Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox

After hearing the Empress Dowager's words (Note 1), Lin'an's first thought was that her brother, the Emperor, planned to compromise with the nobles in the court and marry her off to the son of a certain duke in order to consolidate his power.

This wasn't just a baseless guess; her mother had mentioned this before, wanting to marry her off to the second son of the Duke of Dingguo.

The Empress Dowager spoke softly and calmly, continuing:

"After all, I am your mother in name only, and I shall be in charge of your marriage."

"When the late emperor was alive, he didn't care about your marriage, and I was happy to have some free time. Now that the new emperor has this intention, I have no choice but to take responsibility."

"My Emperor brother knows perfectly well that I'm close to that dog servant. Although I've never admitted to having feelings for him, can't my Emperor brother see that?" Lin'an felt a surge of anger rising within her.

His face instantly darkened, his tone respectful yet cold:

"There's no need for the Empress Dowager to trouble herself with this matter; Lin'an will speak to my brother, the Emperor, in person."

The Empress Dowager looked at her with some surprise:

"You don't want to get married?"

Lin'an had a stern face:

I won't marry anyone.

The Empress Dowager nodded, seemingly unconcerned, and said softly:

"Fine."

"His Majesty said you and Xu Yinluo were quite close and had a good relationship. It turns out His Majesty misunderstood."

Lin'an stared at her blankly.

After a few seconds of stunned silence, Lin'an stammered:

"Mother, what did Mother say?"

The Empress Dowager said calmly:

"His Majesty wishes to bestow a marriage upon you and Xu Yinluo. If you are unwilling, you may simply decline."

Before he could finish speaking, Lin'an shouted:

"Since the Emperor has said so, Lin'an has no choice but to comply, no matter how unwilling she is."

"Thank you for taking care of this, Your Majesty."

The Empress Dowager stared at her for a few moments, a slight smile appearing on her face.

"After going through so much, you've matured quite a bit."

"I have said all I need to say. You may leave."

"I take my leave from Lin'an!"

She bowed without changing her expression and left Fengqi Palace with two personal maids.

As soon as Lin'an stepped out of the Phoenix Perch Palace gate, her legs went weak and she almost fell over.

Your Highness.

Fortunately, two palace maids reacted quickly and helped her up.

"Your Highness, are you feeling unwell? This servant will go and fetch the imperial physician."

The palace maid on the left hurriedly ran away.

Lin'an leaned limply against another palace maid, lost in thought.

"Your Highness, Your Highness, what's wrong?"

Upon seeing this, the palace maid was greatly alarmed.

Lin'an felt her heart pounding wildly in her chest, and her vision blurred. She tried to force a smile, but tears streamed down her face as she murmured:

"I don't know what's wrong with me either."

Late at night in Southern Frontier.

On the outskirts of the Hundred Thousand Mountains, there is a high mountain called "Qingfeng Cliff".

The full moon hung high in the sky, and countless figures busied themselves under its bright light. Some were human in appearance, some were humanoid but possessed animalistic features, and some were purely animalistic.

What they have in common is that they are all porters.

Hundreds upon hundreds of Demon Race were throwing living creatures into a large pit; these creatures included all sorts of beings.

They were either dying or unconscious, completely unaware of their impending fate.

High in the sky, Luo Yuheng rode a flying sword, Xu Qi'an stood on a Taiping saber, and Bai Ji hung on his shoulder.

"A grand, bloody sacrifice."

Xu Qi'an looked down and said in a deep voice.

These creatures were collected with the aim of restoring some of the divine power to the severed limbs.

Shen Shu was sealed for five hundred years, and his Qi and Blood was depleted. This cannot be recovered by simply practicing breathing exercises. To restore his extraordinary power, he must absorb power of the same level.

In Xu Qi'an's view, this conforms to the law of conservation of energy.

Since Transcendent Realm Blood Pills are extremely rare, the only way forward is for quantitative change to lead to qualitative change.

"What, can't the chivalrous Xu Yinluo bear to watch the creatures below lose their lives in vain?"

Luo Yuheng teased with a smile, like a frivolous enchantress.

Xu Qi'an did not answer directly, but instead sighed:

"Do not speak of the glory of being enfeoffed as a marquis, for the success of one general is built upon the bones of ten thousand."

He then responded:

"Humans are adaptable and inevitably have to make choices. Blindly following a certain principle is not the act of a wise person."

Luo Yuheng grinned and raised her hand, her wide sleeves slipping down to reveal her snow-white wrist and jade-like small hand, then patted his head:

"You've never been a pedantic person."

As they were talking, a huge noise came from the jungle below, and trees collapsed in large swaths.

From Xu Qi'an's perspective, he could see a huge black-scaled serpent slowly crawling towards them, crushing the trees along its path.

"Hiss."

The giant serpent raised its head and flicked its tongue at the full moon in the sky.

"It's the Snake Protector! The Snake Protector has arrived!"

"The Serpent Guardian's body is as enormous as ever, no, hasn't it grown even bigger?"

The Demon Race below were buzzing with discussion.

The giant snake's abdomen writhed, and a round ball bulged out. The ball slowly moved upwards and was spat out with a "poof" when it reached the snake's throat.

It was a huge ball of flesh enveloped in aura.

"Rage!"

The clear, melodious cry echoed through the night sky.

Two enormous creatures swept across the night sky: a crimson giant bird, two zhang long, with fiery red feathers; and an eagle, thirteen zhang long, with brownish-golden feathers.

Each of the two giant birds held an iron chain in its claws, and in the middle of the chains was a wooden cage that was two zhang (approximately 6.6 meters) long, wide, and high.

The wooden cages housed a variety of animals, including both herbivores and carnivores.

Two giant birds swept over the group of demons, their claws suddenly loosening, causing the enormous cage to crash down.

The "snake guardian" flicked its long tail, easily coiling around the wooden cage and gently setting it down.

Immediately afterwards, a long howl echoed under the moonlight, and a giant dog, three zhang long, came galloping over, its four limbs treading on the air as if walking on flat ground.

Judging from the chattering of the demons below, Xu Qi'an knew that these were the canine guardians of the Kingdom of Ten Thousand Demons.

In the next hour, the Demon Race protectors made their grand entrance; eighteen of them arrived, all of them fourth-rank Demon Race.

The creatures in the pit piled up higher and higher.

"As far as the Demon Race race is concerned, the proportion of strong individuals is quite good. Moreover, the Kingdom of Ten Thousand Demons definitely has more than eighteen fourth-rank great demons. Since Ye Ji didn't come, there must be other fourth-rank Demon Race acting elsewhere."

Xu Qi'an was not surprised at all that the Kingdom of Ten Thousand Demons, which had been lying low for five hundred years and biding its time, possessed such a large force.

"Unfortunately, there are only two extraordinary masters: the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox and a bear."

He said regretfully.

The number of extraordinary experts is extremely small.

At its peak, the number of transcendent demons in the Kingdom of Ten Thousand Demons was second only to Buddhist School, even surpassing that of the Great Feng.

After all, the Southern Demon symbolizes the orthodoxy of the Demon Race and embodies the fortune of the entire Demon Race race.

The northern Demon Race, however, is far inferior.

Just then, he heard a little demon calling from below:

"Elder Kiyohime."

Xu Qi'an immediately looked in the direction of the sound. At the top of Qingfeng Cliff stood a tall woman in a blue dress, her face covered with a silk scarf. Her foxy eyes shone brightly as she looked down at the demons below.

When did she appear? Does she possess Divine Ability for stealth similar to that of the Dark Gu Clan? Xu Qi'an heard Bai Ji exclaim in surprise:

"Oh, Kiyohime-neechan."

Almost forgot, this little guy is also a dignified Elder Bai Ji. Xu Qi'an asked:

"Are you and Yoruhime's sisters?"

Bai Ji nodded vigorously:

"I haven't seen Kiyohime-neechan in a long time. Kiyohime-neechan's cooking is delicious."

"How many sisters do you have?" Xu Qi'an probed.

Is she pretty?

Before Bai Ji could answer, Xu Baipiao stated the facts with a serious expression:

"No matter how beautiful she is, she's not as beautiful as the Imperial Advisor."

Luo Yuheng nodded in satisfaction and removed the sword from Luo Yuheng's neck.

A young woman, her face veiled in a light gauze, looked down at the horde of demons below and spoke loudly:

"Please welcome Your Majesty!"

The sound is very clear, neither seductive nor cloying, but clean and clear like a silver bell.

"Please welcome Your Majesty!"

All the Demon Race present shouted, their voices converging into a tidal wave.

"Ding-ling."

The clear sound of the copper bells rang in the ears of every Demon Race, as well as in the ears of Xu Qi'an and Luo Yuheng.

At that moment, the clear, full moon seemed to dim slightly, as if it had been obscured by something.

The arrival of the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox stirred something in Xu Qi'an's heart, and he turned his head to look at the full moon.

The fox clan is renowned for its beauty; every fox is an exceptional beauty.

What kind of breathtaking beauty would this unique nine-tailed celestial fox possess?

P. S.: This chapter is a bit short; I'll make up for it in the next chapter.

Note 1: The Empress has been promoted to Empress Dowager; the previous chapter contained an error.