Chapter Thirty-Four: Inner Demons

Scarlet blood, cruel screams!

The corpses of foxes littered the ground, numbering in the dozens, perhaps hundreds, yet Fang You could not stop himself.

“I have to survive, so all of you must die!”

Indeed, after twice facing death, Fang You seemed possessed, trapped in a frenzy of endless slaughter.

“Help! Please spare us! Don’t kill anymore!”

Some of the slightly older fox cubs cried out as they fled, their voices filled with terror and despair.

But Fang You, now consumed by a demonic fury, could hear nothing. With sword and blade, he cut down fox after fox, their bodies falling in pieces.

To the eyes of these fox descendants, Fang You was like a celestial deity clad in golden armor, radiating divine light wherever he went.

“Spare just one descendant for our fox clan!” the gray fox steward, who had earlier guided Fang You, begged, kneeling before him.

The scene was pitiful—like a gray fox ceaselessly bowing in supplication, helpless and desolate.

But Fang You, mad with bloodlust, swung his copper coin sword, cleaving the pleading gray fox in two.

When there was nothing left to kill, and no one left to slay, the deep mountain forest returned to silence.

Heavy rain poured from the sky, washing the blood from the earth, but it could not cleanse the blood that streamed into Fang You’s eyes.

Suddenly, Lady Yellow, whose head had been pierced by an arrow, dragged herself slowly to her fox grave, her body writhing in agony.

“You won’t escape!” Fang You shouted, bringing his blade down. Lady Yellow’s body was severed in an instant.

Just then, from the mouth of the fox grave, a tiny fox cub, newly born, crawled out. It lifted its head, blinking uncertainly at the world around it, its eyes barely open.

Seeing another living creature, Fang You rushed forward, intent on delivering the final blow.

But at that moment, a bolt of lightning split the sky, striking the ground before Fang You.

Stunned and dizzy, Fang You staggered. When he opened his eyes again, the sight before him chilled him to the bone.

“Did I…do all this?”

Blood had dyed the earth red; the ground was strewn with fox corpses, a scene of utter misery. At the mouth of the grave, the newborn fox cub wailed, hungry and lost.

Fang You looked at his hands—his swords were drenched in blood. Terrified, he threw down both the copper coin sword and the redwood sword, but the blood on the blades testified to his massacre.

The golden glow around Fang You was fading, the divine eye on his forehead slowly closing and vanishing, though he remained oblivious, staring only at the carnage before him.

“Meow—!” (But come to think of it, how does a fox cry? Meow? Whimper?)

The sole surviving fox cub continued to call out.

Fang You approached it slowly, and the little fox shrank back in fear.

He reached out his hand; the cub hesitated, then climbed into his palm.

Fang You took off all his clothes, wrapped the cub, and left the mountain village from another direction.

“Why didn’t you tell me it was so dangerous? Master, we have guns, you know—the kind that go bang! No matter what mountain demon or monster, we could shoot them dead. Let’s go help Fang You, the little priest!”

At that moment, Zhang Shengnan and Zhou Shen led a group of villagers into the deep mountains. Zhou Shen had noticed the direction Fang You had gone and was lost in anxious thought. Zhang Shengnan saw this and pressed him for answers until Zhou Shen confessed that Fang You was likely going to fight the mountain spirit to the death.

Fang You had deliberately shouted at Zhang Shengnan earlier, not wanting her to follow him into danger. Once she realized this, Zhang Shengnan was quietly angry, but there was nothing she could do. She dragged Zhou Shen and some villagers along; after all, they had brought Fang You into this, and there was no reason to let him risk everything alone.

“I don’t think we’ll be of any use. We’ll just make things worse!” Zhou Shen protested.

“Even so, we can’t let him face danger by himself. We can at least cheer for him!” Zhang Shengnan’s tone was childish, but her actions were thorough.

When they arrived at the scene of Fang You’s recent battle, all were struck dumb with shock and disbelief.

On and around the fox grave, hundreds of foxes had been slaughtered—not just foxes, but nearly every living creature had been wiped out.

“Was this really done by Fang You, the young priest?” Zhang Shengnan swallowed, fear in her voice. “This is terrifying!”

Zhou Shen, too, was astonished. The kind, righteous young priest had shown a ruthlessness beyond imagining—not a single creature left alive.

Then Zhou Shen noticed two swords lying on the ground: one a redwood sword, the other a sword made of threaded copper coins. In his memory, these were the swords Fang You always carried.

“Shengnan, weren’t those the swords Fang You always wore?” Zhou Shen asked.

Both swords were stained with blood, looking more like executioner’s blades than instruments of justice.

“I think so!” Zhang Shengnan walked over and picked up the redwood sword and the copper coin sword.

“But where’s Fang You?”

The group searched everywhere but found no trace of him.

“Could he have left?” Zhou Shen was puzzled.

Zhang Shengnan stared at the swords in her hands, hesitating. At last, she said with some difficulty, “I know where his fortune-telling shop is. I’ll return these swords to him—they must be important to him.”

Yet, despite herself, a wave of fear toward Fang You welled up in her heart. She had once thought of him as a chivalrous, kind-hearted priest—a hero out of a martial arts tale. But now, that image was shattered completely.

“Well, if it’s over, let’s take the villagers back,” Zhou Shen said.

So Zhou Shen and Zhang Shengnan gathered the villagers and returned to Shankou Village. After calming the people, they buried the four members of the Wang Ge family and found a childless couple to adopt the surviving girl.

But after the two left, another group of priests arrived.

These priests seemed to be assembled from various sects, having come together for this very purpose.

“This fox den has ruled these mountains for too long, killing countless people—including many priests from Dragon Tiger Mountain. This time, our sects will put an end to it!”

“Our corpse-driving sect as well. We can’t pass through here safely. This menace must be destroyed!”

But as they arrived, the scene before them left them dumbfounded.

Not only was the great demon destroyed, but even the lesser, more cultivated fox spirits had been wiped out—none spared.

The leading priest was bewildered. “Who could have done this?”

“I know there’s a village ahead—maybe they hired someone?” another priest suggested.

They went to Shankou Village and learned that a young man named Fang You had single-handedly accomplished this. The priests were astonished; it had taken the combined strength of many sects to dare challenge the fox den, yet one man had finished the task alone.

“Fang You… I, Long Lie, Vice Sect Leader of Dragon Tiger Mountain, will remember this name!”

Thus, though the aftermath was grim, Fang You’s name became known far and wide. In the world of spiritual priests, he was now a figure to be reckoned with—for in this battle, not a single descendant of the fox clan had been spared.