My Evil Wife Is a Nine-Tailed Fox

Mu Qing was able to open the door, but he couldn't enter the room. The barrier inside was containing the thick, dark miasma that filled the room, keeping everything outside from coming closer. Even with his heightened senses, it was hard for him to recognize the strong demonic presence inside the barrier. Was it Shen Minyao or the Gu demon? 

He heard Shen Minyao hiss in pain, but he couldn't see what was happening within the dark mass. The building continued to shake tremendously, causing some fragile things to fall on the floor and break. The tremors sent the humans in full panic as they wondered why there was suddenly an earthquake. 

Another suspicious sound of something breaking followed the hiss, and the miasma suddenly dissipated inside the barrier, clearing his view. He then saw a blur of a figure thrown his way, and immediately, Mu Qing lowered the barrier. The grim reaper braced himself from the impact of Shen Minyao's body hitting him. 

Mu Qing groaned as the fox woman's body crashed against him painfully. However, he looked at the woman in his embrace before complaining, and he saw how badly injured she was. A trail of blood could be seen on her lips, while her shirt was painted red with her own flesh. The left sleeve of her sweater had been ruined, revealing a severely broken arm of hers. 

She was still in her demon form, but her regenerative skills were too slow to heal her wounds. Mu Qing had no doubt that she'd forced herself past her limit yet again. 

"Shen Minyao!" He tried to see if she was still conscious enough to face the young demon that suddenly appeared in front of them. 

The vase that housed the Gu demon was now left in smithereens on the floor. The paper at the bottom that contained the name of the previous owner of the pot was then burned by the fox fire that appeared out of nowhere. 

Such a young demon and yet a very powerful one. This time, the young snake demon appeared in front of Shen Minyao, dressed in a white long-sleeve shirt and deep-gray shorts that reached his knees. A symbol of a fox then engraved itself on the right side of his neck, announcing his allegiance to the nine-tailed fox demoness. 

"You…" Mu Qing stared at the young boy in disbelief. Shen Minyao had really managed to bind this demon to her? 

Shen Minyao then pushed herself away from Mu Qing's hold to regard her new shikigami. 

"Mistress, you've done it." The young boy looked down at himself and grew impressed by how strong his new master was. He had never thought that he would be able to see the outside world with his own eyes. 

"Now, come here and receive your new name." The fox woman raised her uninjured right hand and waited for the snake demon to kneel in front of her. 

"You are now part of my fox demon clan." She placed her hand on top of his silvery-white hair that reached his shoulders. Baiyu… you will be called with this name from this day onwards." 

"Thanking my mistress for bestowing such grace onto this lowly servant." Baiyu held the same hand that touched his head and placed a gentle kiss on it. 

"How was it? Did you like your new look? Take a look around you and see the world." Shen Minyao looked at her newest shikigami with such unconcealed interest. 

Mu Qing could only look at the two demons in front of him. It was hard to believe that Shen Minyao was able to subdue this kind of dangerous demon into servitude. Xuan Yanrui wouldn't be able to easily defeat her this time now that she had a powerful demon shikigami with her. 

The young snake demon slowly got back to his feet. He turned around to see the wide cityscape the glass window walls offered to them. His eyes then widened in surprise, impressed by how bright the place was. There were so many colors that lightened up the city despite the darkness that shrouded the sky above it. 

However, it also overwhelmed his senses… the amount of noise and disturbing scents that reached him. Baiyu curled his nose in disgust and realized that he needed to learn how to lower his senses. It was necessary to tune out the annoying noise pollution and the nauseous scents of humans around him. 

Still, this was way better than being trapped inside that dark world from where he came. From the moment he gained consciousness, Baiyu only knew how to defeat other demons that appeared inside the pot. It became his second nature to devour them whole. 

It made sense to him why the fox demoness proposed such a deal to him earlier. It didn't matter if he was bound to her. After all, the only thing that changed was that his cage was now the mortal realm, not just an old pot. 

Baiyu turned his attention back to his mistress, but he found her unconscious in another man's arms. This man didn't seem like a demon like them, but he could sense danger coming from this person. Just who was this odd companion of the mistress, and why was he here with her? 

"You are coming with us," the unknown man told him with a cold voice. 

Mu Qing could not let Shen Minyao stay in this place any longer, or her identity as Su Daji would be revealed. Thankfully, her form already morphed back to her human one, only leaving the nasty injury on her left arm. 

"Where?" Baiyu asked, but he knew better. He wasn't allowed to leave his new mistress to a stranger. Who knew what they would do to Shen Minyao if he left her alone with them? 

"Outside. The rest are waiting for us," Mu Qing said before stepping out of the room, not waiting for the white snake demon's response. 

Baiyu followed after him shortly, looking around and wondering why he felt restricted, even if he had already broken out of the accursed pot. The talismans released an electric spark, and he realized how dangerous it would be for him if he came into contact with those talismans. 

"Don't worry, they are bringing down the barriers now. You should be able to walk freely without constraints soon." He heard the mysterious man holding his mistress explain, and Baiyu didn't dare to ask more. 

Once they stood in the hallway, the talismans Li Fei'er was keeping for some time immediately vanished into thin air. The three were then free to leave the current floor they were on to meet the rest at Zhao Yichen's office. 

Soon, Qin Zhi opened the door for them and allowed them to step inside, his brows frowning as he glanced at the injuries his sister got from transferring the ownership of the curse to her name. 

Mu Qing laid Shen Minyao on the couch, while Yu Yan immediately started her healing spell to aid the fox woman's regenerative ability to deal with her mistress's injuries. 

"Will she be alright?" Li Fei'er asked nervously next to Qin Zhi. She had never seen Shen Minyao sustain an injury like this before. 

"She'll be fine," Qin Zhi replied. "She's lucky that these were the only injuries she sustained. It could be worse if she was below mid-rank level." 

"I'm not the one who hurt her." Baiyu's voice suddenly took everyone's attention. "I wasn't able to land a hit on her when we were fighting." 

Baiyu feared that they would all blame him for his mistress's current condition. The demon lord with them right now was way stronger than his mistress, and the white snake wouldn't possibly win against him if Qin Zhi decided to seek vengeance for his sister's sake. 

"We know." Qin Zhi assured the young demon that the blame wasn't on him. "Shen Minyao knew what could happen to her if she challenged the authority of the curse that made you, and she paid dearly for its price." 

"I see…" Baiyu replied. Still, he didn't expect that Shen Minyao would be willing to face repercussions for him, just so he could get free from that accused pot. 

Even Zhao Yichen was feeling guilty now that he himself could see how his request badly affected Shen Minyao's well-being. It didn't matter if the white snake demon harmed her or not; Shen Minyao was injured because of his request that drove her to take over the ownership of the pot. 

"What would happen to the previous owner of the pot?" 

"The curse would return the hex to its previous owner. Your grandfather would be saved, but the previous owner would die in his stead," the demon lord replied. 

Zhao Yichen didn't know why, but the worry on his heart subsided a little, knowing that his grandfather's life would be spared this time. As for that previous owner who dared to curse his grandfather to death, he couldn't feel pity for them at all.. That person should know how to face the consequences of their actions.