A Blind Swordsman's Sword Coffin

Li Guanqi looked at Meng Wanshu, finding her expression rather amusing. She sneaked a finger toward the fish, and he tapped her hand lightly. “It’s not done yet. Wait a little longer.”

Meng Wanshu pulled back with a huff and licked the oil off her finger. “How much longer...”

Li Guanqi stood and rolled up his sleeves, smiling. “Almost there. I’ll go catch a couple more and grill them as well.”

Meng Wanshu nodded eagerly, like a chick pecking at grain. The moment he turned away, she plucked off a piece of fish belly and stuffed it into her mouth.

When Li Guanqi glanced back, she snapped her mouth shut and put on her most innocent look.

Pretending not to notice, he smiled faintly and dove back into the river.

Meng Wanshu chewed slowly, savoring the tender, seasoned meat. Her eyes brightened, curving into crescents in the flickering firelight.

She rested her chin on her hand, content in the quiet, turning the wooden skewer as crickets chirped all around her.

Before long, Li Guanqi returned with two more big fish. He cleaned them with practiced ease and set them over the fire.

They looked at each other, neither sure what to say.

Meng Wanshu pretended nothing had happened, and Li Guanqi gazed at her with tender affection. As for the half-eaten fish, he simply acted as though he hadn’t noticed it.

“That look in your eyes... Are you telling me this fish never had a belly in the first place?”

Meng Wanshu nodded very seriously.

“Hahaha!”

“Haha!”

Drip, drip, drip...

A light rain began to fall.

Li Guanqi casually gathered large leaves from the forest, each about a zhang wide, and stuck several into the ground to form a dry shelter.

The two sat by the fire, eating fish and listening to the rain patter against the leaves. It was peaceful.

Meng Wanshu produced a guqin from somewhere. Her slender fingers brushed the strings, and a soft, flowing melody drifted out.

Li Guanqi sat across from her, watching her play with her head lowered, a faint smile on his lips.

Soon, the music broke off. Both of them frowned and looked toward the depths of the forest.

Slightly annoyed, Meng Wanshu put the guqin away, sat back by the fire, and took a fierce bite of grilled fish.

Li Guanqi’s nose twitched, and his brows furrowed.

“Come out.”

Only the sound of insects and rain answered. Li Guanqi raised a hand and clenched it.

Hundreds of zhang away, a fiery-red figure was hauled up out of the grass and into the air. When Li Guanqi and Meng Wanshu saw the figure in full, both were taken aback. It wasn’t human. Or rather, only its face and frame were somewhat humanoid.

The girl had long fiery-red hair, and her entire body was covered in red fur. Only her pale face was visible, and there were faint traces of blood on her forehead. Most striking of all were her burning red eyes.

Li Guanqi drew her through the air until she hovered before him, then frowned. “Who are you?”

The girl shook all over, head lowered, not daring to meet their eyes.

Meng Wanshu looked her over carefully. Her cultivation was low, only at the Golden Core Realm, and she was badly hurt. Her shoulder blades had been pierced through, as though she’d been suspended from iron hooks. Her fiery-red fur was dull and dry, matted with blood and grime.

A palm-sized burn scarred her cheek, the wound twisting across her face like a writhing centipede. Meng Wanshu also spotted an unfamiliar cloud-patterned mark on her skin.

Meng Wanshu noticed once the girl’s initial fear passed, her eyes kept drifting to the fish heads they had left behind.

Meng Wanshu said softly, “She should be a member of the demon race. She must be starving.”

Li Guanqi released his spatial force, and the girl lost her balance and dropped to the ground. He casually sent the three leftover fish heads over to her.

The girl shot them a grateful glance, then grabbed the fish heads and devoured them. As she ate, tears welled in her eyes and splashed onto the ground in heavy drops.

She crammed the fish heads into her mouth while repeatedly glancing toward the depths of the forest.

Li Guanqi studied her closely, his eyes narrowing in thought.

The girl seemed to sense his scrutiny. She jerked her head up and met his gaze.

Her eyes erupted with a blazing red light, sending a surge of spirit shock straight toward Li Guanqi’s mind.

Boom!

A dull impact rang out.

To Li Guanqi, this force was no more threatening than an ant trying to shake a tree. It couldn’t even breach the defenses around his sea of consciousness, much less harm his Dao platform.

Still, the attack’s strength surprised him. A mere Golden Core Realm demon, capable of such a powerful mental strike?

The girl whipped around to flee, but an ice cage snapped shut around her. Meng Wanshu snorted coldly, killing intent flashing in her eyes.

“You ungrateful thing!” With a flick of her hand, dozens of ice spears formed and shot toward the cage.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The ice spears shattered.

Meng Wanshu frowned at Peng Luo, who now stood before the cage with his eyes squeezed shut.

“Big radish, what is the meaning of this?”

Peng Luo opened his eyes and hurriedly patted himself down. Only after confirming that no ice spears had pierced him did he sigh in relief.

“Uh... Mistress, I mean no harm.”

He glanced at the girl curled up at the edge of the cage, who was trembling nonstop, and sighed.

Peng Luo looked at Li Guanqi. “Master, she probably sensed you watching her. You kept staring into her eyes, so she attacked you first.”

Thinking back, something about the girl’s eyes had indeed struck Li Guanqi as unusual. Those fiery-red pupils seemed to hold flowing flames, and they gave off a strange, mysterious aura. That was why he had stared at them for so long and why she had attacked him.

Li Guanqi frowned. “Do you know what race she belongs to?”

“I do.” Peng Luo’s voice was heavy with mixed emotions. “She’s a Fire-Eyed Demon Fox—a race cursed with an extraordinarily tragic fate.”

The moment Peng Luo revealed her race, despair washed over the girl’s face. Li Guanqi looked at her and noticed the fluffy tail behind her.

Her tear-streaked face went utterly lifeless. A hint of suicidal resolve flashed through her vacant eyes as she raised a hand and struck at her own forehead.

Peng Luo raised his hand and froze her in place. He lowered his head with a sigh. “Don’t do it. We won’t hurt you.”

The girl let out a cold laugh, as if she’d heard the most ridiculous joke in the world.

Her ethereal voice drifted out, slow and cold. “Your expressions are truly disgusting.”

Li Guanqi hadn’t expected her to speak at all. He had assumed she was mute.