In Fan Yue's bedchamber, the seven-pointed star array on the floor flickered faintly and the demon fire in the glass lamp wavered. Its master lounged on the throne behind the desk, fingertips tapping his forehead, his eyes cold as ice.
Bai Shuo had sunk into the pile of cushions before the desk. She had barely tried to push herself up when strips of cloth sprouted from the cushions and bound her hands. She froze.
Fan Yue's gaze fell on her like knives, and he showed no sign of speaking.
A sword formed in Bai Shuo's palm. She cut through the cloth without hesitation, stood up cleanly, and looked straight at him.
"Palace Lord, what exactly do you mean by this?"
For the first time, she faced Fan Yue without careful flattery and without fear. She asked it plainly. She was genuinely curious.
Fan Yue's eyes passed over her bundle and moved on. He spoke unhurriedly.
"This palace remembers that by Ziyue Lake, someone said she would join Haoyue Palace. This palace also remembers someone saying that in life she was a person of Haoyue Palace, and in death she would be its ghost. The world has no faith, Bai Shuo. What about you?"
Bai Shuo shook her head and put on a smile.
"Your kindness to me, Palace Lord, is as great as the sun and the moon."
"Oh?" Something unreadable showed in Fan Yue's eyes. "Is that so?"
Bai Shuo stepped forward and spread her hand. A pile of qiankun pouches' worth of pills spilled across the desk. She planted both hands on it and looked down at him. "Here are three hundred and forty-five first-grade pills and two hundred seventy-some second-grade pills. That is enough to buy an entire immortal sect. Haoyue Palace shakes the Three Realms. Whether I join or not makes no difference."
The air in the hall grew heavy. Fan Yue gave a cold snort. "Spirit herbs from the Far North Realm, pills refined in Haoyue Palace's cauldrons. You use this palace's own things to repay this palace's kindness?"
"The spiritual power I refined them with was mine..." Bai Shuo stopped halfway and swallowed the rest. "Fine. You gave it to me."
Fan Yue narrowed his eyes. "And this is your sun and moon?"
"Of course." Bai Shuo bent slightly toward him, her eyes burning, and asked back: "You're a half-god, Palace Lord. You have no use for these things. But the girl you brought back does. They prolong her life. Is that not worth the sun and moon in your heart?"
A flicker of interest crossed Fan Yue's eyes, and he laughed instead of getting angry.
"A temperament like yours is rare."
He suddenly raised a hand and closed it over Bai Shuo's wrist as he rose. In an instant they stood close enough that their breath nearly mingled.
"Whether she is this palace's sun and moon," he asked in a low voice, "does that matter so much to you, Bai Shuo?"
Bai Shuo tilted her head back. Their eyes met. His overwhelming demonic aura almost enveloped her whole, and the Lord of Haoyue Palace gazed at her with eyes as black as ink. She opened her mouth. "I..."
Abruptly, Fan Yue's gaze lifted toward the side hall. His eyes shook, and he vanished from where he stood without warning.
Bai Shuo looked toward the side hall. A strange surge of spiritual power had just risen there. The person Fan Yue had brought back from Yuanling Swamp had woken.
He really did treasure her. Bai Shuo let out a breath, slapped the qiankun pouch, and the whole table of pills went back into her sleeve. She turned and left the hall.
Behind her, cracks spread across the desk, and with a crack, it crumbled to pieces.
As her foot crossed the threshold, Bai Shuo suddenly paused and turned sharply to the seven-pointed star array in the hall, her eyes narrowing.
Only three of the seven stars were lit. Yet in Yuanling Swamp she had clearly retrieved the fourth bodhi wood for Fan Yue. Why hadn't he refined it?
Fan Yue appeared at the side hall, and stopped the moment he reached the courtyard.
Heavy snow filled the sky before the hall, and a girl in a thin white dress stood in it.
Her figure was solitary. Snow settled on her, but she seemed not to feel the cold. She held out a hand, caught the flakes one by one, and watched them melt in her palm.
As if sensing something, she turned her head suddenly. When she saw Fan Yue, the cold loneliness in her eyes parted and a faint smile spread across them.
She stood there in the snow and watched him quietly.
Fan Yue walked toward the owner of those eyes almost without realizing it. By the time he reached her, a heavy fur cloak had already formed in his hands, and he fastened it around the girl.
"You don't remember me," the girl said with certainty.
"I don't."
"Then why did you bring me back?"
"This palace does not like owing people." A trace of blood ran through his voice. "I cannot remember you, but perhaps I have killed you."
On countless nights, in nightmares, Fan Yue had seen divine light pour down from the heavens, and inside a blood array a woman in red turn to smoke.
He woke each time to remorse, with no relief from it.
He had never seen that woman's face clearly. But he always remembered her eyes, full of stars, just like the eyes before him now.
"You know I'm dying," the girl said with a soft sigh. "So you brought me back only to save my life."
A long silence settled over the snow.
"What if I don't want to be saved? Since you can't remember who I am, it seems to make no difference whether I live."
Fan Yue frowned. He bent to look at her, and his eyes did not approve. "Staying alive is not easy. Do not speak lightly of dying."
The girl's eyes curved, and she suddenly took Fan Yue's hand.
Fan Yue paused, and did not pull away.
"Who are you now?"
"Fan Yue."
"Then help me live, Fan Yue. Until you remember me, call me A-Yue. I will wait for you to become a god and remember me."
On the path outside the hall, Mu Jiu hugged a jar of wine and trotted after Hua Hong.
"Ah Huo, Ah Huo, I brought you a treasure. This is Ten-Thousand-Year Drunk from Jingyou Mountain..."
"Ten-Thousand-Year Drunk. Big words. I've never heard of a wine that could get me drunk." Hua Hong was annoyed. She bitterly regretted taking pity and letting this fox in. Wherever she went, he followed, stuck to her like a sticking plaster.
"I named the Ten-Thousand-Year Drunk myself. The wine itself is called Wuhuaguo. They say that many, many ten-thousand years ago, our fox clan's great-great-great-great-ancestor brought it with him when he migrated from the Divine Realm to the lower realm. The whole clan has only three jars. But, well, this wine can't be drun..."
Wine from the Divine Realm? Hua Hong's steps stopped short. She stretched out a hand and the jar in Mu Jiu's arms landed in hers, and she tipped her head back and drank.
"k," Mu Jiu finished weakly, and stared wide-eyed as she drained it to the last drop.
Dense spiritual power surged out of Hua Hong's body and blasted Mu Jiu away. If he hadn't lifted the Little Extinction Wheel in front of himself in time, he would have lost half his life.
It took a full incense stick's time for Hua Hong to refine the surge of spiritual energy. When she opened her eyes, Mu Jiu was standing there holding the shattered Little Extinction Wheel, covered in dust and staring at her.
"Good stuff." Hua Hong felt wonderful all over. One jar of wine had added a thousand years of spiritual power in an instant. For the first time she found this fox pleasing to look at. She appeared before him in a flash, eyes bright. "Is there more?"
Mu Jiu shook his head and eyed the empty jar in her hand. "This wine isn't meant to be drunk now."
"There's a proper hour for drinking this stuff?" Hua Hong frowned. "So fussy..."
Before she could finish, her expression turned sharp. She looked toward the outside of Haoyue Palace. Several powerful demonic auras streaked across the sky, heading straight for the palace.
"It's over!" Mu Jiu cried out, leaped up and hid behind Hua Hong, his face white as paper.
By then, Bai Shuo was leaning against a pillar under the veranda outside the side hall, chewing a stalk of wild grass. She had heard every word in the courtyard. She spat out the grass and glanced at the two figures in the snow. She was about to turn away when she made a soft sound of surprise and looked at the sky beyond the palace.
In the snow, Fan Yue had also sensed the auras tearing through the air, and looked up.
"Chang Sheng and Chang Wu of Jingyou Mountain request an audience with the Lord of Haoyue Palace."
Two old, resonant voices rang out in the sky and carried across the whole northern realm.
Hua Hong turned her head. The little fox was nowhere to be seen.
In the main hall of Haoyue Palace, Fan Yue lounged on his throne and looked indolently at the two white-bearded old men standing before him.
"You want someone handed over?"
Chang Sheng and Chang Wu nodded together.
"The young clan head of Jingyou Mountain. And you come to Haoyue Palace looking for him? On what grounds?"
Chang Sheng smiled. "Since the Wutong Martial Banquet, our young clan head has often visited friends in the Far North Realm. This time something important has come up in the clan, so we followed his trail here. Quite a few little demons saw him enter Haoyue Palace yesterday."
"Is that so?" Fan Yue tapped his black boot on the cold stone floor and looked up. "On hearsay alone you dare demand someone from Haoyue Palace. Chang Mei has grown more methodical in her ways."
Bai Shuo was peering out from behind the screen, deep in thought. Given Fan Yue's temperament, it was already generous that he hadn't thrown Mu Jiu out of the Far North Realm. He had no reason to hold him by force.
A fuzzy head pushed up next to hers, and Mu Jiu whispered.
"I knew hiding here was a good idea. As expected of Xiao Hua's Palace Lord, so mighty and commanding!"
Goosebumps ran down Bai Shuo's arms. She looked at Mu Jiu, who was clearly enjoying himself, and poked him.
"Two elders came all the way to Haoyue Palace for you. What trouble did you cause this time?"
Mu Jiu stiffened, guilty. "Don't slander me. I'm as noble and spotless as they come, a fine young fox of the clan."
Bai Shuo rolled her eyes. The two of them leaned together to look into the hall again.
In the hall, Chang Wu's face had darkened. Chang Sheng held steadier and stayed perfectly polite.
"The Palace Lord attends to countless matters and devotes himself to cultivation. Surely you would not know who has come to the palace." Chang Sheng's palm suddenly shifted and a red fox hair appeared in it. Without warning it shot toward the back of the hall.
"Oh no!" Behind the screen, Mu Jiu's face changed. He spun to flee, but had taken only one step when he was lifted into the air. The red hair had thickened to the width of an arm and bound him, and it carried him flying into the hall.
Even in his panic, Mu Jiu remembered to grab Bai Shuo's sleeve.
It all happened in a flash. Before anyone could react, there was a thud, and Mu Jiu and Bai Shuo had crashed down in the hall.
Hua Hong stood to one side with her arms folded, looking at the two conspicuous lumps on the floor, the corner of her mouth twitching.
Chang Sheng and Chang Wu fixed on Bai Shuo. Seeing her soft and tender looks, they brightened. "Young clan head, could this young lady be the friend you have been visiting all these years?" Chang Sheng even clicked his tongue. "Truly delicate and lovely. No wonder our young clan head has been going down the mountain so often."
A cold gaze landed on Mu Jiu, and a chill ran down his spine. He leaped three feet into the air, scrambled away from Bai Shuo, and shouted, "Elders, this, th-this young lady is called Bai Shuo."
At the name Bai Shuo, the two elders' smiles froze. They stepped back together and addressed Bai Shuo: "Our deepest apologies."
They glanced at Fan Yue by reflex, and their wrinkled faces wrinkled further. "A misunderstanding, a misunderstanding. We did not know she was the future lady of the palace. Please forgive us, Palace Lord."
No one in the hall denied it. Bai Shuo couldn't help looking at Fan Yue. She might have been mistaken, but the chill in his brow seemed to ease a little.
Chang Sheng turned and put on a stern face for Mu Jiu. "Young clan head, the clan head has ordered us to bring you back to the mountain."
"I won't go!" Mu Jiu darted behind Heavenly Fire, defiant. "I came down the mountain on my own ability. I'm not going back."
"Marriage is a fundamental order of heaven and earth. The clan head arranged this match. It is not to be treated as a game."
Bai Shuo was enjoying the show. "Fox, I wondered why they came all this way to drag you back. You ran away from a wedding."
"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine female foxes. Whoever wants to marry them can. I'm not marrying."
Bai Shuo gaped and gave Mu Jiu a thumbs-up. "Your fox clan marries brides by the whole nest?"
"Today the young clan head goes back whether he wants to or not." Chang Wu and Chang Sheng suddenly moved, trying to get around Hua Hong and seize Mu Jiu.
The Heaven-Burning Staff shot out, and the two were thrown back before they could prepare. Nobody had expected Hua Hong to act so suddenly. Chang Wu and Chang Sheng froze, wariness in their eyes, and said gravely, "The Heaven-Burning Staff! Heavenly Fire Demon Sovereign, what is the meaning of this?"
Mu Jiu looked on, thrilled. "Xiao..."
He had barely gotten out one syllable when Hua Hong shifted aside, her face unchanged. "My hand was too quick. Please, carry on."
The joy drained out of Mu Jiu all at once. He stared blankly at Hua Hong, his eyes going red.
Hua Hong awkwardly looked away from him.
"Young clan head, stop dragging this out. Continuing the clan's line is your duty."
Chang Sheng and Chang Wu had no patience left and reached out again, only to be pushed back again. Looking at the Heaven-Burning Staff lying across in front of Mu Jiu, Chang Sheng finally lost even his good temper.
"Heavenly Fire Demon Sovereign, is it your hand being too quick again this time?"
"Just right. Neither too fast nor too slow." Hua Hong glanced at Mu Jiu. "He doesn't want to go back. Didn't you hear him?"
"Xiao Hua," Mu Jiu said hesitantly.
"Shut up."
"Oh."
"Is Haoyue Palace going to interfere in my fox clan's family affairs?!" Chang Sheng turned to Fan Yue and spoke sternly.
This question was no longer only about bringing Mu Jiu back. Chang Sheng was questioning Haoyue Palace on behalf of the entire Jingyou Mountain fox clan.
The hall went silent. Fan Yue lowered his eyes toward them. "Haven't the two elders already seen this palace's answer? If the Heaven-Burning Staff wasn't enough, this palace's Wasteland-Cutting Chain can say it again. It would be no trouble."
Fan Yue's palm moved as if to summon the silver chain. Chang Sheng hurriedly backed away several steps. "Palace Lord, there's no need. The young clan head is still young. There is no harm in delaying the marriage a few years."
No one could blame Chang Sheng for being a cowardly fox with a soft tongue. Fan Yue was a half-god. If he truly struck, the two old foxes would die right here. Besides, they had already invoked Chang Mei's name, and if the Lord of Haoyue Palace refused to acknowledge it, that was not their fault. The Lord of Haoyue Palace was famous for staying out of the affairs of the Three Realms. Who knew what madness had made him hold Mu Jiu by force this time.
"Young clan head, if you truly don't want to go back to Jingyou Mountain, so be it," Chang Sheng said helplessly, looking at Mu Jiu and holding out a hand. "But the clan's treasure you must let me and Chang Wu take back. If you hadn't secretly stolen the clan's greatest treasure, the clan head would not have sent us across a thousand li to the Far North Realm to chase you."
Hua Hong frowned and looked at Mu Jiu. "What did you steal? Give it back."
Mu Jiu's face fell. "I can't. It's gone."
"Gone?!" Chang Sheng lost his composure, his white beard trembling. "My little ancestor, that was Wuhuaguo Divine Wine! It adds three thousand years of power! It was being kept for the future clan head's wife! How could it be gone?!"
No one noticed that Hua Hong's expression had turned strangely odd.
Bai Shuo clicked her tongue. "Fox, you drank something that good in secret?"
Mu Jiu shook his head like a rattle drum.
"Then where did it go?" Chang Sheng demanded anxiously.
"Probably, maybe, seemingly, perhaps..." A voice rose suddenly in the hall. It was Hua Hong, and the last phrase came out a little weak. "This Sovereign drank it by accident."
The hall fell quiet. The two elders' thoughts suddenly cleared. They looked at Mu Jiu, then at Hua Hong, and Chang Sheng said to Mu Jiu, "Young clan head, come back with us."
Mu Jiu shook his head.
Chang Sheng had calmed down. "Then kill the two of us old men."
Mu Jiu was stunned. "Elders..."
Chang Wu and Chang Sheng simply sat down on the floor. "If you won't go back and marry, and the Wuhuaguo Divine Wine is gone, you know the clan head's temper. Rather than go back to die, we might as well die here and get it over with."
"Elders! Auntie wouldn't..."
"Would the clan head or wouldn't she? What do you know? Can you guarantee you'd come out unscathed if another incident like Yi City happened? Our fox clan has had only a single line of nine-tailed foxes. If the bloodline really is cut off, young clan head, the two of us would have no face to show the clan head."
"Elders, it's not that serious..."
"Serious or not, you..."
"I'll go back with you."
Hua Hong couldn't listen anymore and spoke suddenly.
The three foxes in the hall froze together. Mu Jiu said urgently, "Xiao Hua, don't be rash. I stole the wine. If anyone is punished, it should be me."
"Who said anything about punishment?" Hua Hong said impatiently. "What are they dragging you back for?"
"To marry."
"Then we'll go back and marry."
The hall fell silent. Hua Hong's tigerish, wolfish declaration nearly made Bai Shuo choke on her own spit.
What was going on?
"Huh?"
Mu Jiu's eyes went wide, convinced he had misheard. But Hua Hong turned to Chang Wu and Chang Sheng. "I'm going to marry Mu Jiu now. Am I allowed to drink this Wuhuaguo Divine Wine or not?"
The two nodded together and answered in unison: "You are."
"Then are you two still going to threaten to die?"
They shook their heads together and scrambled to their feet. "No need."
"Heavenly Fire."
On the throne, Fan Yue frowned and spoke, but Hua Hong smiled lazily. "Palace Lord, a marriage is a great matter. It should be my own decision."
"Don't." Mu Jiu looked at Hua Hong, and Bai Shuo had never seen the little fox so serious. "You don't have to marry me for a jar of wine. I'll go back with the elders."
Chang Sheng and Chang Wu's faces darkened. Heavenly Fire was already at the peak of the Lord realm, and with the Wuhuaguo Divine Wine she would soon become a half-god. If she married into the fox clan, it would be an enormous windfall. Just as the two were about to speak and smooth things over, Hua Hong looked at Mu Jiu.
"What makes you think I'm marrying you for a jar of wine? Why can't I mean it, Mu Jiu?"
Mu Jiu was stunned.
Bai Shuo frowned and glanced instinctively at Fan Yue, and found his expression just as cold and heavy.
The sun set and the moon rose, and night covered the northern realm.
Fan Yue walked back from the side hall to his bedchamber. Bai Shuo was already waiting for him in the courtyard.
Neither of them had mentioned why Fan Yue had suddenly disappeared from the bedchamber that afternoon.
"You kept Mu Jiu in Haoyue Palace by force so you could use him to find a way into the fox clan and take the Demon-Gathering Banner?"
Bai Shuo came straight to the point, and Fan Yue did not deny it.
"Why didn't you stop Hua Hong from using this method to get into Jingyou Mountain?"
"Bai Shuo, since you don't want to be a person of Haoyue Palace, what do Haoyue Palace's affairs have to do with you?"
"Someone who bared her heart and guarded you at every turn, who would give up even her life for you. Is she really worth less than someone you can't even remember?"
Bai Shuo was furious. She could not tell whether she was demanding this on Hua Hong's behalf or her own.
Under the moon, Fan Yue suddenly laughed. His thin lips curved, his voice cool and detached as he looked down at her.
"When you personally sent off the one who gave up even her life for you, in the Yi King's underground palace, Bai Shuo, why didn't you ask yourself whether you were heartless, whether you were cruel?"
Bai Shuo froze. Her eyes reddened at once, and she could not stop trembling.
Her little disciple, the only person in this world whose eyes held only her, had been wiped out by her own hand.
The people who know you best are the ones who can say the words that cut deepest.
Bai Shuo wiped her eyes, turned, and walked away.
Fan Yue's expression was cold and heavy. He coughed hard several times, and a mouthful of blood seeped from his throat.
A hand pressed against Fan Yue's back, and a powerful stream of demonic power flowed into his body. Fan Yue's spirits lifted slightly and he steadied himself.
"My demonic power can't compare with divine power, but I drank the divine wine today, so make do with it," Hua Hong's mocking voice came from behind him.
"You don't need to go this far," Fan Yue said, turning, frowning, his eyes just as disapproving.
"Oh, now you've found your tongue. When she asked you earlier, why didn't you say anything?"
"Heavenly Fire!"
"Your divine meridians are damaged now. If you force your way through Jingyou Mountain's barrier, you're no match for Chang Mei. The Demon Emperor's throne must never fall into Zhen Yu's hands. Otherwise the tragedy of Yi City will play out across the whole demon realm," Hua Hong said gravely. "Since I can't stop you from entering the fox clan to seize the Demon-Gathering Banner for the girl in the side hall, I can only help you. We leave for the fox clan first thing tomorrow. Palace Lord, get some rest."
Hua Hong waved a hand and started to go. Behind her, Fan Yue's low voice sounded.
"Mu Jiu has a pure heart. If he learns the truth one day, what will you do?"
Hua Hong's steps stopped. "Deal with the future when it comes." She turned her head, a cold, thin smile on her lips. "Palace Lord, I'm not like you. A hundred years ago, as a Yi princess, I stopped believing there was such a thing as true feeling in this world."
Hua Hong turned and left, her back solitary under the moon.
Outside the hall, beneath a tree, a figure hid behind the trunk like a ghost, then slipped away without a sound.