The Little Fox's Immortal Cultivation Encyclopedia

The view was blurred as if through a thick layer of snow; the setting sun had lost its golden radiance, turning into black, white, and gray along with the scenery in the courtyard, all blending together into a hazy mess.

A light sniff reveals that the familiar fragrance of peach blossoms and the sweet taste of ripe fruit have vanished, leaving only the scent of the wood itself.

The fox felt an unprecedented heaviness and constraint, as if it were fixed in a stone. No, the wooden form of the statue was its body at that moment.

Stiff, stifled, extremely uncomfortable.

The fox instinctively resisted this confinement; it subconsciously tensed its mind and imagined stretching its limbs.

"Click".

A slight sound was heard, and the fox statue began to tremble, with shavings of wood flakeing off its surface.

The mouthpiece, which the craftsman had originally carved too long, is slowly shortening and becoming rounded. The thin face is gradually puffing out, its lines softening, no longer so gaunt. The small ears are also slowly enlarging, their tips becoming more relaxed.

The tail was also subtly growing longer, wrapping around the entire lower body. The already finely carved tail became even more fluffy, with every single hair clearly visible.

The statue naturally conforms to one's true form without conscious control, guided by one's intention.

"call--"

An invisible breath of stale air was exhaled from the statue's mouth, and the statue shed its stiffness, as if it had suddenly come to life.

The wooden eye sockets, which were originally closed, slowly opened, and a faint white light seeped out from the slits of the eyes, spreading along the contours of the eye sockets.

A crimson hue spread across the eyes, extending to the forehead and jawline. Reaching the chin, it abruptly turned white, slowly drooping down, flowing over the neck and spreading to the chest and abdomen. Finally, it merged with the crimson extending down the spine at the legs, coalescing into black, and spreading to the toes.

Its body is covered in red fur, with black ears and feet, and a white belly and white jaw, all clearly visible.

Although the statue resembles a fox, its expression is entirely different. The narrow, peach-blossom eyes no longer possess the cunning and agility of a fox, but instead reveal a dignified composure, gazing straight ahead without joy or anger.

Vision cleared again, though not as clearly as when the fox saw with its own eyes, but it was still able to see a distance of about ten feet in front of it.

The power of the wishes surrounding the statue, along with the rhythm of its breathing, began to seep into the wooden body, thread by thread.

The fox watched as their magical powers flowed down their wooden bodies, eventually returning to their brows and transforming into something akin to magic.

"No, it's different from magic." The fox keenly sensed the difference; compared to the light and ethereal magic, this power was much more substantial.

This is the power rooted in people's hearts, carrying their prayers.

Just like rabbit meat and fruit, although both can be digested and absorbed by foxes, they are fundamentally different.

The fox's gaze continued forward, until it saw that all-too-familiar figure—a fiery red one with pointed ears and a long tail. Its own body lay limply on the ground, eyes closed. The titmouse leader was hopping and leaping around nearby.

The fox fixed its gaze on the titmouse, which was surrounded by a faint, almost transparent, aura of will.

With a thought, the fox absorbed the sparrow's wish into its body, and a thought was perceived by the fox through the connection.

The fox overheard the sparrow's thoughts, a mixture of worry and curiosity in his voice. "What's that fox up to now? Could it be that it got too excited and couldn't catch its breath?"

"You worthless bird!"

The voice rang out calmly: "The Hu God is in charge of protecting this region, inheriting the nature of foxes, anchoring divine statues, and obeying the prayers of the people."

"By relying on the power of incense and prayers to cover a region, one can observe the mind and discern thoughts, trace the obsessions of the human heart, and distinguish the truth from falsehood in words."

"How did I become a god again?" the fox muttered.

"Gods and immortals can coexist but should not be confused. Gods are established by the incense offerings and wishes of the people, and their power depends entirely on the prosperity or decline of these offerings. When the offerings are abundant, their divine power is manifest; when they are exhausted, their divine authority diminishes."

"Immortals attain enlightenment through their own cultivation, refining essence into qi and cultivating their mind and nature. Their power comes from within themselves and they do not seek it from outside. They advance through tribulations and their foundation is solidified by themselves."

"First, one condenses the elixir to obtain magical power, and then ascends to the divine position. This is to possess both the body of an immortal and the physique of a god. Therefore, one can be freed from divine duties and depart. Although divine authority is lost, the immortal methods remain, and one's cultivation will not be abandoned or one's form deteriorated due to the cessation of incense offerings."

The fox realized: "Just like a fox plucking rabbit fur to line its den will make it warmer. But if the rabbit fur is gone, the fox still has its own fur to keep warm, so it won't get cold."

No wonder the fox was able to rescue the magistrate through the picture book; back then, the fox had only absorbed a few days' worth of moonlight and hadn't yet condensed its inner core or gathered its magical power. But the woodcutter's decades-long accumulated willpower was completely swallowed by the fox.

The haunting of spirits is common, and people hope for divine protection; the divine manifests itself through the hearts of the people. At that moment, the fox unconsciously donned a divine role.

"Although the fox knows the sounds in great detail, it always uses such tedious and roundabout language. Luckily, the fox is clever; otherwise, it would be in trouble."

Having grasped the key to understanding, the fox focused its mind inward, and the warm inner elixir in its dantian pulsed. The fox then dismantled the magical power within its body strand by strand, peeling away the incense contained within inch by inch.

As the magic power became purer, the fox felt a sense of lightness throughout its body, as if it had been freed from its cage, and the flow of magic power became more agile and pure.

As the power of the vow faded, the crystal bead inside the fox's belly grew smaller and smaller. After some deliberation, the fox decided not to wash away too much of it.

Running and jumping around inside the statue is too cramped and not fun. However, this Wish Fox is still useful for now, so there's no rush to completely strip it away. It can wait until it absorbs more spiritual energy from heaven and earth and its magical power increases before dealing with it.

It stuffed all the stripped-off willpower into the statue's body, and the light and shadow before its eyes suddenly changed, and its body could move again.

His narrow eyes opened, and his amber vertical pupils stared at the black-feathered sparrow.

"Oh no, this fox is full of evil schemes and petty-minded. What's worse, I can't outwit him." The leader of the sparrows' alarm bells went off. He immediately spoke up, his eyes full of concern: "Fox, you were so still just now, you scared me to death! Are you alright?"

The fox snorted coldly, still subtly connecting with the statue. The statue's vision overlapped with its own, allowing it to clearly see the sparrow's thoughts.

It stared at the titmouse and said, slowly and deliberately, "Who's petty? Who's full of bad intentions!"

The titmouse's feathers visibly stiffened for a moment, and its black bean-shaped eyes instantly filled with surprise.

"I didn't voice my inner thoughts!"

The sparrow fluttered back a few steps, its gaze quickly sweeping over the fox and the statue.

The fox's eyes held a familiar cunning and amusement, while the statue's gaze was calm and unwavering, conveying a sense of aloofness and majesty. The simultaneous gazes of these two starkly different figures upon it made it feel immense pressure.

Although he didn't know what the fox had done to make the statue look like this and be able to hear his thoughts, the sparrow knew better than to suffer a loss, and the leader of the sparrows immediately backed down.

"Alright, okay, that wasn't right, Sparrow." It stubbornly held its neck. "When I get back, I'll bring you some fun things."

The mischievousness in the fox's eyes faded: "Back? You're leaving?"