Chapter 113 — The White Fox

The vast, boundless land of Shenzhou stretches without end. Beyond humans, who style themselves the wisest of all living things, countless other creatures share this world between heaven and earth. There are the domestic fowls—chickens, ducks, pigs, and dogs—and the fierce beasts—jackals, wolves, tigers, and leopards—all of them familiar and well known to mankind.

Since ancient times, the world has abounded with all manner of strange tales and legends: in the wild, remote corners of Shenzhou and amid the barren mountains and treacherous waters, certain primeval spirit-beasts and remnants of the primal age still linger. Down through the centuries, the tales of countless hot-blooded youths who braved mountains and rivers to snare dragons and capture demons have been savored and passed from mouth to mouth.

Among these myriad legends, the fox-demon clan may not be the most ferocious or the most powerful of monsters, but it is beyond doubt the most wondrous, the most mysterious—indeed the only legend in the eyes of the world that bears a touch of human feeling.

When beasts such as the Blackwater Mystic Serpent become the goal by which countless youths prove their cultivation, the fox-demon, in people's talk, always seems to carry a hint of ambiguity. Tales of fox-demons harming people have indeed circulated, but unlike the legends of other monsters, the fox-demon clan often leaves behind moving stories—of falling in love with humans—which stands out as a strange and singular exception among all the tales of monsters bringing ruin upon the world.

Of course, all this is merely what circulates among ordinary folk and common people. In the eyes of true cultivators of the Dao, the fox-demon clan is a breed of exceedingly clever, even cunning, creatures. Their power falls far short of inconceivable ancient demon-beasts like the Blackwater Mystic Serpent, yet these demon creatures understand human feeling; legend even holds that when their cultivation reaches a certain stage, the fox-demon clan possesses the wondrous power to take human form. This may well be the reason those poignant tales of love between humans and demons have been handed down.

Within the fox-demon clan there is one branch, the cleverest and most mysterious of all. Legend says that as their cultivation deepens, the tails behind them grow ever more numerous: a century of cultivation brings three tails, and they are called demon-foxes; a thousand years brings six, and they are called mystic-foxes; and when the stage of nine tails is reached, that is already the supreme realm of demonkind in this world. No one knows how many years of cultivation it takes to attain it, but legend holds that a fox-demon whose cultivation has reached nine tails is a peerless demon creature, with power that reaches the gods—the "Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox"!

Such legends are too wondrous, and most of the world knows nothing of them, but in Ming Li's heart they were clear as a mirror. For no other reason than that ten years ago, beneath the Fire Dragon Cave, the figures of that pair of fox-demons who died together for love had been the first shock to the faith he had held firm all his life.

Even now, on the occasional midnight dream, that desolate and beautiful white fox silhouette could still be faintly seen.

Streaks of blue ghost-light refracted from the hard, cold ice into the surrounding space, illuminating the third level of the altar in shifting light and shadow. Before Ming Li and Little Grey, from the deepest darkness, in the faint blue glow tinged with something uncanny, a vast figure slowly emerged.

A white fox—a gigantic white fox!

For the first time in his life Ming Li beheld the true body of so enormous a white fox. From where he stood, the creature was fully twice his height, standing as tall as two men. Even in that ghostly light, its coat of pure white remained beautiful beyond words, the smooth fur as soft as the finest silk of the Central Plains.

It was an animal that struck one as beautiful at a single glance, yet its bulk was so immense that unconsciously one felt a touch of dread as well. And in truth, this white fox was at this moment in a state of extreme agitation.

The once silent space of the altar was now filled with the white fox's mournful cries and shrill howls. The pair of deep black eyes set in its pale hide were now filled with madness as well.

The blue light grew ever brighter, and at some point a wind had begun to blow. Ming Li's robe flapped and snapped, and Little Grey was shrieking shrilly, baring its teeth and snarling at the white fox, putting on a ferocious display.

Suddenly a hiss rose in the white fox's throat, and it abruptly lifted its forelegs from the ground—it had reared up. Almost in time with its motion, Ming Li felt the ice around them blaze with blue light, and amid a rumbling roar two enormous blocks of ice, each fully three men tall, shifted through the air and came crashing savagely at Ming Li.

Ming Li's brows knitted tight; the azure light of Soul Devourer flared, bearing him and Little Grey swiftly backward. Almost at the very instant their figures vanished, the two great blocks of ice slammed into each other with a deafening crash and burst into fragments that scattered across the ground.

Before they could even come to a stop, every slab of ice on the third level of the altar that gave off blue ghost-light lit up at once. In an instant the uncanny demon power in that space surged, and countless blocks of ice, large and small, slowly floated up into the air, glittering and radiant—a sight of incomparable beauty and splendor.

Ming Li's frown deepened. This Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox was indeed of exceedingly powerful demonic might. Among all the spirits and strange beasts he had encountered over the years, save for inconceivable ancient titans like the Blackwater Mystic Serpent, this Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox before him was the strongest.

Yet for some reason, when his gaze passed through the countless ice blocks blazing with beautiful, bewitching blue light and settled upon that white figure—upon those eyes tinged with madness and deep, deep sorrow—a certain feeling he had not known for many years, like the figures of that pair of fox-demons who died for love in that year, began to linger in his heart. And try though he might, he could not bring himself to strike at this white fox.

But while he hesitated, the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox on the other side gave a shrill howl, and in an instant the countless ice blocks floating in midair, as though commanded by some mysterious power, all came shrieking in at the speed of lightning.

Ming Li's face went cold. He reached out, gathered Little Grey to his chest, and at the same time rode the Soul Devourer demon-staff flying off to the side. For a time the air was full of flickering blue light, ice falling like rain, and the endless din of colliding blocks. In every lightning-flash instant, countless streaks of blue ice chased that single azure figure.

But the azure shadow was like a ghost, ever slipping through in the barest instant of space, weaving left and right, up and down through the rain of ice, evading that seemingly endless, layer upon layer of frozen rain.

The white fox's shrieks grew shriller still, though for some reason they seemed to lack a certain vigor beneath the fury. In the thick of the fight, the azure shadow suddenly flashed—Ming Li's figure had somehow passed through layer upon layer of ice and closed upon the white fox itself.

The white fox started in alarm; the beautiful white fur all over its body stirred though there was no wind. It raised a forepaw as though about to work some strange spell—but at that very moment a dark red radiance abruptly rose from behind it, and almost in the same instant the white fox's body shuddered as if struck a heavy blow. Its eyes went wild, and in a moment all its demon power scattered to nothing; its body slumped and it collapsed.