The Little Fox Spirit Doesn't Want to Carry a Cub - Chapter 7

If the little fox’s expression and tone hadn’t been so genuinely innocent, Jiang Shen would have almost suspected he was doing it on purpose.

Even if this little fox was naive and worldly-ignorant, surely he understood that some places shouldn’t be touched?

Hadn’t he been a human before?

Li Ruan, of course, was not doing it on purpose.

He actually didn’t know much about mortals, let alone which parts could be touched and which couldn’t. During the years he spent in human form, Li Ruan spent more than half of his time in closed-door cultivation. The remaining smaller half was spent either attempting to transcend his Tribulation or recovering from a failed attempt.

Where would he have found the time to study the anatomy of mortals?

In fact, even how to perform dual cultivation was something he wasn’t quite clear on yet.

He could only sense that the essence in this particular spot was very concentrated, and after stepping on it a couple of times, the scent became even stronger.

It was truly difficult for a demon to resist such a temptation.

Jiang Shen’s expression shifted through several emotions, and he remained silent for a long time. Li Ruan looked up, meeting his gaze, while his small paw still couldn’t resist wanting to step upward. In the next second, his body suddenly went airborne.

Jiang Shen had picked him up.

Using only one hand, he gripped the fox under the armpits and held him level with his eyes.

This was likely the most humiliating moment of Li Ruan’s life—being held completely still by a mortal with a single hand. But there was nothing for it; his legs were simply too short. Being held at this height, he couldn’t reach anything, and his pair of short legs kicked futilely in the air twice.

“What are you doing?” Li Ruan was a bit annoyed.

“You’re actually the one getting angry?” Jiang Shen seemed to be laughed into exasperation as he held the fox even higher. “Are you still going to touch things randomly?”

Li Ruan gave a “humph” but didn’t answer.

Jiang Shen extended his free hand and lightly pinched the fox’s ear.

Li Ruan’s eyes widened.

This mortal has quite the nerve!

Li Ruan hadn’t been bragging earlier; before being struck back to his original form by the Heavenly Thunder, the demons of all sizes on Mount Changming all feared him to some degree. Li Ruan always felt that if he hadn’t been injured by the Tribulation, his cultivation at full strength wouldn’t necessarily have been lower than A-Xue’s.

Among the demon race, status was always determined by power. Before this, no human or demon had ever dared to pick him up like this, let alone pinch his ear.

Never. Before.

The little fox was so angry he kept kicking his legs. Fearing he would fall, Jiang Shen switched to using both hands to cradle him.

“Alright, alright, don’t be angry. I won’t tease you anymore.” Jiang Shen ultimately couldn’t bring himself to speak harshly to the little fox. He sighed and said seriously, “But some places cannot be touched randomly. You can’t do this next time, otherwise… I won’t give you any more essence.”

The little fox still didn’t speak.

The two pairs of eyes stared at each other for a moment before the little fox’s ears drooped: “Fine, I know.”

“If I can’t touch it, I won’t.”

“So stingy…”

Jiang Shen: “…”

How did he end up being the one feeling aggrieved?

Was this a matter of being stingy or not?

The current Crown Prince, who was usually a master of strategy and control, was for the first time at a loss as to what to do with this tiny fox demon.

However, the man and the fox finally reached an agreement. Although the little fox still stared longingly at that spot for a long time after being set down, he ultimately didn’t touch it again.

A few more days passed, and it began to snow on Mount Changming. A heavy snowfall lasted from the previous night until the following afternoon. When the sky cleared after the snow, the entire canyon was draped in a silver coat.

Li Ruan lay silently in the snow, his eyes fixed unblinkingly on the nearby stream.

The water gurgled along, the only sound in the forest.

Suddenly, the little fox pushed off hard with his legs, his body leaping into the air as he dashed toward the stream. He used a boulder in the middle of the water for leverage and lunged, his front paw sweeping into the water.

The series of movements was agile and fluid. By the time the little fox landed lightly on the opposite bank, his front paw was firmly pinning down a plump carp.

He pricked up his ears proudly. First, he used a paw to smack the flapping carp unconscious, then he lowered his head to pick it up in his mouth and toss it into a small basket he had prepared nearby.

The small basket was woven from vines and already contained five or six fish.

This item, naturally, was also the work of Jiang Shen. The weaver’s skill was clearly not very high; the gaps in the basket were inconsistent in size. If the fish hadn’t been knocked unconscious, the basket likely wouldn’t have been able to hold a single one.

But compared to having to move food back to the cave bit by bit, this thing still saved a lot of effort.

After winter began, food became harder to find with each passing day. If it were just Li Ruan, it wouldn’t matter—he was a demon; even if he went hungry for a few days, he wouldn’t die.

But he was currently raising a mortal.

Even if he starved himself, he couldn’t let Jiang Shen go hungry.

After all, he still relied on Jiang Shen’s essence to recover his power.

During this period, Li Ruan clearly felt that his strength had increased significantly.

Although there were no signs of his spiritual power returning yet, his damaged meridians were slowly self-repairing, and…

Li Ruan lowered his head to lick his wet little paw clean, then stretched his front paws forward.

His short legs were noticeably longer than before.

As an adult fox demon, Li Ruan originally wouldn’t have looked like a juvenile cub; perhaps because his cultivation loss during the Tribulation was too severe, he had reverted to a juvenile state upon being beaten back to his original form.

It was incredibly inconvenient.

Li Ruan had never known that absorbing a mortal’s essence could be so effective, even allowing his body to grow again.

But if that was the case, why did A-Xue tell him that only dual cultivation with a mortal could restore his cultivation?

He would have to ask A-Xue about it another day.

Thinking this, Li Ruan dragged the small basket and began to head back.

The snow had fallen on and off for several days, leaving a thick layer in the forest. Before he had gone far, Li Ruan’s footsteps suddenly halted.

As if sensing something, his fur stood on end, and his back arched slightly.

A moment later, someone stepped out from behind a tree.

That’s right, a “person.”

It was a youth who appeared to be about thirteen or fourteen years old, his features still quite immature, somewhere between a boy and a young man. He was tall and thin, his long hair unfastened. Despite the cold winter day, he wore only a thin, pale yellow short shirt.

He wore no shoes, standing barefoot on the snow, with a section of slender ankle showing beneath his trouser legs.

The youth grinned mischievously, revealing two sharp canine teeth: “Li Ruan, long time no see.”

Li Ruan had never seen this youth before, but he recognized the scent.

His eyes narrowed slowly: “Are you here to pick a fight with me?”

In his current form, Li Ruan didn’t actually have much presence; he was just a small ball of fluff. Even when he tried to look fierce, he wasn’t very intimidating. But the youth clearly didn’t think so. The moment Li Ruan took half a step forward, the youth instinctively recoiled, his momentum vanishing instantly: “S-so what if I am?”

“I’m telling you, I can already transform into human form. I definitely won’t lose this time!” the youth shouted, though it seemed less like he was speaking to Li Ruan and more like he was encouraging himself. “Today, I will definitely take my cave back!”

This youth was a weasel spirit, the original owner of the cave where Li Ruan was currently living.

Three hundred years ago, when Li Ruan arrived at Mount Changming, he took a liking to the abundant spiritual energy in the canyon and decided to establish a cave there to settle down and cultivate. But at that time, this weasel spirit had claimed the entire territory of the canyon and was unwilling to share it with Li Ruan.

Li Ruan simply fought him, beat him up, and forcibly took over his cave.

Disputes over territory were quite common among the demon race; the loser would simply find another cave for cultivation.

The weasel spirit had done the same; as far as Li Ruan knew, he had already found another cave in the mountains to stay in.

But this weasel spirit was obsessed with face and believed that as long as he practiced diligently, he would one day defeat Li Ruan and take his cave back. Thus, over the past three hundred years, he would come to challenge Li Ruan every so often, and every time, he would be soundly beaten by Li Ruan.

Now that Li Ruan had been beaten back to his original form, he naturally wasn’t going to let this rare opportunity pass.

Li Ruan pushed the small basket of fish aside and looked up at the youth before him.

“Bring it on.”

While the little fox was out searching for food, Jiang Shen was sitting outside the cave reading a book.

If it were anyone else, being unable to move freely due to a leg injury and confined to a tiny mountain cave, they would likely find the days very dull.

But Jiang Shen didn’t feel that way.

Usually, with the little fox in the cave to keep him company—playing together, talking, or learning to make small gadgets to make life easier—every day was very fulfilling.

And when the little fox was out, he would read outside the cave to pass the time.

The post-snow sunlight didn’t provide much warmth. Jiang Shen wore a black cloak with fur trim. As a cold wind blew past, he wrapped his robes tighter and pressed his brow.

For some reason over the past few days, he had felt his body becoming more easily fatigued and more sensitive to the cold than usual.

Jiang Shen was not in high spirits and lost interest in reading. He tossed the book aside and gazed toward the distant forest.

The woods were silent; aside from the faint sound of flowing water, no other noise could be heard.

Although Jiang Shen greatly enjoyed the recent leisurely time, without the little fox who usually followed him around, it was inevitably a bit lonely.

Has he been gone too long today?

If he didn’t return soon, it would be dark.

Jiang Shen pondered for a moment, took up his crutch, and began walking toward the forest.

Having lived in the cave for nearly half a month, he had mapped out almost all the paths nearby. The terrain in the canyon was fairly flat, but the way out was a rather steep pass—this was also why Jiang Shen hadn’t been able to leave the canyon.

He remembered the little fox saying before he left that he was going to catch fish by the stream in the woods, so he headed in that direction.

After walking some distance, he suddenly caught a faint scent of blood.

Jiang Shen was very familiar with this smell. He looked up and saw dots of crimson staining the snow in the distance.

That patch of snow had been trampled into a mess, and the blood looked exceptionally piercing against the white—one drop after another, leading into the forest.

Jiang Shen quickly picked up his pace.

The snow made the originally flat mountain path a bit difficult to navigate. Jiang Shen used his crutch to move forward another section and finally saw that bright red figure.

The fox was sitting in the forest with his back to Jiang Shen, his fur a mess.

His tail even seemed to be stained with some blood.

Jiang Shen’s heart tightened.

Sensing movement behind him, the little fox turned his head. Upon seeing who it was, he tilted his head in confusion: “Jiang Shen, why are you here?”

“What happened to you—”

Jiang Shen looked ahead; there was another animal in front of the little fox.

It was an adult weasel, its body twice the size of the little fox. Its fur was even messier than the fox’s, with a very obvious wound on its front leg and even a bald patch on the back of its neck.

It was crouched under a tree, currently… eating?

The trail of blood Jiang Shen had seen led right to the weasel’s feet—it was a wild rabbit that had already been bitten to death.

Jiang Shen: “…”

Jiang Shen closed his eyes: “What exactly is going on here?”

Li Ruan pointed to the weasel: “He came to pick a fight with me, but he didn’t win. I beat him up.”

The weasel was absentmindedly gnawing on the rabbit, but hearing this, he nearly jumped: “It’s because I hadn’t eaten today and was hungry!”

“Are you full now then?” Li Ruan narrowed his eyes and asked fiercely, “Do you want to go another round?”

The weasel instantly wilted.

He glanced at Li Ruan, then at Jiang Shen beside him, and said, “No more, no more. There are two of you, two against one—it’s not fair.”

“Besides, you don’t have any spiritual power right now; there’s no point in beating you,” the weasel said. “There’s a saying among mortals—what is it? A gentleman doesn’t take advantage of someone in danger.”

Jiang Shen: “…A gentleman does not strike a man while he is down.”

“Right, right, right.” The weasel’s ears flicked, and he transformed back into his human form. A long, deep wound had appeared on the youth’s arm; he covered it with his hand while maintaining a magnanimous front, “Once your spiritual power is restored, we’ll fight in human form. We’ll settle the score sooner or later.”

With that, he limped away.

The little fox shouted after him: “You haven’t finished your rabbit yet, you don’t want it?”

The youth didn’t look back, his retreating figure looking very much like he was fleeing in panic.

Soon, only Jiang Shen and Li Ruan were left in the forest.

The little fox remained sitting in place, wagging his tail proudly at Jiang Shen: “How about that? Am I impressive? That weasel spirit has three hundred years of cultivation.”

Jiang Shen sighed and asked, “Does your leg still hurt?”

The little fox was stunned for a moment and played dumb: “What are you talking about? My leg is fine.”

Jiang Shen stared at him steadily.

The little fox looked away, his tail retreating guiltily as he curled himself into a ball of fluff.

He had won, that was true, but his hind leg had been accidentally bitten by the weasel, which was why he had maintained a sitting posture—he didn’t want anyone to see that he was injured.

“Fighting is all about momentum; you have to maintain your presence!” on the way back, the little fox emphasized while lying on Jiang Shen’s shoulder.

Jiang Shen supported himself with his crutch in one hand and carried the small basket of fish in the other, smiling: “Fine, you have the most presence.”

Clearly, he just cares too much about his image.

Detecting the lack of sincerity in his tone, the little fox pushed himself up: “I’m serious. I could take three more of those low-level demon spirits—hiss—”

His paws flailed and pulled at his wound, causing him to flinch in pain and nearly fall from Jiang Shen’s shoulder.

Jiang Shen quickly steadied him.

“Don’t move around,” Jiang Shen said. “Does it hurt? Is it bleeding again?”

It did hurt quite a bit; how could it not hurt when he was injured? But this pain was far less than the Heavenly Thunder. Li Ruan originally wanted to say he was fine, but looking up at the man’s worried expression, he suddenly had a bit of a mischievous thought.

He buried his head in the crook of Jiang Shen’s neck and rubbed against him piteously: “It hurts so much.”

Jiang Shen usually didn’t even dare to apply pressure when holding him. Seeing that he had been bitten so badly, he was naturally very distressed: “I’ll apply medicine for you as soon as we get back. Don’t go running around these next couple of days; rest and recover properly.”

“If I had spiritual power, this superficial wound would be healed in an instant.” The little fox seemed deeply saddened, his head hanging low and his voice carrying a hint of a sob, “I’m so useless, aren’t I?”

Now, even Jiang Shen sensed something was off.

He turned his head to look and indeed saw that while the little fox had his head buried, he was still watching Jiang Shen’s reaction out of the corner of his eye.

Not to mention there wasn’t a single tear in his eyes.

This little fox didn’t know how to act at all; he was completely overdoing it.

Jiang Shen guessed what he wanted to say and deliberately put on a sorrowful look: “Then what should we do? Should I dual cultivate with you to help you restore your power?”

He thought the little fox would take the bait, but to his surprise, the latter shook his head: “No.”

“I’m injured; I don’t want to cultivate for the time being.” The little fox looked at him reproachfully, “One should rest when injured. I didn’t force you to cultivate with me while you were injured, so how can you force me?”

An unexpected answer.

Jiang Shen was caught between laughter and tears.

He asked again: “Then what do you want?”

Li Ruan observed Jiang Shen’s expression and said, “I want to consume some essence.”

Jiang Shen: “Fine, I’ll give it to you tonight.”

“Then…” Li Ruan said softly, “Can I step on you tonight?”

Jiang Shen: “…”

He knew it. This little fox looked cute on the outside, but he was harboring mischievous thoughts.

This was a matter of principle; how could he—

Jiang Shen turned his head and met those clear, beautiful red eyes.

Little Fox: “Ying.”

Jiang Shen: “…”

Jiang Shen: “…Fine, fine, step all you want.”