Chapter 54 — The Demon's Passing

"But have you ever considered the feelings of the other races? Those beasts and birds your kind have killed and eaten—what do they feel? In the end, it is simply because your human race is strong. The beasts have no power to resist, and can only submit to the slaughter." The white fox's voice continued evenly: "That being so, we of the fox-demon clan are stronger than some of you humans. What of it, then, if we kill a few of you? After all, this world has always been one where the strong prey upon the weak." It smiled and looked at Zhang Qingyue. "What say you?"

Zhang Qingyue glared at it, lips pressed tightly together, and said nothing.

"And moreover, even among your human race, is it not ever thus? You cultivate the Way and refine your arts, and to this day have not attained immortality, yet you contend and struggle among yourselves with boundless zeal. This so-called orthodox path and heterodox path—in truth, are they not merely names you give in your own mouths? It is simply that the victor is king and the loser a bandit."

It smiled again, looked at Zhang Qingyue, and repeated, "What say you?"

Zhang Qingyue closed his eyes, tilted back his head, and drew a deep breath. The white fox said no more; it seemed that after speaking so much, it too felt somewhat weary.

A long while passed.

"What do you want me to say?" Zhang Qingyue said suddenly.

The white fox looked toward him and saw that he had opened his eyes. The young man's complex yet bright eyes were fixed upon it.

"One after another, you all lecture me on this principle and that," Zhang Qingyue said coldly. "It seems as though my being of the orthodox path is wrong, and your killing and wreaking havoc is right. You devils and heretics—what can you do besides bewitch men's hearts?"

The white fox suddenly furrowed its brow, a light flickering in its eyes, and said abruptly, "What? Has someone else said such things to you?"

Zhang Qingyue did not answer, but the dark blue radiance of the Dark Iron Staff had once again begun to brighten, casting his face in shifting, uncertain light. Only his voice was heard: "Demon, make your move!"

The blue light came forth, faint and ghostly, yet it seemed to overbear the omnipresent scorching red glow, sweeping down like a great mountain, hurling through the air.

The six-tailed white fox watched that pressing blue light, which in this place of molten heat still carried a trace of cold, and suddenly its whole body gave an involuntary shudder.

Just then, Zhang Qingyue suddenly heard from behind him—from the very tunnel through which he had fallen—a sound of surging and roaring.

The sound was like the wild roar of a beast, and like a thousand troops and ten thousand horses, iron hooves trampling, a momentum that shook the heavens; before the thing itself appeared, its force had already arrived. Zhang Qingyue was greatly alarmed, yet he dared not lower his guard against the six-tailed white fox before him. He could only withdraw the Dark Iron Staff at once, hold it across his chest, and concentrate his spirit to meet the threat.

And farther off, the six-tailed white fox had likewise knitted its brow slightly and was looking toward that tunnel.

Before long, Zhang Qingyue felt the heat surging from the tunnel grow fiercer still, and his breathing more difficult, until it seemed that in this cavern of molten rock a man would be boiled alive.

As he stood there alarmed and uncertain, the sound drew nearer and nearer, its force more and more ferocious. A moment later, he felt a brightness before his eyes: the dark tunnel blazed with sudden light, and from that narrow opening burst a colossal fire dragon. Once out of the passage, the fire dragon gave a long cry, soared into the air, and bared its fangs and claws. A white shadow flashed above the dragon, and a white figure drifted down—none other than that utterly soft and bewitching three-tailed demon fox.

She landed before the six-tailed white fox, her face somehow bearing a measure of panic, and her once neat garments now torn and soiled in several places. It seemed that in the battle outside just now, she had come off somewhat the worse.

Zhang Qingyue was taken aback. He stood where he was and did not step forward; his gaze was drawn instead to the colossal fire dragon still wheeling in midair. The dragon's whole body was wreathed in blazing flame, burning fiercely, and even within its eyes were two great orbs of white-hot fire.

In this vast underground cavern of molten rock, the fire dragon seemed to have taken some nourishment, its presence growing ever fiercer. With a dragon's cry, it plunged headlong downward.

Zhang Qingyue was badly startled and hastily retreated several steps, only to see the fire dragon merely graze past him. Beneath the blast of heat that struck his face, the dragon roared and dove into the lava lake beneath their feet, vanishing in an instant—then, a moment later, it burst forth again, rolling and swimming contentedly in that searing, terrible lake.

Suddenly, from ahead came the faint voice of the three-tailed demon fox: "Elder Brother, are you all right?"

The six-tailed white fox smiled and said coolly, "This young brother of the orthodox path has not yet lifted a hand against this dying fox of mine."

Zhang Qingyue's face reddened, and then he frowned. From the six-tailed white fox's words, it seemed the creature was sick unto death.

The three-tailed demon fox's expression was somewhat sorrowful. She said in a low voice, "Elder Brother, besides the two who came with this youth, two more have come—from Fenxia Valley as well."

The six-tailed white fox's body seemed to quiver. It turned its head toward her and said, "Is it that old fellow Shangguan?"

The three-tailed demon fox shook her head. "No. They are two disciples of the younger generation, but their cultivation runs deep. I—I am no match for them..."

The six-tailed white fox was checked for a moment, then gave a faint sigh. "Ah. You have only three hundred years of cultivation. Even with the Mystic Fire Mirror, how could you stand against such outstanding disciples of the great orthodox sects? Let it be. Let it be."

Down the three-tailed demon fox's face—so utterly soft and bewitching—two streaks of tears now slid unbidden: "But Elder Brother, there is no way out from this Fire Dragon Cave now, and the four of them have sealed the way above. For the moment we hold them off only by the Great Black Leech's desperate effort, but I saw how formidable their magic artifacts are—I fear they will break through within the time it takes to burn a stick of incense. What—what are we to do?"

The six-tailed white fox looked at her and laboriously raised a forepaw, as though it wished to grasp her, but it lifted halfway and then fell back. It panted for a long while before saying, "Can you not see? Even if they do not come, I am finished."

The three-tailed demon fox's tears fell upon the white fox's snow-pure fur.

The white fox's voice, by contrast, sounded almost calm: "For three hundred years I have fled from place to place, living every day and every night in a sunless darkness, fearing always that the men of Fenxia Valley would come hunting me, and enduring day and night the icy poison of the Ninefold Frost Ice Spike as it worked upon my body. But now, at last, there is no escaping it."

The three-tailed demon fox said mournfully, "Elder Brother, say no more. I will take you and break through—we still have the Mystic Fire Mirror, and with your cultivation, you can surely..."

The white fox slowly shook its head and said in a low voice: "My nearly thousand-year foundation of cultivation—in these three hundred years, the icy poison of that Ninefold Frost Ice Spike has eroded it drop by drop. Now my whole body is cold, chill to the very marrow. It is over for me."

The three-tailed demon fox's body trembled, and she could speak no more.