Chapter 15: Slandering Me with Blood-Spraying Mouths! Ren is a Cultivator of Merit!

The Hour of the Ox, outside the Yu Mansion.

"There's actually Merit?"

Ren Yidao blinked in some confusion.

He had clearly only gone out to settle a small grudge, so why was his Merit still increasing?

"Could it be that this counts as relieving a widow's worries? Lady Yu has it quite hard, after all..."

No.

This thought is a bit dangerous; I cannot dwell on it any further.

Being a fox spirit is already a high-level profession; I absolutely must not stack the "Widow's Friend" buff on top of it.

"The Divine Path Sect already has one person who likes married women; I cannot steal Junior Martial Nephew Zuo's defining trait."

If even this trait were taken away, what would Zuo Yungui have left!? (Loud voice)

Besides, I truly do not follow the way of the married woman.

Truly.

I borrowed the sect's teleportation array when I left, but the return journey is not nearly as convenient.

However, Ren Yidao had no urgent business, so he chose to travel at a leisurely pace.

Too many things had happened these past few days, and he needed to think them over carefully.

"Although the Descending God Selection Path has significant effects, there is no way to achieve success overnight."

That day's performance was dazzling enough, but subsequent developments had become a problem.

Since you have already revealed such talent, you must achieve results that match it in the future.

Once pushed into that position, many things are no longer under one's personal control.

"At this point, I can no longer use tropes like 'Dipper Power, Third Stage!'; not to mention that outsiders wouldn't accept it, I can't even stand it myself."

The "loser's counterattack" and "tsundere" tropes are already outdated.

Being a genius for a moment is great, but being a genius forever is even better!

"There is also a new member on Luoyue Peak, hmm, my obedient daughter."

The golden-scaled girl with Bloodline Ancestral Return, though not as honest as she looks, has a pure nature and is a qualified Junior Sister.

And most importantly, just like her mother, she possesses a special temperament that makes one unable to help but want to bully her...

"However, the biggest point of suspicion is still why the sect suddenly proposed to reclaim Luoyue Peak at this time..."

This matter is the fundamental reason why Ren Yidao no longer hides his true self; without this event pushing him, he could have continued to lay low for quite a while longer.

"Is there some detail I've overlooked?"

Thinking to himself, Ren Yidao suddenly felt a stirring in his heart and realized he had unconsciously walked to the ruins of the Xianhu Temple.

Ren Yidao looked at his familiar yet strange old home and sighed, shaking his head:

"Such a fine Daoist Temple, who could have expected it to be occupied by a wicked fox."

What a waste of such a good house of mine.

"How do you know there was once a Fox Demon here?"

!!!

"Who?"

The cold, chilling voice from beside his ear caused Ren Yidao to enter a combat state in an instant.

Boom!

Without hesitation, Ren Yidao raised his hand and used a substitution shift, teleporting directly a hundred feet away.

Unexpectedly, the Incense Substitution remaining in place was not destroyed; the opponent had not launched a sneak attack, but was observing from the darkness!

Who is it?

Did the companions of that Red Fox come to avenge it?

This thought is the most logical, but Ren Yidao felt this was actually the least likely possibility.

The opponent did not possess the Demon Qi he was familiar with, but rather intense Evil Qi.

Moreover, there was clearly more than one person!

"Incense sorcery? Truly an evil cultivator! Men, take him down for me!"

"As you command!"

Hmm?

Wait a moment, this tone and style...

"Evil cultivator? You say Ren is an evil cultivator!?"

Watching the figures darting out from the darkness, Ren Yidao, having made up his mind, did not retreat an inch; instead, he took a step forward and met them head-on, completely unafraid.

"Slandering me with blood-spraying mouths!!!"

The Merit Qi he had deliberately suppressed in his daily life erupted, coiling around his body like a blue dragon and whipping up a fierce gale.

"Ren is a cultivator of Merit!"

Glaring at the men in black, Ren Yidao took another step forward, blinding golden light erupting from behind him.

Thud!

"Open your eyes wide and look at this Merit Incense! If you dare to slander Ren one more time!?"

Hum—

Accompanied by a soft sound, the Merit Qi on Ren Yidao's body began to compress continuously, rapidly turning into crystals that coiled around his waist.

Merit Qi: Self-Destruct Special Attack Type!

Covered in Merit Bombs, Ren Yidao glared with wide eyes, looking every bit like he would perish together with them if they said one more word.

Damn it, I'll blow you all up!

And just as the men in black hesitated, the person who had spoken before hurriedly opened their mouth, their cold, chilling voice becoming much clearer:

"Stop! No! Daoist, wait! It's a misunderstanding!"

A thin, small figure in black flew out from the ruins, flashing to a spot not far from Ren Yidao in just a few movements.

Pulling a Golden Token from their bosom, the man in black spoke rapidly:

"We are the Imperial Forbidden Guard!"

"We discovered the remains of a Golden Core Great Demon here, with scars from various vicious torture instruments remaining on it."

"We suspected that a Demon cultivator had passed through here and used this Demon Beast for a blood sacrifice, which is why we set up an encirclement here; it was not our intention to harm you, Daoist!"

Having finished speaking like a machine gun, the man swallowed hard; he looked like the type who didn't usually speak much.

"..."

Time passed second by second, and just as the men in black were feeling increasingly uneasy, Ren Yidao's expression changed, and he directly dissipated the Merit Bomb on his body.

"So that is how it is!"

He revealed a gentle smile and said understandingly:

"It was actually Ren who was abrupt, causing you soldiers to be exposed."

The men in black dared not be negligent toward this temperamental Incense Path Cultivator and waved their hands repeatedly:

"No matter, no matter!"

"It was we who were abrupt, Daoist, please don't be so polite! By the way, you mentioned earlier that this was a wicked demon?"

Ren Yidao, who had laid so much groundwork, was waiting for exactly these words, so he naturally held nothing back and sighed:

"... That is correct. As far as I know, there was once a fox here that transformed into a demon in the mountains over a hundred years ago."

"Because it was weak, it never did anything out of line, and the ignorant villagers nearby even built this wild Daoist Temple for it."

"Later on, that Red Fox kept lurking here, cultivating by borrowing the Incense of mortals. Because it was cunning and cautious by nature, it wasn't until some time ago that I managed to catch its trail."

"However, its demonic arts were profound, and it was only recently that I finished preparing to exterminate the demon, never expecting that someone else would get there first."

Mixing half-truths with lies, Ren Yidao pushed all the events onto the miserably dead Fox Demon.

Dead people cannot speak.

Dead foxes are the same.

Having finished the entire story, Ren Yidao tapped the Wooden Fish he had pulled out halfway through his tale.

Tap, tap, tap.

"Thus, Miao Yi has... cough, the Fox Demon is dead."

If he could successfully obtain the endorsement of the Imperial Court through this opportunity, the "Fox Immortal" of Xianhu Temple would truly be dead.

And from now on, he would only be Ren Yidao of the Divine Path Sect, and would have no further connection to the Fox Immortal in this Xianhu Temple.

The Fox Immortal is dead.

Frowning as they finished listening to the story, the man in black was silent for a moment, then looked up and asked:

"Daoist Ren, I have understood the matter. Could I invite you to accompany us to the government office? We need you to explain the details in more depth."

Ren Yidao looked up at the sky and then nodded gladly:

"Of course, that is no problem."

Going back was impossible; how could Luoyue Peak be as fun as the Six Fan Sect!