Fox Immortal

There was a saying among cultivators: Those whose spiritual veins were clogged could not cultivate!

In other words, those with obstructed spiritual veins could not even accomplish the most basic task of gathering spiritual energy. Even if the finest Daoist techniques were placed before them, they would have no way to practice them and could not step through the gate of cultivation at all.

According to the elders of the Immortal Encounter Sect, the human body possessed three hundred and sixty-five spiritual veins. In ancient times, those cultivators born with a Dao Body had all three hundred and sixty-five spiritual veins fully connected. Cultivating any method was effortless for them, and they could even master many spells without practicing them. This was known as a Supernatural Ability.

In the present age, the qi of Heaven and Earth had grown turbid, far less abundant and pure than the spiritual energy of ancient times. No one could possess a naturally formed Dao Body with all three hundred and sixty-five spiritual veins complete anymore.

The spiritual veins of all ordinary people were clogged and obstructed, making cultivation impossible. Only the exceedingly rare few favored by the spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth were born with connected spiritual veins and could set foot upon the Dao Path. Rarer still were those one-in-ten-thousand prodigies, as scarce as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns, who were born with forty or fifty spiritual veins. Once they began cultivating, they advanced with the force of a splitting bamboo and were regarded by the great sects as immortal seedlings, receiving every possible form of protection and care.

In his previous life, Chen Ganliu had been able to receive a register from Immortal Master Five Willows and enter the Immortal Encounter Sect in middle age precisely because he possessed a spiritual vein.

Immortal Master Five Willows and the elders of the Immortal Encounter Sect had both examined him and determined that he possessed a Severed Vein. It was incomplete. Immortal Master Five Willows had been insufficiently accomplished to discover what kind of spiritual vein he possessed, while the elders of the Immortal Encounter Sect had simply been too lazy to examine him carefully. After all, he had only one spiritual vein, and it was even incomplete. His aptitude was already as poor as it could possibly be.

After learning that he possessed only one spiritual vein—and that it was a Severed Vein—Chen Ganliu had been dispirited for a long time, lamenting that he was not Heaven's chosen one and had wasted his transmigration.

Later, after he married, his old wife had carefully examined him and told him that it was a Spring Bloom Spiritual Vein, belonging to the Jia Wood lineage. It had originally been incomplete, and in his early years he had bitterly cultivated the Six Harmonies Qi Refining Art. That method was crude and incompatible with the attributes of his spiritual vein, damaging its foundation and making cultivation difficult.

By then, Chen Ganliu was nearly fifty and had long since accepted his fate. He knew his innate aptitude was too weak. Even if he had entered the sect and immediately received a superior method, he likely would not have achieved much. So even after ruining his foundation, he remained utterly unmoved.

After a long while, Chen Ganliu faintly felt his heart grow lighter, as though an invisible burden had been lifted from his body. He had always worried that his aptitude was too poor, and that even if he cultivated anew in this life, he might not be able to go very far along the path of cultivation.

Now that he was cultivating anew, he had achieved success in qi condensation nearly thirty years earlier than in his previous life. At the very least... he would not stop at the Second Layer of Qi Condensation again.

Chen Ganliu had only just broken through, and his true qi was unstable. Knowing that it was unsuitable to continue practicing qi at this time lest he stray into the wrong meridians, he focused his mind for a while. Then he continued practicing the art of talisman drawing, replacing the brush with his thoughts and yellow paper with the air.

This time, drawing the talisman was exceptionally smooth. His thoughts rose like a dragon, his qi pierced the rainbow, his intent moved like a tiger, and the wind roared in its wake. His talisman strokes flowed like rivers, surging without end, while his closing gesture was like a thousand-mile range of green mountains—weighty and steady.

He opened his eyes. Before him, an Illusion Talisman had solidified in empty space, as if it were tangible. This was the art of the "heart talisman," the foundation of all spells. In his previous life, even with the cultivation of the Second Layer of Qi Condensation, he had never managed to master it. He had never expected that in this life, after cultivating anew for three years and just achieving qi condensation, it would come as naturally as lofty mountains and flowing water, forming effortlessly with the current.

Chen Ganliu sighed, then broke into hearty laughter. His emotions were too complicated to describe. With a flick of his sleeve, he put away the Illusion Talisman. Suddenly, he heard a commotion from the front courtyard. Curious, and unable to cultivate anyway with his emotions in such disorder, he followed the sound.

In the large courtyard at the front of Chen Family Village lay a pitch-black zombie. Villagers had gathered around it in layer upon layer, whispering and buzzing among themselves as they stared at the zombie in the courtyard. Some were surprised and excited, while others were frightened and wary.

Chen Ganliu was startled as well. How could a zombie have appeared?

He had no intention of going closer. Zombies were evil things, naturally breeding a mass of stagnant corpse qi within their bellies. An ordinary person who came into contact with it would inevitably fall seriously ill, and in severe cases might even breathe their last and hurry off to the Yellow Springs. Even with cultivation, taking in a mouthful of corpse qi would require him to sit in meditation for half a day to expel it, wasting precious cultivation time. There was no harm in not joining such a spectacle.

Chen Ganliu also knew that he could not persuade anyone. He was too young, and his words carried little weight. If he urged people not to watch such excitement, they would only tease him for being a coward, leaving him to invite ridicule.

Chen Ganliu turned and left, planning to draw more Shock Talismans. If anyone was poisoned, he could secretly disperse the corpse qi for the villagers.

When he reached the back, he suddenly felt hungry. Only then did he remember that the maid in his household had not brought him a meal for an entire day.

In this world, he was the illegitimate son of the wealthiest Household in Chen Family Village. His mother had died young, and he ranked sixth, hence the name Ganliu. Although he had a maid, she had long since stopped treating him like her master. She often went to play in his second brother's courtyard and would go a day or two without coming to see him.

In his previous life, because Chen Ganliu had fallen from a building, that maid had been beaten and was then assigned to his second brother.

He had studied the classics diligently and risen to fame throughout the local area, earning a reputation as a child prodigy. That maid had once asked someone to inquire about returning to him, but Chen Ganliu had flatly refused. He had never seen her again after that and did not remember what had eventually become of her.

After being reborn, Chen Ganliu had many important matters to deal with and did not want to quarrel with a little maid, so he went to the kitchen himself to look for something to eat.

When he reached the kitchen, he saw the servants coming and going in a great bustle. Chen Ganliu grew somewhat curious as well. The kitchen is never this lively on ordinary days. Could guests have come to the Household?

After all, he was a young master of the Household, and no one stopped him from entering the kitchen. He took two steamed buns and tucked away a strip of steamed cured meat. He did not return to his residence. As an un favored illegitimate son who had also lost his mother, he was often stifled at home, and his quarters were dark and miserable. He usually disliked staying in his room, so he found a large tree and climbed up it. Hiding among the branches, he ate one bite of cured meat and one bite of steamed bun, savoring them immensely.

In this life, Chen Ganliu no longer intended to pursue the imperial examinations. He did not care whether he had a literary reputation or not. Without the halo of a child prodigy, life would certainly be difficult, but he did not mind. Now that he had cultivated the first layer of qi refinement and possessed the power to protect himself, he planned to leave home in a few days and search for several opportunities he had heard about in his previous life.

Chen Ganliu had eaten one steamed bun and was about to bite into the second when his hand suddenly loosened, and the bun vanished. A crisp voice asked, "Are you a disciple of the Spiritual Gate?"

Chen Ganliu was startled. He turned to look back and found that a little girl had somehow appeared in the tree. She looked about twelve or thirteen, wore pale yellow clothes, and had a smile like flowers and features as picturesque as a painting. She stood on one foot atop a branch no thicker than a finger, swaying and drifting with the wind. In her hand was a steamed bun—and was it not his?

He answered neither humbly nor arrogantly, "I'm Chen Ganliu."

"Who are you? How come I've never seen you before?"

The girl giggled. "I'm the fox immortal who lives nearby. I saw that something interesting was happening at the Chen Household, so I came over to take a look."

She bit into the steamed bun. Her pearly teeth gleamed, and her eyes curved into satisfied crescents, making her unbearably cute.

Chen Ganliu thought, If I hadn't lived three lifetimes and cultivated immortality in my previous life, I might really have believed you.

Most demons did not possess orthodox cultivation methods and relied solely on their innate talents. What they refined was a mouthful of turbid qi, their demonic qi heavy with foulness and impurities.

Dao qi brimmed from this girl's body, without the slightest trace of demonic qi. How could she possibly be a fox immortal?

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