Chapter 60

Chapter 60

Xie Qingling’s steps faltered.

Xia Ke’er… Was she human, or was she a monster?

Xie had seen Xia Ke’er perform. She had seen her face and even spoken with her in person.

At the time, Xia Ke’er had been completely normal. Nothing about her appearance had betrayed the slightest abnormality.

For a perfectly healthy person to become this in such a short time left Xie Qingling with emotions too complicated to describe.

Yet to her surprise, Xia Ke’er was even more shocked and frightened than they were.

“Aah!” Xia Ke’er let out a cry that sounded neither human nor animal, like an infant wailing and a fox screaming at once. It was unearthly.

In her panic, she flung away the half-eaten chicken. Its bleeding body arced through the air, spraying blood everywhere. Drops splattered across the floor and walls, leaving the bathroom in complete disarray.

Xia Ke’er raised hands covered in chicken blood and feathers and clutched her face. Her garbled words came out as a howl. “Go… go away… Don’t… don’t look… Don’t look… Don’t look at me!”

Xie Qingling saw that a thin layer of white down had grown over the hands covering Xia Ke’er’s cheeks. The soft hairs trembled faintly.

Like a fox, yet not a fox. Human, yet not human.

Xia Ke’er twisted, trying to wrench free of the hand gripping her shoulder, but she could not shake Xie Qingling off.

She grew more agitated. Dropping her hands from her face, she contorted her features into a savage expression. Then, beneath her deathly pale face, the vague features of a fox began to emerge.

“Xia Ke’er?” Xie Qingling drew her knife with one hand, hesitated, then lowered it again.

Beneath Xie Qingling’s palm, Xia Ke’er was trembling uncontrollably.

She was frightened. She wanted to flee. The one thing she showed no desire to do was attack.

Her behavior resembled human emotion far more than animal instinct.

Just then, Xia Ke’er’s body suddenly stiffened. She turned toward Xie Qingling, opened her mouth, and expelled a vicious hiss of breath.

The motion exposed fangs still stained with blood.

Beside them, Shen Huaizhou said grimly, “She’s transforming into a monster. Xie Qingling, get away from her!”

A light metallic tap suddenly sounded at the bedroom window as something landed on the sill. Xia Ke’er seemed to hear a summons. With strength from some unknown source, she knocked Xie Qingling violently aside, dropped onto all fours like an animal, and charged toward the window.

Shen Huaizhou immediately wiped a blade and hurled the throwing knife.

Just as the knife was about to strike Xia Ke’er’s ankle, it met an invisible obstruction in midair and stopped dead, suspended in place.

A moment later, a deep sigh sounded from the empty air. Beginning at the throwing knife, Xia Tian’s figure slowly appeared.

Within a few heartbeats, his entire body had emerged.

It was Xia Tian. He knelt on one knee, holding Shen Huaizhou’s throwing knife between two fingers.

“Enough.” Xia Tian tossed the knife aside.

Xie Qingling frowned. She still trusted this fox not at all and immediately drew Bloodsworn, watching him warily.

Xia Tian ignored her reaction. He did not even glance at her. Instead, he gently stroked Xia Ke’er’s face, smeared with tears and blood, and said softly, “Don’t be afraid. You’re human. They won’t hurt you.”

His reassurance did nothing to calm Xia Ke’er. She continued staring at Xie Qingling and the others in terror, then buried her face deep in Xia Tian’s chest.

Xia Tian sighed again and patted her head. The panic-stricken Xia Ke’er closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Only after doing this did Xia Tian raise his head and look at Xie Qingling. “You came for me. None of this has anything to do with her. She’s human, not a monster.”

Shen Huaizhou glanced at the white down on Xia Ke’er’s arm and gave a soft scoff. “Is that so?”

He clearly did not believe a word. At the same time, his grip tightened around another throwing knife, ready to fight at any moment.

Having already lost one tail, Xia Tian held no advantage against the Tushan Clan’s Chosen. He did not even intend to fight. His expression simply turned terribly grim. After a stunned pause, he slowly said, “This all began because of me. Ke’er suffered backlash because she worshiped me. I dragged her into this. That is why she became something neither human nor monster.”

This time, Xia Tian looked far more sincere. “All she needs is… is a little human vitality. Just a little, and she can regain human form and control herself properly. She won’t hurt anyone else. Whenever it happens, she hides so that no one will see her. She only hurts herself.”
Another heavy scoff sounded through the room. This time, it came from Xie Qingling.

“A little human vitality? Just a little? Were you planning to drain it from the housekeeper, or from the audience at the performances?”

“That’s what you’ve been doing all this time, isn’t it? Draining other people’s vitality to keep her in human form?” Xie Qingling said. “How touching – offering someone else’s property as your own gift.”

Xia Tian grew agitated at her scathing mockery and loudly protested, “I haven’t harmed anyone! I only take a little each time! It truly only takes a little!”

“Is that so?” Xie Qingling remained unmoved. “If it truly takes so little, why has she transformed this far now? Why can’t you keep her in human form anymore?”

Those words drained all color from Xia Tian’s face. His lips trembled, but he could say nothing.

“Besides, no one else has any obligation to serve as your blood bags. Today it’s a tiny bit, tomorrow it’s a little more, and the day after that it’ll be more than a little. Stolen means stolen. Do you think taking only a little makes it anything else? That vitality belongs to other people, never to you. More and more people who watch the performance are falling ill. Doesn’t that prove the situation is already slipping beyond your control? You have to drain more and more, and even that is becoming less effective, isn’t it?”

“Xia Tian, even you can’t keep this under control anymore. Stop deceiving yourself and everyone else,” Xie Qingling said.

“Stop clinging to your delusion. If you truly want to save Xia Ke’er, tell us honestly how to end all this, then surrender without a fight. Don’t waste our time.”

Xie Qingling gave the unconscious Xia Ke’er a pointed glance. “From the look of her, she doesn’t have much time left.”

She had lost her reason, devoured raw flesh and blood, eaten a live chicken, and crawled on all fours.

Was someone like that still human?

Xia Tian shuddered. Sure enough, profound anguish crossed his face.

He looked at Xie Qingling and suddenly smiled, but the smile was desolate. “That was why I sought you out in the first place.”

“If the worship can be stopped and the contract between us ended, I will leave for good. Xia Ke’er will stop transforming, and everything will return to normal. But I no longer have the power to end it. I can only rely on you.”

Xie Qingling stroked Bloodsworn’s hilt. She could discern no other clues from his expression or movements, leaving her uncertain for a moment.

This fox had deceived them before, so Xie Qingling trusted him very little.

Cunning foxes lied. No creature was better at manipulating the human heart.

Xie Qingling said, “Is this supposed to be you asking for our help? If you want to beg someone, you need to show sincerity. Where is yours? I don’t see it.”

Xia Tian nodded. “When I cultivated in the mountain forests, I learned many of the rites and manners humans observe.”

He set Xia Ke’er down, adjusted his posture, and knelt before Xie Qingling.

“This is how it’s done, isn’t it?” Xia Tian murmured. “Perhaps I should kowtow too.”

As he spoke, he solemnly performed the grand rite of three kneelings and nine kowtows.

“Please. Save her. I beg you.”

A fox imitated humans and their rituals. He bowed his head and bent his back, assuming a respectful, humble posture as he voiced his plea.

Xie Qingling and Shen Huaizhou exchanged a glance.

Xia Ke’er was human. Protecting her was their duty, and they would certainly try to save her.

The fox, however, was more difficult to handle.

Shen Huaizhou then took the deity shrine from his silver case and said, “Please enter and come with us.”

Banners bound ghosts; shrines housed gods.

Once Xia Tian entered the specially made deity shrine, he would be entirely at their mercy.

Xia Tian likely understood what entering the shrine would mean for him.

He stared deeply at it, then lifted Xia Ke’er from the floor. His body trembled slightly.

He walked slowly to Xie Qingling and said in a low voice, “Then I entrust her to you.”

After placing Xia Ke’er in Xie Qingling’s arms, Xia Tian transformed into a wisp of green smoke and vanished.

An idol of a fox appeared inside the previously empty deity shrine.

The fox incarnation sat crouched upon a stone, its tail curled halfway around its body as it looked back over one shoulder, revealing a fox’s face. The idol seemed to be made of neither stone nor metal, and something resembling green copper patina crawled across its surface. It carried an air of stark, ancient simplicity.

Xie Qingling looked down at Xia Ke’er, whose body was covered in down, then at the idol in the deity shrine, and finally at Shen Huaizhou. Troubled, she asked, “How has the department handled situations like this before?”
“I don’t know,” Shen Huaizhou said. “This is the department’s first time encountering a situation like this. There is no precedent. We’ll have to decide for ourselves.”

Xie Qingling was speechless.

“Then… take the fox back to the office first, report to the Director, and ask for instructions,” she said. “Xia Ke’er definitely can’t leave here in her current state. I need to stay and watch her in case something else happens. After you leave, have Ye Anran come over. I’ll need her help.”

“All right.” Shen Huaizhou had no objection to the arrangement. He placed the deity shrine back in the case and left.

Carrying the case down from the second floor, Shen Huaizhou encountered the housekeeper at the turn of the stairs. She was sneaking around with a pale, terrified face, too afraid to come up yet too curious to resist peeking, recklessly testing the boundaries of danger.

The moment she saw Shen Huaizhou descending, she visibly relaxed and immediately said, “I… I heard noises coming from the second floor, but I was too scared to come up! Wait, didn’t you leave? Why are you coming down from upstairs? What happened up there?”

The tall, impossibly beautiful young woman made the housekeeper feel inexplicably safe.

Then she heard a deep male voice intone, “Flowers in a Mirror, Moon on the Water…”

After that… after that, the housekeeper knew nothing at all.

Before she even had time to be startled by Shen Huaizhou’s voice, she sank into the illusion he had woven for her.

Shen Huaizhou activated his earpiece. “Director, the matter is more or less resolved.”

“Xia Ke’er’s condition is a little difficult.”

“I’m taking the Fox Immortal back to the office now. Send Ye Anran to support us at the scene.”

“The rest of the team can stand down.”

…

* * *

Evening.

The setting sun streamed through the open window, laying a thin sheet of gold across the floor.

The master bedroom remained unlit. In the dim, hazy light, a humanoid white fox lay sprawled upon the bed. Her four limbs rested in graceful ease, lending her the beauty of a human form. From a distance, she almost resembled a lovely woman napping on the bed, yet she was unmistakably a fox.

The fox had exceptionally bright, jewel-like eyes of striking beauty.

Now, she spoke in a remarkably pleasant voice.

“It was you,” she said. “I remember you.”

“I remember you too,” Xie Qingling said. “The first time we met, you were still human on that stage. But now… you’ve become a fox.”

“Xia Ke’er, do you regret it? You took a crooked path, went astray, and ruined yourself like this. Neither human nor ghost.”

Xia Ke’er said nothing. She simply lay there, gazing at the slanting afterglow, her thoughts unreadable.

Ye Anran paced nearby, her high ponytail swishing behind her. Seeing Xia Ke’er like this made her a little angry. “Don’t tell me you’re still clinging to your delusions! If I hadn’t used the Yin-Yang Inner-Outer Needles to straighten out the malignant energy running wild inside you, you’d still be a monster devouring raw flesh and drinking blood. You certainly wouldn’t be lying there so comfortably and talking to us!”

“The sensible thing is to cooperate and tell us how to break your contract with the fox so everything can return to normal,” Ye Anran continued. “Don’t waste all the effort we’ve put in, and don’t waste any more time.”

Xia Ke’er refused to discuss breaking the contract. Slowly turning her fox’s head, she asked softly, “Where is Xia Tian? Where did he go? Is he… still alive?”

At that, Ye Anran could not help rolling her eyes. “He harmed you so badly, yet even now, you still have the heart to worry about whether he’s alive. You really are kind beyond belief.”

Ye Anran’s sarcasm carried the exasperation of someone furious at another’s refusal to see reason. She ground out every word.

“But sorry, we have nothing to tell you. That isn’t something you should be asking about.”

No expression could be read on Xia Ke’er’s fox face.

She shook her head. “No. That’s not it.”

“I became this way because of my own choices.”

“I was the one who turned myself into a monster.”