Becoming a Fox Spirit from Under One Person

Chapter 115 "The Old Man" Has Arrived

No sooner had the Tsuchimikado family given their order than Hannya, wearing a white mask, arrived with a dozen or more people.

Among these people were farmers with fearful faces and tattered clothes, and captured soldiers covered in wounds but still glaring angrily.

A thick rope was used to tie them up like livestock, and each of them was forced to kneel on the edge of the crater with their hands tied behind their backs.

A cold-faced ronin stood guard nearby, his gleaming blade pressed firmly against the neck of the old man in the front row. The cold light reflected off the old man's pale face, and beads of blood were seeping out.

For Chen Ruoan, there could be no worse or more disgusting situation.

With a low shout from the leader of the Tsuchimikado family, the barrier masters concentrated and cast spells, and the eight-directional barrier took shape.

To prevent unexpected changes, each key point of the barrier was guarded by a mobile Japanese force of about twenty men.

In this battle, the Tsuchimikado family had calculated every detail meticulously, believing their plan to be flawless.

The Gao family and Liaodong Tiangang, who were able to come to their aid, had already been ambushed and held back on their way by Bai Banruo and her group; the Huaxingmen was severely weakened and unable to provide assistance; and the two extraordinary forces, the Burial Hall and the Guandong Hard Hand, had been completely wiped out two months ago.

The secular anti-Japanese national salvation army was isolated and helpless, no match for the empire's elite troops. Now, the major forces were struggling to survive themselves and had no energy to worry about a fox.

All of the fox's escape routes have been completely blocked, and it is certain to die today!

Chen Ruoan carefully sensed the changes in the world around Old Black Mountain. Under the influence of the Eight Directions Barrier, the Five Elements spells were suppressed to varying degrees.

According to intelligence obtained by the Japanese, the barrier masters have put a lot of effort into targeting the "metal" and "wood" elements, and among the five elements, the suppression of the central earth element is the weakest.

The barrier has a sealing effect, so wandering around is useless, and the enemy also has the lives of twenty of their comrades as a threat.

"This is a bit tricky..."

The Tsuchimikado family, unaware of the fox's wicked intentions, shouted across the way, "If you dare to make any trouble, I cannot guarantee the lives of these people."

Chen Ruoan was too lazy to engage in any psychological warfare with the Japanese invaders. If he were to be coerced by the enemy and die in battle, the twenty men in front of him would also be doomed.

Seeing that the fox didn't move, Tsuchimikado gestured to a ronin next to him.

Swish!

Immediately, a figure darted across the crater and rushed toward the fox. This ronin used the "Ittō-ryū" style from the Japanese martial arts system, which is known for its fierce attacks and emphasis on winning with a single blow.

call out!

With a flash of light, the fox's body was instantly cleaved in two along the fold line connecting its forehead and the tip of its nose.

The ronin raised his sword in confusion, but did not feel any real impact on flesh and blood in his palm. When he looked back, he saw several pieces of rubble scattered on the ground, like a small mound of earth.

"It's gone!" he shouted behind him.

Tsuchimikado frowned and carefully looked around. Logically speaking, since a ninja-like Wood Release substitution technique had been sealed off, this fox shouldn't have a way to escape.

Even if he has learned something else in the past few months, his rudimentary escape techniques are useless when the Five Elements magic is suppressed.

"kill!"

Tsuchimikado acted decisively, ordering the ronin wielding the sword to behead the old man.

The ronin nodded in agreement, his eyes flashing with ferocity as he raised his blade high, about to sever the old man's head.

Boom!

In an instant, the black stone ground surged like boiling waves, with rocks flying everywhere, clods of earth tumbling, and the northwest edge of the crater trembling violently.

The ronin cried out in alarm, lost his footing, staggered and fell. Immediately afterward, a wave of earth and rocks exploded, revealing a huge fox's mouth with sharp teeth and a thick, dark liquid in its throat.

When Chen Ruoan opened his mouth, it was like he had swallowed a string of grasshoppers tied with thick hemp ropes. He shoved his compatriots, ropes and all, into his mouth and hid them inside his belly.

After setting foot in Northeast China, the fox formed a deep bond of friendship with the Gao family, sharing life and death experiences. The golden scroll hanging on the branch, though shining brightly, was never used for prayers, precisely to deal with such emergency situations.

In this land trampled by enemy invaders, the camaraderie forged fighting alongside the Gao family, and the blessings they received after praying, resulted in this earth-based magic, akin to that of a celestial being.

"Adjust the barrier and seal off the underground!"

"Watch your step!"

After the fox finished biting, it turned and burrowed underground.

To Chen Ruoan, the crater is now no different from the deep sea. The eight-sided barrier forms a "shark cage," except that tourists and sharks are trapped in the same iron cage.

Hmph!

With its mouth wide open, the fox emerged from the earthen waves and lunged at Tsuchimikado, who was in charge of command. The man commanded his shikigami, a female demon with a hundred eyes and two demons, one blue and one red, to immediately step forward and block the fox's downward bite with their arms.

A blue flame surged in Chen Ruoan's throat, filling it with foxfire.

Whoosh!

Amidst the raging flames, the three demons were burned to ashes, and the talisman paper was reduced to dust.

Just as Chen Ruoan was about to take a bite, an ambiguous chanting sound rang out, and a golden alms bowl crashed down. The fox burrowed into the ground, and the alms bowl fell to the ground, leaving behind a broken circular mark.

Peeking out again, I saw that a Tiantai sect monk had made his move.

"Please grant me some permission to use fire. I have a way to deal with this beast."

The eight-directional barrier changed, the mage lowered his eyes, chanted a spell in a low voice, and pressed one hand heavily on the charred rocks. Wisps of gentle pink flame spread from his palm, as soft as light smoke, and frantically seeped into the ground through the cracks in the mountain, weaving into a net of fire.

This fire was no ordinary fire; it spread rampantly in the oxygen-deprived, sealed-off black rock of the volcano. Chen Ruo'an fled underground, the pink flames following closely behind.

Strangely, the pink flames were not hot at all, and even the fox's demon core did not give off the slightest warning.

Chased by the fire, Chen Ruoan broke through the soil and leaped to the ground, the trailing pink flames coalescing into several towering pillars of fire!

With a sweep of its tail, the fox sent a gust of wind through, scattering the eerie pink flames. But the fire didn't even burn the fox's fur, let alone scorch its flesh.

"Bald monk, what kind of tricks are these? They're completely useless." The sword-wielding ronin couldn't feel the heat of the flames and lightly touched them with his hand.

Whoosh!

The pink flames coiled around his fingertips, burning intensely until they enveloped the ronin. His agonizing howls echoed through the mountains, but no matter how much the ronin rolled around, he could not extinguish the pink flames that bound him.

Seeing this, the monk put away his alms bowl, shook his head helplessly, and bowed to Tsuchimikado, saying, "It seems you are hiding something from this humble monk."

After saying that, he walked down the mountain.

Tsuchimikado cursed, "Damn it, where are you going? Why are you only setting fire to your own people? Stop using those methods!"

The Tiantai school monk replied, "It cannot be withdrawn. This fire is a kind of karmic fire, and it will likely continue to burn until the entangled sins are eliminated."

Swish!

Before the monk could finish speaking, a swift and decisive sword-drawing technique flashed from behind, and the head wearing the straw hat landed with a "thud," rolling down the hillside.

The ronin looked at his companion, and the karmic fire engulfing him subsided.

"You make it sound so mysterious. Once a person dies, the methods are gone."

Before the battle was even decided, infighting broke out among the enemy. Unaware of the true situation, Chen Ruoan observed the unusual movements of the enemy and simply said…

Wonderful".

The fox didn't have much time to catch its breath. The water arrows gathered by the shrine maiden, the incantation of the Onmyoji, and the flying blades of the White Prajna all came at once.

As the Eight Directions Barrier shifted, the seal on "Earth" began to subtly strengthen. The fox's demon core shifted, its protective barrier opened, and it clashed violently with various techniques.

Tsuchimikado withdrew his gaze from the mage's corpse and stared at the horizon. The eight barriers of different colors greatly boosted his confidence. Under the suppression of magic, the protective spell could only buy him a negligible amount of time.

Given enough time, this fox is bound to lose.

"Take it down."

Tsuchimikado thought to himself, but the next second, the barrier in the southwest was broken.

"What's going on!?"

The paper figure responsible for relaying the message trembled violently, carrying the Japanese army's reply: "Mr. Tsuchimikado, there are strange people! A group of white-haired, white-clad men have broken in, and our guns are useless!"