Chapter 7: She Loved the Wrong Person (1)
Zhao Yichen endured the pain he was in and trudged around the shrine, ripping the paper seal from the wooden post that held the thick ropes in place. For a small shrine like this, he wondered what kinds of spirits were sealed inside. If there were another nine-tailed fox like this woman, he wasn't certain he would be able to keep his sanity at this rate.
While working on it, he took the opportunity to gauge the shrine. The wooden shrine was three feet in height and had a simple altar placed in front of it where travelers leave their offerings, which was rare given the state Qingqiu Mountain was in. Once he was done, Shen Minyao tried to reach out her hand again; this time, there wasn't a protection seal that stopped her from opening the doors of the shrine.
Shen Minyao pushed the small doors open, and Zhao Yichen took a peek over her shoulder, only to see the darkness within. A gust of wind soon came from the inside, forcing Zhao Yichen to cover his face with both arms and wonder what it would be this time, while Shen Minyao didn't bat an eyelid with her long hair flayed behind her.
A moment later, silence befell on them, but Zhao Yichen did have any idea what just happened. He lowered his arms and looked around, but he didn't see anyone except him and Shen Minyao.
"Ah! It's really good to be free!" He heard Xiao Bai's voice from somewhere, but where could he be?
"Milady, are you alright? You don't look good at all," Yu Yan asked Shen Minyao who suddenly leaned against the nearest post on her left.
Zhao Yichen turned to look at her, only to see that Shen Minyao was deadly pale. It was clear that he wasn't the one feeling unwell at that moment.
Thinking about where the voices were coming from, he looked down on the ground, only to see a pair of cats staring at him with wide clear eyes. Just like Shen Minyao's, their eyes had the same golden hue color on them, with horizontal pupils. One was a white fatty cat while the other was a cat whose fur was as black as the night.
As Zhao Yichen looked at the pair of cats, he suddenly felt that these two were trying to probe right through his soul. Was it because he was a human?
No. There was something in the way they looked at him that didn't sit well with him.
"Cats?" He furrowed his brows in confusion. He initially thought that these two were shrine guardians, but it seemed that, just like the fox woman, they'd been sealed here for ages.
"Don't let their forms deceive you." Shen Minyao warned him.
"Milady! How can you give your energy core to a human?" The black cat gasped before turning to Shen Minyao. No wonder her master didn't look good at all. If she still had her fox's core, she would be able to give her new host a full recovery from its injuries.
"How do you think I managed to get freed from that seal? If it wasn't for this little one, your aunt won't be able to see the world again," Shen Minyao replied with a matter-of-fact tone.
"But—Milady!" Yu Yan looked at her master with a troubled expression. After being sealed for centuries, it was expected that the fox woman's energy was almost depleted. If it was in the past, her prowess and strength would be comparable to a deity.
Xiao Bao only stared at his master and didn't say anything. It wasn't their place to question the fox woman's decision, and he knew what this entailed between his master and this mortal human. A life contract.
Obviously, a contract made with a human was a dangerous one for the fox spirit. If the other creatures found out that this human was keeping her fox's core, it would be easier for them to kill the fox woman.
'Ah, how troublesome!' Xiao Bao thought. This only meant that he and Yu Yan would need to work hard until the fox woman regained her strength without relying on her fox's orb. Still, the fox woman should recover soon before the Li family found out that she managed to escape from the seal.
They weren't sure if the Li family continued to exist to this day, but it would be better for them to be cautious… as some would eventually discover that the nine-tailed fox woman—who had caused the downfall of the Shun Empire—had survived.
Shen Minyao stared at her familiars, especially the white fatty cat.
"What happened to you?" She raised a slender brow to Xiao Bai, making him shiver.
"He had eaten all the offerings the old man left every day," Yu Yan answered for him.
"Old man?" Shen Minyao hummed.
"We heard he's living on the foot of the mountain on his own. He's been paying respects here and leaving offerings for decades," the black cat explained.
"Then, we should start calling you 'Xiao Pang' instead of Xiao Bai. You only knew how to eat and get drunk," the fox woman made a remark.
Shen Minyao made a move to leave the place, and Zhao Yichen decided to follow closely. It was obvious this woman knew where they were going, and it only took an hour before they reached the foot of the mountain, seeing a road rarely taken by people.
"So where are we going?" Zhao Yichen asked. By now, he was drenched with sweat, and the pain rattling his body was starting to get unbearable.
"We wait until someone comes to save us," Shen Minyao said before gesturing at him to take a seat on the sidewalk of the road. They could only wait for now.
Zhao Yichen wasn't sure whether to believe this woman or not, but considering that they were on the same boat—trying to survive in this wilderness, he didn't really have any choice but to rely on her.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone