The attack on Qingqiu by the Pareesi Triplet Dragons came 3 days after Xiao Bai arrived back in the Fox Cavern. Xiao Bai had been going over the Fox Realm documents absentmindedly while alternatively thinking about what to do for her Gugu who's been so depressed and wondering if Donghua was safe when Migu had come in looking frantic and harried.
"Your Highness, there's an attack in the Central Square. Three dragons have been spotted trampling through the market place. A lot of the merchants and people that were out and about have been injured." Migu said, a little breathlessly. One of their people had just run from the Central Square to the Fox Cavern to inform them of the danger and Migu had been the first person informed. He had quickly run in to look for Her Highness.
"Any fatalities?" Xiao Bai asked worriedly, feeling overwrought. She wondered if she can deal with three dragons by herself. She knew her Gugu was not in any position to defend Qingqiu today as she was still grappling with her changed circumstance. In any case, Xiao Bai would never let her face the dragons while she was blind and vulnerable. Fourth Uncle and Uncle Zhe Yan had just left and her father and grandfather had not come back yet so Xiao Bai knew that it was up to her to defend the Fox Realm. No one expected an attack in Qingqiu. Xiao Bai knew that they were woefully unprepared as a third of their guards were with the older Bais to help out the other Realms. Those that were left were the just peacekeeping forces of the Fox Realm as the peaceful Realm rarely faces any disturbances from the outside so they have never really kept an army. She can only hope that her martial arts training would be sufficient to defeat the dragons or at least hold them off until more help arrives. She steeled herself, clenching her hand as she mentally fortified her mind and forced herself not to panic. She can do this. She's going to the be the Queen soon. She had to do this.
"Not certain your Highness. Some of the guards are there right now but since its chaos everywhere, the messenger cannot give me any definitive answer as he ran here as soon as they attacked. The only thing he could tell me was that the dragons were huge." Migu said. He could see Her Highness squaring her shoulders stubbornly. He was worried for her knowing that even without any significant back ups, Her Highness would be heading for the Central Square immediately to do what she could. She would never leave her people to deal with this themselves, not as long as she felt she could do something about it.
"I'm going to the Central Square. Please send a missive to my father and grandfather, they should be somewhere in the Ghost Realms. I hope that they can get back soon. Please send a note also to High God Mo Yuan. I know he's on the way here from the Northern Realms. He's coming to see Gugu so he should not be far. Also, remember, under no circumstance should you tell my Gugu what is happening. Please keep an eye on her. Even with how she is now, you know she'll want to get involved. But she's not ready, I don't want her to get hurt. I'll put a protective shield around her. Oh before I forget, Migu, please send a missive also to Steward Chonglin of Tai Chen Palace about what is happening here. He would know what to do. No, don't send a message to Tai Chen Palace." Xiao Bai changed her mind at the last minute. She didn't want to distract Donghua from what he was doing beside he was too far away. She knew he might try to get to her as soon as possible. However, by the time he can get to Qingqiu, High God Mo Yuan and her father and grandfather would have arrived (hopefully!). Donghua would just worry for her unnecessarily.
Migu, I will try to lure the dragons to the forest. If we disappear from the Square, that's where we will be." Migu nodded his understanding as Xiao Bai was giving him instructions. He paused though at her unusual instruction to send a message to Tai Chen Palace instead of the Sky Kingdom and then with her change in mind. Maybe she was just confused considering the situation. In any case, he had a lot to do so he didn't dwell on it.
***
Xiao Bai saw a humongous black scaled dragon as soon as she appeared in the Central Square. It was breathing fire alternatively between the Immortals who have challenged it and one of the establishments in the main area with a stone facade. A cadre of the more powerful Immortals were hitting that dragon with all their magic but it didn't seem to bother it. Xiao Bai conjured her Hexu Sword ready to jump in and help. But before she did so she decided to assess the entire situation first. The streets were almost empty save for some of the patrol guards and some people who appeared to be unconscious. Wasn't there supposed to be three dragons? Where were the other two? A loud shout from the other side of the square caught her attention. One of the other dragons, this one with midnight blue scales had managed to capture one of the guards using its tail and was obviously toying with him, flinging the hapless guard from one side to the other while simultaneously breathing fire. The Immortals who had challenged this dragon had fallen by the wayside and seem to be injured. Xiao Bai motioned for them to quickly vacate the area even as she flew towards the dragon intent on distracting it to enable the others to take cover. She hasn't seen the third dragon yet but she knew she had to get to the guard first before the dragon killed him. She warily approached them as soon as she landed at the back of the dragon. The dragon zeroed in on her probably recognizing that her cultivation was much more powerful than the others. Xiao Bai flew to its back and raised her sword to cut off the tail to free the guard when suddenly she felt a flicker of scorching heat at her back. She quickly hit the tail of the blue dragon while she still could and somersaulted out of the way. The third dragon was now behind her. She steadied herself a small distance away wincing as she felt the burn on her back, her eyes darting from one dragon to the other. But she sighed in relief as she saw that her hit on the tail of the blue dragon had caused it to let go of the guard. The guard rolled away to prevent himself from getting trampled so at least Xiao Bai knew that he was still alive. She clenched her jaw as she felt her the pain in her back intensify, knew that she was already bleeding from the burn wound. The dragon which burned her back was now in front of her also. It was a little bit bigger than the other two and its scales were the color of blood. She judged that this one was the leader by the way the blue dragon instinctively move behind it. Both dragons were looking at her now breathing out little flickers of flames while they licked the side of their mouth with their black tongues as if getting ready to make a meal out of her. She smelled a foul stench coming forth from their bodies. She backed away slowly as she could feel the tendrils of evil power that was emanating from them. She closed her eyes for a brief second to calm herself admitting that while she can probably challenge one of them in a one on one fight, she was out of her depth if both of them, or all three of them fought her at the same time. However, with her fox elders not in Qingqiu, it was up to her to her to protect her people by whatever means possible as long as she could. The 3rd dragon had now managed to shake off the other Immortals that had challenged it and was now in front of her also. Xiao Bai hoped that those Immortals were not fatally injured and were able to find help or shelter. But she didn't have time to think of them now, for all three dragons were now crouched down in an attack stance, ready for her.
The one other guard that was previously still tailing her had now gone with the injured guard to help him get medical attention. She was glad that all the civilians had managed to take cover. But, she was all alone now. Taking a deep breath, Xiao Bai squared her shoulders and raised her sword as she faced all three dragons lifting her head to look at them with fierce determination. Even as they continued to breath fire out from their mouths, the sentient dragons were momentarily arrested by the defiance in this young Immortal's face. The dragons could gauge her powers also and they knew it was substantially less compared to theirs. However, instead of cowering at them in fear, as she was helpless and alone, it appeared that she was actually challenging them head on by herself. Mentally communicating with each other, they decided to surround her on all sides. Toy with her one by one, to see exactly what she was made of. Otherwise, it would not be challenging enough. They wanted to see her defiance slowly wither away. Slowly, the blue dragon approached her breathing fire. She summoned her magic and blasted it at the dragon. The dragon swerved neatly avoiding it and continued his approach. Xiao Bai moved out of the way but not before her shoulder was scratched by a whip of its tail. The black dragon was the one approaching now. Xiao Bai bit her lip as she continued to brandish the Hexu Sword in front of her. She was actually quite adept at handling the sword as she had pestered High God Mo Yuan several summers ago to train her. After that, she had been diligently practicing her stances and movement. Even when she was in Tai Chen Palace, she would wake up in the wee hours of the morning to train a little. However, looking at the vicious eyes of the dragon, she regretted that she had not asked Donghua to teach her more. After all, he was even better with the sword than High God Mo Yuan. She shook her head at her errant thoughts knowing the need to concentrate. The dragon lunged for her but her reaction was quick and she was able to lash at it with her sword. She performed a series of movement from memory as she continued to attack with the Hexu. The black dragon withdrew a little as her sword had made several contacts on its skin and black blood was dripping out from various parts of the dragon's body. Xiao Bai did not escape unscathed either as her already stinging back had been nicked by the dragon's claws. She needed to find a way though to get them into the forest, she had more chance of hiding there. But she was hurting all over and she was so exhausted. She looked up just as she saw all the dragons now breathing fire towards her. She knew they were coordinating their attacks against her. Clearly, the dragons were finished toying with her and just wanted to get rid of her as fast as possible. She had to do something now or else it would be too late.
She harnessed all the power within herself to one focal point moving her hands to call forth her cultivation. Suddenly, she felt an odd flicker of pain on her forehead as if being torched but it was gone in an instant. The red dragon stopped breathing fire. It had felt something familiar coming from the young Immortal. Something they had been looking for. Xiao Bai raised her sword in a defensive stance as the red dragon came nearer. Suddenly she knew what she had to do when she saw a diamond shaped golden stone embedded on the forehead of the red dragon. Based on dragon lore, all dragons had some kind of talisman on their heads that were connected intimately with their spirit. A substantial part of a dragon's power were stored in it. If she could get it from the dragon, it would surely follow her. Xiao Bai quickly flew up intent on doing just that but as soon as she did, it seemed to spur the dragons into mobility. They started to attack her from 3 sides. She had to start dodging them as they attacked and blew flames of fire towards her. She could feel her energy waning. Fortunately, she was able to get one or two hits in so the dragons also had wounds on their bodies slowing them down a little. When she was able to separate herself from them, Xiao Bai conjured a spell that would weaken the red dragon and flung the ball of spell directly on its forehead startling it a little. As she considered her options, she realized that she wouldn't be able to just grab the stone from the head of the red dragon in her present form. However, her fox form which was light and quick might have a chance and so without considering how dangerous her action was, she transformed herself into a fox and before the dragons could react, climbed her way up the red dragon using the dragon's scales as hand and foot holds. When she reached its head, Xiao Bai used her magic to forcibly pull out the stone. It took a few minutes as the dragon started to flail around incensed at the violation upon its body. Xiao Bai was knocked around a few times but managed to not fall to the ground. After a few more minutes of wrangling, she was finally able to dislodge the gold stone from the head of the dragon. As soon as she had secured it in her mouth, she jumped down from its head and started to run. The red dragon swiped at her but missed as it let out a loud roar of pain and anger. Immediately, all three dragons started in pursuit of her.
Xiao Bai started to lead them to the Qingqiu forest where they will be far from the civilian population. The forest was faraway though, if traversed using the mountains, it would take at least a day to get there. There was a shortcut but would necessitate the passing through of villages and towns in the Realm. Xiao Bai was not ready to risk that so she decided to use the long way around. As she ran, lithe and fast in her fox form, the three dragons maintained their pursuit of her. Even though the dragons were flying, Xiao Bai was still a few lengths in front of them using the caves in the mountains and the underground passageways to semi hide herself. She hoped that they were tiring themselves out also because she was so very, very tired. As the sun started to rise in the distance, almost a day after she had grabbed the stone, Xiao Bai finally entered the forest area. She let out a small exhale breathing in the air of her favorite place in all of Qingqiu. She was familiar with every single inch of this forest so she knew the best places to hide. As soon as she felt the dragons enter, she put up a ward around the forest area. It wasn't a strong ward as she couldn't risk the lost of a substantial portion of her cultivation that would be needed to support a stronger ward. It was merely a warning device to let her know if someone entered or exited the forest. However, she made sure that the ward was strong enough to prevent the civilian population from accidentally entering into the area. With the stone in her hand, Xiao Bai knew that she had deliberately painted a target on herself. As long as she had it, the dragons will remain in the forest area with her. She just needed to hold on until reinforcement arrived. It wouldn't hurt though if she could somehow find a way to trap them or hold them in place.
The dragons were hunting her now even as morning turned to afternoon. Xiao Bai was laying low, hiding inside trunks of trees and small fox holes that she had made before. She had also rolled herself in mud to further mask her scent. She could see small fires in the distance as the dragons seem to be hell bent on a scorch earth policy as they plodded their way through the forest in search of her. If this was a regular forest, it would be burnt to the ground by now but as this was Qingqiu where the earth was imbued with an almost mystical power, the small fires brought about by the dragons were magically extinguished. As day blended into night, the only source of light now was the moon. Rather than feel apprehensive, Xiao Bai was glad to see the darkness blanketing her. This was her chance to be able to do something other than hide because the dragons, like her, would be blind in the dark especially as the moon's light were blocked by the overgrown trees. However, unlike her, they did not know these woods like she did. Slowly she made her way through to the other side of the forest, her fox senses sniffing the cold air. She could sense where the dragons were even if she couldn't see them. Finally, she was at the area where a crater size hole there left from the last earthquake. She put out her hand and started to meticulously weave an invisible binding at the side that would only be triggered when someone or something falls into the hole. It was going to be tricky though, she had to get all three at the same time, at least that was the best case scenario. As she placed the final spell, it was time to implement the plan.
She shot out a flair from where she was to draw them to her. As soon as she could ascertain where the dragons were coming from, she ran towards the opposite direction. She climbed up a tree so that she could see them as they swooped in. Unfortunately, it seems as if the dragons had split up in their search for her for it was only the red dragon who came into the clearing. This may be a good thing though, divide and conquer. As soon the dragon came near to where she was, she quickly jumped and headed for the crater. The dragon saw her and followed. Using herself as bait by deliberately showing it the gold talisman, she quickly ran through the forest making sure to let herself keep a safe distance but still be within the dragon's eyesight. When she came close to the crater, she slowed down a little to let the red dragon narrow the gap between the two of them. When it was near enough, Xiao Bai sped up again. The already enraged dragon quickened it's pace not even stopping to think why the little fox was no longer hiding and evading them. As Xiao Bai neared the crater, she stopped abruptly and threw the gold talisman into the hole. The dragon who had been flying towards her at top speed plunged into the pit going after his talisman. As soon as the dragon entered, Xiao Bai converted back into her human form and activated the bindings she had made. It was very difficult as the dragon was extremely strong and was hitting against the bindings. She weaved a sleeping spell on it to subdue it. Soon, she felt its strength ebb. She quickly destroyed the gold talisman to prevent the dragon from taking it back.
Suddenly she heard a growl coming from the distance. The two other dragons had found her. It was too late for her to hide. She faced the two of them with her Hexu sword raised in a defensive stance.