Reborn To Be The Imperial Consort [BL]-Chapter 82: Zopyra — XVII

When he dropped his hand and the sheer excitement of having exacted his revenge and quite literally burn the dragon down in flames slowly began to recede, the ten-tailed fox took a deep and and took a moment to take in all the chaos, the calamitous destruction that he had wrought upon the entire place.

For a moment, he couldn’t help but feel proud. He could feel his tainted soul sing the song of joy that it rarely sung throughout his life.

Ten thousand years, ten thousand years, the amount of time he had waited for this very moment, burning with scathing and venomous hatred, letting it blind him, letting it consume him.

The very hatred that kept him going. The malice, the desire to slaughter everyone who’d been a part of his downfall, kept him away, it ate him away until there was nothing left of him but the want for revenge.

Now, after all those years, those blurred days and fleeting night, his sleepless torture, all of those were more than worth it.

The ten-tailed fox took a deep breath, spread his arms and raised his head, facing the rolling clouds in the bloody red and amber sky as he looked up at it, half-lidded crimson eyes gleaming with contentment as he calmed down ever so slightly.

The sound of chaos going on outside the hall hadn’t ceased, not one bit. It had just died down, safe to say it had died down most probably because of the ten-tailed fox’s relentless and brutal assualt.

The sound of howling wind that carried the unpleasant cacophony of mortal misery fell into his ears, bringing with itself an immense amount of pleasure for him.

The loud noise of debris crashing to the ground, thousands of years of glory, of so-called honouring turned into ashes in mere hours, despair, death, hatred, fear and pain; was there anything greater than this?

The crackling of flames, sparking embers and sizzling wood, roaring pyre and rising smoke, bright tongue of fire and flickering shadows that danced on what remained of those walls.

It was all a beautiful catastrophe. A breathtakingly gorgeous calamity.

And the cause of it all—the ten-tailed fox who had been hell bent on his quest for revenge, an unresolve vendetta, a deadly ghost, a demon from the past who wrought never before seen destruction to the realm.

The ten-tailed fox dropped his hands to his sides. For the first time in all these years did he feel at peace. The world was a cruel place, but he could mould it to his liking and force it to be place he liked, right?

That was exactly what he had done.

Using Hu Lijing as his vessel, as a stepping stone for his revenge, his smouldering desire, the ten-tailed fox and put everything in his disposal to use as he slaughtered those monkeys, those tiger, set the world on fire and finally kill the person he’d been itching to get his hands on from the day he had betrayed the fox.

The leader of dragons. That fucking sly, old bastard.

The bright, amber flames that surrounded him danced around him, flickering and moving erratically as the rose high, nearly towering over him.

And because the ten-tailed fox could feel Hu Lijing’s child’s life force weaken beyond saving, he could feel the fragile, flimsy, tether of physical existence that his soul had been clinging onto, shake and stretch out, pulled so taut that at any moment he could snap.

The fallen fox deity’s eyes that had slid shut at some point of his self-reflection snapped open when he felt a formidable and cold wave of power roll over to him, crashing into his weakening link to Hu Lijing body.

The ten-tailed fox let out an irritated growl as he snapped his head to the direction of the source of power, he saw — beyond the flames that circled him — a rather familiar figure of a particular dragon who stood with his back towards the fox.

As if he was one of the people who didn’t care if he lived or died at the fox’s hands.

It was a curious thing, the trust Long ZhenHai was so effortlessly able to exhibit towards Hu Lijing and his ability to protect the former even when unconscious.

What did this trust come from? Something as measly as love? Or was it the trust they had between each other?

Without putting any conscious thoughts into his actions, the ten-tailed fox walked towards the dragon. His time in Hu Lijing’s body was numbered, and there was this burning question niggling his mind, gnawing endlessly at his heart.

A few steps away from the dragon, the ten-tailed fox stopped, coming to a rather abrupt halt as he raised an eyebrow and reached his hand out.

With his palm held to the front, the fallen fox deity’s hand stopped, his reach blocked by an unfamiliar barrier that had been erected.

Upon touching the seemingly invisible barrier, icy blue Qi shone with a rather iridescent light, appearing when touched and vanishing when left alone.

The fallen fox deity’s eyebrows raised higher as his clawed fingers traced and scraped against the barrier, a thoughtful look spreading over his face.

Then, he retracted his hand, dropping it to the side as he looked around instead, gleaming crimson eyes narrowing and rolling around to process the presence of this barrier around himself.

It was somewhat laughable. If he wanted, the ten-tailed fox could — very easily — bypass this barrier and simply go outside.

But... What was the point of going outside now? His time in Hu Lijing’s body was coming to an end, sooner than later, the tether he’d been holding onto would snap.

Before that, he wanted a few moments of leisure in the physical plane. Beyond, all the hatred and all the anger, he too, ironically, wanted some peace.

Hence, after coming to a decision, the fallen fox deity took a step back and away from the barrier and pursed his lips, clearing his throat.

At the sound, Long ZhenHai jolted, swiftly turning around with his brows furrowed.

For a moment, the dragon of the infinite sea didn’t say a word, his lips too were pursed together as his icy blue eyes roved over the ten-tailed fox — Hu Lijing’s body — as if to check for any sort of major damage with a pensive look on his face.

When he found almost no wounds, Long ZhenHai’s tight expression relaxed slightly as his lips parted and a sigh of relief rolled out of them.

"Are you done?" He asked simply, taking a step towards the ten-tailed fox as he entered the barrier, causing the fallen fox deity to raise an eyebrow in question.

"Even if I am, it is none of your concern, Long ZhenHai." Coldly, he scoffed, turning his head to look at the smouldering corpse of the dragon clan’s leader. "I regret not being able to wipe the ground with your clan and washing the dirt with your kins’ blood before I leave."

As Long ZhenHai watched him, something vulnerable flashed through those crimson eyes as the ten-tailed fox gazed at the burning corpse of the clan leader.

"Ah. A bit unusual to be saying that to my face, no?" He looked away, not reading too deeply into the look. "I’m a dragon too, after all."

The ten-tailed fox took his eyes off the corpse and turned to look at Long ZhenHai with contempt in his eyes. "You’re not exactly doing your best to stop me, are you? Putting this barrier, watching my back and all."

Despite himself, the tension between him and Long ZhenHai was basically non-existent.

Long ZhenHai’s frown deepened a little as he tilted his head to the side. "Looking out for you? No, ten-tailed fox, you’re mistaken. I’m not defending you or protecting you, or anything for that matter."

"Don’t I know that?" The fox sneered, crimson eyes gleaming with malice as he stepped forward, slightly decreasing the distance between himself and Long ZhenHai. "You? Protecting me? Don’t make me laugh."

The ten-tailed fox scoffed, a snort of mirthless laughter leaving his lips as he lunged forward all of a sudden, fully intent on catching the water-borne dragon off-guard and hurting him.

Long ZhenHai, however, reacted extremely quickly, reeling back as he leapt away and out of the ten-tailed fox’s reach.

To his surprise though, before the ten-tailed fox could go anything else, a familiar wall of fire roared to life, effectively creating a fiery blockade between them.

The tongues of the flames flickered, hot pyre flaring wildly as they bursted towards the ten-tailed fox in warning.

Seeing the flames, the ten-tailed fox blinked in surprise, his cold, malicious sneer temporarily turning into that of begrudging wonder.

"You two brats are fucking ridiculous." He snarled, glaring at the fiery wall, the embers flickering and dancing around like a nameless ghost waltzing to a silent symphony.

Protected by the fire, Long ZhenHai could see them dancing in those crimson eyes, something envious and resentful dancing in them.

"I am not protecting you," he replied, lips pursed as he took another step back, icy gaze staring past the fiery wall as the bright light washed over him, their scorching warmth making his robes cling to his body. "I’m merely protecting the body of my beloved that you are possessing at the moment."