One more catty, one more attribute point

"Yingying, all the girls on the ship say you are a celestial fox, but why do you claim to be a demon? In this world, could there really be such a demon who heals and saves people?"

Guan River, Red Chamber, the ninth floor.

The mist above the river had not yet dispersed, and inside one of the inconspicuous rooms.

A girl about sixteen or fifteen years old, as delicate and pretty as a porcelain doll in red, had her long hair draped over her shoulders as she carefully penciled her eyebrows in front of a bronze mirror.

She spoke to herself while drawing on her eyebrows.

It was as if she was having a conversation with something inside the mirror.

"Yingying, if it weren't for you, I, and all the sisters here, would have already become skeletons in the river."

"You say you eat humans..."

"But if consuming people makes one a demon, then the biggest demons in this world should be the scions of noble families and the high officials of the court."

"Baihua County is so prosperous, yet this prosperity ultimately belongs to only a small number of people."

"These are the real demons. They all deserve to die."

The girl facing the mirror and drawing her eyebrows was the very Li Hongxiu who had danced on the drum in the Red Chamber and caused a sensation.

But as she spoke,

a hint of hatred began to seep into her originally cold voice.

Because there was fog over the river, an oil lamp was still lit in the room.

The oil lamp flickered gently with the movement of the river water, casting a glimmer of light, illuminating the mirror in front of her.

The bronze surface of the mirror, with a slight curve to it.

The reflection within was slightly distorted.

However, it was clear that the face in the mirror was not Li Hongxiu's beautiful and delicate face.

Instead, it was a fiery red face covered with fine fur, the face of a fox.

The elongated fox face, complete with human-like eyes and nose, formed a bizarre and startling combination.

Yet Li Hongxiu did not find it strange at all.

She set down her eyebrow pencil, her eyes soft with light, and gently touched the bronze mirror with her hand.

The fiery red fox in the mirror seemed to feel Li Hongxiu's slender fingers, rubbing its face against her fingertips and issuing a soft "yip yip" sound.

Feeling the tender touch on her fingertips, Li Hongxiu inexplicably felt a sense of peace.

A soft smile appeared on her cool face.

She remembered the incident that happened in the Red Chamber two years ago, when the Red Chamber was passing by Lianshan City on the upper reaches of the Guan River.

As usual, they began their performance, but an accident occurred.

Back then, Li Hongxiu was not yet well-known, merely another dancer among many in the Red Chamber.

The son of the County Magistrate of Lianshan City ordered that Li Hongxiu spend the night with him.

In the Red Chamber, a sister with whom she had a very good relationship volunteered to take her place, and the young master nodded in agreement.

But come nighttime...

Screams were heard from the young master's room.

By the time people broke open the barricaded door, all that was left of Cui Xiang was her mangled, bloodied body.

It turned out that this young master Zhao was impotent, which made him twisted in nature.

What he enjoyed most was tormenting young and beautiful women.

To avoid bringing harm to the other sisters, Cui Xiang had endured the torment without making a sound.

Until the end, when he threatened her life, only then she cried out in agony.

But it was too late, far too late.

By the time they broke down the door, Young Master Zhao had already driven his sword through Cui Xiang's body, piercing her heart and killing her.

Cui Xiang was kind and gentle by nature, a good person to all.

Li Hongxiu still remembered when she first arrived in Lianshan City, Cui Xiang had held her in her arms, pointing to the fields by the shore, saying,

The mung beans are ripe this season.

When the time comes, let's buy some honey and make mung bean cakes to share with the sisters in the Red Chamber.

Although the Red Chamber was a place of ill repute, the bond between the sisters ran deeper than blood. Dancers and musicians, they rose as one, circling Master Zhao.

Li Hongxiu remembered stabbing that man's face with a hairpin, leaving a long, slender scar.

The taste of blood was pleasant.

It's just a pity that the spot that was stabbed wasn't the neck.

The young master Zhao did not rage, but looked at her deeply and turned to leave.

In less than fifteen minutes, troops had surrounded the red building, killing and setting fire, with the screams of the prostitutes and musicians unceasing in the ears.

"Hahaha!" Amidst the flames, young master Zhao laughed wildly, "Such a dance, now that is truly exquisite!"

He then came before himself again.

To this day, Li Hongxiu could no longer remember what had happened at that time.

Even the visage of young master Zhao had become blurred, but she remembered his short, ugly figure, which, set against his power and the fire, seemed so tall. She remembered the despair at that time, the screams of agony from her sisters, the painful, burning sensation on her skin.

And she remembered...

From amidst the fierce flames, an elegant red fox slowly approached.

"Yingying, once we're done with things here, we'll go to Lianshan City," Li Hongxiu's eyes sparkled with tears.

She hugged the bronze mirror to her chest, the girl's pretty, fair cheeks pressed tightly against the mirror surface, "Then, we'll go to the fields ourselves to pick mung beans, then to the cliff to collect honey. Sister Cui Xiang said that the wild honey from the cliffs is the sweetest and most delicious, we'll make the best mung bean cakes and share them with our sisters, how about that?"

The red fox in the mirror did not answer but showed a human-like frown, seemingly pondering.

Li Hongxiu let go of the bronze mirror in her arms and noticed this.

"Did something unexpected happen?" she whispered, turning to look out the window.

Nothing was clear, everything outside was hazy, the fog seemed to solidify, like willow catkins floating in mid-air.

Li Hongxiu's expression tightened slightly as she sensed something amiss.

Although today's weather couldn't exactly be described as good, with fog rising from the river in the morning, such thick fog was very unusual.

And...

The noisy laughter and banter of the sisters practicing and talking in the early morning could not be heard either.

She felt utterly alone, as if abandoned by the whole world.

"At least, Yingying is still here," Li Hongxiu's bare hand brushed against her chest, feeling a sense of tightness there.

She looked down and saw a grave expression on the red fox in the mirror.

And she could even see, see the slight trembling, the fears.

"You said that two ghostly shadows inexplicably disappeared and something is approaching us," Li Hongxiu's expression turned frantic, her body tensing subconsciously.

She continued to ask, but the red fox no longer answered.

For even the perception of demons and monsters could not penetrate the fog that shrouded the entire building.

Bang!

The ground suddenly started to tremble.

In the midst of the fog, something huge, heavy, and indescribable was approaching.

Li Hongxiu's heart trembled fiercely along with the floor, and her face gradually lost its color, turning pale.

In the mirror.

The red fox became increasingly agitated, baring its teeth, its fur bristling.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The frequency of the ground trembling became more rapid, the dull sounds echoed in the building, coming from every direction.

Li Hongxiu stood up and gripped the golden hairpin on the dressing table tightly, the veins on the back of her hand visibly protruding.

Her pupils contracted as she stared fixedly at the doors and windows ahead.

The footsteps suddenly stopped.

A terrifying silence followed, then a crisp "crack" sound. It came not from the doors or windows, but from above!

Li Hongxiu's face went deathly white as she looked up abruptly, almost letting out a scream.

A monstrous face, cold and fierce, broke through the wall and appeared just above the window, close to the ceiling.

Pieces of wood crumbled and fell, making a noise.

Outside the window was darkness.

That was the monster's strong and broad chest, like a dark high wall, completely blocking the entire window.

Li Hongxiu was so frightened she almost forgot to breathe, her body shaking uncontrollably.

The face on the window moved slightly, its gaze roaming around before looking down at Li Hongxiu.

The corners of the mouth moved the flesh, revealing a toothy smile dripping with viscous saliva, on that cold, merciless face, "Little ghost, so you were hiding here."