Start practicing from Mr. Fox

Chapter 17 The Demon Comes Because of Fate

The grass and trees rustled, and after a moment several furry figures emerged.

They look like mice, but are even cuter. They have huge tails dragging behind them, and their short paws are holding pine cones. They are actually a group of squirrels.

"Oh no, there's someone here!"

When the squirrel saw Chen Ji standing by the fire, he was stunned at first, then he screamed in surprise.

Oh, it's not just a squirrel, it's a squirrel demon.

Chen Ji thought.

"Da! Snap!"

Pine cones fall to the ground.

Almost at the same time, the squirrel jumped onto the big tree next to it and appeared on a branch, sticking its head out to look at Chen Ji.

Chen Ji was in a trance for a moment and found it extremely interesting.

I never thought that one day I would be able to scare monsters.

Although they are just a few intelligent squirrels, they can still be called monsters.

"Don't be afraid, I'm a good person."

Chen Ji looked at the squirrel on the tree and spoke.

Unconsciously, he had already used the magic of speaking the language of birds and animals.

The squirrels froze on the branches, then began to hum and click their tongues again.

"This person can talk. He's definitely different from the people I've met before."

"He also said he was a good man."

"What should I do? Should I trust him?"

A big squirrel at the top rolled its eyes, stuck its head out and looked Chen Ji around, its cheeks puffed up.

"What are you doing here?"

"We were originally planning to go down the mountain, but we missed the time and couldn't find the way down when it got dark, so we had to rest here."

"Do you know who we are?"

"I don't know."

Chen Ji shook his head.

"Then you're in luck. Let me tell you, we are the Seven Friends of Xiantai, the most famous demons in this world!"

"You're lucky to have met us. If it were any other monster, they would probably eat you in one gulp after burning down their dojo."

"Yes!"

"Yes."

The squirrels chorused.

Chen Ji thought about it and realized that neither Senior Huai nor Miss Bai seemed to have mentioned the name of the Seven Friends of Xiantai.

I think they probably named themselves that.

Chen Ji thought about it and looked at the squirrel in front of him carefully.

He has dealt with many monsters in the past few days and knows how to judge whether they are vicious or kind.

According to the fox, good monsters basically practice moon worship or absorb the essence of the sun. Most of them are surrounded by pure air and will not eat people.

Each vicious monster is different, and the aura they exude is also varied.

A blood-feeding person will have a blood-colored aura around them.

A tyrannical demon possessed by a demon, surrounded by a black aura.

A womanizer is surrounded by a yellow aura.

……

When Miss Bai said this, Chen Ji curiously asked her why she showed so many colors of aura that day.

All he got was a cold stare from Miss Bai.

"The magic mobilizes the five energies, so naturally there are different colors."

However, the squirrels did not use any magic at this moment, and their original breath could be seen.

A faint aura emerged from the brown figure, which was particularly eye-catching. They are all good monsters!

And when I felt the scent of the squirrel, I felt it was somewhat familiar.

After careful identification, I found that it was the same leaf as the one given by Senior Huai.

Could it be that these squirrels know Senior Huai?
Feeling it again, it was indeed the aura of Senior Huai.

Chen Ji was somewhat certain that these squirrel monsters must know Senior Huai.

It's an old friend.

Chen Ji felt relieved and put the torch back into the fire.

I'm so bored, it's a good opportunity to play with them.

So he smiled and bowed.

"I heard that many monsters gather in Xiantai Mountain, but I haven't heard of the honorific titles of some of you fellow Taoists. I am really ignorant."

"Hehe, this is the dojo of our Xiantai Seven Friends. Since you are unaware of this, please leave immediately. We won't ask you to compensate for the burned plants and trees."

The big squirrel puffed up his cheeks and shouted again.

Chen Ji smiled and couldn't help but expose the squirrels' words.

"Fellow Daoist, I also know Senior Huai. We should be considered friends. Could you please reduce the compensation?"

"Senior Huai?"

The squirrels were stunned for a moment, looking around and discussing.

"He actually knows Senior Huai?"

"That must be a good guy!"

"Then you don't have to pay!"

The squirrels all laughed and shouted as if they had heard great news.

The squirrel on the high ground relaxed its brows, but was not completely relieved, and asked Chen Ji again.

"How do you know Senior Huai? Do you have any proof?"

Chen Ji then took out the leaves given to him by Senior Huai.

"This was given to me by Senior Huai. Can it be used as a certificate?"

After checking the leaves, the squirrels finally recognized Chen Ji's identity. They all came down from the tree and gathered around the fire to greet Chen Ji.

It’s just a question of how Chen Ji, as a human being, knows Senior Huai.

"I'm a gentleman invited by the Fox Clan. I just said goodbye to Senior Huai this morning and prepared to go down the mountain. However, the map given by the Fox Clan didn't suit me, so I haven't left the mountain yet!"

"You actually believed the fox!"

The squirrels curled their lips and turned their heads away in disdain.

Another squirrel asked what Mr. Fox was?
Chen Ji briefly explained what he had done.

The squirrels were amazed, but the big squirrel seemed to be lost in thought.

"I didn't expect them to be so cunning and need people to teach them knowledge. I can't trust them anymore in the future."

"Of course you can't trust foxes; they're all liars!"

"If it weren't for Senior Huai, we wouldn't have had to deal with foxes."

"Fellow Daoist, you should stay away from foxes. Foxes are bad!"

"You cheated our pine nuts last time!"

The squirrels cried angrily.

"How did you cheat?"

The squirrels were talking at once, and Chen Ji picked up useful information and pieced together the situation.

It turned out that the fox exchanged the Polygonatum and squirrels for pine nuts, but the squirrels found them unpalatable and did not have the effects the foxes said, so they no longer had a good impression of the foxes.

"But this thing?"

Chen Ji took out the prepared Polygonatum from the basket and handed it to the squirrel.

The little squirrel looked at it, sniffed it, and shook his head.

"The one the fox gave me is more like ginger, and not as fragrant as yours."

"Then how about you try it?"

"Delicious!" The squirrels shared the food, their eyes shining.

"This is really good stuff! It can nourish the body."

"You really don't look like a fox. Foxes are bad!"

"What's good then?"

Chen Ji asked subconsciously.

"Of course squirrels are better!"

Chen Ji was speechless.

He had just heard this not long ago and it sounded very familiar to him.

But at that time the fox was good and the dog was bad, but now it has become the squirrel that is good and the fox is bad.

But he still wanted to clear the fox's name, so he took out another piece of Huangjing.

“This is actually Polygonatum.”

"Tsk?"

The squirrels widened their eyes and didn't believe what Chen Ji said.

“Is this Polygonatum?”

"Completely different from what the fox gave us."

"Are you a lobbyist hired by the fox?"

Chen Ji couldn't help laughing.

"What lobbyist would be so down and out? Besides, if Fox wants to find a lobbyist, wouldn't it be better to find Senior Huai?"

"You have a point."

The squirrels thought about it and nodded, but they still didn't understand why there were such big differences among the Polygonatum sibiricum.

"The fox should have given you unprocessed Polygonatum, but this has been processed."

After Chen Ji finished speaking, he told Squirrel about the preparation process.

"It's so complicated! I'm afraid it'll tire even a squirrel to death."

"Let's not learn it anymore. We've forgiven the fox. Let's trade pine nuts with the fox from now on."

The squirrels all sighed with emotion.

Chen Ji laughed again.

All he could say was that the monsters he knew now were much simpler than humans. They had no pure interests, only pure good and evil.

"Foxes also transform to do these things, why don't you transform to do them?"

The squirrels sighed.

The big squirrel slowly shook his head.

"Squirrels are different from foxes. Few can achieve enlightenment, and it's even harder for them to achieve transformation. There are only seven of us enlightened squirrels on Xiantai Mountain. We can't compare to foxes at all."

"Besides, other monsters have their own methods. Foxes even have fox studies that allow them to learn and cultivate. Have you ever heard of a squirrel becoming a monster or immortal?"

Chen Ji thought about it seriously and shook his head.

“I haven’t heard of it.”

"This is it."

The big squirrel sighed.

"Then how did you cultivate to this point?"

Chen Ji asked curiously.

If there has never been a squirrel that has gained wisdom, what happened to these seven squirrels?

"It's all thanks to Senior Huai's help."

The big squirrel expressed gratitude.

Then Chen Ji heard another story from the past.

It turns out that these squirrels are the ones that still live on Senior Huai after he gained wisdom.

Because Senior Huai absorbed the essence of the sun and the moon day and night, they also benefited from it and gradually developed their spiritual intelligence.

Later, he left Senior Huai to go out for the purpose of practicing.

Unfortunately, he had no skills or other means, so he could only rely on his instinct to absorb the essence of the sun and the moon to practice, and at most eat a few pine nuts.

"Yes, I've eaten your Polygonatum, but I haven't given you pine nuts yet. You should try this too!"

When the big squirrel called out, the other squirrels held up the pine cones, opened them and took out the pine nuts for Chen Ji to eat.

After Chen Ji ate one, he smelled a unique fragrance that was far better than ordinary pine nuts. He even felt warm after swallowing it, and it felt like he had eaten Polygonatum.

"These pine nuts?"

Chen Ji looked at the squirrel in confusion.

"Haw!"

The big squirrel had a smile on his face.

"This was picked from a strange pine tree. It was struck by lightning decades ago but survived. Since then, it has produced dozens of these pine nuts every year. Their effectiveness is no less than that of the fox's polygonatum."

"It was only by eating these pine nuts that we were able to cultivate to this level."

"really."

The little squirrel nodded.

"Then this must be a natural treasure. You have a great opportunity."

Chen Ji put down the pine nuts and spoke slowly.

Squirrels probably don't have many of these precious things, and he didn't know that eating one was a way for the squirrel to be polite and return the favor to the Polygonatum.

Now that he knows, it would be impolite of him to still eat.

"If you like it, you can take some more later."

The big squirrel said frankly.

Chen Ji pursed his lips and did not answer immediately. After thinking for a while, he spoke slowly.

"What do you need me to do, fellow Daoist?"

The giant squirrel stood up and saluted with its paws clasped. Although it had not yet transformed, its expression was already 90% similar to the human form.

"To be honest, we prepared these pine nuts this time because we were planning to go to the demon gathering and exchange them for a cultivation technique or transformation method that our tribe could use."

"But after meeting fellow Taoist, I changed my mind."

"Since you can teach foxes to cultivate, can you also teach us to cultivate?"

"This……"

For a moment, Chen Ji didn't know whether he could agree.

Teaching a fox to practice and teaching a squirrel to practice seem to be both teaching a demon to practice, but the difficulty is different.

The fox has his own way of cultivation, and the squirrel...

Chen Ji himself had not yet mastered the cultivation method, so he really did not dare to agree rashly.

"I understand."

Seeing Chen Ji hesitate, the big squirrel guessed the answer and sighed.

"We have sought help from many demons over the years, but unfortunately, we have not received any results."

"Today, seeing that you are a human and Mr. Fox, I thought things would turn around, but I didn't expect that fellow Taoist couldn't do anything."

"But fellow Daoist, please accept these pine nuts."

The big squirrel said firmly.

"My people can't go down the mountain, and there aren't many places we can seek help from. Eating these is nothing more than a few days of absorbing the essence of the sun and the moon."

"Fellow Daoist, you have come down the mountain and are naturally knowledgeable. If you can find a way to deal with my clan, please help me ask."

"These are considered deposits. If the matter is successful, there will be a reward."

"That's fine, if there's a way, I'll definitely get it for you."

"Thank you, fellow Taoist."

The seven squirrels bowed respectfully and thanked Chen Ji.

Chen Ji accepted the pine nuts and felt that the burden on his shoulders had become heavier.

(End of this chapter)