Chapter 222 · Extra Seven

6

Shortly after Asong was born, her father died in a hunt, and her mother remarried. Like other orphans in the tribe, she grew up in the old priest's courtyard.

Later, the high priest was defeated and injured in a tribal war, and soon passed away.

She thus became the high priestess of the Youshan tribe.

The Youshan tribe is not very large, but the tribe members are very united. At that time, Asong's wish was for all the tribe members to live a good life.

She spent many years realizing this wish, watching as the Youshan tribe became the largest tribe in the area, and its people became so powerful that they would never be bullied again, and her life gradually became peaceful.

Ah Song is a very curious person, and her peaceful life fills her with a desire to explore the outside world.

High priests of other tribes rarely leave their tribes, but she was different. She had the protection of her ancestors and could communicate with the creatures in the mountains and rivers, gaining their favor and having them guide her.

Once, she read in an ancient book that a group of phoenixes once lived in the mountains west of the tribe, and that the mountains were indeed home to many golden-leaved parasol trees that the phoenixes loved.

Although the phoenix has long since disappeared from the world, she still longs to visit the place where the phoenix once lived millions of years ago.

Because it was not far from the tribe, Asong only brought a few attendants with him.

Tree spirits guided them along the way, and they entered the mountain smoothly. There were many phoenix trees in the mountain, which she did not notice at first. These phoenix trees did not grow haphazardly. By the time she realized it, the group had already been separated.

Then the sycamore trees in the mountains began to respond to her call, telling her that she was very close to her destination.

Guided by them, Asong found the place where the Yuzhuo clan once lived, where an enormous sycamore tree grew, which looked to be at least tens of thousands of years old.

One half of the tree was intact, while the other half was covered with black burls. The sap from the burls had a foul odor mixed with a hint of sweetness.

Beneath the tree lay layers upon layers of bones, piled high enough that she could even spot human skulls among them. Clearly, this phoenix-beloved sycamore tree had mutated and begun to feed on flesh and blood.

The tree didn't attack her, probably because of her talent, and Asong didn't immediately have the idea of ​​fighting it to the death.

She slowly backed away, wanting to leave first before making any further plans.

Just then, she heard a very faint whimpering sound.

The sound was especially noticeable amidst the rustling of the leaves. She followed the sound, walking halfway around the sycamore tree, and finally found its source.

It was a little white fox, round and fluffy, its limbs tangled in branches, struggling desperately with all its might.

It seemed to sense her gaze, turned its head, and began to whimper at her.

This little fox is really beautiful, although Ah Song couldn't figure out why she would describe a fox as beautiful.

However, for the sake of this rare beauty that she found pleasing to the eye, she still took action and rescued the little fox from the phoenix tree.

He was also thinking about taking the little fox back to the tribe and keeping it with him.

The price she paid for doing this was that she was chased down three mountains by the enraged sycamore tree while carrying the little fox.

As he fled, Ah Song was puzzled. It was just a tiny fox. How long had the phoenix tree been starving to be so desperate for food?

After finally escaping the enemy's territory, Asong sat under a tree to rest, placed the little fox on the opposite rock, and said to it earnestly, "I went through a lot of trouble to save your life."

"Eek?" The little fox tilted its head.

"How old are you this year? Never mind, anyway, you're not young anymore. You should know how to be grateful, understand?" Asong tapped its nose.

"Mmm." The little fox stuck out its tongue and licked her fingertip.

"Since you have nowhere to go, come back to the tribe with me, and I'll take care of you from now on."

"...Waaah?"

"Then it's settled." Asong raised her palm, and it looked up at the bright smiling face in front of it. Hesitantly, it raised its paw and touched it to her.

Ah Song was still in a good mood after finding a beautiful little fox, despite having offended the sycamore tree.

Holding the little fox, she retraced her steps to find her lost attendants. Before she could find them, she heard rustling sounds, as if something was following her.

Asong slowed her pace. She took off her water pouch and flung the dark red liquid inside behind her. Several thick tree roots that had been hidden underground shot out like agile snakes.

The little fox in her arms stirred, and Asong roughly stuffed it upside down into her clothes, leaving only a section of its furry tail showing.

When the little fox finally managed to pop its head out, all that was left on the ground were charred, lifeless tree roots.

Ah Song rubbed the fur on its head, and its two fluffy ears drooped down, making it look even cuter.

Unfortunately, things weren't going well. The sycamore tree had probably set its sights on her, so Asong had no choice but to temporarily shift her attention away from the little fox and speed up her journey.

Soon, she found traces of several attendants halfway up the mountain.

She saw several people waving at her from afar, and as she walked halfway there, her pace slowed down until she stopped.

Seeing that she refused to go any further, the men roared angrily, their faces and bodies becoming increasingly distorted and elongated, with many black tumors growing on their bodies, just like the sycamore tree on the mountain.

They gathered together and eventually twisted into the shape of a tree trunk, resembling a clone of that sycamore tree.

Ah-Song was focused on dealing with the phoenix tree clone in front of her, unaware that the original phoenix tree on the mountain had silently appeared behind her at some point.

Just as the sycamore tree attacked her from behind, Ah Song felt a tremendous force that knocked her to the ground.

The little fox that was originally nestled in her arms, no bigger than two palms, suddenly grew larger, its fluffy tail splitting into nine, and with one paw, it slapped half of the sycamore tree trunk into the ground.

After getting rid of the annoying sycamore tree, Xi Jing shook its huge front paws in disgust, and its body shrank back to the size of a palm.

He turned around, squatted on the ground, his nine tails like bursting fluffy flowers, and looked up at Asong with bright eyes: "Eek."

Ah Song: ...

She had never seen such a shameless demon!

7

"Have you heard? The High Priest picked up a fox demon outside?"

"Of course, I saw him with my own eyes when the high priest brought him back. That fox demon was very handsome."

"The demon race is treacherous, cunning, and utterly wicked. Could the High Priest have been deceived?"

When Asong brought that shameless fox back to the tribe, the tribespeople's doubts about the demon race and their worries about her filled every corner.

The fox named Xijing didn't take their words to heart at all. He stayed at her house, acting as her savior.

However, even the high priest's savior has to work if he wants to eat in the tribe.

The tribe would organize teams to go hunting together. At first, no one wanted Xijing, who was a demon, to join, but he wasn't annoyed.

Later, the Lie brothers, who often came to help Asong with his work, gradually became acquainted with him and invited him to join their hunting party.

Unbeknownst to Asong, Xijing gradually began to integrate into the tribe. As he walked through the tribe, more and more people took the initiative to greet him, and even the children were no longer afraid of him.

He came to the Youshan tribe in the spring and did not leave until winter.

The winter was very cold that year. Although Asong was the high priestess, she could still fall ill. In previous years, she would always be sick for a few days in the winter, but this year was a little different.

While she was preparing herbs in the house, Xi Jing transformed into a large fox and encircled her.

His fur was smooth and warm, and his body radiated warmth. Asong leaned against him, and his whole body was enveloped in warmth.

After wrapping up the medicine for the day, Ah Song pushed away the few fluffy tails that were almost wrapped around her, and couldn't help but ask him, "How long are you going to stay here with me? Don't you need to go home?"

The lazy fox yawned, shifted its head, wanting to rest it on Asong's lap, but worried about crushing her, so it could only rub against her leg: "Single fox, homeless."

Ah Song couldn't resist reaching out and rubbing it, thinking: Okay, then I'll reluctantly continue to care for it.

That winter, several members of the tribe discovered a resource-rich underground cave.

Because they wanted to keep the resources there to themselves, they didn't tell anyone after they returned. Instead, they secretly called their family and went to the cave again.

It was three days later when someone told Asong that five families in the tribe had gone missing.

She used divination and the result was that the people were still alive, but the place they were in was extremely inauspicious.

There are many dangerous places around the tribe, and this one is not familiar to her. If she rashly sends people to rescue them, the missing people will be trapped, and the people who rescue them will also be in danger.

The best solution is for Ah Song to go there herself; at least she's confident she can get out unscathed.

Asong informed his clan of his decision and held a sacrificial ceremony before setting off to seek the blessings of his ancestors.

Time was tight, and she was busy preparing for the sacrificial ceremony, so she didn't notice that Xijing, who had been clinging to her, had disappeared.

That night, before the ceremony even began, someone told her that the missing members of her tribe had all returned.

Asong rushed over and indeed saw more than a dozen tribesmen who were unharmed. She walked through the crowd and at the back of the procession saw Xijing dragging a ferocious beast towards them.

His body was covered in blood, and there were several deep bloodstains on his face.

Seeing Asong running over, Xijing smiled at her and said, "Look, I caught a Qiongqi for you."

9

Xi Jing is a very difficult fox spirit to raise.

After getting injured, he refused to lie in bed and insisted on sticking to Ah Song's side.

She handed him the medicine she had prepared, and he suddenly clutched his chest and collapsed, his head resting on her lap. He groaned and looked at her longingly, saying, "My wound hurts so much, and I can't lift my hand."

Ah Song had no choice but to blow on the medicine to cool it down and feed it to him spoonful by spoonful, thinking to himself that the injury was clearly to his back.

In the third year of Xi Jing's stay in the You Shan tribe, one day he said to Asong, "My mother sent me a letter, and I may need to go back to see her."

Ah Song, wait for me to come back, shall we get married?

"good."

10

Asong hadn't slept in a long time. When she closed her eyes, all she could see were the corpses of her dead clansmen. She stood there helplessly.

Neither the Qishui tribe nor the Donglin tribe, which killed the previous high priest, survived. Part of the Wu tribe's heritage was stolen, and part was destroyed. In the end, the once vast Wu tribe was reduced to the barely surviving Youshan tribe.

She became the only high priestess of the witch clan.

For a time, she lived in constant fear that the witch clan would perish in her hands.

Fortunately, the people of the tribe are very strong.

A torrential downpour struck last night, as if the sky were collapsing. The world has probably lost another of the Five Realms. But this morning, the rain has stopped, and the sun is out.

She will become stronger.

11

Ah Song gave birth to two lovely girls, whose birth was completely unexpected.

One was very quiet and only knew how to sleep, while the other was a bit too lively and turned into a little fox after a somersault.

She nudged her younger sister, but when her sister didn't react, she stumbled towards Ah Song.

I once heard Xi Jing say that the purer a demon's bloodline, the more precocious it is. He was able to remember what his mother had said when he was born.

Ah Song stared at the little fox for a long time before finally avoiding her touch.

Wu Yang took the two children away, and she never saw them again after that day.

Ah Song once thought that even if she gave birth to them, as long as she never saw them again, it wouldn't have any impact on her. But it wasn't that simple. Their images were as if they were engraved in her heart, often appearing before her eyes.

She wondered, would they be able to adapt to life among the demons? Would they have enough to eat and wear? Would they be bullied? Would they like the toys she made?

She kept thinking about it to herself, taking the finished toy out of the box and putting it back in, without letting anyone see it, and never telling anyone about her worries.

One day, she and her two children would get used to and accept life without each other, but fate was not so kind.

When she learned that Xi Jing was cursed, and that the curse was affecting his bloodline, she felt nothing but absurdity.

Why is it that her child is destined to meet a tragic end?

She went to see Xi Jing, who said that the curse could not be lifted. A Song did not believe it, saying that there was no curse that could not be lifted in this world, only the price that one was unwilling to pay.

It doesn't matter that there are no records of breaking the curse in the ancient books left by her ancestors; she can study them herself.

Ah Song spent many years, failed many times, and paid a heavy price before finally seizing that glimmer of hope.

After Asong learned how to open the Path of the Underworld, he went in alone many times, and each time he came out, he lost some of his memories.

She had forgotten many things, and could hardly remember what the two children looked like anymore. The wood carvings she had made herself were becoming more and more unfamiliar.

She couldn't wait any longer.

The weather was fine on the day the formation was completed. Asong stood in the formation, watching the people gradually approach.

She knew his name was Xi Jing, and that they had two children. They were standing there to save their children's lives.

Ah Song thinks Xi Jing is very beautiful; she used to have such good taste.

But why did they break up later?

Why didn't her children grow up by her side?

Ah Song can't remember anymore.

All she knew was that she had to activate this formation, and that Xi Jing had come to help her.

She activated the formation, and blue flames emerged from it. These flames did not burn her; instead, they entangled Xijing.

Asong watched as he transformed into a giant nine-tailed fox, flames spreading across his body. He did not struggle, but simply lay quietly in the formation, watching her, until the flames completely engulfed him and dragged his remains into the ground.

Thunder rumbled, the sky turned black, and the Netherworld was once again forcibly opened by her. It was probably furious that such a tiny creature dared to force it to make a deal.

However, the formation was already complete, the offerings had been made, and the transaction could not be stopped.

Ah Song smiled and looked up at the sky. Although she didn't know why she felt happy, she was sure something good must have happened.

A bolt of lightning suddenly struck down from the sky, landing on Asong, then a second, a third…

When the thunder subsided and a gentle breeze blew, only a black trace remained in the formation, which dissipated with a gust of wind.

12

Legend has it that after a living being falls into the underworld, it will be judged for the sins it committed in its previous life, go to the underworld hell to atone for its sins, and finally have its memories wiped away before falling back into the human world.

Unlike Xi Jing, after he entered the underworld, there was always a lamp by his side, guiding him through one hell after another.

Until he passed through the last hell, located at the very bottom of the underworld.

Xi Jing was too tired to walk any further.

He lay on the ground, held the extinguished lamp close to his chest, and closed his eyes.

He thought that he and Ah Song probably wouldn't have an afterlife, but that didn't matter, as long as Ah Song stayed with him, that was enough.

[Author's Note]

This concludes the main story and extra chapters. Thank you for your subscriptions and donations. See you in the next book!

A bonus chapter titled "IF Xijing is still alive" will be updated one week later.