Holding a Grudge

Hearing Guo Jinchuan's warning, Shen Mu immediately halted his charge.

At this moment, the Three-Tailed Demon Fox relied on its agile physique to narrowly dodge the Dragon Claw Hand reaching out from Zhang Bohan.

Caught in the brief window where its old momentum had faded and new strength had yet to arise, the Three-Tailed Demon Fox faced the incoming Shen Mu once more.

However, because of Guo Jinchuan's warning, the speed of Shen Mu's saber strike was delayed for a split second.

This provided the Three-Tailed Demon Fox with a chance to escape; it suddenly crouched, pressing its body almost flat against the ground.

The Moon Embroidery Saber grazed past its three fluffy tails, whipping up a whistling gust of wind.

A glimmer of cunning flashed in the eyes of the Three-Tailed Demon Fox as it pushed off the ground with all its might, intending to use this momentum to break through the two men's blockade.

Yet the next moment, a wicked smirk tugged at the corner of Shen Mu's mouth.

He suddenly lashed out with a powerful, heavy kick, and the Three-Tailed Demon Fox seemed to collide with it head-on.

Only then did the Three-Tailed Demon Fox realize it had been tricked; Shen Mu had used the saber to distract it, while in reality, he was masking this lethal kick.

In truth, ever since Guo Jinchuan gave the warning, Shen Mu had immediately altered his attack, using the Moon Embroidery Saber as a feint to conceal his real strike.

Clearly, the Three-Tailed Demon Fox had not expected this fellow opposite it to be so cunning.

Having exerted its full strength, it was now mid-air with no leverage to change its trajectory, forced to watch helplessly as Shen Mu's right foot rapidly enlarged in its vision.

Driven by desperation, the Three-Tailed Demon Fox wrapped itself in its three rear tails.

"Bang!"

Shen Mu's kick landed solidly on the Three-Tailed Demon Fox, but with the three tails absorbing most of the force, only about thirty percent of the impact actually reached the creature.

Yet even that thirty percent was enough to leave the Three-Tailed Demon Fox dazed and confused, with blood seeping from the corner of its mouth.

Simultaneously, using the force of Shen Mu's kick, its body landed on a nearby Origin Mulberry Tree.

Having suffered such a heavy blow, the Three-Tailed Demon Fox's fur stood on end as it bared its fangs, glaring viciously at Shen Mu with a look of desperate defiance.

At this point, the others gathered around, and seeing the Three-Tailed Demon Fox injured, their eyes lit up.

"Brother Shen, well done!"

Guo Jinchuan laughed heartily, and the other guards cast appreciative glances at Shen Mu.

Shen Mu smiled, "This beast has been chased by everyone for so long that it was already exhausted; I just got lucky."

"Everyone, let's agree on this beforehand: once we catch this creature and turn it into a fox-fur stole, we'll split the silver from the pelt equally. No objections, right?"

One of the guards spoke up loudly.

The intent behind these words was clearly to prevent anyone from trying to keep the Three-Tailed Demon Fox for themselves after catching it.

"Agreed!"

The group responded in unison, none having any objections to this method of distribution.

Seeing this, Shen Mu's expression turned somewhat strange; celebrating before the victory was never a good omen.

The next moment, the group launched a siege on the Three-Tailed Demon Fox.

However, using the Origin Mulberry Tree as a barrier, the Three-Tailed Demon Fox darted and weaved through the dense branches, easily evading the group's attacks.

At this point, the Three-Tailed Demon Fox finally realized something.

If they were in an open field, it would certainly not have escaped the group's siege in its injured state.

But now, with the Origin Mulberry Tree as cover, the effectiveness of the group's attacks was greatly diminished, and it could dodge their strikes with ease.

This secretly infuriated the group; the damn beast was as slippery and troublesome as a loach.

They wanted to drive it down from the Origin Mulberry Tree, but the Three-Tailed Demon Fox would immediately leap to another one.

However, more guards were hearing the commotion and rushing toward this location.

The Three-Tailed Demon Fox seemed to understand that if it lingered any longer, it might never have another chance to escape.

It dodged the group's siege once more and landed on an adjacent Origin Mulberry Tree.

At the same time, it turned its head to glare viciously at Shen Mu in the crowd, as if to memorize the person who had injured it, before leaping away through the Origin Mulberry Trees and vanishing in the blink of an eye.

"Damn it!"

The expressions of the group were all rather ugly, as if none had expected this outcome.

After putting in so much effort, they hadn't expected the target to escape anyway.

Shen Mu, standing in the crowd, was not the least bit surprised.

Ever since the Three-Tailed Demon Fox realized it could use the Origin Mulberry Trees to avoid the group's attacks, the others had become hesitant and restrained in their strikes to avoid damaging the trees.

"This beast is too cunning."

Guo Jinchuan couldn't help but say with annoyance, "If I had known it would come to this, we should have just let Shen Mu hack the beast to death earlier."

"Since the beast has escaped, everyone might as well disperse."

"..."

The group chatted for a few moments before having no choice but to return, feeling rather dejected.

"What a pity. We went to all that trouble, yet we still couldn't catch that beast."

Once the others had left, Zhang Bohan sighed softly.

Shen Mu chuckled, "Its speed is simply too fast, and it has the Origin Mulberry Tree as a shield. Unless a deacon takes action, it won't be an easy task for us guards to capture it."

Zhang Bohan nodded in agreement, "Indeed."

At the same time, Shen Mu understood why everyone had been so enthusiastic about launching a hunt for the Three-Tailed Demon Fox.

The primary reason was likely that life in the valley was far too dull and tedious, and they were simply looking for something to do.

Even if they had successfully captured the Three-Tailed Demon Fox, the bounty would have been split among more than a dozen guards, leaving each person with only a few taels of silver.

Although the guards were all short on silver, they likely didn't care much for such a meager amount.

Shen Mu shifted the topic, "Brother Zhang, you mentioned earlier that this fox is called a Three-Tailed Demon Fox. Does it count as a demon beast?"

"That is correct."

Zhang Bohan nodded and smiled, "The Three-Tailed Demon Fox is indeed a type of demon beast, though it is a variant."

"In the Dark Night Beast Forest, there is a first-rank demon beast called the Ghost Moon Snow Fox. They are pack animals with incredible speed, covered in white fur and possessing a pair of striking, blood-red pupils."

"Within their tribe, only the leader of the Ghost Moon Snow Foxes has the right to mate."

"Logically speaking, the offspring born to Ghost Moon Snow Foxes should be the same as their parents, but there is a certain probability of variants or anomalies appearing—much like the Three-Tailed Demon Fox we just saw, which possesses three tails from birth."

"Within the Ghost Moon Snow Fox tribe, the Three-Tailed Demon Fox is considered an omen of misfortune; once born, it is usually bitten to death by the leader."

"However, there is a slim chance that a female Ghost Moon Snow Fox might hide the cub from the leader, raise it, and then force it to leave the tribe to survive on its own."

"I suspect the Three-Tailed Demon Fox we encountered wandered out of the Dark Night Beast Forest and accidentally entered Emerald Cloud Valley. It probably hasn't even reached adulthood yet; an adult Ghost Moon Snow Fox possesses the strength of a first-rank demon beast. Even if all the guards in this valley joined forces, we would be no match for it..."

Upon hearing this, Shen Mu couldn't help but sigh.

It was easy to imagine that the Three-Tailed Demon Fox had been destined for a life of misfortune from the moment it was born.

It likely couldn't survive on its own in the Dark Night Beast Forest and was forced to leave to seek a chance at survival in the outside world.

Unexpectedly, it had blundered into Emerald Cloud Valley and had its tracks discovered by the guards, leading to this little episode.

"That fellow is quite clever, though."

Shen Mu looked in the direction the Three-Tailed Demon Fox had fled and muttered to himself, "I hope it manages to leave Emerald Cloud Valley safely."

Zhang Bohan looked at Shen Mu and chuckled, "Brother Shen, they say foxes are very vengeful creatures. That beast glared at you quite viciously when it left. It might just return one day to seek revenge, so you had better be careful."

Shen Mu's mouth twitched as he recalled the look the Three-Tailed Demon Fox had given him before leaving, and he laughed, "If it really dares to come back looking for trouble, I wouldn't mind turning it into a fox-fur shawl!"

Though he said this, Shen Mu couldn't help but feel a bit apprehensive in his heart.

Judging by the expression on the Three-Tailed Demon Fox when it left, there was a real possibility it might come back for revenge.

That would truly be an unprovoked disaster.

"Haha."

Zhang Bohan laughed heartily, chatted with Shen Mu for a while longer, and then led his outer-circle helpers toward the next patch of Origin Mulberry Field.

Shen Mu put his thoughts aside and began practicing the Army-Breaking Saber Technique, and the once-noisy Emerald Cloud Valley returned to its former tranquility.