I have the best bloodline

The talented women chattered excitedly as they explained to Su Yan how foxes hunt in winter: they spot mouse holes or other small animal burrows in the snow, stand up, jump high, and plunge headfirst into the burrow.

Su Yan thought for a moment and complained, "My family buys our winter hunts from the market; we don't end up wading headfirst into the snow."

Thinking about his mother's enormous body, Su Yan suspected that his mother really did hunt for food in winter like an ordinary fox, and that if she crashed into a mountain, the mountain could collapse.

"Huh? Why is something poking me?"

On the fourth floor of the brothel, besides the tea-brewing utensils that Auntie usually used, there is now an exquisite small copper basin and a silk scarf. Su Yan habitually jumps onto the bench, puts her hands on the edge of the tea table, and dips her slightly comical paws into the basin to wash her hands. Then she sits on the table and wets the silk scarf to wipe the pads of her hind paws.

After doing all this, she jumped up and into her aunt's arms, ready to take a nap.

It's been snowing lightly in Xia Yu recently, and the weather is cold with a lot of snow on the roads, so there aren't many people in the brothels.

But Su Yan's sudden jump made her aunt realize that something was wrong.

Why is this little fox starting to prick people?

"Little fox, you're sticking your head out like that. Something's not right."

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 49 Foundation Establishment Stage

"Don't move, bend over!"

Startled by Su Yan's sudden touch, the aunt paused, then grabbed Su Yan by the scruff of his neck, lifting him up and scrutinizing the spot where Su Yan had poked her thigh: "Don't try to hide your tail. What storms haven't I weathered? Your tricks aren't enough to disturb my Dao heart."

"Auntie, what happened?"

Su Yan, who was being lifted up, instinctively curled up her tail to protect her belly and quickly looked back to see why her aunt had suddenly lifted her up.

"Your tail looks crooked."

The aunt held the little fox up to her, examining its tail at the end of its body. After a slight comparison, she noticed that Su Yan's tail wasn't centered; it was slightly off-center to the left, and a bulge had formed on the right side. The aunt pinched it and found that the bulge was a hard lump.

"And you've also developed a lump. Haven't you noticed anything wrong with your body?"

"I don't know."

Su Yan tried to turn his head away, but because the fox's body was not long enough, he could only see his fluffy white tail and not the end of his tailbone.

My aunt pinched the bulge and said confidently, "You're probably about to grow a tail now!"

The nine-tailed fox's tail grows with its cultivation level, and Su Yan's cultivation is approaching the Foundation Establishment stage, so it is indeed time for him to have two tails.

Before Su Yan traveled all the way to Xia Yu, he was already a Qi Refining cultivator. In addition, he had been recuperating in the brothel for a while, so it was not surprising that he broke through to the Foundation Establishment stage.

The Body Refining stage tempers the body, while the Qi Refining stage begins with the blood qi absorbing and infusing spiritual energy to gradually adapt to spiritual power. After accumulating enough spiritual energy in the body, one can naturally break through to the true starting point of a cultivator: the Foundation Establishment stage.

The three realms of Body Refinement, Qi Refinement, and Foundation Establishment are like forging a blank when refining a weapon. For talented cultivators, breaking through is a natural process. Even if they do nothing, as long as they reach the Qi Refinement stage, their bodies will gradually accumulate spiritual power and break through to the Foundation Establishment stage.

This is a process of accumulation, without any technical skill or magical enhancement; it's all about talent.

It's not hard to understand why a fox like Su Yan, who has fully transformed into human form, could quickly break through to the Foundation Establishment stage with the blessing of human fortune.

"My second tail?"

Su Yan quickly broke free from his aunt's grasp, transformed into his beastman form (which he rarely used), reached out and touched his tailbone. He discovered that, just as his aunt had said, his tail had shifted position, and a hard bulge had grown on his tailbone.

"Pfft. It's so tiny."

Upon seeing Su Yan's beastman form, Auntie couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Su Yan in his original human form was at least 1.6 meters tall, which at first glance would be roughly equivalent to the average age of fourteen or fifteen in the human race. However, in his beastman form, apart from his fox fur, his physique completely revealed his true age as a demon.

Standing at about 1.2 meters tall, it was pulling on its own tail, staring wide-eyed at its own rear end with a look of utter astonishment. Its adorable appearance was so endearing that she couldn't help but swoon.

"."

Startled by his aunt's laughter, Su Yan quickly transformed from his beastman form into human form. However, when he was in human form, a gust of cold winter wind blew, and Su Yan shivered. He then quickly revealed his fox form and put on a fox fur coat.

"Ah-"

After Su Yan sneezed, she shivered all over, then jumped back into her aunt's arms in a few steps, curling up into a protective ball of flesh.

"It seems... it's preparing to grow a tail!" Su Yan asked, slightly embarrassed, "Auntie, do you have any secret techniques for changing your form?"

Having a long tail is a good thing. The fox tail of a nine-tailed fox is a symbol of the power of the nine-tailed fox clan. When a nine-tailed fox reveals its true form, its fluffy tail seems to stand upright in the sky, declaring its strength to the world.

Its tail swayed and wobbled, and the world seemed to change color.

But that applies to those powerful demons. As for Su Yan, who is currently close to breaking through the Qi Refining stage, when he grows his second tail, others may not be afraid. The most likely scenario is that the thief will grab his two fox tails from the left and right, and then urge him on like a horse whipping its whip, shouting "Giddy up!"

Besides causing social unrest, it's also a problem.

The fox demons of the Pure Fox Clan do not have multiple tails; only the nine-tailed foxes can have nine tails. When the second tail grows out, it means that Su Yan can no longer disguise himself as an ordinary mountain fox, but will truly reveal his identity as a nine-tailed fox.

"There's no secret method to hide it, but I do know techniques to make the tail more bushy and look more intimidating," my aunt said casually.

The tail is the signature symbol of the nine-tailed fox. Other nine-tailed foxes have their tails pointing straight up, as if they want to reach into the universe. So how could they possibly study the secret method of hiding their tails?

However, Auntie knew the secret technique that allowed the nine-tailed fox to make its face more ferocious and its body larger after revealing its true form, but judging from Su Yan's appearance, he probably wasn't very interested in such a threatening technique.

"If you really don't want it to grow, just hold it in. You can probably hold it in for about half a month, right?"

Su Yan's tail has already developed bulges, which means that if he puts in a little effort, he can kick open the door to the Foundation Establishment stage and reach the true starting point of a cultivator.

There is no such thing as suppressing one's cultivation level before Foundation Establishment, so Auntie had no way to deal with Su Yan's troubles.

"Ah-"

Su Yan may have caught a chill because his body was exposed to the cold winter winds of midnight after he manifested human form. His body hadn't warmed up in time, and he sneezed again.

"Try to think positively about everything. Being a Foundation Establishment cultivator is much more enjoyable than being a Qi Refining cultivator. After you advance, you will have more demonic energy stored up, which will allow you to set up formations, cast spells, and refine your own weapons. If you don't care about the consumption, you can even briefly take to the air."

Auntie patted Su Yan's forehead, comforting the little fox, saying that she shouldn't look at the bad side of things. At worst, she could just reduce the number of times she revealed her true form and keep her human form, which would also hide her identity as a nine-tailed fox.

"Well then! Judging from your expression, you probably really dislike winter."

Auntie lifted Su Yan up and shook him, laughing, "Tomorrow we'll go out to the market and buy some more copper stoves to increase the temperature inside the brothel, so you won't have to reveal your true form to keep warm."

The Kingdom of Qingqiu enjoys a spring-like climate year-round, with the average temperature in the southern region around 25 or 26 degrees Celsius. Even in the coldest times, the temperature never drops below 10 degrees Celsius. However, the winter temperatures in the central region can reach below zero. Since Su Yan's cultivation level has not reached the point of being impervious to heat and cold, it is actually quite normal for him to be unaccustomed to the climate here.

"Ah-"

Lifted high by his aunt, Su Yan's front paw pads and belly were exposed to the wind. Caught off guard by the cold, the fox's mouth slightly opened, its nose twitched slightly, and it turned its head to let out a loud sneeze. Su Yan quickly swung its tail to cover its belly.

"Hmm, it feels a little warmer now."

"Uh"

Auntie looked at Su Yan speechlessly. After a loud sneeze, her tail, which had been wagging, suddenly sprouted another tail, and the two tails began to wrap around Su Yan's belly from the left and right.

This was the first time she had ever seen the nine-tailed fox's tail grow out. She had originally thought the tail grew little by little, but now she realized that it suddenly sprang out from the body.

"Let's not wait until tomorrow. I'll take you to buy a copper stove as soon as it's light, so you don't catch a cold."

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 50 An Urgent Crisis (Please add to your favorites and continue reading)

"It feels about the same as before."

Su Yan curled up in bed, raised his hand, and simultaneously activated the Black Dragon's Water Control and Water Illusion abilities. At the edge of the frozen river outside the window, dense water droplets seeped out and flowed up the wall into Su Yan's bedroom, condensing in twos and threes into semi-transparent little water figures.

A sneeze caused his tail to come out. Su Yan, looking completely innocent, stepped into the Foundation Establishment stage. In his dormitory, he shook his butt in front of the bronze mirror for a long time to observe his tail. After admiring himself for a while, Su Yan began to check his other new abilities.

After a cultivator reaches the Foundation Establishment stage, the biggest difference compared to before is that they gain an ability called 'spiritual consciousness'.

Based on the emergence of spiritual power, cultivators can more easily control the spiritual power they have painstakingly cultivated. For example, casting spells, refining magical weapons that are connected to the spirit and body, and even setting up formations all require the assistance of spiritual power.

If a cultivator lacks spiritual awareness, it is extremely dangerous to casually use spells to defend against enemies, because you have no idea what will happen after the spell is cast.

Whether it will be killing the enemy or killing oneself is unknown.

Su Yan's ability to control water is an innate supernatural power, inherited from his parents' bloodline. This is also the reason why he can cultivate the 'Forest and Wilderness: Illusion' spell.

Normal water cultivators at the Qi Refining stage can only spout water at most. When they actually encounter enemies, it's not as satisfying as slashing with a knife. They can't possibly condense a water person who knows martial arts like Su Yan.

Therefore, after Su Yan entered the Foundation Establishment stage, he felt no different from before. The biggest change was that before, even if he exerted all his strength and held his breath until he vomited, he could only condense three water phantoms at most. But now that he had reached the Foundation Establishment stage, Su Yan could condense six or seven water phantoms very easily when he was at full health and in full condition.

Su Yan hadn't tested the limit, but judging from the consumption of spiritual energy within his body, his limit for using illusion at full strength should be around fourteen or fifteen.

Because it was in the dormitory, Su Yan didn't want to make her room all wet and humid, so she didn't unleash her full power of water transformation to make them fight each other.

"Are you up yet? Your auntie wants you to go out."

Just as Su Yan was curled up in bed playing with water, there was a knock on the door. Jiao Nanwu pushed open the dormitory door and ran in with great interest, asking Su Yan if she was awake, as they were about to go out.

Jiao Nanwu particularly enjoys strolling around the bustling city center, but unfortunately, the weather has been uncooperative lately with continuous snowfall, and no one in the brothel has any desire to go out. Even the spirit monkeys only buy enough ingredients for two or three days at a time, and try to avoid going out unless absolutely necessary.

She was especially happy to be able to go for a walk today, and didn't even ask Su Yan as usual if he was ready.

"They've arrived."

Su Yan threw back the quilt and poked his upper body out. In his human form, without the protection of fur, a gust of cold wind blew in from the window. Su Yan, his face full of black lines, shrank back into the quilt and simply got off the bed wrapped in the quilt: "...It's a bit chilly."

"Is the temperature alright?"

Jiao Nanwu was still dressed in thin clothes, the collar of which could not completely cover her fair collarbone. The only difference from before was the addition of a milk foam topping on her clothes. Otherwise, her clothing was exactly the same as her previous thermal underwear.

"Why don't you reveal your true form? I'll hold you in my arms. My body temperature is definitely much higher than the current temperature."

"Uh, not for now. I just woke up and haven't adjusted to the temperature yet."

Sister Nanwu, I don't mind your embrace, but I'm worried that you might suddenly become a beast and grab my pigtails to ride off into battle and warm me up.

………………

The sub-zero temperatures in winter are actually not too bad, after all, cultivators have all gone through the body-refining period of tempering their flesh and blood. However, the brothel is a building built along the river, and when the river is frozen but still flowing, it will take away the heat from the interior.

After the ice formed, the cold air rose and hit the brothel. For Su Yan, who had never seen snow, it completely shattered his imagination of the harsh winter and was his first experience of winter.

Su Yan, wearing a long, flowing coat, shivered as she came up to the fourth floor with her hands tucked into her sleeves. The first thing she did was close the window that was always open to keep the cold wind out.

My aunt saw this and shook her head with a smile: "It's not even the coldest time yet, is it necessary to wrap yourself up so tightly?"

"This is the first time I've experienced a cold winter. I used to live in the southern states and had mild winters. When the weather got cold, my mother would take a net and catch some heaters."

When Su Qing lived in the Southern State, she was worried that her cubs would catch a cold when the temperature dropped. So she picked up a net and waved it around in front of the Su Mansion, catching fire-attribute female cultivators and settling them in her home with food and lodging provided. She also instructed them to light fires regularly to raise the indoor temperature and maintain a constant temperature.

Su Yan asked his mother why they didn't burn charcoal, but instead captured cultivators to use as a heater.

Su's mother smiled and patted Su Yan's head, saying, "The charcoal fire heats up unevenly and has a strong smell, which is not good for the cub and may cause asthma. Besides, Father works hard outside day and night to earn money, so we mother and son should naturally live a better life."