheeks, lowering his head once again for his tongue to light touch it. Instantly, Jin Caihe violently fought against his hold, but the "god of mischief was not having any of that, he blew on it and began lick and su?k?n? the pink bud in a circular motion, watching as milky sap from Jin Caihe''s "dragon" shot high like a fountain of water. When he saw that Ji Caihe had released again, before lifting his head up. All this while, the body of Jin Tieguai was almost going wild with the fire that was burning inside of him. Trickles of his seed slid down from the head of his "dragon" which was quivering in between his pale legs. Using the other hand, Jin Tieguai pushed the tip of his "dragon" which was smeared with his Yang essence, teasing the pink bud of Jin Caihe. The moment the other cultivator realized what his student was about to do, his eyes shot open, as he struggled to break free from his grasp. "No! This is forbidden! We are both men! Stop!" "You want me to stop when we are both like this?" Jin Caihe pleaded with his student not to join their bodies in an immoral act that would unleash the wrath of the heavens and also spurned by their sect. ".." Jin Tieguai waited on him to rebuff him, but he kept looking at the face of his student, confused as to whether he should go along. Taking that mean that he agreed, Jin Tieguai slowly pushed through the resistance with sweat covering his body from exercising great restrain when entering the body of Jin Caihe. "It hurts, don''t put it in anymore!" "I''m sorry Jin Caihe." "Don''t be so disrespectful!" That was when Jin Tieguai lost control, as he began moving in and out of the unused entrance with much vigor, the force caused Jin Caihe to bleed and firmly press onto the rod of Jin Tieguai. "Ahhhh!!!" The aura of the falcon beast had taken over, completely suppressing those of the winged serpent beast, the aura of the two danced like plum petals being carried by the wind. They went at it for several rounds until eventide. ****Dragon: Penis ****Pink bud: Anus ****Milky sap: Semen "Come." The voice had a sensual cadence to it, which made the other cultivator tremble in terror. "No! Stay away from me!" "Brother Lin Cheng, please do not let it reach the ears of Sect leader Xu, I promise not to go out at night again." Lin Cheng watched as the delicate beauty bowed to her waist, pleading with her fellow disciple not to inform their sect leader of her impropriety, knowing the punishment for break a sect rule was to knee in the ancestral hall for five days straight with no food or water served during those time. "You promise not to walk alone from now on?" "Yes Brother Lin Cheng, I give you my solemn word that I would not go out at night anymore, as long as you don''t tell sect leader of my indiscretion." "Alright! Junior sister Xu Hui you can raise your head up, let me walk you back." "Okay Brother Lin Cheng." The two cultivators from the BaoXu sect begun heading back in the direction of the lodging reserved for female cultivators, when Lin Cheng saw they had gotten close to the place, he stopped to bid his fellow disciple farewell. "This is where I leave you, since I can''t go any further. I''ll watch from here to see that you have safely gone inside." "Thank you Brother Lin Cheng, I bid you farewell!" "I bid you the same Junior sister disciple." Lin Cheng and Xu Hui gave each other a salute, before parting ways, while the senior disciple watched as his junior sister disciple waved for one last time, before heading to the purple wooden lodging. The male cultivators were strictly prohibited from venturing towards where the female cultivators resided, this was to maintain the dignity and morality of the sect. The image from the last time he saw her alive sent the cultivator into a sea of sorrow. He had only gone out for several days on a mission at dawn to a neighboring sect the ZaoQiang sect and returned late at night on the day she died. All the senior disciples including him were called as witness to her death, as everyone stood in a circle with their sect leader standing at the center where the body of his junior sister disciple was found. "Sect leader! We need to find out how junior sister disciple Xu died! If not her spirit would know no peace!" "Yes! We need to find her killer!" "What are you saying?! That one of the disciples from BaoXu sect killed my second cousin! If word got out that there disciples from the BaoXu sect are now killing one another! How would I ever raise my head up high among other sect leaders! BaoXu sect has fallen in pugilistic rank! Rather than exposing what happened this night! We need to get back to in rank as number 2 even if we can''t be number 1!" The sect leader of the BaoXu sect never alluded to his relationship with junior disciple Xu Hui, everyone knew they were related since they bore the same family name, because no one in the sect shared the "Xu" family name except those two, it was forbidden to speak about it since, the sect leader never had a child of his own. "Forgive us Sect leader Xu! We only want retribution for our junior sister disciple, if she died unjustly." Sect leader Xu gave a cold look at each of the senior disciples gathered, he specially asked that none of the female senior disciples be called to witness the death of their fellow disciple. "Sect leader Xu, I know moving up in ranks is very important in order to remain command the respect of other sects, isn''t it wrong to leave her death unresolved. How can any of us find peace in our heart knowing that we turned a blind eye in uncovering junior sister disciple Xu Hui''s death?! Wouldn''t the heavens rain down punishment for allowing such an evil act to be swept away?" Lin Cheng had been quiet all this time, when other disciples spoke in discontent of what the sect leader was doing regarding the death of one of his disciples. Deep within him, Lin Cheng wondered what could have led to her death, he remembered that she promised not to step out at night after he caught her walking very late at night alone. "Did she break her word?! Or did someone from the sect lure her out to her death?!" That''s right! Feng Yueming! He must know something about junior sister disciple!" The moment Lin Cheng thought about the other disciple, he turned to face him, "Feng Yueming, you and junior sister disciple Xu have a good relationship with each other, do you know of her tendencies to go out at night?" Feng Yueming looked at Lin Cheng as he tried not to let his eyes waver from those of the other disciple, it was true he knew of Xu Hui''s nightly walks, but if he said anything regarding that, not only would the others look at him with suspicion, but he would also be punished for breaking the sect rule and possibly ostracized by his fellow disciples until his name was clear of any suspicion. "Brother Lin Cheng, I do not know what you speak of, Sister Xu was a maiden that conducted herself in a manner befitting a disciple from the BaoXu sect. Please do not stain her honor by saying she steals out of her room at night!" Feng Yueming spoke with so much vigor while standing up to the disciple that he was being questioned about. When the other disciples heard Lin Cheng question him, their eyes suddenly narrowed in wariness, but after they heard the way Feng Yueming spoke about Xu Hui that was when the wariness in their eyes was replaced with one of ?ssurance. Lin Cheng for some reason could not bring himself to trust what the other disciple said, probably because his cultivation base and knowledge was higher than those of Feng Yueming, but regardless of the reason, his eyes faltered with deceit. He knew when the other disciples were taken in by his words, but Lin Cheng refused to believe a word that came out of Feng Yueming''s mouth. The thought kept going through the mind of the senior disciple as to whether he should pursue with uncovering the matter in secret or not, he felt pity for the way she laid on the ground pale and lifeless face down, her hair pin lay precariously atop her head. When Lin Cheng saw this, he left the circle of cultivators and went to where she was, walking by his sect leader as he bent on his knee to straighten the silver hairpin with purple stones on them on the head of Xu Hui. "Brother Lin Cheng!" "Lin Cheng! After Xu Hui has been buried, I want you to leave for the mortal realm and return only after your inner demons have been put to rest! Use this period to find enlightenment and put to rest your troubled spirit! I fear that you would continue to search for the cause of Xu Hui''s death which would only bring unrest to the BaoXu sect! Leave and only return when your mind and soul is at peace! I will allow you to be present as she is laid to rest, but you must leave immediately after! Your duties will be shared among your brothers until the day you return back to the sect!" The white haired man who looked as though he was seventy years of age, with long white beards and mustache had a look of severity as he spoke to Lin Cheng. Xu Zijun robes of purple had a sword by its side and a tassel on the other side. His white hair was regally held in a hair pin of silver that sparkled from the light coming from the paper lamps held by several of the disciples. When they heard what their sect leader said, their eyes widened in shock, to them that was as good as being exiled from the sect. It wasn''t an heavenly trial, so why was sect leader Xu telling Lin Cheng not to step foot into the BaoXu sect? Some of the disciples looked in confusion at their sect leader not knowing what to make of the decree. They also turned to face the disciple whom their leader gave the order to leave the sect after the burial of Xu Hui. "If that is what you wish for sect leader. I, Lin Cheng would leave for the mortal realm and return after gaining new experiences in the mortal realm and overcoming my negative emotions." Lin Cheng humbly accepted the punishment that his sect leader had handed him in front of the other disciples. This was his way of keeping everyone in line, while maintaining the semblance of peace that he strove for in his sect. Xu Hui felt her sleeve being yanked suddenly from behind, surprise colored the face of the femal cultivator. "What do you think you''re doing?!" Fu Zian was beyond angry by the way the "daughter" of his sect leader was acting towards him, he couldn''t stand being led by the nose, which was what Xu Hui did when they arrived at the gate of the YuanLi sect. "Explain to me! What did you do to me!" The senior disciple could not trust himself being around her, his eyes had distrust for Xu Hui. While hers mirrored one of mirth. "Is that why you drew the sleeves of my robe?!" "Answer me! What was the thing you did, while we came in through the gate?!" The smile of indulgence slowly withered away, as it was replaced by one of contempt. It all happened in a blink of an eye, taking the senior disciple by surprise. Chapter 33 - Experiment(2) The last thought came with her eyes turning to the color of crimson. Only time would tell if the reincarnated BaoXu sect disciple would kill the YuanLi senior disciple. Jin Tieguai saw the moment when his teacher passed, he began checking to see if the other was breathing, when he saw that Jin Caihe was only worn out and still breathing. He hurriedly threw on his robes and ran out to get him some herbs and a tub bath of warm water. "Do they visit you often?" Yan Xuequi was now left the choice of either following her grandfather''s plan or decide for herself on when she wanted to get married. The mother of the twins gave each of them a slap to the back and held them in her arms as though she didn''t want anyone to steal them from her, the boys swallowed the sting of pain that came from the beating, not shedding a single tear. To them they saw it as their due punishment for running away from home. Their father, Mou Yaxin took turns to hold them in his arms, as he too couldn''t contain the tears of joy that was streaming from his eyes. Soon after the parents separated from their children and turned to face Yan Xuequi and Lin Cheng, who were still looking at each other. "Xuequi! Who is the man with you?!" "Ma! He was the one that found us!" "Be quiet Yidan! I wasn''t talking to you!" The boy stiffen on hearing the sharp chastisement of his mother, he had to stay still, since he just got out of trouble not too long ago. The voice of Mou Hairong broke the two from the spell they were under, quickly turning to face the mother of the twins. "Greetings, I am Lin Cheng from the BaoXu sect. I''m sorry for intruding into your home unannounced." "Why did you bring a cultivator with you?! Don''t you know who they are?! Why Xuequi?! Why?!" "Aunt Hairong, he was the one that brought them back! Do you even know where he found them?! At Xuekejiu town! They flew to a town thirty minutes from us! What if he wasn''t in that town? It would have taken all night if not days to finally find them and by then who knows what would have happened to them! I know grandfather says that cultivators are bad people, but are they really all bad?! Can''t you look away just this once and be thankful towards him for finding your children for you?!" Mou Hairong had a stubborn look on her face while looking at her niece whose face held frustration and anger. Mou Yaxin held the hands of his children while looking at the man that was the cause of the fight between his wife and in-law. He felt at ease while looking at the man, nothing about him struck him as someone that could be dangerous, he had a solid built and carriage that held self-assurance. Mou Yaxin left the side of his wife and walked with his children to where Lin Cheng and Yan Xiequi stood, "Yidan and Zimu, I want you both to show your gratitude to Lin Cheng of the BaoXu sect." The twins looked at their father and nodded in unison, right there the three gave a deep bow to Lin Cheng who also gave a salute back in respect. "Thank you for rescuing my sons and bringing them home. My family and I will always be in your debt." After this, the twins and their father raised their head up and walked back to where Mou Hairong stood bristling with anger. "Mou Yaxin! How dare you shame me in front of my children!" "Yes it was." "How was your Aunt and her family?" "Princess Aunt Hairong, Mou Yaxin, Prince Yidan and Prince Zimu were all in good health. They hope to visit the fox clan some day." Yan Xuequi was purposely vague in her reply, if she had told her grandfather that his grandchildren didn''t want to step foot into the fox clan, it would only create more misery for him. Which was why she made it sound that they would be coming by in the nearest future. "Have you given consideration about your marriage?" The out of the blue question made the fox princess almost show the surprise she felt within, but since she was in the presence of her grandfather, she had to comport herself in a manner befitting a princess. "I was about to bring it up at a more suitable time, I''m pleased that you brought it up in my stead." The fox princess remained serene while looking at the sharp gaze of her grandfather''s, who was watching her face very closely. "Meifang what do you thing of a wedding in a month''s time?" Yan Xuequi felt the air leave her body, "A wedding in a month''s time? Why? Is anyone dying? Grandfather may look frail, but it is self-inflicted, I don''t think he is dying anytime soon!" "I''ll abide by your decision." The fox princess wasn''t too surprised by her mother''s response, she knew that the princess mother didn''t want to risk offending her father in the name of respecting her daughter''s wishes. "How was your Aunt and her family?" "Princess Aunt Hairong, Mou Yaxin, Prince Yidan and Prince Zimu were all in good health. They hope to visit the fox clan some day." Yan Xuequi was purposely vague in her reply, if she had told her grandfather that his grandchildren didn''t want to step foot into the fox clan, it would only create more misery for him. Which was why she made it sound that they would be coming by in the nearest future. "Have you given consideration about your marriage?" The out of the blue question made the fox princess almost show the surprise she felt within, but since she was in the presence of her grandfather, she had to comport herself in a manner befitting a princess. "I was about to bring it up at a more suitable time, I''m pleased that you brought it up in my stead." The fox princess remained serene while looking at the sharp gaze of her grandfather''s, who was watching her face very closely. "Meifang what do you thing of a wedding in a month''s time?" Yan Xuequi felt the air leave her body, "A wedding in a month''s time? Why? Is anyone dying? Grandfather may look frail, but it is self-inflicted, I don''t think he is dying anytime soon!" "I''ll abide by your decision." The fox princess wasn''t too surprised by her mother''s response, she knew that the princess mother didn''t want to risk offending her father in the name of respecting her daughter''s wishes. "Father isn''t of royal blood which is why he can''t visit me with mother, but I go to see them, at times mother visits me alone." "When you leave here you will be going back to resume your duties as princess of the fox clan." It wasn''t posed as a question, but was meant to find out if she had other things planned. "Yes and I''ll be there until when grandfather doesn''t have need of me." "I bid you farewell, Princess Yan Xuequi." "Farewell Lin Cheng." Lin Cheng noticed that she didn''t make reference to his sect, unlike when they first met. That made him think that she was now seeing him in a better light. Just like that, she went out through the same way she came in, although she already told him that she can pass through things, it still make the disciple cultivator very surprised when he saw her go through his door. "She''s only the fox princess and would never be anything more!" Lin Cheng tried to convince himself that the feelings he was slowly developing for Yan Xuequi would never be anything but that, he didn''t want to accept that she held a special place in his heart. ------------------ Yan Xuequi''s spiritual energy opened the endless portal into the alternate world of the fox clan. Cold tall mountains stared back at the fox princess from where she stood. "I''m finally back!" The fox princess shouted into the empty air with her hands spread wide, as she savored the air around the fortress which was filled with dense spirit energy. One after another, she began removing the restraint she had kept on herself while in the mortal realm, with her hand in a seal clasped tightly together, she began tapping at several pressure points on her ?h?st, releasing her full power. This sent shock waves round the fortress. "The fox princess is back!" "Princess Yan Xuequi is finally back!" "It''s Princess Yan Xuequi!" The people of the fox clan shouted to one another with happiness at seeing the granddaughter of their king walk through the market place which was at the lower region of the fortress that led to various realms. This was where anyone that left the fox clan would usually pass through when they came back. Yan Xuequi walked through the mist of her people, bowing slightly while heading for the center of the fortress. Her people wore simple robes, their fox features very much in display,, unlike those in the mortal realm that kept to appearing as human as possible. Not bothering to open the door carved from the rocky mountain, the fox princess sent a string of fox fire which pushed the door open. What she saw on the other end of the door took her by surprise, for in there sat her mother and her grandfather. The fox princess bowed in greeting to them. "Greetings Fox King! Greetings Princess Mother!" In the presence of her grandfather, the fox princess had to refer to him by his title, the same applied to that of her mother. She couldn''t call either of them grandfather or mother whenever her grandfather was around, because he was a stickler for the royal tradition. "Princess Xuequi. Come, let me take a closer look at your face." The fox princess noticed that he sounded very frail, which wasn''t surprising because he was using half of his powers to keep the fortress the way it was and a quarter of his powers to suppress his fox features to appear almost like that of a human. It was when her mother explained the reason for her grandfather''s behavior did she finally understand why he chose to appear as though he was human. The woman he loved was from the mortal realm during his youthful days while moving from one realm to the other, but feared exposing his true nature to her, when he eventually found the courage to do so, she had already gotten married to a fellow human in her town. Heart broken, he married one from the royal bloodline whom he had no affection for, resulting in two princesses Yan Meifang and Yan Hairong. The then Queen Mother Yan Luanfei eventually found out the reason for her husband being cold to her and acting out of character with what a person from the fox clan would do. It was after she found out that his heart already belonged to a mortal, Yan Luanfei went to the mortal realm and carved out her beating heart and burned it with her blue fox fire, right in the presence of her husband and newborn child. In anger, the fox king sealed his wife in a cocoon made from fire and lightening buried deep within the fox fortress, the only one whose powers surpassed his from youth could open the prison of fire. It has been several hundreds of years since then, the mortal woman''s family had long since been gone from the face of the earth, but the fox king still refused to release his wife, as the bitterness in his heart from years ago never found a way to heal. Yan Xuequi stood in front of in front of her grandfather, who slowly rose from where he sat to look at his granddaughter from all sides. The princess mother silently watched from where she sat, waiting for her father to bring up the reason for their visit. After a while, as though satisfied with what he saw, the fox king eventually freed his granddaughter from his inspection. "It seems your time at the mortal realm was To Jin Tieguai everyone saw him as the bane of the GuBaiJin sect, the not so serious one, which was why he used his smile as a mask to hide his thought from others. His heart broke when he saw the way his teacher was, he began cursing at himself for not being gentle with him. As Jin Tieguai spoke his eyes brimmed with a smile of mischief, he loved teasing his teacher who he saw as a prude. When he saw that his words weren''t get to his student, Jin Caihe weakened body suddenly regained strength from the lack of remorse on the face of the junior disciple, for putting him in such a pitiful state. "You are an animal! You hear me! An animal!" "I seem to recall you calling me before you and I became one." "Hehn?! What nonsense are you sprouting from your mouth?! I don''t remember anything! This never happened! You hear me?! It never happened!" "Keep on fooling yourself, do you think that just by pretending that what happened between us, didn''t take place?!" "Shut your mouth! And know your place!" "Know my place?! You still have time to bring in position?! Caihe..." "Stop right there! You will address me properly as head teacher!" "Alright if that is what you want Head teacher Jin, but that isn''t going to erase what took place in this room!" While Jin Tieguai was speaking with Jin Caihe, his eyes began roaming the delicate pale body of his teacher, which was covered in kiss marks left by him while their body was passionate intertwined. Unable to hold himself from carrying out the thought in his mind, Jin Tieguai lowered his head to place a kiss at the center of Jin Caihe''s belly. The moist feathery touch from the lips of his student made his "dragon" stand erect. "St..op..." "You don''t want me to continue?" "No! Go away!" With the last remaining strength in him, Jin Caihe pushed Jin Tieguai away from him, causing the member of the other to come out without any warning and with that came excruciating pain to the body of Jin Caihe. Unable to control himself, Jin Caihe shouted in pain. "ARGHHHHH!!!!!!!" Although Jin Caihe felt the stickiness from the lower part of his body, nothing prepared him for the sight of blood and male essence that stained the cover of the bed. One second he was looking at the smiling face of his student and the next it as if everywhere was spinning, it was then that the head teacher of the GuBaiJin sect knew he was about to lose consciousness. Yan Xuequi flew all the way to Xuekejiu town, while holding onto the cloak of Lin Cheng which he had forgotten to return back to him. The bracelet she gave to him wasn''t just a jewelry, but it was also an extension of her power. This way she could keep track of him from wherever she was, without the other knowing. She soon arrived in front of the of Zenhaitao inn, which was a three layer establishment made from brown timber. Forgoing coming in through the entrance, the fox princess went to the last floor, while moving at speed beyond what the human eyes could see, through several rooms down the corridor. Eight doors later, she went through the door not wanting to wake Lin Cheng in the event he was still asleep. The sound of water pouring made the fox princess stop at mid air, a quick turn of her head and she was face to face with Lin Cheng taking a tub bath in his room. Not expecting to meet him in such a state of undress, the shock caused Yan Xuequi to lose her balance and fall to the ground. "Ha!" The noise from her fall made Lin Cheng become alert to the intruder that was in his room, were it not for the screen that separated the wooden tub and the rest of the room, the fox princess would have been looking at a n?k?d Lin Cheng! "Who is there?!" The disciple cultivator had not heard anyone come in through the door, which made him very uneasy when he heard the dull thud that came from someone falling down. "It is I....Princess Yan Xuequi!" "Princess Yan Xuequi? What are you doing in my room?" "I came to return your cloak, before leaving for the fox clan." "Oh?!" "I''ll lay it down by the bed." As she spoke, Lin Cheng pulled the robe that hung from the translucent screen, as he got out of the tub, the fox princess could make out his lines of his body, causing her cheeks to burn a bright pink. No sooner had the image registered into her mind, did she turn around to face the other way, almost forgetting to place the cloak on the bed as she had told Lin Cheng. Stepping from behind the screen to make his way to Yan Xuequi, he saw she had her back against him. Not wanting to startle her, he gave a soft cough to let her know that he was now out of the tub. "I''m sorry for not using the door, I thought you would be asleep....I only wanted to give your cloak back to you." Yan Xuequi still had her back turned to him, while taking a soft breath to steady her racing heart. "It must be because I''m getting older! Once I get back to the fox fortress I''ll start looking into a potential groom for my marriage." Choosing to believe that the cause of her raging body was due to her body aging and possible need for procreation. "How did you get in?" "I''m from the fox bloodline, I have the ability to pass through things." "That explains why I didn''t know when you came in. You''ve had your back turned to me for some time now, if you don''t mind, but can I see your face?" With great difficulty, the fox princess turned to face the disciple cultivator. "When you leave for the fox clan, are you returning anytime soon?" Yan Xuequi didn''t want to get her hopes up when Lin Cheng asked about her possible return to the mortal realm. "I promised my Aunt and her family to return soon, after I have settled the affairs of my clan. As the next in line, since my grandfather had no sons except for my mother and Aunt Hairong. Grandfather''s power is not as they were, this is why I may need to take over from him as the next ruler of the fox clan." "What happened to your mother?" "Mother''s powers is not strong enough to bear the responsibility as the next ruler should grandfather decide to step down or pass the thorn to one that has the attributes that is needed to rule the clan." "Your parents, are they living with you at the fox clan fortress?" "Mother and father have a separate lodging away from the Yan royal family, they live at the far end of the fortress where there is less activity and it is more peaceful, away from the fox people. While, I as a member of the royal family stay at the center of the fortress. We all know our place and none that isn''t royal dare venture to the core of the fortress." Never in a lifetime would he have thought that the highly respected Jin Caihe would fall into his hands, nor had he ever thought that his first experience would be with a man of all people! In the past he had envisioned himself as having his first time with the most beautiful flower that the tea house had to offer. The junior disciple was beyond shattered by the knowledge that he had taken his teacher and if permitted he would willing do the act again and again. The thought made the youthful boy''s face redden. Inside the DainShu after changing the bed covers, Jin Tieguai carried the n?k?d body of Jin Caihe, while biting his inner cheek to control his raging body, which fought to take the head teacher of the GuBaiJin sect again. "I have to be strong! For Head teacher Jin!" Carefully laying the other cultivator into the steamy water filled with medicinal herbs, Jin Tieguai used his hands to cleanse the body of Jin Caihe, washing every nook and cranny of his body. Although, it was a very tortuous for Jin Tieguai to be touching the body of his teacher, the junior disciple persevered while gritting his teeth to reign his turbulent thought. "I''m sorry, it was never supposed to be this way. Please forgive me." There was no response from the other cultivator whose eyes remained closed, as though he was asleep. "I promise I wouldn''t come near you, until you have forgiven me. If ever at anytime I break my word to you, I''ll take Xicong and plunge its blade into my heart!" That was how determined Jin Tieguai was to protect Jin Caihe from him. He and the head teacher first met when he took part in a competition at the age of nine to join the GuBaiJin sect, which was known to select only the best among the contestants. He never knew they would pick him, since he thought he wasn''t all that different from the rest, but the sect leader saw something during the competition that made him ask for Li Tieguai to be added as the new disciple of the sect. After he joined was his family name then changed to Jin in accordance to the sect''s rules. Jin Tieguai bent to place a light kiss on the forehead of Jin Caihe and then whispered the words to him, "This doesn''t count." Soon after he carried the head teacher to the bed to begin dressing him in a new robe, not minding the numerous turns to get him clothed. Only when he was done taking care of Jin Caihe did the junior disciple tuck a stray strand of his hair behind his ears, after this he stood up to leave the DianShu, taking one last look at the sleeping face of his lover. Facing forward with a sad smile on his face, Jin Tieguai closed the door behind him, as Jin Caihe cracked an eye open to see the door closing behind those of his student. During their intense coupling, Jin Caihe bit his student on the shoulder, so hard that it left a deep reddish-purple mark on the pale skin of Jin Tieguai. Although, Jin Tieguai felt the sharp pain that came with the bite, the p???sur? from his member entering those of his teacher made the pain lessen. It was already evening, when the junior disciple eventually pulled out from the moist entrance of his teacher, whose face looked very worn out from the prolonged intimate union of their bodies which was drenched in sweat, blood and milky sap. "Ha! Don''t move, It''s so painful!" Jin Tieguai was so consumed by the need to take over the body of Jin Caihe that it was only after his body began cooling down did he really take a good look at the face of his teacher. He was shocked to see how haggard they looked as though his strength had been su?k?d out. The junior disciple saw him lift up his hand weakly to halt his movement within his body. "I have to come out, so that you wouldn''t start to stink." Although he meant well, they seem to rub Jin Caihe the wrong way, who looked at the other with eyes filled with hatred. "When I told you to stop, you didn''t listen, but did as you pleased and now you are concerned about if I smell or not!" The disciple kept smiling at his teacher who was fuming with anger at been treated with no respect from his student. "I''m still young and at times I can hardly hold myself from going to the tea house to see all those beauties in there." The next thing Mou Hairong knew was that she was already back at the fox clan with her children. "Ma!" The twin boys chorused the cry of distressed to their mother, who was visible shaken by being brought without any warning to the fox clan, it had never happened to her before, usually she was the one that led her children back to her home in a different realm. There was only one person that was capable of such blatant display of power, the Fox King Yan ShuChang! Not that she was concerned about the person that her grandfather was going to be tying her with, it was just unsettling for the fox princess to suddenly realize that she would be entering a union with a cultivator. As the thought of marriage came up, her mind strayed to a particular cultivator in the mortal realm, Lin Cheng! "I wonder how he is doing, is he still travelling from town to town? Would he eventually return to his sect?" The fox clan was a closed realm, that is they rarely kept in touch with what was happening with other realms unless they saw the need to, which hardly ever happened. Therefore, Yan Xuequi did not know that the BaoXu sect was no more, neither did Lin Cheng, his was more understandable since he was in the mortal realm, but the fox clan just never kept close touch with other realms. This made it easy not to know something as horrifying as several sects being wiped off completely. "I sent a letter to their sect, we should hear back very soon." Deep within her heart, Yan Xuequi didn''t want the GuBaiJin sect to reply her grandfather nor find someone that would meet the standard of the fox clan royals. Although it was merely wishful thinking, the fox princess couldn''t help giving in to her heart d?s?r?. "Sect Leader Li, we never know when we''ll hear back from GuBaiJin sect. I''ll ask some of the disciples from the ShenJiangShi sect to see you back, to avoid keeping you here for long." Li Guoliang looked at the young master of the ShenJiangShi sect with eyes that spoke volumes of the annoyance he was feeling within him. The proud sect leader saw the young master of the ShenJiangShi sect as a nuisance and not befitting the position of the young master that he was, his eyes could hardly contain the disdain he felt for Shi Yunxu. He thought that he wasn''t properly brought up and could never fill the role of sect leader in his father''s place. "Young master Shi, I am not complaining of having to wait to hear back from GuBaiJin sect, it seems that you are the one that feels uneasy with having me at your sect." Shi Yunxu looked at the older cultivator with eyes that reflected one of friendliness. Almost from birth children of sect leader are taught to etiquette of that came with the position of being born into such a high status. Unless the young master of the ShenJiangShi sect chose to do otherwise, it was almost second nature to converse with ease and maintain the air of courteousness when talking with other cultivators. "I''m sorry it came across that way to you, Sect Leader Li. I merely thought of your health and knowing that danger exist around, I didn''t think you would want to stay outside your sect for too long." "Humph!" The YuanLi sect leader turned his head the other way, this was to let the young master of the ShenJiangShi sect know that he didn''t take what he said well. "I''m sorry Sect Leader Li." The other cultivator gave no reply to the apology of Shi Yunxu, while the servants inside the room looked on from the side. "Can someone get us some tea?" Shi Yunxu could not ask for wine, because of how grave the situation was, on hearing their young master ask to be served tea, some of them ran out to bring what he asked. "Sect Leader Li, I forgot to ask you, but would you like to drink the tea that would be served?" Shi Yunxu didn''t like Li Guoliang, he was only putting a show of politeness around him. Of course the YuanLi sect leader already saw through the farce of civility. "You already asked for tea to be brought in, why are you now asking me if I want to drink out of it?" "Sect Leader Li, you may not like what we serve here at ShenJiangShi sect, that is why I am asking." "It would be best if you said nothing and pretend to know how to act like a sect leader. The future of ShenJiangShi sect looks very grim indeed! Tsk! Tsk! Tsk!" "I will engrave your words into my heart, Sect Leader Li." Although, the young master Shi Yunxu smiled, his eyes looked like those of an arctic frost. Demon Lord Zhurong drank from the shadow goblet in his hand, on the outside it looked like thick dark smoke, but it was more than that, the goblet was an heirloom of the royal house of Hei. None could touch the goblet unless they had the Hei bloodline in them. He wore a dark robe that had silver linings on them, a diadem of dark silver rested on his head from where tendrils of long dark hair shimmered. "Demon Lord Zhurong what would you have us do?" The one that was referred to as the demon lord, was a man whom without his mask was the most good looking in all the realm. Contrary to what everyone thought about the demon realm, the demon army and the people from the demon realm had an unearthly beauty to them. "Is there anyone that I need to be weary of when we get to WuYangChen sect?" "The sect leader is Chen Yueming, he was formerly a disciple of the BaoXu sect, after his marriage to the young mistress of WuYangChen sect, his family name was changed to ''Chen'' in accordance to the rules of the WuYangChen sect. Unlike the other sects that we have defeated, Sect Leader Chen is quite different because he knows techniques from two sects, in the past suspicion fell on him for killing a fellow female disciple, but it was soon dispelled after his marriage. Of all the sect leaders, his actions are very difficult to predict. For many years, he has been going about acquiring the core of magical beasts under the guise of night hunting with his servants. But, there is something else..." "What is it?" Seeing the hesitant look from the general of his army made the demon lord straighten up from where he sat on the throne. "One of the spies saw the young mistress from the YuanLi sect at the BaoXu sect after we had annihilated them." "How is that relevant to the discussion?!" "Cultivators that are highly skilled can suppress their spiritual energy to become undetectable, we from the demon realm cannot do such a thing." "Where are you getting with this?! Hurry up and say what is on your mind!" "The spy heard Lady Li refer to herself as the dead female disciple that Chen Yueming was suspected in the past to have killed. Xu Hui of the BaoXu sect, those were the words he heard her say." That drew the demon lord''s full attention, his lilac blue eyes flashed with interest at what his general was telling him. "If it is really true that she reincarnated, which is not uncommon among people from the heavenly realm, then we have to deprive Lady Li the satisfaction of exacting revenge on a sect leader, then after that, YuanLi sect would be next. We leave at nightfall for WuYangChen sect!" "As you wish, Demon Lord Zhurong!" The general of the Hei royal army, gave a salute to his ruler, who sat in a high chair forged from his demon energy and the molten lava that flowed from underneath of the demon realm. "I want go inside and rest, when father returns let him know of this, I don''t want to my sleep to be disturbed by anyone." Xu Hui was met at the front of her bedchambers by the attending maids of Li Jiao, since they didn''t know that it wasn''t their mistress they were serving, but someone else entirely, they took care of the disciple of the BaoXu sect just like they did for the dead young mistress of the YuanLi sect. The BaoXu sect disciple''s body was taken over with the urge to empty her insides, but on the outside none of the maids could see the discomfort that was taking place within the person they took to be Li Jiao. "Yes Young miss Li, we would let Sect Leader Li know that you are sleeping and wouldn''t like to be woken up for any reason." "You may now leave." After bowing to Xu Hui, they discretely left the same way they came, one after the other. It was after she saw they had gone, that was when the BaoXu sect disciple opened the door to her room. On getting inside, she had her back against the door to keep her feet from giving way. "I can''t die yet, whatever it takes, even if I have become mere bones! I must and I will kill everyone that has caused me pain! My life..." Xu Hui''s words were halted by the blood that suddenly poured from her mouth and noise, although she held a hand to her mouth, she wasn''t quick enough to stop it from staining the floor of her room. It wasn''t the only place that the crimson tide flowed from, her eyes dripped blood. "It seems I don''t have much time." The blood flail technique was not forbidden for a reason, it drew power from consuming the spiritual energy of its host until they were left with none and it didn''t stop there at all. It would destroy the body from the inside out, turning it into mere dust with nothing left to bury. That was how scary the technique was, causing spirit fragmentation. Too tired to look for a wash rag and some water, Xu Hui performed the hand seal from the blood flail technique to absorb the blood on her feet and forming tiny balls which began floating around her. "What would be the best place to keep this?" The BaoXu sect disciple walked to the dressing table and pulled out a purple embroidery pouch from her box of jewelry to empty its contents out and place the hardened blood infused with infernal energy, placing it with the rest of her jewelry. On the outside, they looked like stones, only those with a keen spirit sense would be able to see beyond their appearance. "That Fu Zian should be thankful that I have other things that weighs heavily on my mind. If not!" "Your brother Feng has been gathering the cores of magical beasts and using them to increase his spiritual energy. At his current level he is higher than that of sect leader Jin, who is supposedly meant to be the chief cultivator of all the sects in the heavenly realm." When Xu Hui heard what Hei Zhurong said, the look of absolute disbelief was clear in her eyes. "I don''t believe you! Do you know what it takes to subdue a magical beast and steal their core? At BaoXu sect we always night hunted together with many senior disciples with us, and that was to catch a magical beast and not more than one at a time. You are telling me that those dangerous creatures were able to be captured by a sect that was lower than even the ShenJiangShi sect?! Hmpf!" "You will have to die a second time to understand the meaning behind my words." Xu Hui thought the man in front of her was a very prideful person, everything he said did not make any sense to her, to think he came all the way from the fox clan to talk nonsensical things. It was not a good time for the BaoXu sect disciple. Although, the mirror of Yao was suppressing his aura, the demon lord wanted to see the level that Xu Hui was boasting of and to do that, he had to take them to a separate place. The magical tool wasn''t only to subdue a person''s spiritual energy, in which case it was his demon energy it was keeping under wraps. The other purpose was to create an alternate world of a kind within itself. Demon Lord Zhurong got up from where he was and walked over to where Xu Hui sat, on the way to her, he wondered why he cared about whether she could defeat the sect leader from the WuYangChen sect or not. "Stand up and follow me!" When Hei Zhurong spoke to her, to was as Demon Lord Zhurong and not Fox Prince Rong. "Why should I?" "Do you want me to drag you or would you like to stand up by yourself?!" Xu Hui looked at the "fox prince" as if he had gone raving mad, "How dare you tell me to go with him to a place that I don''t know! He must be crazy to think I will do as he says!" The young miss of the YuanLi sect sat where she was, not moving an inch from where she sat, but the demon lord wasn''t in the mood to deal with her obstinacy. Grabbing onto her arms, he pulled her from her seat, almost causing her to fall on the broken pieces of the cup from earlier. The next thing she knew, before she could utter a word to alert her servants was that they were both su?k?d into a swirling portal of nothingness. "Where are we?! Where is this place?!" Demon Lord Zhurong tucked back the mirror of yao back to where it was underneath the sleeves of his robes. The place where they were was like a wall of green water all around them, they looked like water, but they were only an illusion of it. "This is a spatial space, you can not get out, unless I release you out of it." "Why did you bring me here!" "If you beat me, I will release you, but if I win, you will stay here until I am done with my plans." "What plans?!" "You will know in due time, for now why don''t you try and see if you can defeat me?!" "You think I cannot defeat you?! Ha!" The alternate world since it was the one created by the mirror of yao, was able to let the demon lord use his powers as he pleased. Xu Hui formed the blood beads using her blood and sent them straight at the demon lord. Hei Zhurong was prepared for the attack and side stepped it. "Is that your best?" He hadn''t even released a tiny fraction of his power and yet she was not even close to getting him to use it. Without any warning, the demon lord aimed for her ankle using the illusion of the mirror to mask the dark aura of his demon energy. The force sliced her skin making a deep cut close her bones, almost taking that part of the limb off. Xu Hui fell down, screaming in agony. "Now you have enough blood to give me a real fight." Dragging her self up, the BaoXu sect disciple ran towards the demon lord, but she b?r?ly made it mid way, before he sent her flying back. Right there, she began to cough out blood from her mouth with some trickling from her nose. "You can''t even fight me, how do you think you will be able to come within touching distance of your brother Feng?!" "It..not..over!" With the new burst of energy within her and eyes flashing with determination, Xu Hui ran towards the demon lord again, but he wasn''t going to let her make it as far as she did the last time. Instead he aimed for one of her hand lashing at it. Blood dripped on the floor of the spatial space dying it to the color of red. Abandoning the plan to get closer to him, Xu Hui fashioned a weapon out of her blood, shaped in the form of tiny needles and hardening them by infusing her spirit energy into it. Sending them flying towards the demon lord, who dispelled them with a single flick of his wrist. Undeterred, she tried to manipulated the blood inside of whom she thought to be from the fox clan, but unknown to her, she was going by the little she knew of the fox clan. Not knowing that he was a demon and not of the fox bloodline. Try as she may she couldn''t crush his heart that she was aiming for, the BaoXu sect disciple wasn''t able to reach inside the body of the demon lord. Unlike the time at the hall of the YuanLi sect, his powers were suppressed almost close to those from the mortal realm. Therefore she found it easy to get through his body defenses and injury him. Unlike the body of a cultivator that was relatively easy to manipulate because of their body wasn''t formed like those of demons, who were born from the lava that flowed from the underworld. Although their skin may look on the outside like any immortal or human, they were not the same as those two. What could penetrate the tough exterior was a magical tool that was refined from the fires of the underworld. The demon kingdom sat on the underworld, drawing from their strength and battle prowess from its dark energy. "Xu Hui give up, you can never reach Chen Yueming!" "I would rather die a thousand times than let go of the hatred that I have for him!" "Since you want to die so badly I will fulfill your request!" The demon lord raised his hand which formed a small dark smoke that sizzled with the energy that it was infused with, sending it to Xu Hui, who looked on as though she had given up on her life. Not expecting the demon lord to appear right in front of her to take the hit. In terms of speed she wasn''t fast, but her eyes were, which was what she used in compensating for not being able to move as fast as Fu Zian. The demon lord from what she her eyes saw, appeared to be of a different level entirely, her eyes could hardly keep up with him. She almost didn''t know when he was in front of her. When Xu Hui saw that another chance to strike the demon lord at appeared, she latched onto his feet from where she was on the floor, sending a wave of her spirit energy into his skin. The result of it left only a scratch on the skin of the demon lord. Although, the force of it took off that part of his robes, he only came out with hardly a tear to his skin. "Just when I had my back to you." Sprawled on the floor in the spatial space in a pool of her blood was Xu Hui, the fight had left her drained of her spiritual energy. The demon lord looked at the BaoXu sect disciple, a funny sensation went down his body when looking at the defenseless cultivator in front of him. Turning around and getting on his knees, Hei Zhurong picked Xu Hui from the floor and sent her back to the demon realm. The servants back at YuanLi sect didn''t know that the ones that sat at the hall were only a replica of the demon lord and their mistress, their real body was in a different place. "Where am I?" Xu Hui woke of later in a strange bed that she had never slept on, the man that said he was the fox prince sat in a chair from her bed. "I was beginning to think that you were going to sleep forever!" Xu Hui stared at the man with dislike in her eye, she could hardly remember what had transpired between them when she was at YuanLi sect. She saw that the robes she wore were no longer the purple of the the YuanLi sect, but white, this made her frown not knowing who could have changed her robes while she was asleep. "How long was I asleep?" "You were asleep for eleven days." "Eleven days?! What?!!!" "I had to take your robes off and wash you at the stream outside my chambers." The look of horrified surprise changed to one of mortification. Xu Hui couldn''t believe that a man took off her clothes while she was unconscious. This made her sit up in bed. "He should just have left me in my dirty robes! He has to be a pervert or is this the way of life of the fox clan?!" From thinking that he was a pervert to suddenly jumping to the conclusion that the fox clan may be an unusual type of people. "You have a very beautiful, hmmm..." "What?!!" All this while Hei Zhurong was trying to hold himself from laughing at Xu Hui''s show of modesty. He knew that the cultivation world was strict about a man being in the same room as an unmarried woman, but if neither of them said a thing, who would tell? The demon lord coughed in a suggestive way to let Xu Hui think that he had seen her n?k?dness. "You!!! You have to take responsibility!" "I''m willing to, but are you also open to sharing me with other women?" "Ha!" The sound of surprise from Xu Hui made the demon lord laugh uncontrollably. "Do you think that I will remain with just one woman?!" "You people from the fox clan, so shameless!" "Shameless? But at least I told you what to expect before preparing to offer gifts to the sect leader. Since I can''t call him your father enough, at least sect leader would suffice." The look of daggers that Xu Hui sent the way of the demon lord was enough to roast a lesser man, but Hei Zhurong was no ordinary man, he was the ruler of the demon realm! "Looking at me that way, is not going to change what has happened." "This was your plan?! To take me away from the protection of the YuanLi sect!" "Not at first." "Then what changed?!" "I can''t tell you yet, until I''m sure of what led to it." "I don''t care anymore, whether you choose to tell me or not. I know that the YuanLi sect leader would do everything to get his daughter back!" "But you are not is daughter." The words of the demon lord stung Xu Hui, which made her almost fly out of the bed to hit him. "Did you really take off my robes or was it someone else?!" "I wanted to protect your chastity, but..." The demon lord shrugged his shoulders as his words trailed off, that seemed to incite Xu Hui into another fit of anger. "Are you trying to damage my reputation! I thought you were only teasing at first, but if that is really what you did, I''ll.." "You will do what?!" The demon lord was spoiling for a fight with the BaoXu disciple, who was red in the face from a combination of anger and humiliation. "I''ll kill you! No matter what it takes!" "Are you ready to face the harem I''ll be leaving behind?! If you manage to kill me, that is if! If you actually do, just be prepared for some angry women to come after you." "Let them come! Who says I''m scared!" The demon lord went into another round of laughter, within a single day Xu Hui had made him laughed more than the many years he had lived in the demon realm. She was very headstrong, even though she knew that nothing would come out of what she was doing, yet she would keep at it. "You didn''t ask how I brought you here?" Once consumed by anger, Hei Zhurong noticed that the BaoXu sect disciple was hardly able to maintain rational thought, she would remain fixed on that one thing for a while. "You must have poisoned everyone or killed everyone there, is that what you were going to tell me!" "Xu Hui why do you think so poorly of me?" "How am I supposed to see you beyond anything, but pure evil!" "Alright! I will not tell you." That was when Xu Hui''s eyes narrowed in distrust at the man that said he was the fox prince. "I need to speak to your father! I''m sure he doesn''t know the evil that is son is doing right under his nose!" "I''m afraid you will not be able to speak to my father, he has been sleeping for a very long time." What Demon Lord Zhurong was trying to say by stretching the truth was that, his father was dead, but he said it as though he was in a long slumber. "Who can I speak to?! How about your mother?!" "There is nothing that my mother can do." The demon queen had passed away many years before her husband, the males from the demon realm lived longer than their females. "Why?!" "My mother no longer exists in this world." Hearing the solemn way that the demon lord mentioned his mother, made the anger that surged within Xu Hui to fade away. "I''m sorry for bringing up your mother, Fox Prince Rong." Xu Hui felt ashamed for making the "fox prince" talk about a s?ns?t?v? and probably painful part of his life. There was a look of sadness reflected in her midnight dark eyes, while looking at the luminiscent ones of the demon lord. "How did the fox king and your mother meet?" This was where Hei Zhurong had to stick to the story that he told the guards at the gate of the YuanLi sect. "She was his chamber maid. You haven''t eaten since I brought you here, let me get someone to bring us some food." The demon lord change subject so quickly, it was almost as if he felt a sense of guilt for leading Xu Hui on. "For the first time, I will know what the food at the fox clan tastes like." Although, she sensed when he shifted the direction of the conversation, Xu Hui went on with it, thinking that he had not yet overcome the pain from his past. "While we are waiting for the food to come in, I''m going to tell you how we got here." The BaoXu sect disciple looked at the demon lord with rapt attention. "I had to create a replica of ourselves and leave them at the hall we were." Hearing the "fox prince" speak of such a high level of magic, made Xu Hui wonder what type of person she had in the room. Meanwhile, they were in a separate world within the demon realm, which was heavily guarded by men specially chosen by the demon lord to keep watch over the woman that he brought from the YuanLi sect. "That is a very high level of magic, to do such a thing is beyond the imagination of an ordinary disciple cultivator. A sect leader could perform such level of magic and that is if he was from one of the top ranking sects." "You can now see why I said you cannot beat Chen Yueming." "Stop! I don''t want to hear this again!" Xu Hui placed her hand to her ears, wanting to block the words of "fox prince" despite something from within that was telling her that the words he spoke rang true. After much reassurance, the mistress of the GuBaiJin sect eventually gave in to her husband. As he was about to travel out of his body, some of the disciples of the sect rushed into the hall. "Greetings, Sect Leader Jin!" "Greetings Lady Jin." The men bowed in greeting to their sect leader and his wife, they had similar anxious looks on their faces. "What is the matter?! Why are you all here?!" They could hardly contain themselves from the thing that was making them very frightened. "Sect Leader Jin, it is the fox king!" "What does he have to say, speak up and stop wasting my time!" The delay in reply was beginning to raise the ire of the sect leader, whose brows were already twitching in impatience. "The message that was sent from the fox clan was transcribed." "Go on!" Sect leader Jin lost his composure at this point, by barking at the disciple to hasten what he had to tell. "Fox King Yan wants GuBaiJin sect to answer back to the marriage edict of the fox princess!" "What has her marriage have to do with us at GuBaiJin sect?! Where is the letter?!" The sect leader was helped up by his servants back to his chair by the mistress of the sect. One of the disciples bowed as he passed the letter to his sect leader, who almost snatched it out of his hand to look at the details of the writing. "We haven''t finished dealing with the possibility that demons would be attacking at any time, now I am receiving a letter from a clan that hates the pugilistic world! What else could go wrong?!" Not long after he made the statement, some other disciples rushed in to let their sect leader know that Jin Tieguai was causing trouble again. "Sect Leader Jin! Jin Tieguai was seen in the room of head teacher Jin and hasn''t been back since then!" "I''m sure the head teacher can handle the good for nothing sluggard! I regret bringing him to the sect! He is the mistake I''ll carry to my grave!" "We fear he may have done something to head teacher Jin!" "Is Jin Caihe a child?! If he cannot handle someone like Jin Tieguai, he needs to give up the position of head teacher and become a farmer instead!" The disciples that reported the occurrence, shriveled up from the harsh words from their sect leader. "We are sorry for provoking sect leader." "Now to the matter at hand! Who among the disciples of GuBaiJin sect is fit to be the future king of the fox clan?!" Jin Ruimin knew that when it came to choosing an husband for the princess of the fox clan, that person had to be someone that was outstanding in everything, the only one that seemed to meet the requirement was the head teacher of the sect, Jin Caihe. "How about head teacher Jin?" Jin Huiyan wasn''t the type to talk much unless it was absolutely necessary, both she and her husband did not want to offend the fox king, because they could prove to be a worthy ally in the coming future. "Xuequi sit down, there is something else I and your mother would like to talk with you about." The fox princess looked at her grandfather for a prolonged period, before fashioning a seat for herself from her fox fire. "Yes, Fox King." When they saw that she gave them her full attention, that was when her grandfather began speaking. "GuBaiJin sect is one of the most respectable sect in the heavenly realm." When Yan Xuequi heard what her grandfather said, she had to take a closer look at him to be sure that he was the one speaking and not someone else. "I grew up hearing that all cultivators are bad, why are you bringing up the GuBaiJin sect?" Yan Shuchang fed his children and grandchildren the poisonous fruit of hatred towards those that came from the pugilistic world. To secure the future of his powerful grandchild and the fox clan, he wanted an alliance with the most prominent sect in the heavenly realm. "My time to step down as the leader of the fox clan is drawing near and among my children and grandchildren, your power almost rivals mine from my youth. In as much as I abhor all cultivators and what they practice, I want you to have an anchor that you can fall back on. This can only be possible through marrying into a strong sect." Yan Xuequi looked at her grandfather through eyes that held confusion and mistrust, "How could she trust his words, when he made her believe that cultivators were bad people?! If they were that evil, was he saying that he was going to marry her off to them, in spite of that?" Past... "My nephew, please.... take go...od care of.... our Xu... Hui." The uncle of the sect leader of the BaoXu sect coughed while speaking to his nephew. The young man nodded solemnly as he took the basket that held his baby cousin in one hand. The parents of the child were very sickly, according to the priest, their illness was as a result of the strong energy that was inside their daughter and it was only by being among other cultivators and walking the path of cultivation could the dark energy within her subside. "Yes Uncle, I promise to look after cousin Xu Hui." Both couples dressed in simple robes of blue, the strange illness had taken over their body giving them a somewhat skeletal appearance. "Promise us that you would never tell her the truth of her birth." The mother of the newborn begged her nephew in-law, her eyes were about to release the tears that were behind them. "Yes, I promise not to reveal the secret if her birth to her." "If anyone asks you can claim her as your own. Just don''t let her know that she is the reason that we are dying." "Uncle! How can I, an unmarried man claim my cousin to be my child, are you trying to ruin my chances of getting a wife?!" The sect leader spoke in a voice of mock indignation, he knew that his uncle was only trying to look out for his daughter. "I''m sorry for placing such a huge burden on you." "It is okay uncle, I will look after my cousin as you and aunt would have wanted." "It is getting late, we would leave our child to your hands." "My daughter Xu Hui, my baby..." The mother of the child started to cry, as her husband held her in his arms. The two began walking out of the sect doors to the nearest town they could find. "You have destroyed the lives of your parents, my only wish is that you remain unseen, do nothing, speak nothing and merely go your way without leaving a trace of your presence to be felt by others. Live in darkness and die alone in darkness, do not reach for what isn''t yours, stay hidden." The young man words were spoken out of bitterness, because of seeing his beloved uncle waste away from the child he had. The sect leader didn''t know that the words he uttered that afternoon was the catalyst to the destruction of his niece and clan. ------------ Xu Hui grew year after year and began practicing martial arts and several sword skills of the sect. Along the way she met Feng Yueming, he was one of the numerous people that had applied to be taken into the BaoXu sect as a disciple. They both practiced sword skills together with other cultivators from their class and alone in secret. With time the two of them became somewhat close, because of Xu Hui''s bright personality, Feng Yueming was drawn to her. In spite of the stern looks her cousin sent her way, that did not deter the female disciple from mixing with other disciples both male and female and gathering knowledge from them. "Has anyone seen Xu Hui?" It was Feng Yueming asking his fellow disciples of the whereabouts of the female disciple that had caught his eyes. "Someone saw her go to the library." "Are you sure she is there?" "Feng Yueming, stop asking us! Go and find her yourself! We already told you what we know!" The disciple that was called Feng Yueming was a youthful disciple with decent looks, he glared at the person that spoke not happy with the response from the disciple cultivator. It was after morning lessons and they were all gathered at the table to eat. "There is no need to give you the evil look, just go to the library and see if she is there!" They all nodded in unison at the sage words of the disciple that spoke. "I''m leaving, there is no need to shout!" "Who is shouting?!" Feng Yueming ignored the disciple and left for the library to look for Xu Hui. "That Feng Yueming, what is with him and Xu Hui?!" "So you also noticed!" "One has to be blind not to see the way those two go about almost holding hands!" "I tell you! It is best to stay away from females of any kind!" "You don''t have to tell me! With the way Feng Yueming is going, nothing good would come out of it." "Don''t blame Feng Yueming! It is Xue Hui! She is the one that his misleading him!" "We are all back to the same point! Females are to be shunned at all cost unless it is time to get married!" "There is a reason why we don''t have lessons together, it is because of things like this!" "Let me speak my mind, I think that Feng Yueming is as much to blame as Xu Hui." "Whose side are you on?!" "I''m not trying to chose sides, it is just that Xu Hui has never come looking for Feng Yueming, it is always the other way round." "I see, it is people like you that end up with wives that have no substance!" "You are missing the point, I have nothing against Feng Yueming, I just don''t want Xu Hui to be spoken to in such way." "In what way?! Tell me!" "Everybody calm down! The person that you are all talking about has left already!" "Some of you are trying to paint Xu Hui as a temptress and that isn''t who she is, it is Feng Yueming that we need to be weary of!" "Tsk! What do you expect from a weak minded person!" "If being weak minded means that I have to say what is right, then so be it!" "This is not getting us anywhere, it is not any of our concern who among them is being improper." "Let''s stop talking about them, it is only creating division among us!" The cultivators slowly resumed their meal, after engaging in a passionate discussion about the two disciples from their sect. ------- Feng Yueming kept walking through the courtyard that led to the area of the forbidden library which he guessed that Xu Hui was at. None of the junior disciples were able to unlock the shelve where the ancient writing was kept. Never once did the female disciple question how she was able to open the shelve and look through the ancient scroll in secret. Her ears suddenly picked up the sound of approaching feet, making her to dash across the library to return the scroll that she took back to the shelve. The dark energy that dwelt within her, although it had lain dormant, it was still able to resonate with the special spells that were put on the shelves to safeguard the ancient writings, breaking the spell on them, so deceptive was the powers that she had, that not even the people that created the spells knew that it had been tampered with and restored to its original state. Each time Xu Hui went in, she always thought it was either the shelve wasn''t properly secured or her classmates were not as intelligent as she was in getting to read the forbidden scrolls. "I finally found you junior disciple sister!" "Feng Yueming! What are you doing at the library?!" The forbidden library was open to all disciple, for viewing the design of the structure, none ever thought to keep strict watch over the place, because they felt confident in their level of spell use. Little did they know that someone from the sect was stealing in to read the writings in the locked compartment. "I''m just looking around, isn''t it beautiful?" "Yes, very beautiful." Meanwhile, Feng Yueming wasn''t referring to the beauty of the library, instead the beauty in question was Xu Hui, who wasn''t aware that she was the object of his interest. "Have you finished looking around?" "Yes, I''m ready to leave." The two of them walked out of the library, greeting the disciples that stood guard at the entrance into the library. "Where are we going?" "To watch the flowers." "I want to see if they would bloom as brightly as they did yesterday." Feng Yueming took Xu Hui to see the snow pink flowers which swayed to the passing wind. "I could never get tired of looking at them." Xu Hui smiled brightly as she looked at the tree that Feng Yueming brought her to see. "I also." It was a peaceful silence as the two of them stared at the tree each in a world of their own. After some time, Feng Yueming asked, "Junior disciple sister, if one of us propose to you, would you accept?" "Brother Feng, what do you mean?" Xu Hui looked at the disciple cultivator not knowing what to make of his remark. "If you one of us walk up to you and says he likes you, would you accept him?" Feng Yueming was scared to ask Xu Hui directly, instead he chose an indirect approach to learn the true state of her heart. "I''m not ready to consider anyone as of yet." "When will you be ready?" Feng Yueming waited with bated breath for the female disciple to give him a positive answer. "I don''t know." "What do you mean you don''t know junior sister disciple?!" "It is as I said, I''m not sure when I will be ready." "What if the person decides to wait until when you are ready." Xu Hui laughed when she heard what Feng Yueming said, to her it was foolishness to wait on someone when you never know when they would be prepared. "Is what I said very funny?" For some reason, Feng Yueming felt slightly offended that Xu Hui was not taking his words seriously. "I''m sorry Brother Feng, I wasn''t trying to make a mock you." "It''s okay, I''m not angry." Although Feng Yueming said he wasn''t angry, his face had a rigid look to them. "If it were someone like me." It was spoken to softly that Xu Hui almost that she misheard him. "Brother Feng is my senior whom I respect, you deserve the best among all women! Don''t forget to invite me when you decide to get married." "I deserve the best, you say?" "Yes, Brother Feng. I don''t see myself getting to meet someone in your rank as possible. I treasure every disciple of the sect both male and female, they are like my flesh and blood. In as much as I cherish them as my brother and sister, I do not want to wreck the bond that we have by placing the strain of marriage into it." Feng Yueming saw through the response of Xu Hui, which was that she would never marry anyone from the BaoXu sect and that included him. He didn''t want to cause further embarrassment to himself by coming clean and letting her know he was the one they were speaking about. What good would it do if she knew that he liked her, she wan''t going to see him as anything more than a brother to her. The thought made the disciple cringe inside, he didn''t want to be her brother, instead he wanted to confess his feelings to her. Now that she came clean and told him where he stood in regards to her heart, Feng Yueming made the decision to get rid of Xu Hui. If he couldn''t have her, then no one else would. "I understand what you mean junior sister disciple, your words are wise indeed. It is best not to spoil the bond of friendship with the heartache of marriage. I have learned something from you today." It wasn''t that Feng Yueming was happy with what Xu Hui said nor did he go along with it on a good mind. Rather, he was putting together everything that she said and using them to fan the embers of his hatred towards her. "Call General Hei!" The merciless lilac blue eyes followed the movement of the guards stationed inside his palace. A moment later, the general walked into the throne room. Full body armor that looked like they were carved out of dark hard rocks. From the demon lord to his subjects, everyone of them was dressed in black. There was no emotion in the golden eyes of the general, the eye color of everyone was how they were ranked and judged. The pure blood from the royal family were lilac blue that looked as though they were blue flames. They both exchanged greeting, after which the demon lord told his general what he wanted to do. "Before we leave for WuYangChen sect, I need to pay a visit to YuanLi sect." "If I may ask, why Demon Lord Zhurong?!" The general looked baffled by the unusual way the demon lord was acting, they were about to lay siege on a sect and here he was trying to gallivant to another sect. "I need to see for myself the person that is parading to be the young mistress of YuanLi sect." Hearing the explanation of his leader did not come as a surprise to the general. He knew that the demon lord was only going there to fulfill his curiosity. "As long as he makes it back on time and not throw the plan behind, he can do whatever he wants. Even if I say he shouldn''t go, he does look to be in the mood to listen to anything!" The general kept a close look at the demon lord, who wasn''t looking any different, but being that the general had been around him for a long time, he could tell that something was amiss. One of the guards was fidgeting when the two were conversing with each other, being short tempered, demon lord Zhurong didn''t move an inch of his body nor did he turn his neck to pin point the guard, from where he sat looking at his general, a subtle fast movement of his hand was followed by a cracking sound that came from a bone being snapped into two. General Hei didn''t allow his face to reflect any of the things that was going through his mind. He was already used to the demon lord''s brutality. To him it was just another day in the demon realm. When the rest of them saw what had happened to their comrade, they became more alert. "Clean up that place." When the guard fell to the ground after his death, his body became that of tarry ash which lay scattered on the dark floor. Hearing the command of the demon lord drove the men into action and in no time, the floor was cleaned by them. "If she pleases me, I''ll bring her back to the demon realm as my pet." "I thought you already have plenty of them." "It is never enough, there is always the draw to something new. Moreover, I haven''t had one from a cultivation sect!" The two eventually parted ways with the demon lord leaving his kingdom in search of the YuanLi sect. The Queen mother had a demure look, not wishing to have a say in the talk regarding her daughter''s impending marriage. "Who do at the GuBaiJin sect do you want me to get married to?" The children held onto the folds of their mother''s robes in fear, they never liked to visit the fox clan and it was even more scary for them to be led away from the usual comfort of the mortal realm. They were back at the centerpiece of the fox clan, where only the royals could venture into. Mou Hairong saw her older sister sit by the side of their father. The fox king''s hair had grown whiter and looked like a sixty year old mortal. "Yidan! Zimu! Go and pay your greetings to grandfather!" "Ma! I don''t want to, I''m scared!" "Yidan!" The older twin dragged his brother to where their grandfather sat with their cousin Xuequi and Aunt Meifang. The older princess gave her sister a slight nod, while glancing in the general direction of her nephews. Meanwhile, Princess Xuequi sat tight lipped facing her grandfather and mother. She saw her cousins walk towards their grandfather, but she couldn''t call out a greeting to them as this would unleash the anger of her grandfather on the both of them. "Greetings Fox King!" They both spoke timidly while looking at the stern man that sat in front of them, to the little boys he was very intimidating. "Come here, let me see how much you''ve grown." The fox king didn''t need to raise his voice to send the twins closer to him, he patted both in the head, before letting them go back to their mother. "Greetings Fox King. Why did you send for us?" Mou Hairong didn''t want to show the resentment that was buried deep in her heart towards her father, to her the fox king was more like a ruler than a father. The only thing he gave them free reign on was their marriage, which in a sense was more like a lack of concern than anything else. "I brought you hear so that you could talk some sense to her niece and also see my grandchild." "What is it, that is troubling father?" Mou Hairong had to play the part of a doting daughter to her father from a very young age. "I sent a letter to GuBaiJin sect asking for to send us the best of their disciple to form an alliance with the fox clan through Xuequi''s marriage." Mou Hairong almost snorted in disbelief, "How could her father lower himself to be seeking a marriage prospect for a princess from a strong clan like theirs?!" Looking at the way her niece sat on the chair, Mou Hairong knew that it will take a lot to convince her of marrying into a sect, when her grandfather, mother and aunt had already warned her against keeping close acquaintance with anyone that came from the heavenly realm. The Princess Aunt had to muster up courage to speak to her niece about her impending marriage to a powerful sect. Meanwhile, the twins kept looking at the faces of the people that were in the room, they wanted to run over to greet Yan Xuequi, but the presence of their grandfather made them decide against it. Demon Lord Zhurong on his way out of his kingdom changed his robes from their usual dark color to one of red. He was curious to see the the female cultivator that was pretending to be the daughter of a sect leader. After a while, he soon arrived at the forest that led to the YuanLi sect, choosing to walk the rest of the way to the front entrance of the sect. From the outside, he looked like a handsome man from one of the cultivation sects. His crown was disguised to those of a gold and ruby, this way none would be able to tell that he was from the demon realm. He had no weapon on him, not even something as simple as a dagger, as he made his way to the gate of the YuanLi sect. Th only thing he brought with him was the mirror of yao, the magical tool that masked the spiritual energy of the one that wields it. Demon Lord Zhurong greeted the men at the gate, "Greetings, I am Rong from the fox clan. I wish to have an audience with Lady Li." The disciples that stood guard stared at the man claimed to be from the fox clan, never had they seen anyone from there, he had an strange beauty to him that made them look with discomfort at him, how were they supposed to confirm that he was who he said he was? Every sect in the heavenly realm knew that the fox clan kept to themselves and chose not to ?ssociate with those from the heavenly realm. On the other hand they could neither discredit his words, because looking at him made them think of the things they had read from the books at the library about them. To the disciples, people from the fox clan were beautiful beyond what the eyes had ever seen, their youthful look remained with them for thousands of years, before eventually growing hold and reverting to their true form of a fox. Sadly, the ancient books didn''t tell of the people from the demon realm, because they hid their faces behind a mask, history recorded them as devious and hellish monsters, but in reality they were as beautiful if not more beautiful than the people from the fox clan. "We have never heard of you, do you have any relations with the fox king?" One of the YuanLi disciples presumably the leader, asked the man that stood in front of his sect''s gate. To him, only those that were related to the royal house of the fox clan could be shown to their mistress, anyone that wasn''t in such a high position would either be told to wait until the sect leader came or be shamefully sent away. Demon Lord Zhurong smiled at the men, he knew where they were going with the question, to them, their mistress was too good to see just anyone that showed up their gate. "I''m Fox Prince Rong, an illegitimate child of Fox King Yan. I was conceived from the union with one of his chamber maid." This time the men looked very uncomfortable, it was no laughing matter, but the man who claimed to be the fox prince smiled as those he was talking about the weather or some little subject. There was no trace of shame in his voice, it was as though he felt proud of himself for being an illegitimate child. Who gets proud for being born out of wedlock? Neither of them voiced out their inner thought, but the demon lord could read their expression for what it was, almost breaking into a full blown laughter. "What should we do? We can''t possibly leave him standing here, what would people say if they knew that we didn''t let the fox prince in?" One of them asked the person that was probably the leader, "His identity hasn''t been confirmed, we can''t just let anyone that claims to be from the fox clan in! What if it is someone from the demon realm?! I heard they have begun killing people from other sects! If sect leader Li knew that we let anyone near his daughter, we would all be beaten to death!" Demon Lord Zhurong was no fool, there was no way that a disciple cultivator would believe the words of a stranger without any proof, which was why he pulled out a glowing necklace which the fox king had given his mother during his visit to the demon realm, as a gift to show no ill will to the demon kingdom. It was forged from the fox fire of Fox King Yan, the gift could pass for one that a royalty would give to their spouse or lover. "Father gave it to mother as a token of the love he had for her and when I was born it was passed onto me." Demon Lord Zhurong lied without any shame, he saw the shift in their expression, it was no longer one of suspicion, but one of confusion and guilt, probably from not believing his words at first. "That is fox fire! Who else can use fox fire if not someone from the fox clan! The necklace is glowing with blue flames within them. I heard it is eternal, the fire never goes out unless the one that owns it dies!" Who knew the necklace would become useful for what he had in mind, within him demon lord zhurong was thankful that the fox king gave his mother the then demon queen such a magnanimous gift. "Can I have my necklace back?" The leader passed the glowing jewelry back to the demon lord, who placed it back on his neck. "Fox Prince Rong, please follow me inside." This time around, they all gave demon lord zhurong a deep bow, although he was supposedly illegitimate, he was still considered the prince of the fox clan, who may possibly take over and become the fox king in his "father''s" stead. Therefore, the disciples of YuanLi sect did not want to offend the future fox king. The demon lord walked behind the leader of the guards, as he was shown into an hall that was made elaborately made. He took a seat on one of the finely crafted chairs, while the disciple that showed him in bowed to the "fox prince" again, before taking his leave. "I can''t wait to see their faces when they discover who they let into their grounds. Ha!" The demon lord was feeling delighted at the thought of seeing the YuanLi sect disciples misery when they finally find out that it was demon lord zhurong that walked into their sect. -------- "Please can you let Young Miss Li know that Fox Prince Rong is here to see her?" The guard asked the chamber maids that waited by the entrance that led to the door of LI Jiao''s chambers. "But our young miss said that she doesn''t want anyone to disturb her sleep!" "What do we do?!" "For some time now, Young Miss Li, has been in a bad mood. I fear losing my head if we go in and wake her up!" "So are we going to leave a fox prince waiting?!" The guard was beginning to get frustrated by the situation, he didn''t understand why the young mistress of the YuanLi sect was beginning to get very difficult, even when she was ill, she was still as easy going and open to everyone. He heard of what took place at the banquet held in her honor and how blood was almost shed on that day. The guard kept wondering how one person could change that fast in a single day. Had the water damaged her senses? Although the thought sounded ridiculous, the guard just wanted to find a reason for the strange behavior of the daughter of their sect leader. "Please, we can''t keep the fox prince waiting, it would cause the sect to lose face. I know that Young Miss Li would not want that!" The maids looked from one to the other, they suddenly feared their mistress, whom in the past they never had any reason to, there was just something about her that made them shiver in fear. How could they tell the sect leader of something the could not put a name to, if they went up to him and sprouting such nonsense about his daughter having an air of evil around her. They knew where that would lead, not only would they be beaten to death, their bodies would never be found and given a decent burial! Taking a deep breath, the women that served Li Jiao during the time she was alive, tentatively knocked at the door of her bedchambers to announce themselves. "Young Miss Li, we are hear to get you dressed to see your visitor, the fox prince!" There was no voice that came from inside after one of them spoke. "Young Miss Li?!" The knock became a little louder, probably they thought that she was deep asleep and didn''t hear them. "Young Miss Li!" Inside the bedchambers of Li Jiao, Xu Hui was not really sleeping, she hadn''t been able to sleep after she came back from her sect, her eyes were merely closed with her mind wandering from place to place. When she heard the knock on her door, Xu Hui was not happy that she had to be disturbed even though she wasn''t even sleeping. "They say the fox prince wants to see me, but when did the demon king have a son? Was it after my death? Why does he want to see me? I thought that their clan never came out of their mountains to see anyone from a cultivation sect!" Xu Hui pondered on what could be the reason for the visit of a fox prince to the YuanLi sect with a frown that formed on her forehead causing them to crease. After some time, Xu Hui asked for her maids to come inside. "Come in!" The door was slowly pushed to the side, as several women walked into the room of Li Jiao. "Greetings, Young Miss Li. We are sorry to disturb you when you had already ordered for us not to wake you up." The bedchamber attendants of the young mistress of the YuanLi sect, bowed again in respect to the person that they took to be Li Jiao. "Has he been here for long?" "No, Young Miss Li. One of the guards came in as soon as he was shown in." "Did he say what the visit was about?" "I''m sorry, Young Miss Li, but the guard never told us what the fox prince wanted to see you about." "I see, What a rude fellow!" The women were already uncomfortable being around Xu Hui, now that she raised her voice which she hardly ever did and called the fox royalty a distasteful name, that made them uneasy. "Are you going to keep standing there? Or would you rather I stand up and get myself dressed?!" "No, Young Miss Li. Please forgive your ignorant servants! The women scrambled to begin setting the robe and other item of clothing for the young mistress of the YuanLi sect, a few of them ran out to get the wooden tub and washcloths for her, her hair pin and earrings were carefully looked at to pick the one that would give her the presence of a respectable young miss. While all this was going on, Xu Hui still laid on the bed, rather than getting up, probably waiting to be helped out of the bed by the maids. It didn''t take them long to set everything that she would need for her meeting with the fox prince out. "Young Miss Li, it is time for your bath." Four of them ?ssisted Xu Hui out of the bed and walked with her to the space within the room where a big wooden tub was waiting to be used. One by one, they took off her clothing, to place her gently into the steamy hot tub. After a while, Xu Hui was ready to meet with the fox prince that waited for her at the hall of the YuanLi sect. Accompanied by her chambermaids, the young mistress of the YuanLi sect, was announced into the hall where the fox prince sat. "Greetings Fox Prince! I am Li Jiao, daughter of Sect Leader Li" Xu Hui curtsied to the man that rose up on his feet when she walked into the hall, the demon lord held his composure, while looking at the woman that portrayed herself as the young mistress of the sect. He smiled amicable and returned her greeting likewise. "Greetings Young Mistress of the YuanLi sect, I''m Prince Rong from the fox clan." After exchanging greetings the two sat across from each other. "Bring some wine for the fox prince!" Demon lord Zhurong carefully watched the movement of the woman that sat in front of him. He only had the painting of the sect leader''s daughter, but had never met her in person. Looking at her face, he saw the gentle beauty and gracefulness displayed by the woman that was masquerading as Li Jiao. That made me wonder who the "real" Li Jiao was, while waiting on the wine to be served. "Forgive my manners fox prince, I hope you like drinking wine or there is always tea. I have never been to the fox clan, therefore I know next to nothing about what the people of your clan eat or drink." "Wine is okay, I don''t like to eat when I leave the fox clan. I have a weak constitution for food that are not made from my clan, but I can tolerate any kind of wine." "I''m sorry to hear that, Fox Prince Rong. I was about to ask the kitchen to prepare us some food." It wasn''t that the demon lord couldn''t eat outside food, but the impurities which were in the form of the spiritual energy that came from being around anyone that had spiritual energy for cultivation was usually highest in foods unlike wine. Wine had some spiritual energy in them from their indirect contact with anyone that possessed that form of energy, but the demon lord knew from experience that he wasn''t going to eat anything that came out of the heavenly realm, due to their spiritual energy which was like a poison to him. The mirror of Yao was suppressing his demon energy, which made him less susceptible to the poisonous environment that he was in, the mask that would have prevented him from breathing in the poison was tucked away inside the layers of the robe he was wearing. "Fox Prince Rong, could you tell me what brings you to my humble sect?" The way Xu Hui spoke anyone would have taken her to be the young mistress of the sect, she sat with such dignity and poise. The epitome of gracefulness! "Young Miss Li, why don''t we wait on the wine to be brought in, before I talk about the reason for coming to the YuanLi sect?" Xu Hui could see that the fox prince was going to prove difficult to handle, although he looked very calm and easygoing. There was one thing the BaoXu sect disciple couldn''t stand, being kept waiting, now that she had been reborn, it was as if her patience was almost nonexistent. She could kill anyone that kept her waiting for too long. Although, it was only a short time since the servants had gone in to get the wine for their mistress, to Xu Hui they weren''t as fast enough for her. She was already boiling inside from the mannerless fox prince, and having to sit by him for how long was making her shifting in her seat with discomfort. "Is your seat not to your liking? Or is it that you don''t want to sit and would rather take a walk around?" The BaoXu sect disciple thought she had hidden it well from the fox prince, her growing irritation, but for him to point it out to her, made Xu Hui realize that he was not an easy man to deal with. "Thank you for your concern Fox Prince Rong, but I am quite comfortable from where I''m sitting." Xu Hui had to bite her tongue from lashing out at the annoying fox royalty. She saw the knowing smile he sent her way, this made her wish like slapping the smile off his face! They soon heard an approaching tinkling sound and knew that the wine was about to be brought inside. One after the other, the maids set the tray bearing the porcelain green kettle and small cup on the table in front of their mistress and the fox prince. "Thank you! You may all wait by the door!" Demon Lord Zhurong, smiled and gave a nod at the women, before facing the one that he left his kingdom to see. Xu Hui poured the pale colored wine from the kettle into her cup, while the demon lord did the same. After lifting the cup to take a sip of the wine, did the demon lord finally open up to discuss the purpose of his visit to the YuanLi sect. "Young Miss Li, I heard you paid a visit to the BaoXu sect, should someone as sickly as you be going to such a dangerous place alone?" The BaoXu sect disciple looked at the man across from her, his had a cordial smile that brightened his already handsome face. Xu Hui did not know why his presence made her uneasy, he was smiling and yet there was just something that was not quite right while looking at him. "News really travel fast to the fox clan! Who would have thought the little walk to another sect would become a fodder of gossip in another realm. You must have a lot of time on your hands to be paying attention to things like that!" The demon lord heard the bite in her voice, while silently laughing inside him. "Young Miss Li, if my father does not show much interest in what is going on in other realms. I, Prince Rong, have to do so, for the future of the fox clan! Show such interest no matter how insignificant would let me ensure the protection of my people." "But there was something that I heard and I silenced others from spreading the news. Is it true that you are Xu Hui?!" The demon lord dropped the cadence of his tone to almost that of a whisper. When the words left his mouth, the cup that Xu Hui held fell to the floor with a clatter. "Young Miss Li, are you alright?!" The servants heard the sound of broken cup and left where they were to see if their mistress was hurt. "I''m..okay." Xu Hui looked very rattled by what the "fox prince" said, "How did anyone find out that I am not Li Jiao, but Xu Hui of the BaoXu sect?! I never told anyone except Fu Zian. After I saved his life, he chose to betray me?!!!" The BaoXu sect disciple thought that the one that betrayed her to the fox clan was Fu Zian, not knowing that the demon lord had spies about. If the demon lord already knew of her duplicity, then the GuBaiJin sect may not be too far behind on the deception, because the sect leader also had spies too in other sects. "Leave us alone!" "But what about the broken cup, Young Miss Li?!" "You can return later and have them cleaned up! Can''t you see that I''m having a discussion with the fox prince?!" Xu Hui ordered the servants to return back to their post, although they did as commanded, the look of worry for their young mistress was evident in their eyes. "You need to treat your servants better Young Miss Li?" The mask of gentility that Xu Hui had worn for some days now, finally shattered under the influence of the "fox prince" who she didn''t know of his existence until today. "You''re right! I am Xu Hui of the BaoXu sect that reincarnated into the body of the sect leader''s daughter of YuanLi sect!" "How does it feel to know that the one that killed you is walking about and actually married to the young mistress of the WuYangChen sect." "Brother Feng is now the sect leader of WuYangChen sect?!" "You still give him so much respect, it seems that you can take a pig out of the swine, but you can never get rid of its ugly nature." "Who is the pig?!!!" Xu Hui hated the man that had discovered who she was, knowing that her murderer was living a good life, while she was dying from walking the path of infernal cultivation. The bitterness taht was in her heart rose up once again, she though he had died from the massacre at her sect, only to be told that he now had a higher position and was living well. Overcome by the emotion within her, the eyes of Xu Hui flashed to the color of crimson, which was only possible if she was either about to use the blood flail technique or was enraged. "Xu Hui, be careful! You don''t want to be thrown out so soon after waking up in your new body." Wanting to get back at the fox prince for putting her in such a tight predicament, the BaoXu sect disciple, discretely held her hand under the table and formed them a fist with it. Instantly, the demon lord felt as if his insides were being squeezed so tight. He began coughing blood on the table that was set in front of him, staining the robes he wore and the floor. Holding on to his belly, Demon Lord Zhurong faced Xu Hui with eyes full of pain. "Is this something that your sect taught you?!" Xu Hui''s face reflected the confusion that was in her heart and guilt coupled with pain, she was practicing a technique that was frowned upon by her sect and hearing the "fox prince" ask made her remember how much she had strayed away from the right path. "It is a forbidden technique." Just that simple statement made Xu Hui shut her eyes in silent affirmation of what the demon lord said to her. "I would do what it takes to exact my revenge on Feng Yueming!" "You can keep looking for him all you want, but there is no one that goes by the name Feng Yueming anymore." The demon lord wiped at his mouth with the sleeves of his robes, while speaking to the BaoXu sect disciple. "What do you mean that there is no one that goes by that name?! Didn''t you just tell me that Brother Feng isn''t dead and is the sect leader?!" "There is no longer a cultivator with the name Feng Yueming, but there is one that goes by the name Chen Yueming and he is married to the daughter of the former sect leader." Since Xu Hui was so upset, she wasn''t thinking right when the demon lord first told her that Feng Yueming was now the sect leader, even if he had changed names, his position was still the same, so as long as she knew he was the sect leader, it shouldn''t matter if he wasn''t going by the name she knew him as while they were at BaoXu sect. "Being reborn as made you quite ignorant. Are you sure you would be able face him?" The demon lord smiled at the obvious foolishness that Xu Hui was displaying in the face of hearing about her archenemy. "I have already killed him a million times in my head, I just need to see him in person to put my thought into action!" "I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but you would never be able to kill Sect Leader Chen the way you are now!" Xu Hui looked at her visitor with the look that read, "What is he even talking about?!" Demon Lord Zhurong kept watching Xu Hui from the corner of his eyes, the BaoXu sect disciple was still looking at the sect brother that she knew from the past as possessing the same strength or probably grown just a little. "Do you know what it takes to take up the position as sect leader?!" He saw her look of unconcern on hearing what he was asking. "The person must be someone that possesses great strength, wisdom and a good example to his followers." "The Feng Yueming from that time, do you think that he would still be the same weakling that he was or now a sect leader that everyone looks up to?" The demon lord was only there to hear her thoughts, he didn''t have the mind to let her have the satisfaction of killing Chen Yueming. "You must have thought wrong! I know that he isn''t going to be the same person that her knew from our sect days, that is why I already perfected the blood flail technique!" Hei Zhurong couldn''t help but laugh at her stupidity, going up against a sect leader that had spent years acquiring the core of magical beast and absorbing their spiritual energy to enhance those of his, he wondered how he could explain to her in such a way that would not end up crushing her spirit. "Knowing a forbidden technique or two is good to face the sect leader of a low ranking sect, but going against a sect leader whose rank is falsely determined is not a good choice to make." "What do you mean?! Isn''t YuanLi sect higher than WuYangchen sect?!" "I repeat, being reborn has made you more foolish, I took a look at the BaoXu sect, weren''t you the highest in your class?" Xu Hui didn''t want to recount her days at the BaoXu sect under the circumstances that the "fox prince" was bringing them up. "I am not dull if that is what you are implying!" "If you aren''t dull then why would you not find out what you know about your enemy before you attack them?!" "I already know enough and I have enough power to crush Brother Feng! What more do I need!" "You are very foolish!" "Don''t call me that! Fox Prince Rong because I would not be able to guarantee you walking out of my sect alive, even if I have to answer to your father the fox king! You will give me the respect that is due!" "Who told you that I am really the fox king''s son?!" "If you are not his son then how did they let you in?!" "That is why I said you are foolish! You believe everything your eyes see!" "What is it to you whether I am acting foolish or not!" Xu Hui had already lost her patience with the demon lord, to her the man was impossible and there was no way she could make him see reason. "Whether I am the fox prince or not, you need to be aware of something else." "And what would that be?!" Chapter 34 - Experiment(3) "I will be taking my leave." Lin Cheng bowed once again to the Mou family before taking to the air, the twins and their father were still dumbfounded by what Mou Hairong did. Although, Yan Xuequi was also shocked by her Aunt''s behavior, she didn''t let it tie her down from running after Lin Cheng. Taking to the air, Yan Xuequi pursued Lin Cheng, and soon caught up with him. "I''m sorry for the way my Aunt spoke to you." "It''s alright, I''m sure she has her reasons." The two flew side by side under the starlit skies, which shined brightly through the dark skies. "Where would you be lodging for the night?" "I''ll return to Xuekejiu town and get a room at an inn." "I wish you didn''t have to spend money at an inn when we could easily have given you a room at the house." "That wouldn''t be necessary, I would only inconvenience the Mou family." "I''m sorry you had to be treated so poorly by my Aunt." "You don''t need to apologize, I''m really okay." Although she heard him say that he wasn''t offended by the way her Aunt behaved towards him, but Yan Xuequi didn''t feel at peace at all. "I''ll be returning to the fox clan the next day. To return to my duties." Lin Cheng heard the tranquil voice of the fox princess whose face had returned to their usual serenity. They both flew to the entrance of the town, before landing to walk the rest of the way. "You can head back now, I''ll be fine from here." "Let me at least see that you are boarded at an inn." "Princess Yan Xuequi, you are a maiden, you shouldn''t be walking into an inn with a man. Please return to your family who are waiting for you." "I..I only want to know that you have a place to sleep for the night!" Lin Cheng gave a stiff bow to the fox princess while remaining where he was, not wanting her to go any further than that. Yan Xuequi weaved an hand sign, producing a bracelet made from her fox fire. Placing them on the wrist of Lin Cheng. "This would keep you safe." Lin Cheng looked at the glowing red bracelet whose presence could not be seen by anyone other than those that had spirit energy. "Farewell Princess Yan Xuequi." "Farewell Lin Cheng of the BaoXu sect." With that said, the fox princess took off while leaving Lin Cheng to stare after her until he could no longer she a trace of her in the morning sky, which was filled with white spotless clouds. "If fate permits, we would both see each other again." Lin Cheng began his walk to where he would lodge for the night and probably many days or months ahead. --------- "Goodbye Aunt Xuequi!" The twins waved at their cousins, who was about to set out on a journey to the fox clan. "Xuequi, make sure to visit us sometime soon!" "Princess Xuequi take care of your health, we hope to see you at our home when next you come to Yiting town." Mou Yaxin had a somber look on his face, he saw how much his wife was already missing his niece, he knew that were it not because his body could not cross over to their world, he and his family would be living in the fox clan. This was a burden that the man had to bear from his marriage to an immortal being. He didn''t want to think of the time when he would grow old and die, he could already see his face starting to show signs of aging, while those of his wife had not change a bit since the time he first met her. He dread the time when they would have to part because of death, but he refused to let that show on his face. "Uncle Mou, I promise to visit often. Aunt Hairong, be good to Uncle Mou and the twins. Yidan, look after your brother well, you know he follows everything you say!" "What do you mean by ''be good'' to my husband?! Am I not trying enough already?!" "Aunt Hairong, Uncle Mou loves you unconditionally! Don''t let inconsequential things drive a wedge between the two of you." "What now? Are you now pointing out that I''m petty and I don''t love him enough?!" "Aunt Hairong! Please! Open your eyes! You and uncle don''t have much time with each other, treasure him and your children. I don''t want you to live the rest of your life in regret for not giving the best that you could in your marriage." Mou Yaxin didn''t say anything, but his eyes misted over when he heard the words of his in-law, which was as though it came directly from his heart. Although he loved his wife so much and also still did, but there were times that she tried his love so much that he felt bereft, as though he was lacking too much and there was no way he could fill the space between them. Yan Xuequi due to her bloodline could take on the shape that he wanted, whether as a little girl or as a grown woman, since she knew that she was in the home of a married couple she maintained the form of a young girl, while outside the home she would take on her true form without her fox attributes. What Mou Yaxin saw was that of a little girl and not her true form, which made him wonder how someone as young as Yan Xueqi could speak and act so wisely. Although, she didn''t mean to shout at her aunt, it was the only way she could think of to get her to appreciate what she has in her life. "I''m sorry Aunt Hairong, please just take what I say to mean that I care about you." Yan Xuequi bowed to the Mou family, before flying off, unseen to the human eyes. The Mou family walked back inside, but no matter how much Mou Hairong had lived in the mortal realm, she was still at tune with the emotion of her husband, she knew the exact moment when he cried, the image of it sent a pang of pain straight to her heart. Everything her niece said was true, she could no longer hide from what was happening, her husband was aging just like every human and she was wasting her time fighting with him over something that wasn''t really any concern of hers since she was no longer living in the fox clan, but now in the mortal realm with her earthly family. "Mou Yaxin, I''m sorry." The twins had already ran inside to play with their toys, when Mou Hairong openly apologized to her husband. "I know you are, I''m also sorry for not taking your side and causing you to lose face." In a marriage, no matter how wrong an husband or wife was, it was the duty of their spouse to take their side in public no matter what, but privately chastise them if they were in the wrong. Mou Yaxin understood that part of what it means to be married and which was why he willing owned up and begged his wife for forgiveness. The act of humility often makes the party that was in the wrong to own up quickly than passing judgement on them without giving them a chance to realize that they were wrong. "I promise to cherish our time together. You know how hard it is for me to accept when I''m wrong, I never meant to put you down in front of my niece and the cultivator. I''m sorry Mou Yaxin." They both gazed at each other with love in their eyes, before eventually giving in to a warm embrace, Mou Yaxin stroked the hair of his wife loving, while hers was resting squarely against his ?h?st. "I love you Mou Yaxin!" "I love you, Hairong!" They both declared the love they had for each other, while staring at the distance with contentment on their face. "Aunt Xuequi! We are so sorry!" Mou Yidan was the twin that began begging his cousin, before his younger twin Mou Zimu followed suit to ask for forgiveness. Yan Xuequi due to the wide gap age-wise between her Aunt''s children, she made them call her niece Aunt rather than the cousin she was to them. The twins were held in a tight hug by their cousins for quite some time before they were let go to remain by her side. "Are you and Ma angry with us?! Does she still want us back?!" Yan Xuequi looked at the teary eyes of her cousins and patted each one in the head to say, "Yidan, Zimu. Your mother is very sad because she thinks that she may not find you. When you both get home, I want you to prostrate and tell her that you would never do that again, is that clear?!" "Yes Aunt Xuequi! We''ll beg Ma!" "Zimu, you haven''t said a word." The fox princess looked at the younger twin, whose eyes were downcast and very sad with tears in them. "I don''t want Ma to abandon me. I didn''t mean to run away." "If that is what you feel in your heart, then why don''t we all go home and beg your mother. Aunt Hairong may give you and Yidan a beating or two, but as you both know how she is, she''s so quick to forgive. Make sure you give her a hug when you get back, okay?!" "Yes Aunt Xuequi!" They both chorused their agreement with following the advise of their cousin to plead with their mother. Holding each twin in one hand, Yan Xuewui walked to where the disciple cultivator stood with a smile on his face. "Thank you for finding them for me, Lin Cheng of the BaoXu sect. I will forever be grateful." The fox princess gave a deep bow to Lin Cheng, who was taken aback by her show of gratitude which looked to him to be beyond what a being of her standing who likely do to another that was of a lesser standing, since he was only a disciple from a cultivation sect, while she was a princess of a clan, because a mere simple bow would have sufficed. "You don''t need to thank me Princess Yan Xuequi. It is within my duty as a disciple to do good and help those in need, I''m happy they were not in any harms way. It''s already getting late, I''ll see you off." Lin Cheng gave a salute to the fox princess, as three pair of eyes stared back at him in response. Together the three made it out of the forest, heading into the town and straight for the home of the Mou family. Mou Yaxin the husband of Mou Hairong was an orphan, which meant that the only family the twins had was their parents and those from the fox clan, since they hated visiting the fox clan, they were stuck with just their cousin and parents as their closest family. "Have you been out long searching for them?" Lin Cheng looked at the serene face of the fox princess, as he waited on her reply. "I''ve been searching for them for about an hour, I almost thought they had drown by the river nearby." The thought that her cousins may have drown, caused a chill to pass through her body, Lin Cheng noticed the way she shook and went ahead to take off his cloak and drape it across her shoulders. It was then that they all finally got to see what he wore underneath the cloak he always had on his body. It was the purple robes of the BaoXu sect with an embroidery of the insignia of his sect on them. When he first left his sect on the journey to the mortal realm, Lin Cheng had taken off his forehead ribbon and worn a cloak to hide the identity of his sect from others, not wanting to call attention to himself to whomever he might meet on the way, while on the journey for some soul searching and enlightenment. "It''s really true that you are from a sect!" "You thought I was lying when I told you that I was?" The fox princess hadn''t really believed that Lin Cheng was from any of the cultivation sect that he claimed to be, because of all the past warning of how deceptive cultivators were and could not be trusted at all. The fox princess gave a sound, as though she didn''t believe a word of what he said to her, while watching him resume his walk back to the villagers. "The mister came back!" Those that had strength left in their voice, called out to the rest that were still alive, telling them that the man that they thought would abandon them was actually back to help them. Lin Cheng began clearing out the dead bodies and burning them to prevent the spread of the plague. Soon after he began dividing the food he bought, sharing it among the villagers, before opening the folded paper containing herbs to concoct medicine for them. The villagers still had a long way to go in getting constant food supply and water which was one of the things that the plague fed on to spread rapidly to the villagers. "Would you mind helping me dig a new well for the villagers so that at least they can have a bath?" Although the fox princess wasn''t visible to the villagers, Lin Cheng knew that she was close by, which proved to be true, as she saddened appeared in front of the villagers. "Demon!!!!!!" "There is a demon with him!" Although the villagers were still recovering their strength, many of them both young and old grabbed onto whatever they could use as a weapon to attack the girl they thought was a demon. "It''s alright! She is not a demon! Put your stick down!" "You''re lying! She is a demon! You brought a demon with you to our village! Leave right now!" "You would rather die than be saved by a demon?!" Lin Cheng looked at the dirty faces of the villagers as they hatred for the girl in front of him shined brightly in their eyes. "Leave us alone! We would rather die than be touched by a demon!" "Are you serious?! You don''t have water! Or food! Or even medicine! Once it all runs out what are you going to do?!" Lin Cheng never meant to force them to receive help from the fox princess, but he felt the villagers were being unreasonable when it was their lives that was at stake. "Leave! And take that demon girl with you!" "Don''t speak to her that way!" "If you don''t go! Don''t blame us for what we do to you!" That was when out of nowhere, someone threw a stone towards Yan Xuequi. As a fox immortal her knee senses already showed her who threw it and from which direction. Right in front of the villagers, the stone disintegrated in mid air. The hostility in their eyes were like daggers to Lin Cheng, he didn''t know why he felt that way about how the villagers were acting towards Yan Xuequi. The urge to take her away far from them resonated strong within him. "Princess Yan Xuequi, let''s go!" Usually it was unheard of for a male cultivator to hold onto the hands of a female whether married or otherwise, but Lin Cheng was so angry at villagers and felt sorry towards the fox princess that he forgot propriety and latched onto the hands of Yan Xuequi as the two walked away from the village of Yiting, never once did they turn back to look at them. "Let go of my hand!" After walking several steps, the fox princess demanded that Lin Cheng stop holding on to her hand. "Oh! I''m sorry! I forgot that I still had your hand in mind! Please forgive me, Princess Yan Xuequi!" Lin Cheng released her hand and gave a deep bow to apologize for lacking discretion and acting in a manner not betting a disciple of a cultivation sect. He didn''t know what made him act rashly while speaking to the villagers, he could easily have asked that the fox princess stay away until he had concluded his business with the villagers. Instead he chose to walk out of them in their need, which is something that his sect would have frown heavily on and a possible punishment would have resulted from not practicing the teaching of good will as taught by the BaoXu sect. Not just their sect but every cultivator knew that good will was a part of walking the path to immortality and self abnegation. The fox princess rubbed at her hand that previously held those of Lin Cheng as though wanting to erase the imprint of his hand. "I''m truly sorry for how you were treated by the villagers." "Its no concern of yours how they treated me! Humans are fickle creatures! I knew that before coming out to face them!" "..." Yan Xuequi''s eyes flashed in anger, she wasn''t happy with the villagers of Yiting town and she needed someone to pour the resentment she felt towards them. Lin Cheng eyes were filled with one of admiration, at first he saw the fox princess as bothersome, but the more time she spent with him, the way he saw her began to change little by little. "I''m heading for another town, follow me if you want." Although he spoke in an offhand manner, Lin Cheng secretly wished that the fox princess continue to accompany him on his journey in the mortal realm. Mortal realm... A young man in dark cloak sat in Puang establishment known to serve the best dumpling in the town of Yiting, his straw hat hid his face from other people that came into the store to eat and drink. Within the folds of his cloak was his sword, Nacanjin a weapon of unparalleled splendor. "Mister! Here is the jar of water that you ordered!" Lin Cheng watched as the store attendant in brown robes place a dark brown jar of water on his table, while bowing to the regular of the store. "Thank you kind sir!" Lin Cheng''s mouth curved up in a smile, as he thanked the attendant, before picking up a cup to pour himself a drink of water. On his table was a plate of dumplings, green vegetables, white rice and a pair of chopsticks. After blessing the food that was laid out in front of him, Lin Cheng began eaten while keep an eye on the people that walked through the doors of the establishment. During his time at the mortal realm, he had seen all kinds of things, therefore he guard was always up wherever he went to, never staying in one place for too long. A while later, Lin Cheng was done eating and reached for the embroidery of purple pouch by the waist of his robe to pull out a few coins, placing them on the table, before standing up to leave the establishment. "Have a good day Mister!" The attendant called out to the man who had just paid for the food, watching as he made his way out of the store, whose building had two layers of room where customers could come in and seat where they want. The first layer was the entrance into the store, it had several chairs and tables of wood arranged, while the last layer had the same layout as the first, customers that sat there could have a clear view of what was going on below. "He just left, follow him!" The shop owner whispered to the group of men inside the store, whom he fed information to about the regular that just came out of his store. He had been watching the man for some time now and saw that he paid generously, which made the shopkeeper to think that he was from a wealthy household, probably a young master from one of the noble houses in Yiting town. "What did you think I was?" "I don''t know maybe a rogue cultivator because of your sword skill?" "Huh?!" "There is no mother that would hate her child, I''m sure you must have heard her wrong." "No! She hates us!" "Did you do something for you to think that she hates you?" It was then that Mou Yidan couldn''t answer Lin Cheng, because he knew that he egged his brother on to make their mother say the things she said at the market. At the time they had reached the forest that led into Yiting town when they heard a voice that called out to them. "Yidan! Zimu!" "Aunt Xuequi!" The boys broke away from Lin Cheng and ran happily to meet their cousin, whose eyes were filled with tears when she saw them walk into the forest. Lin Cheng didn''t need to be told who the parents of the half fox children were, an indescribable feeling that resembled one of delight, came over him as he saw the fox princess. "Mister! Can you spare us some money?!" "..." Lin Cheng walked through an abandoned village on the outskirt of Yiting town, he saw it was ravaged by the plague. The huts looked rundown with flies swarming everywhere, perching on the bodies both the living and dead. Dirt caked the faces of the people of Yiting village, who wore robes that looked more like rags. Hands with fingernails resembling that of rabid claws stretched out to the man that was dressed like someone from one of the noble families in the town. Their skin was very much darkened by dirt such that it made it difficult to separate one from the other. The lone cultivator kept looking around the village, walking past them to see if there was anything he could salvage from the dilapidated place. There was no water from the few wells that was in the village, plants and trees had withered from lack of water, the whole place was consumed by filth. "I have to see if I can bring back some food from Yiting town and get some herbs and a few jars of water." As he spoke aloud, Lin Cheng knew in his heart that it may not be enough to go round, but he still resolved to got ahead and buy what he needed to help the villagers of Yiting town. He turned around to head out of the village, but the cries of the villagers grew louder even though it was weak at first from starvation and neglect. "Mister, please! Do not leave us to all die!" "I''m coming back, I just need to get everyone something to eat and medicine for your illnesses." Lin Cheng looked back and told them of his plan, he watched as they continued to plead with him not to abandon them, but he knew that if he continued to stand there trying to convince them that he wasn''t going to run away, then it will be nightfall and the market would have closed. Therefore, he decided to ignore their pitiful pleas and head out of the village straight for the market at Yiting town. "Come and buy fresh melons!" "Dumplings! Fresh dumplings at half the price!" Several traders called out their wares to the people that passed through the market stalls. "Bedding for newly weds! With talismans to ward off evil spirits!" "Get your children the latest toys from Qin town! They just came off the boat!" "Mister! Get some hair pins for your little girl at home! Or your wife! Or lover!" "Noodles! Freshly made! They are half the price! Come and buy them before it runs out!" "Quilted shoes! Just made today! Get yourself a new shoe!" "Candy sticks! Come buy some dragon candy sticks! They are freshly made!" "Come and read your fortune from the best fortuneteller in Yiting town! Know what the future holds for you and your family!" "Herbs! Medicinal Herbs! Buy some for you and your family! They don''t cost much! Get some Herbs today!" "Paper Lanterns! Get yourself one for the coming mid-autumn festival!" "Earrings! Bracelets! Rings! All in different colors! Came out of Qin town today! Choose your pick!" Lin Cheng heard several traders call out from different parts of the market, he kept moving through the town in a hurry, not wanting daylight to disappear before he was done with getting what he came in to buy. He suddenly sensed that he was being watched, but whoever it was did not give an aura that was threatening. Moving from different stall, as coins and merchandise exchanged hands. Not long after Lin Cheng had both hands full of the things he had gotten from the market, his pouch felt a lot lighter after spending money to get the things he needed for the villagers of Yiting town. He hadn''t eaten since he left the restaurant few hours ago, but since he had practiced inertia, he didn''t get as hungry as someone that hadn''t mastered the act of controlling their hunger. Lin Cheng kept walking out of the town of Yiting towards its outskirt bypassing several people from the town on his way to the abandoned village. The presence that was with him at the market kept on following him, as he drew closer to the village. "Who is there? Show yourself!" All of a sudden, a red smoke appeared and out of it came the girl he had seen when he was attacked by bandits. "Princess Yan Xuequi?!" "You remembered my name!" The fox princess could not hide the surprise in her voice when she saw that the cultivator from the other time, still knew who she was, they both stared at each other as neither knew what to make of their encounter. "I hope you still remember mine?" Lin Cheng smiled faintly while looking to see if the fox princess had not forgotten him. "Lin Cheng of the BaoXu sect!" He saw her pout in disappointment, as though she was hurt that he thought her to be forgetful. "What brings you here? I thought you were meeting with some people from the mortal realm?" "..." Yan Xuequi was flustered by the question, not knowing what to give as her reason for appearing in front of him. Instead she said whatever came to her mind right there. "I was only following to see if you were going to come across those bandits again!" "Why?!" "You are asking me why?!" "Yes, why do you have to be on the lookout for bandits for me? You and I have nothing to do with each other." "Look here! Lin Cheng of the BaoXu sect! I am not doing it for you! I''m only looking out for those in the mortal realm!" "And why is that?!" "Because you cultivators are full of deception!" "Has any cultivator deceived you?!" "They haven''t, but that''s what my grandfather and Aunt said! That I should be weary of everyone of you!" "Hahhaaaa!!!!" Lin Cheng roared in laughter, he hadn''t laughed in so long and the sound of it felt so good. He couldn''t believe that the fox princess judged him and every other cultivator from what she heard from her grandfather and Aunt. Although he also thought he wasn''t all that different, because he also looked at her with caution when they first met. "Stop laughing at me!" Lin Cheng tried to stifle his laughter, he saw how adorable she looked while showing her anger towards him. "Wait! Did I actually think that Princess Yan Xuequi is adorable?! I''ve been too long in the mortal realm if I start thinking that someone from the fox clan appeals to me!" "Do as you wish, I''m only going to that village over there to take care of them and afterwards I would be on my way." "Hmm!" Lin Cheng felt unsettled by the way the fox princess saw him, he wondered what the cultivation world could have done to the fox clan for them to despise them to that extent. "Had some people been going about claiming that they were from a sect to curry favor from the fox clan? Or did the fox clan and the pugilistic world have a fall out?" The boys looked at their mother with eyes filled with defiance, they didn''t want to eat the bowl of noodles that she had ordered for them. "You want rice?" "Yes Ma! We want rice!" "When you grow up and start making money, then you can decide what you want, but until then! You too better eat what I give you!" "We don''t want to Ma! We want rice!" This time, the two boys threw themselves on the floor rolling from side to side, they knew that their mother did not like them misbehaving especially when they were outside their home, but they just wanted to have their way. "Yidan! Stop inciting your brother to do outrageous things! The two of you need to stop right now!" By then, a growing crowd of people had gathered to see the twins behave in a disgraceful way. "Isn''t that their mother?! What is she doing watching her children roll on the ground in dirt!" "I tell you the standard of training one''s child has truly fallen!" "Which of them is the mother?!" "Missus! Don''t you think you need to call your children to order?!" "Aunt Hairong, people are starting to talk." "And so what?! What if they start to talk! Do they know how much they try my patience! At times I wish I never had them!" "Aunt Hairong! Please don''t say that! They would be so unhappy to hear that from you!" Unfortunately for the mother of the twins, they already heard what their mother said and took to the air in the mist of all the town people gathered at the market. "Demons! They are demons!" "Did you see them fly?!" "We have demons living among us!" The town people went into a frenzy, after witnessing the children take to the air. The good thing was that they didn''t see the flames that surrounded their body. Within a blink of an eye, the small crowd had become a mob, as they began chanting for them to be stoned. "Don''t let them escape! Kill the demons!" It was sundown when the unexpected occurrence took place, many had taken up sticks, stones and were ready to beat the women to death. "Aunt Hairong, we need to go after Yidan and Zimu. It''s going to be dark soon, what if something happens to them!" Mou Hairong looked at her niece, it wasn''t that she didn''t want to go after her sons, but she wanted them to know that they can''t always have their way. "Aunt Hairong?" The crowds had already closed in on them and were about to beat them with the sticks in their hand, when Mou Hairong finally gave the command to go after her children. "Xuequi! Let''s go!" "Yes Aunt Hairong!" The two took to the air, as the crowd shouted at them in rage, some of them tried to hit them with the weapons in their hands, but they were so far up that none of it could reach the women. "Aunt Hairong, I fear something may happen to Uncle Mou. Those mobs may go to the house and wait to attack him when he gets home for marrying a demon. Do you want me to look for them, while you go and search for Uncle?" Mou Hairong was torn between looking for her children and safeguarding her husband, after pondering for some time as to whether or not she should leave her niece to look for her children, she finally gave in and asked her to go after them, while she search for her husband. "Xuequi, help me find Zimu and Yidan. Please bring them home for me!" Yan Xuequi knew that although her Aunt presented herself as being a tough parent, she still cared a lot about her children, it was merely some words spoken in a moment of weakness that led to the situation they were in and not because she hated her children. "I promise to bring them home, Aunt Hairong! Be safe!" "And you too Xuequi!" The two parted ways, as one left to look for her husband while the other left to look for her cousins. The fox princess kept searching the area that she thought the children could possibly be hiding, but nothing turned up. "Yidan! Zimu! Where are you?" Yan Xuequi kept shouted the names of the twins and still there was no answer. The reason why she feared for her cousins was because with darkness came evil creatures that were drawn to anything that contained spiritual energy. Meanwhile, the twins had flown to the neighboring town of Xuekejiu whose stalls already had the night lamp outside, the two walked hand in hand savoring the candy they bought at one of the stalls from the money stolen from one of the town''s people. Taking things without the other person being aware was nothing to an half fox child, their fox fire did the task while the reap the fruit from using their powers. Neither of them was missing home, as they bought the things they wanted. The second stop was at the food stall that sold street food. They sat at the bench by each other to each the white rice, vegetables and chicken that they ordered. The stall owner was puzzled that two little boys that looked so much alike were alone buying food at night. "Where are your parents?" "Over there!" The boys pointed in the general direction of towns people that were buying merchandise from the other stalls. "Alright, I''ll wait until they get here. It''s late, don''t go anywhere until they come and get you!" The boys looked at the elderly man in dark green robes and long grey beards, while nodding at him innocently. Meanwhile, the stall owner did not know that he had trouble in his stall in the form of two innocent boys. "Zimu, after we finish eating, let''s buy some paper dragonflies." "Okay Yidan." Yidan was the more mischievous one of the two, while Zimu always went along with whatever he devises. After a while, the boys were done eating and were about to stand up and leave, when they heard the stall keepers voice. "Boys! It''s late at night, don''t walk around on your own! Wait her for your parents!" Yidan''s eyes changed color to that of green, he had a petulant look on his face that showed that he didn''t want any ?du?t telling him what to do. "Yidan?" Zimu''s voice was fearful, as he saw the change in his brother''s eyes that, meant he was very angry. The stall keeper on the other hand saw the change in the boy''s eyes and was about to scream out in terror, but Yidan was not going to allow the man to call the attention of the town''s people. As he was about to raise his hand and blast the man with the flames surrounding his body, that was when someone held him by the arm. It was none other than Lin Cheng! "I''m sorry for the disturbance shopkeeper, these are my children. Please forgive them for being so ill-mannered." While Lin Cheng spoke he waved a hand over the face of the man to remove the memory of what he had seen of the half fox child. "Tell the stall keeper that you are sorry!" Mou Yidan felt the tight hold on his arm, it was beginning to hurt and no matter how much he tried to break free, he couldn''t get out from the man''s grip. Lin Cheng left some gold coins on the table of the food stall. "I''m..sorry." The stall owner nodded morosely at the boys and the strange man that claimed to be the father of the boys. Although he apologized, it wasn''t one of sincerity, while his brother silently looked on from the side. "Let''s go!" "Farewell shopkeeper." Lin Cheng held each boy in one hand, as the two left the town of Xuekejiu for Yiting town. "Can the both of you tell me your names?" "Mou Zimu." Lin Cheng waited on the other twin to give out his name, he had his grip on the twin especially tight because he could sense that he was a handful. "You haven''t told me your name." "Mou..Yidan." The twin slowly replied with an unhappy look on his face. Looking at them, Lin Cheng saw they were well taken care of from the robes they had on them, it seemed their family wasn''t doing to bad. Which made him wonder why they ran away from home in the first place. "Can you tell me where you live? I can tell you are from Yiting town." Lin Cheng guessed they were from the town he mentioned, because the aura he felt from them felt strangely familiar to the one he encountered from the fox princess, he recalled her saying that there were people from the fox clan living in Yiting town. "We don''t want to go back home!" "Why don''t you and your brother want to go back to your parents?" Lin Cheng asked Mou Zimu, who was visibly upset at the thought of going to meet his parents. "Ma hates us!" The little boy pouted after receiving a reprimand from his mother. All four made their way to the line of people waiting to get the dragon sugar candy. When it finally got to their turn, Mou Hairong pulled out her yellow pouch to give the stall owner some silver coins. As the man handed each her two sticks of candy. "Here Yidan, you can have one of the dragon sugar candy." "Thank you Ma!" "Zimu, here''s yours too." "Thank you Ma!" The boys squealed in excitement at their new found source of joy, the dragon sugar candy! After they left the store, the next stop was to get Yan Xuequi her tanghulu, which was a pinkish-red rounded berry fruit that looked like red cherries on stick. Soon after they stopped at a stall that sold street food to get themselves something to eat. "We''ll like four bowls of noodles with vegetables and chicken, along with some moon cake." "I don''t want noodles!" "I want rice Ma!" "Yes! Me too!" He kept thinking those things in his mind, with no answers on sight. One thing that Lin Cheng gained which he wasn''t aware of, was the deep respect that the older twin suddenly had for him, because it was his first time meeting someone that put him in his place without exercising the raw strength that the child could sense coming from him. Of course, Mou Yidan wasn''t going to let his eyes look with admiration at Lin Cheng, it was a secret he was going to guard with his life. By the time they had walked to the heart of the town, the market was already closing for the day, the four of them walked through the several stall and not too long after they finally got to the humble home of the Mou family, but outside stood villagers bearing torches in their hands and sticks, some had hoes and cutlasses and several farming tools. "Catch them! Don''t let the demons escape! They also have a man with them!" The twins hid behind the robes of their cousin, suddenly terrified of the angry crowd. One thing about them was that they could cause trouble and mischief, but they couldn''t handle the aftermath of their deeds. "Aunt Xuequi?" It was Mou Yidan calling his Aunt to save them from the furious mobs standing in front of their gate. They probably couldn''t get inside, which was why they stood outside, in a vigil until either someone comes in or goes out of the house. "It''s alright, let me handle it." Although it was forbidden to use their powers as cultivators in the mortal realm, this was to prevent disarray in the mortal realm and ensure that the universe would always remain in a state of balance. Lin Cheng knew that there was no way he could uphold the teachings of his sect when others were in trouble, which was why he was willing to break the rules to protect the ones with him. "How can you them them on?! There are many of them and it''s only one of you!" "Princess Yan Xuequi, let me protect you and the children, it is my duty to look at for those that are ill-treated by others." "But...Wait!" Lin Cheng was already walking towards the mobs, all of a sudden he had to switch to using the flash step technique by concentrating his spiritual energy on his feet and using his arms in a sweeping motion to erase the memories of the towns people. The twins saw what he did, they could b?r?ly make out his figure from the way his body moved through the mobs, avoiding the weapons and fire from their torches. There was no hiding the look of wonder in the eyes of the twins, they were completely dazzled by Lin Cheng''s show of chivalry. Soon after, the towns people began leaving in a daze, forgetting what they came to do at the home of the Mou family. "Mister! What is your name?!" "Yes! Can we know your name?!" Both Mou Yidan and Mou Zimu asked that Lin Cheng tell them his name, they wanted to know who he really was, because of his fighting style. "I''m Lin Cheng from the BaoXu sect." Lin Cheng smiled warmly at the boys whose eyes was sparkling with admiration for him. "Can you teach us what you did over there?" "I''m sorry, but it is a secret technique that only those from a particular cultivation sect can practice, that is you have to be a disciple of that sect to be able to perform that technique and it all depends on the level of your spiritual energy." "Mister, when you say spiritual energy, what is it?" "Yidan, it means the power that you use to fight, just like how you were able to produce the flames that is covering your body. It is only possible due to spirit energy, it is something that you are born with or may get artificially by eating magical pills." "Mister Lin Cheng." "Yes Mou Zimu?" Although the twins looked too identical, making it difficult to tell one from the other, but their facial expression and cadence of voice was a bit different from each other, only those that have been around them for a long time or are very attentive to details would be able to tell them apart, which was how Lin Cheng knew who was Yidan and who was Zimu from the way each spoke and acted. "Could you explain what a sect is?" "A sect is made up of a group of people, some of them could be family members while the rest can be people that don''t share the same blood, together they learn out to fight and are taught the teachings on how to gain immortality and walk the path of goodness, protecting the defenseless and developing various skills along the way." "Can I join?" "That would depend on your background Mou Zimu, because your situation is a little unique since you come from a clan that is not involved with the cultivation sect. It depends, some sect would take you in, while others wouldn''t because you may be seen as a threat due to your unique abilities that comes from being born into the fox clan." "Okay, thanks Mister Lin Cheng." "Are you thinking of joining a sect?! Don''t even think of it! Your mother and grandfather would lock you up at the fox fortress never to see daylight again! Please take that thought away from your mind!" The fox princess spoke with passion to the youngest of the twin, she knew that the mere mention of the cultivation world would send both her grandfather and Aunt to hysteria, if any of the twins brings up the idea of entering a sect to either of them, Yan Xuequi could already see the havoc that such a suggestion would cause to both the Mou family and the fox clan. Lin Cheng smiled faintly when he saw the way the fox princess reacted to her cousin''s question, if either of them ended up entering into a sect, then they would be the first in the history of the pugilistic world to be a disciple cultivator with the royal bloodline of fox clan. "Alright! Let''s see if your parents are at home." Lin Cheng lifted both boys in his arms and took to the air, landing inside the compound of the Mou family house, followed shortly after by Yan Xuequi. They saw the couple holding each other in fear, which soon dissipated to one of open relief on seeing who came into their home. "Yidan! Zimu!" "Ma! Pa!" The twins ran straight into the arms of their parents, who wept with joy on their safe return home. Meanwhile, Lin Cheng and Yan Xuequi silently gazed at each as they entered into a world of their own. Yan Xuequi held the hand of one of her Aunt''s son Mou Zimu, while Mou Yidan was held by his mother Mou Hairong. The four of them walked through the market stall looking at the merchandise on display, as each boy pointed at what they wanted their mother to buy for them. "Ma! I want to eat the dragon sugar candy!" "I want one too! Ma!" The twin boys pointed with eyes full of anticipation at the stall selling candy made from melted sugar of golden brown hanging from a stick, they could b?r?ly keep from running there, as many of the town people gathered in front of the stall to buy the sugar candy. "What would you like Xuequi?" "Hmm...I''ll want one of those tanghulu''s." Mou Hairong tightly held onto the hand of her son, because he looked as though he would breakout from the hold she her on him to fly to the candy stall. The other twin with Yan Xuequi was no different either, he too was about ready to jump on those tempting melted glass candies. "Yidan! Stop jumping or else no candy for you!" Chapter 35 - What Is This Feeling(4) The car eventually pulled into the vacation home of Sun Ruoqui, a huge mansion of stunning white which boasted a spectacular view of a high fountain. With a touch of the bu??on on the car''s rearview mirror, the gate swung open automatically to allow the new arrivals into the majestic building ahead. "TIFFANY! WAKE UP! DAMN IT! TIFFANY!!!" Bone tired, Lu Wendy yelled at her friend in a bid to get her to notice that they had arrived at their friend''s home. "You''re too loud, Wendy....I''m not deaf. Okay?" The voice sounded lethargic with Fan Tiffany stretching tiredly on the car seat. Jiu Wei pretended not to notice what the bride was doing by his side. After the car was parked, the driver got out to open the door for the couple at the back. The groom got out of the car, no sooner had the bride been out, that was when the unexpected took place. "Let me down! Brother Wei!" "It''s tradition for the groom to carry his bride into the house to ward off bad luck!" To the utter amazement of Lu Ming and Lu Wendy, the new husband held his wife in his arms, gown and all towards their new abode. Chapter 36 - Synopsis + Opening Chapter When Ki Mirabelle was away studying abroad, a phone call at early hours of the morning changed everything. The illegitimate daughter of KiMyr Corp was told that she had to fly back home to pay her final respect to her grandfather who had just passed away in his sleep from cancer! Who would have thought that her quick trip home would turn out to be her posing as the heir of KiMyr Corp? -------------------- It was 1 am in the morning when Ki Mirabelle saw a number on her phone which resembled the one used by those back home. Not sure who could be calling, she then decided to pick up the call to know who it was. "Hi...." "Is this Miss Ki Mirabelle? I''m speaking to Miss Ki Mirabelle. Right?!" Surprised that the person that called knew her by name, Ki Mirabelle''s eyes widened in surprise. "Erm....Yes...I''m Ki Mirabelle and you are?" This time her tone became guarded, as she didn''t want to give too much away without knowing the identity of the person on the other line. "It me, Han Yi! I''m President''s Ki Guchang''s secretary! The President passed away yesterday night, in a private reading of his will....you were appointed as the new President by the late President Ki Guchang! This is a secured line that I''m speaking to you on, I have made arrangements for you to return to Beijing today!" Not been able to have a full 5 hours sleep for 3 consecutive days, Ki Mirabelle''s head was pounding harder than usual on hearing the shocking news of her grandfather''s demise. "Grandfather Ki is dead?! He had cancer?! Why didn''t anyone tell me that he passed away?! I was here and no one told me that he was dying! Why?!!!" At that point, Ki Mirabelle broke down and let out a heartwrenching cry. Within her, the illegitimate daughter to the President of KiMyr Corp knew why her grandfather''s illness wasn''t disclosed to her, what right did someone like her have when she was born out of wedlock? "Miss Ki Mirabelle, please check your email for your flight itinerary to Beijing. This can''t be delayed any longer! The board of director''s are already uneasy by the President''s death....I''m sure you understand what I mean by this." Rather than offering words of comfort, Han Yi was all business as he told the newly appointed President of KiMyr of what awaited her if she delayed in making a decision to return home. "Isn''t there someone else that could take over? What about father? Shouldn''t he be willing to step in and take over the company?!" Ki Pengfei did the b?r? minimum for his daughter, by putting her in the family registry and sending a yearly allowance to his mistress for the upkeep of their child. Hardly had Ki Mirabelle seen her father during her growing years as a child, but she refused to resent him for abandoning her and her mother. "Director Ki has been the acting president when President Ki was on sick leave, but now that the will legally states that you are to take over as the new President.....you may have to go to court to relinquish your rights to him." "I don''t mind going to court, because I don''t think I''m suited to run a company, but let me speak to my mom about it." Thinking that what she said would buy her time to worm her way out of the sticky situation. Ki Mirabelle was not prepared to hear what the secretary of her grandfather had to say next. "Miss Ki Mirabelle, your mother Ms. Fu Peijun is in full support of the decision to become the President of KiMyr Corp. I reached out to her first, before calling you." Chapter 37 - My Mom Already Knows Of It? But, How?! "My mom already knows of it? But, how?!" Not thinking straight, Ki Mirabelle blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "Yes, Miss Ki Mirabelle. Ms. Fu Peijun knows that the late President Guchang appointed you as his next successor to KiMyr Corp! As I had earlier mentioned, you can give up your managerial rights to Director Ki if that is what you have decided on." Ki Mirabelle was baffled that her mother whom she confided a lot to, didn''t see the need to tell her daughter of the weighty position left by her grandfather. "That can''t be true! Mom would have told me of this! There is absolutely no way she would hide something as important as this from me!" Swept in the sea of denial, the illegitimate daughter of Ki Pengfei and Fu Peijun could not accept that her mother had hidden a life altering decision from her. "Miss Ki Mirabelle, you have to board the flight back to Beijing regardless of whether you choose to become the President of KiMyr Corp!" At this junction, Han Yi had about lost his cool with the young woman he was speaking to on the other part of the world. Chapter 38 - I Assume You Are Picking Me From The Airport Once I Arrive? "You said you are Mr. Han Yi?" "Yes, I''m Han Yi." Ki Mirabelle stiffen at the cool tone coming from the other end of the line, at the back of her mind she began to wonder if the man she was speaking with was the same age as her. The 24 year old could not find it within her to ask his age. During their phone conversation, she saw the flight ticket that he spoke to her about, looking at it made her realize that she was dreaming the event that was unfolding in front of her eyes. "I ?ssume you are picking me from the airport once I arrive?" "Yes, President Ki. I will meet you at the welcome gate, if you run into any problem, call the number that came with the email." "Hold on! Why does it say that my first plane leaves at 3am?!" Ki Mirabelle ?ssumed that her flight ticket would be at a later time that day, but a closer look said a different thing all together. She had less than two hours to get herself on the plane. "That was the closest flight I could get for you, the next one would have been too late in the day." "Is this man serious?! How does he expect me to pack my load and get ready in time for my flight?!" Chapter 39 - You Said That This Is What Grandfather Wanted? Is That So? "I made some arrangements to have the rest of your belongings shipped to Ki mansion, where you will be living with Director Ki and his family. The late President Ki Guchang would have wanted you to stay there." Hearing the mention of her grandfather''s name brought tears to the eyes of Ki Mirabelle, the two had secretly met and went on outings together when she was growing up as a little girl. No matter how hard she tried to hold her tears back, they fell unrestrained. Red eyed and nose running, Ki Mirabelle made up her mind right there to fulfill her grandfather''s wish. "You said that this is what grandfather wanted? Is that so?" "Yes, Miss Ki Mirabelle. The late President Ki Guchang wanted you to become his successor." Grief stricken, Ki Mirabelle silently continued to cry as she gave her full consent to Han Yi. "Secretary Han! I will meet you at Nanyuan airport at 7pm EST! That should be 7am your time zone. I don''t like being made to wait, if I don''t see you, I''ll stay at my mom''s place!" Already cranky from waking up so early in the morning to jet out of the country, Ki Mirabelle''s testy response was not lost on Han Yi. Rather than rising up to the challenge, he decided to end the call on a professional note. "Rest ?ssured, Miss Ki Mirabelle. I will be on the lookout for when your plane lands. Have a nice flight."