It didn’t take long for Sen to catch up with the fox who, for whatever reason, had decided to stick to running through the forest. Sen dropped the qinggong techniques and fell in beside the fox. Li Yi Nuo caught up shortly after, and the three of them were a trio of blurs in the trees until it grew dark enough that even Sen didn’t entirely trust his eyes anymore. The fox slowed his relentless, miles-consuming pace and stopped when he found a clearing that he seemed to like. There was another of those flickers of light and a lanky man with a vulpine cast to his features stood where the fox had been. He was wearing red robes with intricate patterns embroidered into it. Laughing River surveyed the clearing with a pleased eye and then gave Sen an expectant look.

“What?” asked Sen, taking a nervous step back from the fox.

“Oh, come on. Do it.”

“Do what?”

“You know what,” said the fox. “It’s my third favorite thing that you do. Now stop stalling.”

Sen eyed the fox. “You know about the galehouses. You even knew about me sending Li Yi Nuo to Uncle Kho. Just how long have you been following us?”

Laughing River gave Sen a huge, blindingly insincere smile. “Following you? Whatever do you mean? I just happened to come across you. Consider it a matter of pure chance that you were very conveniently unoccupied by a cranky nascent soul cultivator.”

“Very convenient,” said Sen before he turned his attention to the ground.

Laughing River was almost dancing with glee as the stone structure rose from the ground. Sen gave the fox a sidelong glance.

“Why do you like this so much?” asked Sen.

“Because most cultivators never think to do practical things with their power. They’re so boring. They just use it to fight. You woke up one day and apparently thought, I should make a house! Then, you actually pulled it off.”

The fox dashed inside as soon as Sen was done. Sen followed him in to see the fox dashing from room to room, looking at everything, and smiling with the uncomplicated joy of a child. Sen waved a hand and did his usual trick to light the building. He dropped some wood in the fireplace but didn’t set it ablaze. The weather had warmed up enough that he’d wait until he was ready to cook something. He left the fox inside and went back out to check on Li Yi Nuo. The run had seemingly tired her out more than him or Laughing River. She was leaning against a tree with her eyes closed. Since she didn’t look like she was going to die or pass out, Sen occupied himself with setting up formations. They were deep enough into the wilds that he didn’t want to leave things to chance. He’d found his own tree to lean against and was staring out into the darkness when Li Yi Nuo found him.

“What do you see?” she asked.

He glanced over at her. She was squinting out into the darkness like she thought she should be seeing something.

“Nothing. Darkness. Shadows. I wasn’t looking for anything. That’s what the formations are for. This deep in the wilds, by the time I saw something, I’d be in a fight for my life before I had a chance to think about it.”

When she didn’t say anything, Sen went back to staring out into the darkness and wondering what kind of a mess Laughing River was about to drop them all into. Unfortunately, Sen didn’t know the fox well enough to even guess. He’d asked Auntie Caihong and Uncle Kho about the fox and found them both oddly reticent. What few answers he got from Auntie Caihong were evasive. Uncle Kho had just mumbled something about the fox being a mountain of trouble stuffed into a sack and then dropped the subject entirely. Laughing River wanted something, and anything he’d want would be potent. Potent natural treasures or cultivation relics in the wilds were always defended.

So, unless the fox had a very good plan, that meant there would be fighting. Sen knew from personal experience that the deeper in the wilds they got, the more intense that fighting would be. Sen’s instinct was to ask Laughing River for specifics, except he didn’t think he could trust any specifics he got enough to make a plan. The fox clearly wanted them in the dark until they got wherever it was that they were going. Yet, it wasn’t good strategy unless the fox believed that it was something that even Sen would object to doing, favor or no favor. If Laughing River kept it to himself until they were already there and committed, then it became a moot point. None of that boded well for their chances. Sen was also aware that it was all speculation. He was dealing with a fox, creatures renowned for their trickster ways. It was equally possible that the fox would take them deep into the wilds, pick a random tree, and demand that Sen climb to the top to pick an apple. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“I owe you an apology,” said Li Yi Nuo.

There had been nothing but insect noises and the occasional call of a night bird for so long that her voice sounded loud in the night. Sen jumped a little at the unexpected noise. He glanced over at her, but the woman was staring fixedly into the darkness of the forest. He turned his gaze away since she obviously didn’t want to look at him.

“Oh?” asked Sen.

“Earlier, I wasn’t expecting to see a spirit fox, let alone one as old and powerful as that. It unsettled me. Frightened me. I took that out on you. I’m sorry about that.”

“Ah,” said Sen. “It’s fine.”

In the corner of his eyes, he saw her turn to give him an incredulous look.

“That’s it? No demands for groveling or kowtowing? Just, it’s fine?”

Sen laughed. “The last woman I made truly angry hired mercenaries and tried to kill me. It really moved my bar for what I should find offensive.”

“What did you do to her?”

Sen opened his mouth, thought about all of the things he’d have to explain for the story to make sense, and just shook his head. “It’s a long, complicated story.”

Li Yi Nuo frowned at that response.

“How complicated are we talking here?”

“Complicated enough that I’d probably need to talk for the next half an hour to give you enough context for the story and my role in it to make any kind of sense.”

“Okay, that does sound pretty complicated.”

“Yeah. It wasn’t any less complicated living through it.’

Li Yi Nuo seemingly decided to save questions about all of that for later, because she switched gears. “Where do you think that fox is leading us?”

“I really don’t know. Where are you taking us, Laughing River?” asked Sen, tilting his head back and looking straight up into the tree.

The fox was sitting on a large limb almost directly above Sen’s head, still in the lanky form of a man. Laughing River smiled at Sen and gave him a wink.

“How long have you been there?” demanded Li Yi Nuo.

The fox shrugged. “A while now. Two young people. The romance of the night. I thought something might happen, and I do so adore young love. What a disappointment you two turned out to be. Especially you, girl.”

“Me?” asked Li Yi Nuo in total confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Well, Sen here usually has the social instincts of a tree stump, but he comes by it honestly. A rough upbringing will do that to a person,” said Laughing River in a conspiratorial whisper. “But you? What’s your excuse? Did you think I wouldn’t notice you sneaking peeks at him all day? There will literally never be a better opportunity to take advantage of him than the one you squandered right here. Oh, the sordid tales you’ll never get to tell those precious young things at your little sect.”

The fox shook his head in the disapproving way that only an elder looking at a young person who has truly disappointed them can pull off. Li Yi Nuo was spluttering in embarrassment or outrage. Sen couldn’t tell from her expression which it was. Before the woman could pull together a response to the pile of inflammatory things that had just been dumped on her head, the fox continued.

“As for the question about where we’re going, that’s easy. Hither and yon. I expect we’ll get there in the next few days.”

With that spectacular descent into vagueness, Laughing River dropped from the tree. He only paused long enough to give Sen and Li Yi Nuo another disapproving shake of his head before he wandered back toward the galehouse.

“Well,” said Sen, “that was wholly un-enlightening.”

Li Yi Nuo finally managed to find her words. “Un-enlightening? That was completely outrageous! Totally inappropriate! Can you believe the things he said to us?”

Sen lifted an eyebrow at the woman and thought it over. “Yes?”

“Yes?! How can you be so calm about all of this?”

“First of all, he’s a fox. As I understand it, being outrageous is pretty normal for them. Plus, to be fair, all he really said about me was that I’ve got bad social instincts.”

“That doesn’t bother you?”

“It might have if it wasn’t true. I do usually have terrible social instincts. I can’t get too mad at him for saying it out loud. But I understand why you’d be upset.”

“Thank you,” she said, sounding slightly mollified.

“Having someone just point out that you’re terrible at seduction even under ideal conditions, well, that had to be mortifying,” said Sen, who pretended he didn’t see the slack-jawed expression on her face. “Anyway, I’m sure you have some things to sort out. I think I’m going to go eat something.”

Sen walked away with a smirk on his face.