When they left Ziyuan Weaver’s Manor, an enormous moon had already risen from the Spirit River shore. Under the silver radiance, the water vapor was like gauze, shrouding the Three Lives Stone.
Weaver Ziyuan’s cry of alarm from earlier still rang in their ears: “This young celestial deity is so bold! He actually dared to steal Jiguang feathers from the Heavenly Palace stables!”
Fucang himself also felt that this deed was truly too bold. Even now he felt lingering fear. From childhood to adulthood, he had always been law-abiding and observant of propriety—partly because of his naturally indolent nature, partly because of his family traditions. Even if his head were cracked open, he could never have imagined that one day he could do such a terrible thing. If Tian Di and his father learned that he had stolen the extremely precious feathers of the Jiguang beast, who knew how the matter would end.
The light gauze-like mist drifted past his clothes. His sleeve felt so heavy. Unable to resist, he looked down once more. The dragon princess was like a piece of sticky taffy, clinging tightly to one of his sleeves. His clothes had been pulled halfway off.
“…Sit properly.” Fucang straightened his clothes and pulled back his sleeve. The next moment, she grabbed it again and wouldn’t let go, while also letting out a yawn.
“I’m tired.” Xuan Yi spoke lazily.
Fucang tried to pull back his sleeve several times in succession, but she refused to let go no matter what. He pressed his lips together, then suddenly grabbed her by the back collar. Xuan Yi only felt as if she were riding clouds and mounting mist before she landed on his back.
“Sleep then, don’t make trouble.” With a tap of his finger on the rattan chair, the chair transformed into a leaf with a “poof” and was tucked into his sleeve.
Her neck tightened as her two arms clung tightly to him, her cool and soft cheek almost pressed against his ear, her voice thin: “Senior Brother Fucang, how did you steal the Jiguang feathers?”
Fucang tilted his head, avoiding her unrestrained intimacy: “Why ask so much?”
How could Xuan Yi let him off? She twisted about like a pretzel: “There’s nothing else to do anyway. Tell me about it.”
Nothing to do? She was the one who said she was tired. Was this her way of being tired? Fucang didn’t want to pay attention to her, but she pestered him relentlessly. If he used forceful methods to make her shut up like before, he somehow couldn’t bring himself to do it.
He suddenly whistled. The Nine-Headed Lion that had been dozing in the sea of clouds immediately came running down joyfully. Fucang gently tossed Xuan Yi onto the lion’s back, saying flatly: “Sleep.”
She turned over but still grabbed his sleeve, her fingertips holding just a little bit, scratching the dark pattern on the cuff with her fingernails as if tickling it. The colorful dress was spread haphazardly across the lion’s back. She lay in complete disarray, making the waist bound by the jet-black belt appear even more slender as a willow. Her fluffy long hair tangled together with the lion’s mane. She brushed it aside twice with her hand, then continued concentrating intently on picking at the dark silver thread embroidery on his cuff.
Fucang felt as if her slender fingernail tips were picking at his very heart—painful with an intense itching mixed in.
As if making a final struggle, he slowly pulled back his sleeve. The next moment, her fingers once again wrapped around him like soft vines, persistently and relentlessly.
Fucang felt as if his entire body was also being entangled. She seemed to be pulling him downward, yet he couldn’t refuse—he actually couldn’t refuse.
He stood stunned for a long time. When he lowered his head to look again, Xuan Yi had already curled up into a ball on the lion’s back and fallen asleep, her hair covering half her face, revealing half of her lips. He couldn’t help but reach out wanting to touch them, but his innate cautiousness made him draw his hand back.
In the end, he only patted the lion’s back. Little Nine soared up on the wind and plunged into the sea of clouds.
*
On the second day of the second month, when the dragon raises its head, the Fifth Princess of the Celestial Fox Clan was formally married. By the time Fucang and Xuan Yi arrived at the Southern Wasteland, the grand wedding banquet had already continued for two days. The Celestial Fox Emperor probably wanted to compete in grandeur with the imperial daughter’s wedding banquet from years past. Divine visitors came whether they had invitations or not—all were welcomed. Wine and delicacies flowed like water, laid out from the top of Qingqiu Mountain to its foot. Heavenly music played continuously. Enchanting male and female foxes danced gracefully. At this rate, the banquet could probably continue for another ten days without problem.
Xuan Yi floated up the mountain along the spacious white stone steps. Along the way, celestial fox clan deities wearing white robes and possessing peach blossom eyes frequently smiled and offered her a piece of fruit. Before she had even reached halfway up the mountain, the fruits in her arms were so numerous they kept falling.
She turned her head in puzzlement to look at Fucang, only to discover that he had been blocked at the foot of the mountain by a group of celestial fox clan goddesses. Fruits like oranges, pears, and peaches had piled up to his calves. He was still maintaining some sort of Huaxu Clan code of etiquette, speaking to the goddesses with an expressionless face.
Xuan Yi floated over with a smile, only to hear him asking: “May I ask where the Ninth Princess is?”
A celestial fox clan goddess covered her mouth and laughed coquettishly: “Celestial Deity Fucang has also taken a fancy to our Ninth Princess. If the Emperor knew, he would surely be delighted.”
Fucang said flatly: “I have come this time to ask a favor of the Ninth Princess. Since I have never met her before and do not know what the Ninth Princess looks like, I must ask the goddesses for guidance.”
The goddesses’ train of thought was clearly not on the same track as his. They exclaimed one after another: “You’ve never even met her yet you’re already smitten with our Ninth Princess! Celestial Deity Fucang is so bashful and passionate!”
Xuan Yi felt he had probably reached the limit of his patience. Although it was also amusing to watch him speak coldly to them, what if he angered the celestial fox clan goddesses and they were thrown out?
She called out softly: “Senior Brother Fucang!” Standing proudly on the steps, she only beckoned to him but didn’t go over.
The celestial fox clan goddesses looked her up and down. Seeing her fresh and beautiful appearance, they felt somewhat disheartened. There were also those gentle and passionate ones who whispered in Fucang’s ear: “The Ninth Princess was born with nine tails and profound divine power. When Celestial Deity Fucang sees which goddess has nine tails behind her, that will be the Ninth Princess.”
Fucang quickly stepped out from the pile of fruit, gripped the armrest of the rattan chair, and pulled Xuan Yi up the mountain. Seeing that she was about to throw away the fruits in her arms, he shook his head and said in a low voice: “Don’t throw them. This is the Celestial Fox Clan’s custom. When they see someone pleasing to the eye, they give fruit. Throwing them away would be extremely rude.”
No wonder Weaver Ziyuan said the Celestial Fox Clan admired beauty—this was how they admired it.
Xuan Yi carefully shifted the fruits in her arms. Seeing that celestial fox clan goddesses kept coming face-to-face with them, blushing as they stuffed various fruits into Fucang’s arms, in no time he was holding half an armful. She laughed with a “chi” sound: “This trip was worth it. Senior Brother Fucang is quite popular.”
Fucang ignored her, looking around and carefully searching for that Ninth Princess with nine tails. Suddenly he saw an enormous Bi Xi at the mountain top, carrying on its back a jet-black stone tablet. The characters on it flickered with lustrous white light that flowed. This should be the heavenly book that the Celestial Fox Clan had preserved since ancient times.
There were many similar stone tablet heavenly books scattered throughout the four wilds and eight wastelands, all recording various important matters of the divine realm from countless generations ago. Qing Di was very interested in these and had once specifically spent a thousand years transcribing the stone tablets from various places. Only the Celestial Fox and Tuxiang Mountain clans normally did not communicate with the outside world, so he had never been able to transcribe the heavenly books preserved by these two clans.
Today the Celestial Fox Emperor was marrying off his daughter and had opened the mountain gates wide. Having this opportunity, Fucang didn’t want to give it up. He immediately pulled Xuan Yi to the mountain top and stood before the tablet silently observing.
Xuan Yi peeled an orange. While eating, she asked: “What is this?”
“Heavenly book.” His answer was extremely concise.
Xuan Yi moved closer to look together, then suddenly said: “How do you know so many things? Will I know them when I’m older too?”
Fucang immediately felt the characters on the stone tablet blur into chaos. This was the third time. With this rude way of speaking, if he didn’t suppress her for a while, she must be terribly itching for a beating.
He was about to reprimand her with a cold face when suddenly a mountain wind blew past, bringing with it a rich and fragrant wine aroma. The unrestrained Celestial Fox Clan’s wine for entertaining guests was all Supreme Ever-Flowing Wine. As expected, Xuan Yi’s sneezes rang out one after another. The fruits in her arms rolled all over the ground. In the end, she had no choice but to cover her face forcefully with her sleeve.