"You are out of your ever-loving mind!" Mimi stomps away from her eldest sister, her tails swaying angrily behind her.
The Golden Phoenix jumps in front of Mimi and matches her speed as the cultivators around them watch with interest.
"Look, if we do it this way, we could get rid of this for good. Just hear me out," Qiaolian begs, swishing her tails beseechingly.
"You have two minutes to convince me this stupid plan would actually work," Mimi growls, staring down at the maps of the underground tunnels of Cloud Recesses.
"If we use blood to fill the tunnels, then it would chase the creatures out," Qiaolian says, sitting upon the table with the map.
"Cultivators are quite sensitive to mentioning blood spells, so I would be careful what you say," Mimi says, "You have one minute."
"I am not saying we use any old blood," Qiaolian says, "I am saying we use our blood."
"Our blood is too powerful," Mimi hisses back, "Even if it did work to chase out the remaining nag in the tunnels, who is to say that it wouldn't attract every spirit within a ten-mile radius?"
"But that is why Cloud Recesses has barriers," Qiaolian grins gleefully as Mimi fumes.
"But we have already seen that the sick nag get through the barriers," Mimi says, flummoxed as she stares at the map.
"But," Qiaolian says conspiratorially, "what if, the reason behind that is not because my darling sister's barriers do not work is because they already inside."
"What do you mean by that?" the clan leader says as he regally moves toward them, flanked by his brother and Master Wei.
"We came as soon as we could," Master Wei whispers to Mimi, "Lord Qiren is not well."
"I have an answer to that too," Qiaolian grins at her new audience, her tails gaining quite a bit of attention from the cultivators.
"Start with the barriers, Qiaolian," Mimi smiles as the clan leader touches her shoulder in greeting.
"How is your uncle?" Mimi whispers to him.
"I didn't want to believe you," he says sadly, "but I think your right."
"Poison," Qiaolian quirks her eyebrows at the clan leader, her tails bobbing excitedly.
Lan Zhan puts a hand to his sword, but Master Wei puts a hand on his arm to make him relax.
"Your water supply has been possessed," Qiaolian looks intrigued at the idea of fighting the legendary cultivator but chooses to continue, "I believe this is interconnected with the defeat of the water demon by my heroic sister."
The clan leader smiles at Mimi proudly before adding, "But when a purification of a demon has been performed, it should have purified the water."
"But what if the purification is performed by a spirit?" Qiaolian's tails flutter excitedly.
Qiaolian pats her sister's hands with her own claws, "But I am saying from personal experience that when spirits collide in hand to hand combat that it leaves a mark whether we want it to or not."
Mimi is pulled to sit on to the table with Qiaolian, her tails entwining with those of her sisters, "I am sure gentleman that as cultivators you have dealt with demons before. Other than that, of your water demon."
Both the clan leader and Lan Zhan look at Wei Wuxian, who is polishing his blade.
"Wei Wuxian," Qiaolian hops off the table, and the clan leader quickly takes her place beside Mimi, her tails gently caressing him as he watches them in fascination.
"Just pay them no mind," Mimi whispers, waving her hand to disperse her tails as she watches Qiaolian trundle over to the black-cloaked cultivator.
"As the Yiling Patriarch, you were often possessed by such spirits and dealt with demons regularly, correct?" Qiaolian looms over the cultivator, her eyes large and bright.
Bemused by such enthusiasm, Master Wei sheathes his sword, "Yes, but my memories of those days are hazy at best. I don't remember very much after being reincarnated."
At the word reincarnation, Mimi's tails wrap around the clan leader possessively, and Mimi once again waves them away, and they unwillingly release him.
"Sorry," Mimi whispers to him as his attention is torn heavily between the Lady Feng and Mimi's tails, "they like you."
"Exactly," Qiaolian says sympathetically, "You were poisoned by spending so much time with spirits. Usually, cultivators don't notice this until they are in their later years. The marks of fighting spirits leave traces. It makes them smell funny. But you smell very weird. Not quite human."
"Reincarnation. Blood ritual. This is not his original body," Lan Zhan says, gently brushing his cultivation partner's hair out of his face.
Mimi makes a mental note to tell Daiyu to collect her coins. As Qiaolian pouts, before she rebounds, "That is fascination, could have sworn you were one of us but were self-conscious about your tails."
Mimi puts her hand over her face before she interrupts, "What my sister is trying to get at in her roundabout way is that when my sister and I collided with the water demon, we left traces. My sister is convinced that this is causing the surge of madness in the nag and poisoning people. One spirit essence is difficult to deal with, but it becomes a weird hybrid when two or three intermingle. She wants to override this by combining our blood and using it to force the nag from the tunnels. But you haven't explained why our barriers are not working."
Mimi's tails coil around the clan leader's hair experimentally, as he gives her a look, "I had a feeling you didn't do it by yourself."
"It was kind of a large project," Mimi defends as he wraps an arm around her.
Annoyed, Mimi gathers her tails and puts them in her lap like a disgruntled house cat. Lan Xichen puts a hand on hers understandingly, and her tails swarm the hand excitedly.
"The reason for this is that they are already within the barrier," Qiaolian repeats excitedly.
"If you look at the maps, you will see that Cloud Recesses is built on top of the original Cloud Recesses, but after studying your history, you will see that Cloud Recesses has been rebuilt many times. Clan leader, are you aware that it has been rebuilt four times? The original founder of your sect was a good man but clumsy. He could not hold his drink and tripped over . . ."
"Qiaolian," Mimi warns at the same time the clan leader murmurs, "You knew our founder?"
"Why do you think no alcohol is one of the top forbidden rules of the Gusu clan?" Qiaolian grins delightedly.
"Wait, are you saying the original founder couldn't hold his liquor, either?" Master Wei grins like all of his birthdays and Christmases had come all at once.
"Cub, I could tell you stories," Qiaolian declares to Master Wei, before turning to the clan leader, "Fox spirits are practically immortal. And you thought you were getting a young colt when in reality, it is you who are the young stallion."
Growling and face going red, Mimi fires a ball of foxfire at her sister. The latter nimbly dodges it, "But as I was saying, clan leader, I believe that the traditional barrier of Cloud Recesses has not been changed since your founder, so it is continuing to penetrate the layers around the original Cloud Recesses. So, the nag aren't outside the barrier. They are already in it."
"That would make sense. Lady Feng, I have so many questions about our founder. But first, I would like to seek your advice on our particular situation," the clan leader says, looking at Mimi with concern as her tails try to cover him protectively, specifically his face.
Bundling up her tails, Mimi excuses herself politely and trying not to look as if she is hurrying goes into the woods. When she is far enough away, she shifts into her fox form and darts up a tree to lay on one of the branches. She lays there for nearly fifteen minutes before her sister's massive form bursts into the clearing before hopping into the tree herself.
Barking angrily at her sister, Mimi coils herself into a ball. Mimi could practically feel the apology wafting off her sister as the elder fox spirit licks her ears and nuzzles her face with her own. Mimi growls at her before finally accepting her apology. As Mimi is about to descend. Qiaolian grabs her by the scruff of the neck like a cub. Happily hopping from the tree and trots back in the way she had come. Disliking this form of manhandling, Mimi barks with annoyance and wriggles this way and that trying to free herself. Until the clan leader worriedly came into view. Wagging her tails merrily, Qiaolian places her sister in the clan leader's arms. Mimi now realizes her sister is playing fetch.
"Thank you, Lady Feng," the clan leader bows and holds her close.
Qiaolian barks merrily and wanders back towards Cloud Recesses. The clan leader picks his way out of the woods until they return to the now vacant planning area.
He settles back on the table and looks down on her worriedly, "Are you alright? Did your sister embarrass you?"
"I know that . . . I am older if that is troublesome to you," Lan Xichen begins, and Mimi uses one of her tails to playfully smack against his nose.
Hopping on to the table, Mimi quickly goes behind him and shifts so that he doesn't see, "I think I should be apologizing, my sister likes to tease me about our relationship, and I let it get under my skin. And my tails are being disagreeable. I just needed to get some air. I am fine now."
Seeing this is still bothering him, Mimi swings her legs around to sit next to him. "Qiaolian is nearly six hundred years old. How old do I look to you, clan leader?"
"It is impolite to speculate on a woman's age," the clan leader says wisely.
But as Mimi stares expectantly, he confesses, "but I would say you are thirty. A woman of such ageless beauty as yourself could also look 25. I am older than you, and that may make you uncomfortable."
Biting her lip to contain her laughter at his nervous babbling, Mimi puts her hand on his, stilling him.
"Physically, yes. You would be correct," Mimi says evenly, watching him steadily, "but you misunderstood my sister's amusement."
He stares at her, confused, and Mimi realizes she will have to say it. Cheeks flushing, she says evenly, "My sister is implying that by courting you as I have, that I am . . . robbing the cradle so to speak. I am young, by fox spirit standards."
She feels him lightly trace his fingers over her shoulders before tugging her close, "How young are you by fox spirit standards then?"
Mimi mumbles the number quietly.
"I don't believe I heard that," he says apologetically.
"I am two hundred and seventeen," Mimi turns to look at him and begins to lightly chuckle, her tails fluffing out playfully and stroking his cheek.
"I have heard stories of men seduced by fox spirits and finding women of more . . . mature age, in their beds come the following morning," he confesses as her tails once again play with his hair.
"Most stories written about fox spirits are false," Mimi stretches, "and you have woken up with me in your bed."
"I know. I made sure to read your annotations," Lan Xichen wraps an arm around her waist and draws her close.
"I have a theory about those particular tales," Mimi strokes her tails, "I think they were written by men who found themselves susceptible to the charms of older women and were ashamed of their baser urges in the morning. Naturally, they would blame the woman with the tails."
Realizing that perhaps she had overstepped her boundaries, Mimi faces the clan leader, but his expression is thoughtful as her tails wrap around him comfortingly.
"We so rarely see a woman's perspective in these matters. I think that that would be an accurate analysis," he says finally.
They sit together for a moment in comfortable silence before he speaks again, "Could you tell me why your tails are behaving in this manner?"
"They like you and are making up for lost time," Mimi responds with a smile.
"I can't believe you told Daiyu that Master Wei is not a fox spirit. I owed her thirty pieces of gold," Qiaolian hisses at her as they descend into the tunnels, covering the front of the tunnel in their combined blood from a bucket that Mimi carries.
"To be fair, you told the clan leader that he was a young stallion to my apparent decrepit cemetery fodder," Mimi growls back.
"Fine," Qiaolian agrees as they step quickly into the tunnels.
As they go, Mimi mutters the incantations to bless the water supply, over and over, until her breath is staggered.
"This is a disgusting plan," Mimi complains as they slather more of their blood as they get deeper into the tunnels.
"This will work," Qiaolian promises until Mimi sees several pairs of red eyes staring at them from the shadows.
"Alright, let's go!" Qiaolian dumps the remaining blood over the top of the nags, shifts into her fox form, and bolts.
"Some plan," Mimi shifts and runs after her sister.
The two fox spirits are quick as they dash in and out of the shadows—the nag following close behind, driven mad by the smell of their blood. The entrance is ahead but blocked by several nags with bloodshot eyes. The two fox spirits slip into the shadows and appear outside the tunnels. Furious the nags continue their pursuit, Mimi counts nearly a hundred as she looks back. The closer they got, Mimi's heart thudded more heavily in her chest. Hating where she led them. A series of clicking noises fill the air, and both Qiaolian and Mimi dive into a respective shadow before the large net falls upon them. Mimi appears from the shadows by the clan leader's side. Qiaolian appears in the trees above the net. At her signal, the hidden jorogumo within the trees fire at the remaining nag, the nag remove axes and daggers from their belts and throw them spitefully at their old foe.
Suddenly a spear appears out of nowhere aimed directly for Master Wei. Lan Zhan immediately blocks the blow sending the spear spiraling into the air. Momentarily distracted, Mimi is caught off guard by a wild nag that had not been caught in the net. It rakes its claws across her back. Blood gets in her eyes and momentarily blinds her; it happens so quickly that she does not see the spear coming her way. Mameki darts in front of it and takes the blow. Mimi cries shrilly as the battle goes on around her.
"Mameki protect eldest cub!"
"But you're a spirit! You can't die!"
The spirit licks her face as Mimi grabs its hand, willing spiritual power into it.
"Qiaolian!" she calls desperately, unable to see the other fox spirit through the carnage.
"Do not worry."
Mimi looks down in surprise and sees that she is holding a human hand.
"Surprise," Ying chuckles, blood coating her lips.
"Ohh, no, you have so much explaining to do. You can't die yet! Qiaolian!"
"Allow me this, eldest cub. Mimi," Ying gently strokes Mimi's cheek catching her tears.
Qiaolian finally reaches the fox spirits and stares blankly at Ying before pumping her with spiritual energy, "I knew there was something foxish about you! Damn parasol. No wonder you've been hiding!"
"Sorry, Ying, I think you are far too selfish to go to die alone," Mimi shares a glance with Qiaolian, who nods sharply in agreement.
"You are a part of the Feng clan after all," Qiaolian grins, and Ying's smile drops, glaring at the Golden Phoenix.
"If you don't let me die, I will haunt you for the end of your days," Ying growls at her eldest sister.
"I'll take my chances," Qiaolian continues siphoning energy into the fox spirit, healing her wounds from the inside out, "Besides, that position is already filled by my loving wife."