C39. Catching a Fox Spirit in the Night
There were over six hundred households in the thirteen lanes on the western end of the city, and they covered a vast area. The shouts heard by Chen He and company had not been because of the fox spirit committing murder in the vicinity. Those shouts were from the family members and servants of the victims who had fled indiscriminately.
The new year had only just begun, and there was already such a disturbance happening.
The junior officers led their disgruntled superiors to check on the matter. There was a great commotion in the thirteen lanes that lasted until nightfall.
Most people doubted the existence of things like demonic beasts. They lived in a peaceful and prosperous era with a wise emperor; where would these demonic beasts come from? They were not like those living in the mountains. People here did not worship deities, and it would make much more sense to blame it on vengeful spirits or bad fengshui.
The Wang family next door lit a few more strings of firecrackers to ward off evil.
The smell of firecrackers was thick in the air. The incense in the burner on the altar had burned out, leaving only thin plumes of smoke.
Chen He spent the whole afternoon cultivating in his room. Shi Feng had set up an spiritual energy-locking formation near his bed, and this would prevent any cultivator below Immortalisation level from detecting the movement of spiritual energy.
Gradually, he shifted from one hand seal to another.
Pale golden spiritual energy flowed out of the acupressure points in different streams, merged with other spiritual energies in the air, and returned to Chen He’s meridians.
Shi Feng was absent, and there was a demonic beast on the loose. Chen He intentionally slowed his pace, not entirely focused on his cultivation. He seemed to be experimenting with new hand seals and accumulating his cultivation base.
Core formation—it sounded much easier than it really was.
On the path to immortality, this one bottleneck could snuff out three-quarters of all cultivators.
Those in major sects had the advantage thanks to excellent cultivation practices, superior inheritances, and comprehension ability. They also had sufficient pills and elixirs.
On account of Chen He’s young age, he should not have had to worry about such things. However, after leaving Black Depths Valley, the many incidents gave him a deep sense of being endangered. He decided he might as well cultivate to calm his impatient self.
He looked into his dantian. The Stone-borne Flame was curled up into a ball, sleeping soundly in the middle of the spiritual energy streams.
The dantian acted like a heart. It continuously sent spiritual energy out to be circulated around in the meridians, and richer spiritual energy would be brought in. The returning spiritual energy was piled together, awaiting their turn to leave, and it was as if the Stone-borne Flame was lying on a thick, comfortable bed with a full-body massage function.
This made the Stone-borne Flame quite content despite being sealed away. Having been consistently immersed in Chen He’s spiritual energy, it had come to treat this place as its home, and now it could only be controlled by Chen He’s spiritual energy.
Unfortunately, Chen He was still not powerful enough to make good use of the True Samadhi Fires.
Nowadays, if Chen He wanted to check how far his cultivation had progressed, he could just check how much of the Stone-borne Flame’s seal had been unlocked.
—still too early. It would take at least five years to produce any results.
His feelings were becoming unstable. Chen He formed another hand seal, causing the flow of spiritual energy to change direction. Not a single disturbance occurred. Such was the power of the Beixuan Sect’s Hundred Points Circulation: it was quite impossible to suffer Qi deviations during cultivation. If one slowed down the pace of a major Qi circulation and did not go into deep meditation, they could even think about other things while cultivating.
After studying the clambeast pearl in his consciousness for a while, Chen He began to reflect upon his impatience.
He would admit that the melancholy brought about by his senior brother’s departure had been swept clean away when he saw that Daoist monk fall through the roof. However, he should not have dragged the Daoist monk back with him so eagerly. He should have just sent the dummies to tail that person.
It had been the same at the city gates.
Though he would claim not to care about the Chen family, he was still somewhat lost when he suddenly came across someone who could be his biological father.
Chen He frowned, annoyed at himself. He went through another three or four hand seals to stabilise his spiritual energy.
He missed his senior brother dearly.
Every time Chen He had finished reflecting upon his mistakes, all his uncertainty would be gone without a trace as long as he could see Shi Feng there by his side. He did not even need to hear anything from Shi Feng.
—it was all right if he made mistakes or messed things up. His senior brother would be there for him.
Chen He seemed accomplished and decisive, but it was all a façade to cover things up. He strove to believe he could do everything well, but when he looked back at the end of the day, he was always reflecting upon his mistakes.
Slip-ups, carelessness, agitation…
Chen He grew more disheartened as he thought about it. This felt like the time he met the illicit salt traffickers in the desert poplar forest. He spun a tale that sounded flawless, but he had fooled no one with that tale.
Things were always that way. Those who fancied themselves the wisest could only think that way because no one had exposed their ignorance. People who thought others were fools often were the greatest fools themselves.
Chen He was never overconfident. Sometimes, he was worrying too much about things.
Without Shi Feng, he felt like he was standing on the surface of a frozen lake, surrounded by darkness. He went forward slowly, and it looked like he was strolling in his own backyard, but he was filled with fear and trepidation.
He could not speak of these feelings, and he would not.
The night was silent, and the weather had cleared up at some point. Figures clad in the robes of Daoist monks appeared in the thirteen lanes of the western end; those were disciples of the Heluo Sect.
By right, a demonic beast eating a mortal in the earthly world would not attract the attention of a major sect so soon.
This fox spirit was just unlucky to have met an Immortalisation-level cultivator who could determine its cultivation base.
Elder Long-Brows was the martial master of the Heluo Sect’s current leader. Yuzhou was not far from the Heluo Sect’s grounds, and the fox spirit had released its demonic aura precisely because it wanted to lure in people searching for demonic beasts.
Flesh rich with spiritual energy would of course be favoured by demonic beasts.
Cultivators who hunted demonic beasts for the mortals in cities, with no qualms about the impure Qi of the earthly world, were never very powerful.
This eight-tailed fox spirit had formed a cunning plan to attract cultivators to help people in need, with the intention of eating the cultivators as they arrived. After it had eaten enough Golden Core-level cultivators, it could catch a Nascent Soul-level cultivator to keep around for snacks and escape before it drew the attention of any major sects. What would those major sects be able to do, then?
(translator’s musings: the highlighted text is a saying, wei dian da yuan, literally “surround point, attack support”. It’s a tactic where you besiege an enemy city so that the enemy sends help to this city, but your true aim isn’t capturing the city. Your true aim is to crush the subsequent help that arrives so that you can reduce the enemy’s forces.)
Unfortunately, this plan would fail as soon as it had begun.
“Curses, why are all those nobodies at the Nascent Soul stage, and why are there so many of them?”
The fox spirit, which was hiding in a nearby house, sensed that it was in danger. It quickly retracted its demonic aura which it had been using as bait.
Sadly, it was a little late for that. The Heluo Sect had already targeted the surrounding area. This sect would definitely be on anyone’s list of sects not to be trifled with, for they could divine the heavens’ secrets.
The eight-tailed fox spirit could conceal its aura perfectly, but its current opponents divined things with their fingers instead of checking for auras!
At first, the fox spirit had been overjoyed that the Heluo Sect’s cultivators would be easy to lure, but now it was nearly going mad with regret.
—was the Heluo Sect truly a major orthodox sect? Not even the six demonic grandmasters had such amazingly accurate information networks on their territories. It ate a mortal during the day, and now a horde of Nascent Soul-level cultivators was arriving at night? This was just ridiculous.
But thinking could only do so much. The fox spirit did not wish to be a sitting duck.
Unlike minor sects where the highest cultivators were at the Nascent Soul stage, the Heluo Sect had an abundance of Nascent Soul-level cultivators, a number of Demigod-level cultivators, and even quite a few Immortalisation-level cultivators. No matter how powerful the eight-tailed fox spirit was, it was no match for a major sect that was sending out such a large force.
Under the cover of night, the fox spirit climbed over the wall and escaped, moving quickly as it hid itself amid the shadows. It cursed and gritted its teeth, making a resolution to never pull such a stunt within the Heluo Sect’s territory ever again. From now on, it would only go after small sects. With its power, it could easily finish off an entire sect; even if the taste and quality was average, it would be much easier and safer that way.
Before it could escape from the surrounded area, the fox spirit looked behind and saw the cultivators coming towards its location. Discouraged by this development, it scanned its surroundings fiercely, preparing to force its way through.
Once it looked around, its heart nearly skipped a beat.
None of these cultivators were alone!!
No, these Heluo Sect monks were in trios. One performed the divinations, and the other two guarded this person from the front and back, surveying the area around them with their magic items in hand.
—are you guys really Nascent Soul-level cultivators? Not those bottom-of-the-barrel Qi Fostering-level twits?
Any of them could scare the daylights out of the low-level cultivators!
There was a strange phenomenon in the cultivation world: the higher the cultivation base, the less likely the cultivator would step outside. It formed unspoken cliques of orthodox and demonic cultivators who did not mingle, and they did not even share information. This was why the fox spirit originally had nothing to fear.
Unfortunately, it had made too big a mistake this time.
The Heluo Sect had sent at least a hundred Nascent Soul-level cultivators, and none of them were alone! Seeing how cautious the cultivators were, the fox spirit knew it had been completely exposed. With no time to be confused, it could only search frantically for a place to hide.
It dared not leave Yuzhou City—the cultivators had their reservations while within heavily populated mortal cities, but they did not have such concerns once they were out in the wilderness! Perhaps there would be a group of Demigod-level cultivators lying in wait outside the city gates, with Immortalisation-level cultivators holding the fort!
It dared not return to its home base—the fox spirit still had its last few cards to play. It would not expose its hand unless it was in the worst possible situation.
Soon it became apparent that the fox spirit had escaped at the right time. On this night, Elder Long-Brows was the one leading the cultivators of the Heluo Sect against the fox spirit, and he soon deduced from the tracks left behind that the fox spirit was about to make its escape.
“Spread out and ready the golden nets. Prepare to surround it!”
As soon as they heard this message through their divine senses, the Heluo Sect disciples leaped into the air in unison, covering the entire area.
The fox spirit paid them no heed. Its best choice was to hide in a dark place, enchant a Heluo Sect disciple, absorb his spiritual energy, and take the chance to conceal itself and escape.
The problem was…it was rather difficult to enchant three Nascent Soul-level cultivators at the same time.
“Under that pine tree!” Elder Long-Brows bellowed, exhibiting the fearsome aura of an Immortalisation-level cultivator.
The fox spirit was astounded. Now it no longer had any room for hesitation. Gritting its teeth, it ripped its chest open and produced a drop of heart blood, its eight snow-white tails curling into rings. A vast grey fog appeared in the sky.
“Be careful, this fox spirit is about to use some mystical ability!”
Legend had it that fox spirits would obtain a new mystical ability for every tail they gained. Nine-tailed foxes could defy the heavens, but the cultivation world had not seen any nine-tailed foxes for the past eight thousand years. No one knew how exactly they defied the heavens.
A fox spirit’s eighth tail gave it the ability to cancel its opponent’s ability to use magic items or spiritual energy.
The amount of time would depend on the opponent’s cultivation base.
If it was used against a Nascent Soul-level cultivator, this mystical ability might have helped the fox spirit escape, but it had little effect against Elder Long-Brows.
“Hmph!”
After a brief pause, Elder Long-Brows’ fury surged as he prepared to lock onto the fox spirit with his divine sense.
An unexpected change happened in this very moment. The grey fog behind the fox spirit expanded instantly, falling over the area like a large blanket, and covered the thirteen lanes of the western end tightly.
All noises disappeared. It was as if the whole area had been covered by an invisible cloth. Outside the area, a dog with a bone in its mouth was slinking along, only to be knocked backwards. It stared dumbly at the unobstructed alleyway before its eyes, unable to understand what had happened.
Several shadows zipped through the night sky, appearing above the thirteen lanes of the west end.
“What’s the matter?”
“I don’t know, I can’t detect Martial Uncle Huiji with my divine sense anymore.”
“It’s a trick played by that fox spirit!” the cultivator at the front griped. “This is a dimension fragment! It’s engulfed everything, and it can’t be broken from the outside. It can only be unlocked from within. Report this to the Sect Leader at once—not only are the lives of six hundred-odd mortals at stake, but our sect’s disciples may be in danger as well!”
C39. Catching a Fox Spirit in the Night
There were over six hundred households in the thirteen lanes on the western end of the city, and they covered a vast area. The shouts heard by Chen He and company had not been because of the fox spirit committing murder in the vicinity. Those shouts were from the family members and servants of the victims who had fled indiscriminately.
The new year had only just begun, and there was already such a disturbance happening.
The junior officers led their disgruntled superiors to check on the matter. There was a great commotion in the thirteen lanes that lasted until nightfall.
Most people doubted the existence of things like demonic beasts. They lived in a peaceful and prosperous era with a wise emperor; where would these demonic beasts come from? They were not like those living in the mountains. People here did not worship deities, and it would make much more sense to blame it on vengeful spirits or bad fengshui.
The Wang family next door lit a few more strings of firecrackers to ward off evil.
The smell of firecrackers was thick in the air. The incense in the burner on the altar had burned out, leaving only thin plumes of smoke.
Chen He spent the whole afternoon cultivating in his room. Shi Feng had set up an spiritual energy-locking formation near his bed, and this would prevent any cultivator below Immortalisation level from detecting the movement of spiritual energy.
Gradually, he shifted from one hand seal to another.
Pale golden spiritual energy flowed out of the acupressure points in different streams, merged with other spiritual energies in the air, and returned to Chen He’s meridians.
Shi Feng was absent, and there was a demonic beast on the loose. Chen He intentionally slowed his pace, not entirely focused on his cultivation. He seemed to be experimenting with new hand seals and accumulating his cultivation base.
Core formation—it sounded much easier than it really was.
On the path to immortality, this one bottleneck could snuff out three-quarters of all cultivators.
Those in major sects had the advantage thanks to excellent cultivation practices, superior inheritances, and comprehension ability. They also had sufficient pills and elixirs.
On account of Chen He’s young age, he should not have had to worry about such things. However, after leaving Black Depths Valley, the many incidents gave him a deep sense of being endangered. He decided he might as well cultivate to calm his impatient self.
He looked into his dantian. The Stone-borne Flame was curled up into a ball, sleeping soundly in the middle of the spiritual energy streams.
The dantian acted like a heart. It continuously sent spiritual energy out to be circulated around in the meridians, and richer spiritual energy would be brought in. The returning spiritual energy was piled together, awaiting their turn to leave, and it was as if the Stone-borne Flame was lying on a thick, comfortable bed with a full-body massage function.
This made the Stone-borne Flame quite content despite being sealed away. Having been consistently immersed in Chen He’s spiritual energy, it had come to treat this place as its home, and now it could only be controlled by Chen He’s spiritual energy.
Unfortunately, Chen He was still not powerful enough to make good use of the True Samadhi Fires.
Nowadays, if Chen He wanted to check how far his cultivation had progressed, he could just check how much of the Stone-borne Flame’s seal had been unlocked.
—still too early. It would take at least five years to produce any results.
His feelings were becoming unstable. Chen He formed another hand seal, causing the flow of spiritual energy to change direction. Not a single disturbance occurred. Such was the power of the Beixuan Sect’s Hundred Points Circulation: it was quite impossible to suffer Qi deviations during cultivation. If one slowed down the pace of a major Qi circulation and did not go into deep meditation, they could even think about other things while cultivating.
After studying the clambeast pearl in his consciousness for a while, Chen He began to reflect upon his impatience.
He would admit that the melancholy brought about by his senior brother’s departure had been swept clean away when he saw that Daoist monk fall through the roof. However, he should not have dragged the Daoist monk back with him so eagerly. He should have just sent the dummies to tail that person.
It had been the same at the city gates.
Though he would claim not to care about the Chen family, he was still somewhat lost when he suddenly came across someone who could be his biological father.
Chen He frowned, annoyed at himself. He went through another three or four hand seals to stabilise his spiritual energy.
He missed his senior brother dearly.
Every time Chen He had finished reflecting upon his mistakes, all his uncertainty would be gone without a trace as long as he could see Shi Feng there by his side. He did not even need to hear anything from Shi Feng.
—it was all right if he made mistakes or messed things up. His senior brother would be there for him.
Chen He seemed accomplished and decisive, but it was all a façade to cover things up. He strove to believe he could do everything well, but when he looked back at the end of the day, he was always reflecting upon his mistakes.
Slip-ups, carelessness, agitation…
Chen He grew more disheartened as he thought about it. This felt like the time he met the illicit salt traffickers in the desert poplar forest. He spun a tale that sounded flawless, but he had fooled no one with that tale.
Things were always that way. Those who fancied themselves the wisest could only think that way because no one had exposed their ignorance. People who thought others were fools often were the greatest fools themselves.
Chen He was never overconfident. Sometimes, he was worrying too much about things.
Without Shi Feng, he felt like he was standing on the surface of a frozen lake, surrounded by darkness. He went forward slowly, and it looked like he was strolling in his own backyard, but he was filled with fear and trepidation.
He could not speak of these feelings, and he would not.
The night was silent, and the weather had cleared up at some point. Figures clad in the robes of Daoist monks appeared in the thirteen lanes of the western end; those were disciples of the Heluo Sect.
By right, a demonic beast eating a mortal in the earthly world would not attract the attention of a major sect so soon.
This fox spirit was just unlucky to have met an Immortalisation-level cultivator who could determine its cultivation base.
Elder Long-Brows was the martial master of the Heluo Sect’s current leader. Yuzhou was not far from the Heluo Sect’s grounds, and the fox spirit had released its demonic aura precisely because it wanted to lure in people searching for demonic beasts.
Flesh rich with spiritual energy would of course be favoured by demonic beasts.
Cultivators who hunted demonic beasts for the mortals in cities, with no qualms about the impure Qi of the earthly world, were never very powerful.
This eight-tailed fox spirit had formed a cunning plan to attract cultivators to help people in need, with the intention of eating the cultivators as they arrived. After it had eaten enough Golden Core-level cultivators, it could catch a Nascent Soul-level cultivator to keep around for snacks and escape before it drew the attention of any major sects. What would those major sects be able to do, then?
(translator’s musings: the highlighted text is a saying, wei dian da yuan, literally “surround point, attack support”. It’s a tactic where you besiege an enemy city so that the enemy sends help to this city, but your true aim isn’t capturing the city. Your true aim is to crush the subsequent help that arrives so that you can reduce the enemy’s forces.)
Unfortunately, this plan would fail as soon as it had begun.
“Curses, why are all those nobodies at the Nascent Soul stage, and why are there so many of them?”
The fox spirit, which was hiding in a nearby house, sensed that it was in danger. It quickly retracted its demonic aura which it had been using as bait.
Sadly, it was a little late for that. The Heluo Sect had already targeted the surrounding area. This sect would definitely be on anyone’s list of sects not to be trifled with, for they could divine the heavens’ secrets.
The eight-tailed fox spirit could conceal its aura perfectly, but its current opponents divined things with their fingers instead of checking for auras!
At first, the fox spirit had been overjoyed that the Heluo Sect’s cultivators would be easy to lure, but now it was nearly going mad with regret.
—was the Heluo Sect truly a major orthodox sect? Not even the six demonic grandmasters had such amazingly accurate information networks on their territories. It ate a mortal during the day, and now a horde of Nascent Soul-level cultivators was arriving at night? This was just ridiculous.
But thinking could only do so much. The fox spirit did not wish to be a sitting duck.
Unlike minor sects where the highest cultivators were at the Nascent Soul stage, the Heluo Sect had an abundance of Nascent Soul-level cultivators, a number of Demigod-level cultivators, and even quite a few Immortalisation-level cultivators. No matter how powerful the eight-tailed fox spirit was, it was no match for a major sect that was sending out such a large force.
Under the cover of night, the fox spirit climbed over the wall and escaped, moving quickly as it hid itself amid the shadows. It cursed and gritted its teeth, making a resolution to never pull such a stunt within the Heluo Sect’s territory ever again. From now on, it would only go after small sects. With its power, it could easily finish off an entire sect; even if the taste and quality was average, it would be much easier and safer that way.
Before it could escape from the surrounded area, the fox spirit looked behind and saw the cultivators coming towards its location. Discouraged by this development, it scanned its surroundings fiercely, preparing to force its way through.
Once it looked around, its heart nearly skipped a beat.
None of these cultivators were alone!!
No, these Heluo Sect monks were in trios. One performed the divinations, and the other two guarded this person from the front and back, surveying the area around them with their magic items in hand.
—are you guys really Nascent Soul-level cultivators? Not those bottom-of-the-barrel Qi Fostering-level twits?
Any of them could scare the daylights out of the low-level cultivators!
There was a strange phenomenon in the cultivation world: the higher the cultivation base, the less likely the cultivator would step outside. It formed unspoken cliques of orthodox and demonic cultivators who did not mingle, and they did not even share information. This was why the fox spirit originally had nothing to fear.
Unfortunately, it had made too big a mistake this time.
The Heluo Sect had sent at least a hundred Nascent Soul-level cultivators, and none of them were alone! Seeing how cautious the cultivators were, the fox spirit knew it had been completely exposed. With no time to be confused, it could only search frantically for a place to hide.
It dared not leave Yuzhou City—the cultivators had their reservations while within heavily populated mortal cities, but they did not have such concerns once they were out in the wilderness! Perhaps there would be a group of Demigod-level cultivators lying in wait outside the city gates, with Immortalisation-level cultivators holding the fort!
It dared not return to its home base—the fox spirit still had its last few cards to play. It would not expose its hand unless it was in the worst possible situation.
Soon it became apparent that the fox spirit had escaped at the right time. On this night, Elder Long-Brows was the one leading the cultivators of the Heluo Sect against the fox spirit, and he soon deduced from the tracks left behind that the fox spirit was about to make its escape.
“Spread out and ready the golden nets. Prepare to surround it!”
As soon as they heard this message through their divine senses, the Heluo Sect disciples leaped into the air in unison, covering the entire area.
The fox spirit paid them no heed. Its best choice was to hide in a dark place, enchant a Heluo Sect disciple, absorb his spiritual energy, and take the chance to conceal itself and escape.
The problem was…it was rather difficult to enchant three Nascent Soul-level cultivators at the same time.
“Under that pine tree!” Elder Long-Brows bellowed, exhibiting the fearsome aura of an Immortalisation-level cultivator.
The fox spirit was astounded. Now it no longer had any room for hesitation. Gritting its teeth, it ripped its chest open and produced a drop of heart blood, its eight snow-white tails curling into rings. A vast grey fog appeared in the sky.
“Be careful, this fox spirit is about to use some mystical ability!”
Legend had it that fox spirits would obtain a new mystical ability for every tail they gained. Nine-tailed foxes could defy the heavens, but the cultivation world had not seen any nine-tailed foxes for the past eight thousand years. No one knew how exactly they defied the heavens.
A fox spirit’s eighth tail gave it the ability to cancel its opponent’s ability to use magic items or spiritual energy.
The amount of time would depend on the opponent’s cultivation base.
If it was used against a Nascent Soul-level cultivator, this mystical ability might have helped the fox spirit escape, but it had little effect against Elder Long-Brows.
“Hmph!”
After a brief pause, Elder Long-Brows’ fury surged as he prepared to lock onto the fox spirit with his divine sense.
An unexpected change happened in this very moment. The grey fog behind the fox spirit expanded instantly, falling over the area like a large blanket, and covered the thirteen lanes of the western end tightly.
All noises disappeared. It was as if the whole area had been covered by an invisible cloth. Outside the area, a dog with a bone in its mouth was slinking along, only to be knocked backwards. It stared dumbly at the unobstructed alleyway before its eyes, unable to understand what had happened.
Several shadows zipped through the night sky, appearing above the thirteen lanes of the west end.
“What’s the matter?”
“I don’t know, I can’t detect Martial Uncle Huiji with my divine sense anymore.”
“It’s a trick played by that fox spirit!” the cultivator at the front griped. “This is a dimension fragment! It’s engulfed everything, and it can’t be broken from the outside. It can only be unlocked from within. Report this to the Sect Leader at once—not only are the lives of six hundred-odd mortals at stake, but our sect’s disciples may be in danger as well!”
