Ordered to Marry by the High King - Chapter 2

Zhuoxue stayed silent. She never spat out grape skins when eating grapes, nor did she like spitting out bones when eating chicken. It wasn’t that she liked eating them—she just wanted to destroy the evidence, to avoid being discovered and beaten again.

The fox’s eyes flickered. “I don’t know. Maybe the wind blew it away.”

“I never knew wind could fight you for bones. Why don’t you tell me—how strong would such a wind have to be?” Lanhui said coldly.

“It’s strange, really,” the fox nodded. “When that wind blew, all the trees on Qiufeng Ridge bent over.”

Lanhui bent down and picked the fox up, prying open its mouth with two fingers. As expected, she caught a lingering whiff of meat. The fox looked heavy but was really just a fluffy bundle—lifting it was effortless.

“You’ve made no progress in cultivation after all these years, because your heart is full of distractions,” Lanhui said darkly. “And since all you think about is running away, it’s time for you to go out and suffer a bit.”

Suffer?

“I don’t want to!” 

The fox ate anything—meat or vegetables—but had no taste for suffering.

“Eating meat is eating. Suffering is eating, too. Why can’t you handle that?” Lanhui said.

{T/N: The Chinese word for “suffering” has the character for “to eat” in it)

Zhuoxue opened her mouth wide, afraid her sharp teeth would nick Lanhui’s hand, and mumbled, “Aunt Lan, I don’t want to go to Lingkong Mountain. When I was little, weren’t you the one most afraid I’d run off to Lingkong Mountain?”

“I was most afraid of you running beyond Qiufeng Ridge, remember?” Lanhui was already annoyed, and she couldn’t be bothered to clarify that what she meant was Ninghong Mountain, where only mortal monks lived. She just casually changed it to Lingkong Mountain that housed a powerful demon. Her words, enunciated one by one, were like the countless valleys and cliffs of Qiufeng Ridge—seemingly tranquil and distant, yet hiding endless danger.

Zhuoxue feared this side of Lanhui the most. She could never tell if Lanhui was truly angry. Deep down, she felt that even if the sky fell, Lanhui’s heart would remain like Qiufeng Ridge—unfathomable.

“That’s different! Mortals can’t use magic. The high king of Lingkong Mountain, she used to be, used to be…” Zhuoxue stammered. In truth, she’d never seen the figure herself—just heard stories. All she knew was that others said the tiger demon was violent and tyrannical—certainly not gentle and kind. And if she had boundless magic, she had to be immensely powerful.

“What was she?” Lanhui asked.

“She used to be the master of Wugou River, right?” Zhuoxue turned back into her human form, placing her overlapping palms on Lanhui’s knee. “Wugou River is like the Kunlun Yaojing of the Immortal Realm—you can’t just casually become king of a place like that.” She tilted her head. “Kunlun Yaojing is home to immortals, ruled by the Heavenly Emperor. So in Wugou River, the one above all demons must be the Demon King!” But having reached that conclusion, the fox couldn’t figure it out. “Then why did she fall so far—from a demon king to a… mountain high king? Did she commit some crime?” she muttered.

Lanhui paused for a moment. Just for that instant, she seemed to vanish into emptiness. A flicker of unease flashed through her eyes—vague and elusive.

Zhuoxue saw it, but wasn’t surprised. Any other demon would be scared, too. After all, anyone who could rule Wugou River couldn’t have been an average demon. Even her name alone could strike terror.

Zhuoxue pouted silently. Then she glanced at her Aunt Lan. Timid by nature, she rarely left the house, hadn’t even transformed into her true form—not even once. Maybe her real form was too silly-looking, and she was embarrassed to show it.

Come to think of it, Lanhui still had to serve the demon lord of the Cangqiong Realm.

The Cangqiong Realm began at Zifeng Peak, stretched across a thousand miles, and ended at Yueluo Hill, with Lingkong Mountain at its center. Qiufeng Ridge was also part of this mountain domain. But Qiufeng Ridge was barren and offered little of value, so it was often overlooked.

“Crime?” Lanhui sighed. “You think the Demon Realm is like the human world, with laws and justice?”

Zhuoxue lowered her voice. “Now the ones ruling the Demon Realm are the Nightmare Clan. They must’ve hated her arrogance and fierce power, and decided to overthrow her—seizing Wugou River and exiling her here.”

Good thing the fox looked decent, not shady. But sneaking around and whispering like this, she did seem a little like a chicken thief.

Lanhui’s expression was unreadable. After a moment of silence, she said, “Not so. The former ruler of Wugou River was not cruel or violent. There were no rumors of her being a savage who ate people whole. But yes—she could command the wind and rain in the past.”

“You never even leave Qiufeng Ridge. How do you know all this?” Zhuoxue asked suspiciously. “You’re not lying to me, are you?”

“I’m not lying,” Lanhui replied. “Besides, the Cangqiong Realm is a fine place. What other mountain domain outside could compare? How is this even exile?”

That wasn’t wrong. The Cangqiong Realm was vast and rich, and had few mortals—other demons would envy them.

“Don’t tell me, Aunt Lan—you’ve seen that tiger demon?” Zhuoxue grew excited. She sat cross-legged, resting her chin on Lanhui’s knee.

Lanhui’s eyes drifted far away, as though looking back into the past. Slowly, she said, “I was fortunate enough to see her. It was during the war between immortals and demons a hundred years ago. Countless died on both sides, and neither wanted to continue. But the ones at a disadvantage were the demons.”

That war was a great scar to the Demon Realm. Even the smallest demons had heard of it, though none knew the details.

Far away, some little demons were secretly eavesdropping, ears perked up.

Lanhui continued, “Back then, Longming, the former ruler of Wugou River, was badly wounded. Her powers plummeted during the battle—she could barely maintain her human form.”

Longming.

Zhuoxue repeated the name in her mind. It tasted like moonlight and breeze—elegant and otherworldly. She wondered what she would look like in human form.

“And then what happened?” she asked eagerly. “Did the Nightmare Clan seize the chance to take her throne?”

Lanhui said, “She intended to return to Wugou River to recover. But the river itself had spiritual awareness—it recognized only demon power, not identities. It blocked its former master at the gate.”

Zhuoxue could already guess the rest, angry and indignant. “So the Nightmare Clan seized the chance, stole the nest, and took over? Heartless!”

Lanhui remained silent.

Zhuoxue hissed softly, “Then why doesn’t she take back her throne? It’s been a hundred years—she must’ve recovered by now.”

“Just a hundred years is far from enough to fully repair a demon core,” Lanhui said solemnly. “Besides, if she were to reclaim Wugou River, it would surely spark another vicious war.”

“Still afraid she’d lose?” Zhuoxue sneered.

Lanhui patted the top of the fox’s head. “It’s only been a hundred years since the great war ended. If the demon clan were to fall into civil strife now, what do you think the Immortal Realm would do?”

Ah, the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind—if there’s infighting now, the immortals would laugh until their jaws ached.

Zhuoxue sighed in disappointment and poked at Lanhui’s knee. “But I heard that tiger demon took on a human surname. She just left Wugou River—how did she end up living with humans?”

Lanhui thought for a while, then hesitantly said, “That happened after she left. No one in the Demon Realm knew where she had gone. All searched high and low, but no one found a trace of her. Five years later, she returned and seized control of the Cangqiong Realm. That’s when everyone realized she had taken on a human surname—the royal family name of Shuyun Kingdom. It caused quite the stir… and no shortage of mockery.”

A dignified great demon, once the master of Wugou River, sharing a surname with mortals—it was considered degrading, almost like being reduced to a common beast.

That laughter and scorn, surely, came from that.

Zhuoxue rubbed at her sleeve hem, head lowered, and muttered, “But when I walk among mortals, I also use a human surname. You can’t reveal your identity just because of a careless moment. If the humans get frightened, I couldn’t afford the consequences.”

“Nonsense!” Lanhui snapped. “But stealing chickens you can afford to pay for?”

Why was the topic back to this again?!

Zhuoxue quickly crouched down and shielded her head, afraid Lanhui would bring out the ruler again, and tried to divert the topic in a hurry: “During those five years, didn’t anyone go to the mortal world to look for her? She was in such dire straits—surely she had at least one follower?”

Lanhui didn’t produce a ruler, just flicked the fox’s forehead and said softly, “As long as Longming wanted to stay hidden, no one could possibly find her.”

“She didn’t want to see anyone, huh?” Zhuoxue clicked her tongue. “If I were in that state, I wouldn’t want to see anyone either.”

“I’ve seen her true form. She’s a white tiger with red eyes and black stripes. Wings on her back—when they flap, mountains and rivers tremble. If she hides the wings, she’s no different from an ordinary beast.”

That’s right—many demons in the Demon Realm were once just ordinary animals. As long as they concealed their demonic aura, even eyes of fire and gold couldn’t discern the truth.

A tiger… a white tiger.

For some reason, an image appeared in the fox’s mind: a white tiger with black stripes, majestic even without wings, walking leisurely through a garden in full bloom, calm and carefree.

But Zhuoxue had lived on Qiufeng Ridge since she could remember. Though she often snuck into the human world, she had never once seen a single tiger.

Could it have been… a dream?

Then, another strange memory surfaced.

Unlike the towns at the foot of the mountain, this was a royal city filled with pleasure and delight—countless carved beams, halls like forests, banquets at every corner, music playing fast and lively. Mortals bustling about, brimming with life.

How odd!

When had she ever been to the royal city?

Zhuoxue stared blankly for a moment, then looked at Lanhui, confused. “Aunt Lan, did you ever take me to a royal city when I was little? Why do I suddenly remember scenes from one?”

Lanhui looked at her in disbelief, sighed, and turned away. “Go face the wall. Qiufeng Ridge is a million miles from any mortal capital. You’re always sneaking into town to hear storytellers. I told you you’d get enchanted one day—now look at you, thinking you’ve actually been there.”

Wall-facing again?

Zhuoxue wasn’t afraid of that—she was a regular. If she kept it up for another two years, she’d probably bore a hole in that rock face with her eyes.

“We were just talking—why get mad all of a sudden? Don’t tell me a pufferfish turned into a demon.” Zhuoxue shifted into her fox form and bounced away like a rabbit. Once at the cliff wall, she sat cross-legged in human form again.

But once those mortal images surged up, they weren’t so easy to forget. Jade towers, flowery realms—they all flooded her mind as if she were really there, no longer on Qiufeng Ridge.

Suddenly, a burning sensation flared at the back of her neck. 

Zhuoxue gasped softly and quickly reached back to cover it. Her palm met something soft and slick—she didn’t even know where the pain had come from. But that pain swept all her scattered thoughts away, leaving her mind sharp and clear.

Still, had she truly never been to the royal city? Never seen that black-striped white tiger?

Everything in the three realms has three lifetimes. Maybe she hadn’t seen it in this life…

But what if she had in a previous one?