Chapter 157 - 154: Charming Fox Girl x Cold-Faced Wolf King 4

Chapter 157: Chapter 154: Charming Fox Girl x Cold-Faced Wolf King 4

"King, this mark..."

"I told you to shut up! Just brush my tail!"

Lang Xuan turned his back on Ji Xiaosong, and with unerring accuracy, tossed the comb right into her hands.

Ji Xiaosong was at a loss for words. ’What a proud, difficult man,’ she thought. ’I have no idea what goes on in that head of his.’

Billowing steam swirled under the moonlight. Lang Xuan’s silver-white tail soaked in the Spiritual Spring, looking like a bolt of moonlit satin unfurling in the water.

Ji Xiaosong knelt on a flagstone. As the teeth of the wooden comb sank into the fluffy fur, she distinctly felt the muscles under her palm tense abruptly.

"Don’t touch the base..."

Lang Xuan’s voice was muffled by his folded arms, and the tips of his ears, poking out above the water, were so red they looked ready to bleed.

His face was completely buried in his folded arms. Droplets of water trickled down his taut back muscles, catching the moonlight with a honey-colored sheen.

The comb’s teeth suddenly snagged in a hidden whorl of fur.

Ji Xiaosong parted the layers of silver fur, her fingertip brushing against a dark red marking.

It was the Wolf King totem, composed of countless tiny runes, and it began to glow faintly at her touch.

SPLASH!

The water erupted, and the spray from Lang Xuan whipping around soaked the collar of Ji Xiaosong’s dress.

He grabbed her wrist, pinning it to the edge of the pool. Soaking wet, his silver hair cascaded over his shoulders, his golden eyes churning with a dark undercurrent Ji Xiaosong had never seen before. "Do you have any idea what it means to touch the Wolf King’s chest totem?"

Glowing moss flickered at their feet, and the rising steam, carrying the scent of pine, wafted over them.

"I wouldn’t know. I’ve never touched one before."

’She truly had no idea. Hadn’t Lang Xuan been the one to ask her to brush his tail? So why did it seem like she had done something wrong by being thorough?’

Ji Xiaosong watched as the totem shifted from dark red to a brilliant, golden red. She then noticed strange, crimson markings spreading from the corners of Lang Xuan’s eyes, as if some seal were peeling away layer by layer in the moonlight.

"It means..."

The rest of his words were lost as his lips met hers.

’Ji Xiaosong understood now. Lang Xuan had done this on purpose!’

’This whole "brush my tail" thing... he’d been after her body from the start!’

’She just didn’t get it. Wasn’t this their first meeting? How could this all be a deliberate setup?’

Lang Xuan’s fangs grazed her lower lip with a restrained tremor, yet the way his scorching palm cradled the nape of her neck was so gentle it sent a shiver through her.

The Spiritual Spring suddenly rippled, and Ji Xiaosong was startled to feel something fluffy coiling around her ankle beneath the surface.

It was Lang Xuan’s tail.

The same wolf tail that was always held high with pride was now shyly yet stubbornly winding around her calf. The soft fur at its tip sent a tremor through her as it brushed the back of her knee.

Lang Xuan’s ragged breath washed over her ear. "Song, I’ve waited three hundred years for you. For three hundred years..."

His unfinished words were crushed by the deepening kiss as the totem on his chest suddenly erupted with a blinding light, enveloping them both.

A swarm of fireflies by the pool’s edge was startled into flight, tracing arcs of gold against the night sky.

In a daze, Ji Xiaosong saw countless motes of light pour from the totem, like stars falling into the Spiritual Spring, or like Lang Xuan’s centuries of repressed feelings finally breaking free.

As he buried his face in her neck and nipped gently, the complete, spectral image of a silver wolf materialized on his back, letting out a silent howl at the full moon.

...

"Are you cold?"

"No..."

Not even waiting for Ji Xiaosong’s answer, Lang Xuan pulled her fully into his embrace, his tail automatically coiling up to form a fluffy cushion beneath her.

As Ji Xiaosong shook her head, she brushed against a new mark on his chest. She was startled to see it was a pattern that perfectly matched the runes on her palm, shimmering with a faint golden light in the moon’s glow.

The Spiritual Spring still bubbled, but the undercurrents below its surface had taken on a new, lingering rhythm. This continued until dawn broke in the east, and the first rays of morning light pierced the mist to illuminate the crisscrossing water stains and a few strands of silver wolf fur on the flagstone.

*

When Ji Xiaosong woke again, it was already after dusk.

Her entire body ached as if it had been taken apart and put back together wrong.

Ji Xiaosong quickly retrieved a large cup of Spiritual Spring Water from her dimensional space, which finally eased the ache in her body.

Outside the cave dwelling, the wolf pups had started singing a little ditty they’d made up:

"Father Wolf is valiant, his tail shines with light, Mother Song is gentle, a warm pond’s delight..."

Before they could finish, Lang Xuan’s voice cut in. "Go on, go on. What are you all doing making such a racket over here?"

"King, is that white fox from the Fox Clan your Queen?" a little wolf pup asked boldly.

"Yes, yes, yes! We’ll have the clan feast on meat together tonight."

Lang Xuan was in high spirits. He’d caught a great deal of prey today, which was the perfect opportunity to introduce Ji Xiaosong to all the Beastmen of the Wolf Clan.

The Beastmen didn’t have much in the way of ceremony or rules. If someone wanted to take a mate, they simply brought them back to their cave.

By bringing Ji Xiaosong back to his own cave, Lang Xuan had done exactly that.

"Ooooh! The King has a Queen! We’re gonna have little brothers and sisters now!"

Lying in bed, Ji Xiaosong listened to the conversation outside. Her thoughts returned to the Fox Clan’s crisis, and she began to plan how she would present her request to Lang Xuan.

’And what on earth did Lang Xuan mean last night at the Spiritual Spring, when he said he had waited three hundred years for her?’

’Who could she possibly have betrayed?’

’According to her and Rongrong’s usual methods, she should have given her husband a perfect ending in every lifetime.’

’It was impossible for her to have wronged anyone.’

’Was he one of her past suitors, perhaps?’

’It was only normal for someone as outstanding as her to have many admirers.’

’But who exactly was he?’

Just as Ji Xiaosong was lost in thought, Lang Xuan walked in.

"You’re awake?"

"Mm."

"Since you’re awake, come with me. It’s time for the people of the Wolf Clan to meet you."

"Why do they need to meet me?"

"You’re my Queen. Of course they have to meet you."

Ji Xiaosong didn’t feel like talking, but Lang Xuan just assumed she was out of energy.

"Food is ready outside. You’re coming with me."

Ignoring Ji Xiaosong’s reaction, Lang Xuan simply scooped her up with one arm.

"You’re light as a feather. Why are you so thin? I’ll have to feed you more meat from now on to fatten you up a bit."

Ji Xiaosong mentally rolled her eyes.

’She was of the Fox Clan; of course she ate meat!’

’And no matter how much weight she gained, her build would never compare to a member of the Wolf Clan.’

’Whatever, let him do as he pleased. It was obvious Lang Xuan’s strength was immense; even with her Spiritual Power, she was no match for him.’

As twilight enveloped the land, a bonfire in the Wolf Clan’s territory roared to life, its flames shooting high into the sky.

Lang Xuan placed a forehead ornament strung with Red Sun Crystal Stones in Ji Xiaosong’s hair. The twenty-seven Crystal Stones, one for each of the Fox Clan’s cubs, shone with the luster of molten gold in the firelight.

Ji Xiaosong touched the Red Sun Crystal Stones, and her eyes instantly lit up.

’With the Red Sun Crystal Stones, does this mean the Fox Clan can be saved?’

’She wanted to return to the Fox Clan right away, but she had to see this through first.’

"Queen! Queen!"

The pups gamboled around the bonfire. Silver bells had been woven into Ji Xiaosong’s fox tail, chiming with every step she took.

Lang Xuan’s palm never left the small of her back, like an invisible, searing chain.

"You can ask one thing of me right now. I’m in a good mood."

Lang Xuan suddenly nipped at her dangling earring.

Ji Xiaosong’s fingertips brushed the Crystal Stones on her forehead. "I want..."

"Anything but leaving me."

At some unknown thought, Lang Xuan’s golden eyes narrowed, and the bonfire instantly erupted in an icy blue blaze.

"I wasn’t going to say I wanted to leave. What are you so afraid of?"

"Afraid? Hah! Are you planning to leave without a word again?"

He suddenly raised their clasped hands, and the Wolf Clan’s totem flared to life in the night sky.

His subjects roared in celebration and shifted into their beast forms. Amidst the silver-gray tide, only the Red Sun Crystal Stones on Ji Xiaosong’s forehead shone with a piercing red light.

Lang Xuan tore the Crystal Stone circlet from her head and clenched it in his fist. The scorching energy seared his palm black.

"This is too precious. I’ll keep it safe for you. Once you’ve adapted to the rules of the Wolf Clan, I’ll give it back."

"You—! You just put it on me! How can you suddenly take it back?"