Chuci finally saw his weapon a second time: a tiger’s claw. The five fingers of Jing Mo’s right hand curled inward. In an instant, a hand that had been reasonably clean was covered in golden-yellow fur. His fingers transformed into a claw. With effortless ease, he clamped onto a guard soldier’s long spear. Flipping his wrist, the soldier’s hands lost all strength, and the spear flew out of his control, shooting straight for the brother opposite him.
That man was lucky to dodge quickly; otherwise, a bloody hole would’ve been gouged out on the spot.
The Captain of the Guard made a snap decision: “Drop the spears. Transform.”
Wolves are pack animals. Two or three aren’t so scary. But twenty or thirty—that might start making your heart quail. And if fifty or sixty wolves all stare at you together? What does that feel like?
Even Chuci, who didn’t fear wolves, felt her scalp prickle just watching this large pack, mouths drooling and eyes glowing.
Then they saw the young man surrounded by wolves let out a clear, piercing cry from his throat. First, his hands turned into feathers, both feet into talons. Then his arms shook, and with incredible speed he vaulted into the sky. His ink-black eyes gazed down coldly from the high altitude at the wolf pack.
It was indeed an osprey, though its body size was magnified hundreds of times compared to a normal one. Its wing feathers were deep blue, almost black, its form like a vulture. Its long crimson beak parted slightly, emitting clear, sharp cries, a sound like a morning swan. The wolf pack all quaked, shook out their fur, and one by one took up battle stances.
The osprey circled in the air twice, then suddenly dove down with unstoppable force. The bloody gale whipped up by its wings nearly scoured half the street away. By the time it circled back into the air, a wolf corpse was already clamped in its beak.
This move—a rabbit rising, a falcon swooping down—even Chuci inwardly cheered.
But her very next thought instantly became: If I could swallow this osprey, how much cultivation would I gain?
Kunlun glanced at Chuci, who was silently swallowing her saliva, then stared at the osprey in the air for a while. Her eyes blinked very slowly a few times.
Losing one pack member didn’t discourage the wolves. On Jing Mo’s second dive, they lunged even more ferociously. Teeth like ice-cold daggers, they seemed intent on ripping away flesh and skin together.
The wolf pack was gradually forming a pincer encirclement. It was getting harder for Jing Mo to find a breakthrough point. Ten wolf corpses from the guard soldiers already lay on the ground, but Jing Mo’s left wing was also wounded. Black blood trickled along the gaps in his talons, dripping onto the ground.
Kunlun’s hand was suddenly gripped with immense force. Startled, she turned her head to look at Chuci, and saw that her eyes had already reddened. Not the redness of human tears, but a golden pupil ringed with a circle of crimson light. It looked utterly bizarre.
Kunlun heard her low whisper: “His blood…”
Kunlun brought her ear closer to Chuci’s lips. “Mm? What about the blood?”
Chuci shut her eyes, breathing in deeply with an intoxicated expression. She murmured, “It carries the scent of something I want very badly.”
Then, as if suddenly jolted awake, she said hurriedly, “Quick, hold me down.”
“What?”
“Hold me down!” Chuci roared anxiously.
Kunlun barely managed to grab both her hands before it was too late. A tremendous power surged from Chuci’s arms, breaking free from her grip. In the next instant, she had leaped to the center of the empty space, right beside the wolf pack. A flash of red light passed over her body, and she transformed straight into her true form.
A white body, a white head, golden eyes, and snow-white fangs.
She stared viciously at Jing Mo in the air above, emitting an indistinct yet long-drawn roar from her throat.
Jing Mo actually, unprecedentedly, opened his mouth to ask: “Who are you? Why do I sense you carry the same aura as me?”
It was a very clear young man’s voice, tinged with a trace of innocent confusion.
Chuci’s hind limbs drew back. A blur before everyone’s eyes, and she vanished from her spot. In another blink, she had appeared in the air, biting straight for the osprey’s soft underbelly. Jing Mo reacted blindingly fast, shifting aside a wing’s length in an instant. Chuci bit empty air.
Expecting her to fall to the ground, Chuci instead transformed back into human form mid-air. Somehow, she shot up another few zhang. A dagger appeared in her hand, and she slashed down along the osprey’s back feathers. The osprey’s back was like iron armor. The blade scraped across as if slicing over metal and stone, screeching loudly.
Her first strike missed. At the end of the blade’s momentum, she twisted her wrist and thrust heavily along the osprey’s spinal seam.
The osprey howled in pain, its long neck snapping upward abruptly. Its wings whipped up a cyclone in mid-air, intent on trapping Chuci inside. But because its left wing was injured, Chuci managed to escape from the imperfectly formed hurricane.
Chuci leaped back to Kunlun’s side, squinting at the osprey in the sky, not saying a word.
“Chuci, you just then…”
“I lost control.”
“And now you…”
Chuci turned her head to look at her, her voice softening. “I was fine the moment I turned back into human form. Don’t be afraid.”
Kunlun asked, “If you turned human, why did you still stab him?”
A lazy smile spread across Chuci’s face. “Since we were already fighting, not taking a little advantage would mean I went over there for nothing. I’ve got the temperament of someone who eats people without spitting out the bones. If I don’t take a couple pieces of his flesh with me, wouldn’t that make people say I’m all bluster?”
Kunlun was about to say something more when the crowd that had been buzzing just moments ago suddenly fell silent.
“The City Lord is arriving!”
Chuci pulled Kunlun backward. “Let’s get out of here fast. Trouble’s coming.”
Kunlun opened her mouth, and Chuci immediately said, “Don’t talk yet. I’ll explain to you later.”
Compared to a chaotic melee of dogs, wolves, and an osprey, the City Lord’s face was certainly far rarer to see. The crowd’s attention quickly shifted to the palanquin the City Lord rode in on. Amid the many people and mixed gazes, the two slipped away unnoticed.
“We ran all the way from the city center to the south side, until the pedestrians on the roadside stopped giving us strange looks.” Only then did Chuci bring up the topic. “Before I jumped up to tear into that osprey, he said something. Kunlun, did you hear it clearly?”
“It seemed like: ‘Who are you? Why do I sense you carry the same aura as me’?”
“‘Carry the same aura as me.’ The key point is here. I am a demon, yes, but not just any demon can have the same aura as me. Just like you’re a god, but nowhere under heaven is there a god as good-looking as you.”
Kunlun felt something was off no matter how she parsed that sentence. “Can… those two even be compared?”
“They can,” Chuci said with a straight face.
“Then let’s just…” Kunlun tilted her head to look at her. “Say they can.”
Chuci watched her for a long while, then lowered her head and touched her own nose, as if holding back a laugh. She continued, “Mm. That is to say, this osprey should also be from some demon domain. Its parents are very likely spiritual entities like you and me. At the very least, not comparable to those bizarre rat spirits and bamboo spirits infesting this demon city.”
“Do you remember what Jiang Yang said? She said that when Pangu first split heaven and earth, your mountain wasn’t the only one that birthed a mountain god. In the northwest, there was Zhong Mountain with Gu. In the southwest, Xiaoci Mountain had Zhu Yan. There were also Buzhou Mountain and Mount Great Sequence, which all birthed ferocious beasts, some in beast form, some in human form. I believe that having the right to claim it has the same aura as me—aside from things that came out of those places, there probably aren’t any others.”
“Of course,” she added, “speaking of orthodox lineage, you and I are far nobler than they are.”
Kunlun: “…Mm.”
“So I thought, I should ask him.”
“If you wanted to ask, then why did you run away?”
“The City Lord was arriving. From what that rat spirit said, the City Lord of Bright White City is very eager to recruit talent. If he caught sight of you, you’d inevitably be harassed for a while. I reckon I couldn’t beat him, so I dodged first. Besides, I just stabbed that osprey. He’ll definitely come looking for me.”
Kunlun: “And what’s the reason for that?”
“First, look at his earlier human form attire. A clean, neat short jacket. I heard from the rat spirit that he’d only arrived in Bright White City two days ago. Though I don’t know what he’s here for, the moment he arrived, he dared to go exterminate that male lion. A capable and bold one. And his reaction afterward was also very casual—turned and left, as if he’d done this plenty of times before. Second, he’s combative. When the wolf pack surrounded him, with his skill he clearly could’ve run. Why didn’t he run? Not running right now is one thing, but even wounded, he didn’t run? Even outmatched, he didn’t run? Combine it all: He’s an outsider, highly skilled, combative demon. Very likely out training in the world. I stabbed him—how could he not come looking? …Kunlun, what are you smiling at?”
Kunlun just kept smiling and didn’t answer.
“What are you smiling at? Tell me.”
Kunlun turned around and walked forward. “Because I’m happy. Naturally, I’m smiling.”
“Then why are you happy?” Chuci followed, her face bobbing left and right in front of Kunlun’s eyes until Kunlun felt dizzy.
Kunlun made an “Mm” sound, her tone tilting upward. “I’m not telling.”
“Tell me.”
“No.”
“Is it because you realize your wife is very clever? You feel immensely proud?”
Kunlun didn’t take the bait. The corner of her mouth lifted higher, and she quickened her pace a few steps.
“Kunlun~” She drawled out her name. “Can’t you just praise me a little?”
“Let’s hurry. If we don’t find the place soon, our bundle might disappear. Next time we go to the silk shop, we won’t have any silver left.”
The previous night, Kunlun had calculated that their bundle was inside a pawnshop in the south of Bright White City. The two had just run all the way here, so they arrived at the pawnshop entrance very quickly. Before Kunlun could even enter, a person rushed out from inside, frantic as a fire. If Chuci hadn’t pulled her aside, she would’ve been knocked flat on the ground.
The person muttered a muffled apology, head down, and was about to leave, but Chuci blocked him with an outstretched hand.
Kunlun pressed her hand down. “Chuci, let it go.”
Hearing a familiar voice, the person raised his head and immediately cried out in shock: “Hard-of-Hearing God!”
“No no no,” he immediately slapped himself hard across the mouth. “Minor Official Du Heng, paying respects to the Mountain Saint.”
It was actually Star Lord Du Heng from the Upper Realm.
Chuci narrowed her eyes, studying him for a long while, but simply couldn’t recall who he was. She’d been too young back then; the memory was already unclear.
Kunlun slowly placed her hands behind her back. “What did you say?”
Du Heng, familiar by now, raised his voice: “Minor Official Du Heng! Pays respects to the Mountain Saint!”
“Du what?”
Chuci watched in utter bafflement, thinking to herself: Since when did Kunlun become hard of hearing? How come she didn’t know about this?
