Chapter 7

Zhoudu breathed his last, his eyes still open in death.

Seeing this, Leng Yushu raised the dagger and charged at me.

“Monster! Die!”

With a muffled sound of flesh giving way, the dagger plunged into my heart.

Leng Yushu threw back his head and laughed wildly.

“The master told the truth! When a spirit swears a vow, Heaven and Earth bear witness. As long as I’m your husband, you can’t hurt a hair on my head! Hahaha! Be a good wife and die for me, won’t you? Once you’re dead, your spirit core will be mine! Hahaha!”

“After you die, I’ll burn plenty of paper money for you, so you can enjoy yourself down below too. Hah, hahaha!” Lost in his fantasies, he made strange, rasping sounds in his throat.

I looked down at the dagger trembling in my chest and slowly stepped back. As I moved, the blade slid out inch by inch.

“The one you’re killing is your wife. What has that to do with me?” I said calmly. As the dagger left my body, I shed my human guise.

The instant I became a fox again, dazzling golden light burst from my body.

The three wishes were fulfilled. I was going to ascend.

Seeing me about to fly away, Leng Yushu reached for me in a panic, but caught nothing. He turned at once, snatched the child from the ground, and closed a hand around his neck.

His eyes were bloodshot. “Hu Li! You can’t leave! If you do, I’ll kill your child and refine it into a pill!”

I shook my head. “That’s your child with Zhoudu. Not mine.”

Leng Yushu’s face drained of color. Tilting his head back, he shouted at me, “Impossible! Impossible! I made a wish! Qiushui’s dead! She died! Our child died long ago!”

“It’s you! You must be lying! You’re trying to disgust me, aren’t you? Hahaha! I’m telling you, I won’t believe it! Surrender your spirit core and I’ll spare this abomination. Otherwise, you can collect your child’s corpse! Hahaha!”

“Beyond reason.” I paid him no further attention, rose into the sky, and drifted away.

From that moment on, mortal affairs had nothing to do with me.

Six hundred years later.

For several days, thunder rolled through the deep mountains outside Licheng.

I found a roadside teahouse and waited for someone.

I waited from daytime until dusk.

A little girl passing by suddenly flung her arms around my leg.

“Mama, I don’t want to go home. I want to keep playing.”

The woman beside her gave me an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry. She’s being naughty.”

“It’s quite all right.” I shook my head.

After several unsuccessful attempts to pull her daughter away, the woman arched her brows and threatened, “It’s nearly dark. If you don’t come home now, Doctor Leng the man-eater might come and catch you.”

The little girl, who had been clinging to my leg in defiance, let go in fright and burst into tears.

Still apologizing to me, the woman took her away.

“What’s this about Doctor Leng the man-eater? Is there some evil presence in the city?” Once the girl was gone, I asked the waiter who came to pour my tea.

Since I was here anyway, dealing with an evil presence would be little trouble.

It was almost evening, and there were few customers left. Glad to have someone to talk to, the waiter immediately warmed to his subject.

“You’re not from around here, are you? Doctor Leng is a famous man-eating fiend in these parts.”

“Oh?” That caught my interest a little.

The waiter began his story at once, his head swaying as he spoke.

“It all began a hundred years ago. There used to be a very prosperous clinic in the city called Shuhan Hall. A Doctor Leng worked there. He treated people and gave away medicine, and the townsfolk thought very highly of him.”

“But later, for some reason, he became obsessed with finding an elixir of immortality. He caught children and ate them, claiming that eating children would let him live forever. Back then, every household with children barred its doors the moment night fell.”

The sky grew dimmer. Looking around, the waiter lowered his voice. “According to the midwife who delivered the baby at the Leng residence, Doctor Leng ate his own wife and child. A newborn baby, put in the pot and eaten on its very first day. Tsk, tsk, tsk.”

A cold gust suddenly blew past. A man in black appeared in the empty seat beside us, and the waiter leaped away in terror.

“Aah!”

Puzzled, the man touched his face. “Am I really that frightening?”

I looked at the young man before me, his ink-black hair falling to his shoulders, his face as fine as polished jade. “Not frightening. Very handsome.”

For some reason, he blushed. Shifting shyly, he said in a small voice, “As long as you think so.”

The person I was waiting for had arrived. I left a piece of silver on the table and took him away. “Come on. Time to go back.”

The young man in black tried to look aloof. “It’s nice to have connections up there. Hehe. There’s even someone to pick me up after my tribulation.”

I tapped his head as I always had. “Only because I was afraid you’d be struck dead. Even before you could take human form, you never knew to hide when you faced someone you couldn’t beat. You just charged straight in. Only you would do that.”

Rubbing his forehead, he grinned foolishly. “Well, that old monk turned up with your hairpin and immediately went looking for senluo flowers to subdue you. I was afraid he’d hurt you.”

“Yes, yes. You had your reasons.”

“Hehe. Then, my beautiful Lady Fox Immortal, you’ve seen how well I look after your home. Once we’re up there, let me keep looking after it for you.”

I rubbed my chin, pretending to consider. “You’re good at looking after the house. But you seem even better at carrying babies and hatching eggs.”

“Aah! Stop! That’s over! Once we’re up there, you’re never to mention it again. Never! Oh, please…”