The Little Fox Spirit Doesn't Want to Carry a Cub - Chapter 21.1

Li Ruan originally thought the abnormality in his body was simply because he had recently rebuilt his foundation and his meridians hadn’t fully reshaped yet. Therefore, he didn’t pay much attention at first, continuing to let nature take its course—eating when hungry, sleeping when tired, and finding a spot in the forest to meditate when he felt energetic.

Five or six days passed, and his condition, instead of improving, grew increasingly severe.

In the early morning, a cry broke the silence of the forest, startling countless birds. This was the southern foot of Changming Mountain, halfway up which stood an exquisite cave dwelling. The two beautifully carved stone doors were tightly shut. A small red fox was pawing at the door, whimpering and crying.

“A-Xue, A-Xue, save me! A-Xue—!”

The little fox cried more piteously with every breath. Just as it scratched the door twice, its body was suddenly hoisted into the air.

Lin Jianxue held him by the scruff of his neck and let out a tired yawn. “It’s early morning. Why aren’t you sleeping instead of coming here to make a racket?”

The little fox’s clear red eyes were filled with tears. The moment he saw Lin Jianxue, he immediately flailed his front paws, trying to pounce on him. Lin Jianxue quickly extended his arm to keep him at a distance.

Li Ruan wailed, “I think I’m sick!”

It was the same old problem—his true qi would be swallowed up as soon as it reached his lower abdomen. Li Ruan had investigated several times before but found no issues, so he had ignored it. However, because his cultivation showed no progress, Li Ruan had slacked off slightly recently, not circulating his true qi for several days.

When he woke up this morning, he discovered that his spiritual power had unknowingly depleted significantly. It was as if that thing in his belly, unable to eat the circulating true qi, had begun devouring his own strength.

Inside Lin Jianxue’s cave dwelling, which was arranged comfortably, Li Ruan sat on a velvet-covered lounge chair, eyes red, still sobbing softly. “Look, I’ve changed back.”

His human form was no longer that of a young man but had reverted to the teenage appearance he had when he first gained the ability to transform. A pair of fox ears drooped listlessly between his hair.

“I’m definitely sick,” Li Ruan said. He had once heard that for demons, the inability to circulate true qi and the slow daily depletion of spiritual power only occurred right before death. When the spiritual power was exhausted, life would end.

The more Li Ruan thought about it, the more terrified he became. Grabbing Lin Jianxue’s sleeve, he asked piteously, “Am I going to die?”

Lin Jianxue: “…”

He wasn’t going to die. If it were truly the “Five Signs of Decay,” where would this little fox demon get the energy to howl so loudly that the whole mountain could hear him?

Still, what was going on?

Lin Jianxue first took Li Ruan’s pulse—it was perfectly normal. Then he condensed a mass of spiritual power and injected it into him. The gentle spiritual power flowed slowly along the meridians, but when it reached the lower abdomen, it indeed vanished completely.

Lin Jianxue furrowed his brows. This feeling was a bit like…

“Have you eaten anything bad lately?” Lin Jianxue asked him.

“Just some fruit,” Li Ruan whispered. “But I’ve been getting hungry very quickly lately, like I can never eat enough. A-Xue, do you have anything to eat here?” He rubbed his belly. “I’m so hungry…” He had cried himself hungry.

Lin Jianxue fell silent. As a Great Demon, he had abstained from food for years and kept no supplies. He comforted Li Ruan, repeatedly assuring him that he wasn’t dying, before sending him back. He had never encountered this situation and needed to ask someone. He told Li Ruan to wait for news back at his own cave.

Li Ruan could only return to his cave. Having lived with Jiang Shen for several months, he was used to storing food there. Back at the cave, he first started a fire and then went outside to pluck and bleed a wild pheasant.

After these months, he was no longer used to eating raw meat. Moreover, over the past few days—perhaps due to being “sick”—the mere smell of it made him feel slightly nauseous. These tasks were usually done by Jiang Shen; only by doing it himself did Li Ruan realize how difficult it was. The meat Jiang Shen roasted was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, with perfect timing and flavor. When Li Ruan did it, the outside was charred while the inside remained half-raw—dry on one side and bloody on the other. It wasn’t tasty at all.

Li Ruan took one bite and couldn’t eat more. He tossed it aside and ended up munching on fruit again. He lay on the hay bed, but after a while, feeling uncomfortable, he ran to the depths of the cave and pulled out several pieces of clothing.

Jiang Shen hadn’t taken his belongings when he left, and Li Ruan couldn’t bear to throw them away, so everything remained as it was. He piled the clothes on the bed and buried his face in them, finally feeling a bit better.

Once his stomach was full, he began to feel drowsy. In his muddled state, his mind started to wander. One moment he felt aggrieved—if Jiang Shen were here, he would definitely hug him, pet him, and cook lots of delicious food. The next moment, he thought if he were truly dying, it might not be so bad; since ascension was hopeless, he might as well go to the human world to accompany Jiang Shen for a lifetime. A-Xue was so powerful that extending his life by a hundred years shouldn’t be hard; perhaps after a century, they could go to the Yellow Springs together.

Li Ruan fell asleep while thinking. He didn’t know how long he slept before he was awakened. In his sleep, he accidentally reverted to his original form. The little fox was curled into a ball in the pile of soft clothes. When awakened, he dazedly rubbed his eyes with his paws. “Jiang Shen, is it time to eat…”

“And you said you don’t miss him. You’re calling his name in your dreams,” a youth snorted softly.

Li Ruan blinked and slowly woke up. “A-Xue?”

“It’s me.” Lin Jianxue laughed irritably. “Not your Jiang Shen. Disappointed?”

“No, no.” Li Ruan hurried to get up but was tripped by the clothes under him, nearly falling off the bed. Lin Jianxue caught him.

After being set down, Li Ruan flailed his front paws and said seriously, “A-Xue, I need to discuss something with you. Can you not pick me up like that every time? It’s like you’re carrying a puppy.”

“I see no difference between you and a puppy.” Lin Jianxue squeezed the scruff of his neck. “A fox demon who has lived for hundreds or thousands of years, yet you became so clingy after being kept by a mortal for a few days. Are there any puppies in the mortal world as clingy as you?”

Li Ruan emphasized, “I wasn’t kept by a mortal. I was keeping the mortal.”

Lin Jianxue snorted again, noncommittally.

Li Ruan sat up and noticed another animal in the cave. To call it small wasn’t quite accurate; it was an adult lioness, standing even larger than Lin Jianxue’s original form. She had been lying quietly behind him, and on her back were two lion cubs. The cubs seemed to have been born not long ago; their fur was light in color. They poked their heads out from behind the lioness’s head, curiously sizing up Li Ruan.

Li Ruan blinked. “Is… is this the doctor you brought?”

“Sort of.” Lin Jianxue turned his head and said to the lioness, “Check him. Is it for that reason?”

Li Ruan: “?”

Before he could ask, the lioness stepped forward. Her build was much larger than the little fox’s. She directly extended a paw and placed it on Li Ruan’s belly. She felt it, then stepped on it lightly. The two cubs also jumped down from her back, circled Li Ruan twice, and lowered their heads, trying to nuzzle into his abdomen.

Li Ruan wasn’t used to being so close to other animals, but these two little things were so small that he was afraid of hurting them and didn’t dare push them away. He could only look up at Lin Jianxue. “Wh-what’s going on?”

The one who answered him wasn’t Lin Jianxue, but the lioness: “You’ve got a cub.”

Li Ruan: “?”

“There’s no mistake.” The lioness’s voice was gentle and steady, contrasting with her appearance. “I was like this when I was carrying these two. I needed spiritual power to feed them at all times, especially at the beginning. It really exhausted me.”

Li Ruan stared blankly at the lioness. It was strange—he understood every word she said, but when put together, they made no sense.

Fortunately, Lin Jianxue raised a question first: “But why didn’t I diagnose a pregnancy pulse?”

“Because the cub is currently just a mass of spiritual power; it hasn’t taken shape yet,” the lioness said. “Let it absorb more of the mother’s strength, and the pulse will slowly show.”

“I see.” Lin Jianxue seemed to accept this answer quickly and even struck up a conversation with the lioness. “Then why is his spiritual power consumption so massive? At this rate, he’ll have to revert to his original form. As far as I know, while demon fetuses absorb spiritual power, they don’t actually harm the mother.”

This question made the lioness hesitate. She said uncertainly, “Could it be because the father is too strong? If there’s a huge disparity in cultivation, and the fetus inherits the father’s power, it will need more spiritual power to grow.”

Lin Jianxue’s brows knitted slightly. “That’s a bit strange then. This child’s father is clearly…”

“Wait a minute!” Li Ruan finally found a chance to interject. “What are you talking about? What cub? How can I have a cub? I’m a male fox!”

The lioness froze. “Oh, right.” She turned her head and asked Lin Jianxue, “Is your fox clan that amazing? Male foxes can give birth too?”

Lin Jianxue spread his hands. “Well, I can’t.”

Li Ruan: “I shouldn’t be able to either!”

“But you do have a cub,” the lioness said. “If you don’t believe me, can’t you believe these two little ones? They felt it.”

The two cubs were still trying to nuzzle into Li Ruan’s belly. Animal cubs have a natural sensitivity to newborns. These Great Demons with hundreds of years of cultivation couldn’t reach a conclusion immediately, but these two cubs felt it the moment they arrived.

This was also the reason Lin Jianxue had asked the lioness to help “diagnose” Li Ruan. The sudden appearance of an unknown mass in the abdomen that absorbed spiritual power looked exactly like a demon pregnancy.

After confirming the answer, Lin Jianxue saw the lioness out. When he returned, Li Ruan was still sitting blankly on the bed, looking dazed.

“Snap out of it,” Lin Jianxue called to him. “Instead of dazing here, you should think about what to do. Do you want to wait until this cub sucks you dry of spiritual power and forces you back into your original form?”

Li Ruan’s reaction was several beats slower than usual. He slowly lowered his head and slowly touched his belly. “But… why…”

Lin Jianxue sat down beside him. “First, we can be sure the cub’s father… the other father, is Jiang Shen, right?”

Li Ruan: “Probably…”

Lin Jianxue: “Hmm?”

Li Ruan: “It is Jiang Shen.”

“So, the problem isn’t with you; it’s with him.”

“But he looks like just an ordinary mortal no matter how you look at him.” Li Ruan stood up muddledly and looked down at himself. “And I’m a male fox too.”

Lin Jianxue: “…”

Li Ruan was indeed a male fox, and his body was no different from other foxes. Lin Jianxue had treated his injuries many times and knew this better than anyone. But why this happened, he couldn’t figure out either. Moreover, according to the lioness, the abnormality might be because the child’s other father’s power was vastly disparate from his.

Li Ruan’s memory was chaotic, and he wasn’t clear about his own origins, thinking he had only cultivated for a few hundred years. But Lin Jianxue knew that when they first met three hundred years ago, Li Ruan’s cultivation far surpassed his. It was just that over these years, his foundations had been damaged by heavenly lightning, and he had never returned to his peak.

Lin Jianxue couldn’t imagine what kind of immense power would make Li Ruan seem “disparate” in comparison. Jiang Shen was clearly just a mortal…

This matter was too bizarre. Even Lin Jianxue couldn’t figure it out, let alone Li Ruan. Lin Jianxue decided not to bring it up and add to his troubles, instead saying, “You should think about what to do now.”

Li Ruan: “What do you mean ‘what to do’?”

“Your current spiritual power isn’t enough to supply this cub. You naturally have to find a way,” Lin Jianxue said. “Didn’t you say before that absorbing Jiang Shen’s essence was extremely effective for restoring your cultivation?”

Actually, thinking carefully about this was also strange. An ordinary mortal’s essence could improve a demon’s cultivation, but that mostly relied on devouring flesh or dual cultivation. Li Ruan’s foundations had been shattered, yet simply by living with Jiang Shen for a while and absorbing a bit of essence daily, he slowly regained the strength to transform. This shouldn’t be an effect an ordinary mortal’s essence could have.

Hearing Jiang Shen’s name, Li Ruan’s thinking ability finally returned. “You mean… I should go absorb Jiang Shen’s essence again?” He blinked, appearing a bit hesitant. “But what about ascension? If I go to the mortal world, I won’t be able to practice for a long time.”

Lin Jianxue looked at him expressionlessly. Li Ruan’s tone was normal, but he completely failed to notice that his tail behind him was wagging uncontrollably, betraying his true thoughts. The little guy was happy.

“But with this cub in your belly, you can’t cultivate anyway,” Lin Jianxue teased him on purpose. “Otherwise, find a way to get rid of the cub once and for all.”

“No!” Li Ruan took two steps back, his fur standing on end in tension. “The fox cub did nothing wrong. You can’t do that to it!”

Lin Jianxue laughed. “So, you know what to do next?”

“Mm.” Li Ruan nodded and whispered, “I’ll go find him.” He looked away, trying his best to look calm. But he didn’t hide it well at all—his tail and ears were held high, as if every hair was lively and spread out, and even his eyes glowed with a different luster than usual.

The mere thought of seeing Jiang Shen made him happy starting from now. Especially, especially happy.

But Li Ruan still delayed for two days. For no other reason than that his spiritual power had been sucked away so much by the cub that he couldn’t hide his ears and tail in his human form. He had to find a way. Finally, Lin Jianxue cast an illusion on him to hide them temporarily. Not only that, he specifically found a little mountain sparrow to accompany Li Ruan down the mountain.

“There’s no need for such trouble…” Li Ruan had some objections.

“The sparrow often goes to the capital and knows much about the mortal world; it can help you,” Lin Jianxue’s attitude was firm. “Moreover, if anything happens, it can send news back in time.”

“It’s n-not entirely because I’m worried about you,” the little sparrow chirped in. “It’s because A-Xue promised to help me raise my underlings that I agreed to go.”

Lin Jianxue: “See, the little sparrow is worried about you too.”

The sparrow hopped: “I said it’s not!”

Lin Jianxue smiled faintly, then turned back to Li Ruan. “Ruanruan, be careful on this trip to the mortal world.” He seemed to think of something, his smile fading slightly. “Human hearts are unpredictable. Keep your wits about you and don’t be bullied.”