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4
“What? Wasn't she a woman of the demon clan?”
“Then what's being born, a god or a demon?”
“Who can say? I heard the unborn child in her belly is prized above everything. Even the Celestial Emperor came down in person to pay his respects.”
The whole Ninefold Heaven was celebrating together.
There were even wilder rumors going around.
That the child of Moira and the War God would be the heaven-chosen one, the divine emperor to come.
Norman was beside himself with joy, and Moira basked in honor that not even the goddesses of the Ninefold Heaven had ever known.
And I knew this was all Moira's doing.
A head-on fight for revenge was no longer possible now.
So I could only shift my strategy fast, pretend to give up on vengeance, and show my submission.
“My father, my mother, and my sister are all dead. The dead don't come back.”
“Since Moira is already carrying your child, I have no choice but to accept it.”
“Cross the mother of the future divine emperor, and death is the only road left to me.”
Norman finally let out a breath, his face soft with relief.
“Larkin, you should have come to your senses long ago. I always knew you were good and sensible, that you'd see how wonderful Moira is.”
Moira looked at me too, thoroughly satisfied.
Her eyes were bright with another kind of surging hunger.
“Larkin, since you're willing to submit to me, I certainly won't treat you badly.”
The War God's former betrothed, now Moira's serving maid.
In less than half a day the news had spread across the three realms.
I made a trip back to the Rivers, where the Land Warden and a crowd of the Rivers water clan watched me with worried eyes.
“Larkin, we heard you've become that demon woman's serving maid. Have you given up your revenge?”
I pressed my lips tight. “Land Warden, if I want revenge, the ordinary road won't get me there.”
“Believe me. I'm still the Larkin who would rather die than forget her hatred. There are reasons I'm doing this, hard ones.”
This trip back, I had come to take the Rivers' greatest treasure and offer it to Moira.
“You can't catch the wolf if you're not willing to lose the shoe.”
“If my mother and father knew, they would understand what I have to do.”
On the way back, a nine-tailed fox, her whole body white as snow, stepped out and stopped me.
“Larkin, our Verdant Hill fox clan has heard about what happened to your parents and Nerissa.”
“The War God colluding with the demon clan has enraged gods and mortals alike. If you mean to take revenge, our Verdant Hill will lend you our strength.”
I was deeply grateful, and struck by how perfectly this help had come.
“Nine-Tailed Fox, could you do me a favor?”
“The Wordless Celestial Scroll told me Moira is a ram woman, a Tulou. Could you go down to the mortal realm and look into where this kind of beast comes from, and what can kill it?”
“Of course. Leave it to me!”
The Nine-Tailed Fox thumped her chest in promise, saying she'd go down to the mortal realm to find out.
When she came back, her face was full of anger as she told me.
“Larkin, you have no idea how monstrous Moira's kind really are!”
“From ancient times to now they've done the same vile, filthy thing. They swallow people whole to feed themselves and take on their shape.”
“They're the worst demons of all!”
So it turned out this kind of beast had long been talked about across the mortal realm, shunned like a viper.
She had eaten people without end and shaped herself into human form.
Now, with a little cultivation, she had taken the shape of a demon-clan woman, and even so she still wasn't satisfied.
She actually wanted to devour the god clans and become ruler of the three realms.
She feared fire.
She loved to eat raw meat and drink ice water.
And even in pregnancy she bore a whole litter.
My heart lurched. Yesterday Moira had already given birth without trouble, a whole litter of young, five females and one male.
I quickly grabbed the Nine-Tailed Fox. “Then what can kill her?”
The Nine-Tailed Fox glanced warily around, then crooked a finger at me. “Lean in close.”
And so, at another banquet.
I mixed some fresh blood into the wine I handed to Moira.
She took a sip and praised me, thoroughly pleased.
“Larkin, you really do have a clever heart. You understand us of the demon clan. But……this blood tastes a little strange. Whose blood is it?”
I lifted my eyes coldly. “Ram's blood.”
Moira's face changed in an instant, and the cup in her hand shattered on the floor.
“You know my true identity?”
She gave a wicked smile and leaned in toward me, taunting.
“Then do you also know that I already ate your father, your mother, and your sister?”
My fists clenched.
Moira licked her tongue, and that boastful voice went right on.
“But those two old bones of your parents were no good. The meat was stringy and tough, not tasty at all.”
“Your sister Nerissa had the finest flavor of all.”
“Before I met you, I thought Nerissa was the most delicious thing there was. But it turns out you smell even sweeter……”
“Larkin, you're just an ordinary member of the Rivers water clan. So what if you know who I am? What can you possibly do to me?”
The breath-masking pill was still working on me.
Everyone believed I was only an ordinary water-clan girl. No one could see the phoenix bloodline within me.
I lifted my eyes coldly. “Moira, today is the day you die!”
Moira laughed out loud, as if she'd heard a joke.
“On the strength of you, a defeated little wretch?”
“Larkin, have you forgotten you bowed and called yourself my servant not long ago? And my newborn child is the divine emperor to come……”
“I spit on that! Moira, you're nothing but a ram woman.”
The Nine-Tailed Fox could take it no longer and rushed out, shouting. “Future divine emperor? Anything a crawling worm like you gives birth to will only be a monster!”
Moira tilted her head and smiled. “A crawling worm? Aren't you just a fox spirit yourself?”
“Don't drag us down into your filth. We nine-tailed foxes are of the god clans, nothing like vermin monsters such as you!”
The Nine-Tailed Fox had a quick temper and went straight for the killing blows, provoking Moira to fury in a few strokes.
“Fox demon, you're the one who started this!”
Moira meant to kill the Nine-Tailed Fox, and nearly severed several of her tails. Every time I saw the fox losing ground, I struck from behind to help her.
After a few rounds Moira grew desperate and turned to me, her face full of hatred.
“Larkin, I underestimated you!”
“I never imagined you'd been lying in wait at my side all this time. Today I'll make you a dish on my plate, the same end as your sister!”
“Is that so? I'm afraid you won't get to enjoy that meal.”
I lifted my eyes coldly and swept my hand back.
The Grand Sage's alchemy furnace appeared before us in an instant.
Moira's face changed. “What is this?”
It seemed the Nine-Tailed Fox had been right. The Tulou feared fire, above all the Grand Sage's sacred alchemy flames.
“Moira, didn't you say I was no match for you?”
I flew to her side, my gaze fierce, and though my skin split open and I was covered in blood, I held Moira fast.
And dragged her with me into the Grand Sage's alchemy furnace.
“Then let's die together!”
