Love & Redemption
Chapter 75 - 32 Zi Hu’s Secret (Part 1)

Chapter 75: Chapter 32 Zi Hu’s Secret (Part 1)

The Sea Stabilizing Iron Chain had eight sections, placed in eight different directions. All of these chains were used to lock up a demon.

"Is that the gist of what Ting Nu said?" Xuanji was still somewhat unclear, "Then... how long must the chains be? And where is the demon held captive?"

Ting Nu smiled again, with a hint of mockery, "To create those chains, the wealth of the world was exhausted... But what’s strange is that no one knows where that demon is locked up. The eight Sea Stabilizing Iron Chains are arranged in the pattern of the Innate Eight Diagram to suppress him, and I heard that besides that, a golden lock was used to pierce his scapula. Even with the power to move mountains and overturn seas, he can’t escape..."

Xuanji slowly nodded, saying, "That’s amazing! He must have done many bad things in the past, truly evil deeds."

Ting Nu’s gaze flickered, and after a long while, he murmured, "What is good, and what is evil? Those people, too, were only looking out for themselves..."

Xuanji glanced at the Sea Stabilizing Iron Chain for a while but soon lost interest, carried her sword back to the Jade Cabinet, and said, "To harm others, to do evil, that is bad. Such a simple truth. Let’s not talk about this anymore. I should go kill Zi Hu’s true form first."

Seeing her swing her sword to strike, Ting Nu could not help but say with a quivering voice, "Do you really intend to kill?"

Xuanji didn’t respond; she twisted her wrist and mercilessly stabbed toward the heart of Zi Hu with the tip of her sword. She heard a "clang" as the body of Zi Hu turned out to be harder than ordinary steel. Not only did the sword fail to pierce her, it slid onto the cabinet, and the whole Jade Cabinet could no longer bear the force, shattering into pieces on the ground.

Xuanji had used eighty percent of her strength and was surprised to find herself with a tingling sensation in her hand from the impact. She looked troubled at Zi Hu lying amongst the jade fragments, with such an indestructible body, she was at a loss for how to wound it.

Ting Nu’s face turned pale, and he said softly, "Your current strength... can’t harm even a single hair on its body... it might be best to give up. Go find your senior brothers and escape."

"That’s not right." Xuanji suddenly turned to look at him, deep in thought, "You didn’t say that back in the cave. You said that with my abilities, how could I lose to her. Why do you change your words now? You seem... to know a lot."

Ting Nu had initially seen her as slow and naive, assuming she lacked intelligence in this life. To his surprise, her mind was as clear as a mirror; he thought she was not listening, but she remembered everything.

Caught off guard, he couldn’t find any excuse and could only stammer, "This... It’s different. You haven’t..."

"Haven’t what?"

Pressed into a corner, he fell silent and pretended to be deaf.

"Ting Nu?" Xuanji stepped forward, intending to ask more but suddenly brightened up as if she had thought of something. She slapped her hand and laughed, "Right, how did I not think of that. Since I can’t hurt it with my sword, I can burn it with fire! Ting Nu, you mean I can use Immortal Law, right?"

Ting Nu was completely bewildered by her reasoning, unsure whether to nod or shake his head and could only force a bitter smile.

Xuanji formed hand seals and recited an incantation, summoning two fire dragons each as thick as a large bowl, circling in the air and scattering sparks. With a flick of her fingers, the two fire dragons immediately noticed the true form of Zi Hu on the ground. Their tails flicked, and they dived in, circling it amidst towering flames, an astonishing scene.

"Not bad for a first try." Xuanji thought she might not be able to summon the fire dragons due to her injuries, but she succeeded and couldn’t help feeling pleased. She turned to glance at Ting Nu, hoping for some praise.

But he was frowning, lips tightly pressed, his expression one of unexpected concern. After a while, he said softly, "It’s no use... She’s a fox demon who has cultivated for a thousand years, you’re not on the same level as her now. Fire can’t burn her to death, water can’t drown her... She has already survived thirty-six calamities, ordinary fire is just child’s play to her."

Xuanji was somewhat defiant, but looking back at Zi Hu who hadn’t even singed a whisker, she felt disheartened. Raising her hand, she called back and put away the fire dragons, sighing, "Then what do we do. If she doesn’t die, we will."

"Why insist on exterminating her? She is a fox demon that has become a spirit; she has never killed anyone; why do you want to kill her?"

His tone was almost accusatory.

Xuanji frowned, "Who says she doesn’t kill people? Doesn’t Zhongli City send her four men every year? And what about being a Yang and Yin absorbing demon, if she doesn’t kill them, where do those people go?!"

"Those people..."

Just as Ting Nu began to speak, a charming and enchanting voice arose at the doorway, interrupting him, "Those people were killed by me, what are you going to do about it? Seek vengeance for them?"

As soon as the voice fell, a purple shadow floated in lightly, like weightless smoke, and enveloped the purple fox on the ground into a bundle. When the two people looked carefully, they saw the woman in purple standing opposite them, smiling and holding a sleeping purple fox in her arms.

"Ah! You..." Xuanji saw her unharmed and surmised the injured must be Si Feng and the others. She immediately asked anxiously, "What did you do to them?"

The purple fox touched the fox in her arms and laughed, "Nothing much, just drained their Yang energy and then threw them off a cliff. Whether they’re dead or not depends on their own fate."

Xuanji saw her smiling demeanor and took it to be a joke, but deep down she was nearly frantic with urgency. Her voice trembling, she asked, "Ting Nu said you don’t harm people... Did you, did you really kill them?"

The purple fox’s expression turned serious, she said coldly, "Who I am, and how does it matter if I kill a few mortals? Yes, I killed them, so what? Haha, that masked boy, Si Feng, was it? He kept calling out your name before he died, truly a smitten man..."

Xuanji felt a sudden pain in her heart, as if a giant hand had fiercely grabbed and then thrown her internal organs into a frying pan to be tormented, the pain almost bending her double.

Dead? Truly dead? She was, after all, too late to save the people she had been determined to protect.

Her vision momentarily blurred as if she was transported back to a certain moonlit night, where an irascible youth was yelling at her, "Are you even listening?!"

Then suddenly exiled above Qingming, she smiled at a aloof youth, "Let’s not be apart again for four days."

And now, these people were actually dead, never to be seen again. Their final words to her were telling her to run away.

Ting Nu shook his head, "Zi Hu, don’t speak in anger! You don’t know, she..."

Zi Hu’s face turned stern, and she said sharply, "What ’speak in anger’! It’s true, I killed them all! I will kill everyone in Zhongli City... no, everyone in the world, what will you do about it?! Oh, I forgot, you’re not human! If you don’t want to die, then scram! Scram back to your cave! Otherwise, don’t blame me for being merciless!"

"Zi Hu!" Ting Nu raised his voice, shaking his head, "You should go back. Those Cultivators, they are untouchable. Let them go and be obedient!"

Zi Hu chuckled and drew the fox into her sleeve, speaking coquettishly, "Untouchable, but I’ve touched them already, what will you do about it? You’re nothing but a downtrodden Merfolk, and she’s just a weak girl... What can you possibly do?"

"Nothing." Xuanji’s cold voice rang out, she stared blankly at Zi Hu, her face streaming with tears yet devoid of any expression.

"Why don’t you try dying once?" In her hand, the sword skillfully spun a flourish, her grip steady on a Sword technique, yet it was the most common Yao Hua Swordsmanship of the Shaoyang Sect.

Ting Nu saw the terrifying silver light flashing in her eyes and knew something was wrong, urging anxiously, "Zi Hu! Stop being stubborn! Release those Cultivators now!"

Zi Hu’s lips moved slightly, about to speak, but suddenly the silver light before her eyes shone brightly, the sword tip swift as lightning, reaching her in an instant. She was suddenly shocked, and her face, as if carved from glacial Liuli, came near, her pupils flickering with flames of silver light, the extreme coldness and soaring murderous aura paralyzing her.

Why don’t you try dying once?

The sword light, like a roaring dragon, passed by, that cluster of purple beauty turned into dust in an instant, fleeing awkwardly into a corner and only with great effort reshaped, her face filled with horror as she looked at Xuanji, as if she was an evil ghost that had emerged from hell. (To be continued. If you want to know what happens next, please visit www.qidian.com, with more Chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)