Bai Lu had a very, very long dream.
In her dream, she ran happily across Qingqiu's boundless grasslands, with her clansmen, her younger sister, and her elder brothers beside her.
Foxes were free.
With royal blood in her veins, she only needed to quietly absorb the essence of the sun and moon, and in a hundred years, she would become a great demon.
Until that day, when the heavens over Qingqiu changed.
The elders upon the throne and her brothers and sisters turned on one another in a bloody struggle.
In an instant, Qingqiu, once full of life and freedom, became a withered yellow wasteland, with blood flowing for a thousand miles.
Young as they were, they could only flee.
The clansmen beside her dwindled, some dying along the way, others being captured...
In the end, only she and her younger sister crossed the endless mountains and reached a remote place, a human nation: Great Yan.
She and her sister had a quarrel.
She wanted to live a stable life and cultivate in peace. Perhaps, perhaps one day she could return to Qingqiu. That was all.
Her sister wanted no such thing. She wanted power. She wanted to return to Qingqiu and kill every last one of those who had reduced her to this state.
To that end, her sister did not hesitate to kill people and take their blood essence. That way, her cultivation could progress much faster.
"Humans kill us, so we eat humans. What's wrong with that?"
"Sister, I think you've lost your mind. With that attitude, I might as well eat you right now. Better that than letting humans torture you later."
Bai Lu could feel her sister's genuine killing intent, and so the two parted ways.
Thanks to the fox demons' shapeshifting arts and her own everyday caution, she joined a human sect to cultivate.
At first, Bai Lu thought humans feared demons because demons ate people.
But after spending these years in Great Yan, she discovered that some humans were more terrifying than demons.
Bai Lu began to crave power.
The images in her mind spun past without end. Finally, she found her sister on Cloudmist Mountain.
Their relationship was no longer what it had been. What Bai Lu wanted was an opportunity, the Thousand Illusions Purple-Gold Bell.
Bai Lu had not actually intended to kill her, but later, a jailer from the Heavenly Prison killed her sister.
At the very end, she heard a bell ring.
"Hey, wake up. Wake up."
"Look, her flesh... it's grown back, and her wounds have healed."
"Madman, you really are something. You can even bring the dead back."
So noisy.
The dream faded, and Bai Lu gradually regained consciousness.
She felt that she was missing a tail...
Bai Lu knew very well what that meant.
Did I die once... was that my life flashing before my eyes? Bai Lu thought silently.
Then she slowly rose from the ground, looking around with weary eyes.
A village...
The memories of what had just happened were also in her mind. Alongside her surprise, fear stirred in her heart.
Weren't all the people in this village killed that night?
Why am I in such an eerie village? And why did I think I was a villager?
It was as though her entire understanding of the world had been rewritten.
Had she not died once, she truly would not have remembered any of it.
Looking at the people around her, Bai Lu considered briefly and made up her mind.
Since she had recovered her memories, she would find a way to leave. As for this eerie village, she had better not rustle the grass and startle the snake.
For now, she would pretend everything was as usual.
With that thought, she forced a faint, delicate smile onto her face and spoke softly to those around her.
"Sorry for putting you all to so much trouble, but I'm fine now. Please go on your way."
Xu Fang's rough voice came from beside her.
"Miss Bai, it's good that you're all right, but you ought to thank someone. If not for the madman, you wouldn't have survived."
"That's right, that's right. You need to give the madman a proper thank-you."
The madman?
Did they mean that Heavenly Prison jailer who spouted nonsense? That fellow's methods had been extremely strange, too.
Since he's a madman now, should I find a chance to kill him before leaving the village?
She looked toward Ye Wuyou. He was standing to one side, and judging by his gaze, he had been staring at her all along.
Hah, a madman... what are you looking at? Am I that pretty?
Bai Lu was very confident in her looks. As a royal Demon Fox, whether in demon form or human form, she was the most dazzling beauty in the world.
Yet just as that thought crossed her mind, the man before her suddenly opened his mouth and answered.
"I'm looking at your tails. You had three at first. Tsk, now there are only two. Huh, where'd they go? Are my eyes playing tricks on me again?"
Ye Wuyou rubbed his eyes, then stepped closer and crouched down.
His gaze went to a corner beneath her white skirt, as though he wanted to see where exactly her tails were and how they grew out.
A sharp rush of wind sounded beside his ear, only to stop abruptly.
"Madman, what are you doing? Trying to take liberties with Miss Bai again? Even if you saved her, you can't do that."
Ye Wuyou turned to look and saw a palm before him.
It hovered beside his face. Apparently, she had intended to slap him.
But for some reason, it had stopped.
His gaze swept past the hem of her skirt, past her palm, then past those towering peaks to her face, which was full of fury yet still enchanting.
"Do you really not have tails..."
Before he finished, a woman's shriek rang out.
Her voice brimmed with anger and bewilderment!
"Why? Why do you know the Beast Taming Sect's techniques!"
"Why! Why am I your bound spirit beast!"
A trace of despair appeared in Bai Lu's eyes, while utter bewilderment filled her expression.
For some unknown reason, a bond had appeared between her and Ye Wuyou.
As a Demon Fox, she knew very well where such a bond came from.
Seeing how agitated Bai Lu was, Lin Qingqing hurriedly supported her, and the others began talking over one another.
"What did Miss Bai just say? Why couldn't I understand it?"
"Oh no. Don't tell me being saved by the madman turned her mad too?"
"Miss Bai, don't get angry. Calm down first. You weren't even breathing just now. The madman saved you."
Bai Lu was almost trembling, and tears even glimmered at the corners of the eyes on her alluring face.
Saved me?
This is the innate divine ability of a Demon Fox from the Qingqiu Royal Clan. One tail for one life.
What does it have to do with him?
And isn't he a Heavenly Prison jailer? Why does he know the Beast Taming Sect's inherited art for binding spirit beasts?
Dying once is no more than taking a nap for me, but I woke up as someone else's spirit beast?
Ye Wuyou merely glanced at her. Unable to make sense of her words, he lowered his head again, edged closer, and devoted all his attention to peering beneath her skirt.
Tails, tails...
Then someone forcibly pulled him away.
"That's enough, madman. You did save her life, so she ought to repay you by giving herself to you, but in your condition, she can only repay you as an ox or a horse in her next life..."
But then Lin Qingqing held her chin, looked Ye Wuyou over, and gave a soft sound of surprise.
"Still, if you could cure your madness, you're quite good-looking. She could consider giving herself to you."
Bai Changzai, who had remained quiet all this time, now stood to one side holding his book and twisted the knife.
"Not so."
Everyone looked at him, confusion in their eyes.
"Look, Miss Bai has gone mad too, and Ye Wuyou is also a madman. I actually think they... make quite a fitting pair."
Bai Lu trembled, still immersed in this unacceptable reality.
Hearing those words, her vision nearly went dark. Then, her face filled with fury, she said,
"I'm not mad! You, you villagers who can't see reality for what it is, you're the mad ones!"
Yet as soon as she said that, everyone's gaze froze. Then they looked toward Ye Wuyou and each nodded silently.
Holding his book bag, Bai Changzai shook his head slightly and sighed with earnest gravity.
"See? She still says she isn't mad. Even the things they say are the same."
I got drunk today. I'll make up the other chapter in the morning.
Before you continue