Becoming a Fox Spirit from Under One Person

"Chen Ruoan, the owner of the Moon-Inviting Pavilion on Mount Tai." The fox sat upright in the palm of the Yin Ghost, suspended in the air by the support of the soul.

Lin Zifeng clenched his fist and coughed lightly a few times before replying, "My apologies."

He should have sensed the fox's Qi beforehand, but this black fox didn't seem fierce at all. It had a long, pointed snout, a nose like a delicate pearl, and amber eyes. Its fur was fluffy, smooth, and shiny black. Its limbs were slender and sturdy, with its small paws hidden under its soft fur. Its tail was fluffy like a cloud, with a slightly upturned tip that would sway from time to time...

As people observe, they gradually lose their vigilance when navigating the world.

"Sigh, when I traveled with Senior Brother Zhang Dong in my early years, he would never have made such a basic mistake," Lin Zifeng sighed inwardly.

Chen Ruoan's attention was entirely focused on Lin Zifeng's back—a long object hanging diagonally from his shoulder and neck to his waist, completely wrapped in a piece of hemp gray cloth.

That was the sword Lin Zifeng had just used to kill someone.

"The sword is the man, the man is the sword; the sword is lost, the man dies"—Liuyun Sword.

Legend has it that during the Taikang era of the Western Jin Dynasty, a hermit named "Yunyouzi" lived in seclusion on Bai'e Ridge in Huangshan. He saw that the clouds and mist gathered and dispersed unpredictably, changing shape with the wind without hindrance. He suddenly realized the principle that "the sword is like flowing clouds, going with the flow and never going against it," and thus named his sword school "Liuyun" (Flowing Clouds).

Among the many schools of martial arts masters, the Flowing Cloud Sword School is a renowned and prestigious one.

Unfortunately, due to the war and the "Jiashen Rebellion", this school was almost wiped out. Among the later successors, there was a Yuan Shixiao who held a broken piece of iron.

"Young man, are you out there gaining experience?" Chen Ruoan asked.

"Hammering the Sword Heart".

"Where are we going?"

"West side."

Lin Zifeng's answers are always simple and straightforward, leaving little room for conversation.

"Okay, see you later."

As the wind subsided, the fox opened its mouth and exhaled a gust of demonic wind, sending the five ghosts leaping upwards to continue their journey towards the Hunan and Hubei region.

Lin Zifeng looked up at the fox's shadow disappearing into the horizon, then clenched his hands, feeling as if he had missed out on a furry touch. He shook his head and headed west as well.

···

Upon reaching the Nankang region, Chen Ruoan noticed a bustling market ahead.

Since the fighting started in the Taishan area, the market has been closed, and the fox hasn't experienced such human warmth for a long time.

Chen Ruoan lowered his body, letting the five ghosts hold up an umbrella to lightly shield him from the shadows, and then stepped on the low walls and eaves of the street, moving nimbly all the way, his eyes scanning the surroundings.

As they approached a calligraphy and painting stall, Zhou Kang, the Ghost Little Five under the umbrella, suddenly brightened up and whispered, "Master, I want to go down and take a look."

Chen Ruoan nodded in agreement, and the ghost floated down to the ground, holding the umbrella steadily for the fox. The ghost and the fox stood in front of the deserted stall.

Zhou Kang leaned closer to examine it closely, his fingertips lightly touching the canvas, full of inquiry: "A painting I've never seen before."

Chen Ruoan explained, "These are Western oil paintings. The stall owner was probably heading south to Guangzhou and came across this market, so he decided to try his luck."

Clearly, the stall owner's hopes were dashed; there was no market for Western oil paintings in this small town.

Zhou Kangxi loves painting and understands it well. Staring at several inferior paintings, he muttered, "These oil paintings have a more vivid visual impact, but unfortunately they lack some of the freehand style. Compared to traditional Chinese paintings, they are ultimately lacking in charm."

Chen Ruoan continued, "Traditional Chinese painting is more of a 'painting of the heart,' depicting one's state of mind and artistic conception. It uses simplicity to control complexity, valuing blank space as beauty, and integrating poetry, calligraphy, painting, and seal carving. Oil painting, on the other hand, is a 'painting of the eye,' using color, light and shadow, and texture to create a unique visual experience. There is no superiority or inferiority between the two; they simply differ in some cultural and aesthetic concepts."

Xiao Wu nodded thoughtfully, but before he could respond, a familiar and brief voice came from beside him.

"You know about oil painting?"

Lin Zifeng stood behind him, his clothes on the back of his neck soaked with sweat, leaving dark stains, but he kept his back straight, suppressed his breathing, and pretended to be calm.

"Ah... I don't understand, why am I selling paintings?" The stall owner looked at the newcomer suspiciously. "Are you buying or not?"

The oil-paper umbrella concealed the fox's form, making it undetectable to the stall owner. He only felt gusts of cold wind sweep past him before the man carrying the long object departed.

"Hey, why are you asking questions if you're not buying anything? And you say I don't understand painting? What a weirdo."

···

The fox seems to have been harassed.

When asked several times why Lin Zifeng had followed him, the disciple of the Flowing Cloud Sword merely glanced at him and casually uttered two words: "On the way."

The depletion of the Wind Control and Soul Control abilities began to cause trouble, so Chen Ruoan, too lazy to get entangled in it, found a City God Temple outside Nankang City to stay in.

The temple was deserted, and the fox curled up in a ball, resting in a pile of dry grass in the corner.

Lin Zifeng then stood guard in front of the temple steps, quietly watching the clouds drift and listening to the wind whistling through the forest. Whenever he had an epiphany, he would draw his sword by the roadside and practice a few sword moves.

The so-called flowing clouds are clouds that drift with the wind and are unpredictable. Therefore, the mental technique of the Flowing Cloud Sword requires practitioners to breathe like flowing clouds, with their breath unobstructed, their minds free of attachments, and to be able to discern the changes in the cloud formations.

Watching the clouds at dawn and listening to the wind at night are daily routines for disciples within the sect.

Hearing the sound of swords, Chen Ruoan would jump onto the windowsill to watch, which relieved a lot of his boredom.

"You know about swords?" Lin Zifeng noticed the fox peeking at him.

"don't know."

"Want to learn?"

"Can I learn it?"

"Basic sword moves can be learned by outsiders. You are a fox, so you don't need to worry about the rules of the sect."

Chen Ruoan stared at Lin Zifeng, puzzled, unable to fathom the man's intention in following him all this way.

But then he thought about it again. He had been wandering the martial world for so long, and he had only relied on magic and Zhang Zhiwei's summoning magic to run rampant. He didn't even have a proper martial arts move. What kind of talk was that?

Being proficient in magic but ignorant of martial arts is too unbalanced; being unbalanced is not good.

The thought had barely formed in his mind when Chen Ruoan's figure blurred, the phantom of the Xuanhu disappeared, and he transformed into a handsome young man. He then picked up the oil-paper umbrella beside him and used it as a longsword for the time being.

But when Lin Zifeng saw the fox transform into human form, he stared at it for a while, but then became unhappy.

"Change back."

"What?"

"I'll make you turn back."

Such rude and foolish words displeased the fox: "I ask you, can a fox's paws hold a sword?"

"No..." Lin Zifeng fell into deep thought.

"What exactly do you want? If you don't tell me, I can guarantee that once I ride the wind, you won't be able to catch me even if you use dozens of moves of the Sword Sweeping Style."

Lin Zifeng sheathed his sword, remained silent for a long time, and then spoke a long speech, which was quite unusual for him.

"I plan to study painting in the future. For me, beauty is a feeling, and I like to spread this feeling on plain paper. Foxes, which are intelligent and perceptive, are more profound and shrewd than ordinary foxes, which is quite rare."

To put it simply, Lin Zifeng is a sucker for good looks; he likes things that look nice.

"Then why not in human form?"

"Well, most of the fellow disciples and senior sisters in the sect are outstanding in appearance. I've almost gotten used to it by practicing my writing."

Damn it, is this the confidence that the "looks-based faction" has to speak?

Chen Ruoan breathed a sigh of relief.

Thank goodness, it turns out they wanted a fox as a model. Otherwise, if they hadn't been more explicit, I would have thought they were being targeted by that damned, hardcore Fu Rui fanatic.