Chapter 1: The Mountain Has a Fox, Which Became a Demon Over the Years

"I wonder, my lady, would you be willing to share a mat and pillow with me tonight?"

Under the dim, yellow candlelight, the youth gently inquired of the nervous-looking beautiful woman before him.

His features were delicate and refined, making him appear harmless, yet the curve of his lips gave him a somewhat sinister air.

The elegant woman's eyes grew hazy, and she subconsciously wanted to nod, but she regained her senses at the very last moment.

She clutched her chest, struggled to look away, and stammered with a flushed face:

"No, it's not that..."

No!

In the dead of night like this, where would a decent person appear in a place like this?

"Since it's not..."

After being rejected, Ren Yidao did not feel disappointed; instead, he spoke earnestly:

"Then move your foot away; you're stepping on my mat."

Give me the ball, I want to go home.

"Ah!"

Ren Yidao sat lazily on the neck of the headless Divine Statue, watching with a smile as the woman exclaimed and stumbled backward, without the slightest intention of helping her.

He understood at least that much.

If you aren't buying, don't touch.

Besides, she was just a weak mortal...

Ha.

However, just as he thought the night's amusement was coming to an end, the woman, who had been full of fear just a moment ago, suddenly knelt heavily before the bamboo mat and cried out in sorrow:

"Are, are you the Fox Immortal?!"

"Fox Immortal! Please, save my daughter!"

Ren Yidao: Hm?

Fox Immortal?

"How did you... oh, wait, no, so that's how it is, hahaha."

Blinking his eyes, Ren Yidao paused for a moment before shaking his head and chuckling.

Hearing the laughter, the woman looked up in pleasant surprise and spoke urgently:

"My Lord! Can you save my daughter..."

"No."

Ren Yidao refused cleanly and decisively, not even giving the other party a chance to finish her sentence.

What does that have to do with me?

Let me clarify, it's definitely not because I'm holding a grudge over what just happened.

It really isn't.

The excitement on the beautiful woman's face froze instantly; she felt as if the world had gone black, and her whole being had fallen into an abyss.

"This is indeed Xianhu Temple, but I am not the 'Fox Immortal' you speak of."

Ren Yidao leaped lightly from the Divine Statue and flicked his finger in the air, dispelling the Blindness Spell he had just cast upon the woman.

"There, take a good look. Do I look like a fox to you?"

"Besides, feudal superstition is not advisable, you know."

Ren Yidao quietly enjoyed watching the beautiful woman's expression shift from dazed to despairing, adding fuel to the fire at the perfect moment.

"No! The Fox Immortal clearly..."

Coming from a wealthy family, the woman actually understood everything, but if she hadn't been truly desperate, why would she have come here alone in the dead of night because of a delusional dream?

Watching the other party become increasingly dejected, Ren Yidao licked the corner of his mouth unconsciously.

Yes, yes, yes!

This is exactly the expression I wanted to see.

After enjoying it for a good while, he spoke leisurely just before the beautiful woman completely broke down:

"However... although I am not the Fox Immortal, I can still save your daughter."

The woman:?

"Of course, whether you believe it or not is up to you; it makes no difference to me."

Ignoring the woman's reaction, Ren Yidao continued on his own:

"It's just that if you want me to take action, it will require a small price."

"Rest assured, Ren is a cultivator of Merit; I won't harm you."

Although she knew nothing about the person before her, as she gazed into his deep eyes, the woman inexplicably chose to believe him and blurted out:

"As long as you can save my Yu'er, I am willing to offer you all my family's wealth!"

Although the beautiful woman was dressed simply, she could not hide her noble air, and from the details of her attire, it was not hard to see her extraordinary background.

But the youth smiled and shook his head, completely indifferent:

"Wealth? Mere mortal wealth is meaningless to me."

With this little bit of money, it's hard for me to do things for you.

I should ask for more... no, for something this interesting, even asking for more money wouldn't make me easily agree.

"Then..."

Seeing that money was useless, the beautiful woman recalled the other party's words from earlier, and after struggling for a moment, she lowered her head in embarrassment:

"This humble one's body is yours to enjoy, my Lord; I only hope... my Lord will be gentle."

He wants to... share a bed with her, right?

She resisted this from the bottom of her heart; after all, she was already a mother.

But if he could truly save Yu'er, what would it matter if she sacrificed her purity?

Upon hearing this, the youth seemed to grow interested and looked the other party up and down.

The beautiful woman's stunning face was not diminished by her haggard appearance; instead, her expression of shame and annoyance only deepened her endearing quality.

Tsk tsk tsk, still charming, truly pitiful to behold~

Yet he still shook his head.

"Lust? Though your beauty is extraordinary, in a hundred years you will be nothing but a pile of dry bones; to me, it is merely an unnecessary annoyance."

Though the way of the married woman is fine, I am not of the Cao Cao sort; I have never been fond of that.

Really, believe me!

Watching the youth's unchanging smile, which seemed imprinted on his face, the beautiful woman suddenly gave a miserable laugh after a moment of silence:

"My Lord, this concubine is dull-witted; whatever you want, please just take it directly."

Resigned to her fate, she lowered her head, and while numbly unfastening her collar, she wept and pleaded:

"As long as you can save..."

"... Alright, alright."

Seeing that the other party had spoken to this extent, Ren Yidao could not remain indifferent, and he reached out his hand toward her without ceremony.

His fingertips brushed against her fair skin, and then...

He picked up a tear from it and brought it to his lips to lick.

Feeling the intense will contained within it with the tip of his tongue, the smile on Ren Yidao's face grew even brighter, and he nodded in satisfaction.

"This wish... is enough."

What?

The woman looked up in a daze, but she could see nothing, only hearing a gentle voice whispering in her ear:

"I have accepted the offering you presented."

"And I have bestowed the gift you desired."

When her vision cleared, the beautiful woman found herself still in the ruins, but the youth's figure was no longer before her eyes.

Was it a dream... no!

The half of a Red Pill in her palm still held warmth, as if reminding the beautiful woman that everything just now was not an illusion.

It was real!

Carefully tucking the pill into her bosom to protect it, the woman performed three kowtows and nine bows with piety, then stood up and stumbled into the darkness.

Yu'er, don't be afraid!

Mother is coming to save you!

Ren Yidao did not leave.

He looked down at the bloodstains left behind when the woman kowtowed, the corners of his mouth curling upward.

"Tears of despair, blood of gratitude, and the intense wish of a mother wanting her child to live..."

A total win.

Regarding this zero-cost business he had picked up, his evaluation was that he was very satisfied.

However, someone was not very satisfied with this.

For example...

"You heaven-slaying bastard! To actually insult me like this, ahhhhhhh!!!"

The headless Divine Statue behind the youth suddenly erupted with an angry roar, and the fierce Demon Qi finally broke through the Seal of the Daoist Art.

The Divine Statue transformed into a massive, headless fox corpse, its fur covered in bloody whip marks, showing what kind of inhuman torture it had suffered.

Clearly, it was the "Fox Immortal" the woman had been looking for.

Ren Yidao had not lied; there really was no Fox Immortal here.

Because it was dead.

"You're very noisy; how did you end up looking like someone who was hung up and beaten while sleeping... oh, wait, is that really what happened? What a coincidence!"

Who is so unloving toward small animals?

Oh right, it's me.

Ren Yidao turned his head and advised the angry Demon Qi soul remaining in the fox corpse:

"Oh my, don't be so stingy; it's just half a Demon Pill, why are you so excited?"

"That is a Demon Pill I cultivated for hundreds of years!!! It's not a candy bean!"

Watching the Fox Demon soul's exasperated appearance, Ren Yidao casually tossed the other half of the Demon Pill into his mouth and asked vaguely:

"What candy bean?"

Demon soul: "... F*** you."

"Hey hey hey, Broken Defense already? Your mindset still needs to settle."

Too unsightly, little fox.

However, just as Ren Yidao prepared to manually make it shut up, the previously furious Demon soul suddenly burst into laughter:

"Hahahaha!"

"The Demon Qi will kill that girl, hahaha, it was you who killed her! Hahahaha..."

The demon soul looked mockingly at its enemy, wanting to savor the expression on his face.

Was it panic? Anger? Or anxiety?

But it was disappointed.

Crunch, crunch.

Ren Yidao was leisurely chewing on a sugar bean—ah, no, a Demon Pill—and then spoke unhurriedly:

"I know."

"If you knew, then why... hmm?"

The demon soul had just been about to sneer at Ren Yidao's hypocrisy, but its entire being suddenly froze.

That's not right!

Since this person knew that Demon Qi was useless, why would he give half a Demon Pill to a mortal to waste?

"The Demon Pill can't save people, but the soul fragments you extracted from her daughter are stored inside it; I have to find a vessel to return them, don't I?"

?!

With its greatest secret casually exposed, the shocked demon soul forgot even to feign ignorance.

"How could you know this?!"

Ren Yidao was even more shocked than it was, looking at the Fox Demon as if it were an idiot:

"Ah?! You thought I hadn't noticed?"

The woman's daughter was not ill, but had one soul and two spirits forcibly extracted by this Fox Demon using a technique.

Not only did this Fox Demon harm people, it also entered the woman's dreams to summon her, wanting to receive a silk banner from the victim's relative.

Who do you think you are, trying to play both sides?

Are you worthy?

Stimulated to the quick by that look of contempt, the Fox Demon roared in unbearable humiliation:

"Gu, just kill me!"

"Kill you? Your spirit is commendable, but I suggest you figure out the situation first."

Following Ren Yidao's strange gaze, the demon soul looked down... and saw a familiar corpse.

!!?

That was its own body.

Hazy memories became clear in this moment, and the Fox Demon, as if waking from a dream, fell into complete panic due to the cruel reality.

I died?

And I was soul-extracted by someone too?!

"You! Why do you know my Fox Clan Secret Technique?!"

"You call this a secret technique? You are even more ignorant than I thought."

After once again feeling pity for the Fox Demon's ignorance, Ren Yidao suddenly laughed eerily.

Hehehehehe!

"Besides, who told you..."

"That I am a Human Race cultivator?"

Demon soul:?

The youth laughed playfully, his black hair turning snow-white as terrifying Demon Qi erupted from his body!

Boom!

The violent Demon Qi burst through the dome, revealing the stars and moon across the sky.

"You, who exactly are you..."

"You don't know?"

Under the silver veil of moonlight, the youth, whose appearance had become bewitching, had his eyes light up; he stroked the four snow-white Fox Tails protruding from behind him and asked with a mocking laugh:

"You occupied my home, took my name, greedily consumed sixty years of my Incense, and then you don't even know who I am?"

"Are you serious?"

There are foxes in the mountains that become demons over the years.

They are kind by nature, fond of playing with humans, and skilled at praying for rain.

The villagers respected them, built the Xianhu Temple, and offered Incense.

Later, one met an immortal, yearned for the Dao, sought Chang Sheng, and served by their side.

Seventy years passed, and they achieved a little success.

Then they returned to the nest.