Chapter 2: Spirit Fox Lair

Xu Chen generally avoids Demon Beast lairs; compared to Spirit Beasts, Demon Beasts are far more ferocious and brutal. To go head-to-head with a Demon Beast for a few piles of dung is either brain-dead or insane.

Therefore, Xu Chen usually wanders around the territories of a few Spirit Beasts to forage.

Within a thousand-mile radius of the mountain gate, there are no high-tier Spirit Beasts.

The valley Xu Chen chose is neither too close nor too far from the mountain gate; a pack of Spirit Foxes lives here, all gathered in a stone cave within the valley.

The stone cave is very deep; it is said to have been a mine in the past, and there are branching paths inside, making the situation quite complex. Xu Chen has been here a few times before, but he generally does not go too deep, only wandering near the entrance to scrape up a few piles of feces before leaving quickly. According to several senior brothers and sisters, one of the Spirit Foxes here is about to break through to the Second-Tier, so it is best not to provoke them.

The reason a Spirit Beast is a Spirit Beast is that its intelligence has actually been awakened; generally, they do not provoke the Immortal Sect, and everyone lives in peace as neighbors. Sometimes they even help humans who have fallen into danger, so they are worshipped and given Offerings by mortals, and are generally called Demon Immortals among the folk.

Furthermore, in areas where there are Spirit Beasts, there generally won't be Demon Beasts; all animals have a very strong sense of territory.

Xu Chen wobbled as he flew into the valley, landed quietly a hundred feet away from the Spirit Fox Cave, then restrained his aura and carefully observed as he slowly approached the cave.

Before long, he had snuck near the entrance.

All around were ancient pines entwined with hanging vines, obscuring the entire valley so that the sky was barely visible. It was very quiet; apart from the chirping of birds, one could hardly see any traces of wild beasts.

After waiting and observing for about half a stick of incense, Xu Chen confirmed that the group of foxes had all left home to forage. Only then did he muster the courage to walk to the cave entrance. To be safe, he deliberately threw a stone inside, and after discovering there was no movement, he gripped his Flying Sword and tiptoed slowly inside.

After walking about seven or eight zhang, Xu Chen smelled a familiar scent and felt a surge of joy. Taking a few more steps, he discovered several piles of feces in a corner of the stone wall. He hurriedly took a dung shovel out of his basket, quickly scraped them into the basket, hesitated for a moment, and then slowly walked further in.

Under normal circumstances, he would stop here.

However, today the Third Elder seemed to be in a bad mood because the medicinal herbs were of poor quality, and he felt a bit of pressure. Of course, he also felt some guilt; after all, his contribution to the sect was too little. Being able to go from a lonely, destitute orphan to the high-and-mighty Immortal Master in the eyes of mortals, he was still very grateful to the Taiyuan Sect and had a strong sense of belonging.

If he had been bolder and more diligent with fertilizing when he collected dung in the past, perhaps he wouldn't have caused the sect Elders so much anxiety and worry.

Therefore, Xu Chen braced himself and continued walking inside.

After another two or three zhang, two branching paths appeared before him. He had snuck here twice before. The left side led to the lair of the fox pack; according to Jiu Shixiong, who had handed the heavy responsibility of dung collection to him, it was unfathomably deep inside with even more branching paths, and he had warned him not to enter. The right side was a dead end, where fox feces could sometimes be found.

So, Xu Chen slowly walked into the right-hand branch. There was almost no light here; if it were an ordinary mortal, they would be like a blind person without a torch, but for Xu Chen, who had already entered the Qi Refining stage, although the cave was dim, he could still see clearly because he had his Divine Sense to assist him.

Apart from the cold, damp air that had accumulated over the years, the cave was filled with a familiar scent of fox feces. Xu Chen was slightly surprised and nervous; it seemed he would have a significant harvest today.

Sure enough, after walking a short distance forward, scattered piles of feces began to appear on the ground here and there. He put down his basket, picked up the dung shovel, and began to quickly clean them up.

A cave need not be deep; it suffices if there is dung. Dung need not be abundant; it suffices if it has spirit.

For an old dung collector like him, a full basket of Spirit Beast Feces could fertilize more than half a mu of the Medicine Garden, enough for the medicinal herbs to absorb well for a while.

Just as Xu Chen was happily picking up dung here and there, he suddenly heard a series of yelping sounds coming from outside.

"Oh no!"

Xu Chen gave a start, hurriedly retracted his Divine Sense, and hid in a crevice of the rocks, not even having time to take his basket with him.

Sure enough, just as he had hidden, he saw a fox about two feet in size run in like a gust of wind. It didn't seem to notice the extra basket in the cave, and just like when Xu Chen himself was desperate for the toilet, it squatted down on its hind legs and began to grunt while defecating, all the while making whimpering sounds.

Instantly, an even more pungent stench filled the entire cave.

Xu Chen's face turned black, and his heart pounded wildly. He stared fixedly at the fox and the basket, covering his mouth and nose, not daring to make a sound.

This was only a half-grown, underage fox. It didn't look very big, but it must never be underestimated; once its ferocity erupted, he might not necessarily be able to escape unscathed.

Right now, he was in the fox's den with unclear intentions. Once discovered and a fight broke out, attracting the whole pack of foxes, whether he could return alive today would be a problem.

But fortunately, this fox had absolutely no vigilance. It didn't discover Xu Chen, and didn't even notice the basket right beside it. After finishing its business with a series of plops, it seemed a bit exhausted, then trotted out with small, unsteady steps.

Xu Chen held his breath and waited for a moment. Finding there was no more movement outside, he immediately packed up, preparing to leave. However, before leaving, he saw a large pile of fresh feces that seemed to still be steaming. His sense of professionalism instantly exploded, his emotions strongly overcoming his reason, making him stop to collect this pile of fresh Spirit Fox feces into his basket before carefully and quickly retreating from the fox lair.

Not until he had run half a mile away in one breath did Xu Chen finally heave a sigh of relief. He then threw out his Flying Sword and took to the air, while the Zhenyuan in his dantian poured into the Flying Sword like it was free. In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, he had already left the valley area and was ten miles away.

Every time he collected dung, it felt like a robbery, which made him very depressed.

But to save his life and reduce trouble, he had no choice but to do this every time.

Landing on an open hilltop, Xu Chen felt his dantian was half empty again. His anxiety flared up instantly, so he prepared to meditate to recover his Qi.

Cultivating immortality, cultivating immortality—if you want to live forever, you must first not die. An immortal who is dead is no longer an immortal; they are a dead ghost.

Moreover, dying in this wilderness, there wouldn't even be anyone to collect his corpse, and he would soon turn into a few piles of animal feces.

Therefore, Xu Chen had always been quite concerned about his own life.

Additionally, foxes are different from other Spirit Beasts; they are not only smart but also live in groups. This family had at least a dozen members, and there was also an old fox about to break through to the Second-Tier. Under a group attack, even if the Eldest Senior Brother, who was in the middle stage of the Zhenyuan Realm, came, he would likely end up bruised and battered.

So, Xu Chen generally would not come to the fox den to collect dung.

However, just as he sat down cross-legged, he suddenly heard a harsh, sharp screech from the direction of the valley, followed by high and low cries merging into one. Xu Chen's scalp went numb instantly. Without hesitation, he took a small Jade Bottle from his pocket, poured out a gray-green pill the size of a finger, swallowed it without even looking, and then circulated his technique for one cycle. Once the Qi from the Small Yuan Pill turned into a rolling tide and surged into his dantian, he hurriedly summoned his Flying Sword, sat across it, and flew toward the mountain gate.

Half an hour later, Xu Chen landed beside the Medicine Garden in a disheveled state. He put away his Flying Sword, only then feeling his limbs go weak, and even his dantian felt a faint, stabbing pain.

At this moment, a precious Small Yuan Pill had been completely consumed. If the mountain gate had been any further away, he feared his dantian and Meridians would have been damaged.

But fortunately, although disheveled, he had escaped back without any danger.

Moreover, today he had harvested a full basket of Spirit Fox feces, including one pile that was fresh out of the oven. This was his most bountiful, and also most thrilling and dangerous, harvest in the years he had been collecting dung.

Of course, the loss was also the greatest; he had wasted an entire Small Yuan Pill, which was almost a month's supply.

Lying on the grass to rest for a quarter of an hour, Xu Chen climbed up and began to process the feces. First, he spread out the dry ones and mashed them with a wooden hoe, then added some rotten soil to mix them together, and buried them into the soil around the medicinal herbs.

As for that fresh pile, he buried it entirely under the most precious Soul Returning Wood in the center of the garden.

An hour later, he finally finished fertilizing, then stripped off his clothes and jumped into the small pool under the waterfall to wash clean, only then putting his clothes back on to return.

Although there are more than ten people in the Taiyuan Sect, in reality, Elders and Disciples do not meet often. Everyone has their own tasks; either they are cultivating, refining pills, forging weapons, drawing talismans, searching for Heavenly Material and Earthly Treasure outside, or simply traveling together to gain experience. In fact, less than half are currently at the mountain gate.

And Xu Chen was undoubtedly one of the long-term residents, and the youngest Junior Brother at that.

Ever since he came up the mountain, the Taiyuan Sect hadn't taken in any disciples for several years. He had no target to find someone to replace him in collecting dung, and the hope of bullying a younger Junior Brother or Sister was even more remote.

Xu Chen returned to his small wooden hut halfway up the mountain, ate some food haphazardly, and began to meditate and cultivate.

In a situation where medicinal pills are so scarce, self-cultivation and slow accumulation are the only paths.

Of course, this also has its benefits, which is that it can solidify the foundation of cultivation, temper the spirit, and improve step by step, which helps in better savoring the process of cultivation.

And every time he takes a pill, it is also a rare opportunity for cultivation for him, allowing him to feel the changes in his body and the state of Qi running through his Meridians and dantian more intuitively and violently.

Time flew by.

The next morning, Xu Chen did not go out to collect dung; he prepared to go to the Medicine Garden to inspect it and continue his cultivation. To his surprise, when he went to look, everything else remained the same, but he saw that the half-dead Soul Returning Wood in the very center had actually grown two new branches overnight, and each had even sprouted an egg-sized flower bud. From far away, one could smell a strange fragrance that made the Soul itself intoxicated.

Good heavens, what is this situation?

Xu Chen stood at the entrance of the Medicine Garden, staring blankly for several dozen breaths, before he gave a start and snapped back to his senses, then bounded and leaped over to the Soul Returning Wood, where he began to drool while staring at the newly grown branches, leaves, and two flower buds.