Chapter 63

Chapter 63

[When a fox’s cultivation finally bears fruit, it performs the Title-Seeking Rite. A fox may initiate the rite only once in its life, so it will spare no effort to find its fated one. Whether it becomes human or divine rests entirely on that person’s answer.]

Only once in a lifetime. Apparently, this cunning fox had not spent his chance at the Title-Seeking Rite on Xia Ke’er. The sly creature mixed truth and lies so thoroughly that no one could tell which was which.

He had still been searching for his fated one – the person who could enlighten him and fulfill the deepest prayer in his heart.

Somehow, he had chosen Xie Qingling, who looked ready to disown even her closest family.

What a joke. Xie Qingling, guide someone to salvation? That was news to her. She was neither a Buddha nor a saint. She was merely a wage slave forced to work overtime during her vacation.

At that moment, the Title-Seeking Rite had drawn Xie Qingling into the fox’s domain of rules. She could not move and had to answer.

When a fox sought a title, an answer had to be given.

According to the ancient texts Xie Qingling had read, if someone answered, “You resemble a human,” the fox would obtain a human body and become one. Some petty foxes would nurse a grudge over not being told they resembled a god, bringing vengeance and calamity until their target knew no peace.

Yet if someone answered, “You resemble a god,” and thereby granted the fox divinity, the person who bestowed that title would have to bear the debt to fate it incurred.

In other words, disaster awaited no matter how one answered.

Of course, one could give an evasive, ambiguous answer, wishing the fox success in completing its cultivation and ascending to immortality in broad daylight once its great work was accomplished.

But Xia Tian was already a half-Immortal. He did not need an answer like that. It would mean nothing to him.

Xie Qingling raised her eyes to the bowing fox.

She chose a third answer – the riskiest and most merciless of all.

She said slowly, “You resemble a beast.”

“You walk on four legs and eat flesh raw. You are merely an ordinary fox, a wild animal. You are unworthy of becoming human and incapable of becoming a god.”

“A brat could injure you with a single punch. Any car on the road could crush you flat. Even the natural wind, frost, rain, and snow could torment you beyond endurance.”

“You have no more divine abilities, nor are you an immortal. You are nothing but a four-legged beast.”

As soon as she spoke, the fox that had stood like a human let out a mournful howl. His limbs gradually bent. His forepaws sank to the ground, his back arched slightly, and he dropped onto all fours.

The face that had shown human expressions lost its moving gaze as well, gradually becoming the face of an ordinary white fox.

Thank you.

“Now I can stay by her side.” As Xia Tian slowly regressed into an ordinary fox, he spoke his final human words.

The mist around Xie Qingling gradually receded. Her rigid body regained its freedom, and she took control of it once more.

Now, a white fox stood on the desk.

The deity shrine that had housed Xia Tian was completely empty.

Xia Tian was no longer a half-Immortal, so naturally he could no longer inhabit a deity shrine.

All traces of his former immortal aura had vanished. He looked like a white pet fox – a rare sight in the city, but hardly nonexistent.

He extended a forepaw and licked it, then leaped in front of Xie Qingling and spat a blue bead from his mouth before jumping out through the open window.

A white streak flashed past. Then it vanished without a trace.

“I will give you the inner core I cultivated over a thousand years.”

Remembering Xia Tian’s earlier words, Xie Qingling froze.

She flexed her somewhat stiff arm, then picked up the blue bead and examined it in her palm.

Its blue resembled a mass of living, flowing water. It was a blue alive with motion, endlessly shifting through illusory rays of light and hues of varying depth.

Beautiful and dreamlike, as though a vast universe lay hidden within it.

Xie Qingling held it up to the sunlight. Seen through the light, the bead seemed even more beautiful and profound.

[An inner core cultivated by a fox over a thousand years. It contains a millennium of the fox’s cultivation and accumulated merit, entwined with the faintest wisp of human vitality.]

After a moment’s thought, Xie Qingling activated her earpiece and contacted Ling Fang.

Ling Fang had barely slept the night before. He had still been handling the follow-up arrangements in the predawn hours, and after finally managing to fall asleep, Xie Qingling woke him again before long.

Freshly awakened, he moved rather slowly and did not respond as quickly as before.

Xie Qingling waited two seconds before Ling Fang’s weary voice came through her earpiece. “What’s happened?”

His tone was still gentle. Despite having his rest disturbed, he did not curse her out.
Xie Qingling asked, “Director, when will the Talisman-Water Master you requested arrive in Future City?”

Ling Fang rubbed his temples and thought for a moment. “The application was only just submitted. It has to go through headquarters’ approval process before they can assign anyone. The Talisman-Water Masters are all in the Old Royal City, and the journey from there to Future City takes about a day. Given the speed at which headquarters approves requests and mobilizes personnel, the entire process should take around three days.”

He checked the time. “I know someone at headquarters. I’ll find a way to hurry them along. If everything moves quickly, we should be able to manage it within two days. That ought to be soon enough.”

As he spoke, Ling Fang started to get up and turn on his computer, intending to press his contacts at headquarters to send someone over faster.

He had assumed Xie Qingling was contacting him at this hour because something had happened to one of the patients. He immediately grew tense, all traces of sleepiness gone.

“There’s no need, Director. I don’t think we need to go to the trouble of bringing in a Talisman-Water Master,” Xie Qingling said. “I may have a faster way to solve the problem.”

“Hm?”

“It’s an inner core a fox cultivated over a thousand years. It should be able to restore the human vitality they lost, right?”

“…What did you just say?”

“Director, why don’t you come work some overtime at the office?” Xie Qingling looked at the utterly empty deity shrine. “Come take a look, and you’ll understand.”

Ling Fang fell silent.

He had a very bad feeling about this.

–

At noon, in the office.

Ling Fang sat beside the conference table and rubbed his tired eyes. Thinking he had seen wrong, he looked again, but the shrine that had held the fox was still completely empty.

“Where’s the fox?” Ling Fang asked Xie Qingling. “That deity shrine was specially made. Once something enters it, it cannot leave unless the curse is lifted.”

Xie Qingling said, “Director, you don’t understand how cunning that fox was! He used the Title-Seeking Rite, which a fox can initiate only once in his lifetime, against me! Even being trapped inside the shrine didn’t stop him from using it. After all, it was a rule-type ability!”

“Do you know what a rule-type ability means? Inside that domain, he was the one who set the rules. I had no power to break them and could only let him lead me by the nose. So his question trapped me, but then I called him a beast and regained my freedom. Who would have thought that would let him escape instead? He wasn’t an immortal anymore, so of course the shrine couldn’t hold him. I had no idea that would happen, Director! I’m innocent! I’ve been falsely accused!”

Ling Fang stared at her in silence.

He rubbed his aching temples. Lack of sleep had left his face visibly weary, and now he looked both irritable and tormented by an unbearable headache.

“Besides, even while I was trapped by his question, I didn’t forget to help the department solve its problems.” Xie Qingling produced the blue bead. “Look, Director. Could we use this bead I obtained to return the lost human vitality to the people who fell ill?”

“Director, I performed so outstandingly this time. Do I get a reward?” Xie Qingling asked.

“Go write a self-criticism.”

“What?”

“Go write me a ten-thousand-word self-criticism.”

“Why?”

“Did you know you talk a lot when you feel guilty?”

Xie Qingling had no words.

She was done. Let the world burn!

–

The brilliant colors vanished from his eyes, and the world returned to monotonous shades of black and white.

The fox could no longer see the world’s dazzling colors. He sniffed the scents carried on the air and breeze, relying on a wild animal’s naturally keen nose to determine the direction he wanted to go.

His four paws padded over the ground. The road, baked scorching hot by the sun, soon seared his paws, while his thick fur trapped the heat against his body. The discomfort gradually became unbearable. Before long, he had to stop in a patch of shade by the road and open his mouth wide to cool himself.

“Hey, look! There’s a dog over there.”

“There really is… Wait, no, it’s a fox!”

“It looks like a Samoyed!”

“So cute! I want to pet it!”

“Don’t touch it, little sis! Mom said we can’t pet other people’s dogs without asking. They might bite! If one bites you, you might get rabies, and rabies is really painful. You could die!”

“But it’s a fox.”

“Foxes aren’t okay either. Animals like that are dangerous. Come here, little sis. I’ll protect you.”

He picked up a sharp stone and hurled it viciously at the fox.

The stone grazed past the fox’s face, and he let out a shrill whine. Baring his teeth, he started to retaliate, but for some reason, he held himself back.

“Waaah! It’s so scary! Save me, big brother! I’m scared…”
“Quick, quick! Hit it!”

“Get me a stick! I’m going to catch it and avenge my little sister!”

“It’s getting away! Hurry and catch it!”

Frightened, the fox darted among the bushes and flower beds by the roadside, but even though his attackers were only human children, he was no match for creatures with tools who knew how to use them.

After a desperate flight, the fox finally escaped their attacks. He collapsed on the ground, panting for breath.

He remembered that countless years ago, while still cultivating, he had faced the Child Trial. Just as he had today, he had revealed himself in a place where many children gathered.

Children were innocent and naive. They could not distinguish good from evil or right from wrong, had no sense of restraint, and possessed boundless energy. They were extremely difficult to handle. Whether he survived depended entirely on fate.

After the Child Trial came the Wheel-Rut Tribulation.

The endless stream of traffic on the road once again blocked his path.

In a world of black and white, the fox had lost the ability to distinguish colors. He could not see the traffic lights or tell when it was safe to cross. He wanted to follow the crowd, but feared they would chase him away, block him, or even catch him and lock him in a cage. He could only hide in the shadows and wait for an opportunity.

After finally dodging the traffic, crossing the road, and turning the page on that ordeal, even the heavens turned against him. Rain began to fall.

Summer thunderstorms rolled in with booming thunder and broke without warning.

The blinding lightning and rumbling thunder cast terrifying shadows over the fox’s mind.

He seemed to remember the agony of his flesh splitting beneath the heavenly thunder during the Heavenly Thunder Tribulation.

Time had passed, yet that piercing pain remained deep in his memory.

The fox found an eave beneath which to shelter. He shook the rainwater from his fur, lay on all fours, and wrapped his tail around his body as he waited for the downpour to pass.

Raindrops struck his wounds with a burning sting. The fox did not dare close his eyes, afraid that if he did, he would never wake again.

Trying to see one person again felt like suffering every tribulation anew and cultivating all over again.

He had cast aside a thousand years of cultivation to walk the same road from the beginning, only this time, a different destination awaited him.

At last, the rain passed and the sun emerged.

The fox climbed to his feet and shook his tail and head, flinging away the remaining rainwater, then set off once more.

A place he could once have reached in an instant now required days and nights of travel as a fox. It felt as though the journey took an entire lifetime.

At last, a house with white walls and dark roof tiles appeared in the fox’s eyes. The familiar ebony door stood before him.

The fox yipped twice in delight and happily ran forward.

At the villa’s entrance, he saw a woman in a wheelchair basking in the sun.

She wore a white dress, her hair long and black. Bathed in bright sunlight, she sat with her eyes closed, her face full of comfort and contentment.

The fox ran to her and rubbed against the ankle beneath the hem of her dress. He whimpered twice, his voice choked with grievance.

Xia Ke’er opened her eyes. The unidentified white lump lying beside her feet startled her.

Frightened, she instinctively started to wheel herself away. Then she saw his wet eyes, brimming with hurt, and stopped.

He looked rather cute and innocent.

He seemed… harmless?

The filthy-looking creature was soaked from head to toe, his fur tangled into knots. Only his eyes remained bright and appealing.

He looked so miserable.

Bracing his forepaws on Xia Ke’er’s knees, he half rose as if asking to be held.

Xia Ke’er’s heart softened. She could not shake the feeling that she had seen him somewhere before, so she leaned down toward him and asked, “Who do you belong to?”

Perhaps he was a pet from one of the nearby houses who had gotten lost. His owner must be terribly worried.

“Yip, yip.”

“You don’t seem like a dog. Are you a fox, or a Samoyed?”

“Yip, yip, yip.”

“Where’s your owner?”

“Yip…”

Xia Ke’er looked over his bedraggled body and spotted his wounds. She immediately cried out, “Why is there a bald patch in your fur? Did someone bully you? Who hit you?!”

“Yip, yip.” The fox could not answer her. He could only make sounds that human ears heard as indistinct whimpers.

Xia Ke’er looked around, but no one nearby was walking a dog, nor did his fur show any sign of having been carefully groomed. He seemed to have no owner and no home, merely a pet fox that had wandered for a very long time.

Xia Ke’er thought for ages. At last, she sighed helplessly. “Fine. Your little guilt trip worked. You’ve got yourself a lifetime meal ticket.”

“Come home with me.”

“Yip, yip.”