Chapter 58: Watching the Fox Immortal at Xianhu Temple

The Daoist Temple, once bustling with Incense, had now turned into a wasteland... destroyed at the hands of its own master.

Through nearly a hundred years of constant repairs, time had been inscribed upon every inch of brick and tile.

The green moss on the blue bricks, the repeatedly applied paint, the incense burner thoroughly stained with ash...

That was once the time Ren Yidao missed the most.

Reincarnated as a demon, with no kin to turn to, it would be impossible to say Ren Yidao felt not a shred of unease in his heart.

He had accepted his identity as a Fox Demon.

Passively.

At the very beginning, Ren Yidao only did it to survive.

He could only struggle and kill against the wild beasts in the mountains, living by eating raw meat and drinking blood.

He hid in the mountains, dodging the pursuit of hunters, staying far away from areas where humans gathered.

As those days passed year after year, he gradually grew strong; knowing how to cast spells, he no longer feared ordinary wild beasts.

Everything seemed to be moving in a good direction.

Until one day, when Ren Yidao saw a skeleton in the mountains that had died miserably after getting lost, he suddenly realized something was wrong.

That was the first time in two lifetimes he had witnessed a human corpse with his own eyes, yet his heart felt no emotional fluctuation whatsoever.

Sympathy, sadness, regret... none of these existed.

Not only that, he even wanted to go up and take a couple of bites!

!!!

Am I... still me?

The moment Ren Yidao realized his thinking was very wrong, he felt his whole body go cold, his hair standing on end.

He was no longer thinking with a human mind, but living in the way of a wild beast.

At that time, he was just a wild beast.

Ren Yidao understood that if he continued like this, he would truly and gradually lose his humanity, completely transforming into a Fox Demon.

He did not want to lose himself.

Therefore, from that day on, he began to constantly interact with humans.

The first time he met a woodcutter, the first time he approached a hunter, the first time he helped a lost child...

Whether they were kind or vigilant, no matter how they treated him, Ren Yidao could gain a sense of reality from it that he was alive.

I am still a human, not a fox.

From that group of not-so-bright mortals, he gained enough strength to maintain his humanity.

Later on, he reaped an unexpected surprise.

The mortals remembered him and passed his deeds on by word of mouth.

Hunters no longer raised their crossbows upon seeing him, woodcutters would not panic and run away, and even small children stopped fearing him.

They took it upon themselves to give Ren Yidao a new name—"Fox Immortal."

They built this Xianhu Temple for him and worshipped him within it.

This place was Ren Yidao's first home.

It was the place where he no longer had to worry about his humanity.

"Hoo..."

Ren Yidao looked at the broken walls and ruins, letting out a long breath.

"Round and round, in the end, did I return here after all?"

Walking slowly through the gate that had not collapsed, Ren Yidao stepped onto the ruins of Xianhu Temple.

He felt it quietly, searching for the aura that had been guiding him forward all along.

"... Hmm?"

But just as he focused his mind, he sensed the approach of two faint auras.

They were not Imperial Guards of Beigan; the Divine Path Sect matters were finished, and they had already returned to Wentian City with Shi Anqi to report their mission.

Walking toward Xianhu Temple was a pair of grandfather and grandson dressed in hemp clothes.

Ren Yidao did not speak, just stood quietly by the wall, like a scholar lamenting the past.

The old man did glance at Ren Yidao, but upon noticing the youth's decent attire, he did not come forward to strike up a conversation, instead taking his little grandson to the other side.

"There, you were the one clamoring to see it, are you satisfied now?"

A child's world has no such complications; letting go of his hand, he ran into the ruins with a patter, looking left and right.

Picking up a broken tile from a pile of stones that had a white fox painted on it, he excitedly held it up to show off to his grandfather.

"Grandpa, look! It's a white doggy!"

Ren Yidao:?

Kid, what do you mean by that?

Although a fox is indeed a canine, you shouldn't just go around saying things like that!

Ren Yidao, standing to the side, hadn't expected to be caught in the crossfire so quickly and was just considering whether to give this little kid a complete childhood when his grandfather spoke up.

"Nonsense! Put that down!"

The old man's expression changed; he snatched the tile from the child's hand and carefully placed it on the ground.

He pulled his grandson down to kneel with him, kowtowing toward the temple, and said loudly:

"Fox Immortal, please forgive us! The child is ignorant, it is this old man's failure to teach him well; please do not visit your wrath upon him, if there is to be punishment, please let it fall on me alone!"

The child was startled by his grandfather's actions and started crying, his head being pressed down to kowtow along with him.

Ren Yidao: "..."

He really wanted to say to the old man:

You really don't need to have such a big reaction... making it seem like I'm some kind of evil ghost.

Don't ruin my reputation!

I, Ren Yidao, have been cultivating Merit, so how could I get angry at a child?

After kneeling for a while, the old man let out a sigh of relief upon discovering that nothing had happened, and pulled his grandson up with him.

"Many thanks, Lord Fox Immortal!"

A half-grown child always forgets the pain once the hunger is gone; only a short while had passed, and the child had already forgotten the previous ordeal.

He first wiped his nose on his grandfather's sleeve, then asked:

"Grandpa, what place is this, really?"

The old man was also somewhat helpless, but he still explained:

"This place here is the Xianhu Temple, where the Auspicious Beast, Lord Fox Immortal, is enshrined."

Blinking his lively, large eyes, he asked curiously:

"Is Lord Fox Immortal real?"

"What nonsense are you spouting, child? Of course it's real; in the past, this Xianhu Temple was very efficacious."

Dotingly ruffling the child's hair, the old man took his hand and led him away along the path they had come, saying:

"Your great-grandfather once said that in a year of great drought, the lakes outside the city dried up, and they came here to beg Lord Fox Immortal to lend a hand."

The child tilted his head in confusion and pressed:

"Then did Lord Fox Immortal lend a hand?"

The old man smiled proudly,

"Of course, but Lord Fox Immortal was only a minor deity back then and didn't have much Dharma Power; He prayed on the mountaintop for three whole days before the rain came."

"By the time your great-grandfather and the others found Him, Lord Fox Immortal was already on the verge of death, and it took half a month of recovery before He was back to normal."

In the moment the three of them brushed past each other, the skipping child seemed to sense something and flashed a pure, incomparable smile at Ren Yidao.

Meeting face to face, yet not recognizing one another.

"Then why did Lord Fox Immortal's home collapse? Is He not here anymore?"

"He isn't here now; He must have left secretly because He was afraid we would be sad."

"Oh... then will He come back in the future?"

"Perhaps, but regardless, we must rebuild the Daoist Temple! We can't let Lord Fox Immortal return only to find the temple gone; how disappointed He would be."

Watching the two figures gradually fade into the distance, Ren Yidao did not speak.

It was not until the moonlight descended and the bright moon hung in the sky that he finally came back to his senses.

Ren Yidao had a moment of realization.

What had attracted him here was not some precious treasure.

But a portion belonging solely to him.

A pure faith that had already been enshrined for a hundred years.