Chapter 156 - 153: Charming Fox-girl x Cold-faced Wolf King 3

Chapter 156: Chapter 153: Charming Fox-girl x Cold-faced Wolf King 3

Lang Xuan’s wolf ears twitched in the firelight. He suddenly grabbed Ji Xiaosong’s hand and pressed it against the side of his neck.

The throbbing pulse was so hot it made her fingertips curl. She then heard him announce in a deep voice to the entire camp, "The new Medical Woman."

Gasps echoed from all around. Only then did Ji Xiaosong realize that touching the Wolf Clan leader’s pulse point was a symbolic, forbidden act.

’No way. How have I already broken so many of Lang Xuan’s taboos? I just got here.’

’And why would Lang Xuan put my hand on his neck?’

’Could it be...’

’It doesn’t look like he likes me!’

Her hand trembled involuntarily, and Lang Xuan’s Adam’s apple brushed against the web of her thumb. "Tremble again, and I’ll chop off your paws."

Following Lang Xuan into the depths of the cave, Ji Xiaosong finally understood the meaning of a "spacious cavern."

An entire wall of Ice Crystals reflected a galaxy of stars. The floor was covered with snow leopard pelts, and the stone bed in the very back was large enough for five giant wolves to lie on.

Lang Xuan flicked his finger and lit a wall lamp. In the warm yellow halo, she finally saw the faint patterns on his battle armor—they were twenty-seven ice-carved foxtail flowers.

"There are three rules."

Lang Xuan tossed a fox fur cloak over her, covering her from head to toe. The collar still held his body heat. "You’ll gather herbs between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m., tend to wounds between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., and from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m...."

He suddenly moved closer, his fingertip hooking a strand of her white hair. "Comb my tail."

Just then, the playful shouts of young wolf cubs came from outside the cave. "I heard the King brought back a little bunny that can heal!"

"No way! I smell a fox!"

Lang Xuan’s tail suddenly bristled, and the temperature in the cave plummeted.

As he turned, his cloak swept across Ji Xiaosong’s lips. The warning he threw back was coated in shards of ice:

"If you dare use the Fox Charm Technique to coax the cubs, I’ll nail you to the clan monument as a decoration."

Twenty-seven ice spikes instantly formed on the stone door, making Ji Xiaosong tremble all over.

’How strange. Logically, even though I’m just a blade of grass, my journey has been pretty smooth until now.’

’So why have I become such a coward in this world?’

’I can’t figure it out, so I’ll stop thinking about it.’

"I didn’t. Perhaps the Wolf Clan cubs just like me because I’m naturally good-looking."

"Hah. Just remember my rules."

*

The Ice Crystals on the cave’s ceiling refracted the moonlight, scattering fine silver specks onto the snow leopard fur blanket.

Ji Xiaosong changed into her original form, curled herself into a ball, and stuck the tip of her tail out to count the icicles. "Twenty-seven, twenty-eight..."

"Count them again and I’ll pluck all your fur out."

Lang Xuan’s voice came from the depths of the cave, accompanied by the tinkling sound of an ice spring.

When Ji Xiaosong turned her head, she caught sight of a back, partially obscured by the swirling mist. Muscles rippled as he scooped up water, and droplets slid down the dimples of his lower back and into...

SNAP!

An Ice Crystal curtain suddenly dropped, blocking her view. Lang Xuan walked out, wrapped in a chill aura, frost still clinging to the tips of his hair.

He lay down directly on the stone bed. With a SWISH, his silver-gray wolf tail swept aside the moonlight stones scattered on the floor, and the cave was instantly plunged into darkness.

"Sleep."

No sooner had he given the command than Ji Xiaosong felt something fluffy wrap around her tail.

She peeked her eyes open and found that Lang Xuan’s tail was unconsciously dragging her toward the stone bed, like a squirrel collecting pinecones.

"Your Majesty, didn’t you tell me to sleep on the floor?"

She deliberately clung to the stone wall.

The tips of Lang Xuan’s ears twitched in the darkness. Suddenly, a warm breath washed over the back of her neck. "It’s freezing. Get over here and warm the bed."

Caught off guard, Ji Xiaosong was pulled into the starlit bedding, her nose bumping into a hard "stone."

’Tsk, tsk. It was Lang Xuan’s abs, which he was showing off on purpose.’

Just as she was about to struggle, a stifled laugh came from above her. "Does the Medical Woman not even know how to check a pulse?"

His hand suddenly enveloped her cold fingertips, guiding them to press against his heart.

The heartbeat under her palm thrummed so hard her eardrums trembled. Then, she was surprised to discover a flame-shaped birthmark on his left chest, identical to the mark on the small of her back.

"This is..."

"Shut up."

Lang Xuan covered her mouth with his tail and rolled over, trapping her in the crook of his arm.

The river of stars rotated slowly above them, and Ji Xiaosong suddenly realized that the stars actually brightened and dimmed with his breath.

Half-asleep, she felt a warm breath brush against her trembling eyelashes.

Lang Xuan’s canines gently held the tip of her ear, his whisper dissolving into the night wind. "I’ve finally found you, you little liar."

As Ji Xiaosong rolled over, the wolf’s tail suddenly tensed.

The instant the scent of jasmine in her hair brushed against the stone wall, Lang Xuan’s hand was already there to cushion the back of her head.

The movement was terrifyingly practiced, as if it had been repeated billions of times among a million stars.

The bed was still too cold. Lang Xuan spread a layer of Fire Down Grass under Ji Xiaosong.

’Is this too thin?’

As he pondered, Lang Xuan spread another layer.

And so, layer after layer, in the end, Lang Xuan had spread ten layers of Fire Down Grass beneath Ji Xiaosong.

*

The morning mist had not yet dispersed when Ji Xiaosong was awakened by a sweet, fresh aroma.

She groggily reached for the tail by her pillow but instead grabbed a fluffy wolf cub doll.

’Huh?’

’Why does the fur on this feel so familiar?’

’And why is there fox fur scattered all over beneath me?’

’What month is it again?’

’Oh, right, it’s autumn. I’m shedding.’

Ji Xiaosong examined the wolf cub doll carefully. It looked exactly like Lang Xuan.

’No way.’

’Don’t tell me Lang Xuan stayed up all night, turned into some kind of master craftsman, and made a doll of himself using the fox fur I shed?’

’The key is, the eyes of this wolf-shaped doll were inlaid with two black Star Shining Stones.’

’Star Shining Stones are so precious. In my previous life as a High Priest, I only ever saw one once. And that was only because my mother brought it out for a blessing ritual.’

"Now that you’re awake, get out and gather your herbs."

Lang Xuan had his back to the cave entrance and was roasting a chicken. The firelight plated the tips of his silver-gray hair in golden-red.

On the stone table was a crystal bowl filled with dewy Snowberries, each one precisely deseeded and arranged in the shape of a little fox.

Ji Xiaosong cried out softly when her bare feet touched the ground. Her ankle, cut by the ice spikes last night, was wrapped in a Star Gauze Bandage.

Lang Xuan’s ears instantly swiveled toward her, and his tail irritably swept out the fire.

"If you’re lame, just stay put!"

Before his voice had faded, the high-pitched, childish singing of the cubs drifted in from outside the cave:

"The bride he brought back knows how to brew~ Gets His Majesty drunk all day through~"

The stone fork in Lang Xuan’s hand broke with a CRACK. Ji Xiaosong’s fox ears, however, perked up excitedly. "Did they say I’m the bride?"

"Just shut up and eat. Later, go prepare some strengthening medicine for yourself."

Lang Xuan stuffed the roasted chicken into her mouth, and as his fingertips brushed her lips, he secretly whisked away a chicken bone.

*

In the afternoon, while Ji Xiaosong was preparing medicine, she discovered that all the stone mortars had been replaced with ones made of Warm Jade.

’She found it strange herself. How did Lang Xuan know she had Medical Skill?’

’The crucial part was, he let me stay with the Wolf Clan as a Medical Woman, but he wouldn’t let me check pulses.’

’He just has me preparing medicine all the time. What is he planning?’

Just as Ji Xiaosong was pondering this, a Wolf Guard suddenly came to report:

"Your Majesty! The Tiger Clan has sent a marriage proposal!"

The Wolf Guard presented a Jade Scroll inlaid with a tiger’s fang.

Lang Xuan didn’t even look at it, crushing it in his hand. The shattered jade, however, reformed in his palm into a small fox figurine. "This kind of trash... from now on, just use it for bedding."

At sunset, Ji Xiaosong found Lang Xuan at the hot spring pool.

He was soaking in the pool, feigning sleep. Above his head hovered a model of a young fox, shaped from starlight, which looked exactly like her clansmen sleeping in her personal dimension.

Hearing her footsteps, the model instantly dissolved into specks of firefly light.

"Come here."

Lang Xuan suddenly opened his eyes, his golden pupils swirling with an ancient gentleness.

As Ji Xiaosong waded into the water, she was suddenly lifted up by an ice platform, and twenty-seven ice-carved foxtail flowers bloomed at her feet.

Lang Xuan’s tail wrapped around her wrist, and he pressed a fiery red piece of Warm Jade into her palm. "Wear this. It will ward off the cold."

"Your Majesty, why are you suddenly..."

"You talk too much."

Lang Xuan had her sit by the edge of the hot spring and condensed a comb of starlight from his fingertips.

As the teeth of the comb sank into her snow-white hair, both of their birthmarks lit up at the same time.