The Tale Never Ends

The figure of the half-woman, half-fox shimmered and when I just blinked my eyes, she was gone and the Shiyan Blade missed its mark! Her voice intoned from behind me suddenly, “You’re fast!” I swiveled to my back immediately and stabbed in the direction of her voice!

A fierce clang resounded as the Shiyan Blade gnashed against the ice sword the demoness had conjured in the nick of time to defend herself, albeit rather hurriedly as if she did not expect me to be able to attack her with such swiftness. But I too felt it myself. My speed and my strength were growing beyond the usual limits of humans since my miraculous recovery moments ago.

The belligerent demoness swung her weapon, whipping my sword away. Similar to how I used my telekinesis magic, she thrust her blade at me with her other hand forming the Seal of the Sword as she muttered the incantations. The ice sword left her hand and circled around her like a dragon of ice enveloping its master in a protective cocoon. Then I felt my senses tingling wildly. Oh no! I leaped instinctively to the back and a handful of ice swords bayoneted the exact spot where I was just standing a fraction of second ago! They were driven so deep into the ground that only their guards and their hilts remained above ground. But there was no time for me to reel with the shock; before I knew it, I felt the cold rushes of air slamming into my face. Four of them. Without hardly even a look at what was coming, in the frenzy of alarm and confusion, I hacked forward with my weapon while putting all my weight behind it!

There was nothing at first but the brief and short-lived grinding screeches of steel on steel. Then I saw chips and flakes of ice exploding. All four of the ice swords were destroyed by my Shiyan Blade in one fell swoop when I parried them all.

My powers and abilities, despite the sudden enhancements, were nowhere near as capable of defeating this fox demoness. Nevertheless, now being one with the Shiyan Blade, as she was saying before, has spared me from being mortally harmed by her. Moreover, her ice swords wield no power against the Shiyan Blade itself.

Clearly, the demoness realized these points as well herself. She knew her hastily-conjured ice swords were no match for the Shiyan Blade if this duel were to prolong with more exchanges of magic and sorcery. Deciding to settle this fight in a more rudimentary and primal way, she skipped and rushed at me with a lunging pierce! Little did she realized that I was actually pleased to see this. My magic is weaker than you, but I cannot say the same with my mastery of swordsmanship imparted to me by my father, the Demigod of the Sword! With a skip myself, I charged at my enemy!

Just before our weapons collide, I drew myself backward suddenly and spun, delivering a quick upward stab like a unterhau! It was a move that I was proud of, a move that I thought would have ended in my victory. But instead, I saw the demoness using the exact same move by pirouetting in mid-air before stabbing upwards herself!

Clang! The tips of the two swords rang as they smashed into one another. The demoness smirked sardonically when she saw the horrified look on my face!

Everything happened so quickly. With a flick of my sword, I tried to flip my blade over hers and force her weapon down. But the unexpected happened again! The demoness employed the same exact technique as I was, trying to force my blade downward too! The points of our swords bit into each other, casting fiery speckles of sparks like stars!

Blasted! I cursed and my sword hand withdrew at once! My retreat gave the demoness a breath of new life into her offense; she readily charged and executed a vicious upthrust of her sword that came so near to my eyes like a pit viper! Fortunately for me, my sword hand was not yet completely withdrawn; with a circular motion, I parried her attack and repaid her with the same exact favor she had almost done unto me!

Again, thrice the unexpected befell! The woman defended herself with the same circular stroke that I used and staved off my attack just like how I did! I watched as the iron blade of my sword stabbed into the air uselessly just as my confidence crumbled as much as the demoness’ ice sword. The short bout of swordplay between us had done enough damage to cripple the sword beyond any repair, hence sparing me from another of the demoness’ onslaught for now.

Seeing my enemy’s sword shattering into bits and pieces filled me with renewed vigor and joy; I swung my blade down with all my might at her throat!

Another hopeless clang rang through the chilly air and I was sent reeling backward with disbelief!

It was another ice sword. Another one of the demoness’ meddling conjurations that had fended off my stroke. Along with it came a powerful surge in her strength when she deflected my sword, leaving me careening away off-balanced that I have to steady myself by driving my sword into the ground.

The demoness regarded me with the same ironic and mocking grin she had been wearing, looking hardly anxious nor nervous. I could not say the same for myself. The duel of magic and iron had left me breathless as beads of perspiration rolled down the side of my cheeks. Even my clothes were slick with sweat, hugging tightly on my back as cirruses of vapors rose indifferently from me in the cold.

The vixen sneered triumphantly as she realized how exhausted I was and came closer to me. My face turned as hard as stone and I gripped my sword tightly. But before I could raise it to defend myself, my knee buckled! My legs were as wobbly as marshmellow after the short respite! I staggered, nearly losing my balance, but I was able to keep myself upright. But that was the last thing I could do as I watched my enemy approached pace by pace. Closer and closer she drew near. Yet instead of raising her sword to attack me when I was clearly vulnerable, she flicked her wrist and her ice sword vanished!

She came so close that I could almost hear her breathing, still wearing that ever-so sardonic smile. Then her hands clutched at me tightly!

I was as taut as an arrow stretched and ready for release. I shook from side to side, hoping to free myself from her grip. But it was futile; I was just too weak. With a heave, the demoness effortlessly lifted me off my foot and cast me on her back! Then she swirled and stare at the petrified Qin Le. With a terse gesture of her chin motioning Qin Le to follow, she turned and began walking into the thick of the woods.

Qin Le was holding a flaming brand, brandishing it like a sword in front of her when the vixen turned to look at her. She was already shivering with fear and the vixen’s stare made her jumped with fright. But seeing the demoness wishing to do her no harm except to carry me off, Qin Le, for all her geekiness, could see that I was powerless enough to defend myself. She shouted loudly in a desperate attempt to fill herself with courage and scrambled to the Shiyan Blade still stuck into the ground and gave it a tug with all her strength. Screaming and howling, she tried and tried but to no avail. The Shiyan Blade just would not yield.

The vixen threw a giggle over her shoulder at Qin Le who was clearly now up the creek without a paddle. “It’s no use. Keep up.” Without waiting for her decision, the foxes surrounding the fire now stood around Qin Le menacingly, forcing her to come after us. The foxes advanced upon her, their green eyes glimmering threateningly with off the glow of the fire and Qin Le released a peal of horrified screams as she ran after us.

Hanging on the demoness’ back like a useless piece of log, my strength was all but spent. And my mana utterly exhausted in its entirety, the Spirit Gourd has as much use as a glass hammer to me for now. But I was still able to remain awake and speak. Through gritted teeth, I hissed, “Who are you and what do you want with me?!” The vixen cackled, “Relax. I won’t harm you.” She increased her pace and strolled deeper into the woods.

Before long, the vixen carried me to a cave carefully hidden amongst the brushes and thickets of the jungle. I would not have noticed it there had not for the vixen’s bringing me along. We plunged into the gaping mouth of the cave as if we were entering the bowels of a huge monster. It was but only a very short walk until the darkness of the cave gave way to light. My mouth was left hanging by what I saw, even for me who has had many a great experience in exploring caves. Countless twinkling crystal, encrusted into the ceiling and the eaves of the cave, winked like the stars in the night, casting a soft and pale green glow that flooded the whole cavern chamber which was the size of a sitting room. An ornately furnished wooden bed sat in a corner, accompanied by an ancient but still well-maintained dressing table and an elaborately-carpentered table which was bedizened with a set of time-honored tableware. This is not just an ordinary abode, I realized, But a chamber of a lady or a maiden!

It was a sight that almost had me belching my breakfast down the back of the vixen carrying me.

She set me down on the wooden bed and set beside it. Then she ran a lascivious finger down my sweat-bedecked chin! What the hell!? I almost cursed out loud. What do you take me for? A food for demons like Tang Sanzang?! Or have you captured me to force me to become your husband?!

I forced myself to sit up and hit her hand with the back of mine angrily. “Who are you?!” I spat, “And why am I here?!”

But before I could get an answer, a screaming Qin Le stampeded into the chamber. She seemed evidently surprised to find the chamber lighted and she sat down on the floor, panting for breath. She looked back to make sure none of the little foxes were following her in and she finally exhaled with relief, beginning to survey the room.

I thrust a finger at Qin Le and glared at the vixen. “You can take me, but why take an innocent person!? Why is she taken here too!?”

End of Volume