"Hold on to me!" Xie Jing's tone was grave. Qin Jiujiu looked at the surrounding demonic mist, feeling an ominous unease. She reached out and grabbed Xie Jing's robe.
Suddenly, a massive white tail swept towards them, separating the two. In that instant, Qin Jiujiu was engulfed by a swirling mass of mist, Xie Jing's shadow nowhere to be seen.
"Xie Jing?" she shouted into the void. Silence answered her, and she could only hear her own voice. A fine sheen of sweat beaded on her forehead. She took down the Qiankun Bag from her waist.
"Hahahahahaha..."
Another eerie laugh echoed, accompanied by a gust of wind. Qin Jiujiu steadied herself and opened the Qiankun Bag in her hand, taking out all the talismans within.
There were wind talismans, fire talismans, lightning talismans, teleportation talismans, and more.
Qin Jiujiu pondered. The tail from before was clearly an animal's tail, and it was furry. It looked somewhat familiar. Then it struck her; she seemed to have seen it somewhere before.
It was the tail of a nine-tailed fox!
She suddenly recalled Yao Wan, the nine-tailed fox who had captured her in Xiliu City. She always seemed to be lingering around, a shadow she couldn't shake. Could it be her again?
With this thought, Qin Jiujiu held a fire talisman and a teleportation talisman in her hands, waiting for the fox demon to appear.
Soon, a massive white tail swept towards her again. Accompanied by the wind, it ruffled the stray hairs at her forehead. Qin Jiujiu gathered her qi, waiting for the tail to get close before hurling the fire talisman at it.
As if sensing her intent, the tail stopped not far away. Qin Jiujiu remained vigilant for its attack, but the tail soon seemed to receive an order and retreated back into the mist.
A figure emerged from the mist.
Qin Jiujiu stared at the figure for a long time. Only when she drew near did the mist fail to conceal her. The person before her was not Yao Wan, but she bore a striking resemblance to her.
"So it's just a little girl... Is she worth all this trouble for Auntie?"
The fox demon smiled, her vulpine eyes curving upward, exuding an alluring charm. Qin Jiujiu clutched the talismans in her hand, waiting for her to approach.
The woman indeed walked towards her, a look of disdain on her face, clearly seeing through Qin Jiujiu's mortal flesh.
Yao Shu pressed closer and closer to Qin Jiujiu, eventually lunging directly at her. Qin Jiujiu, flustered, immediately threw the fire talisman in her hand. In an instant, a fierce blaze erupted before them.
Without looking at the demon's condition, she unfurled the teleportation talisman in her other hand, chanted the incantation, and the talisman vanished. Qin Jiujiu, along with it, disappeared from her original spot.
Yao Shu extended her long sleeves to shield herself from the flames, thus avoiding injury. By the time she extinguished the fire talisman, she found that the little girl had vanished.
To think she had slipped away right under her nose!
Yao Shu's face contorted in displeasure, her nine tails even twitching slightly, clearly displaying her annoyance.
Upon returning to the cave, Yao Yuan would surely mock her.
Just as she was about to search for Qin Jiujiu's traces, she suddenly heard Yao Yuan's cries for help. She paused for a moment before heading in the direction of the sound.
Landing, she saw Yao Yuan in her true form, lying on the ground, clearly severely wounded. The severed tail on the ground was undeniable proof of her grave injuries. Her cultivation had regressed to the state of early practice, and it seemed unlikely she would be able to assume human form again.
Yao Shu's face twisted into a sneer as she looked at the fox on the ground, her eyes betraying a hint of schadenfreude.
There were only signs of a struggle in the vicinity. The person who had injured Yao Yuan was nowhere to be seen.
"Jingling..." A clear bell sound rang out. In this misty forest, besides those two, who else could be making such a sound? Yao Shu's expression changed, and she suddenly moved towards the direction from which the bell sound originated.
Qin Jiujiu stood rooted to the spot. The fire talismans in her hand were all used up, but thankfully she still had teleportation talismans. These talismans could only transport her a short distance, but at a critical moment, they could at least save her life. Qin Jiujiu looked at the stack of teleportation talismans in her hand and silently shook the bell.
However, the moment the bell rang, not only Xie Jing but also the demons could pinpoint her location by the sound. She could only hope that this time, she would encounter Xie Jing.
She heard a rustle and looked into the bushes, spotting a dark shadow hiding within. Qin Jiujiu warily took down the Qiankun Bag from her waist and took out the remaining talismans.
She held a lightning talisman and a teleportation talisman in each hand.
"Who's there?" she called out to the dark shadow in the bushes.
The dark shadow moved again, seeming somewhat frightened. Qin Jiujiu cautiously approached the bushes where the shadow was hiding. She stopped when she got close and asked, "Who are you? Are you human or demon?"
The dark shadow quickly darted out of the bushes. Only when he stood straight before her did Qin Jiujiu realize he was a man, and quite handsome. He looked somewhat familiar.
Who did he look like? She couldn't quite place it.
"Are you human or demon?" Qin Jiujiu gripped the lightning talisman, ready to hurl it the moment the person before her attacked or revealed their true form.
However, after waiting for a long time, the man did nothing but stare at her face.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
The man replied brazenly, "You are so beautiful, could you possibly be a demon?"
Qin Jiujiu found it both exasperating and amusing, yet she couldn't fault his logic.
"I suppose you're human, and a dissolute young master at that!" Qin Jiujiu declared.
The man in black remained unconcerned. "I suppose you're not a demon either. While demons can be beautiful, they are ferocious and menacing. Unlike you, who is so sharp-tongued!"
After they exchanged a few barbs, a demonic wind suddenly surged again. They both looked around, and a tail suddenly swept towards them.
The tail happened to strike the area between them, causing them to dodge in opposite directions. However, the tail abruptly changed course and headed straight for Qin Jiujiu.
Qin Jiujiu's eyes widened. She felt the demon was being unfair. There were two people here, yet it chose to attack her.
As the tail drew near, she tightened her grip on the lightning talisman. She then noticed a patch of scorched fur on the large white tail.
It must have been the female demon from before.
Just as Qin Jiujiu was about to hurl the lightning talisman, the young man beside her let out a startled cry. Qin Jiujiu looked at him and saw that a tail had wrapped around his neck, likely another one of the fox demon's tails.
Qin Jiujiu thought to herself that now it was truly fair.
However, as the man was about to be choked to death by the tail, Qin Jiujiu suddenly hurled the lightning talisman in her hand. The tail that was attacking her was struck by lightning. It seemed the fox, sensing its nine tails were connected, retracted the tail that was strangling the young man.
From the misty depths not far away came a fox's cry, sounding agonizingly shrill.