The gluttonous little boy is four and a half years old, and even the wealthy family kneels down and

Yun Ziang became increasingly frightened as he thought about it in the corridor. He was worried that Xiao Jin would be unable to deal with the fox demon alone and would suffer a loss, and he was also angry that the demon dared to impersonate his brother.

So, in a moment of impulse, he rushed to the kitchen and borrowed two cleavers.

At this moment, his hand holding the knife was trembling, and his calves were cramping, but he stubbornly put on a posture that said, "You have to get past me first before you can touch her."

Qiu An was taken aback at first, then sneered, his peach blossom eyes full of disdain.

He glanced at the two kitchen knives, almost dying of laughter at Yun Ziang, and simply dropped the pretense: "You?!"

He had originally planned to slowly work things out with the little girl, but now that Yun Ziang had delivered himself to his doorstep, it saved him the trouble.

Regardless of the consequences, as long as we take Yun Zi'ang, who possesses a pure Yang destiny, away and slowly nurture his inner core to heal his injuries, that's all that matters.

"Enough with the nonsense!" Qiu An, too lazy to waste any more time, flickered her fingertips with demonic energy, stood up, and reached out to grab Yun Zi'ang by the back of his collar. "Come with me!"

He moved extremely fast. Yun Ziang only saw a flash of red before his eyes. Before he could even raise his wrist, he was pulled forward and staggered. The kitchen knife in his hand fell to the ground with a clatter.

"Don't touch him!" Xiao Jin jumped off the chair, reached into her cloth bag with her chubby little hands, and pulled out a thin, crimson rope.

The rope looked ordinary, but it was covered with dense golden runes. It stretched out in the wind with a whoosh, as if it had eyes, and went straight for Qiu An's wrist.

"A mere trick." Qiu An scoffed and casually unleashed a burst of demonic energy to block it.

However, his inner core shattered, and his demonic power was reduced to less than one-tenth. The moment that demonic energy touched the red rope, it was burned away by the golden light on the rope.

The next second, the Demon-Binding Rope tightly wrapped around his wrists, then wound up his arms, binding his arms securely in the blink of an eye.

"Well--"

Qiu An groaned, feeling the rope burning hot, like a red-hot iron chain digging into his flesh, and his demonic energy became sluggish and stagnant.

He tried to break free by channeling his demonic power, but the more he struggled, the tighter the rope became. Golden light pierced his bones along the lines of the rope, causing him to break out in a cold sweat from the pain.

Yun Zi'ang broke free from Qiu An's grasp and ran to Xiao Jin in a panic, crying, "Little Auntie, save me!!"

"You stinky fox, you won't eat the good stuff, you just have to eat the bad!"

Xiao Jin stood in front of him with her hands on her hips, her little face tilted back, her voice childish yet full of assertiveness, "You won't listen when I talk to you nicely, do you have to make Xiao Jin use her hands?"

Hiding behind Xiao Jin, Yun Zi'ang blinked blankly, then realized what was happening and whispered, "Little Miss, you should be punished for refusing a toast."

"Huh?" Xiao Jin responded blankly, "What is that?"

Qiu An's face was extremely pale, his teeth were clenched tightly, and his chest was heaving.

He lived for three hundred years, yet he was defeated by a four-year-old toddler. If word got out, his fellow humans would laugh their heads off.

But he couldn't break free. This demon-binding rope was an authentic magical artifact, specifically designed to subdue demons. In addition, his inner core was damaged, so he simply couldn't withstand it.

"It's nothing, it's nothing," Yun Zi'ang chuckled dryly. He recovered his composure and looked at Qiu An, "Little Miss, is this rope sturdy enough?"

"He's really strong, he can't break free!" Xiao Jin raised her little fist and said proudly, "If he manages to break free, I'll punch him with my fist the size of a red bean bun!"

Yun Ziang looked at Xiao Jin's fist, which was not even as big as a plum, and gave an awkward laugh.

He slowly moved closer, holding the only kitchen knife in his hand, the tip of the blade pointing at Qiu An, but he didn't dare to actually push it forward; his voice was still trembling slightly.

"You, you monster! I ask you! Where is the real Qiu An? Where did you take him?!"

He stared intently at Qiu An's face. His eyebrows, his expression—he looked exactly like his brother of ten years, yet inside he was a fox demon.

The thought that someone he had called brother for so many years had been harmed by a monster filled him with anger, fear, and a strange sense of unease.

Upon hearing this, Qiu An was taken aback at first, then laughed softly as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world. The laughter grew louder and louder until his shoulders were shaking, as if he was laughing out of anger.

"The real Qiu An?" He looked up, his peach blossom eyes filled with mockery, yet also with an inexplicable helplessness. "Yun Zi'ang, are you stupid?"

"I am Qiu An."

"From skipping classes with you in college, racing cars with you, drinking and fighting with you, it was me all along."

"Impossible!" Yun Zi'ang retorted without hesitation, his voice rising, "You're a monster! How could Qiu An possibly be a monster!"

Qiu An rolled her eyes.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Jin chimed in, "Grand-nephew, this fox demon is your friend."

Yun Ziang stood there, stunned, for a long time before he realized that he and the fox demon had been friends for six or seven years.

Xiao Jin explained considerately, "This stinky fox has been staying by your side, protecting you while stealing your yang energy to replenish its inner core."

"What? It's been stealing my yang energy!" Yun Zi'ang shuddered in fright, patted his entire body, and then scratched his head dumbly. "But why haven't I felt anything?"

"Because it only absorbed a little bit. Your yang energy is too strong. If it absorbs too much, it will harm itself," Xiao Jin said, pointing with her index finger and thumb. Then she pointed to Yun Ziang's cheek. "Moreover, there is a deep karmic connection between the two of you."

"It can't hurt you."

"A causal line?" Yun Zi'ang didn't understand. "What does that mean?"

"It's because you've saved it so many times that this fox has been protecting you all these years," Xiao Jin said, smiling with narrowed eyes. "Otherwise, you would have been finished long ago!"

Yun Zi'ang's expression changed drastically. "I'll save him?"

"I've never saved a fox."

"Huh?" Xiao Jin looked puzzled and turned to look at Qiu An, who was bound by the Demon-Binding Rope.

Yun Ziang also looked over.

Qiu An was speechless. He sighed deeply before reluctantly speaking, his tone as if he were being forced to confess, extremely awkward:

"The first time was twelve years ago. I failed to pass the tribulation of lightning and was struck half to death. My inner core was shattered. I hid in a dilapidated earth temple at the foot of Fragrant Mountain. I didn't even have the strength to lift my claws. I was about to starve to death there."

He glanced at Yun Ziang sideways, his lips twitching as if he remembered something unpleasant: "That day you went to burn incense with your parents, and you complained that the vegetarian cakes the temple gave you were dry and unpalatable, so you just threw them into the pile of grass next to the temple gate."

It hit me right on the head.

"I survived for three days and three nights on those two broken vegetarian cakes until the demonic energy subsided and I was able to save my life."

Yun Zi'ang's eyes widened instantly, and he pointed at his own nose: "Twelve years ago? Fragrant Hills? The vegetarian cake I threw away?"

He had absolutely no recollection of it.

"The second time was eight years ago." Qiu An's tone became even more displeased, and his brows furrowed. "A few stinky old Taoist priests chased me through half the city, wanting to skin me alive and extract my elixir."

"I was injured in the leg by their talismans and hid in an abandoned warehouse in the suburbs. They set up a demon-locking array at the door, so I couldn't escape and was about to be caught."

"And then?" Yun Ziang subconsciously took half a step forward, forgetting even his fear.

"Then you and your bunch of cronies played some kind of paintball game, running around aimlessly, getting lost and ending up in the wrong area, kicking open the warehouse door and trampling the talisman array that was placed at the entrance to pieces."

Qiu An found it absurd to talk about it, how Yun Ziang could appear so coincidentally every time. "Those Taoists thought I had found an accomplice, and they were distracted on the spot, which is how I took the opportunity to break the window and escape."

Yun Ziang's mouth was open, and he couldn't close it for a long time.

Eight years ago, he remembered a live-action CS game in the western suburbs! That day, he made a bet with his teammates to take a shortcut, but he ended up going to the abandoned warehouse by mistake and stepped on a pile of yellow paper scraps. His teammates laughed at him for more than half a month, saying that he looked like a demolition crew.

So that wasn't just a piece of scrap paper, but a demon-locking formation?

He didn't trample on trash, but rather the tools the Taoist priest used to exorcise demons?

"And then there was that incident at Xishan seven years ago." Qiu An paused, recalling those unbearable memories, and closed his eyes. "Ever since I failed my tribulation, my inner core has healed very slowly, and I've been targeted by several old Taoist priests, so I've had to hide here and there."

"I hid in the Western Hills, but I ran into you and your friends camping. I absorbed some of your yang energy, which helped me repair my inner core and transform into human form, which is how I recovered."

Yun Ziang looked astonished. He only had a vague impression of what Qiu An had said.

"So, I really saved you?" He found it somewhat unbelievable.

Xiao Jin stood to the side, counted carefully on the chubby little finger, and nodded: "Three times you saved my life, so your karmic ties are tightly intertwined."

"If that stinking fox dares to harm you, may she be struck by lightning and her inner core shattered into dust!"

Qiu An snorted coldly, awkwardly turning her face away, her tone stubborn: "Who asked him to save me? It was all just a coincidence."

"Even without him, I can get myself out of this."

Despite saying that, he didn't refute Xiao Jin's words at all.

Demons value the laws of heaven and karma above all else. If you owe them three lives, you will suffer a backlash if you harm them or even injure them in the slightest.

Looking at Qiu An, who was tied up on the ground, Yun Zi'ang's fear dissipated considerably, and he felt a bit amused and exasperated.

So, by some twist of fate, he ended up saving the same fox three times.

"So, I'm the one who saved your life!"

In an instant, Yun Zi'ang felt his status rise dramatically. "So, you can't hurt me at all. If you do, you'll be punished by heaven!"

After Yun Ziang finished speaking, he suppressed a laugh.

How come he's so lucky? He has a powerful patron on one side and a powerful patron on the other!

Now no one can hurt him!

"Otherwise, what do you think?" Qiu An rolled his eyes, but his previous hostility was gone. "If I didn't owe you these three lives, do you think you could have lived peacefully until now? You would have been killed eight hundred times over by those underhanded methods."

Looking at Yun Ziang's smug face, he couldn't help but pour cold water on his enthusiasm, "Don't be too happy yet, your death is just around the corner!"

Yun Ziang's smile froze, and he remembered his dream again. He said urgently, "What nonsense are you talking about? As long as I don't go racing, I should have avoided my death."

"Do you think death is so easy to get through?" Qiu An said speechlessly.

He paused, looked up at Xiao Jin, his tone softening slightly, but still carrying an air of arrogance:

"Little one, I agree to your three conditions."

"I'll compensate you for the beads, but I won't touch the yang energy anymore."

"Can you untie this tattered rope now?"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Jin came running over, her eyes bright with excitement. "Really? You said yes?"

"Let's pinky swear," she said, extending her short little finger. "Pinky promise, for three hundred years, never to be broken!"

Qiu An reluctantly hooked Xiao Jin's finger, then asked, "Do you have any way to deal with Yun Zi'ang's fatal calamity?"

His karmic connection with Yun Zi'ang was too deep; Yun Zi'ang's death would bring him nothing but harm.

"Yes!" Xiao Jin answered crisply.