Start practicing from Mr. Fox

Chapter 117 The Bronze Puppet and the Turtle Spirit

"It's a long story."

"Then take your time, there's plenty of time."

He was seriously injured in the ancestral hall before, and his spirit was not fully integrated, so he could only croak like a frog.

Now that he has recovered after returning to the Pot Immortal Medicine Hall with Chen Ji, he is able to speak.

At this moment, many monsters gathered in the courtyard, all watching the newly arrived toad demon.

The bronze toad slowly opened its mouth.

"I was originally just an ordinary toad."

"The pool where I lived was next to a copper mine. After I became intelligent, I began to absorb the essence of the sun and moon. It seems that I also absorbed some copper energy into my body, and slowly I became like this, with my whole body in copper color."

"Later, I gradually figured out a technique and thought about changing the place to cultivate."

“It is not easy to find a suitable place for cultivation. For someone like me, there must be minerals, neither too many nor too few.”

"Too much minerals will attract prying eyes, leading to mining and disturbing cultivation. Too little minerals will prevent the extraction of the essence of metals and stones, which is detrimental to cultivation."

"The mineral reserves on this mountain are just right, and there's also a saliva pool, making it a perfect place to live. So I've been cultivating here ever since."

Upon hearing this, Chen Ji's eyes flickered slightly, as if he had suddenly thought of something.

"I heard that the place was originally called Copper Toad Village, probably because of you, fellow Daoist?"

"Exactly."

The bronze toad nodded.

“I used to breathe in the essence of the sun and moon on that mountain, and the villagers saw me there, so I got this name.”

"But the villagers didn't know about my supernatural abilities. They just thought I was a great demon from the mountains, and they treated me with caution and nothing else."

"On the contrary, the Wang family somehow found out I was here and knew I could produce copper, so they made a deal with me... Let's not talk about what happened after that."

The bronze toad shook its head.

Chen Ji then asked again.

"Even if the village head of Wang Village has some skills, he shouldn't be a match for you, fellow Daoist. How did he end up in this state?"

"he?"

The bronze toad thought for a moment, then a flash of anger crossed its eyes.

"Their ancestors only knew some feng shui and geomancy, and the methods of finding dragon veins and auspicious sites. They also knew some about cultivation, but we don't know where they learned it from."

"It recognized that the place where I live has the essence of the sun and moon, and the spiritual energy of the earth's veins. It was waiting for me to absorb the moon's essence to appear and made an agreement to offer incense to me and help me cultivate."

"Incense? I don't see any incense scent on you, fellow Daoist."

Chen Ji stared intently, but did not detect a strong scent of incense on the bronze toad.

"I didn't use them; I traded them all with the underworld officials."

The bronze toad replied.

"Those that weren't exchanged were all used by the Wang family to destroy their intelligence after they were trapped in the village."

"If I had known, I would have just replaced them all in the first place."

The bronze toad shook its head before continuing.

"As for this method of soul-seizing and soul-trapping, the Wang family members themselves do not know it; they must have exchanged it with someone else."

Do you know where it was exchanged?

"I don't know, I just remember that he went to Zhanshui Town once before he took the soul, and even went to see the City God. When he came back, he said something about how he could assist the emperor in his great cause..."

"boom!"

Chen Ji's mind jolted.

I never expected to hear His Majesty's name here.

He looked at Miss Bai and saw that she was also looking at him. After exchanging a glance, they tacitly agreed not to ask any further questions.

I plan to discuss that separately later.

So he smiled and comforted the bronze toad.

"It's all in the past. Fellow Daoist, please focus on your cultivation in the future. You might even be able to cultivate into a Golden Toad!"

"If that were the case, I would be so happy. If I could cultivate the unique bloodline of the Gui Palace, I would probably wake up laughing in my dreams."

The bronze toad grinned.

Chen Ji smiled slightly.

“There are many opportunities and fortunes in cultivation, who can say for sure? This fellow Daoist Mudfish now also possesses some dragon energy.”

"Fellow Daoist, you are originally a bronze toad. Perhaps one day you will get the opportunity to become a golden toad."

Bronze Toad glanced to the side and indeed saw a loach with faint dragon scales on its body.

A hint of envy flickered in her eyes.

"Fellow Daoist, you have a good opportunity indeed."

"It's all thanks to you, sir."

"Oh?"

The mudfish demon then recounted his experiences, including how Chen Ji introduced Judge Lu.

"The master said I had the potential to become a true dragon, and later I indeed obtained a piece of dragon soul!"

Tong Chan looked at Chen Ji with his eyes and his lips slightly parted.

"Fellow Daoist, why do they all call you 'Master'?"

"Because our teacher is our teacher, who teaches us how to cultivate ourselves."

The little foxes responded proactively.

"Even demons can have teachers?"

The bronze toad was astonished.

So the little foxes started talking all at once about how Chen Ji had guided their cultivation, their faces full of respect and admiration.

And at the end, he didn't forget to add a sentence.

"Sir, you're amazing!"

"Tsk, tsk."

Tong Chan clicked his tongue in surprise and looked at Chen Ji.

"Then I must thank you in advance for saying that I can become a golden toad."

"It's nothing, no need to thank me."

Chen Ji smiled slightly, returned the greeting to the bronze toad demon, and then invited the other demons to drink tea together.

The demons sat around the table, and Chen Ji, like an old abbot, boiled water and brewed tea.

The well water was clear and cold, and even when poured into a jug, it still exuded a touch of the chill of the palace.

Even when Chen Ji controlled the fire to bring it to a boil, it didn't boil like ordinary well water; only a light mist filled the air, which was perfect for brewing spirit mist tea.

Speaking of which, I had this tea once before when I first entered the Daoist path, and it was a gift from Miss Bai.

After that, there was no longer a chance to settle down and properly savor it.

Now is the perfect time to invite all the demons to enjoy it together.

"I didn't expect the monsters on Purple Cloud Mountain to be so ferocious, but this tea is absolutely delicious!"

The mudfish demon sighed slowly.

The human form that Baojie Jun had transformed into also served a cup, nodding in satisfaction as he smelled the aroma of the tea.

"It is indeed good tea."

The little foxes, needless to say, already knew about the effects of this tea from Miss Bai. Now, seeing that it was brewed with well water refined by the moonlight, they all held their teacups and sipped it slowly.

Only the two new demons, the Iron Pot Demon and the Toad Demon, had not yet tasted it.

After tasting it carefully, my eyes lit up, and I could taste the sweet aftertaste and the effects of the tea.

The Iron Pot Demon was even more disheartened.

"This Purple Cloud Dragon King is indeed stingy. He invited so many demons that day, but he couldn't bear to serve the Spirit Mist Tea. He just served ordinary water to his guests."

The Iron Pot Demon then took a sip.

At first, he exhaled freely, his face beaming with joy, but after a short while, he hurriedly looked around.

"Fellow Daoist! Do you have a pot scrubber I can borrow?"

"Ok?"

"It's rusted! This tea is too strong, it's made my throat rust!"

"..."

Chen Ji was at a loss for words.

It's one thing for an iron pot in the mortal realm to rust easily when exposed to tea, but how can it still rust so easily after cultivating into a demon?

"If it were ordinary tea, it wouldn't be like that, but this tea is unusual, and the water is unusual too. It feels dry when it goes down your throat."

"I thought it was the strong tea that people talked about, but when I felt it carefully, I found that it was actually rusty."

"Fellow Daoist, please stop talking. Let's deal with this first."

Chen Ji found a pot brush and watched curiously as the iron pot demon prepared to be dealt with.

He tilted his head back, opened his mouth, and grabbed a pot scrubber, stuffing it into his mouth and stirring it around.

After a while, he pulled out the pot brush and sneezed, leaving several patches of reddish-brown rust on the ground.

"call!"

The Iron Pot Demon breathed a sigh of relief.

"Now I feel so much better!"

The demons inside the house were all shocked by what they saw.

Copper Toad was even somewhat worried.

"I also cultivate the Qi of metal and stone, will I suffer the same fate?"

"It shouldn't be, fellow Daoist, you are a toad demon, not a bronze demon."

"That's good, but I'm worried because I can also cause copper to rust."

Seeing that both the humans and demons in the courtyard looked at him with suspicion, he decided to use his magic.

"Raw copper!"

The toad's claw landed on the stone bench.

The stone transformed into gleaming brass in a flash.

"What a trick!"

Chen Ji touched the bronze stool and exclaimed in amazement.

His eyesight naturally revealed that the bronze stool had truly turned into bronze, rather than being an illusion.

At this time, stones were everywhere and practically free, but the price of copper was not low.

This surgical technique is practically like turning lead into gold. "Unfortunately, I don't understand how this is cultivated; it seems to be something one is born with."

The bronze toad shook its head.

"Moreover, it can only be used once a day. When my cultivation level was low, it could only transform into a piece the size of a teacup, and now it can only transform into this size."

"Could it be reversed?"

"It seems unlikely. The copper ingot I turned into a few years ago is still the same as it is now, and there is no change inside after cutting it open."

"Can everything change?"

This is what Miss Bai asked.

"No, it can only be stone."

"Not even clods of earth?"

"It's alright, but it can't form copper ingots; it can only be a plate of copper powder."

"That's right."

Miss Bai nodded slightly, seemingly lost in thought.

"That makes sense."

"Oh?"

Upon hearing this, the bronze toad immediately asked what it meant.

"The interactions of the Five Elements are profound. Fellow Daoist, this should not be a change, but a transformation."

"Earth produces metal?"

Chen Ji suddenly understood.

That makes sense.

Why is it that the bronze toad can turn stone into gold, yet can only transform soil and rocks?

As for the inability to learn, it's like the water control ability of a mudfish demon—it's a natural talent that can't be envied.

So Chen Ji continued to ask the bronze toad demon to demonstrate its rusting ability.

"Ho!"

The bronze toad opened its mouth and exhaled a breath of emerald green air.

The copper ingot in front of you is visibly developing verdigris, and a layer of rust falls off with the slightest touch.

In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, it had shrunk by one size.

"Fellow Daoist, be careful, this technique can also be used on other things."

Seeing that Chen Ji was about to touch it, the bronze toad reminded him.

Chen Ji nodded.

"It's alright, I'm just taking a closer look."

Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that the stone bench that had been transformed into a bronze bench was still made of bronze, and the rust did not show any signs of magic.

He stood up, looked at the bronze toad, and bowed.

"Fellow Daoist is indeed remarkable."

"Hey, those are just minor tricks. There's one more real method, but..."

The bronze toad seemed to be in high spirits, boasting, when it suddenly clicked its tongue in disbelief.

"Alright, fellow Daoist saved my life. These are all your trusted friends. It's no harm in showing off your skills."

"Do you have any copper coins or silver ingots, fellow Daoist?"

"Have."

"Please take some, everyone."

Chen Ji had some on him, so he casually took some out and placed them on the table.

Is this enough?

"That's enough. It's just a performance technique; we don't need much else."

The copper toad demon stuck out its tongue, rolled up the copper coin, put it in its mouth, and swished its mouth.

Suddenly, several bronze-colored toads jumped out of their mouths. They were no bigger than a thumb, but their eyes were not like those of normal toads. Instead, they were round on the outside and square on the inside, resembling the shape of copper coins.

It hops around like an ordinary toad, but when it jumps onto a table and sees the silver, it becomes instantly immobilized.

He leaned forward and stuck out his tongue, curling it up.

The silver ingot on the table went into the little toad's belly, and then it hopped back to the bronze toad.

"Gugua!"

The little toad opened its mouth and squealed, spitting out silver coins, then transformed back into a copper coin and lay on the ground.

The bronze toad stretched out its claws and picked up the copper coins and silver ingots from the ground.

"This technique is called the Copper Coin Puppet Technique. I originally developed it to collect silver from the mine. What do you think, fellow Daoist?"

Chen Ji remained silent for a few breaths, then thought for a moment.

"As long as you don't use this technique to steal silver, that's fine."

"Of course not!"

The bronze toad's head shakes like a rattle drum.

“I have also spoken with the underworld officials and know that this is an evil thing. Doing evil while alive will diminish one’s merits, especially for us demons, we should not do such things.”

"Ok?"

Chen Ji found it rather strange.

If it weren't for the desire to steal silver, how could the copper toad have developed this technique?

The bronze toad lowered its head somewhat embarrassed.

"I previously thought that absorbing copper energy would allow me to cultivate into a copper toad. If I were to find some gold and silver and absorb their energy, perhaps I could become a golden toad."

"Unfortunately... I didn't feel anything after trying it. I don't know if it's because I didn't absorb it enough or if it's not working."

"It's just that there are many copper mines on the mountain, and I can't conjure up silver, so I had to deal with the Wang family... Sigh, never mind, never mind!"

When the topic of sad things came up again, Tong Chan shook his head and remained silent.

Chen Ji understood why Tong Chan was cooperating with the Wang family.

It seems that what they really want is money.

So I thought about it.

"If you want silver, I might give it a try."

"Oh?"

The bronze toad opened its eyes wide and looked at Chen Ji.

Chen Ji said slowly.

"Since you can produce a copper ingot every day, I can find someone to sell it and exchange it for silver, which I will then give to you to absorb."

"Wouldn't that be too much trouble?"

The bronze toad was somewhat tempted, but rubbed its claws together, looking a little embarrassed.

"There are also mines in Wangjia Village. They have to be very careful when selling copper ore, for fear of attracting attention. Won't it be inconvenient for you to be traveling alone?"

Chen Ji felt a warmth in his heart.

He thought the trouble Tong Chan was referring to was the trouble of selling things, but he didn't expect it was because he was worried about him.

Shake his head slightly.

"Fellow Daoist, you've probably been dealing with ordinary people for too long and have forgotten the abilities of cultivators."

"If you cultivate yourself, you'll have to be very careful when doing serious things, so it's better not to cultivate at all."

"Besides, I have some influence here, so I shouldn't have anything to fear."

"In that case, I'll have to trouble you, fellow Daoist. If you have any requests in the future, I will certainly not refuse."

"The bronze toad demon said loudly."

"Small things."

Chen Ji waved his hand and then looked at the tea in the bowl.

"The tea has gone cold, let's get a fresh cup and drink it!"

With a flick of the wrist, the cup spun and stopped in mid-air, while a teapot flew in with flowing water, instantly filling a new cup.

The bronze toad tentatively took a sip.

A look of surprise crossed his eyes.

"It's really good tea!"

With nothing else to do and surrounded by fairies, they happily began to frolic.

So the bamboo shadows swayed in the courtyard, loaches played in the water, and the iron pot demon wanted to show off its delicacies to the bronze toad. Unable to resist, Bai Qi and Bai Ba went to the front yard to get medicine and see a doctor, leaving the two foxes chasing each other around the well…

Miss Bai held her teacup and looked at Chen Ji.

This scene of demons reveling was indeed no less spectacular than that of Mount Sendai.

In the midst of their joy, a sudden noise came from the well, gurgling as if it were boiling.

All the demons stopped what they were doing and surrounded the well.

"Where did these demons and monsters come from, daring to cause trouble in my Dragon Water Mansion? I'll go down and deal with them!"

The mudfish demon straightened up and was about to jump down.

Suddenly, the well water parted, revealing an old turtle wearing an official's hat and holding a tray in its hands.

"Who sent the visiting card to my lord? Since he has some free time today, he specially ordered me to deliver a reply!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the envelope in the dish rose into the air and floated there.

Chen Ji was taken aback.

Then he realized that the old turtle was referring to the Dragon Lord of the Hutuo River.

He thanked her and accepted the letter.

Just as he was about to read, he remembered something, took out a few pieces of Polygonatum from his sleeve, and controlled the wind to drop them into the plate.

"It is hard for the Dragon Envoy to deliver the message. This thousand-year-old dried Solomon's Seal is not a good thing. It is just enough to make a living. I hope the Dragon Envoy will not find it offensive."

The old turtle's stern face suddenly melted away, replaced by a broad smile.

In the past, when he delivered messages, he would politely address the messenger as "Uncle Turtle" or, less politely, simply call him "Old Turtle." He had never heard the Dragon Envoy address him in such a way.

He responded with a smile.

"You speak so kindly, Taoist! This is simply what I should do, yet you are being so polite."

"It's not that I'm being polite, but there are some things I need to ask the Dragon Envoy for advice on."

"Please speak, Taoist!"

(End of this chapter)