Crossing Paths with a Fox

In the capital of Great Wei, humans and demons lived side by side, and the realm prospered.

The Spirit Pacification Bureau governed the nonhuman races, hunted evil demons and bandits, and settled disputes between humans and demons. Its director, Wu Xiaohan, was human, yet his methods were more ruthless than those of demons.

On the day the army that had been scouring the realm for strange and wondrous creatures for the Thousand Autumns Banquet entered the capital, Wu Xiaohan rode alone before tens of thousands of Wei soldiers. Not one dared take another step.

Tan Ning, caged behind him, stared at the nine fox tails swaying ostentatiously and fell into thought.

...Wasn't that the nine-tailed fox who had saved her three years ago?

Tan Ning had suffered from a strange affliction since childhood: when someone was sick, she wanted to save them; when someone was about to die, she wanted to give them a final push.

Everyone knew that medicinal beasts could identify hundreds of herbs, but few knew that the heart of a medicinal beast could also pierce illusions.

With the heart of a medicinal beast within her, Tan Ning passed the Spirit Pacification Bureau's inspection and stayed on as an envoy from the demon realm.

In other people's eyes, Wu Xiaohan was a human prodigy with a viper's mouth and a wasp's sting, cold-hearted and colder still, more demon than the demons. In Tan Ning's eyes, when his ears perked up and his tail swished, he was nothing but a fox in human skin who desperately needed a good petting.

The only flaw was that whenever she asked if he had ever been to Xueji Valley, he always denied it outright.

Tan Ning thought: My benefactor fox is hiding his identity for some reason. I'll quietly help him through his difficulties.

The Longzhi had two lifelong grudges.

First, it was born with nine heads. Second, its fur was scarlet, worlds apart from the pure, snow-white coat of the celestial fox.

It had stared into the water countless times, then shattered the ugly, terrifying fox reflection over and over. After becoming Wu Xiaohan, it forbade even a trace of red on its person.

But the newly arrived demon envoy wore flashy red every day and was remarkably capable, earning praise throughout the Spirit Pacification Bureau in no time.

She also took advantage of being able to see his true form to hover around him all day, clumsily spouting foolish things.

"Wu Xiaohan, I think red foxes are prettier."

"Wu Xiaohan, nine heads must be smarter than one."

At first, he took her for an ordinary flatterer.

Later, she risked her life for him, then shielded him with her own body in a moment of danger. He still turned away expressionlessly, pretending not to hear his heartbeat losing its rhythm.

It wasn't until one day that he learned that three years ago, outside Xueji Valley, when he ambushed a celestial fox, it had only nine tails left...

Because that celestial fox had just sacrificed a century of its power to save a blind girl.

Only then did he understand that all the kindness he had received had been stolen.

From then on, he had a third grudge.

#Humans pretending to be demons, demons pretending to be human#

#A touch of mystery-solving#

Reading Guide:

1. The Longzhi is a fox-like beast from the Classic of Mountains and Seas, with nine heads and nine tails. You can think of it as the male lead's species.

2. A touch of mystery-solving means the cases are fairly simple and don't focus on intricate methods.

3. An original world of the strange and supernatural, with both demons and monsters.

4. Please feel free to point out typos and grammatical errors.

5. Feel free to leave comments or gifts, but please don't start fights under other people's comments.

6. Slow burn, pure love, and healing.

Theme: Domination in the name of love and justice