Fox Sister

“Yes, it was me.”

The admission from my younger brother’s mouth was calm.

His voice was so peaceful it made my spine chill instead.

The smile on Third Brother’s face felt like an empty mask,

and whatever was hidden behind it I couldn’t even dare to imagine.

“But still, Sister. Isn’t that a bit too cold of you towards a long-lost sibling?”

With a sly tone,

Third Brother slowly approached me as if playing a childhood prank.

Though his steps seemed casual, a chilling aura spread with every footfall.

The moment I tensed all my senses, I felt that icy presence beneath my feet.

Without hesitation, I leapt to the side.

Where I had just been standing, thick tree roots burst through the dirt and grotesquely shot up.

It was a hair-raising moment where even the wind brushing against my skin felt sharp.

“Still quick on the uptake, I see, Sister.”

Third Brother chuckled lightly as he brushed off dirt from his clothes.

Though his laughter seemed light-hearted,

a warped mockery could be seen within.

“So, you ran away so cruelly back then too, didn’t you?”

In his voice mingled a sinister mockery and an old grudge.

Soon after, Third Brother slowly pulled out a worn, crumpled piece of paper from his pocket.

The energy emanating from that paper wasn’t ordinary.

A fiery, ominous energy that burned like blood-red flames distorted the surrounding air.

“A curse written in human blood…?”

A sticky sensation sent shivers running up my skin.

“Why would you meddle with such unholy things?!”

Before I knew it, an agitated shout escaped my lips.

But the reaction was unexpected.

Third Brother laughed even brighter at my outcry.

Madness lingered in his pupils.

“For the greater good, Sister.”

That short phrase was unsettlingly calm.

To package this horrifying slaughter under the name of “greater good”—

Disgust surged along with a strong impulse to stop my brother before it was too late.

The purity in his eyes had long vanished.

I threw the vial with all my might.

As white liquid scattered, sharp thorn bushes violently sprouted.

But when the thorns reached Third Brother,

they were enveloped in an eerie blue flame and disappeared without a trace.

It was no ordinary flame.

Cold, sticky, and eerily draining all life force.

“Sister, does it feel good to have survived alone while abandoning everyone else?”

Third Brother’s voice was ice-cold.

His piercing question stabbed my heart like a spear.

Buried memories resurfaced.

“How dare you slander your own sister!”

Father’s cold rejection I couldn’t trust.

The accusing glares etched into my chest like crimson ink.

And… the blood-streaked smile of my younger sister under moonlight.

That night’s horrific memory revived like a hallucination.

Seeing her devouring animal innards while covered in blood—

I froze in terror and fled.

Third Brother’s words weren’t mere resentment.

They were sharp blades forged from years of anger and betrayal.

His gaze precisely targeted my deepest wounds.

I clenched my lips tightly.

Yes, I ran away. I turned my back and abandoned them all.

But I couldn’t stay trapped in regrets forever.

What stood before me now

wasn’t just a sibling reproaching past wounds.

The monks’ blood-soaked corpses,

the nauseating energy seeping from them—

If I run away again this time,

something truly irredeemable will happen.

I tightly clenched my fist.

While I don’t know if I can wash away sins of the past,

what needs to be done here and now is crystal clear.

“What does this atrocious massacre have to do with anything?!”

I shouted in rage.

The sight of my brother stepping on monks’ bodies while wearing a hideous grin—

he’d gone mad.

Third Brother paused his movements for a moment.

His gaze shone like a snake eye sizing up its prey.

Then he began spilling an unexpected story.

“Do you know, Sister…”

His voice was gentle,

yet carried an unfathomable darkness.

“The three of us—me, Second Sister, and you… we were sacrifices.”

Sacrifices.

That word pierced my ears, freezing my entire body.

What followed was even more shocking.

“Father… Father made a deal with the immortal Yo Ho to enrich himself.”

Third Brother continued calmly.

As if telling someone else’s story, his voice remained cold and tranquil.

“Father said…

Yo Ho needed a new body.

He promised eternal wealth in exchange for our three children.”

An unbelievable tale.

My mind went blank.

“Father… surely Father didn’t really…”

Disgust mixed with despair weighed heavily on me.

But Third Brother’s story didn’t stop.

“When pigs and cattle died, it would be our turn next.

Sister would eat us one by one,

then Yo Ho would resurrect using Sister’s body.”

When ‘Sister’ came out of Third Brother’s mouth,

that night’s horrifying scene returned.

The vivid image of her tearing apart animal livers under moonlight twisted something deep inside me.

“Because Sister ran away that day,

all Father’s plans fell apart.”

Third Brother’s voice carried both resentment and strange satisfaction.

I froze in place.

Unbelievable truths swirled like a storm.

A dizzying numbness like the ground collapsing beneath my feet,

and everything around me started distorting.

Father, Yo Ho, sacrifices…

Third Brother’s words stabbed my heart like a blade.

Approaching the dazed me, he extended his hand.

“Come with me, Sister.”

His voice was soft and sweet,

but unmistakably tainted with evil intent.

Like tempting poison, a dangerous allure.

“We’ll reshape this rotten world

with our own hands.”

As his hand got closer,

sticky chills wrapped around my entire body.

It felt like being caught in an inescapable spider web.

At that moment, Master’s voice echoed in my confused mind.

“A Taoist isn’t a special person.

One who follows Heaven’s will and widely benefits humanity—that’s what it means.”

That firm teaching clearly showed me which path to choose now.

The new world Third Brother spoke of

would ultimately be built on the blood of the powerless.

I rejected his hand with disgust.

“Does that mean you want to spill innocent people’s blood?!”

My voice carried both anger and deep sorrow.

The scattered monks’ corpses before my eyes,

and my brother’s madness that would create even more victims filled me with unbearable revulsion.

Third Brother sneered and tilted his head.

His laughter echoed eerily.

“Sister always pretends to be righteous.

But you’ll run away again, won’t you?”

His words once again dug into my guilt.

But this time, I resolved not to flee.

Taking a deep breath, I hurled the red vial at Third Brother without hesitation.

With a loud crash, the vial shattered,

and fierce flames erupted as the red liquid splattered.

The flames spread wildly,

and though Third Brother quickly dodged,

his robe’s edge caught fire despite his efforts.

“AAAAHHH!!!”

Third Brother’s pain-filled scream tore through the night.

Twisting in agony on the ground,

the heat from the burning flames reached my skin.

When the flames finally subsided, Third Brother slowly rose.

His robe was torn to shreds,

revealing charred, dark red flesh that looked horrifying.

His face twisted with pain and anger.

“So, you really intend to fight me to the death, huh?”

Though his voice cracked,

it carried a laughter tinged with madness.

His warped smile grew darker with murderous intent.

“Fine, Sister. Let’s properly kill each other!”

Breathing heavily, Third Brother pulled out a small flask from his bosom.

The energy emanating from it froze me instinctively.

It was unlike anything I’ve faced before—an overwhelming evil presence.

A bone-chilling sensation swept through me like a cold wind,

as if freezing to the marrow.

“What is that…?!”

Third Brother smirked mockingly as he looked at the flask,

then drank its contents in one gulp.

The next moment, Third Brother’s form grotesquely distorted.

Bloodshot eyes,

pale skin devoid of color,

and the shadow stretching behind him wasn’t human.

Against the overwhelming evil qi surging forth, my spirit eye opened involuntarily.

Murky, wicked miasma swirled around Third Brother like living demons.

The heavy pressure squeezing my heart,

the pungent stench assaulting my nose, and cursed energies intertwined.

Clenching a talisman in his fist, Third Brother darted forward like lightning.

The bluish flames crackling on his rapidly approaching fist were both icy cold yet fiercely consuming like ghost fire.

I hastily pulled out a protective talisman from my robes.

A deafening roar shook my ears.

The explosive shockwave turned the world white before my eyes.

“Guh…!”

I couldn’t even gasp in pain from the relentless assault.

The protective talisman shattered helplessly,

and I floated into the air like a rag doll.

The excruciating pain paralyzed my entire back,

and my vision spun.

The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth.

My vision blurred,

and all sensations dulled.

Third Brother slowly approached.

“Sister, it’s almost over.”

His voice was gentle,

but the madness and coldness concealed within made my whole body tremble.

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