"No!"
Just as Mo Xie was defeated and had already lost most of his spiritual power, a figure suddenly appeared before Xuan Ye's blade.
It was Hu Po, who could speak with perfect clarity.
Xuan Ye was astonished, gripping his blade, momentarily at a loss.
"He has done nothing wrong! He shouldn't be imprisoned for eternity!" Hu Po continued, her pupils contracting until they narrowed into slits. "You cannot take him away!"
As she spoke, the heavens and earth shifted colors. Winds whipped up sand, birds screeched, and even the vines on the ground rose into the air, swiftly entangling Xuan Ye's limbs.
Xuan Ye stood firm—not because he couldn't break free, but because he was too stunned, sensing something amiss yet unable to immediately grasp what it was.
Thus, Hu Po succeeded. In that moment, she scooped up Mo Xie and vanished into the wind in an instant.
Mo Xie was heavy; the weight of an evil spirit was often several times that of their living form.
After carrying him for a while, Hu Po began to pant. Eventually unable to endure any longer, she stopped deep within the dense forest, laying Mo Xie down to rest against the roots of an ancient tree.
Mo Xie was unconscious, his awareness hazy due to the loss of most of his spiritual power, lying quietly to the side.
Hu Po gasped for breath, watching him, when suddenly tears began to fall.
"It's me," she murmured softly, spreading her arms and slowly embracing Mo Xie. "Do you know? It has always been me. From the very first night, the one you held every night has always been me."
Mo Xie didn't hear her, and she didn't want him to. As always, her feelings were insignificant, a humble existence.
He loved Bi Xi, and it should be Bi Xi he held. She was merely a shadow of Bi Xi, born out of helplessness.
If not for the relentless conflicts between the fox and marten clans, if not for that... terrifying wound on Bi Xi's body.
She should never have existed in the first place.
"They say there must be something wrong with you, which is why after all these years, you haven't even taken a man for extracting essence."
She remembered that day, speaking to Bi Xi like this, snorting with a hint of indignation.
"Those foxes and their nonsense! Why don't they mention how their clan leader was utterly defeated, and two elders were skinned and dismembered by you, sister?" Seeing Bi Xi silent, Hu Po added proudly, her front paws tapping the ground cheerfully.
"You can already take human form, so why do you insist on remaining a marten?" Bi Xi smiled faintly, coming over to stroke her fur.
Hu Po fell silent then, nuzzling against Bi Xi's feet, rubbing back and forth.
Bi Xi sighed, letting her be. After a moment, she said softly, "If I were gone, what would become of you? What would become of all of you?"
Hu Po didn't understand, lifting her head to gaze at Bi Xi with her light-colored eyes.
"If I were gone, what would you do?" Bi Xi repeated.
"Sister will never be gone."
"They've started to suspect me, Hu Po. Our carefree days are numbered."
Hu Po grew even more confused, tilting her head and blinking.
"Do you know why I've never taken a man?" Bi Xi bent down.
Hu Po, innocent, replied, "It's because you haven't met someone you truly like yet."
"No, Hu Po." Bi Xi sighed, her tone heavy, as her hands moved downward to undo the buttons of her robe. "The time has come. As the clan leader's sister, you deserve to know the truth."The buttons were loose, easily undone. Bi Xi removed all her clothing, and for the first time in seven years, revealed her body before Hu Po once again.
Perfect chest lines, perfect legs, perfect neck, perfect face—only... at this moment, Bi Xi had completely lost her waist.
Below the chest cavity, her entire abdomen was hollow—empty and cavernous, containing only faintly metallic blood and a clump of dried grass!
"Fighting one against three, defeating the fox clan's leader and elders—how magnificent," Bi Xi sighed from the side. "But Hu Po, I am ruined. My injuries can never heal."
Hu Po stood frozen, tears falling like disconnected pearls, dripping and splattering on the ground.
"If they discover I am ruined, you will be finished too," Bi Xi said, looking at Hu Po with reluctant pity. "So Hu Po, are you willing to help me with something that may be very difficult?"
Hu Po nodded, again and again, weeping uncontrollably.
Thus, the days shifted to the next day—that fateful summer noon.
Mo Xie passed by their cave entrance, carrying his sword, merrily mimicking bird calls and animal cries along the way.
"He imitates a female leopard to lure the male—he's a wretched hunter," Bi Xi remarked after listening for a while. "Choose him. At the very least, you won't feel guilty."
"We were all wrong," Hu Po recalled, sighing deeply. "We were all wrong, sister!"
"What was wrong? That you sisters both fell in love with this man, right?"
Suddenly, a voice spoke from behind—soft and seductive, its owner leaning closer as if boneless.
It was Yan Liu, a fox spirit with a name evoking the pleasure quarters, and indeed she looked the part—utterly enchanting yet not vulgar.
"That Taoist priest was almost able to subdue him. Why did you interfere?" Yan Liu continued, stepping closer step by step. "Fine, if you can't bear it, I'll deal with him. Step aside!"
Hu Po said nothing, only spreading her arms wide, firmly shielding Mo Xie.
"What are you doing? Since you're protecting him, why did you trick that Taoist priest into capturing him?"
Why?
Because Hu Po had once seen Taoist priests collecting ghosts, secretly following them as they cast captured souls into the River of Rebirth.
She thought Xuan Ye was also a Taoist priest, believed Mo Xie could forget the past and start anew.
But she was wrong.
Thinking of this, Hu Po took a deep breath, relieved she had intervened at the final moment.
"Speak!" Yan Liu pressed, narrowing her eyes slowly. "You can speak! You can actually speak!! What else have you hidden, Hu Po? I need to reconsider whether I've underestimated you..."
"Could you be another Bi Xi?" Seeing Hu Po silent, Yan Liu pressed further, leaning down aggressively.
Hu Po froze briefly, then began shaking her head, again and again.
Though reluctant, she had to admit—she was not Bi Xi. She was weak, timid, and aimless, an inadequate leader of the marten clan, not even a fraction of Bi Xi's worth.
"Then why pretend to be mute?" Yan Liu pressed urgently.
Why?
Yet another why—countless whys. The truth and the past weighed like mountains, severing her voice and bending her spine.
Hu Po began to pant, her hands trembling uncontrollably, violently.In the earliest days, Hu Po truly only knew Beast Speech, for Bi Xi was so dominant that she didn't need to strive much—she merely leaned on her, clung to her, indulged in coquetry and sought amusement.
Later, Bi Xi found Mo Xie, entangled him, made him infatuated, and he wholeheartedly took Bi Xi as his wife.
As a wife, Bi Xi was flawless in every way—not only stunningly beautiful but also gentle, considerate, and efficient, managing the household with perfect order.
The only awkwardness was during intimacy—it had to be at night, with windows shuttered and curtains drawn, not a sliver of light allowed.
"This way, I won't feel awkward," Bi Xi would say, her face flushed crimson, her lie utterly unconvincing.
Mo Xie naturally agreed to everything. Whatever Bi Xi asked for, even if she wanted his heart, he would unhesitatingly tear it out and offer it to her.
Thus, on moonless, starless nights, Mo Xie would hold a soft, fragrant waist, losing himself in ecstasy until, spent, he would murmur brokenly, "Bi Xi, Bi Xi... I will always treat you well, in this life and the next, only you, only ever you!"
Of course, the one he held in bed was never Bi Xi, but Hu Po.
"You can use him for extracting essence, absorb his yang energy to feed me, or yourself. In the end, you can even consume his tongue—it's highly spiritual."
At the very beginning, Bi Xi said this to Hu Po.
After a while, Bi Xi began to scold her: "Why won't you absorb from him? You've always been like this—soft-hearted and timid. How will you ever become clan leader?"
Later still, Bi Xi stopped scolding and would only sigh when she saw Hu Po.
"Do you like him?" Bi Xi would always ask, and Hu Po would always shake her head.
In truth, she understood that this question was one Bi Xi was also asking herself.
The overwhelmingly dominant Bi Xi had actually grown attached to the mortal world, developing feelings for a pure-hearted hunter—something she herself absolutely refused to admit.
And so the days flowed by. At night, held by Mo Xie, Hu Po began to feel something surging in her chest, bit by bit, accumulating until it demanded release.
Finally, one day, this pent-up emotion burst forth. In the dead of night, Hu Po learned to speak, blurting out: "I am Hu Po, not Bi Xi. I am Hu Po."
Her enunciation was still unclear, yet the first sentence she learned was to tell Mo Xie that the one he held was her, Hu Po, not Bi Xi.
In that moment, she realized she wasn't as willing as she thought—that she too had selfish desires and harbored resentment.
Her heart was base.
Bi Xi had sacrificed everything for the marten clan, while she was so selfish, resentful at being forced to remain Bi Xi's shadow.
Fortunately, Mo Xie was sound asleep then and only shifted slightly at her words.
From that moment on, Hu Po sealed her lips, vowing never to speak another word of human language.
If she couldn't control her heart, she could at least control her mouth—keeping the secret for herself and for Bi Xi, preserving her last shred of dignity.
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