Chapter 82: The Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox (Part Five)

“Hm? Young master wants to know? But I’m afraid I might not be able to control myself.” Lingyue was obviously love-struck; though she was an old fox spirit hundreds of years old, she lost her composure whenever she met a handsome man.

“Sister Yue… just turn into a fox, that would be enough…” Wu Ming, caught off guard by her question, was already trembling as he spoke.

Lingyue laughed softly, “Don’t be afraid, young master. I’m only teasing you. Actually, I don’t remember how it happened anymore, because I can’t distinguish what was real and what was just a dream…”

“What happened? Tell me, maybe I can help you analyze it,” Wu Ming replied, employing an old but effective tactic.

Lingyue nodded, then leaned against Wu Ming’s shoulder and began, “It was two hundred years ago. I met the young master—no, someone who looked exactly like him. His cultivation was high, he was skilled in poetry and music. We often composed verses together; he played the zither, and I danced…” As she spoke, memories of those days flooded back.

More than two centuries ago, in the Fox Immortal Valley of Qingqiu—

“Brother Song, look, am I beautiful?” Lingyue, a nine-tailed spirit fox of just sixty years, had just awakened to love. She wore her white pomegranate gown, adorned with a phoenix hairpin, a pair of twin lotus flowers at her waist, her long hair flowing in the wind.

“Truly a beauty worthy of a kingdom… but…” Song Shao mused.

“But what? Tell me!” Lingyue shook Song Shao’s arm, urging him.

Song Shao replied, “But even the phrase ‘beauty worthy of a kingdom’ cannot describe your loveliness…”

“Yue, would you dance for me once more?” Song Shao asked, his head bowed, his expression sorrowful and helpless.

Lingyue cupped Song Shao’s face in her hands, “Are you really leaving? But we…”

“No, no, I’m only returning to clarify things—to dissolve that engagement. I cannot betray anyone… Yue, trust me, please?” Song Shao hurried to explain.

“Mm, don’t worry, Brother Song, of course I trust you… I’ll dance for you now, beneath this moonlight.” Lingyue’s devotion to Song Shao was unwavering.

Under the moonlight, as the seven-colored zither strings were plucked, the melody was already tinged with desolation, making the night even more forlorn.

When the dance of farewell ended, both were in tears, but under the moonlight, neither could clearly see the other’s face.

As the saying goes, “Seven-colored strings, the zither’s lament—who pities? Jade hands, graceful dance, gentle song and low chant, tears falling.” It was nothing more than that.

“All right, Yue, it’s late. You should go rest… I’ll depart at dawn tomorrow. Will you come to see me off?” Song Shao turned away after finishing the song.

“Brother Song, don’t go…” Lingyue, her long dress trailing, embraced Song Shao from behind, sobbing uncontrollably.

Song Shao gently pried her hands away, “Be good. I’ll return, no matter how long it takes, I will come back. Through three lifetimes and seven generations, I wish to be with you. That’s why I must return. Trust me…”

Lingyue slowly released Song Shao, watching his retreating figure through her tears, and Song Shao could do nothing else.

Early the next morning, Lingyue dressed as a humble maid and secretly slipped out of Fox Immortal Valley.

“Brother Song, let’s go together… Let’s return together. I’ve never seen the human world!” This mischievous girl truly dared to do anything.

Song Shao hesitated, “Will your eldest sister agree? This is too dangerous!”

“Ah, Brother Song, don’t worry. It’s only three or five days, nothing will happen!” Lingyue patted Song Shao’s shoulder.

“Well… all right then.” Song Shao nodded, and soon they left Qingqiu together.

…

“What happened after that?” Wu Ming listened, thinking it sounded like an elopement, nothing unusual.

“Afterwards… At the edge of the spiritual realm, he hesitated, and told me the truth,” Lingyue continued, lost in reminiscence.

…

“You should go back! I can’t take you with me!” Song Shao said sternly to Lingyue.

“Why? Brother Song! Take me with you, let’s wander the world together!” Lingyue tilted her head, pleading.

Song Shao suddenly shouted, “No! I can’t! Leave now!” Lingyue was so frightened she fell to the ground.

“Why are you so harsh to me?” Lingyue asked through sobs.

“Get out! I’m only using you!” Song Shao snarled.

“No! Even if you’re using me, I still want to be with you!” Lingyue had lost all reason. She took a dagger and cut her own hand, her nine-tailed fox blood pouring out, freezing instantly into a blood stone amidst the primordial cold of the Ice Lotus Wilderness.

Linglong handed the blood stone to Song Shao, “The world desires this blood—today, I give it all to you, does that not satisfy your greed?”

“I do want it! But get out of my sight! I told you, I only wanted your blood, so I used your feelings! Did you really think a cultivator from the Qi Dao Sect would marry a fox spirit? Ridiculous!” Taking the blood stone, Song Shao abandoned Lingyue in the Ice Lotus Wilderness, leaving the realm behind.

…

“My eldest sister found me later. I was already frozen stiff then. If not for her, I would have died. But I never understood why he treated me so cruelly,” Lingyue began to cry, “Young master, you say he needed my blood—so many chances, if he’d only asked, I would have given him not just my blood, even my nine tails. But why did he abandon me? Young master… tell me why?”

As she spoke, Lingyue’s claws dug into Wu Ming’s flesh, making him grit his teeth in pain.

“Miss Yue, the Song Shao you mentioned—I’ve looked into him. He was indeed from the Qi Dao Sect, even an elder. But later…” Wu Ming recalled what he’d found in the secret sect archives.

Lingyue abruptly sat up, “What? What happened later? How do you know? Tell me!” She shook Wu Ming until he was dizzy.

“All right, all right…” Wu Ming was at his wit’s end, confronted by such a character. “The sect records say that Song Shao, as an elder, went to the spirit realm, obtained the nine-tailed fox blood, but then disappeared. When the sect leader found him, he was dead in the Ice Lotus Wilderness you mentioned…” Wu Ming paused, “I checked the secret archives.”

“What? Secret archives? How could you have seen them?” Lingyue asked, puzzled.

Wu Ming, resigned, decided to reveal the truth. After all, Song Shao was a heartless man who had harmed Lingyue and dragged Wu Ming into his mess. He didn’t mind exposing the secret, so he said, “I used to be the sect’s leader, but was impeached this morning and captured. Song Shao was officially dealt with, but there’s no record of him—why, the archives didn’t say. But it’s certain he’s dead.”

As his words faded, Lingyue’s tears flowed freely. The man she had hated and loved for two hundred years had, in truth, died two centuries ago.

Lingyue laughed hollowly, startling Wu Ming into emergency action.

“Miss Yue, please don’t! My life is in your hands…” Wu Ming pleaded.

“I’m only laughing at my own foolishness. He’s been dead for two hundred years, and I’ve hated and loved him for just as long. Young master, am I not a fool?” Lingyue was not mad after all.

But before Wu Ming could answer, she continued:

“Ask the heavens, how many times have the peach blossoms bloomed?
How many times has Yue wandered beneath the moon?
When the long night ends, lotus blooms on Jade Lake under the moon,
Do you know? Three lifetimes, seven generations—our paths diverge.”

Wu Ming listened, moved to respond in verse himself:

“Pluck a branch of green, and the longing is countless,
Stroke a strand of black hair, yet dreams cannot be tethered.
Light a slender candle, its ancient incense never spent,
Play a melody on the zither, yet the sorrow cannot be expressed.”

“All right, Miss Yue, it’s all in the past… Live well from now on… though I may… haha…” While comforting her, Wu Ming could only smile bitterly himself.