Volume 5 Chapter 41
by Need_More_SleepVolume 5 + Chapter 41: Steady As Can Be
“Come back with me. No more running off on your own!” Yue Liu said to Xia Yi.
Her tone seemed to be trying to cover something up, her cheeks slightly flushed.
“Alright.”
Xia Yi sighed.
She had sneaked out on her own, and since she’d been caught, there was nothing she could do but go back.
The grand adventure was ending prematurely.
Then, led by the little fox, Xia Yi left the tangled, labyrinthine alley and returned to the main city area.
“Impressive, you little Fox carrot. You actually know the way back,” Xia Yi said. “This place is like a maze.”
“This district is very dangerous, filled with unemployed drifters and even some criminals. For a stranger coming here for the first time, finding your way out is incredibly hard.”
The little fox paused, a hint of curiosity in her voice.
“If I hadn’t come here, would you have been unable to get out?”
“Not exactly. I have another way. Even if I couldn’t recognize the path, it’d be fine.”
“What way?”
“I could just fly, couldn’t I? I am part of the Dragon Clan, after all.”
“That’s true! I’ve never actually seen your true dragon form, I completely forgot about that.”
The little fox blinked, her interest clearly piqued.
“My fated rival, I wish to see your true dragon form.”
“Well…”
Xia Yi hesitated.
She really didn’t want to reveal her true dragon form in front of the little fox. She’d definitely be ridiculed mercilessly.
“Fox carrot, my true dragon form isn’t something I’d unleash in a situation like this.”
“Why not? Isn’t unleashing their true form something dragon clansmen can do whenever they want?”
“Unleashing my true form means I need to get serious,” Xia Yi began, speaking with feigned solemnity. “Between you and me, there is destined to be one final, fateful battle. Only when that moment arrives will I reveal my true dragon form and display my genuine power. It’s only in such an important context that it’s worth me giving my all. If I unleashed it casually, it would feel so… cheap. Not doing so now is a sign of respect for you.”
The little fox listened and then imagined the scene.
On the day of that final, fateful battle, her rival would finally unleash her true dragon form, revealing her original shape, transforming into a silver dragon, standing before her, as immense as a mountain.
And she, facing that overwhelmingly powerful rival, would still be fearless in her heart, slowly drawing her katana…
It would be incredibly cool!
“Well said, my fated rival! You truly have excellent taste!” The little fox nodded vigorously. “Only by unleashing your true dragon form and that hidden power at that moment, with that weighty sense of destiny, could it possibly be worthy of our final battle!”
“Exactly, exactly!”
Xia Yi breathed a silent sigh of relief. She’d managed to muddle through it.
On the way back, the little fox asked a few more questions, all related to what had just happened.
“My fated rival, tell me about the Nine-Tailed Fox clan you encountered,” the little fox said, deeply concerned. “Apart from me, are there other Nine-Tailed Foxes here? It’s truly unheard of.”
“Are there any in the Fox Clan royalty who are your age?”
“None. I’m the only relatively young Nine-Tailed Fox. The others are all a generation older than me, and it’s quite clearly noticeable.”
“That’s strange, then. Her name is Bai Lian, and she is definitely a Nine-Tailed Fox. She looks about your age, and even calls herself the Shrine Maiden of the Fox God.”
“The Shrine Maiden of the great Fox God…? Does she perhaps look like me?”
The little fox found it incredibly hard to believe. Could she be an illegitimate daughter her father had fathered out of wedlock?
The Nine-Tailed Fox Emperor had been quite the philanderer in his youth. If an illegitimate daughter did suddenly appear, Yue Liu herself wouldn’t be entirely shocked.
“No, not really. She looks different from you. Her ears and tails are a pale blue-white color,” Xia Yi explained.
“A Nine-Tailed Fox with pale blue-white fur?”
The little fox searched her memory and was certain that there was indeed no such figure within the Fox Clan royalty.
Now, a strange Nine-Tailed Fox suddenly appears, claiming to be the Fox God’s Shrine Maiden…
She felt that the circumstances behind this were far from simple.
…
…
The capital of Fox Hill has been particularly lively recently.
With the Fox God Festival approaching, everyone from the Fox Clan royalty down to the common folk were busy making preparations to welcome its arrival.
This was the most important festival within the Fox Clan, and every fox took it very seriously.
“The arrangements here aren’t bad.”
As the ruler of the Fox Clan, the Nine-Tailed Fox Emperor was personally inspecting the festival site, checking on the progress of the tasks that had been assigned.
Such matters could have easily been left to his subordinates, yet the Nine-Tailed Fox Emperor was handling them personally, which showed just how important the Fox God Festival was to the foxes.
The Fox Clan minister in charge of the preparations walked up to the Nine-Tailed Fox Emperor, bowed, and said respectfully, “Welcome, Your Majesty, the Fox Emperor.”
“No need for formalities. I’m just here to take a look. All of you go about your business as usual. Do what you need to do and don’t slow down the preparations,” the Nine-Tailed Fox Emperor instructed.
“Understood, Your Majesty.”
The Fox Clan minister acknowledged the order.
Afterwards, he led the Nine-Tailed Fox Emperor on a tour of the surrounding area, showing him all the preparations for the festival.
“What a beautiful statue.”
The Nine-Tailed Fox Emperor stood before a statue, unable to help but remark.
This statue was of the deity worshipped within the Fox Clan, the Fox God.
The Fox God’s body was enormous, its fur a striking red, many times larger than an ordinary fox. The nine massive tails behind it were particularly eye-catching, a direct representation of the Nine-Tailed Fox bloodline.
This was the unified image of the Fox God within the nation, passed down through the ages without change.
“Hmm?”
Admiring the Fox God statue, the Nine-Tailed Fox Emperor noticed something strange. A sudden, inexplicable wind blew in, carrying sand that stung everyone’s eyes. The sound of the wind was eerily penetrating, like a sinister gale.
In the wind, the nine tails behind the Fox God statue began to sway, and then one of them suddenly detached and fell to the ground.
“Your Majesty! Our deepest apologies!! I’ll have someone deal with this immediately.”
The Fox Clan minister, while urgently calling for someone to handle the situation, repeatedly apologized.
“We checked everything several times just a moment ago, and it was fine. Why would a tail fall off at a time like this…”
“Your Majesty, this is an ill omen, likely connected to the Fox God Festival. Perhaps… Perhaps something unfortunate is about to happen…”
One of the Nine-Tailed Fox Emperor’s attendants, seeing this scene, furrowed his brow and quietly offered a warning.
“There have been all sorts of strange incidents occurring within the kingdom lately. It’s truly eerie; we cannot afford to be careless.”
“You’re overthinking things. This was merely an accident. Don’t let it make you too tense or start seeing ghosts where there are none,” the Nine-Tailed Fox Emperor dismissed. “Throughout my reign, we’ve held the Fox God Festival many times. Even if there have been occasional mishaps, in the end, every single one has concluded successfully. There has never been a single exception.”
“Your Majesty, you do have a point. Perhaps… I am being overly sensitive.”
“Rest assured, this Fox God Festival will undoubtedly be held successfully, just like all the previous ones,” the Nine-Tailed Fox Emperor said calmly. “With me here, everything is steady as can be.”
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