"Take it easy!" I warned, her eyes were a little scary, and I was really worried she'd lose control of the blade at the end of her tail!
The fox demon's gaze didn't change, but her lips curved slightly, and she let out a soft whine.
Before I could respond, one of the nine blades, the one in the middle, grazed the fox demon's spine and scalp as it lunged towards my abdomen. I immediately swung my staff to block. Unlike Chu Qi, she didn't employ many feints. If it were Chu Qi, she would have abandoned her attack and switched tactics upon being blocked if she couldn't succeed.
With a crisp clang, I was surprised. The fox demon's seemingly thin tail, holding such a light dagger, actually possessed such immense impact force that it numbed my tiger's mouth and nearly made me drop the staff!
"Not bad!" I shook my arms, alternating left and right, to alleviate the pain. After regaining my balance, I gestured for her to continue her attack.
The fox demon attacked again, or rather, lashed out with her tail. If the previous tail was considered number five, this time numbers four and six were deployed, striking towards me in parallel about half a meter apart.
Facing two incoming attacks, I retreated a couple of steps while weighing my options. In the end, I decided to block once more, holding the iron staff horizontally in the middle, using both ends to parry the two daggers.
However, this time there was no collision. Just as our weapons were about to clash, the fox demon manipulated her tails, turning them into soft ropes. With the daggers as weights, she whipped them down from above onto both ends of my staff. Using the momentum, the two daggers spun, and the two tails entangled my staff.
I tried to break free with all my might, but despite my increased strength, how could I contend with a Great Blue Demon? After two failed attempts, I was instead dragged forward by her, all the way to her foxy maw. The fox demon opened her cavernous mouth and bit down on my waist. Her mouth was long and wide enough to engulf my entire waist.
The fox demon was just putting on a show, of course, she wouldn't actually bite down. If she had truly bitten, with her fanged racial form's biting force, my small waist wouldn't be worth her exerting full strength to break.
I sighed and had no choice but to let go and concede defeat. The fox demon coiled the iron staff to the side, threw it on the ground, turned around, and transformed into human form. She pouted and said, "I thought you had practiced some really formidable martial arts!"
"...But didn't I still block one of your moves? Much better than before," I said self-deprecatingly. You can't get fat overnight, maybe a little chubby.
Although I failed in the sparring, my confidence had increased significantly. Enemies of the fox demon's caliber were something I wouldn't have even dared to touch before. Now, I dared to do so. At least I dared to resist, and that was progress.
I picked up Old Ba's iron staff and returned to the changing room with the fox demon. She put on her swimsuit, and I felt a bit cold, so I added a t-shirt before heading back to the pool party.
The weather was perfect today, with a sky full of colorful clouds. The rosy light shone through the glass of the sunroom into the pool, casting a vibrant red and pink hue, with rippling reflections on the water, creating a pleasant scene.
Coupled with the aroma of barbecue and the visual feast of swimsuit-clad beauties, I felt an unspoken sense of accomplishment, as if I were on the verge of reaching the pinnacle of life.
Diana's Russian-style grilled salmon truly lived up to its reputation. An entire large salmon was wrapped by her in salt, seasonings, and a mixture of herbs and fruits, then placed in the oven. Even before it was fully cooked, the entire sunroom was filled with a tantalizing aroma. Chen Ke's homemade barbecue skewers were also unique, long with small pieces of meat, appearing exquisite. The perfect ratio of fat to lean, brushed with sauce and grilled over fire, the fat sizzled and rendered into crispy bits, its fragrant oil seeping into the lean meat pieces, binding them together, preserving the tender juiciness within while also embracing the smoky char from the charcoal.
Accompanied by exquisite red wine from the winery recommended by Chen Lu (I even added Sprite), my mouth was watering so much it could have filled the pool before we even started eating.
About fifteen minutes later, all preparations were complete, leaving only the eating. I sat comfortably in a plush armchair, a long meat skewer in my left hand and a piece of orange salmon in my right. In the middle, I had the fox demon's kneeling service, holding my wine glass for me. As I tilted my head back, she would feed me a drink.
The demons didn't eat much barbecue; they primarily consumed raw meat. However, they drank a lot. After nightfall, I don't know who dimmed the lights in the indoor pool. The previously seductive scene became somewhat ambiguous, and my vision blurred. I could only see their figures swaying in the dim light, their long tails flicking back and forth before my eyes.
I had drunk a bit too much, to the point that I couldn't even remember who I went to the sauna room with afterward to rest on the bed...