Chapter 1

After I set my heart on mastering All Swords Return, my master wept and begged me to practice something else.

All because every time I trained, the sect lost another hundred swords.

By day my senior brothers and sisters carried out justice, and by night they had to crawl around the back mountain in the dark, bottoms in the air, hunting for lost swords.

If I kept at it, our sect's disciples would soon be fighting demons with their bare hands.

But my senior siblings wouldn't hear of it. They forced smiles, patted my head, and comforted me:

"It's fine. As long as our youngest sister wants to learn, that's what matters. We can manage."

Later, the demons grew bolder and bolder.

They not only founded a Demon Sword Sect, they also threw down a taunt:

"We demons have more swords than we know what to do with now."

My senior siblings exchanged a glance and a smile, and that very night sent me off to sign up.

1

My senior brother and sister worried the whole way there. More than once they wanted to change their minds and take me back to the sect.

I understood. They were afraid I'd lose my little life before I ever got the swords back.

So I thumped my chest and swore:

"Senior brother, senior sister, don't you worry!"

"On this trip, not only will I haul every single one of our sect's swords home, I'll also swipe every treasure those demons have, so they'll never dare show off again!"

With that, I gripped my shapeshifting stone tight, turned into an ordinary fox spirit, and swaggered right into demon territory.

I hadn't expected the demons to build even a brand-new sect this grandly. The floor tiles were laid from whole slabs of obsidian.

No wonder everyone else envied the demons so. In their place, I'd have gone green too.

After all, our Spirit Sword Sect's mountain gate stood bare, without even a decent pair of stone lions, never mind fancy floor tiles.

Demons stood in a long line outside the Demon Sword Sect, all waiting to sign up and join.

Only when I got closer did I see the hound demon crouched at the gate.

Every demon who entered had to pass under his nose first.

My heart lurched.

If he sniffed out that I was a Spirit Sword Sect disciple, wouldn't I be caught on the spot?

The thing I feared came for me.

The hound demon gave a sharp sniff and started barking straight at me.

Terrified, I covered my face, spun around, and ran.

He chased hard, herding me right into a fox den.

I'd turned into a fox in the first place because the fox scent was the strongest of all.

So I figured surely now he wouldn't be able to smell me out.

But the fox sisters inside were doing their makeup at their mirrors when the hound demon barged in and started checking them one by one.

I shrank behind one of the fox sisters and struck up conversation, feigning calm:

"Is this hound demon's nose really that sharp?"

The fox sister rolled her eyes at the hound demon from across the den and said sourly:

"Of course. Everyone knows those mad dogs have the keenest noses in the whole Demon Realm. If anyone from outside the demons sneaks in, he'll drag them out for sure."

I pressed down the panic on my face and asked carefully, "Then how do you keep him from smelling you out?"

Without even looking up, the fox sister answered offhandedly:

"Simple. Find yourself a demon mate and cultivate together. You'll pick up the demon scent naturally."

I froze on the spot.

Find a mate? The sect never taught me anything about that.

Seeing my blank face, the fox sister only grew more interested. She fished a packet of scented powder out of her makeup box and pressed it into my hand:

"Silly little fox, one look and I can tell you just learned to shapeshift. Haven't had your first taste yet, have you?"

"There's nothing to be shy about over a little sleeping around. If you don't know how your first time, just use this fox powder of mine. There's no beast it can't handle!"

I nodded, none the wiser, and asked weakly, "But how do I even find a mate..."

The fox sister thought for a moment and answered offhandedly, "You need me to teach you that too? Whoever you think is good-looking, that's your one."

I breathed a sigh of relief at once. So washing off my scent was this easy!

But looking for someone to sleep with here in the fox den was far too dangerous.

Watching the hound demon press closer and closer toward me, I slicked my feet and darted out through the back of the den.

I thought that would finally shake him off.

But the hound demon still chased after me, relentless.

In my panic I picked the wrong way and ran headlong into a secluded Clearpool Cave.

The hound demon must have been afraid of water. He circled the mouth of the cave a few times but in the end didn't dare come in.

To be safe, I went deeper and deeper into the cave.

Until I dimly made out a huge, looming shape.

I thought it was the master of the cave and was about to ask him to take me in for one night.

Only when I drew close did I see clearly: it was a great black serpent in seclusion.

It was my first time seeing a serpent spirit, so I curiously reached out and touched his scales.

Cold and smooth, they felt wonderful.

The instant my fingertips touched him, the serpent's eyes snapped open.

Jewel-green pupils, glowing faintly in the dim cave.

The fox sister's words suddenly went off in my head.

Wasn't this exactly a ready-made, good-looking mate?

I swallowed and stammered out my question:

"Um... hello, can I sleep beside you tonight?"

Smack.

The great black serpent swatted me straight into the spring water with his tail. Not pleased, it seemed.

Fair enough. Some stranger popping up out of nowhere to squeeze onto your bed would set anyone off.

I crawled out of the water, soaked and sorry-looking, and started apologizing: "Sorry, sorry! I'll get lost right now!"

But the more flustered I got, the more I fumbled.

As I bent over, the fox powder in my arms spilled all over the ground with a poof.

Not only had I made him angry, I'd dirtied his territory too.

Let the mad dog chase me, then. I gave up.

I steeled myself and turned to leave.

But the great black serpent suddenly stopped me, carefully stretching out his tail and coiling it tight around me...