“Innkeeper, do you happen to have four vacant rooms?”

The voice came again. The plump innkeeper snapped back to his senses and hurriedly waved his hands at the four men. “No, no. Forget four rooms—even one is unavailable. Too many merchant caravans have come through Ningxia Town these past two days. All three inns in town have been full for ages.”

The rumble of carriages and the neighing of horses drifted past. The fading crimson glow of the setting sun bathed the bustling little town in the west. Beneath the eaves, the four scholars carrying book chests looked at one another in dismay.

They then asked the innkeeper where else they might find lodging. The plump innkeeper had intended to brush them off without saying anything, but a passerby who had been watching the spectacle at the entrance for quite some time jokingly pointed toward the northern foothills outside the town.

“There’s a temple in the mountains. The four of you could spend the night there.”

“You’re just asking for trouble! Afraid things aren’t lively enough?” The plump innkeeper raised a hand as if to smack him. Laughing, the man dodged aside and ran off.

“Gentlemen, don’t listen to him. There’s no such place in the mountains as—”

He turned back around, only to find the space beneath the eaves already empty. Looking into the distance, he saw the four scholars with their book chests already about to run out through the town gate.

The plump innkeeper hurried after them a couple of steps and shouted at the top of his lungs.

“Hey! Come back! I’ve still got a woodshed left! I’ll let you have it cheap!!”

His voice was swallowed by the bustling noise. Before long, night descended, and a hazy mist spread through the mountains. From time to time, distant wolf howls echoed from the far-off peaks. Four lanterns drifted through the thin fog, swaying in the hands of the four scholars as they illuminated the mountain path beneath their feet.

“The four of us rendered the merit of opening the city gates. Now that we’ve finally found a wise lord to serve, wouldn’t it have been better to take the official road straight to Chang’an? But no—you just had to insist on taking the mountain path. Now we don’t even have a place to stay.”

“Ask Ma Liu about that.”

“Why ask me? Didn’t all of you agree at the time? Besides, going this way heads straight north to Chang’an. It’s much shorter.”

“Shorter my foot!”

“It’s the middle of the night. Don’t say such unlucky things. Have you forgotten the fox spirit at the Mountain God Temple? Or what happened at Brother Chongwen’s home?”

The shortest of the four, Zhao Tang, walking at the rear, shrank his neck and quickly spoke in a hushed voice.

“Watch your words, watch your words. Every time we travel at night, something bad happens.”

The three men in front stopped in their tracks and turned around in unison to look at him. Zhao Tang nearly walked into them. Taking half a step back, he glanced at the three of them. “Why are you all looking at me?”

The three of them spoke almost simultaneously. “Pah!”

“Shut up!”

“…Oh.”

The scholar at the back—the shortest of the four, with a round, chubby face—responded meekly as he followed his three sworn brothers through a patch of woods. Suddenly, a wolf’s howl rang out nearby. He swallowed hard, and the four of them instinctively huddled together, inching forward.

“What do we do now? The Four Talents of Jiangnan have only just managed to make something of ourselves. Don’t tell me we’re going to end up in a wolf’s belly.”

“Hey, there’s a light over there!”

“We’re saved! Hurry!”

The rustling of hurried footsteps spread through the forest as the four dashed toward it. Their swaying lanterns flashed past a stone stele engraved with the three characters ‘Lanruo Temple’ before they caught sight of the firelight inside the temple gates and shoved one another as they rushed in.

Inside, the fire flickered. A scholar in tattered robes sat beside the campfire, roasting a flatbread over the flames. The sudden arrival of the four startled him as well.

The two sides stared at each other for a long moment before the lone scholar finally rose to his feet.

“You four are…?”

The four men standing frozen at the entrance quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Judging from experience, anyone who spoke like that was undoubtedly human.

They immediately cupped their hands in greeting. “The same as you, Brother—we’re seeking shelter for the night.”

Since they were all human, there was nothing to fear. They gathered around the fire to warm themselves, sitting together as they chatted and laughed. Before long, the conversation turned to the classics and literary learning. The solitary scholar, who rarely had the chance to meet four such well-read men, gradually forgot the unease he had felt earlier in the town below the mountain.

“My surname is Ning, given name Caichen.”

The four scholars cupped their hands together and replied in unison. “Wang Feng, Ma Liu, Zhang Ti, Zhao Tang.”

Scholar Ning paused for a moment. Putting their names together formed the phrase fengliu tìtǎng—”dashing and debonair.” He could not help but laugh.

What an odd quartet of scholars.

Still, it was a pleasant thing to gather together and discuss the classics.

Rustle… rustle…

The night wind swept through the woods outside the temple, carrying with it the sound of footsteps treading across fallen leaves. The five men stopped talking and turned their heads nervously.

A burly man entered, wearing a bamboo hat and a cloak, with a long-handled saber in one hand.

The firelight flickered across half his face, revealing a jaw covered in rough stubble. His voice was hoarse and curt.

“Resting.”

With that, he flicked open his cloak, carried the saber to the far side of the temple, leaned against a pillar, lowered the brim of his hat, and seemed to fall asleep.

“That man… I think I’ve seen him before.”

Ning Caichen shifted where he sat, edging a little closer to the four beside him, and lowered his voice. “When I entered town this afternoon, I saw people chasing him on the road. They seemed to be trying to seize something he was carrying. Under that cloak, he only has one arm.”

Among the four, Zhao Tang tugged at the sleeves of his three sworn brothers.

“That man looks familiar. I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere before.”

“Don’t talk so much. Mind our own business.”

Just then, a gust of wind swept several fallen leaves through the temple entrance. The five men’s vision blurred for an instant, and a figure carrying a large wooden chest suddenly appeared in the doorway.

The newcomer had a thick beard, heavy brows, and fierce tiger-like eyes. At a single glance, all five scholars shuddered involuntarily and hurriedly scooted farther into the corner.

“Resting.”

He, too, uttered the same brief word. Glancing at the figure in the bamboo hat leaning against the pillar, he stamped lightly on the ground, leapt onto a crossbeam, and lay down on his side, looping the rope attached to the wooden chest around the beam to secure it.

“Two people with killing intent this heavy… This is no place to linger. We should leave at once.”

“There are wolves outside.”

“Then let’s wait a little longer. When two tigers fight, one is bound to be wounded. We can simply sit tight and watch.”

The four scholars, along with Ning Caichen, retreated into the corner, huddling around the fire for warmth. None of them dared sleep. Their eyes remained fixed warily, darting back and forth between the figure on the beam and the one beneath the temple pillar.

Awooo—

The distant howl of wolves echoed long and mournfully through the mountains. Cold moonlight bathed the forest outside the temple, while the rustling of leaves drifted on the wind. Behind the temple, white mist gradually began to billow from an old, deep well.

Hehehe…

As the leaves overhead trembled, a woman’s silvery laughter suddenly rang through the night sky. Accompanied by a gust that swept fallen leaves toward the temple entrance, the laughter drifted inside.

The four scholars all shivered at once. They looked at one another, each seeing the same unmistakable sense of déjà vu in the others’ eyes.

“Brothers, what’s wrong?”

“Something bad is about to happen. If you trust us, run with us.” Zhang Ti pulled Ning Caichen to his feet and backed toward the wall with his three sworn brothers. Before they could even pick up their book chests, a delicate fragrance wafted in through the temple entrance as two graceful figures—one dressed in white, the other in red—stepped across the threshold.

“Why, Sister, look how many people we have today.”

The woman who entered first, her gauzy dress trailing across the floor, had skin as fair as snow. Beneath the thin veil of her flowing dress, the graceful curves of her long legs could be faintly seen. Her jet-black hair was piled high and secured with a jade hairpin that swayed gently with each step.

The other woman, dressed in crimson gauze and barefoot, rose onto her tiptoes beside the woman in white. Her alluring eyes drifted toward the scholars huddled in the corner, and the smile on her face suddenly froze.

“Sister… those four look awfully familiar.”

“Hm?”

The woman in white let out a puzzled hum.

At the same moment, the hair on the four scholars’ bodies stood on end. Their eyes widened as they stared dumbfounded at the two women standing in the doorway.

“Aren’t they the two fox demons from back then?!”

“So, it’s the four young gentlemen who escaped from us sisters all those years ago.” The woman in white recognized them as well. Swaying her slender waist, she ran a crimson-painted fingertip lightly across her lips. “Who would have thought the four of you missed us sisters so dearly that you’ve come looking for us again?”

Moonlight streamed through the temple entrance. Ning Caichen glanced back and forth between the four scholars. He had only caught the words fox demons and had no idea what was going on.

The four swallowed nervously, their pale faces drenched in cold sweat. Seeing that the man in the bamboo hat still hadn’t moved an inch, they realized they could only rely on themselves.

We should be able to manage…

Wang Feng took a deep breath, clenched his fists, and strode forward.

“Cease your nonsense! We four are scholars steeped in the classics. How could we possibly lust after the beauty of you two demons? Though you have cultivated yourselves into human form, you know neither shame nor decency. You commit depraved acts and take innocent lives. Have you no regard for the arduous cultivation that brought you this far?”

The more he spoke, the more impassioned he became. Standing before the others with both arms spread wide, he gestured forcefully as his voice grew sonorous and resolute.

“You have stolen the spiritual essence of Heaven and Earth to attain the Dao, yet instead of doing good, you invite the wrath of both gods and men. Heaven itself will condemn you, and Earth will destroy you! We scholars cultivate the righteous qi within our hearts. We wish for nothing more than to avenge the innocent dead—even if it means devouring your flesh alive!”

“Our Great Sui Emperor is wise in letters and accomplished in arms, sweeping away the Six Directions and subduing the Eight Wastelands, establishing peace for the common people. Our Crown Prince is virtuous and enlightened. When he inherits the imperial mandate, he will surely bring everlasting peace to all under Heaven and establish boundless virtue throughout the realm. You vile demons bring calamity upon all living beings and slaughter the innocent. Your destruction is but a matter of time. Soon your souls shall be scattered to the winds—”

His words fell with the force of cleaving iron.

Wang Feng slowly lowered his arms. Looking at the two fox demons opposite him, who merely smiled without the slightest reaction, he smacked his lips awkwardly.

“Um… I’m finished.”

He turned his head to look back at Ning Caichen and his three sworn brothers.

“This elder brother has done all he could.”

“Now that you’re finished, it’s our sisters’ turn.”

At the temple entrance, the two graceful figures glided forward, their feet hidden beneath flowing gauze, making not the slightest sound. In soft, seductive voices tinged with mockery, they called out,

“Young gentlemen… do enjoy yourselves.”

The next instant, the wind burst into a shrill whistle.

Clang!

The sharp ring of metal striking metal echoed through the temple. Sparks erupted beneath the feet of the red- and white-robed fox demons as a slender saber embedded itself in the ground before them, its blade quivering faintly.

The white fox followed the blade to where it had come from and looked toward the temple pillar.

“So, you’re done playing dead and want to play the hero instead.”

Over there, the figure leaning against the pillar rose to his feet, one hand gripping his saber with its tip resting against the ground. Beneath his spread-open cloak, his left sleeve hung empty. At his waist hung several ghastly blue-faced, fanged heads, along with a single crimson fox tail.

The red fox needed only one glance before her pupils contracted violently. Grabbing her elder sister’s arm, she stammered,

“Th-that’s my fox tail… H-he’s the swordsman from that night!”

To a beast, the one who had once wounded it was a source of instinctive fear. Realizing things had taken a turn for the worse, the two fox demons conjured a demonic gale and fled straight out of the temple.

“Grandmother! Someone’s trying to destroy Lanruo Temple!”

A flash of saber light ripped across the ground, cleaving the threshold apart. The instant splinters exploded into the air, the blade-light shot after the fleeing fox demons.

Boom!

The earth burst apart as rocks and soil exploded upward. A black figure erupted from below the ground, rising to meet the saber light head-on.