Savage Wolf, Lotus Heart [Never Let You Go, Again: Book 4]

31: Responsibility to Bear

"Xuanji... I'm about to lose my wits now..."

"A-Sang?" Chen Xuanji was polishing her sabre. Hearing her husband's distraught tone, she kept the sabre and cloth down on her table and scooted over to his study table. Hand on shoulder, rubbing and kneading gently to relieve what little stress she could, she asked. "What's the matter?"

"This... This new scene... It's crazy."

"I'm listening. Rant to me all you want."

Nie Huaisang sighed. "First, there's the Qiong Qi. Now we know what it looks like in its beast form, but it's probably in its human disguise. We don't know where it is, what it's doing, how much time we've left until it comes to attack us itself."

"Will it?" Xuanji asked. "What made you think it'll show itself?"

"Well, so far, their plans of attacking the five main sects with manipulated beasts is up. None more left, I don't think the enemy will waste its time working on the minor clans. Plan A is over. Time for Plan B. If the beasts couldn't destroy us, then the Qiong Qi will do it itself."

"Good," Xuanji stroked his head. "Your battle strategy understanding is improving."

"Hey, you asked that to test me?"

"Why else?" Xuanji grinned. "Not like General Nie can't guess the enemy's battle plans, dammit. Now what else?"

"Well, that's with the Qiong Qi. Second is... this goddamned demoness."

"Mint Melody?"

"Yes. Aria Verduria. So now we know she's a Nine-Tailed Fox. A Nine-Tailed Fox working with a Vixen. An immortal one too, at that. As for Mistress Vixen, Zhang Huli or whatever, we can do something, get rid of her easily, she's a demoness like any other. But a Nine-Tailed Fox isn't just a demon, it's a real-life creature too. And this one's immortal. We can't even kill her!" Groaning, Nie Huaisang laid his head on his wife's shoulder.

"Don't worry, A-Sang. I'm sure Wuxian-gege has a way of solving things. Qiong Qi, he'll deal with that, he said. I don't know what he's planning but... that is what he said."

"No, not good at all. I'm sure I know his plan... and it simply isn't good. He thinks he can subdue it like any other demon. But this isn't just any demon. If the Heavenly Emperor couldn't, how can we?"

"Like Wuxian-gege says, the jade Emperor is a lazy guy, lounging on his divan with his harem of goddesses. So let's just ignore that fact. Wuxian-gege said he and Wangji-gege won't be separating for a bare minute this time around, so I'm sure those two will come up with something together."

"Well, I hope it'll be soon..."

"You think we don't have that much time?"

"Gut feelings, Xuanji. Gut feelings." Huaisang rubbed his nose on Xuanji's shoulders' metal plates and laid his cheek. "And another issue. This Aria Verduria has skills. Wei-xiong said Zhang Huli's skills were basic fox charms: the coloured eyes, and a super-strong tail capable of strangling you. But Aria Verduria is an Immortal Fox. And a demoness at the same level as our friend, Xiao Xiang. Meaning she has superior skills. So far we know she's got some singing thing, capable of enchanting Jin Ling so far. And Xiao Xiang and our friendly Ghost King had said something about her using vines to wring necks. What the hell?"

"Vines?" Chen Xuanji asked. "That gives me an idea, you know."

"WHAT?" Nie Huaisang sat up in a flash.

"If she can use vines, either it's just that she found a couple of vines to strangle the person out of fun, or she can control such vines."

"Well, Wangji-xiong did say she's just someone willing to cause all chaos and takes murder as fun, so we really can't tell which one it is!"