Author's notes

Bai Fengjiu stays...

Dong Hua decides...

Xiao Lanhua meets...

Chapter 28 – Meeting Xiao Lanhua and Chang Heng

"You're right. Many do this because they seek out powerful demons to display as a trophy and status symbol. But, you are not a trophy to be displayed. I want to protect you, take care of you, and make sure no one hurts you. Therefore, it is better to keep your real power hidden. If you ever need to escape from them, they certainly won't send powerful demon masters after you because they will mistakenly think that you only have one tail."

She is surprised by his words and when she looks at his face she realizes the seriousness of the promise of protection and care.

Furthermore, she was not seen as a trophy by him and this consideration warmed her heart, making her smile shyly.

The fox summons its nine tails and, concentrating, merges them into just one, which becomes very fluffy, but without any indication that there are nine tails and not just one.

"Ready."

Then, he gives the order and the fox feels an invisible force in her that dissipates after exerting pressure on her tail, with the young woman feeling that it would be impossible to undo the technique even if she were unconscious and then receives another order to hide her true powers, giving rise to the same sensation as before with the difference that acted on his remaining powers.

It was a scary feeling, but she knew it was the best thing to do because her true abilities and powers must be hidden.

Then, Dong Hua extends some roasted fish to her and she takes them, thanking her, and then eats voraciously, with the demon master offering more food and after arranging a large pot on metal supports, he begins to prepare some soup afterwards to get some ingredients from a kind of backpack summoned through her powers, with the young woman observing that the smoke was assimilated by a small formation in the air, thus preventing smoke from accumulating inside the cave.

"What is your name?"

"Bai Fengjiu. And yours?"

"Dong Hua. Can I call her Xiao Bai?"

He asks the end with surprise on his face because the nickname came naturally from his lips and while questioning how this nickname came about, the man remembers a little about his dreams when he was young and that this nickname reverberated inside him despite him not seeing anything beyond a fog at the same time that it evoked a great feeling of longing and desire for reunion as if you had been waiting for someone your whole life.

Fengjiu hears the affectionate nickname and blushes while controlling her heartbeat, only to remember that when she was a child in her dreams, someone always called her Xiao Bai, but she was unable to identify the origin of the voice.

Recovering from the pleasant surprise, he timidly consents, making Dong Hua smile immensely.

A few hours later, sated and with their injuries stabilized while most were healed, especially the internal injuries thanks to Ningxue Wan, they both leave the cave when he undoes the barrier.

Instinctively, Bai cowers behind him as the other demon masters approach, causing them to marvel at his beautiful appearance while the notorious demon master speaks coldly, feeling irritated that they scared her with their unnecessary presence, "She made the master-slave contract with me." He shows her wrist after making a seal, leaving them stunned.

Then, one of them recovers and says, controlling his irritation as much as possible, "You are hungry. Why did you obliterate those demons? You should have let us capture them."

"That's right."

"Why did you destroy them?"

"Yes. I wanted to capture one of them. You know how hard scorpion demons are to find."

"You could have kept the fox while you left those for us."

When he was next to her, she asks after seeing the others move away with visible annoyance in their countenance and gestures, "Did you obliterate them?"

"Yes. They were talking about the right to capture you. I'm glad you managed to escape."

"Thank you. It was difficult to deal with them. I had to flee so that my flesh and fur wouldn't be devoured. You don't know, but, there are rumors among the demons that devouring the tails of a nine-tailed fox can unlock powers. It's a Absurd, isn't it? Unfortunately, there are demons who believe in this, although they are a minority. I made a mistake when I went to bathe and left my nine tails free. Foxes usually merge into just one tail because of this myth, especially those with nine tails. "

"Wait... Their eating was to devour meat?"

"Yes, why?"

"Anything."

'So they weren't perverts,' He comments in thought.

The notorious demon master notices that she continues to look questioningly until she sighs and says, "I thought they wanted to do bad things to you."

"What evil things?" She asks innocently.

"Rape her."

"What is rape?"

"Having forceful relations without the other's consent."

"Relations?"

"Intimate relations without your consent."

"Oh! I understand. You use strange words... well, I tried to stay hidden at night due to the absence of light."

"You're a demon. You have night vision." He comments with confusion on his face as he was confused by the abrupt change in the focus of the conversation.

"Yes. But, intimate relationships only occur when a man and a woman share the place where they sleep together with the light off. As long as the light is on, there are no problems, whereas it can be anywhere. If I want to have puppies, I must stay with someone and turn off the light for later, dawn and then, I will be pregnant as long as I am in my fertile period." The young girl speaks haughtily while smiling because she was pleased to show off her knowledge.

Dong Hua listens to everything in silence at the same time as he is stupefied because he never imagined that he would meet such an innocent young girl and while reflecting on her assumption for the attack on her, he questioned whether it was, in fact, to devour the tails or another desire how to rape her considering her degree of innocence that would make her hear the word eat without any malice.

The notorious demon master confessed that he found this innocence cute and that a possessive side of him had loved the fact that Fengjiu had never had another in his life.

Suddenly, she shrinks even more against him, holding her arm tightly, trying to get behind him, and then explaining shyly when she sees him raise his eyebrow, "I don't like the look on their faces."

The man notices that the others were watching her with longing eyes and when looking at the demoness again, Dong Hua notices that her clothes were a little torn and threatened to reveal part of the cleavage of her breasts and waist.

Then, overcome by an unprecedented fury that they dared to covet what was his, he turns back to the others and narrows his furious eyes as he throws his murderous intent at them who swallow hard, fearing for his life under the violent oppression of the notorious master of demons who speaks in an icy tone that sends more shivers down their spines, "How dare you covet her? Who do you think you are?"

He doesn't scream and just speaks normally, but the icy tone and murderous countenance is enough for the others to beg for mercy and after a cutting gesture from Dong Hua's hand, they try to run for their lives while the fox felt his heart sink warmed to see that the human had taken a protective stance as he stood in front of her while fending off the other demon masters.

Fengjiu assumes his true form then speaking, "I prefer to stay in my fox form. I don't want to see other looks like those."

"In that case, it's best to stay in this form considering the state of your clothes. When we arrive at the Demonic Platform I will provide new clothes so you can choose which one you want to wear. Furthermore, you can stay in whatever form you feel most comfortable with. However, In front of the Demonic Platform Leader, if he orders you to assume a human form, you must do so. You cannot disobey him."

She consents and then starts to walk beside him as they both walk away from the place, with the young demon looking back one last time, at the mountains in the distance before looking forward again.

Then, they retreat from the place and head towards the Northern Demonic Platform while the others grumbled in front of them after slowing down their escape after realizing that they were not going to die.

The demon masters showed their annoyance about having lost powerful demons because Dong Hua decided to eliminate them at the same time as they showed some happiness when they saw that it was an ordinary fox demon because it only had a tail as they saw the furry limb.

After all, they thought it was fair revenge for the one who deprived them of having slaves much more powerful than a simple fox that only had one tail.

Tens of kilometers away, more precisely on a mountain close to the Northern border, night falls and Xiao Lanhua builds her camp using magical items around her tent that could ward off weaker demons, as well as humans with bad intentions in addition to guaranteeing a more pleasant temperature despite the snow in its surroundings, at the same time as protecting it from possible snow precipitation.

She also used more formations to generate additional protection in the surroundings as she prepared to sleep after eating and putting out the fire afterwards.

However, strident sounds and the swaying of trees nearby alarm her and without containing her curiosity while concentrating her powers, the young woman leaves the camp and enters the forest in the direction of the demonic powers she felt, throwing any caution should be exercised.

Upon arriving at the location, he noticed that a clearing had been opened as a result of a fierce battle that had been fought moments ago.

By using a small light that she generated through a seal in the palm of her hand, the young woman manages to avoid obstacles such as fragments of trees and rocks, and then see three fallen demons with two of them around one in the center, with the evidence suggests that these two joined together to attack the one in the middle, with the latter managing to seriously injure his attackers while at the same time preparing new attacks upon realizing that his enemies were trying to get up while ignoring the state of their bodies upon seeing that he stood up slowly.

It was visible that despite its demonic power being low along with the fact that it displayed multiple wounds on its beautiful snow-white coat, which was dyed with a crimson liquid, this deer demon insisted on fighting hard to rise again.

The other two demons, who had the appearance of two large brown bears and who had started to try to get up, fell to the ground after failing to get up, and then their bodies became a cloud of dark dust that vanished into the air.

The beautiful male deer with imposing antlers that were half the size of its body, the same height as an elephant and that had managed to stand up momentarily using all its remaining strength, also falls intrepidly to the ground upon realizing that its opponents have died and the impact of his body against the ground raises a dense cloud of dust that then settles while the demon becomes unconscious while breathing with difficulty, in addition to the serious injuries on his body being visible, indicating that it was a brutal battle.

Even though she is afraid of ending up being impaled by the majestic and imposing antler, the doctor approaches and carefully performs the first treatments, and then concentrates the power of her hidden wrist, thus managing to lift it slightly and move it away towards her body camping.

After managing to partially carry him because part of her body was dragged due to his size, the young woman makes seals with her hands and precise movements with her fist to conjure a protective matrix around him before returning to treat him.

Some time later, Xiao Lanhua wipes the sweat on her face and falls on her butt when she finishes because he was too big and so she got tired.

Then, the demon master who was also a doctor walks away and wipes her pants, then makes sure that her barriers are in place before she enters the tent exhausted, ending up falling asleep after a few minutes.

A few hours later, the demon deer awakens with the smell of medicinal herbs reaching its nostrils, and then notices bandages on various parts of its body and then the barrier that surrounded the place where it was.

After analyzing it carefully, he is relieved to realize that he could break it if he wanted to.

Then, some odors reach his nose, with the deer improving his sense of smell, and then, looking around the place with his eyes, seeing a tent not far from him and as he concentrated on the smells, the demon realized that there was a human female inside and that she was alone because she couldn't smell other humans or demons.

However, her scent was permeated with the scent of herbs, with many being medicinal, which he was able to recognize at the same time as he detected that the source of the barrier's spiritual power came from that human, making him discern that it was a master of demons and who was also a doctor due to the fact that the formation of that barrier was reminiscent of what demon masters did as they were guided by Taoism and not the formations of monks who were slightly different due to what they learned in their studies.

This initial realization made him question why she treated him because demon masters were not trustworthy even though she was a doctor, too.

After all, it was common knowledge that they hated his race and made no discernment between them in condemning them all.

Then, the demon comes out of his thoughts when he remembers what happened and decides to get up so he can get away as soon as possible because he was being hunted by a master and demons and even though he killed two of his slaves, his hunter still had a third while he was aware that this human wanted to capture him due to his imposing size and powers.

Even knowing that she was a master of demons in the tent and not knowing the reason that led her to treat him, the deer mentally thanks the human because he felt a little refreshed after the treatment and quickly undoes the formation of the barrier and then , get away from there as soon as possible.

The break in her formation made her wake up abruptly, showing drowsiness on her face, meaning she did not immediately assimilate what had happened.

So, when she leaves her tent, she instinctively looks in the direction where she placed her patient and upon noticing the absence of the demon and at the same time seeing fresh blood indicating that the wounds have opened, the doctor opens her eyes wide and the remaining traces of sleep are promptly swept from his now fully awake mind.

Gathering her belongings as quickly as she can, Xiao Lanhua concentrates and uses her powers to ride the wind while watching the trail of blood, wanting to find it as soon as possible because her wounds were too serious for him to leave without releasing her.

Further on, when she goes down, the young woman realizes that her patient was struggling to face a master of demons and a large crimson serpent at the same time and whose body resembled that of a naja.