Chapter 8 — The Fox Spirit Grand Preceptor Comes to Repay His Debt

The surroundings were a gruesome tableau of shattered remains. By then, Ye Tianmiao had completely transformed into a fox demon, standing as tall as two burly men combined. A fierce red glow radiated from his entire body, yet only those familiar eyes remained the exact same ones I had known so well. I could vividly feel the profound unease and sheer terror radiating from him. But with armed guards pressing in from all directions, desperately trying to drive him to his grave, he had no choice but to slash wildly with his massive claws, keeping them frantically at bay.

Your Highness, please forgive me, came the voice of Qin Baichuan from close beside me, heavy with remorse.

The next instant, a sharp, searing pain exploded at the back of my neck, and everything plunged into blackness. In the hazy blur of my fading consciousness, I thought I caught a glimpse of Ye Tianmiao lunging desperately toward me. I forced every ounce of remaining strength into wanting to scream at him to flee, but my lips parted uselessly without a single sound escaping. I sank hopelessly into the endless abyss of darkness.

When I finally drifted back to consciousness, I found myself once again within the familiar halls of my own residence, the Grand Princess's Manor. Qin Baichuan had somehow stepped into the role of my imperial consort. He had cast aside his distinguished military career as a general, choosing instead to remain locked within the manor day in and day out, keeping me company. Yet, ever since the agonizing truth came to light—that they had used me as leverage to ruthlessly rip the beating heart from Ye Tianmiao's chest—I had spent my days staring blankly into space, clutching a simple embroidered handkerchief.

No matter how deeply he professed to love me, Qin Baichuan possessed a fierce temper of his own. Seizing my shoulders in a tight, bruising grip, he ground his teeth and hissed, Mortals and demons walk entirely different paths. Little Su, you and that creature could never have had a good ending!

My empty, hollow gaze drifted upward to meet his, and I merely repeated the very same words I had murmured countless times before, Where is Ye Tianmiao? He promised he would always protect me.

He is dead! He had his heart torn right out of his chest, all to save that foolish foreign prince!

Finally, Qin Baichuan snapped, his voice breaking into a ragged roar as he lost all control. A slow blink was my only response, and heavy tears spilled effortlessly over the rims of my eyes. I never even had the chance to tell him that I had grown to care for him, that the resentment in my heart was entirely gone.

Just go, I whispered softly. I need to pray for his soul.

Because Ye Tianmiao had slain so many lives solely on my account, I refused to let him suffer eternal damnation and endless torment now that he was gone. I quietly packed my few belongings and made my way up the winding mountain paths to the imperial temple. Across the sprawling capital, malicious rumors ran rampant, claiming that the Grand Princess had lost her mind to a demonic fox, reducing her to a hollow shell of a fool. They whispered in the streets about how I had abandoned a fine, noble consort who doted on me, insisting instead on dwelling in a sacred temple simply to chant prayers for a beast.

Clad in a shroud of pure, unadorned white, I knelt with absolute piety before the towering golden statue of the Buddha. Master Huicang had long since passed away into Nirvana; the very last person who could have shared my melancholic memories of Ye Tianmiao was gone, too. He had once told me that Ye Tianmiao was fundamentally a good demon—one devoid of any world-shattering divine powers, yet willing to spend every last fragment of his fragile strength to shield me from harm. He had harbored no lingering bitterness toward the fox for reclaiming that pouch of silver coins from him all those months ago.

Your Highness, there is someone outside asking to see you, a young novice monk suddenly announced, stepping softly into the main hall.

Slowly, I rose from the worn straw prayer mat. The moment I turned my head, my breath hitched at the sight of a familiar pair of smiling, crescent-shaped fox eyes. Though those eyes bore an uncanny resemblance to Ye Tianmiao’s, the man standing before me was not him. Several attendants dressed in exotic Western Regions attire trailed closely behind the stranger, panting heavily as they called out, Your Highness, please do not wander off so recklessly! Wait for us!

As the entourage finally caught up, one of the foreign delegates stepped forward and bowed respectfully toward me.

We heard that the imperial temple of the Heavenly Dynasty possesses miraculous divine power, so I specifically brought our prince here to pay his respects.

I lifted my gaze to study the so-called prince standing behind him. He possessed the delicate, youthful features of a boy, yet his expression carried an undeniable vacancy, a blank innocence that clearly marked him as a simple-minded soul. How could such a feeble, childlike intellect ever harbor the genuine sincerity required to kneel and worship the Buddha? Yet every person who climbed this sacred mountain came burdened with their own desperate pleas, and I was no exception. I instructed the young monk to lay out prayer mats for them, and the foreign envoy immediately urged the vacant-eyed prince to drop to his knees. Despite repeated coaxing and tugging, however, the prince stubbornly refused to budge. Kneeling quietly upon my own mat nearby, I offered a gentle reminder, True sincerity invites divine response; the envoy need not force the matter.

Yet, just as the words left my lips, the simple-minded prince abruptly spun around, dashed forward, and threw his arms tightly around me in a desperate embrace.

Su Su, I have finally found you.

No matter how hard I tried, he refused to loosen his grip, burying his face against my shoulder. In that sudden, breathtaking heartbeat, the memory of Ye Tianmiao sacrificing his very heart to rescue an intellectually stunted foreign prince rushed back to me with terrifying clarity. Could it possibly...

With a mixture of trembling disbelief and profound shock, I stared down at the young man clinging to me so fiercely. The familiar fox-like eyes narrowed playfully into familiar crescent moons, and the sly, roguish smile spreading across his face was an exact, unmistakable mirror of Ye Tianmiao.

Su Su, I have returned to repay your kindness once again.

The End.