The Villain Fox's Sickly Beauty Master - Chapter 38

Chapter 38: Strange Woman.

The spiritual power lingering above the barrier was very familiar to Fu Yi—it was ice-attributed. She didn’t know why her Master (Shizun) would set up such a barrier, but she suddenly realized that neither in the illusion nor when they parted in the main hall had she detected Xi Yin’s demon aura on her Master (Shizun). This could only mean one thing—her Master (Shizun) had intentionally brought Xi Yin to her side afterward.

This realization made Fu Yi drop her hand that was pressed tightly against the hall door. The voice in her mind kept echoing the previous conversation, which felt like a declaration of sovereignty. Her Master (Shizun) couldn’t possibly not know who Xi Yin was. Yet, choosing to keep her close must be for her own reasons.

Ignoring the inexplicable blockage in her heart, Fu Yi turned and descended the stone steps. Fu Yi didn’t speculate about the most intimate possibilities of the two people’s relationship, but she knew that her Master (Shizun) was a kind-hearted person.

She would help herself when she was young, faced with injustice and danger; she was willing to accompany herself in the illusion when she refused to leave. She did these things not because Fu Yi was special, but because she was kind-hearted, because Fu Yi was her disciple, and she had the responsibility to protect her safety. If another person were in deep trouble, she would surely do the same, such as Xi Yin.

In the previous life, Fu Yi knew early on that Xi Yin was not in good health and was rarely seen. Later, she gathered a lot of information from the side, learning that this person was the Saintess of the Demon Realm in this generation, who seemed to have been resurrected using a secret method, which came with great side effects, though the specifics were unknown. Now, her Master (Shizun) was willing to keep her close, likely intending to solve these problems for her, but judging from Xi Yin’s reaction, she didn’t know that the so-called Demon Lord Fen Tian had failed to seize the body.

Fu Yi had considered that Jiang Jinheng kept Xi Yin close to restrain her, but seeing Xi Yin completely unguarded, without any sign of being restricted, she dismissed that idea.

To prevent further overthinking, Fu Yi suddenly recalled the task Feng Qi entrusted to her in the secret realm. Her current cultivation was sufficient to handle things independently; it was time to fulfill her promise then.

However, going to the boundary between the two realms still required a legitimate reason. Thus, Fu Yi went to the Enforcement Hall, accepted a Rank B mission, and arrived near the Yulian Mountain Range.

The content of the mission Fu Yi accepted was to pick two fresh Spirit-Gathering Fruits. This kind of spiritual fruit usually coexists with the gluttonous beast, Taotie, only growing within a certain range of the Taotie’s dwelling. Since the Taotie is one of the four ancient ferocious beasts, such a simple mission to pick spiritual fruits had been shelved for a long time, climbing from Rank D all the way to Rank B before Fu Yi took it.

She spent considerable effort to find the traces of the Spirit-Gathering Fruit and was careful not to disturb the ferocious beast Taotie. Yet, unexpectedly, the world suddenly changed, and a bolt of heavenly thunder landed near the mountain range, shaking the ground.

This bolt of heavenly thunder seemed to have awakened the sleeping ferocious beast Taotie. Taotie is sensitive to smells and easily detected Fu Yi’s presence, even noticing that she was about to pick the Spirit-Gathering Fruit. It instantly flew into a rage and rushed towards her.

For a moment, Fu Yi couldn’t worry about why the heavenly thunder had fallen and could only focus on fighting the ferocious beast. This Taotie truly lived up to its name as one of the four ferocious beasts. Even though Fu Yi was now at the Void Refinement stage, she still couldn’t gain an advantage over it. No wonder this mission had been repeatedly upgraded with constantly updated rewards, yet no one had taken it.

While contemplating, Fu Yi decided to retreat for now. After all, the Taotie easily falls into a deep sleep during this time of year. If she waited a while, without the interference of the heavenly thunder, getting the Spirit-Gathering Fruit would definitely be much simpler.

But plans often go awry. In a flash, the Taotie seemed to use some secret technique and instantly flew above her head, opening its huge mouth to swallow her.

Fu Yi couldn’t dodge in time and was knocked to the ground. Just as she was pinching a talisman to escape, a flash of sword light swept past, and after hearing a few sword cries, a female immortal in red robes stood in front of her with a sword. After a few sword formations were set up, the previously leaping Taotie dared not move.

How powerful.

Fu Yi looked at the person’s back. There was no trace of her in her memory, yet the sword technique she used was clearly inherited from the Canglan Immortal Sect.

Now that everything was safe, Fu Yi put away the talisman, stood up, and patted the dirt off her clothes. She cupped her fists and bowed, asking: “May I ask which Senior you are? This Junior thanks you for your assistance.”

However, when the person turned around, the look in her eyes toward Fu Yi was not friendly, even carrying a ruthless and determined edge.

“You audacious little thief, I finally found you.”

Having not experienced such raw, skin-splitting pain for too long, Jiang Jinheng had almost forgotten the taste of heavenly thunder. This first bolt was usually the lightest, but the magical artifacts that bore half of the thunder tribulation’s might were completely annihilated, and she was still struck until bl00d seeped from her whole body.

Something seemed wrong.

But Jiang Jinheng’s consciousness was currently hazy. Even if she sensed that something was amiss, she couldn’t dwell on it, leaving 007 in her Sea of Consciousness anxious. It could feel the aura of divine power within the surging thunder and lightning. Without much thought, it must be the work of that fellow Yin Qiong.

Although 007 didn’t understand why Yin Qiong could still spare the effort to tamper with Jiang Jinheng’s thunder tribulation despite Lu Zhi’s targeting, all it could do now, besides sending a message to System 001 to call for help from Lu Zhi, was to silently cheer on Jiang Jinheng.

After the first bolt, the second, and the third followed closely…

After that, Jiang Jinheng no longer had the awareness to count how many bolts of lightning had struck her. All her magical artifacts were destroyed, and even her eye sockets were filled with bl00d flowing from her forehead, turning her vision completely crimson. She sat cross-legged on the cliff, seemingly just waiting for the verdict, but her posture remained straight and unbending. In a trance, Jiang Jinheng seemed to see a wisp of smoke pass by her eyes. Before losing consciousness, someone seemed to be shielding her, but she couldn’t clearly see the person’s appearance.

Facing the accusation of the person in front of her, Fu Yi felt bewildered. She had absolutely no memory of this person and never did petty theft, so why did this person repeatedly call her a little thief?

However, judging by her strength, her technique was neat and decisive, at least that of a Great Power at the Integration stage, which was comparable to her Master (Shizun), or perhaps… even stronger.

At this moment, Fu Yi no longer felt the relief she had felt moments ago, and her body subconsciously took a few steps back. While contemplating, Fu Yi’s divine sense had already probed her storage ring, wondering how many swift talismans she would need to use to safely escape, but the next moment, the woman raised her arm, muttered a few words, and several major acupoints on her body were completely sealed, preventing her from using any spiritual power.

“What did you do?”

Sensing the tension of being utterly crushed in strength, Fu Yi couldn’t help but swallow. She truly couldn’t figure out what she had stolen from this woman. Could it be that the Spirit-Gathering Fruits in this forest were grown by her? But she hadn’t even gotten hold of them yet.

Hearing this, the female immortal in red robes approached a few more steps, circled around her, sniffed lightly a few times, and finally stated definitively, yet bafflingly to Fu Yi: “It’s indeed on you.”

Just as Fu Yi was about to argue, she saw the storage bag hanging from her waist fly up. She instinctively reached out to grab it, but a few more acupoints were sealed, leaving her fixed in place.

“I didn’t steal anything from you.”

If the gap in strength hadn’t been so vast, Fu Yi would certainly not have spoken to her politely under such humiliation. But precisely because she was like a lamb awaiting slaughter, she wanted to argue for herself.

However, while she was speaking, the woman had already probed the storage bag with her divine sense and easily took out an egg with golden clan markings. Upon seeing the egg, a burst of joy seemed to appear on her face, but the look she gave Fu Yi was as if she wanted to eat her alive.

The person didn’t touch anything else in the storage ring. She only threw the storage ring at Fu Yi’s face, her tone chilling: “If it weren’t for your attire as an Immortal Sect disciple, you would be dead today. The human and demon races signed a covenant after the great war a thousand years ago. If I find you doing any more evil deeds in the Yulian Mountain Range, I will not let you off. Get lost. The sealed acupoints will naturally unseal after four hours.”

With that, the female immortal in red robes was about to leave on her sword, but Fu Yi was worried about the task Feng Qi entrusted to her. The moment the woman took out the egg with the golden clan markings from her storage ring, an urgency arose in her heart. Seeing that the woman did not seem intent on harming the egg, and fearing a deep misunderstanding between them, she still called out to her.

“You can’t take that egg away.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, Fu Yi saw the killing intent in the woman’s eyes intensify. She raised her sword and lunged towards her. Fu Yi subconsciously closed her eyes, and in a moment of panic, hurriedly added: “Feng Qi entrusted me to take this egg!”

When she opened her eyes again, the world seemed to have quieted down. Fu Yi only saw the sword suspended a few inches above her head, frozen in place. She instantly breathed a sigh of relief.

“You… have seen her?”

As she asked, the person seemed much more wooden than before. She slowly withdrew her sword, her eyes filled with disbelief.

Fu Yi saw that the person seemed to stop only after hearing Feng Qi’s name and asked such a question, so she quickly replied: “Yes, I was entrusted by her to come to the Yulian Mountain Range to retrieve this egg.”

At this point, seeing the woman in front of her seemed half-convinced and increasingly guarded, Fu Yi suddenly remembered something and continued: “You unseal my spiritual power, and I will show you something. You will naturally believe me.”

“Anyway, you’ve seen my strength. Even if you unseal my spiritual power, I can’t hurt you in the slightest. If I wanted to escape, I wouldn’t have called out to you just now.”

Fu Yi’s words were logical. The female immortal in red robes seemed to ponder for a short while, then followed her suggestion and unsealed her acupoints.

With the acupoints unsealed, Fu Yi instantly felt her bl00d and spiritual energy flow much more smoothly. She let out a breath and focused part of her spiritual power on her palm, drawing out the Phoenix Fire for the woman in front of her to see.

She wasn’t clear about the relationship between this person and Feng Qi, but she could tell from her words that they were at least not enemies. The moment the cluster of fire was drawn out, Fu Yi only thought she had produced evidence. Yet, she saw the woman’s eyes filled with apparent surprise, but two streaks of clear tears flowed down her face. Tears continuously overflowed from those almond-shaped eyes, neither truly crying nor truly laughing.

This discovery stunned Fu Yi, and a bold guess couldn’t help but surface in her heart. Just then, she heard the woman speak again.

“Where did you see her?”

Fu Yi didn’t know if she was aware that Feng Qi had perished in the great war a thousand years ago, so she was afraid of stimulating her and could only carefully reply: “I saw her in a place of inheritance in the Potala Secret Realm.”

As soon as the words fell, the woman’s face showed no sadness or confusion as Fu Yi had expected, but a sense of finality and calm: “It seems I was just deluding myself.”

Not long after releasing the Phoenix Fire, Fu Yi realized that some of the other acupoints that had been sealed on her body were also unsealed. It was then that she realized this woman had actually kept a trump card, and a faint sense of annoyance at not being trusted involuntarily arose in her heart.

However, just then, the woman began to recount another version of the story, one that Fu Yi had already heard from Feng Qi.

Feng Qi wasn’t wrong about one thing: this person had indeed been pursued, which caused her to lose her sight and drop in cultivation, leading her to the small mountain village where Feng Qi lived. However, even though her cultivation had dropped and she couldn’t see, she immediately recognized Feng Qi’s identity.

A thousand years ago, the demon race was vast and flourishing, and there were many conflicts between the human and demon races, which even triggered several major wars.

This woman claimed that she was fighting the Blue Crane clan of the Feathered race at the time, was injured by the Blue Crane clan leader, and fled all the way to a mountain village. When she met Feng Qi, she felt the surging demon power in her. If she hadn’t weighed the difference in their strength, she would have already attacked with her palm as a sword.

“At that time, I didn’t understand why she saved me and even healed my eyes. But after I regained my sight, I realized that she might have been attracted to my face.”

As she spoke, Fu Yi saw the person in front of her smile as she delved into her memories, but she couldn’t tell what the emotion in her heart was.

When Fu Yi listened to Feng Qi talk about old times, she only heard the sadness in her words. But hearing the other protagonist tell the story again today, it was hard to ignore the love in her words.

If she loved her, why did she do what she did later?

Fu Yi was confused and just listened quietly, looking at that somewhat cold and beautiful face.

“Actually, that period was the most carefree time I had ever experienced. I even thought about continuing like that forever. It’s a pity that afterward, my strength recovered, and I received a letter from my sect, discovering my whereabouts, urgently asking me to cripple her cultivation and bring her back to the alliance to drain her bl00d, strip her feathers, and remove her bones for various talismans and elixirs.”

As she said this, the smile on her face turned into conflict and self-blame, as if she was unwilling to recall that experience. But every word and sentence seemed to also pain Fu Yi.

Having experienced the pain of the bl00d drainage and bone removal she spoke of, Fu Yi’s words became unforgiving, laced with a sneer, seemingly disdainful of the deep affection she had shown earlier.

“So, you did as instructed? You could have clearly told her the news. If you wanted, you could have flown away and lived happily ever after with her. With your combined strength, how difficult would it be to avoid the world? It was nothing more than greed in your heart, even going so far as to trample on her sincere love.”

Fu Yi’s words made the woman’s face turn pale, but she then smiled and said to Fu Yi: “Do you know how old I was then?”

Seeing Fu Yi stunned, the woman slowly continued: “If I remember correctly, I should have been around your age, and my cultivation had just reached the Nascent Soul stage.”

Fu Yi seemed to remember Feng Qi mentioning that if she were still alive, she should be about two thousand years old now, but she hadn’t expected this person to be so much younger than her at that time. However, since she was already capable of fighting for her sect, she was at least able to stand on her own. What did that have to do with her cultivation if she wanted to be with the person she loved?

“So, you want to use being too young and having too low cultivation to cover up your mistakes?”

Hearing this, the woman shook her head and said: “Having not experienced that era, you naturally wouldn’t know how dirty the methods of controlling people used to be.”

At this point, she seemed to choke up a little, and only continued under Fu Yi’s confused gaze: “Before the descent of the Demon God, the human race had not yet united to establish the Immortal Alliance. The cultivation world was full of talents, and the various sects were not as harmonious as they are seen today. On the contrary, when not fighting foreign races, it was common practice to contend with other sects of similar strength, vying for spirit veins, mines, and even secret realms and treasures.”

“What does this have to do with your decision?”

She had said so much, but Fu Yi still didn’t agree with her final actions towards Feng Qi. Fu Yi had long recognized the human greed she spoke of. Many people coveted everything that the demon race inherently possessed, and they would stop at nothing to achieve their goals, whether through captivity or slaughter. Therefore, without external threats, internal strife and resource grabbing didn’t sound surprising. Similarly, such things also happened in other races, as this was the very reason for the downfall of her mother’s clan.

As soon as Fu Yi asked this, she saw the woman in front of her smooth her long sleeve, revealing a smooth, fair forearm. But when she turned it over, one could clearly see a horrifying scar that seemed to cover the entire forearm.

Before Fu Yi could ask, the person put down her arm, tidied her clothes, and slowly narrated: “Precisely because of the rivalry between the various sects, after disciples entered the sect, the Enforcement Hall would generally issue unified prohibitions and implant a tracking spiritual stone in their bodies. A corresponding tracking spiritual stone would be placed in the Enforcement Hall. The spiritual stone in the body would merge with the bone and bl00d over time, allowing them to track the location of the person as long as they were still breathing.”

“So, that’s how your whereabouts were discovered?”

Fu Yi could not hide the shock in her eyes. She saw the woman nod, filled with a mixture of helplessness and hatred, and her heart was filled with complex emotions. According to her, if she had left with Feng Qi at that time, she would have only ended up being hunted down by the sect as well. So…

“I know she weakened herself to save me, but I had no choice. On the day my cultivation recovered, I planned carefully, missing her heart meridian, and stabbing her with a sword, forcing her to reveal her true form. I had known she was a demon, but I didn’t know she was the rare Fire Phoenix clan. The sect was urging me through transmission at that time. If I hadn’t taken away many of her tail feathers, it would have been hard to convince them that she was dead.”

“I also thought about telling Ah Qi the truth, but knowing her, if she knew everything, she would definitely disregard the sect’s pursuit and wouldn’t leave me. Hurting her, ending this fated but short relationship, was the best outcome I could think of for both her and me.”

As she spoke, two lines of clear tears fell again: “Previously, whenever she was annoyed with me, she would bring up the princess of the Qingqiu Fox clan, saying how much she liked her. So, in the end, I went to Qingqiu once. After watching someone take her in, I returned to the sect, thinking that I should at least return a destined relationship to her. Although there were conflicts between their Feathered and Furry races, they were ultimately more suitable for her than a human cultivator like me.”

So that was it.

Fu Yi remembered Feng Qi saying that her mother might have sensed an abnormality in her soul lantern and saved her. Now, it seemed it was this person’s plan.

It was a pity that Feng Qi had already perished, unable to hear the reasons behind it, and it was unknown what kind of misunderstanding spanned this thousand years.

“After that, didn’t you intend to find her?”

Fu Yi understood love that was half-restrained, but if it were her, she would also be unable to bring herself to sever that emotional tie.

“How could I find her again?” Saying this, the person laughed self-deprecatingly: “Even though I took the eight tail feathers, the sect didn’t believe I killed her with my own hands. Ostensibly, they said I was injured and needed good rest, sending two disciples to take care of me closely. In reality, they were monitoring me to see if I still had contact with Ah Qi.”

“Furthermore, ever since I left her, I had no way to inquire about her news. Afterward, I could only focus on cultivation. After reaching the Integration stage, I left the sect, fled to a place to have my bones replaced and bl00d changed, narrowly escaping death. Only after my body was fully recovered did I dare to inquire about her news.”

“It’s a pity that the Fire Phoenix clan has been rare since ancient times, and since their entire body is a treasure to cultivators, they generally live in seclusion, making it difficult to find any information.”

After hearing this story, Fu Yi felt a little down herself. However, she suddenly glimpsed the egg that hadn’t been put away, pointed to it, and still asked a redundant question: “Then how did you know about its existence?”

“That was after the great war.” The person looked up again. Accompanied by an unknown bolt of falling lightning, the flash of electricity in the sky illuminated her face clearly, no longer the cold beauty and ruthlessness from before, leaving only reddened eyes and tear stains: “In that great war, both the human and demon races suffered heavy casualties. I was on the Eastern battlefield at the time and heard a fellow Daoist mention that a Fire Phoenix seemed to have participated in the war on the demon side. I immediately thought of her.”

“According to the signed covenant, the human and demon races fought in separate battlefields. We were on the Eastern battlefield, and they were on the Western battlefield. But at the time, I heard that a Demon God suddenly appeared on the Western battlefield. My first thought was to rush over, but my strength was insufficient, and I was severely injured by the masses of demons. I even had to trouble my colleagues to send me back to the main camp.”

A flash of regret crossed the person’s face, as if she regretted not perishing with Feng Qi in that battle. Fu Yi couldn’t clearly see it and could only comfort her.

“Only those who live can do what they want to do, such as protecting it.”

Knowing what Fu Yi was referring to, the person also forced a smile: “When I woke up, the great war had already ended. I heard that many seniors and outstanding peers had collectively sealed the Demon God. I didn’t know the specifics of the demon race’s situation, or how many casualties there were, and few survived that great war. But I still held some hope, praying that she was one of those people.”

“After I was free, I often came to the Yulian Mountain Range, hoping to inquire about some news from the passing demon race members. One day, I felt a familiar, faint spiritual power, thinking that the clouds had finally cleared, but following the trail, I only found a cave dwelling, and only found this egg.”

Looking at her now, Fu Yi realized that she might have been living in self-reproach for this thousand years. Perhaps she had already guessed Feng Qi’s outcome but was unwilling to admit it, imagining day after day that she was still alive, until Fu Yi’s appearance shattered this illusion.

Thinking of this, Fu Yi even felt a bit of self-reproach. She wished she had heard this version of the story first, then met Feng Qi, so she could have at least resolved the thousand-year-old misunderstanding before her soul perished.

But without meeting Feng Qi first, she wouldn’t have come here, nor would she have taken the egg and encountered the person in front of her.

It seemed that everything formed a closed loop, as if the heavens were playing a trick on the two of them, promoting the development of the misunderstanding. She just hadn’t expected that besides all that, an even greater misunderstanding was placed before her eyes.

“Although I don’t know whose egg this is, as long as it’s hers, I’m willing to continue watching over it. This is what I owe her.”

As she spoke, the woman looked desolate. In her gaze towards the egg in her arms, there was affection, attachment, and Fu Yi also detected a strong sense of remorse.

There was not a hint of jealousy.

However, as soon as the person finished speaking, Fu Yi realized that she seemed to have misunderstood something.

Thinking of this, Fu Yi pursed her lips, momentarily unsure how to phrase her words. After a long while, she finally countered:

“When you stabbed her, didn’t you notice that she was pregnant?”

As soon as Fu Yi’s words fell, it was the woman’s turn to be stunned. She looked at the egg held in her arms, then at Fu Yi, and asked uncertainly:

“Are you saying… this is mine?”