Evil-warding Golden Light

People were all like Lord Ye, who professed a love for dragons. Everyone online called them "little brain tigers," but if a real tiger came to your side, you would probably be scared stiff.

Zhang Chen was the same. Before he had seen a demon, he had always dreamed that one day a Fox Spirit would come and suck him dry. But when the Fox Spirit truly appeared in the mortal world, everything changed. He discovered that there was only fear in his heart.

Looking at the Golden Finger, Zhang Chen nervously swallowed and fixed his gaze on the interface:

Name: Zhang Chen

Skill: Some Mysterious Golden Light (0/50)

Points: 140

"Upgrade!"

Zhang Chen looked at the Golden Finger, a trace of anticipation appearing in his eyes. The next moment, his points evaporated, and the entire Golden Finger Interface refreshed once more:

Name: Zhang Chen

Skill (Tier 1): Evil-warding Golden Light (0/500)

Points: 90

Zhang Chen only felt his dantian grow hot. Then, in the Spiritual World, boundless golden light burst forth, seeming to fill his entire Spiritual World with its dazzling, ultimate radiance.

The golden light surged like the blazing sun. It could sweep away all evil intent, ward off every calamity; wherever its light passed, misfortune retreated.

"And then?" Light gradually returned before Zhang Chen's eyes. He stared blankly at his body, which seemed unchanged. Only the breath in his dantian had become denser and fuller, while his breathing had grown longer and steadier.

That was all!

"That's it?" Zhang Chen stood dumbly in the room, utterly at a loss. He had no idea what use this Evil-warding Golden Light had. It seemed he had gained a skill, yet it also seemed completely useless.

He only felt as though golden light flowed through every pore of his body, illuminating his flesh. When Zhang Chen closed his eyes, he vaguely seemed to see his internal organs and his beating heart. But soon, a black mist rose within his body, obscuring his organs and countless meridians. Only a wisp of golden light flickered at his dantian, illuminating the space within arm's reach and dispersing the mist there.

"What is this?" Zhang Chen opened his eyes, uncertainty and alarm in his gaze. He felt certain that he had seen a vast expanse of mist within his body. It had not been an illusion.

"What use is this Evil-warding Golden Light?" Thoughts flickered through Zhang Chen's mind as his gaze fell on the words "Tier 1" after the Golden Finger. "My Evil-warding Golden Light is currently a Tier 1 skill, and upgrading it to the next tier requires five hundred points. As long as I have enough points to pile into it, can I upgrade it endlessly? I should upgrade this Evil-warding Golden Light to ten thousand tiers first."

Zhang Chen could not see through the mist in his body, nor did he know why this change had occurred. But he had an intuition: if the golden light dispersed the mist and illuminated his whole body, he would surely undergo an unimaginable transformation.

"Still, upgrading to the next level requires five hundred points. That's no small amount." Zhang Chen looked at the Evil-warding Golden Light, whose purpose he did not understand, and hesitated. He wondered whether he should focus on gathering Experience Points in the future, then find a reliable skill before adding points to it, rather than wasting them on this unknown Evil-warding Golden Light. But when he thought of the Fox Spirit's threat, and how he had waited so long only to obtain this one skill, he felt that he should not wait any longer. Since the Evil-warding Golden Light was a Tier 1 skill, it had to have its uses. He simply had not developed them yet.

After pondering for a moment, Zhang Chen picked up the basket, animal traps, and rope from the ground, then headed into the mountains with a heavy heart. He still had not secured food for the day's three meals.

When Zhang Chen had first awakened the Golden Finger, he had also tried turning abilities such as trap-making and wood-chopping into skills. Unfortunately, he had been thinking too much. No skill prompt had appeared at all.

In his previous life, Zhang Chen had been a devoted fan of wilderness survival shows and had learned countless methods for making traps. In this world, where resources were abundant, Zhang Chen never lacked meat at his meals. If not for the exploitation of the Fox Spirit next door, he would have long since been on the road to prosperity. The main reason was that his trap-making methods surpassed this world's by who knew how much, so his traps rarely came up empty.

The prey in the mountains was still plentiful today. Zhang Chen caught two pheasants, and more importantly, a wild rabbit that foxes loved to eat.

"Once I deal with that Fox Spirit in a few days, I can try making gunpowder and use it to blow up some large animals. Then I can finally turn the tables and sing like a liberated serf." In high spirits, Zhang Chen roasted the pheasants right there in the mountains and happily ate until his belly bulged. Looking at the remaining pheasant and rabbit, he hesitated briefly before plucking and roasting the rabbit. He carefully hid it in his clothes for dinner, then carried one pheasant home.

He knew he would not be able to keep that pheasant. That damned Fox Spirit would never leave it for him, so he did not bother plucking or preparing it.

"I only hope this Fox Spirit has a shred of honor and leaves the rabbit for me! Of course, the crucial thing is that she must not discover the rabbit!" Zhang Chen muttered as he carefully wrapped the rabbit in banana leaves, then coated it with mud to seal in the scent. He carefully baked the mud dry over the fire.

"Perfectly finished!" Zhang Chen examined it for a while. Once he was sure the rabbit was tightly sealed and even its scent completely locked away, so that the Fox Spirit could never smell it, he stuffed it into his clothes.

Fortunately, the clothes in this world were loose and roomy. Even with a roasted rabbit hidden inside, nothing looked unusual.

By the time Zhang Chen swayed his way home, it was already noon. Hearing the sound of him opening the door, the window next door suddenly opened, and a fluffy white head poked out. It craned its neck expectantly at Zhang Chen. Especially when it saw that he was actually carrying a pheasant, the fox's eyes lit up, and it nearly drooled.

Zhang Chen swept an expressionless glance over the neighboring courtyard. When he saw the Fox Spirit waiting there with such eager eyes, his liver hurt from anger. This Fox Spirit was truly infuriating!

She was simply robbing him in broad daylight, bullying Zhang Chen because he was an honest man!

How could Zhang Chen endure such outrageous humiliation?

"This is going too far!" Zhang Chen gritted his teeth, but he still entered the room without showing anything. He hung the pheasant on the rack, deliberately winding the rope around it seven or eight times to bind it firmly in place. Then he sat down nearby without a word, quietly watching the pheasant and waiting for Experience Points to drop.

Experience Points did not drop every time the Fox Spirit stole something. Zhang Chen had yet to find the pattern, otherwise he would not have collected only forty Experience Points in three months.

Yet as Zhang Chen waited patiently, he noticed something unusual this time.

At the moment when he was growing drowsy, light suddenly flowed in the depths of his pupils. That warm current instantly jolted Zhang Chen awake. He subconsciously raised his head, and his pupils contracted. Alarm flashed across his face before he quickly concealed it.

What had he seen?

He saw a beautiful young woman dressed in white, with fair skin and delicate features, passing through the wall with a sly, mischievous smile. She went straight for Zhang Chen's pheasant.

Most crucially, the young woman's figure was illusory, like a wandering ghost from a novel.

"I can actually see the Fox Spirit in the act?" Zhang Chen's heart shuddered. He saw the young woman standing before the pheasant, a satisfied smile on her face. Just as she reached out to grab it, she suddenly turned toward Zhang Chen. Meeting his gaze, the young woman jumped in fright and retreated two steps, like a thief caught by the owner. She muttered, "Can this brat see me? No way? He shouldn't be able to, right?"

Zhang Chen's heart was nearly leaping out of his throat. He hurriedly relaxed and pretended not to see the young woman, staring instead at the pheasant behind her. Gritting his teeth inwardly, he thought, I want to see exactly how my pheasant disappears.

The young woman was still uneasy. She walked around Zhang Chen several times, but seeing that he remained focused on the pheasant and showed no sign of noticing her, she finally relaxed and reached for the pheasant to leave.

But then her nose suddenly twitched, as though she had caught some scent. Sniffing as she followed it, the young woman came before Zhang Chen. Her eyes locked onto his chest as she cursed, "You little brat, you're as crafty as a ghost now. You've even learned to hide your talents. You clearly caught a rabbit, yet instead of offering it to your grandaunt, you dared to hide it for yourself. What a bad child."

Zhang Chen did not dare shift his eyes. He stared fixedly at the distant pheasant, while inwardly he groaned before the Fox Spirit standing so close to him. Damn it, this Fox Spirit is way too cunning! She found it even like this! My rabbit is probably doomed. I'll have to go hungry tonight.

And what form is this fox in right now? Soul Projection? Zhang Chen wondered inwardly.

"Hand it over to your grandaunt!" The Fox Spirit looked at Zhang Chen's chest and unceremoniously reached out her fair, tender hand, directly digging into his clothes.

Buzz—

Just as the Fox Spirit's slender fingers touched Zhang Chen's clothes, an invisible layer of golden light burst from the pores all over his body along with his breathing. The Fox Spirit let out a scream the moment she touched the light and was beaten back to her original form. From a beautiful young woman, she became an illusory fox the size of a thumb, stumbling in panic as she fled back into the house next door.

"Ah—"

A pained fox's cry came from the neighboring house, leaving Zhang Chen dumbfounded, as though the sudden turn of events had stunned him senseless.

"What is going on? My Evil-warding Golden Light can restrain the Fox Spirit?" Zhang Chen sat frozen in place, staring at the golden light erupting from his skin, his eyes filled with shock. His previous contempt and disdain for the Golden Finger had all turned into wild joy. "Unbelievable! This is simply unbelievable! My golden light can actually restrain the Fox Spirit?"

Zhang Chen felt like he had made it! He was incredible now!

Especially when Zhang Chen saw the bead that had fallen to the ground, his eyes filled with even greater delight: Experience Points +50.

"It's actually fifty Experience Points. This has never happened before. Could it be that I got lucky today?" Zhang Chen's heart overflowed with joy.

Name: Zhang Chen

Skill (Tier 1): Evil-warding Golden Light (0/500)

Points: 140

"Could it be that the golden light injured the Fox Spirit, so more Experience Points burst out?" Zhang Chen was no fool. Looking at the increased Experience Points, he formed a guess.

As countless thoughts flashed through his mind, another beautiful young woman suddenly rushed out through the wall. She was fierce and indignant, her lips pursed in grievance, tears shimmering in her eyes as though Zhang Chen were some heinous villain who had done her terrible wrong.

Zhang Chen was nervous inside, but he pretended to remain calm, acting as though he could not see the young woman. He merely stared at his pheasant, though inwardly he was panicking like crazy. Could this Fox Spirit be humiliated into fury and planning to kill me? Should I strike first? But how? Charge at her covered in golden light? She moves so nimbly and ignores physical barriers. I'm afraid I can't even hit her!

The young woman stared at the golden light flowing over Zhang Chen's body, her eyes full of greed and confusion. Yet faced with his golden light, she did not dare approach and could only curse, "Damned brat, what the hell is this thing? It actually injured your grandaunt's soul? Did this fellow encounter some strange object and gain enlightenment?"

The Fox Spirit angrily circled Zhang Chen once. Finally, she picked up a water dipper nearby and hurled it at his head from afar. It struck Zhang Chen with an "Ow!" and his forehead immediately reddened and swelled. The golden light could not defend against physical attacks, and the bump rose at once.

"Damned brat, still pretending you don't know who stole your chickens! Every time your grandaunt uses Soul Projection to move things, I've long seen you peeking through the crack in the wall. I was only deliberately teasing you, pretending not to know. Hypocritical man, bad man! Damned bad man, always bullying NanNan! NanNan will beat you to death!"

The young woman cursed furiously, clearly truly enraged. She picked up a ladle nearby and threw it at him again. This time Zhang Chen failed to dodge as well, and it struck him hard enough to blacken one of his eyes.

Seeing that the young woman was about to throw something else, Zhang Chen could not take it any longer. If this continued, he would sooner or later be beaten to death by the Fox Spirit. So he feigned pain and rolled around the room, rolling toward the young woman. Her face went pale with fright. Wary of the golden light on Zhang Chen's body, she could only leave resentfully with the pheasant.

After the Fox Spirit left, Zhang Chen stopped rolling in the room. Looking at the vanished pheasant, he wore a thoughtful expression. "It seems the Fox Spirit discovered my peeping long ago. She only pretended not to know because she was playing with me! My golden light seems able to restrain and strike the Fox Spirit at the Primordial Spirit level, but it cannot defend against physical force."

"Before, I thought the Fox Spirit was using the Moving Method. Now it seems I was mistaken. She was actually using Soul Projection." Zhang Chen was secretly astonished. "Why use Soul Projection instead of demonic arts?"