Chapter 3: Borrowing Life

After Xu Jia came out, he was already observing the environment.

"This world has a place like Luanzanggang... looking at the clothing on my body, it seems to be the feudal dynasty period."

Although he had achieved Jieshi Huanhun, Xu Jia did not obtain any memories of the original body; he only knew the basic information about Jieshi Huanhun from Huang Zhenren.

For instance, the target of the possession was also named Xu Jia, whose Eight Characters and Soul were compatible; he had died of soul-loss syndrome, making him the most suitable fit, and his family was moderately well-off, with no worries about food or clothing, enough to support the cultivation of the Dao.

After all, this was not Possession for Xu Jia, so he could not instantly obtain many memories.

"The Qi and blood in my body have already stiffened, and the Yang Fire has completely extinguished. My essence is not that of a living person either; I am a Ghost. I cannot ignite the Yang Fire, and if it drags on like this, I fear I will develop corpse spots... It is clearly a Soul trapped in a corpse, about to turn into something like a Corpse Demon."

"The first priority now is to think of a way to borrow some Yang Fire to re-ignite the three fires on my body."

Xu Jia himself was a long-standing Ghost of the Underworld, and his essence was Yin.

This body had not been dead long; it had died from the soul leaving the body for seven days, and it had no Yang Fire on it at all.

Seeing a fellow creature achieve Jieshi Huanhun, a group of lonely ghosts and wild spirits gathered and surrounded him, all with covetous and terrifying appearances.

If it were his past life, how would Xu Jia fear them? Even after death, when he became a Ghost God of the Underworld, he feared them even less. Yet, now that he had a physical body, he was stuck in between, and many of his methods could not be deployed.

Xu Jia had no choice but to stop, and after a slight thought: "These lonely ghosts and wild spirits don't even have a leader, how could they have gathered together so forcefully?"

He immediately understood that it was likely the fox that had just been practicing its arts had come to its senses and was secretly testing him.

He immediately opened his mouth to inquire: "Are the few Fox Immortals who were just practicing their arts present?"

If it were not this fox playing tricks, it would not be too late to scold these lonely ghosts and wild spirits later.

That Miscellaneous Fur Fox heard someone call it an "Immortal" and felt Joyous in its heart, but it could not figure out what exactly Xu Jia was. Since he could speak, he should not be something like a zombie.

Thus, this Miscellaneous Fur Fox, borrowing courage from the ghosts, while manipulating the lonely ghosts and wild spirits to stir up Yin wind and water mist to create a Ghost Beating Wall and a Soul Bewildering Array as a show of intimidation, let out a strange cry: "It is indeed this Immortal; this Immortal is just about to ask you, how did you suddenly come back to life while lying in a coffin?!"

Hearing that it was those few timid foxes, Xu Jia secretly smiled.

You have shown your cowardice before a Daoist master, yet you still turned back...

Hmm? Xu Jia pinched his fingers to calculate.

This fox is a breakthrough point; it is a noble person for his Jieshi Huanhun!

"The Underworld Official caught the wrong person and sent me back," Xu Jia immediately bluffed.

That Zamaohu found it strange; he had never heard of the Underworld catching the wrong person.

While scratching his ears and cheeks to distinguish truth from falsehood, he asked, "Then what is your surname and given name, and where is your home?"

"My surname is Xu and my name is Jia. The Underworld messenger misread the address; he was supposed to catch another person with the same name whose lifespan had ended, but he caught me instead, so he returned my soul, and I came back to life here. As for where my home is, I do not remember."

The Miscellaneous Fur Fox had lived a long time and could transform into human form; it often walked through villages and towns, went to markets to shop, and was good at bird language, able to communicate with birds, so it was well-informed.

Recalling that a few days ago, it heard magpies gossiping that in a certain household, a scholar who was treated like a treasure had suddenly lost his soul; they had invited doctors and shamans to perform rituals, but nothing had worked, which was truly pitiful. Thus, it believed these words: it was possible that after losing his soul for so long, he had been injured somewhere. It immediately drove away the lonely ghosts and wild spirits and dispersed the fog of the Ghost Beating Wall, but it still did not show itself, only warning: "This is not a good place. Since you have returned your soul, do not stay here long; go home quickly."

The Miscellaneous Fur Fox also had a selfish motive: this Underworld catching the wrong person and actually returning the soul instead of just letting it be was rare in the world. This youth had good luck; should it form a Karmic Connection?

Xu Jia heard the implication and begged: "I stayed in the Underworld for too long and lost my Life Fire. If I don't ignite it before dawn, when I see the sunlight, I will truly die. I ask the Fox Immortal to be kind and lend me a cluster of Life Fire."

The Miscellaneous Fur Fox hadn't noticed before, but looking now, there was indeed no brightness at all.

Without Life Fire, wouldn't he just be a ghost?

But how could Life Fire be lent casually? It concerned Yang Lifespan and Yang Qi. Furthermore, it was a fox and the other was a human; their Qi natures were different, so how could it lend life?

"Lending money is easy to talk about, but lending life is absolutely out of the question!"

Xu Jia said: "Lending money is fine too, but it's not you lending to me; it is me lending money to you, using a wisp of Life Fire as collateral."

He spat out a piece of "Pressing Money" from his mouth and said: "How about this? Can it serve as collateral?"

This Pressing Money was originally placed in the mouths of the dead to prevent them from becoming walking corpses; at the same time, when a soul reached the Underworld, having money in its mouth allowed it to bribe the Underworld Messenger and have an easier journey. Because this piece of Pressing Money had experienced Xu Jia's transition from life to death and from death back to life, it had become somewhat different.

The Miscellaneous Fur Fox saw the flavor of a "Karmic Connection" in it, and not an ordinary one at that.

"Fine, fine. Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda."

Thus, it approached like a ghost and took the Pressing Money.

At the same time, a wisp of Life Fire separated and landed on the top of Xu Jia's head.

His body instantly felt much warmer.

It was just that the fires on his two shoulders were not lit, so he still felt a bit of a draft.

Although his life was weak and his Qi was hanging by a thread, he was alive after all, which was very different from just a moment ago. He expressed immense gratitude: "When I successfully complete the Return to Soul and recover my Life Fire, I will set up a full chicken banquet to repay today's kindness."

The Miscellaneous Fur Fox took the copper coin and felt it weighed more than three or four taels; there was also a chill, and with a wisp of Life Fire separated, it felt dizzy and muddled. It immediately regretted it: as expected, life cannot be lent!

But hearing Xu Jia talk about treating it to chicken, its brain was muddled again, and it could no longer care. It revealed a look of Joy, its two eyes staring greenly at Xu Jia. The old woman it had transformed into smiled until wrinkles appeared, revealing a mouthful of fox teeth and drooling: "Easy to say, easy to say!"

It even asked intimately: "You only have one wisp of Life Fire, which could go out at any time. Did the Underworld Messenger who sent you back not give you a method? Otherwise, if you die again... wouldn't it have been a wasted life?"

Xu Jia saw that it had taken the bait and calculated that the matter of his Return to Soul still had to fall upon this Miscellaneous Fur Fox, so he fawned and begged: "As the saying goes, one who survives a great disaster is bound to have good fortune later. Didn't I meet you, Fox Immortal?"

"Since you've done a good deed to the end, do you have any methods to teach me?"

The Miscellaneous Fur Fox was self-satisfied and said: "You've asked the right fox. I don't know anything else, but I do know a hand of Worship the Dipper to Cultivate Life. If I hadn't just been scared by you, I would still be teaching the little foxes how to cultivate life and transform."

"This time, I'll be a good fox to the end; it counts as the Heavens having the virtue of cherishing life. But since I've saved you, don't forget the full chicken banquet you promised!"

(End of chapter)