[To Become a River of Stars] Dong Xiange - Chapter 70

A woman approached gracefully holding a paper umbrella, nearly blending into the rain curtain that stretched to the sky.

For the first time since entering the temple today, a murderous intent flashed in Li Xuanci’s eyes. Dark clouds seemed to churn within them, and though a smile touched his lips, it only made him appear more formidable.

“Walking right into the trap. Excellent.”

Li Xuanci’s body tensed like a fully drawn bow, ready to take a life in an instant.

Shiliu, nestled in his arms, didn’t understand what was happening. She only felt the chest she leaned against suddenly become hard and uncomfortable, so she shifted uncomfortably and patted his chest with her soft hand, as if soothing a child.

The fierce aura meant for slaying demons and gods was somewhat dissipated by these playful pats. Li Xuanci looked down at Shiliu, who always knew how to deflate his intensity. His posture remained arrogant, but the ferocity swirling around his brow lessened slightly.

The woman in the rain slowly drew nearer, closing her umbrella under the eaves. Her figure was graceful, slender and ethereal like smoke. Before she even arrived, her soft, gentle voice carried inside.

“Don’t hide anymore. I’m already here. Meet with me.” As the last word fell, the woman entered the room, the wet hem of her skirt billowing like clouds heavy with rain. She was truly a peerless beauty.

However, this appearance wasn’t universally disarming. Li Xuanci’s sword was poised and ready, as if it would slit the newcomer’s throat in the next moment. Unfortunately, he held a burden in his arms and couldn’t simply set it aside to kill freely.

After entering, the woman remained unperturbed by their aggressive stance. Instead, she first stood steadily beside the two.

Her brow carried compassion, but unlike the aloofness of the great Buddha, her gaze toward Shiliu held more emotion. She reached out to touch her, but Li Xuanci mercilessly swung his sword to block her. Had she been any slower, her limb would have fallen to the ground.

Her movements were extremely swift; it was unclear how she evaded, but she shifted some distance away, standing unharmed ahead. Her face showed no anger, only a light sorrow as she looked at Shiliu.

“I intended to repay kindness, but never meant to harm you. Don’t worry, I will definitely restore you to normal,” the woman said softly to Shiliu. Then, regardless of whether Shiliu understood, she turned to Lumiang, who still knelt on the ground.

“You and I share the same origin. If you have a personal grievance, settle it with me. Why involve others? Now you’ve even taken over a mortal body—aren’t you afraid of divine retribution?”

Her words seemed abrupt, but everything happened in an instant. The woman flipped her ten fingers, conjuring an extremely vibrant spark from the void, glittering with golden light, flying rapidly toward Lumiang on the ground.

Lumiang, who had been keeping her head bowed and eyes lowered, actually somersaulted away with inhuman agility and speed. She took the stunned Huixin as a hostage, shielding herself and forcing the spark to be withdrawn.

At that moment, the appearances of the two confronting women simultaneously changed. From their originally jet-black hair, a pair of furry, pointed ears grew.

“Foxes, they’re foxes!” Shiliu jumped and shouted in his arms, clapping her hands noisily. But Li Xuanci held his sword horizontally before him, clutching Shiliu even tighter.

Shiliu’s cries drew the attention of the two women. The woman named Hongluo turned to look at her, a touch of tenderness appearing in her eyes. She glanced their way and offered a brief explanation.

“I am a nine-tailed fox who began cultivation on Mount Qingqiu, named Hongluo. Our Qingqiu clan has always had to pass the trials of the Lady of Mount Tai. My task is to cultivate a hundred good deeds. The one on the ground is my clansman, Xuanqing. But her actions are the complete opposite of mine—she steals the good deeds I cultivate and turns them into evil acts.”

“The sister-in-law and younger sister family in Xiluo County was the first good deed I cultivated. I suspect that’s why she targeted Lumiang. Now, she has even stolen Lumiang’s mortal body to conceal her demonic aura, engaging in such schemes and harming so many innocent lives.”

He Chong, upon hearing this, immediately looked at Lumiang on the ground, but he couldn’t detect any demonic aura at all. He took out the compass from his robe, but it showed no reaction either.

Hongluo simply shook her head at him and said, “There’s no need to try, Daoist Priest. Our clan are demons, not evil spirits, and we follow the path of immortal cultivation, different from ordinary monsters. Moreover, Xuanqing now resides within Lumiang’s body, making it even harder to detect.”

She then explained further, “Our clan has always had to pass trials to achieve immortal cultivation. Otherwise, we remain wild foxes, only able to practice wild fox Zen.”

“Xuanqing was originally like me, but she fell and became a wild fox by chance. Then she conceived the idea of secretly turning the good deeds I cultivated into disasters, completely descending into the evil path to become a demon sovereign.”

“After I discovered this, I hurried back and checked each person I had helped, but I never expected to be too late. She has harmed many innocent people. Shiliu’s soul was probably also stolen by her.”

“By chance? Such light words!” The previously calm Xuanqing suddenly lost composure, laughing bitterly and desolately.

Hongluo’s eyes showed reluctance as she tried to approach Xuanqing.

“Don’t come closer, or I’ll kill this man.”

“Lumiang,” that is, Xuanqing, hid her figure behind Huixin. Her originally clear, sweet, and soft voice became coarse, as if mixed with sand, carrying a strange hoarseness.

Hongluo, concerned for human life, hesitated and stopped.

However, a cold light flashed rapidly in everyone’s eyes, tinged with a hint of blood, so sharp it made one instinctively close their eyes. Immediately afterward, vividly colored blood splattered, staining a line of crimson on the hanging beam above.

“Ah!” Huixin only had time to scream once, his eyes wide with disbelief as he looked at the sword piercing his chest, its blade still trembling slightly.

He lifted his head, struggling to look in the direction from which the flying sword had come. The despair in his eyes hadn’t even had time to solidify before his light faded.

His last sight was Li Xuanci’s cold, merciless face. A man had died before him, yet he hadn’t even twitched an eyebrow. Shiliu had been set down and stood beside him, looking somewhat frightened.

Xuanqing, hiding behind Huixin, was also wounded by the sword that had pierced through. Staggering, she released Huixin’s corpse, clutched her own wound, and retreated several steps, panting.

“Young master, that was a mortal!” Hongluo shouted at Li Xuanci, her voice full of disapproval.

“He was just a fool with blood on his hands. Dead is dead.”

Li Xuanci’s black boots stepped onto Huixin’s still-bleeding corpse. He pulled out his sword indifferently, then pointed it at the panting Xuanqing, narrowing his eyes.

“Next, it’s you.”

His words were extremely arrogant, but with the bloody corpse still beneath his feet, everyone knew this was no empty threat.

Xuanqing coughed up blood but smiled and said, “Pure Yang blood. Good. No wonder you could injure me so easily. You can indeed kill me. However, if you kill me, the precious one you can’t bear to part with will remain a fool forever.”

Hearing this, Li Xuanci raised an eyebrow and lifted his sword. A cold glint flashed across his features, sharp and blinding.

The next moment, the sword was pressed against Hongluo’s neck.

“If you don’t return the soul, I’ll just kill her,” Li Xuanci said, the sword already biting deeply into Hongluo’s skin, drawing blood instantly.

“You mustn’t!” This came from He Chong, who urgently said, “Don’t act rashly! This Hongluo is likely the legendary good fox, destined to cultivate into a celestial fox. Killing her recklessly would incur severe karmic retribution!”

But Li Xuanci laughed scornfully.

“What I wish to do, if Heaven blocks me, I slay Heaven; if Earth hinders me, I level Earth; if immortals come, I slay immortals; if demons obstruct, I slay demons. If there truly is any karmic retribution, I alone will bear it.”

He then looked at Xuanqing, his eyes blazing with fury, and challenged, “You’ve done all this to steal her good karma, haven’t you? If I kill her, everything you’ve schemed for will vanish in an instant.”

“Give me what I want, and I’ll hand this fox over to you. As for the conflict between good and evil between you two, I don’t care.”

“You have no room to bargain with me. You know I can kill her, and I will kill her.”

With the last sentence, despite his peerlessly youthful appearance, he made others feel as if they were in the endless hells, trembling before hungry ghosts and wrathful deities.

Xuanqing’s face visibly wavered greatly. But at that moment, Hongluo, pressing against the sharp sword at her neck, said, “Young master, no need for such trouble. Shiliu’s soul is with me. I will help her restore it.”

Upon hearing this, Xuanqing’s face turned as pale as paper. She repeatedly cried out, “Impossible! How could you? Only I know where it is!”

Hongluo looked at her, her eyes filled with extremely complex emotions. After a long moment, she said, “Have you forgotten? We cultivated together. I can guess somewhat how you hide important things and where. Before coming here, I first went to Lumiang’s house in Xiluo County. Sure enough, I found some clues, followed the trail, broke your seal, and found Shiliu’s soul.”

“When we practiced sealing techniques before, I always lost to you. Actually, I did that on purpose.” As she finished speaking, a faint glimmer seemed to flash in Hongluo’s eyes.

But Li Xuanci didn’t care about any of this. He simply picked up Shiliu again and demanded the soul. Hongluo took out an intricately patterned brocade pouch from her bosom, carefully opened it, and a small, faint green light floated out.

“This is Shiliu’s soul. Quickly!” He Chong was overjoyed and rushed forward. He formed a hand seal and very carefully guided the soul in the air into the space between Shiliu’s eyebrows.

The green light merged into Shiliu’s brow, leaving no trace. He Chong stood guard beside her, itching to shake her awake immediately but patiently waiting for her to open her eyes.

Li Xuanci watched Shiliu in his arms with intense focus. His eyes saw nothing else, only her form, staring tightly, not missing any change.

Suddenly, Shiliu’s eyelashes fluttered, and her eyes snapped open. Brilliance swirled in her pupils, as if something intensely turbulent churned within.

Li Xuanci’s gaze was instantly filled with ecstasy. His arms holding her unconsciously tightened.

Too long. He had waited so long to finally see these eyes again.

However, in the next moment, Shiliu, seeming somewhat clearer, struggled to grasp his lapels and said with great difficulty,

“Damn it all!”

She was still too weak, sustained only by intense resentment, enabling her to utter this curse in a faint voice.

Li Xuanci raised an eyebrow, looking at Shiliu who dared to curse the moment she woke up. He actually laughed, like spring flowers blooming wildly across the fields, full of unconcealed joy.

The next moment, the anger in Shiliu’s eyes suddenly widened. Using all her strength, she forcefully pushed Li Xuanci, who was holding her, shouting, “Careful!”

The reaction force pushed her out of his embrace, and she fell heavily to the ground.

Thwack!

The sound of a sharp sword piercing flesh. Li Xuanci’s sword stabbed a bloody hole deep into Xuanqing’s shoulder as she pounced, stopping her attack mid-air before she fell.

But Li Xuanci didn’t even glance at her, hurriedly scooping up Shiliu from the ground. His hand cradled the back of her head, and with one touch, he knew a large bump had formed.

He frowned, the irritation and fury at the corners of his eyes nearly overflowing.

“Fool.”

It was unclear whom he was cursing.