A Vast Haul of Experience Points

At this thought, Zhang Chen's heart stirred. He recalled how the Fox Spirit had been clamped down by Wang Wu before, nearly skinned and turned into a fur collar. Another thought rose in his mind. Could it be... the Fox Spirit was too badly injured to use her demonic arts, so she had risked Soul Projection to move things? Or was there some other reason?

Zhang Chen came before the crack in the wall and stared at it for a long while, hesitating. He was deeply wary and did not know whether he should keep watching. He was simply too curious about demons and wanted to seize this chance to see what the Fox Spirit was really made of.

And if he did not look? It would make him seem like a guilty thief!

But if he did look? He feared he would anger the Fox Spirit even further.

After hesitating for a moment, Zhang Chen decided to pry open the crack and peek in secret. Since the Fox Spirit had already noticed what he was doing, it would look even worse if he stopped spying now and let her discover his weakness.

Zhang Chen carefully scraped away the dirt and peered through the crack. The white-furred fox next door was still lying in her nest, while a White-Clad Girl with a somewhat illusory body listlessly dealt with a pheasant in her hands, cursing under her breath. "Damn bad man, damn mortal fool! You actually hurt NanNan! NanNan will never forgive you! NanNan will represent justice and punish you."

I finally managed Soul Projection, Night Wandering, Day Wandering, and object control, reaching the realm of possession. I was just about to take visible form, yet that bastard's golden light injured me and cost me who knew how much Dao Comprehension! That bastard truly deserves to die! The girl fumed inwardly, so angry that even "this auntie" had become "this old lady."

"But that brat's golden light is so powerful. It just happens to be useful. I previously dug up a page of the Golden Book in that great tomb, and there is quite a troublesome fellow inside that tomb..." The girl's eyes turned as though she had thought of something, and a crafty gleam flashed through them.

The girl moved deftly, apparently venting her anger on the pheasant. Before long, all its feathers had been plucked clean, and she began making braised pheasant rice while muttering curses.

As she cooked, the girl turned to glance toward the crack in the wall, a sly look appearing in her eyes. The next moment, she casually flicked the chicken meat, and a drop of scalding hot water shot straight toward the crack.

Caught completely off guard, Zhang Chen could not even shut his eyes in time. He cried out and fell onto the ground, then covered his mouth in agony, not daring to make another sound. He rolled around on the floor in pain, cursing endlessly in his heart. That damned Fox Spirit did it on purpose! She is deliberately getting back at me!

Only after a long while did the pain subside. Zhang Chen opened his swollen, reddened eye. It had not gone blind, but his vision was blurry. It had clearly been scalded.

"It was not entirely without gain. At least I learned something about the Fox Spirit. In the past, her soul looked like that of a True Person, but now she looks like an illusory wandering ghost. My golden light must have injured her badly before." Zhang Chen gained a little confidence. When facing the Fox Spirit now, he was no longer a helpless weakling without even the power to protect himself.

Still, the Fox Spirit's ability to control objects with her soul left Zhang Chen shaken. This time, she could throw a ladle of water. Next time, she could throw a kitchen knife. Especially since her soul could pass through physical matter, she was impossible to guard against.

"Forget it. For the sake of skill points, I'll endure it!"

Zhang Chen muttered to himself. He had become so inflated that he now considered himself part of the Fox Spirit's grandfather generation.

Of course, it was not as though Zhang Chen had never considered running away, escaping the Fox Spirit's control and finding somewhere else to start over. But he simply could not get away! Back when he had first discovered the Fox Spirit's tricks, he had tried to flee. Yet halfway through, after he had "accidentally" seen a snow-white White-Haired Fox pass before his eyes, he had no choice but to scamper back obediently. Looking back now, it had clearly been the White-Haired Fox playing with him. She wanted him to be a free laborer and support her.

Invisible intimidation carried the greatest power and was the most terrifying!

Without question, Zhang Chen had been frightened. He knew it was the White-Haired Fox's warning. From that day onward, he had never tried to run again!

Now that Zhang Chen knew he had gained even the slightest ability to resist the Fox Spirit, he was delighted. His mood improved greatly, and he no longer rushed to fight her to the death. He now had a Golden Finger. As long as he quietly hid away and developed, picking up Experience Points to level up along the way, why would he fear being unable to deal with the Fox Spirit in the future?

The price was merely supporting the Fox Spirit. It was no great matter. Zhang Chen called himself a little master of hunting. So long as she could help him obtain Experience Points, he would have no problem worshipping the Fox Spirit as an ancestor.

But though the tree wished for calm, the wind would not cease. Zhang Chen wanted to hide away and grow stronger, yet the Fox Spirit would not allow it.

He had thought that as long as he could hunt prey, his days would settle down. But when Zhang Chen entered the mountains again on the third day, he quickly encountered something strange.

That day, Zhang Chen entered the mountains and returned empty-handed. More than ten traps yielded nothing, utterly unlike his usual overflowing harvest. Just as he was about to go back with empty hands, a pheasant from who knew where suddenly crashed into the tree before him and fell to the ground, one wing bent at an unnatural angle.

Zhang Chen was overjoyed. He had never expected such good fortune to come knocking. Just as he was about to seize the stunned pheasant, he saw it flap its broken wing and drift through the mountain forest.

Zhang Chen was an old hunter. He knew pheasants did not have lasting stamina to begin with, and with a broken wing, it could not fly far. Sooner or later, it would fall into his hands. Beaming, he chased after it.

If he failed to catch the pheasant, he would go hungry that day. Naturally, he could not let it go.

Though the pheasant's wing was broken, it kept darting through grass, dead branches, and brush in the mountains. It appeared to flee slowly, staying only three to five meters ahead of Zhang Chen, yet whenever Zhang Chen was about to catch it, the pheasant would flap its wings and rise, dodging his grasp before continuing its mad flight through the mountains.

The man and the pheasant chased and fled for roughly two hours. After the pheasant flapped its wings once more, it suddenly stopped, fell to the ground, and swiftly burrowed into an earthen hole nearby.

"Hm?" Zhang Chen could not catch up in time and could only watch helplessly as the pheasant burrowed into the mud hole. The opening was not large, roughly the size of a honey badger's den.

"Damn it, how could this pheasant have such lasting stamina? It actually ran for two hours." Zhang Chen stood at the entrance, panting heavily. "Lucky thing!"

Zhang Chen cursed as he prepared to turn back, but suddenly stopped. He looked into the earthen hole, where faint red lights flickered in the darkness.

That was the glow of points!

"Why would there be points inside an earthen hole?" Zhang Chen crouched down to look, then froze in shock. There were not only points inside—there was a vast sea of them.

"This den..." Zhang Chen halted, staring at the points deep within the hole as hesitation seized him.

Only places visited by strange beings had points. Could there be something strange inside this earthen hole? Or was the pheasant itself strange? Otherwise, it could not have run for two hours.

"Huh, there is also a fox footprint. It seems to have faded almost to the point of disappearing." Zhang Chen stared at the mark on the ground, surprise showing on his face.

Zhang Chen wanted to leave and avoid trouble, but faced with that vast swath of points, he could not move his feet.

There were simply too many points inside. If he collected them, his Evil-warding Golden Light would definitely level up. Then it would be a whole different world.

"Only when my skill level rises will I have the courage to face the Fox Spirit. The Experience Points are right before my eyes. If I do not face the danger in front of me, then I will have to face that damned Fox Spirit's threats in the future. My level-one Evil-warding Golden Light can already restrain the Fox Spirit's Primordial Spirit. If it rises to level two..." Zhang Chen felt a trace of anticipation. Would he finally turn from a serf into one who sang?

Most importantly, if he collected the Experience Points at the entrance, his Evil-warding Golden Light would very likely rise to level two. Even if there truly was something strange inside the cave, his level-two Evil-warding Golden Light might have a chance of restraining it.

He had to try. At worst, if things went wrong, he could flee immediately. He would not lose anything.

"Huh, is this an antique?" As Zhang Chen peered at the Experience Points in the cave, he suddenly noticed an ancient coin of unknown age at the entrance. It looked quite old. Most importantly, the coin was cast from pure gold and could remain uncorrupted through countless ages.

The coin was shaped like a knife, resembling a small blade, entirely unlike the round-holed coins of the current dynasty.

"What dynasty used this currency? Could this entrance be connected to an Ancient Tomb?" Thoughts flashed through Zhang Chen's mind, and his heart began pounding. Ancient tombs came with wealth. If he could dig it open...

There were both Experience Points and money to be had. Why would Zhang Chen not be happy about that?

Wealth and honor were sought amid danger. With a Fox Spirit of unknown depth living next door, how could he resist her without working hard to cultivate himself?

Zhang Chen turned around and hurried back. He needed to fetch a shovel.

Not long after Zhang Chen left, the pheasant fluttered out. A white figure emerged from the pheasant's body and separated from it, transforming into a wisp of smoke at the entrance of the cave. She watched Zhang Chen's retreating back from afar, wrinkling her delicate nose slightly. "The currency cast by the Primordial Emperor is enough to benefit you. That fellow is usually miserly and calculating over every scrap, even counting every grain of rice and every bit of meat with NanNan and Old Ancestor. This time, let us see if you can resist taking the bait."

Zhang Chen returned along the same path, but when he passed one of his traps, he froze. There was now a roe deer inside.

"I have really been lucky lately. Not only did I awaken a Golden Finger, my luck has exploded. I even found a source of Experience Points. Even Heaven is helping me!" Zhang Chen felt sweet as honey inside. He felt like Heaven's favorite child, Heaven's beloved darling. His bad luck was finally beginning to scatter.

Digging up that Ancient Tomb might be dangerous, but it could definitely raise his golden light to the second rank, perhaps even higher. He might even gain a new skill. Then, whether he faced the Fox Spirit or other strange beings, his chance of survival would greatly increase.

"Wealth and honor are sought amid danger! Most importantly, the Experience Points dropped by the Fox Spirit are unreliable. Who knows when I will save enough points to rise to level two? And the Fox Spirit is very likely recovering from her injuries. The faster I level up, the greater my advantage against her." Zhang Chen's little calculations clattered away like an abacus.

Moreover, he had a backup plan. If he truly disturbed the strange being in the tomb, he could divert disaster eastward and let it fight the Fox Spirit to the death while he reaped the fisherman's profit.

Whether it would work or not, he had to try. What if the strange being in the tomb was not that powerful? What if there was no monster in the tomb at all, but instead some strange object like that page of metal?

Zhang Chen directly cut off one of the roe deer's legs, butchered it on the spot, and cooked it. He feared that if he returned home first, he might end up with nothing to eat.

After eating the roe deer leg, Zhang Chen smeared roe deer blood over the trap as bait, then carried the roe deer back home.

As soon as he entered the courtyard, he saw the Fox Spirit squatting before the neighboring window, her neck stretched long as she eagerly awaited Zhang Chen, expectation filling her eyes. But when she saw him carrying another roe deer into the courtyard, a look of disdain appeared on her face. The expression was so humanlike that Zhang Chen was stunned.

Especially when she saw that Zhang Chen had not skinned or prepared it, her displeasure deepened. But after Zhang Chen voluntarily hung the roe deer on the wall, a look of approval finally appeared in her seductive fox eyes, as though to say, At least you know what is good for you. Then she turned and returned to the house.

Zhang Chen hung the food he had hunted on the wall as usual, as though nothing had changed. But this time, he willingly fed the Fox Spirit!

Zhang Chen hung the roe deer on the east room's wall. Soon afterward, the roe deer vanished from the wall, and no Experience Points dropped where it had disappeared.

"Sure enough, relying solely on the Fox Spirit to gather Experience Points is far too unreliable. I have to dig up that Ancient Tomb. There is already such fortune outside the tomb, let alone within it. Raising my Evil-warding Golden Light several levels should not be a problem, right? By then, my skill should be able to suppress the Fox Spirit." Zhang Chen muttered to himself.

But when he thought of how the Fox Spirit could control objects without a trace, coming and going like a ghost, Zhang Chen felt helpless. Object control was a physical attack, and she appeared and vanished unpredictably. He could not possibly stay on guard twenty-four hours a day, could he? If he failed to deal with the Fox Spirit, he would likely be waiting to die next.

"I need to prepare some methods in advance. Once I level up my skill in the future, I can have more means to restrain that damned Fox Spirit." Countless thoughts flashed through Zhang Chen's mind.

Zhang Chen wandered around the courtyard once, picked up the shovel from the ground, and turned toward the mountains.

The sun was high overhead now. It was the perfect time to act. Did novels not say that Evil Beings feared sunlight? This was precisely the right moment for him to make his move.

He had already decided that he would only dig at noon from now on. That way, the danger would be a little smaller.

Whether what the novels said was true or not, he had to make preparations.