The Little Fox Spirit Doesn't Want to Carry a Cub - Chapter 17

This was likely the first time in his life that the Crown Prince, a man who usually had everything he could ever want, had uttered such words.

It was almost laughable. Since meeting this little fox, his principles seemed to be constantly breaking, and he found himself repeatedly doing things he had never previously considered.

The little fox remained as ignorant as ever. He gazed at Jiang Shen, his eyes filled with a touch of confusion.

“But I already like you right now,” Li Ruan said.

He truly did like Jiang Shen.

Before this, no one had ever stayed with him for so long, told him stories, or made him delicious food. His requests were mostly met with effort, even though Li Ruan could tell that Jiang Shen was sometimes not particularly willing.

Jiang Shen, however, shook his head. “It’s not enough.”

Li Ruan blinked. “Huh?”

“I said… your ‘liking’ is not enough,” Jiang Shen said. “A-Xue was right; mortals are self-interested. Not only are they self-interested, but they are also selfish and greedy.”

He knew clearly that the little fox only had cultivation and ascension in his heart. If Jiang Shen were truly a broad-minded person, he should have pretended not to care about anything, satisfied the fox’s requests, and fulfilled his wishes.

But Jiang Shen was unwilling to settle for that.

This was the Crown Prince’s first time falling in love; how could he let it end in such a muddled, anticlimactic way?

At the very least… he had to try.

This little fox previously knew only of cultivation. He had never seen the mortal world, much less understood love or hate. Since that was the case, Jiang Shen would teach him bit by bit; he would tell him everything, little by little.

He wanted to see if he could make this little fox demon grow a mortal heart that beat only for him.

Jiang Shen propped one hand against the tree trunk and leaned down so the little fox could look him in the eye. He gazed into those clear, bright eyes, his voice softening significantly. “So… I hope you can like me a bit more. Is that alright?”

“Your standards are so high.” Li Ruan’s brows furrowed as if he were deeply troubled. “Must I like you especially much before you’re willing to engage in dual cultivation with me?”

“Yes,” Jiang Shen replied. “Is that not allowed?”

Li Ruan murmured, “Mm…”

Li Ruan pondered for a long time.

Jiang Shen originally thought that, given the little fox’s personality, he would probably try to negotiate terms again or simply threaten to find someone else.

But he didn’t.

The little fox tilted his head, thought for a moment, and then smiled. “Then starting from today, I will work hard to like you a little more every day.”

Jiang Shen’s heart softened.

Li Ruan continued to chatter on: “But I don’t know what counts as liking you more. Your requirements can’t be too high; I have to learn slowly. Also…”

As he spoke, his lips opened and closed softly, and the tip of his pale pink tongue was faintly visible.

Jiang Shen stared down at them, having completely tuned out what the little fox was saying.

“You…” Noticing his distraction, Li Ruan spoke up displeasedly, “Are you even listening to me—”

Jiang Shen suddenly leaned in close. The moment Li Ruan opened his mouth, he bumped into Jiang Shen’s lips.

It was a lightning-fast touch, like a subtle electric current passing through the point of contact.

Li Ruan was stunned and instinctively tried to hide by leaning back. But the tree trunk was behind him; there was nowhere to run.

“You’re too close…” Li Ruan turned his head away.

“Don’t you want to learn?” Jiang Shen gripped his chin and gently turned it back, whispering, “In the mortal world, this is what people who love each other do.”

Li Ruan asked, “Do what?”

Jiang Shen thought for a moment. “It’s probably… a bit like how you look when you’re stealing my essence.”

Li Ruan’s eyes widened in surprise. “So you knew!”

Of course, Jiang Shen knew.

This little fox was a habitual opportunist, often coming over to lick him while Jiang Shen was asleep. Licking the surface wasn’t enough; he insisted on sticking his tongue into his mouth and licking every inch, inside and out.

Just the times Jiang Shen had caught him while half-awake amounted to more than seven or eight instances.

“Then why didn’t you ever tell me?”

Because Li Ruan had been somewhat reckless in absorbing essence lately, he worried his addiction would grow stronger. Therefore, he had specifically made an agreement with Jiang Shen to only absorb essence twice a day at fixed times after Jiang Shen took his medicine.

But occasionally, he still got a bit greedy.

Especially in the dead of night, with such a large, essence-rich living person sleeping right next to him—it was truly hard to resist taking a lick or two.

As long as no one found out, he would pretend he hadn’t “snacked” and hadn’t broken his promise.

This was how Li Ruan had always comforted himself.

“How could you not tell me?” Li Ruan was a bit annoyed. “You should have stopped me. What if I ate too much? You—mmph!”

He was clearly the one deceiving himself, yet he blamed Jiang Shen for not exposing him. Jiang Shen had never seen such an unreasonable demon.

Jiang Shen directly blocked that chattering mouth.

This was his first time kissing someone, and he had zero experience. But such things didn’t actually require experience; he followed his instincts to pry open the other’s teeth. Recalling how the little fox had treated him before, he tasted every part of the mouth, inside and out.

Because he was unskilled, Jiang Shen’s movements were gentle, yet he tasted very carefully, refusing to miss a single spot. Consequently, the kiss lasted a long time.

By the time he let go, Li Ruan was already a bit dazed.

He looked even sillier than usual.

“You lied to me,” Li Ruan accused. “This feels completely different from eating essence.”

Jiang Shen played dumb. “How is it different?”

Li Ruan couldn’t answer.

But it was different.

When he ate essence, it was just a shallow taste; he wouldn’t hook the other person’s tongue and refuse to let go, making them unable to breathe.

And it definitely didn’t produce this strange feeling—as if… he were being completely controlled.

“I’ll know once I try it.” Li Ruan grabbed Jiang Shen’s clothes, intending to lean in and test it out, but his movements suddenly stiffened.

He turned his head, and the ears hidden in his hair snapped upright.

Jiang Shen was very familiar with this look; it was the way Li Ruan appeared when he found prey in the forest.

Jiang Shen lowered his voice and asked, “What is it?”

Li Ruan whispered, “It seems someone is here.”

At the end of the mountain path, a stumbling young man had appeared at some unknown point.

The young man wore light-colored cloth robes and was tall and thin, dressed like a scholar. His clothes were torn in many places by branches. It was unclear how long he had been walking in the mountains, but he was covered in snow and shivering violently from the cold.

He looked as though he might faint at any moment.

In the distance, Jiang Shen pressed the little fox behind the tree, hiding him meticulously.

Li Ruan asked, “Is he also someone looking for you?”

Jiang Shen: “…Unlikely.”

After a moment of thought, he whispered to the little fox, “Stay hidden.”

The wind on the mountain path was very strong. The young man held a thick branch for support and coughed hard against a gust of freezing wind. Because of this, he didn’t notice someone approaching using the wind as cover.

Jiang Shen’s toes tapped the ground lightly. The palm-wind intended for the young man’s back shifted at the last second, and he grabbed the young man’s shoulder instead.

“Ah—” An exclamation caught in the young man’s throat. He only felt someone push him forcefully, and his arm was pinned behind his back as he was pressed into the snow.

Jiang Shen held him firmly with one hand and asked in a deep voice, “Who are you, and what are you doing here?”

“I… I…” The young man’s body shook violently, and for a long while, he couldn’t utter a complete sentence.

This body was indeed very weak and freezing cold. If left alone, he might freeze to death before long. Jiang Shen remained expressionless, but he slowly applied pressure until he heard the young man’s cry of pain.

“Immortal, have mercy! Immortal, have mercy! I am here… I am here to beg for medicine!”

Jiang Shen eased his grip slightly. “What medicine?”

“My… my wife is six months pregnant. She accompanied this humble student to the capital for the imperial examinations, but unexpectedly caught a cold half a month ago. We have consulted many doctors, but they say my wife is naturally weak and the illness is too severe… it is already beyond medical help.”

“This—this student heard that there is a herb on Changming Mountain that can bring the dead back to life, so I came specifically to seek it.”

Jiang Shen let go.

The young man couldn’t stand up, however, and collapsed in the snow, coughing incessantly.

He didn’t seem to be lying.

If he were a well-trained assassin, no matter how frail he pretended to be on the outside, his physical condition wouldn’t lie. The person before him was physically feeble; forget martial arts, he likely rarely even did manual labor.

He truly had the appearance of a scholar.

Jiang Shen was about to speak when he heard a voice from the tree above: “But there is no herb that brings back the dead on Changming Mountain.”

Looking up, the youth was sitting on a branch, his tail hanging down naturally.

The young man was so frightened he nearly fainted. “He… he…”

Jiang Shen looked at the little fox reproachfully. “Didn’t I tell you to hide and not come out?”

Li Ruan: “But you can’t help him.”

Jiang Shen: “And you can?”

“Ugh… I can’t.” Li Ruan shook his head. “My magical power isn’t high enough to bring someone who is almost dead back to life.”

The young man seemed to clear his head slightly. He knelt on the ground and pleaded tearfully, “Two Immortals, my wife is almost at her end. If she goes, it will be two lives lost. If anything happens to her, I don’t want to live either… Please save my wife and child. Whatever price I must pay, I am willing!”

Li Ruan tilted his head. “Why won’t you live if she dies? Your body is fine, and you have the appearance of future wealth and official rank. Once you pass this tribulation, your career path will be smooth. Why are you acting like it’s life or death?”

Jiang Shen was startled and looked up at the youth in the tree.

He never knew the little fox could read faces.

He had heard that cultivators were skilled in divination; it seemed it wasn’t just a rumor.

The young man, however, said, “What do these external things matter compared to my wife, who has stayed by my side through ten years of hard study?”

He bowed deeply to Li Ruan, his voice trembling, “I beg the Immortal to save my wife and child!”

He was indeed a man of deep affection and loyalty.

Jiang Shen asked, “Who told you there was a life-restoring medicine on Changming Mountain?”

“It was… an itinerant doctor outside the capital,” the young man said. “I begged him for many days, but he had no other way, so he pointed me to this path. He said that when he suffered from a malignant disease, he found herbs in these mountains that saved his life. So… so I wanted to try…”

Jiang Shen looked at the youth again, who still shook his head. “I’ve lived here for so many years and never heard of such a herb… However, there is one person who might have a way.”

Jiang Shen: “You mean…”

“Surely you aren’t talking about me?” A clear, lazy voice suddenly rang out from the forest.

Li Ruan’s ears perked up, and he leaped down from the branch. Simultaneously, a young man in white walked out of the woods.

Li Ruan landed lightly beside the young man and asked, “A-Xue, why are you here?”

“Perhaps… because I felt you were thinking of me?” Lin Jianxue smiled, then glanced at the fox tail behind him. “It’s been so long, and you still haven’t hooked your man? You can’t even hide your ears and tail properly.”

“Shh!”

Li Ruan looked at Jiang Shen guiltily and whispered, “I’m working on it!”

Lin Jianxue chuckled and said nothing more.

He walked straight toward the cloth-robed young man, not even glancing at Jiang Shen beside him, and helped the man up.

With a wave of his hand, a crystal-clear herb appeared in his palm.

“You got lost as soon as you entered Changming Mountain and searched bitterly for three days before finally collapsing from exhaustion. But when you woke up, you were holding this herb in your hand, its origin unknown.”

His voice was extremely low, like a dream or an illusion. As he spoke, a silver light seemed to flicker in his eyes. “Go back. Unless you encounter someone at a dead end whose life is at stake, do not tell this secret to anyone—not even those closest to you.”

The young man’s expression dazed for a moment, then he suddenly snapped awake. He bowed deeply to Lin Jianxue. “Yes! Thank you, Immortal! Thank you, Immortal!”

Having said that, he turned and left the way he came.

Li Ruan walked over, blinking in surprise. “That medicine… can it really bring back the dead?”

Lin Jianxue: “It’s the same as the life-extending pill I gave you last time, just transformed into the appearance of a herb. If I gave him a pill directly, wouldn’t that prove there’s someone on the mountain? I’m not that stupid.”

Li Ruan nodded. “That makes sense…”

He added, “But it turns out you don’t kill everyone who enters Changming Mountain. And you even told him he could share the secret with people at a dead end in the future. Aren’t you just leading more people into the mountain?”

Lin Jianxue did not answer.

He watched the young man’s silhouette disappear at the end of the mountain path before saying calmly, “Today is his third day in the mountain.”

“During these three days, I used many methods to try and make him give up and go down the mountain, but his will was firm, and he persisted until he reached this place. He has determination in his heart, so I came to see him and gifted him the herb.”

Lin Jianxue smiled. “If everyone who comes has such a sincere heart but is at a dead end, what’s the harm in helping them fulfill a wish?”

“With such resilience and deep affection, he could be considered a man of talent,” Jiang Shen said leisurely.

Lin Jianxue’s smile faded slightly.

Jiang Shen stepped forward and bowed to Lin Jianxue. “Senior, I have long heard of your great name. Thanks to your life-saving grace, I have always wanted to thank you in person.”

“There is no need for thanks. Saving you was for a purpose; Mr. Jiang should understand that in his heart.” Lin Jianxue’s tone was much colder when speaking to Jiang Shen, as if he didn’t particularly want to talk to him.

Li Ruan hurriedly ran to Jiang Shen’s side and gently tugged his sleeve from behind. “Don’t mind him, A-Xue has always disliked mortals…”

“It’s no matter. It’s just…” Jiang Shen gazed at the handsome face of the young man, his brows furrowing slightly. “Have I seen you somewhere before?”

During these months on Changming Mountain, Jiang Shen had only heard of this great demon named A-Xue from Li Ruan. Today was their first meeting.

Yet, seeing him today, he felt strangely familiar, as if he had seen him somewhere.

Lin Jianxue raised his eyes. “But I have never seen Mr. Jiang.”

Jiang Shen also couldn’t recall.

With a face like that, if he had seen it before, he should have a very deep impression of it.

Jiang Shen thought for a long time before shaking his head. “Perhaps I remembered incorrectly. I hope Senior will not take offense at my intrusion.”

Li Ruan didn’t care. “A-Xue hasn’t been down the mountain in all these years. Of course you wouldn’t have seen him. You definitely remembered wrong.”

Jiang Shen replied gently, “Mm, you’re right.”

Then, remembering something, he glanced toward the mountain path and asked, “That scholar—won’t he remember us?”

“It’s not that he won’t remember,” Li Ruan said. “His memory is just jumbled.”

“It’s a type of illusion magic. He will take what A-Xue told him as his own experience on this mountain. Furthermore, because the thought ‘cannot tell this secret to others’ remains in his subconscious, he won’t easily leak it,” Li Ruan explained. “However, if he meets us again, it might trigger his true memories. It’s not 100% foolproof.”

“We just won’t see him again, right?” Lin Jianxue said. “Erasing or altering memories are advanced spells that consume a lot of spiritual power. I’m too lazy for that.”

“True.” Li Ruan said somewhat dejectedly, “Erasing memories is very dangerous. What if I overdo it and make him forget his wife? That would be terrible. It’s a pity my magic hasn’t recovered; otherwise, I could just erase specifically the few of us from his memory.”

Jiang Shen asked curiously, “You even know such spells?”

“Of course! I told you I’m very powerful. I know many spells…” As Li Ruan began to brag, he saw Lin Jianxue quietly turn and walk deep into the forest.

Li Ruan called out to him, “A-Xue, are you going back already?”

“If I don’t go back, am I supposed to stay here and listen to you two flirt?” Without looking back, he waved his hand. “Going back to sleep. Young people truly have good energy…”

After Lin Jianxue left, Jiang Shen and Li Ruan also began to head back.

However, Li Ruan seemed to have something on his mind and didn’t speak much along the way.

Jiang Shen asked him, “What are you thinking about?”

“Huh?” Li Ruan was startled. “How did you kn— wait, I’m not thinking about anything…”

Jiang Shen smiled. “It’s all written on your face.”

The little fox could never hide things; whatever was on his mind showed directly on his face. Jiang Shen originally hadn’t intended to ask, but seeing the little fox’s frown deepen as they neared the cave dwelling, he finally spoke up.

“I was just thinking…” Li Ruan’s eyes lowered, looking a bit hesitant. “I was thinking, that man just now must really like his wife—so much that he would even give up his life.”

Jiang Shen roughly guessed what he wanted to say and gave a soft “Mm.”

“But…” Li Ruan stopped walking. “But I seem to…”

He didn’t seem to be able to do that.

He couldn’t understand why someone would give up everything, even their life, for someone else.

If Jiang Shen wanted that kind of “liking,” he… he couldn’t possibly do it.

Li Ruan was worried to death.

Then, his head was gently tapped.

“Overthinking.” Jiang Shen withdrew his hand and said seriously, “When did I ever say I wanted you to do that for me?”

“Liking someone should be something that makes you happy. How can there be so many instances of deep, life-and-death devotion right from the start? Not only can you not do it, but even if you could, I wouldn’t want you to. Do you understand?”

“I just hope you can like me a little more. It doesn’t matter if you don’t like me that much for now.”

It was already good enough that the little fox was willing to accept him. After all, they still had time and could cultivate their feelings slowly.

Li Ruan said discouragedly, “But I really want to engage in dual cultivation with you.”

Jiang Shen: “…”

He knew it. This little fox’s head was full of nothing but dual cultivation. His worry was merely that his “lack of liking” would interfere with his dual cultivation plans.

Anything he said was in vain.

Jiang Shen was almost exasperated to the point of laughter. He thought for a moment and added, “I believe I heard you tell A-Xue just now that you were going to work hard to ‘hook’ me?”

Li Ruan looked away and stammered, “D-did that happen?”

It wasn’t that he was embarrassed; Li Ruan simply felt it was humiliating.

Fox demons were naturally born to seduce people, yet while everyone else could do it, he couldn’t do it well at all.

Sometimes Li Ruan felt he might have entered the wrong womb at the Reincarnation Well—maybe he wasn’t actually a fox.

“No?” Jiang Shen said intentionally. “That’s great then. I was originally worried that if you truly tried to seduce me, I might not be able to hold out for very long.”

Li Ruan blinked. “Really?”

“Yes, really.” With a hint of a smile in his eyes, Jiang Shen lowered his head and leaned in closer. “So… how do you plan to seduce me?”