Chapter 144: Attending the Mountain God

Bonfires were lit on Mount Langtou again.

At this time, the decennial Mountain Lord banquet had not yet arrived, and there were far fewer guests present than before. There were only the Mountain God, Lin Jue, and the fox, as well as some spirits and monsters who were in the vicinity of Mount Langtou and had responded to the Mountain God's call tonight but had worked in vain. However, just like before, they formed a circle, and there were monkeys bringing fruit and meat, also carefully avoiding the original species of all the guests present.

There was also the Mountain Lord's Thousand-Day Wine.

"Fellow Daoist Lin once lectured and solved doubts for us here. Everyone has heard it, and that friendship has not been repaid. It just so happens that tonight we can gather and drink to our heart's content."

The Mountain God also sat on the huge granite rock from before and said to the many spirits and monsters below:

"Many thanks to everyone for coming to help tonight. Please don't be polite, let's drink until we are drunk."

Many spirits and monsters all showed joy.

Lin Jue couldn't help but recall the past.

When he came last time, he was just a scholar who didn't understand spiritual arts and had only learned one fire-repelling technique. He didn't expect that in the blink of an eye, it was already the spring and summer of the fourth year. He could already fight the bear demon, and his cultivation and ability had surpassed the vast majority of the spirits and monsters present.

The fox didn't have these thoughts, but kept turning its head, its eyes bright, filled with curiosity, as if it found it very strange.

Occasionally it lowered its head to eat two grapes and two pieces of meat.

Jars of Thousand-Day Wine were soon brought up.

The expressions of many spirits and monsters clearly became strange—

They first aimed at those jars of Thousand-Day Wine, then aimed at the Mountain God, and then quickly retracted, as if they wanted to look but didn't dare to look. The thoughts in their minds were also that they wanted it, but didn't quite dare to think about it.

Then they saw the Mountain God laugh a few times, reach out and flip his hand, and take two bottles, one black and one white.

The eyes of many spirits and monsters instantly became fiery.

Even the fox curiously turned its head to look.

"Logically speaking, only at my decennial banquet would there be this Thousand-Day Wine mixed with the essence of the sun and moon. However, now that I have achieved the position of Mountain God, this essence of heaven, earth, sun, and moon... haha, although it is still extremely precious, it is not as rare as before." The Mountain God's voice was very coarse, "It just so happens that there are distinguished guests coming again today, so please drink again."

After saying this, he slowly rotated his wrists.

One bottle was poured out, like flowing lava, emitting a scorching glow, just like the setting sun just now, poured into the wine jar.

It seemed as if the wine in the jar had become a bit scorching.

One bottle was like black satin, with thousands of points of brilliance in the darkness, just like the Milky Way hanging upside down in the sky, also poured into the wine jar, neutralizing it.

Lin Jue at this moment was no longer what he used to be, and naturally could feel that the two bottles contained the purest essence of the sun and moon. Especially after the essence in the second bottle was poured in, the yin and yang were neutralized, and mysterious wonders were born. That indescribable charm had a great attraction even for him now.

It was even more attractive than when he was ignorant.

He didn't know how this Mountain God obtained these essences of the sun and moon.

The exotic fragrance had already spread, making people drool.

"Haha! Everyone, drink to your heart's content!"

Cups of Thousand-Day Wine were poured into bamboo wine cups and carefully delivered to each guest by the macaques.

Lin Jue had a cup in front of him.

The fox also had a cup in front of it.

The fox's eyes were full of curiosity, leaning close to look at this Thousand-Day Wine, as if its head was about to drill into the bamboo tube, and then it turned its head to look at Lin Jue.

"Drink, drink. In the Daoist temple, I don't let you drink too much, but this is good stuff, and it is a gift from the Mountain God, you can drink as much as you want today." Lin Jue said to it with a smile.

"Yes, yes, yes! Drink as much as you want! Drink as much as you want!" The Mountain God said hurriedly, and only after he finished did he realize it was wrong, so he turned his head and asked Lin Jue honestly, "Fellow Daoist, have you given this, this one a name?"

"I named it Fuyao."

"Fuyao? What does it mean?"

"The great wind rises, soaring straight up ninety thousand miles."

"Good! Good name!"

The Mountain God's expression instantly froze, as if an old farmer had been baptized by the books of sages, and he couldn't help but become solemn.

"Drink as much as you want!"

Lin Jue also smiled, but even though he could realize the preciousness and rarity of this cup of Thousand-Day Wine, he still didn't drink it all in one gulp like many spirits and monsters, but unhurriedly, holding the bamboo wine cup and tasting it slowly, drinking the spiritual rhyme in the wine, and also tasting the taste of the Thousand-Day Wine itself.

The fox still aimed at him, and learned his appearance, extending its tongue to lick in small mouthfuls.

Everyone talked and drank, and before they knew it, the night was deep.

The mountain spirits and monsters all became drunk, and one after another said goodbye to the Mountain God, said goodbye to Lin Jue, transformed into their original forms, and went down the mountain, not knowing where they all went.

The Mountain God was also a bit drunk.

"Fellow Daoist Lin, Fuyao, Highness, this lord, this lord is also drunk. It is almost the fourth watch, how will you two sleep?" The Mountain God asked, "I don't have any cave dwelling. In the past, I always found a place on the mountain to spend the night. Now that I have become a Mountain God, I have a temple at the foot of the mountain, and I sleep in the temple every day. The temple is a bit narrow, but it can shelter from wind and rain. You two can go there and make do for the night."

"I can't walk anymore." Lin Jue waved his hand and said, "I appreciate the Mountain God's kindness. People who practice the Dao are close to nature, so I will sleep on this mountain for one night. Tomorrow morning, I will just happen to see the scenery."

"This mountain is good. I also loved to sleep on the top of this mountain before, it's just that it can be a bit cold before dawn."

"A little chill is not worth mentioning." Lin Jue said, "Mountain God, please return to the temple."

"Goodbye."

"Go slowly."

The top of the mountain soon became quiet, with only one person and one fox, the stars in the sky, and the silhouettes of the mountains.

Lin Jue didn't mind, and fell asleep as soon as he lay down.

The fox also lay beside him.

Today there were fewer guests than the last Mountain God banquet, but the Thousand-Day Wine and the essence of the sun and moon were still as much. After everyone finished the first cup of Thousand-Day Wine, every time they finished a cup, the macaques would continue to bring them wine. It was just that the other guests drank ordinary Thousand-Day Wine, while the one person and one fox still drank Thousand-Day Wine with the essence of the sun and moon added.

Now their heads were already a bit dizzy.

The one person and one fox used the sky as a quilt and the earth as a bed, and fell asleep in the night wind.

Fortunately, there was no wind or rain, only a slight coolness in the deep night, and the night passed lightly.

When Lin Jue woke up, opened his eyes, and sat up, it was still the peak of the mountains, the season of spring and summer meeting, with green grass all over the ground, half a man high, becoming a green canvas, drawing the shape of the wind. And the bonfire on the top of the mountain had already burned out, and the surroundings were empty, with only the flattened grass, and no sign of any mountain spirits, monsters, or macaques, and naturally not the Mountain Lord who had become a Mountain God.

In a trance, it was as if everything last night was a dream, and it was as if he had returned to a few years ago.

Or perhaps both night banquets were dreams.

"..."

Lin Jue shook his head and turned to look.

His fox had woken up earlier than him and was standing on a rock in the green grass by the mountain ridge. It was snow-white, its front feet standing higher than its back feet, its head raised in a posture of looking into the distance, its tail hanging down casually from left to right, as if it was also attracted by the beautiful scenery of the mountain in the early morning, focusing on looking into the distance.

The wind blew the green grass, and naturally blew its hair, which was truly beautiful and dashing.

Lin Jue, however, discovered something wrong—

The fox had two tails behind it!

At the same time, Fuyao also seemed to notice that he had woken up, so it gave up the wide mountain view and turned its head to look at him.

"Eh?"

Lin Jue stared straight at its two tails and asked strangely: "When did your tail become two?"

Hearing this, the fox also turned its head to look at its tail.

The tail swayed, attracting its gaze.

Suppressing the urge to bite it, the fox raised its head again and continued to look at Lin Jue.

According to the past, it should stare straight at Lin Jue, and then tilt its head to show that it didn't know either. But at this moment, it looked at Lin Jue, then looked at its tail, tilted its head, and actually opened its mouth:

"Tail... tail?"

It was a voice as light as a child's, as if imitating, full of uncertainty, but it was serious human speech.

"You can speak?"

Lin Jue was even more surprised when he heard this.

The fox withdrew its gaze from its tail again, still staring straight at Lin Jue, tilting its head and opening its mouth:

"Speak... speak?"

"How did you get two tails?"

"Get?"

"Yes."

"Yes?"

The fox tilted its head to the other side.

"..."

Lin Jue looked at the mess on the ground and roughly understood.

It might be that his fox's cultivation had reached the point where it naturally grew a new tail and refined its transverse bone at the same time. As for why it grew today, it might be the effect of the Thousand-Day Wine, or it might be natural, or it might be the thread of essence and spiritual energy it absorbed from the bear demon last night. Lin Jue didn't understand these things about mountain spirits and monsters.

"But..."

Lin Jue looked at his fox, but frowned: "If you are so ostentatious, I fear you will scare people."

"People!"

The fox clearly understood, habitually mimicking, and turned its head to look.

The two tails swayed a few times, merged together, and turned back into one, extremely fluffy, its hair swaying in the wind.

"Transformation technique?"

"Technique!"

Lin Jue felt it was normal.

Not to mention Lady Yao Hua's descendant, even ordinary fox demons were always good at transformation and bewitching methods in folk legends.

Lin Jue thought for a while, looked at Fuyao, who had clearly grown larger than an ordinary fox, and said again: "Since you know the transformation technique, why don't you transform into the same size as an ordinary fox?"

"Small!"

The fox tilted its head and thought for a while, suddenly spat out smoke, transformed and shrank in the smoke, and when the smoke disappeared, its body had become as big as a cat.

"A little bigger."

"A little!"

Lin Jue adjusted for a long while, and then it was about right.

"That's good, let's go."

"Let's go!"

Lin Jue picked up some mountain fruits from the side to serve as breakfast this morning, and took the fox down the mountain.

"Find a time, I will teach you to speak again."

"Speak~"

"You fox..."

"You fox..."

"..."

"..."

Lin Jue looked at the fox.

The fox also aimed at him.

"Eat grapes without spitting out grape skins, don't eat grapes and spit out grape skins!"

"?"

The fox stared at him blankly. ===== CHAPTER 145 =====