Liar… The Nine-tailed Fox rolled her eyes, but still couldn’t help lowering her altitude. While staying on guard against a sneak attack from Xu Qi’an, she asked:
“What did you step on?”
Xu Qi’an didn’t answer. He plunged headfirst into the lava, fumbled around for a while, then pulled an object up from the bottom.
The silver-haired Yao enchantress drifted gracefully down and hovered above the lava. Leaning over to look, she saw that what lay in Xu Qi’an’s palm was a fiery red bone, as large as a copper basin, its surface carved all over with irregular flame patterns.
“This seems to be a vertebra from some large beast. More precisely, one of its vertebrae.”
Xu Qi’an lowered his head and examined the basin-sized bone, then analysed:
“Judging by eye, its owner was over fifty feet in size, but among gods and demons it would’ve counted as short. Do you think this might be where that god-demon died?”
Based on his experience, this piece of vertebra ought to be the core of that god-demon, storing the innate spiritual essence it had been born with.
If the bone was here, then this stretch of land covered in lava was most likely where that god-demon had fallen.
“This island is one of the ancient battlefields of gods and demons, so of course this is where it died. What, did you think after it died some kind-hearted god-demon buried it for them?”
The Nine-tailed Fox felt that every question he asked was nonsense.
“But what I can’t work out is why such outrageous changes happen after gods and demons die. Some turn into islands, some turn the surrounding land into seas of fire… If you say their combat strength rivalled Beyond-rank, I don’t believe it.
“They weren’t even as strong as me. If I fell, at most I’d leave behind a body that wouldn’t decay through countless tribulations.”
Xu Qi’an looked at her, hoping for an answer.
The silver-haired enchantress lifted her pretty eyes, put on a thoughtful expression, then shook her head.
“No one can answer that question. Gods and demons are special lifeforms. Just take it as one of their innate abilities.”
Once Xu Qi’an nodded, she said:
“Keep the bone. It’s an extremely rare supreme material. Give it to an Arcanist, and perhaps they can refine an unparalleled divine weapon.”
A bone branded with the spiritual essence of a god-demon was a material that would be hard to find anything like in the outside world.
So Xu Qi’an pocketed it without the slightest politeness.
After passing through that region wreathed in flames, they went through several more places where gods and demons had fallen. There was a thunder zone filled with lightning comparable to heavenly tribulation, a swamp roamed by stone men, and an area where entering it caused moisture to drain rapidly from the body, so that by the time they came out they were both nearly dried corpses.
Even the Nine-tailed Fox’s fur chest wraps started sagging.
Fortunately, all these situations counted as manageable dangers and wouldn’t pose a truly fatal threat to the pair.
This ruin of ancient gods and demons was vast. Xu Qi’an estimated that the two of them had travelled at least over a hundred li, yet they still hadn’t crossed Gods and Demons island.
After they broke through yet another region left behind after a god-demon’s death, a black wilderness appeared ahead. There was no grass or wood, only barren stillness and deathly silence.
The Nine-tailed Fox and Xu Qi’an exchanged a glance. Places like this, with no obvious abnormalities, were often the most dangerous.
Because if you couldn’t see the anomaly, you couldn’t defend against it specifically.
“Those seem to be footprints.”
Sharp-eyed as ever, the Nine-tailed Fox pointed at a spot to the west and spoke softly.
The two rose on the wind. Looking down from above, they saw that it really was a footprint, the hoofprint of a goat. Judging by the size of the print, its owner had probably been taller than a city wall.
“Only one footprint?”
Xu Qi’an frowned and wanted to rise higher, but above his head there was already a layer of thin mist drifting slowly.
He and the Nine-tailed Fox immediately returned to the ground. Xu Qi’an said:
“Same as usual, I’ll scout ahead!”
Desolation had been able to pass through this place safely, so there was no reason he couldn’t.
As far as physical defence and regenerative ability went, Xu Qi’an even felt he wasn’t inferior to that former Beyond-rank god-demon.
“Be careful.” The Nine-tailed Fox gave him a token warning. She had great confidence in Xu Qi’an.
Xu Qi’an walked towards the barren black plain, one step, two steps, three steps… Throughout the process, the silver-haired enchantress stared at him closely, but nothing happened.
Four steps, five steps… When Xu Qi’an took the sixth step, he suddenly vanished, vanished in a bizarre way.
“Xu Ningyan?!”
The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox immediately spread out her divine sense to probe the surroundings while shouting Xu Qi’an’s name.
Her voice echoed across the wilderness, but no reply came.
Desolation’s footprint had only one print too. Had it also vanished for no reason? The silver-haired enchantress pondered briefly, then came to a guess and decisively flew up, shooting towards the black wilderness.
She had only flown a short distance when her vision blurred and the scenery changed. Then she felt something bump into her chest.
Xu Qi’an’s muffled voice came from beside her ear:
“What is it that has blinded my eyes?”
The silver-haired enchantress’s mouth twitched as she looked down, just in time to see Xu Qi’an lifting his head from her chest. Their eyes met, and he gave a chuckle.
“You’re too polite, far too polite.”
Expressionless, the Nine-tailed Fox drifted backwards, not giving him a chance to continue taking liberties. Looking around, she frowned and said:
“Space?”
Xu Qi’an was still savouring the aftermath of the faceful of softness, and only a moment later did he nod.
“That’s what I think too. The god-demon that fell here must’ve controlled a power related to space. This place is full of chaotic space. Without a master controlling it, any creature that barges in is sent off at random, in a disorderly fashion.”
The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox mused:
“Then how are we meant to get through this area?”
Xu Qi’an shrugged.
“We’ll take it one step at a time. Space is an extremely profound art. As far as I know at present, only the Arcanists’ teleportation and Vaidurya Bodhisattva’s colourless domain involve the domain of space.”
The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox said:
“Be more cautious. Areas left behind by the spiritual essence of gods and demons are full of danger. It certainly won’t be as simple as random chaotic teleportation. Even if it is, don’t forget that Desolation may well still be in this area.”
Xu Qi’an smiled.
“If that’s the case, my danger sense will give me a warning.”
The reason he had just had his face smothered by the Nine-tailed Fox’s chest was that his martial artist’s danger sense hadn’t given him any warning. Facts had proved that it really wasn’t dangerous.
Not only was it not dangerous, it had even felt rather good.
As he spoke, he walked forwards. Suddenly, he heard a muffled groan from behind him.
Turning his head back, he was startled. The silver-haired enchantress’s lower body was gone. She had been severed clean in two at the waist. Her upper body remained where it was, while her lower body had vanished somewhere unknown.
“This…” Xu Qi’an frowned. “So the space is fragmented?”
The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox lowered her head to look at the missing lower half of her body and said in a deep voice:
“Not only fragmented, it’s also constantly shifting.”
If normal space were compared to a stable mirror, then the space here was a mirror made of broken pieces, and those pieces were constantly moving.
When a living being entered this place and stood within one fragment, it moved together with that fragment, like instantaneous movement.
But if different parts of the body were in different fragments, then when the fragments shifted, a situation like the Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox’s would occur.
The body would be cut apart into pieces.
After thinking for a moment, Xu Qi’an asked:
“Can you sense where that part of your body is?”
If it were him, his lower body would come running over by itself, because his lower body also had a “brain”, namely a primordial spirit.
But the Nine-tailed Fox wasn’t a first rank martial artist, so she might not have that ability.
The Nine-tailed Fox nodded.
“I can sense its location, but it’s constantly moving. If too much time passes, I may lose the connection. And…
“It’ll instinctively regenerate and try to restore itself.
“We have to find it before it finishes repairing the body.”
The reason she was still in a half-body state was because regeneration consumed the essence of qi and blood.
If I remember correctly, the blood essence of the three descendants of gods and demons was all in her tails… Xu Qi’an had wanted to remind her, but seeing the ruler’s brows tightly knit and how anxious she was to recover her lower body, she seemed to have forgotten that point herself.
Xu Qi’an silently swallowed the words and pretended nothing was amiss.
“Get on my back. The spatial severing here probably can’t hurt me.”
Xu Qi’an made the suggestion.
The silver-haired enchantress didn’t insist on bravado. Her upper body floated onto Xu Qi’an’s back, and her two lotus-root-like arms hooked around his neck.
Following her directions, Xu Qi’an strode ahead. During the journey they experienced several episodes of “banishment”, but after spending some time, they finally found the Nine-tailed Fox’s lower half… no, calling it her lower half perhaps wasn’t quite accurate.
Because standing before them was a completely naked and entirely intact Nine-tailed Fox.
Her lower body wore only a great fur pelt serving as a skirt. Her nine pale-red fluffy fox tails trailed along the ground like the hem of a wedding dress.
Her upper body was naked, her skin gleaming white as jade, her lotus-like arms slender and long, her collarbones exquisite. The lines of her figure drew sharply inward at her small waist, revealing a sexy and alluring midriff and navel.
The proportions of her body were virtually perfect, the lean and healthy sort, but her breasts…
Those peaks are so white, so round, so full… Xu Qi’an took the chance to look a few times more.
“Keep looking and I’ll gouge your eyes out.”
The silver-haired enchantress on his back spoke viciously.
I’m looking at Zhou Shuren, what has that got to do with you Lu Xun… Xu Qi’an grumbled inwardly, then said with a smile:
“She has no consciousness.”
Beautiful though that fox spirit was, her eyes were hollow and her expression vacant, like a paper flower devoid of life.
After all, the lower body had no brain. The brain was in the head above, so even though the body had regrown, it was merely a shell.
The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox snorted coldly. She pressed a hand against his shoulder, leapt up, and rammed straight into that body.
Since both halves came from the same source and had originally been one, they connected and merged without the slightest obstruction.
The next moment, light returned to the Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox’s vacant eyes, and her gaze became lively and sly again.
While raising her fox tails to cover her chest, she tied on her fur chest wrap, not forgetting to glare at him.
After reuniting, the two continued onwards. Having learned her lesson, the Nine-tailed Fox stayed on his back and refused to get down, allowing him to support her plump, rounded backside while her two long legs swayed at either side of Xu Qi’an’s waist.
“I used half the blood essence of those three fellows,” she said.
Xu Qi’an smiled. “Worth it.”
Bastard… The Nine-tailed Fox ground her teeth, then suddenly smiled slyly.
“When we get back to Jiuzhou, I’ll go stay at the Xu residence. If anyone asks, I’ll say you saw my whole body.”
Xu Qi’an cupped a hand at her.
“You win.”
As they walked and talked, they passed through more than ten rounds of teleportation and severing, and at last they left that region behind. Ahead of them was a stretch wrapped in thick fog.
“What trick is this one, then?”
Xu Qi’an turned his head slightly and asked.
The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox had happened to rest her pointed chin on his shoulder and nearly got kissed by the movement. Rolling her eyes as she climbed down from his back, she said:
“How should I know? I don’t know that much about gods and demons either. Same as usual, you go take a look.”
Xu Qi’an nodded. Standing where he was, he took a deep breath and stepped into the mist.
He didn’t go far. As soon as he entered the fog-covered region, he stopped, then remained motionless for a long time.
Just as the Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox was beginning to think something had happened to him, Xu Qi’an opened his eyes. On his face was a complicated expression, lingering attachment mixed with palpitating fear.
“Well?”
She called out from afar.
“It felt great!”
Xu Qi’an said with a grin.
Felt great? Great in what way… The silver-haired enchantress frowned and waited for his explanation.
Xu Qi’an said:
“This is a dream domain. It traps people in dreams so wonderful they can’t pull themselves free. It’s beautiful, and terrifying too. If I weren’t a first rank martial artist, I might already have sunk into the sweet dream and become unable to escape until death.”
“What did you see, then?” asked the Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox.
“I’d just seen your body, hadn’t I? So my first dream was of sleeping with you right here. Don’t misunderstand, I’m not the sort who forces others. You were the one who asked for it. You even said that since I’d seen your body, there was nothing for it, we could only mate.”
Xu Qi’an spoke openly, then sighed with feeling.
“The you in the dream was really thoughtful.”
…The silver-haired enchantress gave a cold laugh. “Anything else?”
She knew Xu Qi’an was telling her this as a calm and objective description of the dream’s ability.
But it still made her furious to hear it.
What do you mean, there was no choice but to mate? With her temperament, she’d have chopped him in half with one slash, all right.
As expected of a beautiful dream.
“Then the two of us ran into Desolation, successfully killed it, rescued the Jianzheng, and returned together to Jiuzhou. After that, my divine arts reached perfection, I became an unparalleled Martial God, defeated the Warlock God, the Gu God and the Buddha, and peace returned to Jiuzhou.
“Because my contributions were simply too great, Huaiqing felt there was no helping it and could only marry me, so as to thank me for everything I’d done for the court and for the common people of the Great Feng. Later I built a palace in the capital. I’ve already thought of the name, the Palace of a Hundred Flowers.
“All my confidantes lived there and got along harmoniously. They courteously yielded the right to attend my bed, and even begged me to share my favour equally and not show partiality. Everyone in the dream was so thoughtful…”
Well of course, because it was your beautiful dream. The Nine-tailed Fox’s head was full of complaints, but as she listened, she suddenly realised something was off and said angrily:
“What about me? Did you forget me or not?”
Xu Qi’an shook his head.
“I didn’t forget. You and your nine tails were in the Southern Marches, gazing into the distance and longing for me. I’d go over to keep you company every few days. Peaceful years, quiet days, tsk tsk…”
The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox looked at him expressionlessly for a moment, then let out a sarcastic “Heh.”
Xu Qi’an shrugged.
“But later I realised that whether it was you, or Fuxiang, or Luo Yuheng, Huaiqing, Lin’an, and Mu Nanzhi, none of you were easy to deal with.
“Putting all of you together would only mean daily scheming and infighting, maybe even hair-pulling and clawing at each other’s faces.
“The more I thought about it, the more wrong it felt, the more unreasonable it seemed. In the end, I broke free from the dream.”
The Nine-tailed Fox seemed thoughtful, then suddenly understood.
“So what you mean is, the way to escape a beautiful dream is to keep suggesting to yourself inwardly that what you see in the dream is unreasonable?”
Using the words from our side, you just have to be a contrarian. Find something to object to whenever you can… Xu Qi’an nodded slowly.
“That’s right!”
He had just been about to say, “Come over,” when he suddenly saw the Nine-tailed Fox’s expression change. She pointed behind him and said:
“Can things from the dream materialise?”
Xu Qi’an froze.
“What do you mean?”
The Nine-tailed Fox shrieked:
“Desolation’s behind you!”
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