The Wary Little Fox

Having learned about the Concentric Life and Death Tribulation, Li Jiusheng now understood the advantages and flaws of this secret technique.

When it was first created, it had been meant to bear witness to the most beautiful feelings in the world. But later, people discovered that those who truly loved each other did not need the Concentric Life and Death Tribulation to bind them. And for those who did not love each other, not even ten Concentric Life and Death Tribulations could restrain a heart bent on harming the other.

Li Jiusheng rather liked the later modifications. When exploring secret realms or exchanging Daoist magic, signing this would make both parties as close as family for a short time. There would be no need to worry about the other holding something back or secretly stabbing them in the back.

Late at night, the evening breeze rustled through the forest, swaying the shadows of the trees with a soft whisper.

Li Jiusheng held the sleeping Little Fox and gently stroked her with pity. "Poor little girl. From now on, you'll live with me."

Then, carrying Little Fox in his arms, Li Jiusheng returned to the Scripture Repository Pavilion.

He prepared rice soup and warm bedding for Little Fox. Only after arranging everything did he finally let out a breath.

Li Jiusheng had always been single and lived alone, so he truly had no experience caring for an infant.

He had cared for Li Qingshan and Yu Chaoyang when they were young, but they had already been four or five years old then and could take care of themselves.

Caring for a newborn Little Fox was truly a test for him.

Little Fox slept soundly, as though being born had exhausted all her strength. She lay quietly in her swaddling clothes, snow-white from head to toe without a trace of impurities. It was a translucent, crystalline white.

Li Jiusheng gently stroked her, only to see Little Fox's eyelids tremble. She was about to wake up.

Li Jiusheng watched expectantly. He had been the first person Little Fox saw after being born. How would she react?

A few breaths later, Little Fox opened her eyes and saw Li Jiusheng.

Her pupils rapidly changed from dazed, clear, and pure to terrified. In an instant, her fur stood on end. Her body flashed like lightning as she broke free from the swaddling clothes, shrieking as she constantly scanned her surroundings for an exit.

Li Jiusheng frowned slightly. He knew Little Fox had gone into a stress response. He did not move again, instead softening his aura until it felt like a spring breeze brushing across her face, telling her that he meant no harm and easing her panic.

Little Fox seemed a little better, but her nose kept twitching in the air as though she were searching for something. A moment later, she found her target. With a shriek, she ran out of the Scripture Repository Pavilion.

Li Jiusheng's expression changed. Afraid that Little Fox might encounter danger, he immediately used his movement technique. Like mist and illusion, he followed behind her.

After fleeing the Scripture Repository Pavilion, Little Fox kept sniffing the air. She first arrived at the waterfall cliff, where she gave small cries and wept softly. Tears as large as pearls rolled down her face. She had only just been born and was tiny; her little paws clawed at the air as though trying to grab hold of something.

Li Jiusheng's nose stung. He knew that Little Fox had caught the faint lingering aura left behind by the Thousand-Year Sword God of the Old Land. This might have been her only chance in her entire life to come into contact with her father.

As time passed, that aura would grow fainter and fainter until it vanished.

If Little Fox had not spent hundreds of years in her mother's womb, constantly infused with her father's aura, she would not have been able to recognize it. Fortunately, she had still caught hold of that final wisp.

Little Fox was heartbroken. Tears streamed endlessly down her face as she cried from the waterfall cliff into the forest. Feeling the profound, vast aura of her mother dissolving into the Dao, she became even more devastated. She wailed loudly, scratching at the trees, the air, and the rocks with her little paws.

She knew her mother had already gone far away from her. From the moment she was born, she possessed the inherited memories unique to the Nine-tailed Demonic Fox. Little Fox knew that both her parents were gone.

She was deeply saddened.

Still crying, Little Fox finally collapsed to the ground from exhaustion and fainted.

Li Jiusheng immediately rushed over, picked her up, and sent his True Qi into her body to warm her. At the same time, he hurried back to the Scripture Repository Pavilion and fed her the rich rice soup.

Only then did Little Fox improve somewhat and fall into a deep sleep.

Li Jiusheng sighed. Looking at Little Fox, whose face still bore hanging teardrops, he felt both pity and heartache. He cleaned her up before placing her back in the swaddling clothes, then moved some distance away and silently watched her.

"Though this Little Fox has only just been born, she spent hundreds of years in her mother's womb and developed awareness long ago. Faced with that hellish Demon Refining Tower, she has long held an instinctive distrust of humans. Now that she has been born and realized both her parents are dead, I'm afraid she'll never trust me in the future." Li Jiusheng gave a bitter smile. He truly ached for Little Fox, but he was also troubled over how he should care for her from now on.

After thinking for a while, Li Jiusheng helplessly shook his head. "Forget it. There's always a way when we get there. If she truly continues to hate humans, I'll confine her to this forest and let her grow up here. Once she has the ability to protect herself, I'll consider letting her leave."

Of course, that was the last resort.

When Little Fox woke up, she went into a stress response again. Upon seeing Li Jiusheng, she shrieked in fear and panic, running out of the Scripture Repository Pavilion and back to the forest where her mother had dissolved into the Dao.

Here, she felt an instinctive sense of comfort.

Li Jiusheng watched from far away. After Little Fox fled the Scripture Repository Pavilion and came here, she did nothing. She merely curled herself up where her mother had previously dissolved into the Dao, feeling the faint warmth that remained.

The little creature was only the size of two hands. Curled up, she was no larger than a palm. She looked both pitiful and adorable, making Li Jiusheng shake his head helplessly. He could only cultivate silently from across the forest and observe her in silence. At the slightest disturbance from Little Fox, he would notice immediately.

The day passed like that. Little Fox remained curled up the entire day without eating or drinking. In the end, even Li Jiusheng could no longer bear to watch her weak body. He used True Qi to remotely guide the rice soup and some nourishing pills over to her.

Little Fox was startled at first and instinctively wanted to flee, but she stopped because there was only food and no person appeared.

She cautiously observed for twenty minutes and saw no one.

Step by step, she inched toward the rice soup and pills.

Smelling the fragrance of the rice soup and the medicinal scent of the pills, Little Fox's stomach rumbled. She looked at them in confusion. Her instincts told her that this could be drunk, and that she had drunk it before.

But when had she ever drunk it?

Little Fox had no memory of it at all.

Could it be inherited memory?

But wouldn't those memories gradually unlock only as her cultivation improved? A newborn's inherited memories contained almost nothing, only biological instincts.

In the end, Little Fox could not withstand her hunger. She quickly stuck out her pink little tongue and licked the rice soup once, then ran to the side and watched nervously, afraid that Li Jiusheng, that bad man, would appear and catch her.

Fortunately, Li Jiusheng did not appear.

Only then did Little Fox approach again and peacefully drink the rice soup.

Perhaps she had been too hungry. She quickly finished the large bowl of rice soup, then gently bit into the pills and ate them little by little, watching vigilantly as she ate, afraid that Li Jiusheng would appear.

Five hundred meters away, Li Jiusheng sat cross-legged atop a large bluestone, bathing in the morning sunlight. He breathed in and out as he cultivated, spiritual energy surging and swirling around him.

Silently, a faint smile appeared at the corner of his lips before he continued cultivating.

One man and one fox, neither disturbing the other.