The Little Fox's Immortal Cultivation Encyclopedia

As the fox was speaking, the woman turned and went into the kitchen, where she brought out food and lit the lamps in the room.

Da Niu propped himself up on his arms and sat up. Ignoring the heat, he wolfed down his food and then gulped down three bowls of water. Finally, some color returned to his face.

"Let's start from the beginning about what happened that night."

"That day was the first time I didn't go to burn incense. That night I had a dream in which a thin, hunchbacked figure stood in front of me," Da Niu recalled. "He first asked me why I didn't go to burn incense, and I said that I didn't have anything to trouble the gods with, and that we didn't have any incense at home. As a result, he immediately turned hostile and pointed his finger at me and cursed."

He said I was ungrateful, that I had forgotten the kindness I had shown him during this time, that I didn't know what was good for me, and that he wanted to take my son away and hack him to pieces...

Before he could finish speaking, Da Niu seemed to suddenly remember something, his face turning deathly pale as he abruptly looked at his wife: "Where's the baby?!"

The woman wiped away her tears and whispered, "I sent the child away a long time ago, to Qinglin Township, to be looked after by our mother."

The fox knew Qinglin Township, which was also under the jurisdiction of Tao County. It was located in the south of Tao County, and a few steps further south would lead to the territory of Yunxi County.

Da Niu breathed a sigh of relief, held his wife's hand, and after a long pause, continued, "His mouth was full of foul language. I was afraid he would hurt the child, so I kept kowtowing and begging him, but he cursed even more horribly."

"Then the figure suddenly disappeared, and a man with a square hammer took his place. He didn't say anything, but gently tapped me on the head."

"That nail in your head has gone from your forehead into the back of your head," the fox said bluntly.

Da Niu subconsciously rubbed his forehead and gave a wry smile: "What I felt at the time was definitely a light tap..."

The voice had said that dreams are formed from the mind and thoughts, and this might be some kind of clue. The fox secretly noted it down and continued, "This is the second one, and the third one?"

"The third one is the one who appeared to me for the first time when I first started worshipping the gods. He was taller and more robust than the other two."

The fox then asked the woman, "Have you seen the figures that Da Niu described?"

Seeing her shake her head, the fox pondered for a moment:

"There's a leader and two subordinates, maybe more. Although they didn't directly enter the village, their sudden appearance at the mountain god's temple means they can move around freely."

"The fox needs to be more cautious and show its true abilities. Otherwise, these fellows will become like rabbits, digging burrows everywhere and hiding at the slightest disturbance. Then it will be difficult to find them."

It looked up at Da Niu and the village head, and ordered, "Don't make a fuss for now. Just pretend nothing happened. I'll go investigate first and then make a decision."

The village head's expression changed, and he wanted to stop her, but before he could speak, the fox had already pushed open the door and walked into the night.

The rain had stopped sometime ago, but the dark clouds still hadn't dispersed, and not a single ray of moonlight could penetrate. The mountain path was soft and yielding from the rain; stepping on it could sink halfway down a fox's leg.

The fox simply used its magic to leap from the treetops, using the shadows as cover, and quickly made its way up the mountain.

The closer they got to the mountain god's temple, the more unpleasant the smell became. The fox stopped and stared intently at what was in front of it, noticing the malevolent aura as thin as hair.

They spread throughout the mountains and forests like spider webs, drifting slowly in the air.

The fox thought for a moment, twitched its nose, grabbed an unlucky rabbit, injected some magic into its body, threw it into a place where the evil spirits were weakest, and then hid itself.

As soon as the rabbit fell in, the ferocious beasts rushed over and surrounded it. A few breaths later, a thin, hunchbacked shadow drifted over from the direction of the mountain god temple.

Its form was so solid it was almost indistinguishable from a living person, and it carried a scent of incense.

It glanced at the rabbit, ignored it, and immediately looked around, its ferocity spreading out as it fiddled with everything.

After searching for a while longer without finding anything, it kicked the half-dead rabbit away and turned back.

The fox squatted for a while longer, and seeing that the thing hadn't returned, it quickly went forward and removed the evil spirit from the rabbit's body. The rabbit recovered for a long time before limping away.

The fox stared at the unfortunate rabbit, praying inwardly, "May it recover well when it gets back and have many baby rabbits for me to eat."

The voice rang out precisely the instant the fox spotted the dark figure:

"A cold altar is originally a folk altar, a shrine for warding off evil spirits, or a private altar set up by a Taoist priest. All of them rely on incense to sustain them and sacrifices to continue their practice. Once the incense is cut off, the lineage is lost, and the sacrifices cease, it becomes a cold altar. When the altar is cold, the altar gods and the troops they command lose their support and are no longer under their control."

"The wandering spirits are the spirits that have drifted away from this desolate altar. Having lost the offerings of incense, they scatter into the mountains and fields, merging with the lonely ghosts and spirits of abandoned shrines, and wandering freely in the void."

"Those who serve as wandering soldiers and horses are not just any dead souls; they must be selected for their strong spirits, fierce nature, and unwavering determination. Souls whose lifespan has not yet ended, or those who died violently or unjustly, are the best choice. Ghosts have a place to return to, so they are not malevolent. These people have no place to return to, and their resentment is concentrated and does not dissipate. Their power is the strongest, and their effects are the fastest. Therefore, they are summoned to serve as soldiers and horses."

The fox understood. No wonder these guys acted so ruthlessly; they were all a group of bad guys who had escaped from prison.

The fox often went to watch Duan Mianli arrest people and to watch Magistrate Zhang interrogate people, so he had some understanding of these matters.

The fox leaped onto the tallest tree and stood on the top, looking towards the mountain god's temple. The closer it got to the temple, the denser the black mist became, almost forming a wall. Not even a shrew could squeeze through, let alone a fox.

The fox thought for a moment and remembered the tunnel.

It quietly descended the mountain, found the marked location, dug through the soil, and burrowed down.

The fox crawled forward, occasionally encountering some menacing creatures that had seeped in. It would then slow down and dig another path to go around them.

As they neared the summit, the fox's whiskers twitched, revealing a menacing aura permeating the cave entrance, though it wasn't as densely packed as the outside.

The fox thought for a moment, then, not wanting to be heard, it found a spot to curl up and closed its eyes.

A tiny fox, no bigger than one and a half palms, emerged from between the fox's eyebrows, like a dancing flame. Its two transparent, ethereal tails appeared even more fluffy.

The fox's spirit left its body, continuing to shrink, and squeezed into the gap.

The tunnel finally came to an end, and the fox cautiously poked its head out. Seeing that no one was around, it took a few more steps and crawled out from under the offering table of the small temple of the fox god.

The courtyard was deserted, but the sound of conversation could be heard coming from the direction of the main hall.

"Have you found that scoundrel who stole our memorial tablets?"

"There's still no trace of him," another shrill voice chimed in. "It must have been some foolish villager who sneaked in and took it while we weren't looking. I've already laid down my protective spell; I'll definitely catch him next time."

"How dare you, mere mortals, defy the gods and disturb our ancestral tablets!"

The fox sighed, "Why are they all like this? The last one who called himself a god is now completely gone, not even ashes left."