Becoming a Fox Spirit from Under One Person.

"Senior sister, I'm fine."

"You fell from such a height and you're still okay? You only took a medicinal bath once, and you just barely touched the threshold of Qi circulation, yet your body is already so strong?" Senior Sister joked curiously.

"I was also surprised; it felt like a gust of wind lifted me up."

"Are the flowers also blown down by the wind?"

"Mm." Xia He nodded.

"You've stumbled upon all sorts of strange and wonderful things. Could it be that the spirits of the mountains are helping you?" Senior Sister stood on tiptoe and looked up at the high mountain, but she didn't see any signs of animals.

"Forget it! Let's go back. I heard there's another initiation ceremony today. The girl who's coming is a few years younger than you, from a prestigious family in Shanghai. She has pink hair just like you. They've been recruiting a lot of pretty and cute pink-haired girls lately!"

Xia He asked, "Could it be my junior sister?"

"It's hard to say. Some things can't be determined by talent or aptitude; it also depends on fate. We are destined to become sisters."

"It's fate..." Xia He felt a warmth in her heart as she put the unexpectedly acquired purple flower into the bamboo basket.

With a shake of the bamboo basket, all the glistening dewdrops clinging to the flowers and plants fell off, and with the addition of Dendrobium nobile, all the medicinal materials for preparing the medicine were ready.

The introductory trial at Tengshan involves a medicinal bath to guide disciples to obtain Qi. Disciples with exceptional talent will awaken their abilities directly during the test, but Xia He clearly doesn't have that kind of aptitude yet.

After entering the sect, disciples will learn to concoct secret medicines. After taking these medicines, different abilities will be triggered depending on the physique and personality of the person who makes them. The initial medicinal bath is the foundation, and subsequent personal cultivation is based on this.

This is why Fujiyama's leaders witnessed the development of their disciples' abilities and were also adept at using those abilities to infer a person's character.

"Hmph hmph hmph~" The pink-haired girl sang lightly all the way, having long forgotten about falling off the cliff and the falling flowers: "What kind of ability will I awaken?"

"When Master witnesses my awakening, what kind of child will he say I am?"

"You'd say she's pretty well-behaved?"

Xia He muttered to herself and ran even faster.

Swish!

Not long after, a wisp of pure energy landed on the cliff, and Chen Ruoan returned, holding several bunches of purple flowers in his arms: "Fifty years ago, I told you to pick them in moderation, but nobody listened?"

As soon as the fox did so, the pale purple flowers bloomed again on the rock face.

"Vulnerable species, national second-class protected plant."

What a terrible thing to do.

Chapter 138 Why Call Her a Fox Spirit?

Some herbs are rare because of their delicate nature and excessive harvesting. Chen Ruoan guides the flow of life in Yaogushan, causing ordinary withered vines and wild grasses to wither and fall, while precious and rare herbs grow more and more pleasingly.

"You still enjoy doing these things."

An aged voice came from behind Chen Ruoan.

Looking back, an elderly Yao woman stood outside the mountain path. She was old enough that her whole body was dry and withered. She wore a plain white short-sleeved shirt with blue and green embroidered patterns on the collar and cuffs. She had a brocade belt tied around her waist and a plain pleated skirt on her lower body.

"Fangying?"

The old leader of Fujiyama chuckled self-deprecatingly: "Am I so old that you don't recognize me?"

“After all, time waits for no man,” Chen Ruoan replied.

In the history of Fujiyama, there have been four geniuses who awakened during the initiation ceremony. The first three were more than a hundred years ago, and the fourth is Fangying.

During the war, Chen Ruoan fought across the country, and together with Tengshan, they fought against the enemy on the border of Hunan and Hubei. He killed many Japanese poison masters and formed a friendship with Fangying during this time.

In addition, foxes are skilled in wood-element magic that guides life, and the cultivation in Tengshan is closely related to herbs and medicines. Therefore, at that time, everyone in Tengshan, from top to bottom, from old to young, had a fondness for foxes.

"It's not time that's heartless, it's the fox that's heartless. All these years, haven't you even thought of coming to Tengshan to see me once?"

My former fellow disciples are long gone, leaving only Fangying, an old hag. Seeing the fox again now, I can't describe the feeling in my heart. Fifty years sounds terrifying, but in reality, a gust of wind can leave nothing behind.

Chen Ruoan turned around, her fingers idly playing with the pale purple flowers, and replied softly, "When you're thinking on a mountaintop, you get so engrossed in your thoughts that you don't realize how much time has passed before you even turn around."

"Are there so many things to think about?"

"There's a saying—'Memories are the only paradise that one can never be banished from,'" Chen Ruoan seemed to recall such a saying.

"You are a fox."

"Foxes also have memories."

"Heh!" Fangying chuckled. This sour smell was just like the smell a fox should have. From the moment they met, the fox had been a blend of bloodthirstiness and scholarly air.

"The Lu family's little darling is about to take a medicinal bath. Speaking of which, the formula for preparing the medicine was actually improved by you back then. Fifty years have passed, and not a single person in the sect has tried to improve the formula. It's truly shameful."

"After all, we've covered every possible combination of herbs," the fox replied. "To go further, we'll probably need to inject some advanced technology and ruthless techniques after technological advancements."

"Okay. You turn back into a fox, and we'll go to the medicine pool to witness the ceremony." Fangying straightened her clothes, half-squatting on the mountain path, striking a pose as if she were a master welcoming his beloved dog.

"I treated you as a friend, but you only wanted to hurt me."

"I'm worried that the old things will happen again."

"Don't worry, the heavenly lightning has cleansed the three energies around me, so the sisters of Tengshan won't lose their composure like last time."

Besides medicine, Tengshan is also skilled at making medicinal wine and fruit wine. At a celebration banquet after a difficult battle, everyone drank a few too many cups. The one who took the lead in snatching the umbrella and causing trouble was the old woman in front of Chen Ruoan.

That day, the entire Tengshan community was left with a dark history no less than Zhang Chulan's "walking the bird under the moon".

"Speaking of which, I haven't seen you carrying an umbrella lately," Fangying muttered to herself, but even without the three alluring words, Chen Ruoan's face was still incredibly captivating.

"Let's change back."

Chen Ruoan then changed back to her original form.

"The mountain road is difficult to walk on, do you want me to carry you?"

"Never mind, you're an eighty-year-old grandma, I'm really afraid you'll fall on the way." Besides, foxes are never afraid of rugged mountain roads.

Fangying shook her head and sighed, "Sigh, I treat you as a friend, but you won't let me touch you."

The man and the fox walked down the mountain.

Chen Ruoan still remembered the path leading to the medicine pool. The path was still lined with wildflowers and exotic plants, their colors even brighter than in his memory: dazzling reds, gentle pinks, and deep purples, stretching all the way to the stone cave halfway up the mountain.

Flowers will bloom again after they wither, and wild grasses, needless to say, will grow back with the spring breeze.

Heaven seems to have given all living beings a romantic cycle of reincarnation: flowers bloom and wither, the sun rises and sets, and the seasons change. So, humans should also have the concept of reincarnation, otherwise, the most intelligent of all creatures, favored by Heaven, would be too pitiful.

As Chen Ruoan admired the beautiful scenery along the way, he seemed to recall that saying: "Memories are the only paradise that man cannot be expelled from, and also the only hell that man is frequently thrown into."

The medicinal pools of Tengshan are located in a cave. Although they are called "pools," they are actually several old bronze medicine cauldrons filled with carefully prepared medicinal water to guide people to obtain Qi. In one or more medicinal baths, extraordinary people will stimulate different abilities.

The disciples of Tengshan usually have to collect, grind, and make medicines, each with their own duties. Only the leaders of the sect and some senior elders are able to observe the initiation ceremony.

But today is different. The old leader, who has been living in seclusion for many years, has actually come to the medicinal pool.

Even to her disciples who had become her senior sister, Granny Fang was merely a figure of legend. She was a shrewd pharmacist and the only genius that Tengshan had produced in the past hundred years.

"Is this the old leader?" Xia He hadn't finished packing the medicine in the bamboo basket yet, so she took the opportunity to glance at the medicine pool.

The senior sister replied, "Yes. I've been a disciple for fifteen years, and I've only seen her once or twice in the mountains."

"And the fox next to him? Is it also a senior member of the sect?"

"It shouldn't be..." the senior sister stammered. "I haven't heard of any methods related to animals within the sect. The ceremony is about to begin, let's hurry up and put our things away and get out! Your medicinal bath this afternoon is in the number three medicinal pool next door, the medicine needs to be prepared in advance!"

"Oh, oh, oh!" Xia He arranged the medicinal herbs on the stone table, carried the empty bamboo basket on her back, and ran out of the cave with small, quick steps.

The current head of Tengshan is surnamed Yang, and the younger generation outside all call her "Aunt Yang." She is a tall woman with a cold and stern face.

When she saw Fangying, she hurriedly went to greet her: "Grandma Fang, what brings you here?"

"Take a look. Don't worry about me, the leadership position has been passed to you, and everything is up to you." Fangying sat down beside her, and the fox next to her jumped to the medicine cauldron, raising its head to sniff the scent of the medicine pool.

It's a familiar recipe, and it's a familiar taste.

Lu Linglong soaked in the water, revealing her bright eyes. Like a goldfish, she kept blowing bubbles from her mouth, making the surface of the medicinal pool gurgle.

Aunt Yang stepped forward and instructed, "Linglong, the medicinal pool will cause a clear current within your body. The more you try to grasp it, the more it will dissipate. But I still hope you can become friends with it and grasp it gently."

"Is it enough to just become friends with it?"

As a minor celebrity in the industry, young Lu Linglong is already very good at making friends.

"Mm." Aunt Yang nodded.

Lu Linglong calmed herself down, closed her eyes, and tried to capture the clear flow within her body. After some attempts, her Qi seemed to circulate through a full cycle guided by the clear flow.

"What is this!?" Aunt Yang's icy expression changed, and the water in the medicine cauldron slowly changed color.

The clear, pale purple medicinal spring before them was no longer the same. A dark red ripple spread out from Lu Linglong, quickly staining the medicinal water.

The herbs placed beside the rock wall were drawn by the unusual movement inside the medicine cauldron, their leaves glowing with a cold white and pale blue fluorescence. A few wild rose petals were swept up by the wind and gently drifted into the center of the pond.

Thorns grew wildly from the blood-red water, and large roses bloomed amidst the thorns, their petals stained with tiny drops of blood, both alluring and tragic.

Lu Linglong hid among blood, thorns, and roses. She opened her eyes and stared blankly ahead. Her pink hair was spread out on the water, floating gently. The scene was eerie, breathtakingly beautiful, yet tinged with an inescapable sense of foreboding.

From then on, Fujiyama welcomed its fifth genius who awakened during the entrance test.

"It's this ability..." Aunt Yang looked at Lu Jin behind her and said, "Patriarch Lu, your family is hiding a beautiful jade stained with blood."

"How do you explain this ability?" Lu Jin had no experience in reverse reasoning, so she humbly asked for guidance.

Aunt Yang replied, "She is close to nature, but her way of communicating with living beings is very special; she needs to use her own blood. This method of cultivation is not even considered an Eastern Qi cultivation system; it is closer to a certain concept of Western alchemy."

Chen Ruoan pondered for a while. The fox was familiar with Western cultivation concepts.

During the War of Resistance against Japan, many missionaries flowed into various parts of China. Some of these missionaries were good, while others were bad. The bad ones used the guise of missionary work to spy on the national situation, seek personal gain, and even secretly collude with the Japanese invaders. The good ones, on the other hand, did good deeds, sheltered refugees in the midst of war, or left behind irrefutable evidence of the atrocities committed by the Japanese army for the world.

For this reason, Chen Ruoan had spoken with many compassionate alchemists, and one of them mentioned:

Vlad III, the "Piercing Duke" of Western history who was proficient in the "blood river magic circle," described blood in this way—

The currency of the soul!

Using blood to build bridges of communication with living beings requires that the use of blood and vitality be kept within a reasonable range of transformation; otherwise, this ability will become "self-destructive."

"Then wouldn't you say that this is a psychological defect caused by the assassination attempt?" Lu Jin asked again.

"No, this is a transaction." Even Aunt Yang, who isn't an expert in alchemy, knows the principle of "equivalent exchange."

Lu Jin pushed aside the thorns and carried his great-granddaughter out of the rose bushes: "Linglong, what do you want to trade? Is there anything that your great-grandfather can't buy for you?"

The little girl didn't reply, but plucked a petal and looked at it.