Fellow Daoist, Do I Look Like a Human?

Beside a small stall in Shengyu Workshop.

Chen Xu controlled the Mud Pill Dao Soldier from afar, turning the foul breath in his heart into flames.

His heart-fire blazed fiercely, pinning to death the black shadow in the rear courtyard of the Lin Residence that was about to transform into a vicious ghost.

As the ghostly shadow dispersed, Chen Xu felt his heart hammering wildly.

From several miles away, he had transmitted his own heart-fire into the Mud Pill Dao Soldier, slain ghosts, and suppressed evil—he had done it!

At the very moment he successfully killed the ghost, countless wondrous fragments of information seemed to flow back into his mind and soul from somewhere unseen.

For a fleeting instant, it was as though he had glimpsed a fraction of this world's mysteries.

Man and heaven and earth exchanged all forms of qi with every breath.

It seemed like acting across empty space, but who could say there was not a complete passage connecting them?

A person was born from their mother's womb with a thread of Innate Qi already present within them. Yet after birth, it became tainted by the turbid qi of the mortal world. That thread of Innate Qi gradually dispersed, transforming into acquired Essence.

Those born with powerful innate endowments possessed abundant Essence and often lived longer lives.

Others were innately frail. No matter how carefully they nourished themselves afterward, their lifespan remained short. This was what physicians called "innate deficiency."

Chen Xu's mind churned with disorderly thoughts. Countless things he had learned and heard before were now being chewed over again.

Amid the flashes of insight, he finally understood what Innate Qi truly was.

The greatest use of that thread of Innate Qi was not to extend his lifespan, but to allow an ordinary person in an acquired state to use it to connect with heaven and earth!

A human body's strength was inevitably limited, but if one could use oneself as an anchor and wield the power of heaven and earth, then that immense power would be inexhaustible, vast and unstoppable.

Chen Xu's chest throbbed as his heart pounded audibly.

[God of Cookery Cultivation Scroll (Level One 5/100)]

[God of Cookery Cultivation Scroll (Level One 7/100)]

...

[God of Cookery Cultivation Scroll (Level One 15/100)]

On the Heavenly Book panel, the experience notifications for the God of Cookery Cultivation Scroll shot forward in a straight line. In only a few breaths, it had risen directly to 15 points.

[You killed a ghost and eradicated evil. Your thoughts are unimpeded. You have obtained one qian of Ghost Spirit Incense and been rewarded 100 Firework Value.]

There was also the wondrous substance gained after killing the ghost, along with the Firework Value reward.

But Chen Xu no longer cared about those things. What mattered to him more was that he had comprehended an advanced method of using Innate Qi.

Although the faint thread of Innate Qi within him had already been completely exhausted by its earlier use.

Within his dantian, however, a miraculous power was clearly beginning to grow anew.

It was like a spring of living water. Even if its waters were drained dry for a time, as long as the source did not die, fresh water would always flow forth again.

Unceasing and inexhaustible—this was the Heavenly Cycle!

Beside the stall, Chen Xu held a vicious ghost mask in his hand. His heartbeat quickened, and his breathing grew slightly heavy.

The solid feeling of having achieved a true breakthrough finally filled every one of his senses with crystal clarity.

The complexity of his emotions at that moment could not simply be described with the word joy.

It was more like a seed buried for ages in pitch-black earth, finally absorbing enough nourishment as the spring snow melted, stretching out its tender shoot with swelling vitality and breaking through the soil.

Then he suddenly heard, "Sir, are you buying the mask or not?"

The stall owner had finally finished praising his masks and now eagerly pressed Chen Xu for an answer.

Chen Xu came back to himself. Since he had stood before the mask stall for so long, he might as well not leave empty-handed, so he bought two vicious ghost masks of entirely different designs.

One was blue-faced and fanged, while the other was white-faced and featureless.

He casually placed the white, featureless mask over his own face. Along the lamp-lit street, the clamorous shadows mottled the ghastly white mask. Chen Xu's heart suddenly stirred as he sensed a strange aura spilling down the street like moonlight.

He spun around sharply and looked up, only to see a tall, thin figure slowly stepping out of the night.

Beneath the lights of the human world, the figure had a white face, red eyes, and a pink-white hibiscus flower tucked beside his temple. He was clearly dressed as a scholar, yet he was a young man wearing flowers in his hair and powder on his face.

The flower-wearing scholar walked toward Chen Xu just like that, stepping through lamplight and nightfall alike, a faint smile resting on his pale face as he approached at an unhurried pace.

For some reason, though the long street was plainly bustling, when Chen Xu met the newcomer's gaze, he felt only silence all around. The entire world seemed to have fallen into some hazy illusion at that instant.

Only the tumult of his own Vital Blood reminded Chen Xu not to be deceived.

The newcomer was not human.

He was a demon!

A Fox Demon.

Within Chen Xu's dantian, the thread of Innate Qi that had been slowly regenerating suddenly seemed to receive a tremendous stimulus. Like a spring gate flung open, it began recovering at high speed, gurgling forth without end.

Wearing his mask, Chen Xu met the Fox Demon's eyes.

The Fox Demon scholar suddenly spoke. "Fellow Daoist, do I look like a human?"

Within Chen Xu's dantian, Innate Qi circulated at high speed, keenly catching the strange fluctuations in the surrounding aura when the Fox Demon spoke.

Did he look like a human?

How should he answer such a question?

Chen Xu said, "Whether you look human or not, should you not ask yourself? Truth and falsehood, reality and illusion, all reside in one's own heart. Seeking an answer from others is the inferior path."

At those words, the Fox Demon tilted his head, the expression on his face seeming to go blank for a moment.

Chen Xu looked straight at him, his gaze never wavering. The Innate Qi within him leaped and surged, heart-fire dwelling in his chest and ready to burst forth.

He had already prepared himself to turn hostile against this Fox Demon at any moment.

Chen Xu naturally understood that this Fox Demon should be the one from the Lin Residence.

He simply did not know why the demon had not appeared when the Mud Pill Dao Soldier killed Lin Yuan earlier, only to run into Chen Xu head-on along this long street now!

Suddenly, the Fox Demon let out a snort of laughter.

"What?" He cocked his head, and the flower tucked beside his temple swayed gently with the motion. His face possessed an indescribable, wicked beauty that was somehow also ridiculous.

The Fox Demon giggled. "Could it be that Fellow Daoist thinks I came here to avenge that Lin Family brat?"

Was that not the case?

Chen Xu immediately cupped his hands. "May I ask why Fellow Daoist Hu has come?"

"You call me Fellow Daoist?" The Fox Demon laughed again. "You are smarter than that Lin Family brat. Why have I come? I came to befriend you, Fellow Daoist."

He tilted his head at Chen Xu. "Fellow Daoist Chen, you will not even show me your true face when we meet. Are you really going to meet a fellow Daoist while wearing a mask?"

Chen Xu did not remove his mask and merely asked, "May I ask about Fellow Daoist Hu's connection to the Lin Family?"

"You do not trust me." The Fox Demon sighed. "Fine. That is only human nature. Since that is so, let me explain it to you."

"Exactly what I hoped for. Chen shall listen with rapt attention."

And so, on that long street, Chen Xu heard a story about a fox and an old acquaintance.

It turned out that a hundred years ago, when the Fox Demon had first gained sentience, he had been captured through a moment of carelessness by a tenant farmer under an ancestor of the Lin Family.

The tenant farmer delivered the little fox to the Lin Residence to claim credit. At the time, the Fox Demon possessed a coat of fiery red fur, dazzling and beautiful.

The Lin Family ancestor was delighted at first sight and intended to skin the Fox Demon alive for his pelt, then present it to the Prefect of Yunjiang Prefecture at the time.

Having gained sentience, the Fox Demon used every trick he possessed to survive, eventually stirring compassion in the heart of one of the Lin Family's young daughters.

Afterward, while her father and brothers were not paying attention, the Lin Family's young daughter released the Fox Demon. Before leaving, the Fox Demon plucked three hairs from his tail and gave them to her, granting her three wishes.

Having told the story to this point, the Fox Demon asked Chen Xu, "Do you understand now why I do not care about that Lin Family brat's death?"