Tracing the Light - Chapter 2

A cultivation disciple with an inflated opinion of himself and no idea of his own limits put an end to that routine.

His ambush failed, and the Demon Lord captured him instead.

The Demon Lord tore out his spiritual channels, stripping him of his cultivation, then found the weakest yao he could to beat him.

A single stroke could have ended the man’s life, but the Demon Lord deliberately kept him alive.

To be the proud chief disciple of a cultivation sect, only to suffer humiliation at the hands of a yao he despised—what a devastating blow to his pride.

It showed me just how deeply the Demon Lord hated the sects.

I began to worry about my clan. I could no longer sit around waiting for disaster.

I was trying to think of a way out when the Demon Lord returned, his face deathly pale and a layer of frost coating his body.

He lifted me from the couch, tucked me against his chest, and pushed five icy fingers into my fur. The cold made me jump.

My fur bristled. I leaped to the floor and bared my teeth at him in protest.

A low laugh rose from his throat. “Angry? It is colder today. No wonder you can’t bear it. All right, go out and wander a little. I’ll regulate my breathing and resist the cold myself.”

Just like that, my chance had arrived.

I flew to Mount Sichen to find the weasel spirit. Rodents were clever by nature, and she always had more ideas than anyone.

I asked her how to rescue my clan.

She covered her mouth and smiled. “Your fox clan is known for its beauty. And men, well… their hearts are softest when they’re in bed.”

I wanted to ask more, but she merely gave me a look that said some things had to be understood without being spoken.

I only half understood what she meant.

Still, the Demon Lord was impervious to weapons. If his heart softened enough to give me an opening, all I needed was a place to stick my knife.

Once you grasped the important part, you could ignore the little details.

The Demon Lord’s sleeping quarters were heavily guarded. Outsiders could not get in.

But a pet he held in his arms all the time could go wherever she pleased.

He was sitting on his bed in meditation, his spiritual power battling the Ice Curse.

Heaven was on my side.

Fox paws were no good for gripping a knife and stabbing someone. I took human form and crept onto the bed.

I reached out to locate his heart.

His clothes were in the way. With my hand pressed against his brocade robes, I could not feel a heartbeat.

I pulled his outer robe aside, tugged open the next layer, and finally opened his innermost garment.

At last, his bare chest was in sight. I laid a hand against it. A faint beat throbbed beneath my palm. Excellent.

I was about to draw my blade and stab him when someone suddenly seized my right hand.

“Who are you?” The monster’s voice was colder than the ice on his body.

Trembling, I looked up at him. The Demon Lord frowned and tightened his grip on my wrist. “How did you get in?”

I knew that his spiritual power was occupied fighting the curse and that, for the moment, he could not do much to me.

But once that cold, murderous air rose around him, fear became instinctive.

I sprang off the bed and ran.

Foxes excelled at illusions. With a flick of my fingers, I sent a phantom darting out the window while I returned to fox form, lay down on the desk, and went to sleep.

Naturally, no one could catch an illusion.

The Demon Lord saw me sound asleep on the couch, drooling over whatever delicious thing I was eating in my dreams.

He never suspected me.

Having escaped so luckily, I went on using the same trick.

After that, I tried to assassinate him again and again. Each time, I attacked while tugging him toward the bed, then fumbled with his robes in search of his heart.

Eventually, he ran out of patience. He held a blade to my throat and demanded to know what I was trying to do.

My knees went weak with fear. I copied the weasel spirit, reclining halfway onto the bed, covering my mouth with a little laugh, and repeating her words in a sultry voice.

He stared at me in silence. Then he pressed a hand to his forehead and sighed. “She meant you should seduce me.”

Seduce him? I’d never done that. I didn’t think I’d be very good at it.

The Demon Lord threw me out and told me to crawl back to wherever I had come from.

If I interfered with his cultivation again and caused his power to go out of control, he would kill me.

The utterly wicked monster hadn’t killed me? Lying on the grass, I found that rather remarkable.