The Little Fox Spirit Doesn't Want to Carry a Cub - Chapter 9

Li Ruan—no, the little fox—was still in a state of utter confusion.

Logically speaking, since his foundations were destroyed and his cultivation lost, he shouldn’t have any spiritual power left to transform into human form.

He had tried several times recently; not only could he not transform, but his spiritual power showed no signs of returning.

How did he suddenly…

But none of that mattered.

Li Ruan’s first instinct was to show off to Jiang Shen. Grabbing Jiang Shen’s clothes, he shouted loudly regardless of whether the man was still dreaming: “Jiang Shen, I’ve turned back into a human! Look at me—”

Li Ruan had long claimed he was very beautiful in human form, but every time he said it, Jiang Shen would only offer a lukewarm response. It was obvious he didn’t quite believe it and thought the fox was just bragging.

Now, let’s see what he has to say.

Furthermore, being able to transform back into a human meant he could resume cultivation; he wouldn’t need to consume Jiang Shen’s essence anymore, nor would they need to dual cultivate.

Li Ruan was truly happy—happier than he had been in hundreds of years. He gazed up at Jiang Shen’s sleeping face, but as he watched, the joy on his own face gradually faded.

“Jiang… Jiang Shen?”

The man’s complexion was terrible. His lips were white, yet his cheeks flushed with a sickly red. His brow was furrowed tightly, and he hadn’t woken up despite Li Ruan’s loud calls.

It was as if he were unconscious.

“Jiang Shen, what’s wrong with you?”

Li Ruan pushed him again, but there was no reaction.

The man still maintained the posture he had before falling asleep—cradling the little fox in his arms with his hand resting on Li Ruan’s waist—completely unaware that the person in his embrace had changed. Li Ruan’s brow knitted; just as he was about to get up, the man suddenly tightened his arms.

Having transformed from a demon to a human in a muddle, Li Ruan had no spiritual power to conjure clothes, so he was currently stark naked.

He shivered from the heat of Jiang Shen’s palm.

“Jiang Shen!”

Not just the palm—Jiang Shen’s entire body felt as if it were on fire, alarmingly hot.

In human form, Li Ruan was smaller in stature than Jiang Shen, and without spiritual power, his strength couldn’t compare. He braced his hands against Jiang Shen’s chest, struggling to break free from the embrace.

Suddenly, a red light flickered in the cave.

A little fox tumbled out of Jiang Shen’s arms, rolled twice, and fell from the bed onto the ground.

The little fox lay on his back on the floor, blinking in confusion.

How did he… change back again?

With Jiang Shen’s condition unclear, Li Ruan didn’t have time to worry about himself. He scrambled up, stood on his hind legs, and pawed at the edge of the bed.

Jiang Shen’s breath was rapid and scalding; his condition seemed only slightly better than when Li Ruan had first found him outside the cave. But that time, Li Ruan had used a life-sustaining elixir to save him. Now that the medicine was gone, he didn’t know how to make Jiang Shen better.

“Jiang Shen, wake up! Can you hear me?” Li Ruan was frantic. “How did this happen? You were fine last night, you—”

He suddenly thought of something, and his voice cut off.

The little fox lowered his head and looked at the leg he had injured yesterday.

The cloth strip Jiang Shen had used to bandage the wound was still there, but he couldn’t feel even a hint of pain. Li Ruan lowered his head and pulled the strip away; the wound underneath was completely healed, the fur smooth, with no sign of ever being injured.

“Is it… because of me?”

During this time, Li Ruan had been consuming Jiang Shen’s essence.

He knew that a mortal consuming too much essence could be life-threatening, so he had been trying his best to limit the intake.

He didn’t want to affect Jiang Shen’s health, let alone harm his life.

But last night, he had fallen asleep.

The demon race instinctively craves mortal essence. Fearing he might unconsciously over-consume, Li Ruan never dared to sleep with Jiang Shen. But for some reason last night, Jiang Shen hadn’t put him back in his nest, instead holding him to sleep all night.

Usually, it might not have been a major issue, but he had been injured yesterday.

An injured body instinctively absorbs all surrounding resources to restore its own strength. In his dreams, he had used Jiang Shen’s essence to repair his body and even used it to briefly regain human form.

The little fox’s ears drooped.

“Jiang Shen, please wake up, okay?” He reached out a paw and touched Jiang Shen’s burning cheek. “I didn’t mean to kill you. You can’t die because of me.”

“If you die, I’ll have a human life on my record in the Book of Merit. How will I ever ascend then?”

“And besides…”

The little fox’s voice grew lower and lower as he buried his head in the crook of Jiang Shen’s neck, whispering: “Besides, if you die, won’t I be without a friend again?”

“I only just decided I wanted to be friends with you.”

For a moment, the only sound in the cave was Jiang Shen’s labored breathing.

A moment later, the little fox suddenly pricked up his ears.

“I’ve got it! I know how to save you!” The little fox pushed himself up, his eyes shining. “Just hold on a little longer, I’ll be right back!”

With that, he turned and ran outside.

A bright red shadow darted out of the cave, but as he crossed the forest, he was unexpectedly grabbed by the back of the neck and hoisted into the air.

His body was suddenly suspended; his four paws curled and then splayed, dangling helplessly in mid-air.

“Recovering well, aren’t you? Running so fast—where do you think you’re going?” A clear male voice sounded by his ear, his tone lazy and nonchalant.

The little fox blinked and turned his head to see the youth holding him.

The youth was exceptionally beautiful—the kind of beauty that was difficult to distinguish as male or female at a glance. His features were demonic but not charming, vivid but not vulgar. The only flaw was a slight scar at the corner of his eye; it wasn’t long, and the color was very faint, as if it had faded over many years.

“A-Xue!”

Inside the cave, the little fox crouched in his nest, wagging his tail awkwardly and guiltily.

The white-clad youth stood by the bed, his fingers resting lightly on Jiang Shen’s pulse.

After a moment, the youth withdrew his hand. Li Ruan immediately asked, “How is he?”

“You have the nerve to ask?” Lin Jianxue turned and lightly tapped the little fox on the head. “You nearly sucked him dry.”

“Is it that serious?” Li Ruan asked worriedly. “Can he still live?”

Lin Jianxue sighed leisurely: “If you had slept for another hour, you probably wouldn’t have been able to save him.”

Li Ruan wagged his tail happily: “So that means he can be saved.”

Lin Jianxue shot him a look, and Li Ruan immediately covered his mouth with two paws and fell silent.

Knowing exactly what kind of personality this little fox had, Lin Jianxue didn’t hold it against him. He leaned down and lightly tapped Jiang Shen on the forehead. A glow of spiritual energy, invisible to the naked eye, quietly entered from between the brows, and Jiang Shen’s breathing gradually steadied.

Turning around, he saw the little fox poking his head out to observe, looking as though he wanted to come over but was afraid of disturbing the spell.

“Come over, it’s done,” Lin Jianxue said. “He will wake up after sleeping a bit longer.”

“A-Xue is so impressive!” Li Ruan praised.

He jumped onto the bed and indeed found that Jiang Shen’s breathing had become smooth, just like he was normally asleep.

Then he thought of something else and reached out a paw to grab Lin Jianxue’s hem: “A-Xue, since you’ve already treated him, why not help him to the end and heal his leg too?”

Jiang Shen had only been nursing his leg injury for half a month; walking was still inconvenient.

But Lin Jianxue shook his head: “No.”

Li Ruan: “Why not?”

Lin Jianxue said: “Think about it. Isn’t this man still in your cave only because his leg hasn’t healed and he can’t walk out of Mount Changming? If I heal him now, what if he abandons you and runs away?”

That actually made sense.

Jiang Shen had always been unwilling to dual cultivate with him. If his injury were healed, he would definitely leave this place.

But…

Li Ruan’s front paws padded the ground uneasily.

He felt that this wasn’t quite right.

“It’s all because you’ve been dragging your feet and haven’t dual cultivated with him, so your spiritual power has been slow to recover,” Lin Jianxue scolded. “He’s been back for so long—what have you been doing? Raising him as a reserve food supply?”

Li Ruan scratched his ear: “But he’s unwilling…”

“Ruan-Ruan, you are a fox demon.” Lin Jianxue leaned down, a glint of mischief in his eyes. “Seduce him.”

Li Ruan met his gaze, his eyes full of confusion.

Lin Jianxue: “…”

“The fox tribe is born with the ability to seduce; I don’t know how an outlier like you was produced.” He sighed, looking quite distressed.

Li Ruan was displeased: “You’re calling me stupid again.”

“Not stupid, not stupid. Ruan-Ruan is a clever fox demon; you’ll surely think of a way.” Lin Jianxue stifled a laugh, the mirth in his eyes making his features even more radiant.

Hearing this made Li Ruan feel better. He flicked his ears proudly and asked, “By the way, why did you leave your cave today? I was just about to go looking for you.”

“Oh right, I almost forgot the main point.”

Lin Jianxue raised a hand, and a wisp of green smoke drifted out of the cave before slowly flying back, carrying something. The objects landed steadily on the ground, and Li Ruan looked closer.

They were actually two men.

The two wore night-traveler clothes; their faces were gray-white, their expressions frozen in shock, and they were already dead.

“Mortals?” Li Ruan said in surprise. “How did they die?”

Lin Jianxue admitted frankly: “I killed them.”

“Why did you kill them?” Li Ruan went to the two corpses and said regretfully, “What a waste. What if one of them was willing to dual cultivate with me?”

Lin Jianxue couldn’t listen anymore. He picked the little fox up by the back of the neck and heartlessly tossed him back onto the bed: “Have some dignity. How can these two crooked-looking things compare to the one in your cave?”

Li Ruan looked at the two on the floor, then at the man beneath him, and nodded: “That’s true. Jiang Shen is much better looking.”

But he still didn’t understand: “Then why did you bring them to me?”

“Not for you.” Lin Jianxue pointed to the man on the bed. “For him.”

Li Ruan: “?”

Li Ruan: “But he doesn’t eat people either.”

Lin Jianxue: “…”

“These two sneaked into Mount Changming under the cover of night. I saw they were acting suspiciously, so I killed them. But…” At this point, Lin Jianxue paused. “This is already the third wave of people I’ve killed in the past half-month.”

Li Ruan’s eyes widened in surprise.

Lin Jianxue chuckled: “Little idiot, you didn’t think Mount Changming has remained untouched for all these years because people actually follow the imperial rules and never enter the mountains, did you? It’s naturally because everyone who came was killed by me.”

“This time, if I hadn’t let a mortal through for you to dual cultivate with, this man would have lost his life the moment he stepped into Mount Changming.”

Li Ruan wagged his tail but didn’t speak.

But demons cannot kill humans.

The hierarchy of living beings in this world was clearly divided: Immortals, Humans, Spirits, Demons, and Ghosts—with Immortals and Humans holding the highest status. From the moment a demon is born, every word and action is recorded in the Book of Merit. Killing humans or slaughtering immortals are the most serious offenses.

That was why he had been so worried when he thought Jiang Shen was going to die because of him.

Once he killed a person, it would be very difficult for him to ever ascend.

Just like the existence of the Immortal Realm, these were ethereal concepts never seen in the mortal world, so many people didn’t take them to heart.

Just like he had long ago told A-Xue about these things, yet this fellow still didn’t take them seriously.

Lin Jianxue indeed didn’t care about these things, simply continuing: “In the past, although mortals would enter the mountains, it was never this frequent. All of this began after he arrived.”

Li Ruan: “Are you saying these people all came looking for him?”

“Maybe looking for him, but more likely… to kill him.”

The little fox fell silent again.

He crouched on Jiang Shen’s chest, lowered his head, and patted Jiang Shen’s face with a small paw: “So you’re actually this hated.”

Li Ruan asked again: “Then what should we do now?”

“How should I know?” Lin Jianxue threw up his hands. “He brought the trouble; naturally, he has to solve it. Once he wakes up, tell him about this and let him figure it out himself.”

“Also, you must be faster. I really don’t want to run out every night; it really affects my sleep.”

Li Ruan wagged his tail: “I know.”

Having finished his instructions, Lin Jianxue let out a yawn, wanting to return to his cave to catch up on sleep.

But before leaving, he remembered something else.

He tapped a finger in the air, and a celadon medicine bottle fell in front of Li Ruan.

“He’s lost too much Yang energy. Give him one pill morning and night for three days; he’ll recover faster,” Lin Jianxue said.

Li Ruan gave an “oh” and barely managed to hold the bottle with his two front paws, giving it a shake. The bottle felt heavy: “There are so many…”

Lin Jianxue: “He’s so weak; you’ll be using them later.”

Li Ruan: “?”

Lin Jianxue explained further: “Don’t worry about giving them to him; don’t be stingy. This isn’t some spiritual elixir; it’s just a common restorative tonic from the mortal realm.”

He emphasized the words “restorative tonic,” but Li Ruan clearly didn’t catch the underlying meaning, simply nodding: “I understand.”

No, you don’t.

Lin Jianxue was silent for a moment before dropping a hint: “This medicine is a potent tonic. After taking it, his Yang energy will be extremely peaked for a short time… you must seize the opportunity.”

Li Ruan still didn’t understand: “What opportunity?”

Lin Jianxue: “…”

Lin Jianxue: “It’s nothing. You’ll understand once he wakes up.”