They tried cleansing the town of the things once. The sect, venerable though they may be, sent a handful of iron...they gave up on cleansing the town within a week without catching even one of those vulpine menaces. Mark my words: trickster yokai are the worst and the worst of them are the foxes! Especially the females! -Messenger Lieng Zai off-duty

* * *

I tore my gaze from Kansi and the swords I knew so well, fixing them firmly on Tenri’s boots so as to keep myself from looking at the woman. She was just so damn persistent, noticing every little detail.

“They’re exquisitely crafted,” I answered. It was a reasonable excuse. Many cultivators wielded swords, and thus, would have an appreciation for good craftsmanship.

Though, to say that Eclipse and Razor Wind had “good craftsmanship” was something akin to saying the moon was just a big rock. Both blades were painstakingly forged in the fires of the ancient world and tempered by the qi of two ascendents. There were few weapons that could claim the same level of quality.

“They truly are,” Kansi agreed, laying a hand on Razor Wind’s hilt. “This one is made with the highest-grade snow steel you’ve ever seen. You’ll never find a sharper blade, nor one with a purer glare, than this one.” That was true on every count. What she didn’t say, though, was that Razor Wind’s blade had been honed to such a fine edge that, in the right hands, it could sever the nerves under someone’s skin without drawing blood. She also didn’t mention that the sword’s qi glare was infused with so much wind qi that just drawing it from its sheath could create an incredible windstorm that could level a house…at least, in the right hands.

Much like techniques, swords and other weapons were only as powerful as the one wielding them. Even legendary blades like Razor Wind and Eclipse would be little more than irritable bits of metal in the hands of a mortal. But in the hands of a master? They amplified and increased the wielder’s power, drawing out their qi to enormous effect. In the hands of the cultivator who’d forged the weapon, the effect was even more potent, as weapon and wielder became truly one.

“And the other?” I asked, as if I didn’t know exactly what had gone into Eclipse’s creation.

“This one, I’m less familiar with,” she admitted. She hesitantly stroked the hilt, but there was no reaction from the blade. “I’ve never actually seen it drawn, but my master cared for it greatly. He said it was forged from lunar steel and threaded with a core made from a sliver of a dragon’s horn.”

It was bathed in moonlight for nearly two decades, during which time the only light it was touched by was that of the moon.

A phantom pain from the nail that sealed me flared suddenly. She only had a vague description…meaning Jinshi hadn’t told her everything about the blade. He was obsessed with weapons, both in their construction and their use. If he hadn’t told her about Eclipse, then it meant he didn’t care to…

“That’s incredible, must have been quite the cultivator to create such a weapon,” I answered.

Kansi smiled at me. “I’m sure they were! I only wish I could have known them, but I’m quite sure that my master only inherited the blade after their death.”

“A pity, to be certain.”

My skin crawled with unease. Was she toying with me? Surely Jinshi would have told his disciple that she was hunting the very person who forged that blade in the first place.

I shook my head, banishing doubt. Kansi Ren was dangerous. I would need to be exceptionally careful as long as she was around…which seemed more and more like it would be a while.

* * *

“It’s a good thing he’s paying us by the day,” Kansi muttered as we sat down around the campfire on the fifth day. “There has to be a better way to get to Saikan.”

Of course, she was right. This route took us weeks out of our way to Heimian before circling back to Saikan. We were five days into a 4-week journey, but we could have been halfway there by now if Master Feng hadn’t been quite so paranoid.

It had been five days of hell. Every night I slept with one eye open, confident that Kansi was about to stab me in the back, only for her to sleep quite soundly on any watch that wasn’t hers to watch. It was like she was mocking me, just waiting for me to wear myself out before striking. There was nothing I could do but watch and wait for her to make her move…and avoid her as the moon waned ever closer to its darkest face.

“At least the rain has let up. I hope Xinya is alright,” Tenri grumbled. I nodded in agreement.

All day, the rain had poured down on us in great sheets down on us. Thunder and lightning rumbled on the horizon, exactly the kind that Xinya had been looking forward to. She refused to come with us on our job, saying that she needed to focus on her advancement. The image of the little girl standing on the top of the lighthouse, daring the lightning to strike, filled me with an inexplicable pride and joy, even as I was quite certain she wasn’t that stupid. At the same time, part of me was sad that I wasn’t there. This job had a limited window of opportunity, and I desperately needed to see my sister, but that didn’t mean that I felt good about leaving my disciple alone to reach Leaf on her own.

Not that there was much I would be able to do if I were there. We’d reviewed the lessons, she knew how to draw the qi in once it was available, and she knew how to fold it into her core. The rest she had to do on her own. She’d been incredibly nonchalant about the prospect of having to do it all on her own, but I still wished I could have provided some kind of moral support. I was her master, after all.

“Is that your daughter?” Kansi asked. I shook my head.

“My disciple. She’s trying to cultivate a core of lightning,” I explained. “I, however, have extremely little experience with that, as a void artist.”

“It’s a tricky one to master, from what I understand,” she agreed. “But I’m sure she’ll be fine. Leaf isn’t so bad. My master dangled me off a cliff by my ankle to get my first wind qi.” I snorted. That sounded like something Jinshi would do.

Just then, a crate crashed to the ground, followed intense shouting.

“You fool of a child!” shouted Master Feng. “That crate is worth more than your wages for ten years!”

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“I’m sorry, sir!” cried the apprentice who’d clearly messed up.

“He’s quite a charmer to his underlings,” Kansi noted, sarcasm thick in her voice.

“So, it would seem,” I mused. The sudden sound of a slap echoed through the clearing, and I fought the urge to jump to my feet and run to the child’s defense. It would do no good if I were to interfere. The apprentice would still be punished, just at a different time, and likely far worse.

“Anyone else notice that the apprentices are all very young?” she continued.

Tenri nodded. “Master Feng has a reputation in the area for starting his apprentices young, supposedly so they can learn early.” He removed his glasses to clean them. “Personally, I always figured it was because the older apprentices realized they could do better and left.”

“‘The moon took one look at the world around him and saw none of the beauty he was promised,’” Kansi recited, making me flinch. “‘The beautiful things soured in his mind, for they were only a mask to hide the ugliness of strife, starvation, and cruelty.’”

Of all the things, she had to start reciting passages from the Legend of the Darkened Moon? How subtle, I grumbled silently. Biting my lip to keep from snapping at her for her choice of phrase, I looked away.

The shouting around us turned to screams, and suddenly one of the wagons was being consumed by a blue and silver fire that roared up to the heavens. The three of us leapt to our feet and rushed around the wagons to see the danger. There, in the middle of the circled wagons, was an enormous fox with five whipping tails. It screeched angrily, adding its voice to the chaos.

“It’s a fox demon!” Kansi shouted. The mortals scurried away. Caravan guards dragged the apprentices back before the brilliant blue fires around the silver fox caught hold of them.

This was no ordinary spirit beast. Its muzzle was just a hair too long and the fur was painted with red stripes. This was a full-blooded kitsune, and a fairly old one judging by the number of tails. Behind one ear, a purple striped flower was tied into its mane, displaying its allegiance for all to see.

The fox howled, raising its muzzle. Overhead, a blue mote of fox fire grew until it was the size of a melon. The yokai flung its head and the mote flew towards one of the caravans.

Kansi rushed to the defense. The third sword in her possession flashed from its sheath, slicing the mote cleanly in half with a gust of wind. The two halves dissipated into smoke and qi, and Kansi landed on the ground, ready to fight.

“Now this is more interesting,” she called with a grin. “Almost makes the detour worth it!”

I nocked an arrow to my string, but didn’t draw it. We’d heard a falling crate and Master Feng shouting, but the fox had appeared only after. Had it been stalking us? Waiting for the perfect distraction?

My eyes drifted back to the flower woven into its mane. It was allied with Chouko, and I didn’t want to hurt it.

“Back off,” I called to Kansi.

“What?!”

Master Feng was equally confused. “What are you doing?! Killing yokai is your job! Protect my goods!”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” I answered. “Killing yokai isn’t my job, protecting your caravan is.”

I stepped forward, examining the fox as it growled at me. Moon qi shimmered around it, and I smiled. Leave it to a kitsune to fabricate an illusion to cause a ruckus. If the big, angry fox was just an illusion, then the real one was…

Turning towards the wagons, I approached the one that was on fire. The horse was panicking, trying to break free of its harness while two of the older apprentices frantically tried to free it before the flames could reach its tail. I rushed over, dissolving the straps entirely before yanking the two apprentices out of the way as the horse charged off into the forest.

“Are you both alright?” I asked them. They nodded, scared out of their wits, but I didn’t have time to soothe them at the moment. They gripped each other in fright, and I turned to the wagon. Crackling fire and smoke filled the air with heat, but it was the heat of moon qi which held no real bite. I peered through the flames, only to catch sight of a tiny silver tail darting through the goods.

At the end of the day, kitsune are tricksters. Some have good motives, others wicked, but they almost always carry out their tasks with trickery and guile instead of a fight. Everything here was fake, from the enormous fox to the flames. What wasn’t fake, was the yokai rifling through Master Feng’s merchandise for things to steal.

“Excuse me,” I whispered in the yokai tongue, hopping into the burning wagon. “I want to make a deal.”

A chittering sound echoed from between the crates before three tiny fluffballs emerged to sit quietly before me. They were smaller than a real fox, only about the size of a housecat, and between them they had a total of ten tails: one with four, and two with three. They waved their tails around as they stared me down with big eyes.

“You speak our tongue!” said one.

“It’s a bit old, though,” said another.

“He speaks like Flower Friend, does!” completed the third. “Old timey and accented!”

They chittered together before the middle one spoke again. “What deal do you make, Void Spirit?” I winced. Of course, masters of illusion would recognize a being outside its true form.

“I want you to send a message to your Flower Friend,” I said. “What will that cost?”

They chittered briefly amongst themselves. Though they were speaking the yokai tongue, there were many words interspersed through their speech that were meaningless to me. The language had morphed over time, it seemed. I’d have to update my vocabulary.

“This cart,” they ultimately said.

“You can’t have that, yet. I’m supposed to be guarding it,” I pulled a small coin purse from my sleeve and tossed it to them. They sniffed it curiously. “What if you take this, for now as payment.” They conferred again.

“We will bring the message, for this coin, and one good warning scratch on the gold keeper!” they insisted. “He is wicked! Deserves every drop of blood we spill!”

“As long as it’s not lethal...or life threatening,” I answered. They offered a paw, and I took it, letting qi flow briefly between us to seal the deal.

“What is the message?”

“Tell Chouko that her brother would like to talk to her, and that I’ll be accompanying this caravan to Saikan whenever she wants to drop by.”

They nodded. Then, with a puff of blue fire, they were gone. A moment later, the flames died down, but a terrified shout came from outside. I ducked out of the wagon to see three blurs of silver shredding Master Feng’s right arm, the one with which he would write.

As quickly as they arrived, the kitsune fled into the woods, and their illusion fox dissolved into smoke.

“You! You!” Feng shouted at me. I approached him.

“Master Feng, the goods are saved. With some repairs to the horse’s harness, we can continue.”

“You let those little rats attack me! I’ve been mortally wounded!” he hissed. I glanced at his arm. It was bleeding, but only barely. With a few bandages and a few days, he’d be just fine. The kitsune had kept their word. They were not malevolent spirits, after all.

“They said it was a warning,” I said flatly. “I don’t think they like how you do business.”

“What should I care about some yokai rats?!”

“They’re foxes.”

“I don’t care! Just…just…” I raised an eyebrow at the fuming man as he tried desperately to find the courage to criticize me further. “Just get the crates stowed. We set out at first light and not a second later!”

The rest of the caravan scrambled to prepare everything for the night’s rest. Meanwhile, Kansi and Tenri joined me as I watched Master Feng distastefully.

“That was a clever deal,” Kansi noted. “I’ve never known fox spirits to be so hostile towards people.”

“It is strange,” I answered. They had acted on Chouko’s behalf, as evidenced by her flower in their illusion. She wanted this man dead. For my sweet, little sister, praised as the purest spirit among the three Tsuyuki children, to want his blood so badly…I had to wonder what crimes he was guilty of.

What kind of monster was I dealing with?