CH 34

Fox Demon (Part One)

In the early morning, Yan Yuan accompanied Xuan Long to have breakfast in peace. There was no quarrel and no cold face, it was a warm meal. Yan Yuan gave food to Xuan Long, who ate silently with his head down.

After the meal, Yan Yuan asked the palace staff to bring in some fresh fish cakes. He took the kraft paper, wrapped up the fish cakes and several other snacks that he had not finished earlier, and handed them to Xuan Long in a brocade bundle: "Take them and eat them on the way."

"Mhm." Xuan Long reached out to take them. In fact, he was perfectly capable of hunting on the way, but Yan Yuan's kindness and thoughtfulness still made him feel very warm and he could not refuse.

Yan Yuan: "Be safe, go early and return early."

"Mhmm." Xuan Long responded and turned to leave.

"Wait." Yan Yuan called out to stop him.

Xuan Long turned back to look at Yan Yuan, and saw Yan Yuan walk up to him and place a kiss on his forehead. Xuan Long subconsciously closed his eyes as Yan Yuan's kiss slowly slid down the bridge of his nose and landed on his lips.

Xuan Long's waist was clasped tightly and the knot in his throat slid slightly with Yan Yuan's lingering kiss. Yan Yuan was rarely this gentle, so much so that a feeling of reluctance suddenly arose in Xuan Long's heart when he parted.

"Go, I'll wait for you in the palace." Yan Yuan said.

"Mhmm." Xuan Long turned around with his bag on his back, and before he could take a step, he turned back to look at Yan Yuan, "If I return safely, can... we live in peace later?"

Yan Yuan knew what Xuan Long was worried about, and his eyes smiled: "I promise you, if you come back safely, in the future I will control my temper and live a good life with you, I won't always lose my temper with you like that again."

Xuan Long nodded and took a few steps in the direction of the palace door, his form disappearing from Yan Yuan's sight.

Outside the palace, the giant dragon with a black body hovered in the air and rushed towards the clouds, all the way to the north.

......

Since the demon rampage at the border, there are not many people in the border towns nearby who go out in the evening. It took Xuan Long three days to get to the town where the murder took place, but when he walked through the market, the sky was grey and dull, and there were no people.

Occasionally, the crows' cries came from afar, which were quite mournful and creepy.

His spiritual energy was being eaten up by the little thing in his belly, and his body was a bit overwhelmed by the long and constant flight. He smelled the strange demonic aura and searched for it inch by inch in the town, but it suddenly disappeared afterwards. When he returned to his senses, he was already in the middle of nowhere, and there was an abandoned and dilapidated temple next to him. After hesitating for a moment, he took a step inside and prepared to rest here for the night, and then go looking for the fox demon tomorrow.

The rain was falling from the sky, falling along the eaves of the building. Xuan Long sat down against the wooden door, which was too old to be seen in its original colour, and took out his embroidered bag, taking out the snacks Yan Yuan had given him and eating them slowly.

Three days had passed and the fish cakes were no longer fresh, they had lost their moisture and were dry and unpleasant to eat, but when he remembered that Yan Yuan had prepared them for him, he felt that they were as delicious as ever. 

With two fish cakes in his stomach, he gradually became sleepy and leaned his head back against the door, looking at the sky blurred by the rain. He wondered what Yan Yuan was doing now, thousands of miles away, whether he was resting well, whether he was taking his meals seriously, whether... he was thinking of him as he was.

The temple here is similar to a sanheyuan. When Xuan Long closed his eyes to sleep, a man tapped his toes on the ground and landed silently on the eaves on the side, his ice blue eyes staring at Xuan Long, his moon white robe flowing lightly in the night, his inky hair flying, his body untouched by half a drop of rain. (Angel: A sanheyuan is the basic form of traditional Han dwellings that is commonly composed of a main house in the north and two wig rooms to the east and west.)

In the blink of an eye, the man's figure moved like a ghost to Xuan Long's side, slowly crouched down, came up to Xuan Long's ear and blew a breath, laughing: "What are you doing following me?..."

Xuan Long frowned slightly, then suddenly opened his icy turquoise eyes and raised his hand to strike at the man. The man reacted very quickly and instantly disappeared to his right before his figure appeared on his left, slowly squatted down, propped up his face and looked at Xuan Long, sizing him up: "The human race likes my beautiful appearance and just lusts after my body, but is it possible that you, a dragon, are also attracted to me?"

Then he tsked and shook his head, "I don't like dragons, and you're too old."

A spell struck empty air and landed on the temple door, which collapsed with a 'bang'.

Xuan Long was not used to having beings this close to him and cast a teleportation spell to distance himself from him, looking down at the man from a few paces away and making a faint conclusion: "You are the fox demon."

The man's gaze turned cold, and a murderous aura swept over his stunning features. The inner corners of his eyes were extremely deep, while the ends of his eyes were slightly upturned, and the ends of his long, thin eyebrows flew up, making him cold and charming.

It was a very different look from the human race, with icy blue eyes and such a remarkable appearance that it was easy to recognise it as a fox.

“How is it fox demon?" The man stood up, clearly unhappy, and choked out. "Aren't you a demon too?"

Xuan Long looked at him calmly, "Why do you want to kill?"

"None of your business." The man was amused, "It's just as well that a stinking Taoist priest from the human race has come to catch me, but is it possible that you, a dragon, have also changed your profession to subduing demons?"

The fox demon looked no more than 200 years old. In Xuan Long's eyes, he was just a child who had just come of age, and if you counted carefully, he would be close to Yan Yuan's age, so he was extraordinarily patient: "You will fall into the demonic path if you kill and do evil. Just call it quits now."

"So what? If you fall into the devil's path, you fall into the devil's path. That kind of evil mortal who can't walk when he sees beauty, I'll kill every one I see. If you meddle in my affairs again, I'll cut your heart out too. As it happens, you have a profound understanding of Taoism, if I eat your heart, I'm afraid I'll ascend to immortality tonight."

Although the fox demon was a killer, he had his own set of principles, he would not take the initiative to seek trouble if other demons did not offend him, so he dropped these words and flew away. Xuan Long moved in front of him and blocked him in mid-air, his ink-coloured sword flashed in the darkness of the night.

The fox demon narrowed his eyes slightly. Seeing that he was really going to make a move, he immediately became angry. With a flourish of his right hand, a long silver whip appeared in the palm of his hand, and he lashed it fiercely at Xuan Long: "Get out of the way!"

Xuan Long dodged and appeared behind him with a low voice, "I promised someone that I would help him remove the evil demon that was harming people, if you stop and do no more evil, I will let you go."

The fox demon did not bother to say more to him, waving his long whip and wrapping it around him, sneering, "Although you are stronger than me, your spiritual power fluctuates so much that you didn't even notice me approaching, so you must have been seriously injured. I, Hu Le, have never been afraid of anyone before, so tonight I'll show you, a nosy dragon, what it means to be powerful!"

As he spoke, his long whip struck Xuan Long's chest.

In his peak state, Xuan Long could easily defeat the fox demon, but the foetus in his belly was drawing on his spiritual energy every day. It had only been a month or so but he felt that most of his spiritual energy had been drained. His long sword, wrapped in magic power, slashed at the fox demon's spirit whip, wanting a quick and easy victory. Suddenly, there was a pain in his abdomen and his face lost its colour, so he subconsciously protected his belly. The long whip struck him right in the chest, and the sharp barbs on the whip gouged deep into his body, taking away a piece of flesh from his chest, and he saw blood instantly.

Xuan Long grunted and fell to his knees.