Chapter 55 — Dying Together

At this, Li Xun cleared his throat up ahead and said to Zhang Qingyue, "Junior Brother Zhang, there is one thing I would like to ask you."

Zhang Qingyue did not dare be remiss. "Pray speak, Senior Brother Li."

Li Xun looked at him and said slowly, "Junior Brother Zhang, you were the first to enter the Fire Dragon Cave. May I ask—in that cave, or upon that white fox, did you happen to see a jade ring, bearing a flame totem at its center and red silk tassels at either end?"

Zhang Qingyue's heart gave a leap, and beside him Stone had already cried out loudly, "Yes! Yes! Last night, when we fought the three-tailed demon fox, we saw her use that artifact!"

Li Xun and Yan Fei both showed joy at once, but Yan Fei was the more meticulous of mind. On second thought she said to Li Xun, "Then why, when we went down last night, did the three-tailed demon fox not summon the Mystic Fire Mirror?"

Li Xun said lightly, "She used the Mystic Fire Mirror to summon the fire dragon to contend with us. The Mystic Fire Mirror must have been on her person."

Yan Fei pondered and nodded. Li Xun turned to Zhang Qingyue and said, "Junior Brother Zhang, that Mystic Fire Mirror is a treasured heirloom of our school, and of great consequence. I wonder whether you have seen it?"

All eyes turned at once to Zhang Qingyue. He drew a deep breath, was silent for a moment, then said lightly, "No."

Li Xun started, and frowned.

Yan Fei's gaze traveled over Zhang Qingyue, and she said thoughtfully, "How is that? When you fought the three-tailed demon fox and the six-tailed spirit fox, did they truly never use the Mystic Fire Mirror?"

Zhang Qingyue was silent another moment, then said, "Last night, after I stumbled by chance into that Fire Dragon Cave, I found that the white fox—the six-tailed spirit fox you speak of—was already gravely ill and at the point of death. Later, when the three-tailed demon fox came in, she had likely been fighting the four of you outside and was likewise greatly drained. It took little effort on my part to strike them down and send them below."

Disappointment showed at once on the faces of Yan Fei and Li Xun. Yan Fei turned her head and looked at Li Xun, and Li Xun said lightly, "Before we left the Fire Dragon Cave, I searched that area carefully. There was no trace of the Mystic Fire Mirror. I fear it fell with them into the lava, to be buried with them."

Yan Fei sighed, then said, "Never mind, Senior Brother Li. However it may be, we have destroyed the remnants of the demon foxes, and that is an accounting to our school."

Li Xun nodded, then turned and cupped his hands to Zhang Qingyue and the other two. "That being so, my junior sister and I must return to Fenxia Valley to report to our school. We shall take our leave first."

Zhang Qingyue and Stone made haste to say, "Pray go as you please."

Only Bili remained dark of face, standing to one side without stirring.

Li Xun nodded and said to Yan Fei, "Junior Sister, let us go."

Yan Fei smiled and nodded, but then, as though suddenly recalling something, she turned back to Zhang Qingyue and said, "Senior Brother Zhang, the demon cult has been stirring again of late. The Canglan Sect, joined by other righteous cultivators, will gather at Liubo Mountain in the Eastern Sea. I hear that your master's lineage will all be going. Why not go and meet them?"

Zhang Qingyue was startled, then joy showed on his face. "Truly? They have all gone to Liubo Mountain! Then I shall set out at once."

Yan Fei smiled and nodded. "That is well, then. After Senior Brother Li and I have made a trip back to our school, perhaps we too shall go. If fate allows, we shall meet again there!"

With that she turned and walked a few steps with Li Xun, then Yan Fei suddenly looked back again—this time smiling at Bili: "Miss Bili, that golden bell at your waist is truly lovely."

Bili's expression changed. The golden bell at her waist was, of course, the "Bell of Joyous Union" left behind by Lady Hehuan, which she and Zhang Qingyue had obtained when they were trapped in the Blooddrop Cave beneath the Abyss of the Dead.

To have Yan Fei suddenly speak of it now, she almost mistook it for meaning that this gentle female disciple of Fenxia Valley had seen through her identity.

But Yan Fei said only that one sentence, and then, as though nothing had happened, merely smiled at her and departed with Li Xun.

Bili frowned, her heart full of doubt and alarm, when she suddenly sensed something and looked to the side—and saw that Zhang Qingyue was looking at her as well.

Presently the three of them left the woods outside the Black Stone Cave. On the way they passed the well of the full moon from the night before, and Bili, recalling how the three-tailed demon fox had several times pressed Zhang Qingyue on what exactly he had seen within it, asked him a few questions about it as well. Zhang Qingyue started at first, but gave no answer, only shook his head.

Bili was vexed and asked no more, but her curiosity was great, so she walked over herself. She looked down into the ancient well and saw that it was deep and secluded, its water clear, reflecting her own face—very lovely—and nothing else out of the ordinary. So she put it from her mind.

They came out of the woods and returned to the little town of Xiaochi, where the town chief and the other folk had long been waiting in anxious impatience. The moment they caught sight of the three figures, they crowded around.

When they heard Stone loudly declare that the demon had been destroyed and that the good folk might live in peace hereafter, the crowd broke into thunderous cheers, every face alight with joy.

Zhang Qingyue stood to one side, watching the rejoicing crowd, yet a confusion came over his heart, and the images of those two demon foxes rose again before his eyes.

Earlier, when Li Xun had questioned him about the Mystic Fire Mirror, he had of course known that the thing they sought was in truth bound to his own arm. Yet somehow the white fox's words had come back to him.

In truth, he had known the six-tailed spirit fox for barely a single night; there could be no talk of any bond between them. Yet he had watched the three-tailed demon fox resolutely take her own life, and the six-tailed spirit fox gather her in its arms and leap with her into the searing lava—and that soul-stirring scene was still before his eyes even now.

Deep in his heart, he had actually come to feel a closeness to that demon fox, and so, for reasons he could not explain, he had put Li Xun and Yan Fei off, claiming ignorance, and concealed the truth.

It was with great difficulty that Stone extricated himself from the crowd and shot the other two a look. Zhang Qingyue and Bili looked past him and saw that the elders and townsfolk, still unappeased, were all smiles and pressing in again.

Stone turned to the crowd and said, "Good people, hear me out. Matters here are settled, and we must continue on our cultivation. Today we part here. As for talk of silver in thanks—my two companions and I thank you all, but silver is a thing outside the self, and of no use to us. Pray go home, all of you!"

With that, he quickened his steps, pulled Zhang Qingyue by the arm, and said in a low voice, "Let's go, quickly."

The townsfolk saw only that the three had turned into streaks of lightning; with two whistling sounds they vanished from sight. The people sighed in amazement, gathered to talk for a while, and then gradually dispersed.

But after the crowd had scattered, from the corner of the street emerged an old man and a young girl. They gazed far off in the direction the three had vanished—none other than the fortune-teller Zhou Yixuan and his granddaughter Xiaowan.

Zhou Yixuan looked that way for a few moments; seeing no one about, he said quietly to Xiaowan, "To think that the Three-Tailed Demon Fox, even with the Mystic Fire Mirror in hand, was still done away with by those people."