Chapter 113 — The White Fox
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 1 of 7
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.