Chapter 32: Suspicions Arise

“At that moment I quickly ran to my father. My father’s windpipe had already been bitten through and blood gushed everywhere. I tried to cover it with my hands, but I simply could not stop the bleeding. My father grabbed my hand, wanted to say something but could not form a single word. He just held my hand tightly, shook his head, groaned, and within a few breaths he was gone.”

“I collapsed at the time and, carrying that firewood chopper, I wanted to find that fox and take revenge. But I couldn’t even see its shadow. I understood then that the fox meant to torment me. If it could not kill me, it would first kill my father.”

“Later I thought, the lingzhi mushrooms on that cliff might very well belong to that big white fox. Because I went to pick the mushrooms, I started a deadly feud with the white fox, so it wanted to kill me and kill my father!”

“As the saying goes, the hatred of a father’s murder cannot be forgiven. At the time I swore to kill that white fox, to kill the entire fox tribe on this mountain to avenge my father.”

“After I buried my father, I took a steel fork and a firewood chopper and searched the whole mountain for foxes. But strangely I couldn’t find a single one. By chance I discovered that the white fox, for some reason, would often come and loiter around my father’s grave, as if preparing some evil spell to torment my father’s soul. It almost came every few days. So I dug a pit where it always stayed at the grave and filled it with sharpened bamboo stakes.”

“After the trap was ready, I stood by my father’s grave with the firewood chopper and the steel fork and hid on a tree branch. I waited two days. Finally the white fox came, walking step by step toward my father’s grave. I watched from the branch, and suddenly its footing slipped and it fell straight into my trap. Hahaha…”

“I was overjoyed. I threw down a fishing net to cover the pit. When I reached the pit I saw the white fox’s body pierced by the bamboo. It lifted its head and stared at me with a look of pity, begging me. Hahaha… It killed my father! How could begging possibly make me spare it?”

“I pinned its head with the steel fork and then ended it with the firewood chopper. I avenged my father’s murder. Hahaha, it felt good, it felt so good.”

Du Yi said this, grabbed the nearby yellow wine and gulped it down hard, then said to the beauty Ah Hong, “Go, take out that white fox pelt and let Uncle Zhu have a look.”

“I will not go,” Ah Hong lowered her head and answered

Du Yi sighed and said, “Ah Hong is just too kind. Fine, I’ll go get it.”

Du Yi stood and rummaged through the cabinet. He soon found a white fox pelt about the size of a wolf’s skin. It was snow white and the fur was smooth, clearly a top-quality pelt. If it were sold in the city made into a fox coat for an official’s wife or a wealthy household, it would fetch an astonishing price. The only pity was that there were several holes in it, probably pierced by bamboo.

“Uncle Zhu, what do you think of this pelt?”

The old temple keeper took the pelt and glanced at it, surprise flickering in his eyes. He exchanged a look with Li Chaosheng and Zhou Bo. There was a faint demonic aura on this pelt. For a fox to grow this large it likely would have already formed an inner core.

The cultivation methods of demon beasts were similar to humans. Humans had Postnatal and Prenatal distinctions. Demon beasts did too. Like humans, they first strengthened their physical bodies, breaking through their bodily growth limits. For example, foxes that grew as big as wolves, rats that grew as big as dogs…

And after breaking through their bodily limits, they would begin to enter the Prenatal realm, that is the inner core realm of demon beasts. The beasts will form an inner core and simultaneously gain some wondrous talents according to their species.

“My boy, did you really kill this fox?”

The old temple keeper looked at Du Yi. Du Yi pounded his chest and said, “As if I would lie to you. Of course I killed it with my own hands.”

The old temple keeper stroked his beard and said, “Strange. Normally a beast that has formed a demon core would not be easily killed by ordinary people. By the way, when you killed this fox, did you find any pearl-like object in its belly?”

“No, nothing. Apart from the meat not having the usual fishy fox smell, everything else was like a normal fox,” said Du Yi.

The old temple keeper took a sip of wine and said, “Strange, it shouldn’t be this way. Well, since it’s dead, it’s dead. It will count as avenging my brother.”

The old temple keeper handed the white fox pelt to Du Yi. Du Yi then said to Ah Hong standing nearby, “Go, put it in the cabinet.”

Ah Hong then held the pelt and there were actually tears in her eyes. Li Chaosheng saw this clearly. Li Chaosheng’s suspicions rose. Even if the young woman’s heart was kind, crying over a pelt was not reasonable.

From ancient times to now, Li Chaosheng had never seen a woman run to the fur market and cry into a puddle like that. There was not a single case. Even if it did happen, it would more like her boyfriend refusing to buy her one, so she would squat at the market gate, bawling…

This was very unnatural. Li Chaosheng looked at Ah Hong again and, keeping a calm face, took a sip of yellow wine. After a few rounds of wine and several dishes, Du Yi looked at the old temple keeper and asked, “Uncle Zhu, what did you come up the mountain for this time?”

The old temple keeper did not hide it and said plainly that they had gone up the mountain to catch wolves and exterminate wolf demons. Du Yi asked if they needed help since he knew the mountains well. The old temple keeper shook his head and said, “No need, we can handle it. You just stay here with Ah Hong and live a good life.”

After some more idle talk the wine took effect. Du Yi lay down on the bed and fell asleep. Ah Hong cleared the table, and Li Chaosheng stood to help and took the chance to chat with Ah Hong, asking basic information like where her family was from and how she came here.

Ah Hong answered naturally that her family had been merchants in Xuzhou. When they arrived here they encountered bandits. Her whole family was killed and she escaped on the road and was rescued by Du Yi. Seeing that Du Yi was a good person, she stayed and married Du Yi to live together.

These words sounded without logical, but they did not stand up to scrutiny. First, how could bandits allow a weak woman to run away? Their horses were fast. How could a person outrun a horse? And a young lady from a respectable family, no less. How far could such a woman really run?

Second, the woman said her whole family were merchants, so in Xuzhou they must have had property. Now that the whole family was dead, that property would be hers. Even if she liked Du Yi, she would have brought Du Yi to Xuzhou to claim the property and live a wealthy life. Why would one willingly live high up the mountain and live in such poverty?

This was not in accordance with human nature. The more Li Chaosheng thought, the more wrong it seemed. Maybe it was prejudice, or maybe there were other reasons, but Li Chaosheng felt this woman was unusual.

When everything was cleared, Li Chaosheng strolled outside, found a bluestone slab to sit on, checked that no one was around, took out the white ledger, opened it and wrote: I want to know all the information about Ah Hong.

The ledger paused for a moment and a line of text appeared: Red fox maiden, race (fox), daughter of Bai Sanniang!

Boom!

Seeing this information, Li Chaosheng felt his scalp go numb. A fox spirit! This Ah Hong was actually a fox spirit!!