- • -

Chapter 35

Rustles of footsteps were heard as Shao Ling and Lian Ren walked deep through the forest. The night sky was supposed to be blue and black with twinkling stars around the bright moon but inside the forest, the sky was green and black, no stars and bright moon were seen from the sky. The whole forest was very dark. Only the glowing green heart shape leaves were illuminating the pitch darkness of the forest that at least gave light and made it look mysterious and spooky. There were also fireflies all over the forest along with a loud cricket sound and a 'kwaking' sound of a crow. The branches of the trees were so thick and dark and their leaves were very green and large but the grasses on the ground were very dry to the point that it made a crunchy sound whenever Shao Ling and Lian Ren step on it.

Lian Ren, who was behind Shao Ling, wandered his eyes on the surroundings. He glanced left and right, pondered for a while until his thick brows knitted into a frown.

Shao Ling replied, continuing to walked deep into the forest.

Lian Ren said in a low voice, speeding up a bit so that he can walk alongside Shao Ling.

Because of Lian Ren's sudden movement, as soon as he stopped beside Shao Ling, their shoulders brushed roughly that made Shao Ling stumbled a bit. Lian Ren immediately grabbed his arm and helped him maintain his balance. Shao Ling stood properly in a frown, glancing at Lian Ren who was looking at him with a concerned expression.

Shao Ling sighed and brushed Lian Ren's hand that was still holding on his arm.

Lian Ren wasn't able to continue what he was saying when he noticed that Shao Ling was looking at him with a pissed expression. His brows were highly arched and his lips were tightly pressed. Lian Ren then gave him a smile and replied,

Shao Ling responded, turning around with a swish of his sleeves and continued to walk.

But when they were about to pass through a certain tree where the tree was surrounded with glowing heart shaped leaves, the hole at the center of the tree seems to lit up and it was followed by a voice of a child singing a song. The tone of the song seems joyful, but the lyrics were not pleasing to hear.

♪The tail is wagging, wagging and wagging.♪

♪A lips then curved, mischievously smiling.♪

♪The nails then sharpened and it's time to start hunting.♪

♪A flesh then bone, the blood, it's all showing.♪

Shao Ling grabbed his fan that was hanging on his waist belt while Lian Ren unsheathed his sword and wandered his eyes on the surroundings as they both continued to walk forward. The singing sound of the children echoed throughout the forest to the point that it felt like the child were singing right next to their ears. Any normal human who lack spiritual mentality will eventually go insane because of the sound and will decide to suicide in the end. Shao Ling took out a golden talisman on his spatial ring and touched it with a tip of his index and middle finger. His spiritual qi flowed out and combined itself into the golden talisman, slowly molding a golden circular barrier around Lian Ren and him.

Shao Ling instructed with a demanding voice. Lian Ren took a quick glance at him and replied,

♪The white robe is now painted with red.♪

♪It looks beautiful, my brother just said♪

♪The sky seems gray, it looks like it's dead.♪

♪Did i see the moon? I think it's a head.♪

♪La la la la la♪

♪I wonder if the boy will run.♪

♪La la la la la♪

♪Move your feet, you'll never see the sun.♪

Lian Ren immediately shouted as soon as he felt a peculiar energy coming from above. Shao Ling immediately responded, inactivating the golden talisman as he jumped opposite from Lian Ren's direction. The silhouette fell down with a large impact, making the crust of the earth shake but Lian Ren immediately infuses spiritual qi on his sword then stepped on the blade of his sword to make himself float.

A sweet and seductive soft voice resonated on the silhouette who is now covered in dusts. Lian Ren and Shao Ling didn't respond but they never took their eyes off from the silhouette. After the dust slowly faded, the silhouette became clearer and clearer. The first that appeared was a tail, followed by another one, and another then another until it ended to the ninth tail. The tails were then followed by a man on the middle, his hand covered in bandages with a small stain of blood and looking at then with a mischievous smile.

Everything on him was white. His eyes, his hair his robe that had a touch of red outline, the fur cloak on his shoulder, his skin as well as his tail. The only thing that was dark on him was his brows and lashes, making it look noticable as it emphasizes his beautiful face. The nine tailed fox let out a sweet chuckle, licking his lips with a smile and then sniffed them. After a while, the nine tailed fox frowned and spoke with a soft voice,

Shao Ling:

The nine-tailed fox scowled and wiped his nostrils with a frown.

The two still didn't replied. The nine tailed fox glance at them with a slight smile and spoke,

Lian Ren suddenly spoke that made the nine tailed fox's ears move. Lian Ren stared at him with his brows deeply frowning, speaking in a bewildered voice.

The nine tailed fox shifted his gaze at him, his lips slightly twitched. Lian Ren gave him no response.

The nine tailed fox said with a smile.

Lian Ren frowned even more, he tilted his hand that was holding the sword and pointed the tip of the sword on the nine tailed fox's direction.

The nine tailed fox laughed at what he said. The nine tailed fox smiled widely, his white eyes radiating a deep green glow as he continued to speak,

Shao Ling's eyes immediately widened, he gripped the handle of his fan tightly and shouted,

The nine tailed fox's eyes radiated a deep green glow even more, his short nails started to grow long and get painted in an ink black color.

Shao Ling yelled and charged in straight to the nine tailed fox's direction to attack. The nine tailed fox smiled even more, licking his lips and muttering,

The fan on Shao Ling's hand released a countless nail shaped spiritual qi and the molded spiritual qi immediately rushed on the nine tailed fox's direction. Shao Ling took it as an opportunity to use his footwork while the nine tailed fox was dodging all of the needles, making his silhouette looks like clones of his after image as he approached the nine tailed fox. When Shao Ling was about to ain for the nine tailed fox's chest using his palm that was infused with azure blue spiritual qi, the nine tailed fox was looking at him in a blink of an eye, followed by another clone of him grabbing Shao Ling's hand and throwing him away. Shao Ling was knocked back but he managed to reduce the impact by gathering strength to his calves as he smoothly landed.

The nine tailed fox said with a clap of his hand.

Shao Ling responded with a heave of a breath.

Lian Ren asked as he slowly approached Shao Ling's direction. Shao Ling shifted his gaze at him with a frown and shoved his hand that was holding on Shao Ling's arm.

Lian Ren responded with a smile. He was about to hold Shao Ling's arm again when he heard the nine tailed fox laughing loudly. When Lian Ren shifted his gaze at the nine tailed fox, the nine tailed fox looked raged. His eyes were radiating a bright green glow and his fangs grew a bit longer, as if the nine tailed fox saw something that made him offended.

Although there are demon foxes lurking around the demon and underworld realm, divine foxes are different from them. Unlike demon foxes, whoes powers are limited and can only entice people with their pheromones and beauty, divine foxes are very powerful, since they are creatures that was created from the essence of divinity from the gods. Divine foxes are usually seen in shrines. They served Gods and their duty in the shrine is to maintain the belief of the humans to their Gods. Divine foxes wield a great amount of power because they collect divine essence from the God by fulfilling their duty. However, if there is no essence from the God, Divine foxes will slowly lose their life energy. But the other option to stay alive is to eat another life essence, which is the life essence of humans so that they can manage to stay alive.

The nine tailed fox laughed hysterically and his ink black nails became even more dark, his golden divine energy slowly changed its color into a black and green color, making the trees around them glow and dance aggressively. The nine tailed fox said with a half smile. He pointed at Lian Ren's direction.

Lian Ren didn't answer. He knew that if he answer, it will trigger the magic that the nine tailed fox will cast. However, the nine tailed fox smiled even more, the energy around him let out a numbers of bolts and the leaves of the tress slowly lit up. The nine tailed fox's voice echoed throughout the forest, his body slowly floated as he murmured an incantation spell.

After a while, Lian Ren's body slowly lit up. Shao Ling tried to dispell the incantation with the golden talisman but Lian Ren's body was still continuing to illuminate. Lian Ren's eyes was slowly becoming blinded, a bright light covered his vision until he felt a electrifying feeling all over his body. When Lian Ren opened his eyes he found himself in the midst of the snow, realizing that he was staring straight at the slave auction house.

- • -