The Little Fox's Immortal Cultivation Encyclopedia

The fox opened its sleepy eyes, its gaze filled with annoyance: "Do you think a fox is as stupid as a rabbit?!"

The fox had been listening to people's prayers these past few days, and most of them were people who cried out in sorrow and exaggerated their words, yet their hearts remained as calm as stone. Although this was nothing new, it was the first time the fox had heard anything so exaggerated.

Through the sparrow's perspective, the fox knew that he lived on Peach Blossom Slope, the lowest and gentlest peak in the Green Ridge Mountains, and also the peak with the most travelers. This small hill could hardly accommodate thousands of people, let alone a thousand-foot python.

The fox's curiosity overcame its displeasure. With a thought, it merged the vision of the deity with its own, gazing at the kneeling woman.

All I could sense was a heart full of sorrow and urgency, without a trace of deception.

The curled-up fox instinctively sat up straight, its eyes opening and closing repeatedly.

The woman's words of grief and resentment still echoed in the air, and the fox felt a mix of emotions.

"A fox, including its tail, is only half a zhang long. Is it really possible to send a fox to stop a giant snake?"

Something was amiss. Suspicion flickered in the fox's eyes. Perhaps its divine power was too weak to distinguish truth from falsehood. The fox channeled its magic, mixed with divine power, and looked again.

This time, a strange thing was indeed discovered. The woman's words were full of tears and her emotions were so sincere that they seemed genuine and could bring tears to one's eyes. However, there was no trace of spiritual power surrounding her. Upon closer inspection, her figure even seemed somewhat illusory.

"Illusion?" The fox wondered, its tail silently unfurling as it prepared to fight illusion with illusion.

"Oh no, the snake is back!" the woman suddenly cried out, and her figure vanished in an instant.

The fox's outstretched tail paused in mid-air. After a slight hesitation, the fox continued to shake its tail, and a cool fragrance permeated the entire temple.

"I refuse to believe you won't come back."

After a while, footsteps sounded again outside the temple. The fox perked up its ears; the footsteps were not isolated but synchronized.

A burly woman pushed open the door. She had a dark complexion, a high nose, and a broad chin. Her forearms were covered with fine black hair.

Behind her followed three little children dressed in coarse cloth shorts, just like her. Their faces were sallow, but their eyes were delicate. The one in front clutched the woman's clothes, while the one behind tugged at the hem of her clothes. They were strung together like candied hawthorns, all timidly shrinking back, their eyes darting around as they looked at the temple.

"Is the Mountain God here? We have a grievance to voice!"

She kept saying she was looking for the Mountain God, and kept walking towards the statue of the Mountain God, shouting incessantly and revealing a mouthful of sharp teeth.

Seeing no response, the woman continued talking to herself, "Our whole family has been living an honest and law-abiding life, we haven't offended anyone, but these past few days we've been cursed with bad luck."

"I don't know where it came from, but a long snake, as thick as a river, appeared out of nowhere and coiled up right in front of our house."

She became increasingly agitated as she spoke, pulling one of the children behind her forward, spitting as she spoke: "It's blocking the door! What are we going to eat?! My child hasn't eaten for half an hour; any later and he'll starve to death!"

The little ones ignored what their mother was saying, their eyes fixed on the peaches on the tree, their mouths watering.

"Another snake has appeared!" The fox, its head as big as a bucket, exclaimed. "Do snakes like this really exist?"

"The Ba is a snake that eats elephants. It is a thousand fathoms long, and its color is blue, yellow, red, and black," the voice calmly gave the answer.

"There really is!"

The woman continued her incessant rant: "It must have been those women from the Kingdom of Women! They've been wanting to get rid of us for ages, and we've even been fighting for them against their enemies! Bah!"

The fragrance quietly enveloped the woman. In the fox's eyes, the fierce woman gradually shrank in size, eventually transforming into a long-nosed mouse with a pointed snout, no bigger than a fox's finger. The children behind her also turned into little mice, biting each other's tails.

The big rat was completely unaware, and kept squeaking.

The little mouse at the back of the line released its tail from its mouth, curled its nose, yawned, and looked around with its little head, then suddenly froze.

Outside the temple, all was silent. A huge shadow was cast in through the temple door, its body transparent and shrouded in a cold, black aura. Its serpentine head was lowered, and its murky, vertical pupils stared at the little mouse.

"Mother, snake! Snake is coming!"

"Split up and run!" the woman hissed, her voice reverting to its original high-pitched tone. "Big brother, take second and third brother and run! I'll hold it off!"

The little mice were in chaos, splitting into two groups. The larger one grabbed the second mouse by the scruff of its neck and darted towards the corner. The smallest one, in its panic, rushed into the temple of the god of the foxes and rolled down the hole.

The woman, on all fours, transformed into a gray shadow and rushed towards the giant snake, narrowly avoiding its jaws, and slipped out through the door.

The serpent flicked its tongue and chased after the woman.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye.

The third child tumbled and fell, getting dizzy and disoriented, until he bumped into something soft and furry. He cautiously looked up and saw a gaping, blood-red mouth.

"Ah!" Sanwa screamed and fainted.

The fox silently nudged the little mouse twice. Seeing that it was still alive, it used its magic to suck the tiny creature onto its back and hide it in its fur. Then, following the remaining energy in the air, the fox channeled its magic to its surroundings and disappeared in a streak of light.

……

In the mountains and forests.

The woman ran desperately, and all the birdsong and insect chirps disappeared along the way, leaving only her heavy breathing. That cold aura lingered behind her, and she dared not look back, she could only run for her life.

A small mouse was hanging on her back, its eyes too frightened to open, clinging tightly to its mother's fur.

Things happened so suddenly that the eldest and second children got separated again. I only managed to catch the second child in time. Fortunately, I was able to distract them, and the eldest child was the most capable, so we were sure to survive.

The gravel under her feet hurt painfully, and Erwa almost flew off several times due to the bumpy ride; she was truly powerless to stop it.

She hadn't eaten for almost an hour, and the woman felt her strength waning, but the images of the children kept appearing in her mind.

We have to run farther and farther. Until the snake can't find the babies.

But the night is so dark, and the forest is so vast. I need to lead the children out of their bodies and return to their physical bodies before dawn. Without me to guide them, will they make it home in time?

Even though it was a time of great danger, the woman couldn't control her thoughts. She was afraid that she would die, and even more afraid that her children would not be able to escape the disaster.

"thump."

She slipped and crashed headfirst into a tree.

Despair overwhelmed her. She seemed to hear the sound of snake scales scraping against the ground, and perhaps the next second she would fall into the snake's mouth.

"Children... I'm so sorry..." the woman murmured to herself, closing her eyes, unable to bear looking.

But a beam of light, in an unreasonable way, pierced through her eyelids and shone into her eyes.

It was as cool and clear as moonlight, yet it carried a sense of warmth.

The woman's body sank, as two heavy objects pressed down on her, and a familiar scent surged up.

"mother!"

"Second child!"

The fox tossed the two small mice it had caught earlier onto the back of the large mouse, relaxed, and looked at the snake monster that had been hesitant to approach because of the fox's arrival.

"And what are you?"