Chapter 143: The Era of the Origins: The Fox Slave
*End of the Era of the Origins... Ruins of the Obsidian Palace of the Clan of Pride...*
The sky of this era was nothing but a permanent battlefield where the laws of physics bent under the will of primordial powers.
Phoenixes immolated the clouds with their wingbeats while Titans reshaped mountains with every step. In this chaos of pure power, humans were nothing more than insignificant vermin, miserable creatures dying by the thousands in the crossfire of this war of lineages.
Yet it was at the heart of this devastation, in the still-smoking ruins of a draconic palace whose black stone pillars collapsed like charred bones, that a slave auction of refined cruelty was taking place.
The air was saturated with a nauseating mixture of smells: the cold iron of dried draconic blood, the acrid smoke of fires, and above all, the heavy and heady musk of Celestial Foxes. These creatures were the pariahs of the Era of the Origins, cursed by the Dao itself.
Their crime lay in their innate Qi, an essence of seduction so pure that it could make the will of the most seasoned warrior waver. For the dominant races, they were not living beings, but resources, tools of pleasure or currencies of exchange.
Xuan BaiShe advanced through the debris with an assurance that defied his own stature. He wore a white linen tunic of insulting cleanliness against the surrounding dust. His long silver hair, the tips of which turned ink black, floated slightly without any breath of wind crossing the devastated hall.
Although he was a human devoid of any real cultivation base at this time, his aura of calm and sovereign contempt imposed silence. He was already called the Celestial Demon, a terrifying entity renowned for devouring essences, even though in reality he survived only through cunning and strategic intelligence that he put at the service of Queen Long Huang before she was sealed.
He stopped in front of a row of iron cages. Inside, Celestial Foxes were chained, their silky tails dragging in the dust. Their sapphire eyes were misty with tears and terror. The slave merchant, a massive Titan whose Overlord Qi pulsed with misplaced arrogance, approached him while rubbing his calloused hands.
"Lord Demon..." began the merchant with an oily smile that revealed yellowed teeth. "What an honor to see you here, in the middle of these ruins. You are surely looking for something to brighten your nights in the obsidian palace?"