The Caged Fox - Chapter 1

1

It had been a very long time since it had rained so hard.

Locked in an animal cage, I watched Mother from a distance, impaled in the middle of the altar.

A sharpened stake ran through her chest. Her body hung limply from it.

The downpour washed every trace of blood from her.

I could see a thin, pale hand dangling beneath her tattered sleeve. Only two days ago, that hand had rested gently against my cheek.

By the next morning, Mother was gone. In her place hung an enormous red fox.

It took more than a dozen imperial guards to lift it off the stake.

The newly appointed Noble Consort patted her chest in alarm. “She really was a demon!”

An old Daoist stroked his beard and smiled smugly. “Of course. Judging by its size, it must have lived for over a thousand years. I have rid this dynasty of a great scourge!”

More and more people came to gawk. Dressed in imperial yellow, the crown prince ran over to the cage and kicked me.

“Pah! You heartless little bastard. Your own mother’s dead, and you’re not even sad!”

I blinked up at him, looking bewildered.

Why should I be sad?

Wasn’t the whole palace already inside my mother’s belly?

2

I wasn’t entirely fox, but I had been born with a fox’s eyes.

To me, the dense layers overhead weren’t storm clouds. They were my mother’s seething, restless spirit.

A fox demon that cultivates for a thousand years and diligently performs a hundred good deeds becomes more than a mere demon. Once it overcomes the seven trials of greed, rage, delusion, hatred, aversion, desire, and love, it can transcend its kind and become an immortal.

Mother had passed six of them.

At the seventh, she fell for my father.

No. Not my father anymore.

His Majesty.

“His Majesty must never see this!” the new Noble Consort ordered the guards. “Clear everyone out! Anyone who gossips about it had better watch their tongue!”

The crowd scattered.

The Noble Consort walked around the red fox and couldn’t help reaching out to stroke its fur, as radiant as crimson clouds.

“Oh, what a rare find,” she murmured greedily. Her almond-shaped eyes lifted meaningfully toward the old Daoist. “It’s been growing colder lately. I’ve been wanting a new fox-fur coat, but I haven’t been able to find a good pelt…”

He understood at once. “Take it, Your Highness. If His Majesty asks, I can hand over any old bundle of ashes.”

The consort smiled, beautiful and regal, and summoned craftsmen to skin the red fox on the spot.

Three men worked for a full four hours.

Yet not a drop of blood stained their blades.

When they rolled the fox onto its back, I saw several huge wounds in its belly. The flesh curled back, but there was no red.

Only a dry, bloodless white.

They lifted its great tail. Several conspicuous old scars remained around the base.

By the time they had finished skinning it, night was falling.

All that remained of Mother’s body was a great, bloodless husk.

The old Daoist doused it in oil and set it alight. In moments, it was reduced to an unremarkable handful of ash.

The consort left with the crown prince, thoroughly pleased.

I was carried off, cage and all, alongside the Daoist and his bundle of ashes, to see the man who had ordered Mother’s death.

My imperial father.