There Is a Fox

(Modern setting)

Hey, Sister Daoist.

Do you know how hard it is to be a person these days, and being a demon is even harder?

You dug up my fox den, excavated it, and shoveled it out. You made me use up every last magical treasure and scared my fox cubs half to death. Oh, and one little niece of mine ended up at a pet market, so I have to go buy her freedom myself.

Are you looking for trouble?

You keep coming after our whole family. You Daoists may be trying to meet your quota, but this is no way to do it.

Or maybe, hehe... that time we rolled around together three hundred years ago made the lofty, aloof Daoist Shiwei feel like she'd been defiled by a filthy creature like me. You must've been furious, and hated me so much your teeth were grinding and your heart was trembling.

I'm touched you've kept me in mind.

I'll make this clear: if you come knocking again, I'll deal with you just as I did three hundred years ago. I'll be waiting.

*

Lin Shiwei went down the mountain to exterminate demons as usual, and cleared out a strange matchmaking agency.

Inside, she caught an old fox demon matchmaker, who gave her a sinister smile. One look showed she was an old acquaintance, and a repeat offender.

Later, rumors spread that the usually impartial Fairy Shiwei had been subjected to a terrible humiliation: a bold demon had stripped off her Daoist robe, undone her long black hair, and covered her body in kiss marks.

The news sent shock waves through the entire cultivation world. Daoist Shiwei was now half a step from becoming a Golden Immortal, so just what level of cultivation did that great demon have to be so brazen?

Before she left, her disciple Chiqing knelt and refused to rise. "Abbess, this journey is likely to bring great danger."

"That demon is rather sweet-tempered," Lin Shiwei replied, raising her cool eyes. "Not all that dangerous, really."

Chiqing: "???"

Cool, reserved Daoist with a secret wild side x genuine fox spirit (blurb dated October 7, 2024)

Theme: Face setbacks and difficulties head-on.