"Xiao Mo..."
Very early the following morning.
The sky had only just begun to brighten when Tushan Jingci sat bolt upright in her bed.
She put on her small shoes, climbed out of bed, and ran out of her room.
When she pushed open the door and saw the figure sitting cross-legged in meditation in the courtyard, Tushan Jingci's eyes curved into an adorable smile.
"Xiao Mo, you are back!"
Tushan Jingci jumped forward happily.
It was as though the entire world of the young girl had brightened.
Xiao Mo drew back his focus, opened his eyes, and gave Tushan Jingci a gentle smile. "Mm, I am back. I made the Young Miss worry yesterday."
Xiao Mo smiled and said nothing, simply closed his eyes and continued absorbing the essence of the early morning sun.
Tushan Jingci continued to look at Xiao Mo.
She did not know if it was her imagination, but she felt Xiao Mo seemed to look even better than before and there was a very comfortable feeling emanating from him.
"Jingci..."
Just as Tushan Jingci was watching Xiao Mo cultivate, she heard Chen Jue's voice.
Tushan Jingci looked out beyond the courtyard gate. There stood Chen Jue and his book attendant.
The book attendant named Wang Zhong had a swollen, bruised face and bandages wrapped around his hands, and looked quite a sorry sight.
Wang Zhong was holding a box in his arms, its contents unknown.
Seeing Chen Jue and Wang Zhong, Tushan Jingci's brow furrowed.
Ordinarily, Tushan Jingci had been polite and courteous toward Chen Jue, taking into account that he had attended her birthday celebration and that the Celestial Demon Kingdom had a good relationship with the Mount Tu residence.
But after what had happened the previous day, Tushan Jingci was thoroughly repelled by this person.
She naturally had no welcome for him in her courtyard now.
Hearing Chen Jue's voice, Xiao Mo opened his eyes as well and looked at the young lord and his attendant with alert eyes.
"Chen Jue, what are you coming to my courtyard for?" Tushan Jingci jumped down from her chair, puffing her cheeks, her beautiful eyes wide and round with obvious displeasure.
"Jingci, regarding what happened yesterday, it was my failure to discipline properly. So today I have brought Wang Zhong here to apologize and make amends." Chen Jue put on an innocent, guileless smile. "I wonder if we might come inside to speak?"
Tushan Jingci was just about to refuse when Xiao Mo gently tugged at the hem of her clothes and shook his head.
"Hmph!" Tushan Jingci turned her head with extreme displeasure. "Come in then!"
"Of course, Jingci!" Chen Jue hurried inside.
"Say whatever you need to say, and if there is nothing more, leave! You are not thinking of staying for breakfast, are you?" Tushan Jingci showed them not the slightest courtesy but Chen Jue did not appear upset. He simply kicked Wang Zhong with a foot and scolded him. "Look at what you have done! You have made the Young Miss of Mount Tu this angry. Are you not going to apologize?"
"Yes, yes, yes!"
Wang Zhong quickly stepped forward.
"Young Miss of Mount Tu, yesterday, my head must have been kicked by a donkey. Everything that happened was my fault entirely. I made you angry. I beg your forgiveness and ask that you not stoop to my level."
As he spoke, Wang Zhong quickly opened the box he was holding. "This is an apology gift from my young lord. It is a five-thousand-year spirit mushroom. While it may not be the most precious of things, it is greatly beneficial to your cultivation and vitality."
With those words, Wang Zhong placed the spirit mushroom on the table and then knelt before Tushan Jingci, knocking his head to the ground repeatedly.
Tushan Jingci was naturally a kind-hearted little girl.
Seeing Wang Zhong on his knees before her, his face bruised and swollen and his body wrapped in bandages, her heart softened somewhat but then Tushan Jingci thought of the scratch marks on Xiao Mo's neck and his bloodied, dripping hand.
The anger in her heart simply would not go away. She clenched her fists and turned her head, looking as though she had decided to ignore the whole lot of them.
Seeing this, Chen Jue also stepped forward and said to Tushan Jingci, "Jingci, as his master, it is also my fault for not keeping him in line. I apologize to you as well."
"And do not worry, Jingci. This rotten fellow will be sent back to the Celestial Demon Kingdom tomorrow. He will not embarrass himself in front of you again."
"I hope you will not lower yourself to the level of such a petty person."
"Humph! You came here to apologize, but you have the wrong person entirely! The one you should be apologizing to is not me, it is my Xiao Mo!" Tushan Jingci said with heat. "What does Wang Zhong kneeling in front of me accomplish?"
"..."
Hearing Tushan Jingci's words, Chen Jue's brow tightened.
"My lord..." Wang Zhong also looked toward his master.
Wang Zhong considered that apologizing to the Tushan clan was not a humiliation in the slightest, because she was a Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox, a bloodline of the highest nobility but now, being asked to apologize to Xiao Mo was another matter entirely.
In his ordinary days, Wang Zhong did not spare human folk a single glance, feeling they existed for no other purpose than to be turned into dishes.
Apologizing to a human was, for Wang Zhong, something even more unbearable than being killed outright.
"What are you looking at me for? You did what you did. Have you no courage to face it yourself? Go and apologize to Xiao Mo!"
Chen Jue roared at Wang Zhong, his hands balled into fists. He looked thoroughly furious.
His anger was not directed at Wang Zhong. It was directed at Xiao Mo but he could not show that right now, so it all came out on Wang Zhong instead.
After all, having his most trusted attendant apologize to a human was a slap across his own face but thinking of his father's instructions, and of the Mount Tu clan's power, Chen Jue had no choice but to swallow it.
Wang Zhong gritted his teeth, turned around, and faced Xiao Mo. His palms pressed flat against the ground, his fingers digging into the earth.
"Brother Xiao, yesterday I was in the wrong. I, Wang Zhong, apologize to you here, and I hope you will not hold the wrongs of a lesser man against one of greater standing. Nothing like this will ever happen again."
With those words, Wang Zhong pressed his head firmly to the ground three times in a row, sand and grit sticking to his forehead.
The wound on Wang Zhong's forehead cracked open again, and blood flowed freely. It looked utterly sincere.
Seeing this, Tushan Jingci still said nothing, only looked at Xiao Mo.
For Tushan Jingci, whatever Xiao Mo decided, whether to forgive or not, she would support him completely.
Xiao Mo also looked at Wang Zhong kneeling at his feet, seeming to be turning something over in his mind.
"Brother Wang, please rise. Since Brother Wang has acknowledged the mistake, what more is there to say? Let us consider this matter put behind us."
After a long moment, Xiao Mo looked as though a weight had lifted from him, and he said to Wang Zhong.
"Will you not get up already?"
Hearing that Xiao Mo had forgiven Wang Zhong, Chen Jue let out a breath of relief and quickly walked forward to kick Wang Zhong.
Chen Jue looked at Tushan Jingci with a smile. "Jingci, now that Xiao Mo has also forgiven Wang Zhong, just as Xiao Mo said, let yesterday's matter be put behind us. Let us not let it affect the good relationship between our two families."
"But Chen Jue, Wang Zhong is yours. You said you failed to discipline him properly. Wang Zhong has apologized. But what about you?" Tushan Jingci looked as though she was not prepared to let Chen Jue off the hook so easily. "You also need to apologize to my Xiao Mo!"
"..."
With those words, the courtyard fell into silence once more.
Yueshi, who had been hanging laundry nearby, watched this scene quietly but she made no move to intervene.
The hand Chen Jue had clasped behind his back tightened into a fist but thinking of his father's words and the power of the Tushan clan, that hand slowly loosened again.
"Brother Xiao, I failed to keep my attendant properly in line. I offer Brother Xiao my apology."
Chen Jue gave Xiao Mo a proper bow, looking completely sincere.
"Young Lord Chen, you are too generous. When people spend time together, friction is inevitable. Getting along in peace and harmony is what matters most." Xiao Mo gave a nod and returned the bow.
"Very well. Since Xiao Mo has said all of that, then for now this Young Miss will consider you forgiven! We will also accept the gift. Now you may leave! What, are you thinking of staying for breakfast?"
Tushan Jingci issued her clear dismissal to Chen Jue and his attendant.
"We do have things to attend to, so we will not trouble Jingci further." Chen Jue straightened up with a smile.
"We will not see you out."
"Let us go."
Chen Jue led Wang Zhong out of the courtyard.
"Young Miss, there was actually no need for all that." After Chen Jue and his attendant left, Xiao Mo shook his head. "The Tushan clan and the Celestial Demon Kingdom are allied. For the Young Miss to offend the future crown prince of the Celestial Demon Kingdom for my sake is not worth it."
"What is there to be worth it or not?"
Tushan Jingci crossed her arms and tilted her small chin upward with an air of pride.
"If it is for you, it is always worth it!"
"And what does it matter that he is the First Prince of the Celestial Demon Kingdom?"
"If it were not for you giving your consent, I would not have been prepared to forgive them at all!"
"All right, Xiao Mo. Go and continue cultivating. I also need to do my coursework. If I do not finish it in the next two days before we go back to the study hall, the teacher is going to rap my palms with the ruler."
Tushan Jingci went to her room and came back with a copy of the Book of Songs, and sat in the courtyard reciting from it.
Looking at Tushan Jingci's focused expression, Xiao Mo also sat cross-legged in the courtyard and continued his cultivation.
Though Xiao Mo did not think for a moment that this matter was truly settled.
Chen Jue and his attendant had not genuinely wanted to apologize to him but there was little Xiao Mo could do about that for now. The only path before him was to cultivate.
Only by strengthening his power and raising his cultivation level would it become easier to do the things he wanted to do in the future.
Otherwise, he was nothing more than a dish on someone's table.
That evening, in the Mount Tu residence in Immortal Fox City.
Tushan Xinhua was reading the letter Yueshi had sent from the Hanshan Academy.
The letter described some of the conflicts her daughter had been having with her peers at the academy.
Reading the full account of events from beginning to end and understanding the entire course of what had happened, Tushan Xinhua's beautiful brow furrowed slightly.
"The First Prince of the Celestial Demon Kingdom is so young, and yet already this ruthless."
After reading, Tushan Xinhua held the letter over a fire.
Very quickly, the letter turned to ash and drifted through the room.
To others, this conflict might have appeared to be nothing more than an accident but in Tushan Xinhua's eyes, she was certain that the Celestial Demon Kingdom's First Prince Chen Jue had deliberately targeted Xiao Mo.
As for the reason, it most likely had to do with "The Great Dream of the Yellow Millet."
Otherwise, why would a mere little book attendant dare go after her daughter's book attendant with lethal intent?
And it was so conveniently timed, with Xiao Mo appearing just as they were tormenting that young human girl.
That had surely been premeditated.
It was fortunate that the ruler of the Celestial Demon Kingdom had apparently intervened. Concerned about damaging the relationship between the Celestial Demon Kingdom and the Tushan clan, he had had Chen Jue take his attendant to her daughter's courtyard to make amends.
The other side had handled the matter of appearances reasonably enough. The incident could be considered closed.
Otherwise, she would have had to make a trip to the imperial capital of the Celestial Demon Kingdom herself, and have a proper conversation with Chen Bing.
"Speaking of which, the time is about right. I need to make a trip back to the clan."
Tushan Xinhua looked at the moonlight and her expression carried a trace of helplessness and reluctance.
"Alas, what a nuisance."
Tushan Xinhua let out a quiet sigh, transformed in an instant into a snow-white Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox, and using her divine ability, treaded upon the night wind and set off toward a destination a million li away.
Two days later, at dawn, Tushan Xinhua arrived before a mountain peak.
Carved across this mountain peak in great characters were the two words: "Mount Tu."
Beyond the peak, what came into Tushan Xinhua's view was a range of towering mountains and ridges interspersed with scattered plains.
On the plains were villages and towns.
On the mountain ridges were dwellings and demon folk in cultivation.
Within a radius of ten thousand li, the land was permeated with dense, abundant spiritual energy, making it an exceptional place for cultivation by any measure.
This place was the ancestral land of the Tushan clan, and also the ancestral land of all fox clan demon folk in the Demon Realm.
Whether Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox or ordinary fox demon, here, there was only one surname, and that was Tushan.
Tushan Xinhua did not want to come back to this ancestral land, but as a member of the Tushan clan, she had no choice.
Composing herself, Tushan Xinhua went directly to one particular peak.
This was the Deliberation Peak of the Tushan clan.
The Deliberation Peak convened once every three hundred years.
Those who attended were the ten highest-cultivation members among the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox clan.
They were also the ten elders of the entire Tushan clan.
Upon arriving at Deliberation Peak, Tushan Xinhua reverted to her human form and walked into the great hall.
When Tushan Xinhua entered, the other nine elders were already all present and turned to look at her.
"Grand Elder."
Tushan Xinhua gave a respectful bow to the elder at the head.
"Xinhua, I thought you might not come." The Grand Elder Tushan Meng looked at this direct disciple of hers. "Take your seat."
"Yes."
Tushan Xinhua gave a nod and took the third seat on the right.
"Now that everyone is present, the assembly will begin. First, let us discuss the matter of the recently rising Human Alliance..."
Tushan Meng began to speak slowly.
Over the following two hours, with the Grand Elder presiding, the ten elders of the Tushan clan deliberated on various affairs.
Most prominent among them were the matter of alliances with other Demon Realm powers, the future direction of the Tushan clan, and the "Human Alliance" that was growing steadily more influential throughout the Demon Realm but regardless of what the Grand Elder said, from the undercurrents woven through the discussion, Tushan Xinhua distilled one word: "dominance."
"That concludes today's assembly. You may withdraw. We will continue tomorrow."
"Yes, Elder."
After the assembly paused for the day, Tushan Xinhua and the other eight elders bowed in unison and withdrew but just as Tushan Xinhua turned to leave, Grand Elder Tushan Meng called out to her. "Xinhua, stay a moment."
The other eight elders glanced at Tushan Xinhua, then walked out of the great hall and pulled the doors closed behind them.
"What further instructions does the Grand Elder have?" Tushan Xinhua asked.
In the great hall, only Tushan Xinhua and Tushan Meng remained.
"I have heard that you gave 'The Great Dream of the Yellow Millet' to a human male?"
Tushan Meng asked.
"That is correct, Grand Elder." Tushan Xinhua gave a nod.
"I will give you two choices."
Tushan Meng clasped her hands behind her back and looked directly into Tushan Xinhua's eyes.
"Will you kill him yourself?"
"Or shall I?"