87.2

"You pretend to be a beggar and I will pretend to be your sister. We will muddle our way out of the city."

"My sister?" Ji Ning was more than confused.

"How..." He took one look at Aji and almost jumped in shock.

"You... you're Aji? You're a woman?!"

Aji was now using the face from her first tail, a skinny, malnourished woman. Even her body shape had completely changed.

"You you you..."

"I am a fox demon, we can change faces. Have you heard?"

Ji Ning relaxed a little. "Have heard of it... Never seen it... "

"You've seen it now. Come on, get up." Aji pulled him to his feet and pushed him forward. Ji Ning asked, "So are you originally a man or a woman...?"

"Does it matter?" Aji looked back at him then turned around just in time to ram head first into someone's chest.

The fresh fragrance flowing into her nose made Aji wince immediately. She looked up and saw his silver hair and blue eyes. Him again...

How was he everywhere...

Was he a jiaoren or a ghost haunting her? Aji clenched her teeth and lowered her head, trying to pretend she did not see him and just kept walking.

But of course it would not be that easy. An ice spear formed out of the muddy snow on the ground and pointed straight at her. Aji pinched a spell in her hand and turned back into her male body. She took a deep breath and turned around to face him.

"Your Highness," she looked into his eyes and said, "we were forcefully brought here to the north. We haven't committed any crimes, don't you think it's too unreasonable to keep us from leaving?"

Changyi surveyed her for a while then responded with an unrelated question, "How many faces do you have?"

Aji was startled, but she did not let it show. "Four," she said. "Four tails and four faces."

"Four?" Changyi's eyes narrowed. A chilling draft rose up along his side, and the ice spear floated up into the air. Aji's body tensed and both her demonic power and her spiritual power woke up instinctively in self protection.

Ji Ning was now so frightened he could hardly stand on his feet. The ice spear hovered in the air briefly then flew at Aji with astounding speed.

With a loud clang, the spear pierced through layers of black gas and stopped an inch away from Aji's throat. Changyi looked behind her and saw she still had only four tails.

That strike was with the intent to kill and had happened fast enough to not give her any time to think. Unless she wanted to die, she would have defended in full power. But only with four tails...

Changyi waved his hand and the spear turned back into snow, falling to the ground once again. Aji looked at Changyi with a pale face and unsteady breathing, as if she was scared stiff. Changyi glanced at her then turned to leave.

"Wait," Aji panted and called out. "Now can we leave?"

"No," he rejected her without hesitation. "You can move around freely inside the city."

"Why not?" Aji pressed on.

"You have to have a reason for detaining us, right?"

Changyi turned back slightly and said, "He is a disciple of the Grand Master's house, do I need a reason to detain him?"Aji defended, "He is a disciple of the Grand Master's house, not me. You need a reason to detain me!"

Ji Ning panicked some more, "Wait a minute..."

But no one paid him any attention. Changyi said, "You were seen collaborating with a disciple of the Grand Master's house. Detaining you is only natural." Then he walked away as if he did not care to keep arguing with her. As soon as he left, several more guards gathered around the stable. They did not arrest her or scold her, they just watched her.

Aji looked at Changyi's fading back, then looked at the guards in front of her. She cursed under her breath then headed back to the inn with Ji Ning, under their watchful eyes.

Back inside the inn, Ji Ning commented, "In order to force out how many tails you have, he almost killed you...

This jiaoren is more vicious than the Grand Master." Aji did not respond.

The jiaoren's attack had convinced everyone that he wanted to kill her, including herself. Logically speaking, if she was the person he was trying to find, then she would be able to block that blow. And if she was not the right person, then it would not matter if she died. So life and death had really been just a fine line at the time. She took a gamble and won.