Nanya took a deep look at her dearest of all servants, much as Ziyou Yung had done too the first time he had laid eyes on her milky-white skin. She pondered what to say, what imperial knowledge she should bestow upon her foolish man.
Then she turned to his daydreams, a whirlwind of perverted thoughts mixed with existential confusion.
The fool wasn’t pretending. He genuinely did not know. His mind was still stuck in the lovey-dovey maybe-fornication in which they had so naughtily engaged.
Nanya felt guilty, her whole body still aching from all the manly essence her skin had absorbed. She had promised to give him her everything, he no doubt would do the same.
But she couldn’t, not now. She was a damsel with secrets, and what horrible a secret it was!
Try as she might to lay bare hints of it here and there, in their excited flirting and calm banter, the fool of a servant just did not notice it! He couldn’t figure it out on his own, and Nanya, such noble a maiden, was too afraid ever to admit it.
<… indeed. Will you love me less for it?> Nanya asked with trepidation.
Nanya twirled a lock of her hair in thought,
Her servant had once come dangerously close to her secret, but her superb guile was enough to take his peanut-sized mind off of it. Now she regretted that move, try as she might to convince herself that the powers of Revival could not be disclosed to one who was not a Su.
Even though–
Yung shouted, pointing a finger at Nanya’s sublime heart.
Even though she knew that with a proper debate, no, mayhap a conversation and honest communion, her darling Yung would accept her everything, every single thing she would be gracious enough to let him see, touch, feel, smell, and devour.
She yet couldn’t.
Nanya lamented the tragic conclusion as her dainty fingers stretched her Yung’s sun-beaten face like a dumpling skin.
Because Ziyou Yung was against harems.
Nanya detested them too, and would soon rid the world of them with the concept of Feminism. But her chosen path to heaven was a path branched nine-fold.
She was his harem.
…she would need to tell him that. But she couldn’t simply share the secrets of one of her clan’s most precious techniques. Yet with his foolish yet strangely observant soul, her Yung would most likely figure it out on his own.
And when he did, would he accept all her unique physiques? Her fractured soul, in all of its divided forms? Young, old, tender, strong? Pink, green, blue, and gold? Would he… truly not love her lesqs for it?
But was it not her Yung himself who had once said, he hated sharing, and he detested more being shared?
Context. What mattered was the context in which he deduced her deception! Whether he would be forgiving or heartbroken would all depend on how Nanya, how devious she was, would frame her circumstances.
The servant boy gulped, not catching either of the innuendos in her words, which displeased her greatly. It took a lot of courage to be so openly scandalous!
But he seemed not to care. He just looked at Su Xiya as the small grey fox grew tired of biting her Yung’s scrawny leg. She was now jumping up the tree branches to get a better view of the Flareful Empress fighting the Wretched Emissary. He then looked at the cloud of qi sundering the sky from the same battle. Realisation dawned on his face, and the cowardly teen’s legs turned to jelly.
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Nanya tutted, growing tired of playing around with words. Since when had she been so meek? She would have him do her bidding like the treasured princess she was!
Her Yung stared, taking a scared step back as she descended from the palanquin in a cloud of swirling gold. The cloud scattered, shaped like a crescent crown that blinded the world.
In the midst of such chaos, a giant golden vixen emerged, embodying an aura of unspoken dominance and regality. Her fur, a cascade of shimmering gold, gleamed with ethereal light, while her tail, a luxurious banner, elegantly coiled above, groomed to perfection.
She wore her fox accessories on her form, now fitted to beautify her quadruped body in mystery and awe. And so did she wear her magic chains, as if to bind the luscious aura that oozed from her mere presence, to protect the very world around her, men and all, from being so utterly seduced that their feeble minds would lose function.
The giant vixen’s eyes, fierce and luminous, pierced through her Yung’s pale expression, reflecting her will upon his quivering eyes. Ears tall and vigilant, they twitched cutely, anchoring her will to the earth as her essence qi flowed down her claws, a steadfast queen amidst the peasantry.
Her presence was a silent command, and she demanded reverence from all beings that dared to even think of defying her will.
She was Su Nanya, the Honoured Revived Grace from the South, and she would not be denied!
The giant vixen bit down on the collar of Yung’s unfashionable clothes, rushing towards the system of caves in this unremarkable valley.
Hidden within its shadows, there was a conspiracy afoot targeting her Su Fox Clan, that fact Nanya was sure of.
She had finally found a clue, although she could not directly tell her cowardly lover about it; the evidence was clear.
The Emissary reeked of the miasma that had dared to taint her Occultic Foxball, as did the caves behind. All of them did, including the one that supposedly hid her Yung’s Silky’s treacherous flock, which was her target.
And as the seconds passed, the shameful miasma leaked out into the open, carrying with it the secrets of the Su Fox Clan’s defeat. As if to mock her, to cast her weakness out into the open air!
No, that shall not pass. As her clan decreed, the secrets of the Su Fox Clan must remain secrets. Whatever the cost!
…which was truly an annoying problem. So she would use her divine intellect to solve it!
She would go delve within the cave’s shadow and bring her Yung with her. They would fight the evil inside in the name of all that was good, and with his otherwordly sharp mind and the rude void cultist’s conspiracy unearthed, Ziyou Yung would no doubt be able to guess her and her Su Fox clan’s most precious secret on his own!
Context!
She would not have to do the hard work to share it! He would not blame her for it!
And as their delve would come to an end, Su Xiya’s Foxball found, the innocent little Silky’s Foxmoth flock recovered, the rude cultists slain, the commoners of the Dim Gold City granted a better life, and Ziyou Yung’s cowardly demeanour fixed through the dangers they would face, her dearest of all servants would definitely be in a positive mood despite guessing at Nanya’s disgraceful subterfuge.
She would then use her superior adorableness, her foxy charms, and her elegant beauty to love him so much, that all his apprehension towards her unutterable situation would disappear. It must be so!
Then, her mother and the Su Clan Elders could not accuse her of being a woman who would betray her clan for a man. Her Yung would finally know that she was impossibly serious about him. And she would live happily ever after with the boyfriend she so desired!
Oh, how cunning she was, to use her enemy’s actions for her own benefit, to kill not merely three, nor four, nor six, but seven different snakes with one single stone!
Vixen Nanya stood in front of the cave that supposedly hid the Dim Gold Foxmoths, a shadowy barrier dividing the world within from without.
She growled, while her Yung clung to her magnificent coat of gold with a deathly vice grip.
***
The knife stabbed straight towards the madlander cultist girl, aiming for the heart. But the wielder was a mortal, and the madlander girl was a monster in ren skin.
The monster frowned, then threw Gangbao towards the knife-wielding girl like a sack of rice.
Ding Shi went pale, turning the knife away at the last second before Gangbao crashed into her frail body.
“Ow!” His wife cried as they both flew backwards, Gangbao’s weight crushing Ding Shi to the floor.
There was a sickening crunch.
“Aaaaaaaaaah!”
“Ding Shi!” Gangbao yelled. He hurriedly got up from above her.
Ding Shi was clutching her arm, which was bent at an unnatural angle.
“Oh no. Oh no no.” The boy panicked, and then the pain hit him. He looked at his leg; there was a knife stuck there, blood flowing out freely.
The pain threatened to rush out with a stream of tears. But Gangbao bit his lips. He would not cry. He must not cry! The paper charm stuck to his throat sent a warm stream of calmness down his arteries, and the tears receded. An anguished cry came from within his body, as if a leech was being sprayed with salt water, but the young chef had no mind to pay attention to it.
"Lord’s commands, don’t hurt that Ding Shi.” The old beggar growled. The helper girl turned pale. She prostrated immediately and knocked her head on the ground.
“But didn’t she fail to give birth to the next apostle?” One of the hooded figures standing behind the beggar asked, “The void child died in her womb. She’s too weak for it! I say we just deliver her to the lord too and find a better cauldron.”
“Quit yapping! What do ya know? You think bloodlines like hers are as easy to find as some rats in the market? We’ve spent so many resources already, forging her body and hiding her bloodline during the sect requirements from those parasites. Can’t waste that now.”
“If you say so. But the boy? Do we still need him to fertilize her?”
The old beggar cast a distasteful glance towards Gangbao, who couldn't understand what they were saying at all.
“I-I’m sorry.” Ding Shi cried from behind him, cradling her broken limb to her body like it was a baby. “I’m sorry. I am so sorry I—I remember everything.” Her arm was fractured in who knows how many places, and her face was swollen.
“W-What do you mean?” Gangbao asked, lost and in despair.
“When the divine hawk gang tried to… they. I remembered. I was 6 months pregnant then. We were going to have a son, you and me! He was a son! We would name him Chanzi! But the beggar, they came. The madlander girl, the beggar, they took me and aaaaaaaaaaahhh!”
Gangbao’s heart broke. He turned around and hugged his wife.
“Nah, he’s trash.” The beggar said, observing the two with nothing but contempt, “Deliver him.”
The helper girl grunted, and Gangbao heard footsteps slowly approaching from behind.
He was going to die today.
“It’s going to be okay.” He said to his wife. From what the old beggar said, at least she’ll be alive; that was something to celebrate.
“They took me to a man. They called him their lord. A thing, something, he stank. A man thing. He took me, he ruined me! He ruined my body, he, oh Bao Bao, I’m sorry. I am so sorry, I could not—I tried, I really really tried. I fought him, bit him, I tried to bite my tongue. I felt sick, I wanted to vomit. He didn’t let me. He—I’m sorry. I’m sorry. It’s my fault. I forgot, they made me forget with a worm. But the divine hawk gang tried to do the same, and then I remembered, and then I-I-I—”
Gangbao felt something inside of him snap. These monsters, the cultivators, the world. But all he could say was, “It’s going to be okay.”
It wasn’t. His wife was raped by a monster, and he didn’t even know when. He could do nothing about it!
…nothing at all.
“I’m sorry. Bao Bao, I’m sorry. The man, he changed our Chanzi’s head! He changed his head and our Chanzi died aaaaaaaaaah!” Ding Shi cried, she cried, feeling the same despair that Gangbao did.
And once more, Gangbao realized, that he could do nothing to protect her, his son, and the people he loved.
A hand was placed on his neck. Gangbao closed his eyes, the paper charm cooled down, and the world dissolved into darkness.