Chapter 638: Xiaobai

A breeze blew past, the treetops in the forest swayed and rustled.

The Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox walked with a graceful, swaying gait, full of charm in every movement: "Speak, how did you obtain the Mysterious Fire Mirror, and how is Xiaoliu doing now?"

Yu Liancheng waved his hand and said: "Return the Mysterious Fire Mirror to me first, then we shall talk. I helped you escape the Mysterious Fire Altar, yet you swiped the Mysterious Fire Mirror from me. You are truly a thousand-year-old fox, cunning indeed."

"You are the old fox." The Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox pulled the palm-sized Mysterious Fire Mirror from her bosom in shamed anger and threw it at Yu Liancheng: "I don't know how you squandered it, but eight or nine tenths of the supreme yang and rigid power within this Mysterious Fire Mirror have been wasted. Who knows how long it will take to recover. As if I even wanted it."

Yu Liancheng caught the Mysterious Fire Mirror, which still carried residual warmth and an indescribable, faint fragrance, and casually hung it at his waist: "That is none of your concern. As for your son Xiaoliu, you need not worry either. I purged the yin-cold energy from his body, and he is currently living a Carefree life with a little fox, more comfortable than you can imagine."

The Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox's eyes shifted, and she asked urgently: "What exactly is going on?"

Yu Liancheng found a blue stone, flicked his sleeves, and with a gust of wind, swept a clean spot before sitting down cross-legged in a leisurely manner. He kept her in suspense, leaving the Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox beside him gnashing her teeth, before he chuckled and recounted the day he purged the cold poison from the Six-Tailed Demon Fox in exchange for the Mysterious Fire Mirror.

Hearing that her son had suffered three hundred years of icy torment, the Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox's delicate brows furrowed slightly. A faint sorrow appeared on her soft, charming face, a sight so pitiful it would break anyone's heart.

"It is all my fault. Why was I so muddled as to steal the Mysterious Fire Mirror back then, causing our entire clan to be nearly wiped out? I was imprisoned in the Mysterious Fire Altar, and although Xiaoliu escaped with his life, he suffered the torment of cold poison day and night, in unbearable agony. If only I could have spent those three hundred years happily with my kin..."

Yu Liancheng said leisurely: "No matter how good or bad it was, I won't give you the Mysterious Fire Mirror anyway; it is mine now."

The sorrowful atmosphere was largely swept away. The Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox glared at Yu Liancheng with her beautiful eyes and bit her silver teeth: "I don't want the Mysterious Fire Mirror."

"That is for the best," Yu Liancheng said leisurely. "By the way, you were imprisoned by Fenxiang Valley for three hundred years; do you want revenge?"

The Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox regained her elegant and charming posture, lifted her head slightly, looked up at the sky, and said faintly: "I want to, of course I do. For these three hundred years, I have thought of it every moment. But now that I have escaped and look at this vast sky and wide world, I suddenly have no desire to kill."

She gazed around at this vast world, smiled sweetly, her eyes soft and charming: "For these past few hundred years, I was foolish enough to waste my time on a boring magical treasure. Now, let me live a comfortable life in this human world for a while. And since I know Xiaoliu is safe, I no longer worry about him; we will meet again eventually."

"Tch, a coward making excuses," Yu Liancheng muttered softly.

The Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox glared over: "What did you say?!"

"Ahem, nothing," Yu Liancheng said. "Speaking of which, I saved you from the Mysterious Fire Altar earlier, how do you intend to repay me?"

"People always say that one should do good without expecting a reward; how can you be like this?" The Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox rolled her eyes: "But I do owe you a favor. Speak, what do you want me to do?"

Yu Liancheng smiled slightly: "Accompany me for a drink, how about that?"

"What?!" The Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox thought she had misheard.

"I heard that the wine of the Miao people is quite good, so I want to go and have a taste. Drinking alone is flavorless, so I wanted to invite a drinking companion to join me," Yu Liancheng smiled slightly.

This statement was half-true and half-false; he was heading to the Miao people for the volume of the Heavenly Book belonging to Linglong.

But he had been a monk for several years, and now that his memories had returned, his craving for alcohol had also surfaced.

Since he first stepped into the pugilistic world, the two words 'wine' and 'women' had run through half his life.

Now that his craving for alcohol had risen, he cast all other matters to the back of his mind, intending to drink to his heart's content first.

Fenxiang Valley did have wine, but it was quite bland, like water. He heard that the wine of the Miao people was famous for its spiciness, which suited his taste perfectly. And with such a beauty for company, it was naturally the icing on the cake.

"Fine, I agree." The Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox's eyes shifted, and she nodded. She could naturally tell that Yu Liancheng had other motives, but she couldn't be bothered to ask.

Furthermore, this fox was naturally fond of wine as well.

"Since that is the case, let us set off." Yu Liancheng stood up, then paused, rubbed his chin and said: "By the way, let me introduce myself. My name is Yu Liancheng, 'flawless jade, worth a city.' I used to be a monk at Tianyin Temple; you can also call me by my dharma name, 'Puzhen.' And you? How should I address you?"

The Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox was startled upon hearing this, a flush of red and helplessness appearing on her pretty face. After a long while, she said faintly: "I have long forgotten my original name. How about this, since you have seen my white fox true form, just call me Xiaobai."

"Xiaobai..." Yu Liancheng rubbed his chin, then shook his head and said: "You are a Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox with at least nine hundred years of cultivation, plus three hundred years of being locked up by Fenxiang Valley, making you at least twelve hundred years old. 'Xiaobai' doesn't quite fit; how about I call you... 'Old Bai' instead."

"Bastard, don't you know it's very impolite to call a woman old?" The Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox's beautiful eyes glared at Yu Liancheng again; this guy was truly annoying.

"Old Bai, Old Bai, Old Bai..." Yu Liancheng smiled, chanting incessantly.

"Go to hell, you annoying guy." Xiaobai gnashed her teeth, a flash of white light flickered, and she instantly transformed into a large nine-tailed white fox, lunging fiercely to bite Yu Liancheng.

Facts proved it.

Women, whether they are eighteen, twenty-eight, two hundred and eighty, or two thousand eight hundred years old, are all afraid of being called old.

Yu Liancheng laughed, his figure swayed slightly, and the moment Xiaobai was about to bite him, he instantly dodged onto her furry back, clamping his legs tight to avoid being thrown off, and laughed: "If you had transformed into human form to bite me, I certainly wouldn't have dodged, but if you turn into a fox to bite me, you'll never catch me in this lifetime."

"Go to hell, go to hell, go to hell!

"

Having known this guy for less than an hour, Xiaobai had been angered by him several times already. At this moment, she was absolutely furious, shaking her massive fox body violently, yet she was unable to shake Yu Liancheng off.

Under the vast sky, one could see a large nine-tailed white fox running and roaring in great annoyance, with a human figure sitting on its back, laughing wantonly, feeling extremely exhilarated.

……

The Southern Border was an extremely difficult place in the vast land of Shenzhou, a land of rugged mountains and treacherous rivers, teeming with poisonous insects and fierce beasts.

Even for the five Miao tribes rooted in the Southern Border, they had to travel in groups, otherwise, they might lose their lives at any moment.

This was a group of Miao people, numbering about forty or fifty. Except for an old man who looked to be in his early fifties, the rest were strong and sturdy young Miao men.

The young Miao lads were singing mountain songs at the top of their lungs, their resonant voices echoing through the clouds, and joy was written on everyone's face.

The old man walking in the middle of the crowd wore a smile. He was quite tall, with white hair appearing at his temples, but he was in high spirits, his eyes bright and piercing. The old man was named Tumagu, the chieftain of the Miao tribe on the border of the Southern Border. This time, he had done business with a merchant from the Central Plains and made a profit.

Listening to the young men's mountain songs, Tumagu did not stop them. He had walked the ancient paths for many years and was not worried about attracting any powerful demon beasts; in fact, the singing could serve to deter the beasts.

Come to think of it, although the Southern Border was called a savage land, the Miao people here were mostly gifted in singing and dancing, and their songs and dances were natural and spontaneous, full of a unique beauty.

To a certain extent, song and dance were their civilization and heritage.

As dusk fell, Tumagu and the others crossed a mountain stream and stepped into the forest. The deeper they went, the denser the surrounding trees became.

Tumagu looked at the sky, preparing to let the young Miao men rest, when he suddenly felt the entire forest go quiet. Birds and beasts were hiding, and even the chirping of insects had ceased.

"Be careful, everyone." Tumagu frowned and said in the Miao language: "Prepare your weapons."

The group of young Miao men immediately showed signs of alertness and formed a circle. On the outermost perimeter were the Miao warriors; they wore wooden armor made of tough vines on their chests and held long-handled sharp spears, their expressions fierce and brave. Inside were the Miao people carrying empty baskets; they were ordinary villagers responsible for transporting goods, and they now held short knives, axes, and other weapons.

The chieftain, Tumagu, was surrounded in the very center, looking around nervously.

After a while, there was still no movement in the surroundings. A young Miao warrior who was walking the ancient path for the first time laughed: "Chieftain, could it be that you..."

"Careful!

"

Just at that moment, the rustling sound of dry leaves being crushed arose, and a fishy stench assailed them. A large python, filled with demonic aura and covered in brilliant patterns, lunged at the young warrior.

The young warrior couldn't help but feel his legs go weak. The cold, sinister snake eyes, the hissing tongue, and the intense, fishy stench were right before his eyes.

Fortunately, several Miao warriors nearby attacked together, shouting as they stabbed toward the giant python.

In particular, one experienced warrior let out a sharp cry, and his steel saber transformed into a silver light, striking impressively at the python's seven-inch mark.

"A python that has become a spirit—we are in for bad luck now." Chief Tumagu's face changed drastically; this demon python was extremely terrifying, and he feared that many of his party would perish here. Every warrior was a precious treasure of the Miao people and the pillar of a Miao family; it would be difficult to answer for the death of even one.

While Chief Tumagu was filled with worry, the Miao warriors had already begun to fight the demon python. A single sweep of the demon python's tail could whip up a gale and snap a large tree in two, let alone the mortal bodies of the Miao warriors. Its blood-red maw, when opened, could not only swallow an adult Miao warrior whole but also spray rolling toxic mist, instantly leaving people weak and powerless.

Fortunately, the vast majority of the Miao warriors had traveled the ancient path several times and had fought demon beasts before, so they were experienced enough to barely put up a fight against the demon python.

But as time dragged on even slightly, various situations arose. One Miao warrior was hit squarely by the toxic mist, and another was swept across the waist.

The young warrior from before was even swallowed into the snake's belly, with no hope of survival.

"This trip is finished." Chief Tumagu knew that the demon python would leave after swallowing at most seven or eight more people, but the casualties this time were simply too high, and he stomped his feet in heartache.

Whoosh!

Just at this moment, the sound of wind being torn rang out, and the demon python's massive body suddenly stalled; all its movements stopped, its tail seemed to twitch twice, and then it collapsed with a boom, moving no more.

For a moment, everyone, including Tumagu, looked at each other in dismay; how could the demon beast that was just extremely ferocious suddenly collapse? The turn of events happened too quickly, catching everyone off guard.

Could it be the manifestation of the Dog God's power?

Tumagu fixed his eyes on the demon python, only to see that its forehead had been pierced by a bloody hole at some unknown time, with blood gushing out. On a towering tree nearby, a stone was deeply embedded, the stone still stained with blood.

For a moment, Tumagu could not help but let his imagination run wild; could it be that this stone had pierced the demon python's skull earlier, and with its remaining momentum, had buried itself deep into the tree?

But the demon python's scales were so hard that even a strong and healthy Miao warrior, holding a blade or spear, could only leave a white mark on the snake's body and could not truly injure the demon python, let alone a mere stone.

Besides, who had thrown the stone?

"Are you Miao?"

Just then, a clear, bright voice rang out.

Everyone turned their heads back and saw a man and a woman walking over from the other side of the ancient path at some unknown time.

The man was dressed in black, looking to be no more than sixteen or seventeen, with an extraordinary bearing, and his face was as perfect as an ancient God in a mural. The woman was dressed in white, unstained by a speck of dust, charming and moving.

"We are Miao, thank you for your life-saving grace, young master." Tumagu gave a start and hurriedly spoke in broken Central Plains language, his tone excited and his expression filled with respect.

"Do you have wine? I heard that Miao wine is strong?" the black-clad youth asked with a smile.

Tumagu hesitated and said, "We cannot drink alcohol while traveling the ancient path; drinking causes trouble."

"Is that so." The black-clad youth sighed and turned to leave: "Since that is the case, then goodbye."

Tumagu was stunned, then suddenly shouted: "Wait, benefactor stay, benefactor stay."

The black-clad youth turned his head and said: "Is there anything else?"

"This humble one is Tumagu, the Miao chief." Tumagu said: "Why don't the two benefactors travel with us? In two more days, we will reach Qilidong, where our Miao people gather. There is plenty of fine wine there; the two benefactors can drink as much as they want."

The black-clad youth turned his head and asked: "What do you think?"

"Whatever you like, I am only here to accompany you for a drink." The white-clad woman's eyes rippled.

"Good, then I will travel with you." The black-clad youth smiled: "If you dare to lie to me, be careful that I drag your whole family out and bleed them one by one."

Tumagu gave a start: "I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare, this humble one wouldn't dare."

The white-clad woman rolled her eyes and said: "And you call yourself the world-renowned White-robed Divine Monk, to be able to say such things."

"Just a joke." The black-clad youth laughed: "By the way, Xiaobai, where is your tail? Actually, when you take human form, you look better with a tail."

"Get lost, you just want to pet my tail."

"Hiss, I was actually seen through by you, but it really feels quite good."