There Was a Fox

It was still the stone chamber within the mountain.

As Chen Heng withdrew from the One True Dharma Realm, his true body, seated on the prayer cushion in the center of the chamber, slowly opened its eyes. Two brilliant beams of light shone from them, steady as candle flames.

"Ying ying, ying ying, ying ying ying ying~"

Chen Heng glanced to the side.

The cries of some small beasts, along with scratching and gnawing, drifted faintly in from outside the cave abode. Judging by the sounds, there seemed to be not just one, but a whole pack.

"Ying ying, ying ying, ying ying ying~"

Before long, the little beasts started calling again.

This time, there were also impacts against the cave abode, thumping away. Faint screams of pain seemed to mingle with them. Quite the lively scene.

"Idiots."

A cold smile rose on Chen Heng's face, and his heart settled somewhat.

At first, he had suspected that Yan Ping had disregarded the sect's rules and traveled a thousand miles to Lanliang City to seek revenge on him.

Thus, beneath his broad robes and flowing sleeves, his left hand had already closed tightly around the Thunderfire Thunderclap Bead, ready to fling it out at the first sign of trouble.

Even if it depleted his embryonic breathing, he could hardly worry about that.

But these sounds clearly came from a pack of little beasts that had gained spiritual awareness and gathered to cause trouble. Not a particularly clever pack, either.

The banging outside the cave abode was not just the sound of thrown stones...

Judging by the cries of pain and uncontrollable sobbing, some dim-witted creatures had actually been stupid enough to ram the door with their heads, hoping to smash a great hole through it.

Those sobs, however, made it clear that their ramming had achieved nothing. They might even have raised several great lumps on their heads.

"The stone sealing this entrance weighs nearly ten thousand jin. Normally, it takes a mechanism to move it so anyone can enter or leave. If you try to ram it with your head, you could keep at it until your next life and still accomplish nothing."

Chen Heng smiled faintly.

Ignoring the "ying ying" cries, he took out a Small White Sun Pill and dropped it into a cup of water. Once it dissolved, he drank it down in one gulp.

Soon, a gentle warmth spread through his limbs and bones, leaving him as comfortable as if he were basking in warm sunlight. He could not help breathing out aloud.

Though the sound within the cave abode was slight, it was still heard.

The little beasts fell silent at first, then grew even more excited, screeching "ying ying" again like a horde of demons dancing wildly. When Chen Heng still did not emerge, they decided he must be afraid of them and grew even more smug, their cries rising in wave after wave.

Among these cries,

There were also a few more dull thuds of heads striking the door, stubbornly refusing to give up.

Chen Heng acted as though he heard none of it.

Only after he had absorbed all the medicinal potency of the Small White Sun Pill did he leisurely rise, hang his sword at his waist, and take the Vermilion-Lacquered Great Bow from the cave wall.

"Those cries sound a little like foxes?"

After listening carefully for a while, Chen Heng understood and immediately formed a guess.

Blazing Mountain had not originally been the Mount Yang Daoist's ritual grounds. Its owners had been a group of white foxes cultivating the incense-and-fire divine way.

Relying on his powerful Talisman Artifact, the Mount Yang Daoist had smashed their temple, driven the white foxes away, and seized the mountain.

As for what had become of the white foxes afterward or where they had gone, no one knew. It had remained an unsolved mystery.

Yet Chen Heng had never expected that, after the Mount Yang Daoist's death, these foxes would return to their old home and brazenly come to provoke its rightful master.

"Interesting. If the Mount Yang Daoist could defeat you, why shouldn't I be able to kill you?"

Chen Heng slowly fastened his quiver to his back, killing intent surging in his eyes.

"Your golden bodies were shattered, and even your temple was burned. Even if you cultivate the divine way, replenishing your foundations cannot be so easy. Have you come knocking now because you think the sword in my hand has lost its edge?"

He turned the lever at the entrance. With the grinding of the mechanism, the great sealing stone slid aside.

Chen Heng stepped outside with his hand on his sword.

The moon was bright and the stars sparse. Its light made the ground look as though it wore a layer of white frost, desolate and cool, with a deep, penetrating chill.

"Which fellow Daoist is playing at ghosts and spirits here? Would you care to show yourself for a talk?"

Chen Heng tightened his grip on the Thunderfire Thunderclap Bead within his sleeve and called out in a low voice.

At once, leaves and grass rustled in the surrounding thickets. Countless dim green animal eyes seemed to flicker in the darkness like ghostly flames.

He asked three more times without receiving an answer. Then, from somewhere in the distance, a woman's coquettish laugh suddenly rang out.

The laughter chimed like silver bells, clear and sweet, seemingly not far away.

Chen Heng knew the fox was deliberately trying to lure him over, but he felt no fear. He merely straightened his sleeves and followed the sound.

After crossing several low hills and walking for just under half an incense stick's time, Chen Heng heard the rushing of a waterfall and flowing spring.

This was a small waterfall on Blazing Mountain, where the Blazing Mountain Disciples had once drawn water for their daily needs.

Now, however, a barefoot beauty wearing only gauzy white silk was bathing in the water. His face possessed an extraordinary, bewitching allure, and his figure was full and ripe. The drenched white silk clung tightly to his skin, clearly outlining his rounded chest and supple, slender waist-a sight that could set a fire blazing in one's lower belly.

"The long night drags on, tormenting the heart. To meet you today, young master, is a blessing from heaven. Might you be willing to share my couch and pillow tonight?"

He raised his head and spoke in a sweet, seductive voice.

"This humble one-"

Halfway through his words,

He abruptly stopped.

Just then, moonlight broke through the dark clouds and poured down, clear and bright, falling upon Chen Heng and turning the ground into a sea of quicksilver.

The youth in a dark robe stood quietly in the moonlight, his skin brighter than snow, his bearing serene and beyond the dust of the mortal world. He was like a piece of jade freshly washed in pure water, so beautiful that one scarcely dared look up at him.

His face seemed a work painstakingly crafted by heaven itself. Though its exquisite nobility was almost overwhelming, his eyes, always indifferent as silent snow in a secluded palace court, lent his features a refined distance and an otherworldly air.

Like heaped stones of jade, like ranks of emerald pines, the young man's beauty stood alone, without an equal in the world.

The beauty in the pool stared, dumbstruck. Only after a long while did he slap himself hard enough to snap out of it.

"How about you wait a moment while I go change my face?"

He gave an awkward laugh and cautiously ventured, "Well, would you mind seeing your own face in women's clothes?"

"Is that all?"

Chen Heng sneered, drew his bow, and fired!

The instant the arrow streaked through the air, a thunderous crack exploded. A white-furred male fox screamed, then, with the arrow lodged in his rump, fled blindly into the stone wall behind the pool and vanished.

As he fled, panicked yipping erupted all around. Dozens of white foxes, large and small, scrambled to leap into the stone wall.

One particularly stupid-looking fox with lumps on his head ran in several circles without finding the special stone wall and yipped frantically in distress.

"Now that's interesting. A formation?"

Chen Heng kicked the stranded, stupid fox aside, then darted into the stone wall himself.

Everything went pitch-black the instant he entered.

But after only three or four breaths, a surprisingly spacious expanse appeared before his eyes.

Towers, terraces, and pavilions stood amid neatly arranged dwellings.

Several dozen paces opposite Chen Heng stood a youth in yellow robes, holding a ritual sword and staring at him in shock and fear.

After a long while, he finally gathered his courage and shouted.

"What scoundrel dares run wild here! This... this is the Vermilion Luminescence Sect's Nine Sovereigns Everbright Golden Palace Grotto-Heaven! You-"

Before he could finish, Chen Heng loosed three arrows in succession, knocking him flat on his back.

By the time the yellow-robed youth staggered upright, dizzy and dazed, a large red-and-white bead had somehow appeared above his head, erupting with countless roaring bursts of thunder and fire.

"Fellow Daoist, fellow Daoist, I, Tu Shan Ge, was only joking with you. Please don't do this..."

The yellow-robed youth's knees buckled, and he spoke in a trembling voice.

"Please put that bead away. Don't... don't ruin the harmony between our two sides!"

Thanks to Antelasu for the 500-point tip, to Book Friend 20180727142638411 for the 500-point tip, to Nine Qishan Envoy for the 100-point tip, to DeliriaRealm for the 100-point tip, to Muyi Jun for the 100-point tip, to Dreaming Back to the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing for the 100-point tip, and to All That Is Past for the 100-point tip.