Chapter 115 — Hope

Ming Li's body gave a violent shudder, and in an instant a look of wild joy flooded his face, sweeping away the heaviness that had been frozen there for longer than anyone could say.

He barely managed to suppress his excitement, yet he still could not keep a faint tremor out of his voice. "Please—please, Senior, teach me!"

The Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox gazed at him. After a moment she suddenly smiled and said, "That woman must be someone you love deeply, is she not?"

Ming Li said nothing, but the longing and anguish on his face only grew sharper.

The Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox shook her head with a sigh, yet her eyes were full of gentleness and pity. Softly she said, "As you said, the woman's body is whole and unharmed. That being so, it must be that strange power that scattered her soul and spirit. Ordinarily, once the three souls and seven spirits are dispersed, not even an immortal could save her—but so long as a single soul remains, there is hope."

"Though the soul is divided into three souls and seven spirits, all of them are the essence of a person's spirit, and between the souls of one and the same person there exists a mysterious attraction. Cultivators of the Central Plains have seldom delved into such matters, but many years ago I saw with my own eyes a man of strange arts perform the 'Soul-Returning Art.' He drew back every last fragment of the soul and spirit of a man who had been so unfortunate as to have one soul and three spirits seized by a wicked demon."

"From this you can see that though the circumstances differ somewhat, so long as your friend's body does not perish and remnants of her soul remain, she can surely be saved."

Ming Li's face had been alight with excitement, but at the words "Soul-Returning Art" something seemed to strike him. His brows knitted and he said, "Senior, this Soul-Returning Art you speak of—do you mean the 'Black Witch Clan' of the Ten Thousand Savage Mountains in the southern wilds?"

The Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox raised an elegant brow, faintly surprised, and nodded. "What, so you know of this Black Witch Clan as well? They are shrouded in mystery, and their Black Witch priests, who sacrifice to the gods, are especially skilled in such strange arts of ghosts and souls. If you can find a way to reach a Black Witch priest, there is a good chance your friend can be saved."

Ming Li was silent. After a long while, unable to hide the disappointment on his face, he said in a low voice, "To be honest with you, word that this Black Witch Clan might be able to save my friend reached my ears ten years ago. But in these ten years I have come to this southern borderland more times than I can count, and even penetrated deep into those barren, treacherous Ten Thousand Savage Mountains. Yet no matter how carefully I searched, I could not find the slightest trace of the Black Witch Clan. Everyone told me that the Black Witch Clan died out a thousand years ago…"

"A thousand years ago?" The Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox, who had been listening with furrowed brows, suddenly raised her voice and cut him off.

"That is right. What of it?" Ming Li lifted his head and looked at her.

The softly alluring woman frowned slightly, as though pondering something. Her fine, silken hair fell over her shoulders, and the night wind stirred a few strands to dance about her cheeks.

After a long while she raised her head and said, "Locked away too long—my mind has gone dull. I will have to think before I can remember. When I met that man of the Black Witch Clan, it was two hundred years before those wretches of the Burning Cloud Valley imprisoned me. Which means it must have been at least five hundred years ago that there were still people of the Black Witch Clan about!"

Ming Li stared at her intently, his expression shifting violently. The Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox took in his look, and suddenly smiled. "Enough, enough. Since you are my benefactor, I shall do you this favor. Tomorrow I will take you searching through these parts of the southern border, to see whether any trace of the Black Witch Clan remains where I once met that fellow."

Ming Li drew a deep breath and was silent a moment, then bowed his head slightly to her. "Thank you, Senior. I am endlessly grateful. If only my friend can be saved, whatever you should ask of me in the future, you need only command it."

The Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox looked at the man before her, his face full of resolve, and in his eyes a faint, gentle warmth lingering still—was he thinking of someone, she wondered?

At that thought, for some reason a certain tenderness rose in her heart—in this world of men, even if there are the unfaithful, there are, after all, still those who love deeply.

The night lay deep and all was silent, save somewhere far off in the depths of the woods where the insects of the wild sang, low and mournful, as if pouring out their hearts.

The wild wind blew past, and the treetops in the forest swayed, rustling softly.

The Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox gently set Little Grey on the ground and stood there in the woods, standing blankly. After a long while she closed her eyes and turned her head slightly, as though listening for something, or as though with her body and her heart she sought to taste the feel of freedom in this world.

Footsteps sounded suddenly behind her and then stopped. Ming Li's voice came to her. "It is late, Senior. Why are you still not asleep?"

The Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox did not open her eyes, nor even turn her head. She only said slowly, "And you? Why are you not asleep?"

Ming Li was silent a moment, then said, "I cannot sleep."

The Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox turned around, looked at him, and smiled faintly. "A little nervous, I take it?"

Ming Li did not answer. A hope he had long since come to think all but dead had suddenly blazed up anew, and it would not let him rest.

The Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox smiled a bewitching smile, all charm, so that even the night around her seemed to grow gentle. Softly she said, "There is one thing I would like to say to you."

Ming Li quickly said, "Please, Senior, speak."

The Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox shot him a glare. "It is this—could you stop calling me Senior? You are fine in other respects, but for some reason you insist on calling a woman 'Senior' over and over. It makes a person sound old, you know. Is that not terribly rude?"

Ming Li was struck dumb.

So it was: whether eighteen, twenty-eight, or two thousand eight hundred years old, so long as she is a woman, she will surely fear growing old…

"Then—what should I call you?" Ming Li asked cautiously.

The woman was taken aback for a moment, then a trace of helplessness surfaced on her face. Only after a long pause did she say lightly, "Yes—what indeed? I forgot my name long ago. Let it be this way: you have seen my true form as a white fox, so just call me Little White."

"Little White…" Ming Li called, somewhat awkwardly, an odd expression on his face.

The Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox seemed not to mind at all. Her gaze shifted and fell on the monkey Little Grey, crouched on the ground looking this way and that. Something occurred to her, and she asked Ming Li, "By the way, what is this monkey called? You surely do not just call him the Three-Eyed Spirit Monkey?"

Ming Li said, "I took this monkey in when I was small. I call him Little Grey."

The Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox—now to be called Little White—was startled for a moment, then burst out laughing. She reached down and scooped Little Grey up into her arms, looked him over, her eyes full of mirth, and said, "Ha, so we were fated after all. Your name is Little Grey, and mine is Little White!"

Little Grey grinned in her arms, chattering with laughter, and laid his monkey paw on her shoulder, altogether affectionate.

Ming Li stood to one side watching the scene, at a loss for words. After a moment he shook his head in the dark and quietly walked away.

The next day.