Chapter Three

When the Blood-Handed Scholar died, he still had a smile on his face.

The smile wasn't a contorted pain, nor a grotesque expression of fear, but rather a satisfied, dazed look, like someone waking from a beautiful dream only to find it's still dark and has closed their eyes to sleep again. His eyes were half-open, pupils unfocused, lips slightly parted, the upward curve of his mouth still lingering. If it weren't for the five claw marks on his chest, oozing blood, anyone seeing his face would have thought he was simply asleep.

When the nine-tailed fox's five claws were pulled from his heart, they brought with them a ball of dark red light. That was the Blood Demon Golden Core, the culmination of thirty years of arduous cultivation by the Blood Hand Scholar. It was the size of a fist, its surface covered with fine, blood-red patterns, like a beating heart compressed into a bead. The instant the Golden Core left his body, it was as if all the moisture had been drained from the Blood Hand Scholar's body. His skin shriveled at a visible speed, his muscles atrophied, and his bones collapsed. In less than three breaths, he became a skeletal, dried-up corpse.

The nine-tailed fox spirit in her maiden form sat atop the mummified corpse, looking down at the golden core spinning in her paw. She tilted her head, as if examining a freshly baked pastry. She extended her pink tongue, licking from the base to the tip of the core, then gently bit down on the top—

The golden elixir split open like a ripe fruit.

Thick, dark red liquid gushed from the crack, emitting a strange scent mixed with rust and musk. The nine-tailed fox tilted her head back, raising the golden elixir to her lips, letting every drop of the liquid flow into her mouth. Her throat bobbed up and down, the sound of her swallowing exceptionally clear in the silent cave, and with each swallow, her demonic aura intensified.

After the golden core was drained, she casually tossed the empty shell aside and let out a satisfied little burp. Then she looked down at her hands—those once tender and immature hands of a young girl were changing. Her knuckles were becoming longer, her nails more rounded, her skin whiter and more delicate, and a faint pink pattern appeared on the back of her hands, like some kind of ancient demonic markings.

Not just her hands, her whole body was changing.

The girl's disguise peeled away like melting wax, revealing the true form of the nine-tailed fox spirit. But compared to when she first emerged from the Burial Sword Abyss, she was now ten times more alluring. Her features were more refined than before, every detail as if sculpted anew by the Creator—the curve of her eyes was more captivating, the lines of her nose more graceful, and the fullness of her lips perfectly balanced between a young girl's innocence and a mature woman's voluptuousness. Her skin was almost translucent white, with tiny pink veins pulsating beneath, like living threads weaving some kind of eerie pattern.

The most significant change was in her nine tails. Originally, each tail was only about half a zhang long, but now they were at least twice as long, their fluffy downy hairs clearly defined, emitting a soft pink glow in the dim cave. The white hairs at the tips of each tail had become even more striking, like nine dancing will-o'-the-wisps, swaying lightly behind her. Her hair had also grown longer; the black hair that had once only reached her waist now cascaded down to her ankles, with a few strands of pink highlights that shimmered with an eerie luster in the candlelight.

She stood up and stretched. This movement tensed every curve of her body—her slender waist bent backward, her chest arched forward, and her nine tails all curled up, like nine snakes raising their heads simultaneously. Her bones made a series of subtle cracking sounds, and then she relaxed, appearing even more languid and relaxed.

"The essence of a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator is indeed much stronger than that of a mere sword cultivator in the Qi Refining stage." She spoke in her original voice, which was even more gentle and charming than before, each word like a feather gently scratching at one's heart. "One gulp is equivalent to inhaling the essence of a hundred ordinary cultivators. What a pity, what a pity, there's only one."

She glanced down at the mummified corpse on the stone bed, nudged its head with her toe, and the head rolled off its neck, bounced twice on the ground, and rolled into a corner of the cave. Without even looking at it, she turned and walked out of the cave.

As she emerged from the cave, the moonlight bathed her. Her bare feet swayed gracefully on the cold stone, each step a delicate, swaying movement that drew the eye to her retreating figure. She stopped before a lake halfway up the mountain; its crystal-clear waters reflected the starry sky and the full moon.

She stood by the lake, looking down at the water. Reflected in the water was a woman of otherworldly beauty—fox-like eyes, willow-leaf eyebrows, a delicate nose, cherry lips, snow-white skin, and a seductive figure. Even a cultivator accustomed to beautiful women would gasp at the sight of her. This wasn't the aloof, ethereal beauty of a fairy, but a direct, fiery, and naked allure that made one's heart race, blood boil, and involuntarily conjure up indescribable thoughts.

The nine-tailed fox smiled contentedly at her reflection in the water, tucked a stray hair behind her ear, then turned her head slightly and spoke a sentence to Lin Jingxuan in her mind.

"Isn't this quite comfortable?"

Lin Jingxuan's consciousness twitched violently in the darkness. He knew what she was talking about—Bloody Hand Scholar was dead, another name had been crossed off the list of enemies, and this was the most exhilarating moment he had experienced in the past three months. The instant he saw Bloodhand Scholar turn into a dried-up corpse, he had indeed felt a surge of vengeful pleasure.

Just a trace.

But the nine-tailed fox captured this fleeting pleasure and used it as a weapon to fiercely stab back at her.

“I…” Lin Jingxuan’s voice was hoarse and stiff, “I didn’t…”

"Nothing?" the nine-tailed fox asked with a smile, her voice carrying the ease of a cat playing with a mouse. "Don't you feel comfortable? Or don't you think Bloodhand Scholar deserved to die? I can read your emotions, little swordsman. When you saw that mummified corpse, a hint of pleasure clearly flashed deep in your consciousness, as bright as a firefly in the dark night, you couldn't hide it."

"I did it because he got what he deserved."

"Retribution." The nine-tailed fox chewed the word twice, then let out a meaningful chuckle. "I thought you righteous sword cultivators all valued honorable and honorable killing of your enemies. But you think killing him in this way is retribution—then what's the difference between me and you?"

Lin Jingxuan was cornered.

He wanted to refute her, but found himself speechless. She was right; Bloodhand Scholar's death was utterly disgraceful—lured by a seemingly underage girl, losing his guard during intercourse, and then having his heart ripped out with a single claw, his golden core drained away. For a demonic cultivator at the Golden Core stage, such a death was an utter humiliation. If Lin Jingxuan were still a complete sword cultivator, he would have found this method too dirty, too despicable, too dishonorable. But now, he truly felt that Bloodhand Scholar deserved it.

For a fleeting moment, he even felt a sense of satisfaction.

This feeling of catharsis made him deeply disgusted with himself.

The nine-tailed fox sensed this disgust, and her laughter grew even louder.

"Don't rush to hate yourself." She crouched down, dipping one hand into the lake, letting the cool water wash over her wrist. "You'll hate yourself many more times in the future. I've lived for over a thousand years and seen countless people, but the most interesting are righteous sword cultivators like you. From a young age, you're taught what's right and wrong, what you can and can't do, your minds filled with a bunch of rules and regulations, binding you like dumplings. But once those rules and regulations are shattered, you fall into depravity even faster than those of the demonic path."

"I will not fall into depravity," Lin Jingxuan said, emphasizing each word.

“Every fallen swordsman says the same thing.” The nine-tailed fox shrugged dismissively, a gesture that appeared particularly charming and adorable thanks to her beauty. “Alright, I’m in a very good mood now. Blood Hand Scholar’s ​​golden core has restored a lot of my energy, and you’ve also gotten your revenge. Now, I want to treat myself.”

When she said the word "reward," her tone was as gentle as if she were coaxing a child to sleep, but Lin Jingxuan's hair stood on end.

What are you going to do?

“Do something to please me.” She stood up, water droplets dripping from her fingertips, shimmering like scattered silver in the moonlight. She walked away from the lakeside and sat cross-legged on a large, smooth rock, lifting her skirt to her thighs to reveal two long, slender, white legs. Nine fox tails spread out behind her like a giant blanket on the rock.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

Then, Lin Jingxuan felt the temperature inside the human skin begin to rise.

This time was different from before. When he was being squeezed by the pool before, the feeling of being enveloped came suddenly, as if someone had suddenly grabbed his vital parts. But this time, the temperature rose very slowly, as if a pair of invisible hands were stroking upwards from his calves, the palms warm and soft, leaving a tingling aftertaste with every inch they moved.

"Last time, I was in a hurry to recover my energy, so I acted a bit hastily and didn't let you experience it properly." The nine-tailed fox spoke to him through her consciousness while letting out a long, languid sigh through her external voice. "This time, I have plenty of time. We can take it slow. You're my little toy, and little toys should enjoy being played with by their master. My happiness is your happiness—right?"

Lin Jingxuan gritted his teeth and did not respond.

But the movements within the human skin didn't cease because of his silence. The fine folds seemed to come alive, gathering from all directions to form a warm embrace around his lower body. The embrace didn't tighten immediately, but instead gently rubbed against his skin at an extremely tender pace, like a woman's hands lazily stroking a well-fed cat.

This gentleness was more terrifying than the previous fierce attacks. The fierce attacks could arouse his will to resist and keep him conscious in pain, but this gentle, slow, and unconditional caress was like a slow poison, eroding his defenses inch by inch.

"Look at your body's reaction, what's the use of being stubborn?"

Her voice carried a languid laugh, each word drawn out like the chirping of cicadas under the shade of a tree on a summer afternoon, making one want to close their eyes and fall asleep. But Lin Jingxuan dared not let his guard down. He desperately mobilized his willpower, suppressing these chaotic sensory sensations to the very edge of his consciousness, trying to ignore them.

However, the nine-tailed fox was in no hurry. She sat on a rock, the moonlight shining on her face, shoulders, and legs, making her skin appear like a piece of warm, white jade. She slowly raised her hands and placed them on her collarbones, her fingertips starting from the center of her collarbones and sliding outwards along two graceful arcs, across her shoulders, across her upper arms, and finally placing her hands together on her lower abdomen. Her eyes were closed, her eyelashes casting a faint shadow in the moonlight, and a subtle smile played at the corners of her lips.

She was slowly caressing herself. The human skin felt her caresses and transmitted that feeling back to her. Her movements were extremely slow, each one like savoring a rare treasure. She stroked her slender waist, her flat stomach, her long thighs, and finally placed one hand between her legs.

The instant her fingertips touched him, Lin Jingxuan felt an electric current explode from that point, traveling up his spine and straight to the top of his head. He shuddered and almost cried out—but he bit his throat hard, swallowing the groan back down.

"Why should you endure it?" she said softly with her eyes closed, her tone like she was coaxing a child who refused to take his medicine. "There's no one here, and I'm the only one on the mountain. You can call out if you want."

As she spoke, her fingertips began to move slowly. Each movement was precisely transmitted through the human skin to Lin Kuangxuan's senses, creating a chain reaction within his body. The sensation was like two fingers gently kneading through the inner wall of the skin, the pressure controlled with exquisite precision—not too heavy to cause discomfort, nor too light to be imperceptible, but perfectly positioned at that delicate balance between itch and tingling. Her fingertips traced circles along a certain line repeatedly, each circle complete and even, the slowness almost agonizing.

Lin Jingxuan's breathing became rapid. He felt a surge of heat rising from deep within his lower abdomen, spreading outwards along his meridians, leaving his limbs and bones feeling numb and weak under its influence. His consciousness trembled violently in the darkness, a fierce battle raging between reason and instinct within his mind. One side cried out for blood feuds and the dignity of a swordsman, while the other was steadily defeated by the relentless onslaught of pleasure.

Then, she released part of her control over Lin Jingxuan's body.

Not all—only a part. She loosened the core soft tissue around his genitals, exposing his organs to the cavity within the skin. But at the same time, she transmitted the sensations of her fingers and palms to him without reservation, in sync.

It was an extremely strange feeling—he could simultaneously perceive signals from two sensory systems. One was from his own body, the sensation of being enveloped in a warm cavity; the other was from her fingertips, the sensation of her caressing his surface. The two signals converged, overlapped, and amplified in his consciousness, forming a stimulating loop he had never experienced before.

When she touches him, it's as if he touches her. When he touches her, it's as if she touches him. The two are trapped within the same skin membrane, their feelings infinitely amplified through sharing.

"Mmm...uh..." Her fingertips suddenly pressed against an extremely sensitive protrusion, giving it a gentle squeeze—

Lin Jingxuan shuddered violently, a low groan escaping his throat. The reaction to that spot being pressed almost drove him to the brink of collapse. He felt that spot rapidly heating up and hardening, like a tiny pearl pushing out from under his skin. The moment he realized what it was, a strong sense of shame surged through him—it was a certain point on a woman's body.

"Can you feel it?" She repeated the action two or three times, each time at the same spot, each time with just the right amount of force. "Does my body look good?"

nice.

Lin Jingxuan roared inwardly in denial, but his senses wouldn't lie. The tactile sensation of human skin was too real; he could clearly perceive every detail of this body—the slender waist, the flat stomach, the long legs, and the soft, smooth skin around the sensitive spot his fingertips touched. It was a body of unparalleled beauty; every inch of skin, every curve, every indentation was perfect, like a work of art sculpted by the hand of a god.

She stopped drawing and started drawing circles. Her fingertips circled the hard dot again and again, the circles getting bigger and bigger, the pressure increasing, until she pinched it and gently rolled it. Human skin faithfully translated these tactile sensations into sensory signals that Lin Jingxuan could understand. In that instant, his reason felt like it had been thrown into a pot of molten syrup—scalding, sticky, making him feel feverish and unable to escape.

"Open your eyes and look down."

She loosened her control over Lin Jingxuan's eyes slightly, allowing his consciousness to see the outside world through her eyes. He "opened his eyes" and saw a lake under the moonlight, its surface shimmering as if sprinkled with shattered silver. Then her gaze lowered to her own reflection in the water.

He saw a stunningly beautiful woman sitting on a rock with her long, fair legs slightly apart, one hand pressed between her legs as she performed some kind of private act.

The stunning beauty bit her lower lip, her cheeks flushed, her brows furrowed, and her eyes shimmering. She looked both pained and ecstatic, her expression dreamy and alluring. Her fingers moved faster and faster, from gentle rotations to rapid trembling, and her exquisite body, reflected in the water, trembled slightly with the movements of her arms.

Lin Jingxuan wanted to close his eyes, but he couldn't control them. His control had loosened only slightly, enough for him to passively receive visual signals, not enough for him to actively shut off his vision. He could only watch helplessly as "himself"—no, not himself, but the skin of the nine-tailed fox—masturbated under the moonlight.

"Look closely. This is my face, and it is also your face." Her voice drifted over softly. "Look at these eyebrows, these lips, this expression—do you find it pleasing? Tell me—looking at this lewd reflection in the water, do you think those beauties who have been immersed in the pleasure quarters for decades could produce this expression? Is she beautiful?"

In the reflection on the water, the corners of the stunning beauty's mouth were slightly upturned, revealing a dreamy smile. Her eyes were half-open, half-closed, and tiny droplets of water clung to her eyelashes, whether from sweat or tears, it was hard to tell. She raised her neck, her long hair cascading down her back, spreading across the lake like black silk rippling in the water.

Lin Jingxuan didn't answer. He was speechless. Because the answer was undeniable—beautiful. In his entire life, he had never seen such a beautiful face. Even his junior sister, Mu Qingge, who was recognized as the most beautiful woman in the sect, would pale in comparison. But it was precisely because this beauty was so breathtaking that his pain was all the deeper—because when he climaxed while looking at this face, his first thought wasn't "She's so beautiful," but rather "She's smiling, why is my face smiling at me?"

The stunning beauty reflected in the water began biting her lip again—her upper teeth biting the center of her lower lip, then slowly releasing it, the bitten lip springing back, becoming even redder and fuller. This action revealed a natural eroticism, as if she were treating a lover, yet also as if she were treating herself.

"Ugh—" A suppressed groan escaped his throat, the sound low and subtle, yet carrying an undisguised pleasure.

The next second, he realized that the sound was also coming from his throat. The nine-tailed fox loosened its control over his throat a little more, forcing him to make his own sound. Hearing himself make such a shameful sound, his shame burned even brighter like dry tinder, and the shame, in turn, stimulated the pleasure transmitted from the human skin—this formed a terrible positive feedback loop, pushing him deeper into the abyss.

“That’s right.” She deepened the movement, twisting her wrist to change the force and angle—from simply stimulating a single point to provoking the entire area.

In the water's reflection, the stunning beauty began to sway her hips. This wasn't the nine-tailed fox controlling her, or at least not entirely. She had slightly loosened her control over his core muscles; the current swaying power came from his involuntary spasms caused by the pervasive pleasure. He wanted to stop, but his body's instincts were like a wild horse, no longer obeying the reins of reason.

He could clearly feel a string being stretched taut, bit by bit. Starting from the coccyx, it went up through the lumbar vertebrae, then through the thoracic vertebrae, straight up to the top of his head. Something extremely intense was accumulating on that string, like a flood about to burst its banks; with each tug, the cracks in the dam widened, threatening to collapse completely at any moment.

He tried desperately to stop it, to hold it in, but the torrent of pleasure washed over every nerve ending in him, and his endurance was as thin as a sheet of paper that was torn apart by the flood.

"Soon...soon...I'm almost there too..." she murmured to herself with her eyes closed, her voice gradually rising, losing its usual languid composure and replaced by an undisguised, naked lust, "Together, together with me...look in the mirror, look at my face, look at your own face—"

"Sumiguchi—!"

Lin Jingxuan roared with his last ounce of strength. But it was too weak; drowned out by her voice, it was like a pebble thrown into a howling hurricane, causing no ripples whatsoever.

She quickened her pace. In the water's reflection, the stunning beauty trembled violently; her waist arched uncontrollably, her legs spasmed, her toes curled, and her hands gripped her hair tightly. And that string—

It's broken.

The dam has burst.

Lin Jingxuan's body felt as if it had been struck by a bolt of lightning from the sky, pierced through from head to toe. He felt himself ejaculate—unlike at the edge of the Burial Sword Abyss Pool, this time he clearly felt every pulsation, every eruption. The moment the liquid gushed out of his body, it was caught completely by the waiting inner walls of his human skin, the folds immediately becoming extremely active, greedily and gently sucking up every drop of liquid, not letting a single drop slip by.

At the same time, the nine-tailed fox also reached her climax. She lay on her back on the rock, her long hair scattered on the ground, her body arched in a beautiful arc, and a long, melodious moan escaped her throat. At this moment, the inner walls of her human skin tightened violently, the folds surging in from all directions, tightly enveloping him in the very center—he could feel the inner walls of her vagina contracting rapidly, an experience completely different from male orgasm—wave after wave of contraction and release crashed over him, every part of his body trembling.

She deliberately shared this female orgasm sensation with him as well. The two orgasmic experiences of different textures overlapped, like two fireworks of different colors exploding simultaneously in his consciousness, dazzling him, making him forget who he was, and making him not know where he was.

He opened his eyes (or she made him open his eyes) and looked at the lake.

The ripples on the lake hadn't yet subsided, but they were enough for him to see his reflection clearly. In the reflection, the stunningly beautiful woman lay limp on the rock, her body flushed, her expression dazed, her lips slightly parted, the tip of her tongue protruding and resting on her lower lip. The redness at the corners of her eyes made her look as if she had just cried or just experienced pleasure. Her breathing hadn't calmed down yet, her chest rising and falling, her legs still in a slightly open position, her whole being exuding a languid, rosy glow from the afterglow of lovemaking.

At that moment, Lin Jingxuan's consciousness experienced an extremely brief period of confusion.

He saw the face reflected in the water—a face that was extremely alluring, extremely blushing, and extremely satisfied—and a voice suddenly popped into his mind, as light as a breeze, yet so clear that he couldn't ignore it.

This face looks like his.

The thought was like a red-hot needle, piercing straight into the deepest part of his consciousness. He shuddered, suppressing it with all his might, throwing it into the darkest corner, and using every ounce of willpower he could muster to shut it up. But the thought was already there; even suppressed, it remained, like a seed buried in the soil, waiting to sprout one day.

The nine-tailed fox sensed the fluctuation of his thought. She lay on the rock, gazing at the starry sky, a satisfied smile slowly curving her lips. Her smile contained contentment, pride, and a subtle, indescribable expectation.

"Alright." She took back all control of Lin Jingxuan's body, gently pressing him down deep within his consciousness, like tucking a tantrum-throwing child back into bed and covering him with a blanket. "It's time to sleep, little sword cultivator. I'm tired."

Lin Jingxuan did indeed need rest. After that climax, his consciousness felt completely drained; he lay limp inside the human skin, too weak to even move a finger. He had experienced an orgasm, and he had a reason to rest. But both carried her scent, a scent that seeped through the human skin into his consciousness, leaving him nowhere to escape, either physically or mentally.

The nine-tailed fox sat up from the rock, her movements slow and unhurried. She scooped up some lake water to wash her hands and face, then straightened her dress—which was originally a human skin transformed into something else, but she restored it to its original neatness with a mere thought. She smoothed her hair in the water, tucking stray strands behind her ears to reveal her full facial features. In her reflection in the water, the stunningly beautiful woman remained breathtakingly beautiful, but with a hint of satisfied languor in her eyes, like a fox who had just enjoyed a sumptuous meal.

“Tomorrow.” She stood up, turned, and walked into the depths of the forest, her nine fox tails swaying lightly behind her like nine pink banners. “Tomorrow, I’ll help you find your next enemy. The rest on the list, one by one. But I have something to discuss with you—I want payment after each kill. After all, the payment you just gave me… ha, it was tainted by that bastard Bloodhand Scholar’s ​​stench, I wasn’t quite satisfied.” She tapped her luscious lower lip with her finger, her tone carrying a languid yet sweet threat, “Next time, I’ll make you pay even more carefully.”

Lin Jingxuan remained silent. In the darkness, he saw that inappropriate thought flash again in the corner.

He closed his eyes. He forced himself to fall asleep.