Save the Red Fox, Reveal the Wandering Dragon

Wounded badly!

This was the conclusion Ji Yuan naturally reached when he touched the fox. Many wounds were deep enough to show bone, a shocking sight. Fox blood still gushed out—he didn't know if some artery had been severed.

'How the hell am I supposed to treat this? I'm not a veterinarian!'

Ji Yuan's heart burned with anxiety. Carrying the fox, he wound through secluded alleys toward the nearest medical clinic, while simultaneously channeling spiritual energy as True Qi into several of the red fox's meridians to sustain its life.

The fox's back alone was relatively intact, as if it had deliberately protected something on it. Ji Yuan parted the fox fur and retrieved it, discovering it was a scroll—whether calligraphy or painting, he couldn't tell.

But there was no time to look at it now. Saving this fox was what mattered!

Ahead, beyond the alley, lay the street. He could even catch a faint whiff of medicinal herbs. The clinic was right there.

Jiren Hall was Ning'an County's renowned medical clinic and pharmacy, combining both under one roof. Doctor Tong was the owner.

At that moment, Doctor Tong inside Jiren Hall was preparing medicine for a customer. With practiced skill, he grabbed a pinch from each drawer, weighed it on the counter's small scale, and wrapped it in yellow paper. A single prescription took less than half a minute.

"Keep it safe—your Great Tonic Decoction. Remember, soak it in cold water for two quarters of an hour, then boil on high heat, then simmer on low. Four bowls of water down to one! Take it morning and evening!"

"Alright, alright, thank you, Doctor Tong, thank you, Doctor Tong!"

The man at the counter thanked him repeatedly as he took the medicine. Just as he was about to turn, a gentle breeze suddenly swept through the hall, and Ji Yuan appeared in Jiren Hall as if in an instant.

"Oh, heavens!"

Ji Yuan's bloodstained sleeves and the red fox in his arms startled both the customers and the apprentices, but he had no time to mind them.

"Doctor Tong, please take a look—can this fox still be saved?"

The strange tale of a red fox bowing to a person for help at the other end of the market hadn't reached here yet, but this scene was bizarre enough on its own.

Doctor Tong stared at Ji Yuan in surprise, then at the blood-soaked fox in his arms.

"Uh, well... I've never treated livestock before, let alone a wild beast..."

"Doctor Tong, as they say, a healer has a kind heart. A fox's life is still a life. Please, do try!"

Ji Yuan couldn't bow with his hands clasped while holding the fox, but his words were earnest enough.

"Then, then I'll give it a try. Please follow me to the inner hall. You two mind the shop and fill prescriptions—don't make mistakes!"

"Oh, Master..."

"Master, I want to watch too..."

"Hmph, get to work!"

Doctor Tong snorted at the two apprentices, then led Ji Yuan into Jiren Hall's inner hall. The apprentices itched with curiosity but dared not disobey, left to stare blankly in the front.

The inner hall was a consultation room, simply furnished with a bed, chairs, and a desk bearing the Four Treasures of the Study.

Doctor Tong took a piece of white coarse cloth and spread it on the desk.

"Come, place the fox here!"

Ji Yuan carefully lifted the red fox from his arms and set it down. The movement made the half-conscious fox twitch.

Without further words, Doctor Tong began examining the fox's wounds, gently parting torn flesh to look closely, checking its eyes, and feeling under its neck for a pulse.

"This fox is less than an arm's length long. It's lost a great deal of blood and qi, yet its pulse is surprisingly strong. Strange—how can the pulse be like this when the qi and blood are insufficient?"

Muttering to himself, Doctor Tong lightly palpated the fox's entire body. After finishing his examination, he picked up his medical tools and spoke to Ji Yuan.

"The fox has many wounds. Blunt trauma from clubs is manageable, but the serious ones are mostly from tearing and biting by sharp teeth. Sir, I'll use Ten Ash Powder with Trauma Medicine to stop the bleeding, then Five Flavor Disinfectant Drink to clear heat and toxins. After that, it'll need meat to nourish it. Whether it lives or not will be up to heaven!"

"Good, Doctor Tong, please proceed!"

"Mm, hold it down for me!"

Outside Jiren Hall, there were few customers. The two apprentices, already distracted, suddenly heard a fierce fox cry from the inner hall—"Woo... woo... aoo"—and both jumped in fright.

The sound was sometimes like weeping, sometimes like an unknown beast's roar, utterly chilling.

About half an hour later, Doctor Tong and Ji Yuan emerged together from the inner hall. The fox in Ji Yuan's arms was wrapped in white bandages, with blood faintly seeping through.

Doctor Tong personally went to the medicine cabinet and quickly gathered the prescription, handing it to Ji Yuan.

"Boil it the way I told you. But the decoction will be bitter—how you get it down the fox's throat is your problem!"

"Thank you for your trouble, Doctor Tong! This humble one, Ji Yuan, is deeply grateful. How much for the consultation and medicine?"

Doctor Tong returned to the counter, waving his hand with slight weariness.

"The consultation fee is waived. The medicine costs thirty coins. Give it to my apprentice!"

Ji Yuan couldn't clasp his hands while holding the fox, so he simply nodded at Doctor Tong, then took copper coins from his money pouch.

"Little Master, please take it."

"Doctor Tong, Ji takes his leave!"

With that, Ji Yuan used his right wide sleeve to cover the fox in his arms, stepped out of Jiren Hall, and quickly ducked into the alleys, heading back to Ju'an Pavilion.

Inside Jiren Hall, Doctor Tong finally let out a long breath. Sweat beaded on his forehead.

"Master, what's wrong?"

"Right, Master, was that sound just now from a fox? It was terrifying!"

Doctor Tong slowly caught his breath, then sat down on the chair behind the counter.

"You think I wasn't scared? That was no ordinary fox—it was practically a spirit!! Hiss... hoo..."

On the way back, Ji Yuan tried to stick to places with few people, using his Lightness Skill to move swiftly while minimizing jostling.

He kept a steady but small stream of spiritual energy flowing into the red fox's body.

As for Doctor Tong's earlier doubt about the fox's tenacious vitality—part of it was the fox's own physical resilience, but the spiritual energy infusion accounted for half of it.

Before he even reached home, the fragrance of jujube blossoms drifted from afar. The red fox in Ji Yuan's arms caught the scent, opened its eyes, and felt a deep sense of calm.

Pushing open the courtyard gate and entering the pavilion, Ji Yuan swept his sleeve across the stone table, which was already nearly dust-free, then fetched a bedsheet from inside, folded it, and spread it over the table.

He gently placed the red fox on top and spoke in a calm tone.

"Compared to indoors, you might prefer it here—and it suits you better too!"

As he said this, while the red fox was still a bit puzzled, Ji Yuan's right hand, hidden within his wide sleeve, had already formed the Seal of Holding.

From above Ju'an Pavilion down into the courtyard, a gentle breeze gradually gathered, bringing the red fox an indescribable comfort.

Then the red fox suddenly reacted on instinct—this wind was infused with the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy. Every breath here was a hundred times more effective than the blind, groping cultivation it had done in the mountains.

The jujube branches in the courtyard swayed lightly, and green-yellow blossoms occasionally drifted down.

Watching the fox, wrapped in bandages, begin to breathe evenly and absorb the spiritual energy, Ji Yuan finally let out a sigh of relief.

'Guess it won't die now, huh?'

Recalling that inadvertent glance in the back room of the clinic, he couldn't help but smile again.

'A fox spirit, a fox spirit—who'd have thought it was a male one!'

With the fox's treatment temporarily settled and a moment of free time, Ji Yuan took a small scroll from his bosom, curious to see what Lord Lu had sent with the fox.

The paper scroll was stained with a bit of fox blood. As he slowly unrolled it, the powerful calligraphy of Iron Strokes and Silver Hooks was revealed.

'Excellent brushwork! No, this is...'

Though the scroll was small, its hundred-odd characters displayed a hundred different forms, like a Wandering Dragon or a startling phoenix—some carried sharp killing intent, others flowed like high mountains and running waters...

In the eyes of Ji Yuan, who now cultivated both Dao and martial arts, these were not characters at all, but a sword technique dancing before his eyes!