"Relax," the fox fairy drawled as she stepped closer and closer. "It'll only hurt a little."
Hurt a little? We were talking about a human cauldron here. I would be boiled alive under the flames, or I would have my soul sucked out from my skull. Either way, I would be a lump of dead meat—I. Can't. Stand. It!
"You're crazy," I spat again, suppressing my fear. But my mind still reeled. "I'm only a normal human, and I definitely don't have the honor of becoming your human cauldron."
Her crimson lips quirked up into a smile. "Oh, you're more than sufficient. And for the record, only you can be my human cauldron. You have what I wanted—your body, all of you. I want it all."
I screwed my face tight, staring back at her. Those words made my head ache. I shook myself. Did she just say—
"Beg your pardon?" Sure enough, my voice had started shaking. The question itself was rhetorical, but I couldn't help asking.
The fairy fox watched me for a moment. She raised an eyebrow. "Didn't I make myself clear enough? Since you're going to make a noble sacrifice for me, I won't be such fussy. Taking your soul away for strengthening my cultivation is one thing. And another, I want to inhabit your body, as in possessing your whole body."
Well, she had me there. Not that I wouldn't expect the possibility. Apparently, I had a hunch the moment she said took over Li Ruman's body. But she was torturing Huashe, my familiar, connected with me by a blood oath. I still couldn't fathom why she had done that. If everything she did was aiming at me, then why hurting others? She would have come straight at me.
A smile crept to the fox fairy thin lips, and again she had read my mind. "You're right. I should've gone straight to you, but it just ruined all the fun, don't you think?"
I shuddered to hear her confession. For fun? What good did it do? To have someone getting beaten up for your sake, that was the last feeling made my stomach filled with guilt. I didn't want to be linked with Huashe, but I didn't want him to suffer because of me. I had never wanted that. I was lost in my thoughts. What was she planning? What was the deal?
"You've been awfully quiet for a while," she finally said. "Why? Are you scared of me?"
No. I didn't have much time to think about it, I should keep my mind blank.
"No, I'm not scared of you," I said in a low, throaty voice. "But I just don't understand what you've done that. Aren't you going in circles to possess me? Since I'm dying, the least you can do is to let me die in peace, can't you?"
The fox fairy wore a smug expression and chuckled. "Well, seems like you're willing now. Alright, then. I'll be happy to enlighten you but first..." she paused, proudly looking at Huashe's weak form like he was her masterpiece, then turned to me again. "Do you know that your familiar isn't the only one that is under my grasp?"
My head snapped up and stared at her with wide eyes. "Wh-what? What do you mean?"
Amused with my reaction, the fox fairy wagged her tail back and forth, humming to herself. She clapped her hands together as she reclined to the stone chair. She took one of the tools on the desk, a chainsaw, running her fingers as if she wanted to deliberately cut herself.
"See behind you, Liu Huayu." She tucked a strand of her dark hair behind her ears to show dangling ruby earrings. "I brought you a company, so you won't be too lonely down here."
The sound of footsteps was loud to my ears in the quiet. My eyes swiveled around, following her instruction. A gate opened showing another side of the tunnel, just enough to let one person pass through, and Si Ming shot out. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught he was carrying a little boy in his arms. The light bent down around him, showing a clear sight of the boy who sank lifelessly as if he had been in his deep sleep. I recognized him instantly.
"Axiang—" I gasped.
But how? I didn't think she would even go to the extent of kidnapping a child. I sucked in my breath, realizing the paranoid sensation. What did a little boy like him have to do with all of this human cauldron thing? And why the hell I couldn't breathe? My heart raced and my head felt light.
The whole world had gone nuts to me. I couldn't even feel any emotions anymore. It was too much. I felt numbness began crawling inside my body.
She had broken the silence with more frantic laugher, the stillness shattering to her voice. "How is it? Do you like it? Don't thank me, I'm only helping you to bring your son here. At least down the Nether Springs, you won't be that lonely."
"What are you doing?" I gasped struggling to draw a breath to calm my racing heart. "All that you want is me. So be it, leave the others alone."
"Oh, no, no. No. I can't do that—" she broke off, shaking her head, making her dark hair swish around her shoulder. "Like you've said; I've been circling. Now everything starting to look—to feel familiar. Finally, things are falling back to their rightful places."
The fox fairy with her hands extended in front of her, a distinctive pale pink glow of magic sparkling on her fingers. A baby appeared out of thin air in her arms.
She laughed, rocking the seemed likely to be a dead baby. "Now, my son and I can fully replace yours now."
I felt sick. "Is this the reason you choose me as your human cauldron? You even take Axiang to replace your son?"
"Is that even worth to ask for?" the fairy fox said, looking at me like I had just asked the stupidest question ever. "You're the woman he loves, and I'm going to be the one replacing you. Only then I can be with him. You've had him enough for thousand of years, you can just give him now to me. You don't even love him, then why bother?"
"Jie Moshu?"
"You mere human, how dare you to say his name!" She growled, her cheeks flushed with anger. "It's because of you that I can't be with him!"
Disgust rolled over me, laughter escaped me for overcoming my shock. "Wow. You go to the extent of killing just for some guy?"
The fox fairy looked at me like I had lost my mind. Well, maybe I should have. "He's not some guy. Seems like he hasn't been open to you as much as you know then," she pursed her lips. "Then, I'll be the one to tell you the truth. He's the Crown Prince of the Heavenly Kingdom, the God of Sun. My future husband."
I felt myself wilting. The God of Sun? The guy who claimed to be my husband was a what? Jie Moshu that no-brainer opportunist was a god?
Before I could digest it, a loud boom rang from the far end of the tunnel, shattering the whole area. There was a creak from above, the ceiling came raining down bits of sand and pebble. That fox fairy's marionette streamed down the tunnel, attacking wildly. I spotted a thick steamy mist flooded the hallway, swallowed those marionettes as a whole. Then, I saw him past the hallway—Jie Moshu.
My heart skipped in relief—and alarm. His magic streamed out of him, streaks of fire and lightning made him appeared like he was on fire.
Si Ming cast invisible magic on Axiang's body and tossed him floating. His body flew above Jie Moshu through the air. His hands were already sizzling, popping, building like an explosion. He was ready to attack.
Jie Moshu only waved a hand at Si Ming. Ever since he stepped inside the room, those pair of dark crimson eyes had never left me. A blast of flames hit Si Ming hard, shooting him across the room. He slammed against the stone wall and stuck there, four feet off the ground.
It went so fast I could barely track what had just happened. The next, I already found Jie Moshu crouched down beside me, reaching for my shoulders. He closed his arms around me, let my head leaned against his chest. A trickle of his fire magic was still around him, but strangely it made me feel warm and fuzzy.
Was it because I was facing danger? Was it because I felt his muscular body pressing against my face? I had this euphoria of there was no better place in the world than being wrapped by him.
His arms were tensed. The tightness vibrated in his muscles, like an electric current under his skin.
Remembering the incident last time with the octopus lady, I felt my lips curved into a smile. "Why are you so late, again? Do you know I am almost scared to death?"
A low male voice came out from him, frustration and need rolled into one. "It's my fault for putting you in danger. I should've known this coming, I'm sorry."
"One word," Jie Moshu whispered again, his voice taut with suppressed anger. "Say one word, and I'll make her sorry for being born."
I looked at his dark eyes, now glowing redder than before. It was then I realized he would do anything for me. Just one word and he would even go against the world. Oh, my god. Another realization struck me lightning bolt—he had fallen hard for me. For the first time in my entire life, someone aside from my family had loved me this much.
And because of me, Huashe was beaten up, even Axiang was taken as a hostage, and now Jie Moshu... Fury boiled inside me.
"No," I forced myself to say. "She has the Goddess of Souls with her, I—"
He held me. "I'll take care of it, wife."
A sudden motion from the fox fairy made me jumped. She, too, came crouching beside us, bringing her dead baby along with her. Her blue-silverish eyes filled with frantic reminded me a lot like those psycho stalkers. My stomach flipped over at that thought.
"You've finally come to see me, Your Highness." Her fingers reached for Jie Moshu, wanting to grasp him, even only for a part of his cloak.
Jie Moshu shoved off her hands. "Pathetic."
"Do you not remember me, Your Highness? I'm the fox fairy, the female celestial, E'mei."
"Ah," Jie Moshu bristled.
I froze. He turned, giving her death glares. "Now, I know where I've seen those enchantment magic before. Female celestial E'mei. It seems to me that you're bored of living!"