Chapter 29: Hero’s Welcome

The female fox was dead.

The caravan leader didn’t stop. He ignored his injured hand and led the young girl back into the foul-smelling cave. Amid the smoke, they began searching through the pile of corpses near the fire.

The young girl searched too. She turned over bodies, her hands covered in dried blood.

Unfortunately, they found what they were looking for.

One corpse was dressed differently from the others. It was the scholar-official attire the leader had mentioned.

They turned the body over. It was a man.

They searched his clothes and found a jade pendant hanging from them.

The young girl took another token from her storage ring, a crescent-shaped jade pendant given by the wealthy old man from Tianjin. She compared it to the one on the corpse. They were the same design.

The caravan leader sighed deeply. He took the bloodstained jade pendant from the corpse and left the cave.

The fire was spreading.

At the cave entrance, the leader cut off the female fox’s tail. He wanted the young girl to store it in her ring and bring it back to Tianjin.

The young girl refused.

The bloody tail was too dirty. It would soil the storage space.

Left with no choice, the leader had to carry the tail in his hand.

They didn’t go down the mountain that night. They slept in a ruined temple and descended at dawn.

The horses were still at the foot of the mountain. No one had stolen them.

They rode back to Tianjin. By afternoon, they reached the city outskirts. Whether farmers, vendors, or martial artists wielding weapons, everyone consciously made way. No one dared to block them.

The young girl was still relatively clean. Her clothes were as white as snow, always seeming spotless. Only her hair was stained with blood.

The caravan leader fared much worse. His left arm was broken and stained red. Dried blood caked his forearm.

A large brown tail hung from his saddle, also covered in blood.

Someone recognized them. A voice called out, “The immortals have slain the demon!” The crowd took up the chant.

The shouts from the martial artists reached the city gate guards. The guards’ cries carried to the vendors inside the city. The vendors’ shouts spread to the docks. The docks passed it on to the residential areas.

They experienced a hero’s welcome.

Everyone stood on both sides, clearing the way.

Neither those entering nor leaving the city blocked their path.

As they passed the campsite, several merchants they had traveled with came out to watch. They nodded to the caravan leader in greeting but didn’t dare approach. They could only watch him enter the city.

At the city gate, no soldiers stopped them. They were given free passage into the city.

Once inside, the caravan leader didn’t go to a clinic first. Instead, he went to the government office, not the military headquarters.

Civil matters fell under the government’s jurisdiction.

The prefect, the assistant magistrate, and the judge had all arrived. They were waiting at the door in full official robes.

The prefect came forward himself. He steadied the horse’s head. The caravan leader and the young girl dismounted.

The leader knew the girl had no experience with procedures. So he submitted the bounty on her behalf.

He presented the female fox’s tail as evidence for the government to verify.

The officials went through the inspection process.

The prefect, meanwhile, asked cordially about the tail’s origin.

“It was the immortal here…” the leader said, spreading his hand toward the young girl. “She used her divine power to slay the fox demon with a single axe strike. We common folk could only help, barely blocking the demon’s escape route.”

The leader embellished the story of what happened on Demon Mountain. But he found that no matter how much he exaggerated, what he said was close to the truth.

The young girl truly was like a legendary immortal. Cutting down the fox demon with one axe blow, she seemed like a deity descending to the mortal world.

The leader deliberately downplayed his own role, letting the young girl take all the credit.

Naturally, the government focused its praise on her. Firecrackers were set off. The prefect composed a poem. He had some literary talent, and he wrote half of it on the government office wall with a brush.

The prefect was clever. He asked the young girl to sign her name.

It seemed like an honor for her, but in truth, he wanted to leave a trace of an immortal at the government office and in Tianjin’s garrison.

The young girl didn’t understand all these subtleties. After the leader nodded and explained, she took the brush and thought.

The leader saw through the prefect’s intent but didn’t call it out.

As a human who had traveled with the young girl from the start to the end of the long journey, he also hoped she would leave something behind for humanity, or for him.

The young girl stood by the wall, thinking for a long time. Finally, she inscribed a circle.

Ah?

The leader was startled. He didn’t understand.

Neither did the prefect, but he was good at smoothing things over. He praised the young girl’s inscription.

Regardless of what was written or left behind, the important thing was the person who left it. That was the prefect’s interpretation.

Even a circle was still an honor.

Next came the celebration banquet. The government paid for the feast. The best restaurant set up more than a dozen tables on the street. Anyone could sit and eat.

The young girl and the caravan leader were seated inside the restaurant. Doctors were brought in to treat the leader’s injury on the spot. The physician shook his head repeatedly, making it clear the wound was very serious.

The leader had already prepared himself mentally. He thanked the doctor and then happily enjoyed the banquet.

He put on a smiling face for the young girl, showing no sorrow.

For this final big meal, he didn’t want to leave a bad impression.

They had just started eating when a man arrived.

It was the wealthy old man who had hired them earlier.

“Forgive my intrusion,” he said, making a bow at the door before entering the restaurant.

The prefect seemed to have a good relationship with him. He invited him in, likely having sent word of the pair’s return.

The prefect even seated the wealthy man at the main table.

Everyone ate in tacit understanding for a while. After the meal was half gone, the distracted wealthy man finally asked about the commission.

The caravan leader took the jade pendant from the young girl and quietly handed it to the old man.

Seeing the bloodstained pendant, the old man’s body trembled.

Tears flowed immediately. He wiped them with his sleeve, putting on a brave face, then took the pendant and examined it carefully.

“Eat, why aren’t you eating!” the judge next to the prefect called out.

The old man snapped back to reality. He quickly put the pendant away and picked up his chopsticks.

He ate a few more bites but had no appetite. Finally, he just sat there, lost in thought.

When the feast ended, the wealthy old man pulled the caravan leader aside and asked about the previous night in detail.

The leader was as forthcoming as he could be. He mentioned finding the body but didn’t dwell on the gruesome details.

The old man thanked him. He had his attendant pay the remaining reward. It was indeed generous.

Then, the old man hurriedly left.

The trip to Tianjin had finally reached its end. This banquet seemed like both a celebration and a farewell.

After the meal, the two washed up briefly at an inn, cleaning off the grime.

The caravan leader had some business to attend to. He would stay in Tianjin for a while longer.

The young girl was to say goodbye here. She would go to other places listed on her travel permit. One person would go south, the other west.

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