Fox Demon

Zhou Yan rushed forward, and Song Tou'er's right palm came chopping straight at him.

He took the blow head-on with his left shoulder, and his entire left arm went numb instantly.

His right fist swung out from his waist.

Mountain-Breaking Fist!

His fist smashed into Song Tou'er's throat, internal force drilling in before exploding.

His Adam's apple shattered into pieces. Song Tou'er's eyes bulged wide as bloody foam poured from his mouth. His body arched backward before crashing to the ground.

Zhou Yan's strength gave out at once as well, and he dropped to his knees.

After catching his breath a few times, he pushed himself slowly to his feet and walked over to the young Qi Gathering cultivator.

The man's shoulder blade was broken, leaving him unable to move. Seeing Zhou Yan approach, his lips trembled as though he wanted to say something.

With a crack, Zhou Yan stomped on his neck and ground down hard. The man stopped breathing.

The forest fell silent.

Zhou Yan leaned against a pine tree and slid to the ground. There was not a single part of him that did not hurt. His left shoulder bone was cracked, his right arm was strained and could not be raised, a diagonal slash across his lower back had sheared off a strip of flesh that continued to seep blood, and the web between his thumb and forefinger had long since split open.

He tore several strips of cloth and haphazardly wrapped them around his left shoulder and waist.

He rested there for less than half an incense stick's time.

The sky darkened, and the light in the woods grew dimmer. The birds called a few times, then fell quiet.

Supporting himself against the tree trunk, he stood up. He had to check the pile of rocks and make sure the corpses were still there.

Dragging his battered body through the forest, he reached the cliff face.

The rubble was still stacked where he had pressed it down last time. It did not look as though anyone had touched it.

He moved aside the stones blocking the entrance and crawled in for a look.

What he saw made his heart leap into his throat.

It was empty!

Those skeletons had all vanished.

The rubble was scattered everywhere, while the ground was perfectly clean.

There were no drag marks, no footprints—not even traces of insects crawling across it.

A chill ran down Zhou Yan's back. He hurried out and strode back the way he had come.

When he returned to the pine forest where the fight had taken place—

Only several pools of blood and scattered weapons remained on the ground. The corpses had vanished into thin air.

Zhou Yan's mind buzzed.

There was a demon!

He did not dare think any further and immediately headed down the mountain.

After walking for about one incense stick's time, the pine forest grew denser and denser.

He remembered crossing a ridge on the way here before reaching this forest. On the way back, crossing that ridge should have brought him to the main road.

Yet he kept walking downhill, and the ridge never appeared.

After another half an incense stick's time, the path beneath his feet became flatter and flatter. Thinking he was close to the foot of the mountain, he passed through a patch of shrubs and stopped.

Before him was a pine forest.

Qian Huai's short knife was still nailed to the tree trunk. The pools of blood on the ground were nearly dry, and the weapons remained scattered everywhere.

He had come back again!

Zhou Yan stood there, his scalp tingling.

Refusing to believe it, he changed directions.

This time, he did not go downhill. He went west.

The terrain to the west was higher. Once he crossed it, he should have been able to see the village below the mountain.

He ran for one incense stick's time, crossed a slope of loose rocks, and pushed aside a clump of thornbushes.

Only to find himself back in the same pine forest, with the same knife and the same pools of blood.

The sky was nearly completely dark. Only a little moonlight filtered through the gaps in the canopy, and he could not even see things a few steps away.

Zhou Yan clenched his fists. His palms were slick with sweat, which mingled with blood and dripped down.

He had never been this panicked before.

Something had trapped him. He had tried two directions just now, and neither had led him out.

Then he suddenly heard several splashes.

The sound came from the east, fewer than fifty paces away.

Zhou Yan followed the sound, feeling his way through a dense stretch of woods. The view suddenly opened up before him.

A pool four or five zhang wide lay ahead, its surface glinting dark green in the dusk.

Bare rocks surrounded the pool.

The center of the pool churned, bubbles swelling one after another on the surface.

Then he heard a soft, coquettish laugh.

A woman's light laughter drifted over the water. Her voice was gentle and seductive, and he could not tell how far away she was, nor whether she was in the water or on the shore.

"Heh!"

Another laugh followed. This one lingered longer, its ending curving upward like a seductive kitten brushing against his mind.

Zhou Yan steadied his mind and took a step back. Gravel crunched loudly beneath his foot.

In an instant, the laughter stopped, and the water went still.

The forest was so quiet that he could hear his own heartbeat.

Standing at the edge of the pool, Zhou Yan felt cold all over.

The water began to churn again.

A vortex opened at the center of the pool, spinning faster and faster before abruptly stopping.

A moon was reflected in the water. Zhou Yan looked up, but there was no moon in the sky.

When he looked back into the water, the moon remained, giving off a faint white glow that illuminated the entire pool.

Something rose from beneath the water.

A great mass of black hair floated up from the depths and spread across the surface, winding and twisting.

A woman emerged from beneath the water. Her features were enchantingly beautiful, every detail seemingly painted into place, exquisite to the point of unreality.

Her skin was pale without a trace of blood, much like the moonlight in the water. The water reached her collarbones, revealing two smooth, jade-like shoulders.

Water droplets clung to her lashes as she gazed at Zhou Yan with a half-smile and blinked.

Then a second face emerged on the other side of the pool.

Her chin was pointed, her eyes narrower than the first woman's, and her lips thinner.

Then came a third, rising from the pool's edge beside Zhou Yan's feet, fewer than three paces from him.

Her hair clung to her cheeks, and her lips were slightly parted, as if she had just awakened beneath the water.

The three women floated half-submerged on the water, thin gauze draped over their bodies. The soaked fabric clung to them, their figures faintly visible beneath it.

They made no effort to conceal themselves as they hovered there, half floating and half sinking, watching Zhou Yan.

The nearest one stretched out her hand. Her fingers were pale and long, and she touched her lips with her fingertips before smiling at Zhou Yan.

She looked as though she were appraising prey.

"Young master, you are injured." Her voice was so soft and cloying it made one's bones melt.

The one at the center of the pool turned sideways. Her gauze robe slipped halfway down her shoulder as she tilted her head at Zhou Yan. "You are badly hurt. You have lost so much blood. This pool can heal injuries. Come down and soak with me, and your wounds will stop hurting."

The third said nothing. She merely lifted half her body out of the water and stretched lazily.

Water droplets rolled down her neck and along her gauze robe, flowing into the valley of her chest. Her eyes were half-closed, as though she had just awakened.

"Come down." The one by the pool beckoned Zhou Yan with a finger, her nails painted a faint red. "The water is warm."

Zhou Yan did not move. His expression gradually turned grave.

These three women were not human!

"Why does young master not speak?" The one in the center of the pool tilted her head at him, tracing circles across the surface with her finger.

The one by the pool laughed. "He is afraid of us."

"What is there to fear?" the third woman said. "We do not eat people. We live here and have not seen a stranger in a long time."

"That is right." The one by the pool reached out and stirred the water, splashing droplets onto her wrist in a most enticing sight. "No one has come here in a long time. The last one who came did not last very long."

The one at the center of the pool shot her a glare.

The one by the pool pressed her lips together in a smile and said nothing more.

Zhou Yan took a step back, his heel crunching on gravel.

All three women fell silent at once and stared at him.

Light shone from within their eye sockets, an eerie blue glow floating across the water.

The one by the pool slowly drifted toward the shore.

Her gauze trailed across the surface, drawing a long watery line behind her like a snake swimming through water.

She drifted to the shore, less than an arm's length from Zhou Yan, then raised her head to look at him.

From this angle, her neck was tilted back, her collarbones hollowed out, and the water reached just to her chest—mysterious and seductive.

But when Zhou Yan looked down, all he saw in the water's reflection was a terrifying fox face!

Clearly, all three were Fox Demons!

"Do not be afraid, young master." She stretched out her hand, her fingers nearly touching Zhou Yan's heel. "You are badly hurt. Come down and soak awhile, and you will recover. The pool water has spiritual energy. It can heal any wound."

The Fox Demon lifted a corner of her gauze, revealing half her slender calf. She tapped the water's surface with her toes, sending ripples spreading outward. "Does young master think we are not pretty enough?"

"Pretty," Zhou Yan said at last, his voice somewhat hoarse. "Pretty enough that you do not look alive."