This was a dilemma.
Looking at his little junior sister's pleading, expectant eyes, Ouyang simply couldn't bear to refuse.
But this Tibetan fox in her arms was an Eight-Tailed Spirit Fox at the Tribulation Transcendence Stage!
Although Ouyang didn't think the Tribulation Transcendence Stage was all that powerful, out in the wider world, any expert at that stage would be treated as an honored guest even in the Nine Great Sacred Lands!
Who kept an expert at the Tribulation Transcendence Stage as a pet?
Didn't experts at the Tribulation Transcendence Stage have any dignity to preserve?
"I'm willing!" Hu Yan suddenly told Ouyang through voice transmission.
"?" Ouyang looked in astonishment at Hu Yan's dead-fish eyes as he lay in Hu Tutu's arms.
"She's one of my clansfolk. I also want to see why a demon cultivator of my clan would come to the Azure Cloud Sect. Besides, she's the first clanswoman in hundreds upon thousands of years to call me cute!" Hu Yan said evenly.
"Isn't that reason a little too far-fetched?" Ouyang eyed Hu Yan suspiciously, unable to figure out just what sort of character this Tibetan fox was.
But as someone at Qi Refining, he couldn't use an advanced spell like voice transmission, so he could only question Hu Yan with his eyes.
Naturally, Hu Yan had his own little calculations. For one thing, although he harbored immense hatred toward Green Mound Mountain, that hatred had grown slowly from being discriminated against for his looks since childhood.
Now, a clanswoman had actually called him cute, and her praise had come straight from the heart. It gave Hu Yan a sense of acceptance among his own kind.
Humans and demons were different.
The demon race still retained certain animal habits, and fox demon cultivators valued their appearance almost as much as their lives.
Among a fox clan full of handsome men and beautiful women, he had always been an oddity, mocked and teased.
Now, one of his own kind had suddenly accepted him, and a little of the ice around Hu Yan's heart began to thaw!
The other reason was Ouyang.
The Tribulation Transcendence Stage was already the pinnacle of this world. The immortal path stretched on and on, yet he had actually reached its end. Given time, he would certainly accumulate enough cultivation to reach the ninth level of Tribulation Transcendence.
But what came after that?
There was nothing after that.
From the Elder Ancient Era until now, immortals had ceased to exist.
Yet now, an immortal stood right before him!
Hu Tutu, who was perched on Ouyang, keenly sensed that her opportunity lay with him, and became even more certain that she had to stay by Ouyang's side!
This little girl's offer to keep him was precisely what he could only have dreamed of!
As for the dignity of an expert at the Tribulation Transcendence Stage...
Ha, they had already looked at his bells whenever they pleased.
Did such a thing even exist anymore?
With Hu Tutu pleading for it and Hu Yan offering no objection, Ouyang had no reason to refuse.
Ouyang simply couldn't find any reason to say no.
The only possible downside was that this Tibetan fox might want to seize his little junior sister's Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox body!
If that was the case, he might as well bring the Tibetan fox back with them.
Rather than release someone with sinister intentions back into the shadows, it was better to keep him out in the open.
If this Tibetan fox wanted to use Soul Seizure on his little junior sister, there was an old hand at toying with souls waiting on Little Mountain Peak!
Ouyang made up his mind, the Tibetan fox made up his mind, and Hu Tutu got her new pet.
All three were delighted, and they headed toward Little Mountain Peak in high spirits.
The early autumn wind had lost its scorching heat and carried a refreshing coolness.
Ouyang beckoned with his hand, using true qi to pluck two spirit fruits from the mountain forest, and he and Hu Tutu ate as they made their way toward Little Mountain Peak.
His back basket held the Three-Headed Monster Bird's heart and demon core, along with the spirit herbs he had gathered that day.
Hu Tutu hummed an unknown nursery rhyme, its melody echoing along the plank walkway.
Everything seemed so peaceful, as though the years themselves had grown gentle.
Suddenly, a streak of golden light swept across the sky and flew up to Ouyang.
It was a paper crane!
Ouyang held out his hand. The paper crane landed steadily in his palm, then unfolded into a sheet of paper.
Only when he saw the signature on the paper did Ouyang remember that he still hadn't completed his little junior sister's registration with the Azure Cloud Sect.
The yellow paper was signed by Azure Cloud Peak, the Azure Cloud Sect's main peak.
Whenever a new inner disciple was accepted, they had to go to Azure Cloud Peak to light their own Lifebound Ever-Burning Lamp.
These ever-burning lamps were not a means of controlling disciples, but rather a means of protecting them.
As long as the lamp remained lit, its owner was still alive.
If its flame dimmed, that meant its owner had been injured.
The guards watching over the lamps on Azure Cloud Peak would use a secret method to locate the owner, then carry out a rescue.
This was the protection the Azure Cloud Sect, one of the Nine Great Sacred Lands, offered its inner disciples, and a demonstration of a great sect's care for its own.
Only after lighting an ever-burning lamp, receiving a waist token, and having their name entered into the Azure Cloud Sect's Sect Register would someone be recognized as a disciple of the sect!
This paper crane was reminding him to bring his little junior sister over to complete the formalities.
He remembered that the last time he had done this was five or six years ago, when Xiao Bai joined.
If not for this paper crane, he would have nearly forgotten all about it.
Using his finger as a brush and true qi as ink, Ouyang crookedly wrote three words on the yellow paper:
"I got it!"
Then he infused his own true qi into the yellow paper.
The yellow paper transformed into a paper crane again, circled happily around Ouyang once, and only then reluctantly flew toward Azure Cloud Peak.
After receiving Ouyang's true qi, the paper crane was noticeably livelier than the stiff thing it had been upon arrival!
Ouyang brought Hu Tutu and Hu Yan back to Little Mountain Peak just in time for dinner.
Hu Tutu even solemnly introduced her new pet to her senior brothers: "Handsome Guy."
In Leng Qingsong's, Bai Feiyu's, and Chen Changsheng's eyes, this Tibetan fox was merely an ordinary fox with peculiar looks.
They simply took it as a sign that their little junior sister was homesick. The fact that she was a fox was something all of them understood without saying it aloud.
Hu Yan was, after all, an expert at the Tribulation Transcendence Stage. Although the three were geniuses rarely seen even in ten thousand years, they had yet to mature, so concealing his aura in front of them was still a simple matter.
After dinner, everyone returned to their own rooms to rest.
Hu Tutu picked up Hu Yan and curled up on her bed, saying softly, "Handsome Guy, I'm actually a fox too, you know. Once I find a way to awaken my bloodline perfectly, I'll take you back to Green Mound Mountain. It's full of foxes like us!"
Holding Hu Yan, Hu Tutu chattered on about all sorts of things. After all, she was only a five-year-old girl, and she was bound to miss home during her first few days away.
Having finally met one of her own kind, even if he was only a little fox whose intelligence had yet to awaken, Hu Tutu shared many things close to her heart.
As she talked, Hu Tutu's head tilted to one side, and she fell asleep on the bed.
Looking at Hu Tutu before him, a trace of understanding appeared on Hu Yan's expressionless face.
So she came here for my Cultivation Method?
That really does fit the way those old fogeys do things!
Hu Yan felt a little disdainful. He was just about to jump off the bed when he noticed Hu Tutu curled into a ball from the cold, so he kindly reached out a paw and pulled the quilt over her.
But Hu Tutu grabbed Hu Yan's paw. Just as he was about to pull it free,
Hu Tutu stroked the furry paw and murmured softly in her sleep:
"Mommy... I miss you so much..."
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