Immortals of the End Times

Chapter 32: The White Fox Delivers a Book, the Fox Fairy's Request

The sword pellet flew out of the courtyard with lightning speed, and the next moment it shot towards the white fox that had crawled into the courtyard through the dog hole.

Under the serene moonlight, the invisible and colorless sword energy sharply tore through the air, creating a sharp shockwave.

The white fox, which had just entered the courtyard, was immediately startled, its eyes flashing with a ghostly light as it reached out with its claws.

With a loud clang.

The white fox's claws shattered, splattering blood. With a mournful cry, its small body retreated and leaned against the courtyard wall.

The sword pellet spun in the air, and suddenly the sword energy surged to half a foot, about to transform into a sword rainbow and pierce the white fox's brow.

Unexpectedly, the white fox cried out and knelt down, its paws bowing repeatedly like a human's, begging for mercy, its eyes filled with tears.

A strange feeling arose in Zhao Wuji's heart. The sword pellet stopped in front of the white fox's head with a 'whoosh'. The actual sword energy cut off a tuft of white fur, which was stained with the bright red fox blood.

The white fox continued to clasp its paws together, making squeaking sounds, as if it wanted to explain something to Zhao Wuji.

Unfortunately, Zhao Wuji couldn't understand it at all.

If he had learned the Beast Gathering Technique or the Soul Capture Technique from the Seventy-Two Earthly Fiend Techniques, it would be possible for him to establish communication with the beasts.

But now, unless we kill the white fox directly and then use the Ghostly Communication Technique to contact its soul, we might be able to obtain some information from recent memory fragments.

However, the memories of beasts are very different from those of humans, and they may not be able to obtain any useful or comprehensible information.

"Let's first find out where this white fox comes from and what its purpose is."

Zhao Wuji manipulated the sword pellet, pointing it towards an empty alchemy room nearby, conveying his thoughts through his soul.

The white fox was extremely intelligent and immediately limped into the house with its injured paw.

"What exactly are you? A spirit or monster?"

Zhao Wuji used the sword pellet to firmly lock onto the white fox and continued to communicate with it through their souls.

Although the white fox could not speak human language, it could understand his meaning and nodded and bowed repeatedly.

"What brings you to my residence several times?"

Zhao Wuji continued to ask questions.

The white fox squeaked for a long time and then gestured with its paws. Zhao Wuji really couldn't understand it and angrily rebuked it.

"You audacious fiend, are you trying to toy with me? I'll just kill you first."

The white fox was so anxious that tears welled up in its eyes. Suddenly, it raised its paw and began to carve on the ground. Before long, it managed to draw a few crooked characters, just like a child drawing words.

"Woman, female guest. Zhang?"

Zhao Wuji was taken aback, looking at the upside-down handwriting, and then realized, "Consort Zhang?"

"You've come for Consort Zhang in Yunyu Pond of Jingqing Palace?"

Upon hearing this, the white fox repeatedly bowed and nodded, its eyes brimming with tears, to show its pitifulness.

"When she couldn't appear in my dream, she sent a white fox to find me instead?"

Zhao Wuji was speechless for a moment, but he quickly realized what was going on.

It's possible that the ability to send messages through dreams has limitations, or perhaps after he used his supernatural powers to shatter the dream's physical form, the other party dared not send messages through dreams again.

"Why did she send you to me? I already warned her that I wouldn't risk rescuing her. If she wanted to, why didn't your fox pack do it?"

Upon hearing this, the white fox suddenly rolled on the ground, and with one uninjured paw, lifted the fur under its tail.

Zhao Wuji then noticed that there was a raised patch of fur under the fox's rump, which looked like it was stuck on and was grayish in color.

"What? Trying to bribe me? There's no way I'd take such a big risk."

He said that, but he was already a little curious and wanted to see what was under the fox's butt for free.

He then ordered the fox to wait, and after his soul returned to his body, he would come to investigate in person.

...

After half a cup of tea.

Zhao Wuji held the scrapbook in his hands, filled with tiny characters, and as he read it, his expression gradually became serious, but a look of surprise appeared in his eyes.

The fur was inscribed with a portion of the ancient text, the Lankavatara Sutra, specifically the chapter on the manifestation of mind, which triggered the fourth set of tadpole-like characters in the first Yin Bead to emit light.

The last time the fourth group of tadpole-shaped characters glowed was after Consort Zhang appeared in a dream.

Unexpectedly, the ancient book recorded in the pelt delivered by the white fox once again triggered the Yin Pearl, causing the progress of the fourth set of tadpole-like characters to begin to slowly increase.

Unfortunately, the ancient text recorded on this fur is only a fragment.

After Zhao Wuji finished browsing, the fourth set of tadpole-like characters had only progressed to 40% completion, and was still far from being deciphered.

He glanced at the white fox in the corner of the room, who was covering its bottom in embarrassment, and shook his head slightly.

"Alright, even if you're a female fox, you're still an animal. Who knows if I'd find it disgusting if you stuffed the gift down your ass?"

Zhao Wuji said, "The handwriting on this leather is much better than yours. Is it the one your grandfather wrote?"

The white fox nodded and pointed to the crooked words on the ground.

Zhao Wuji nodded slightly.

This white fox is very intelligent and can even write some words. He only understood after communicating with it for a while.

It turns out that there was an old fox who had cultivated himself into a spirit in the cold mountains outside the city. He lived a secluded life, raising a group of little foxes and teaching them how to cultivate.

But most foxes don't really learn anything special; they're just more intelligent than ordinary wild animals. This white fox is considered the best performer.

Consort Zhang was originally the old fox's benefactor. She was taken as a concubine by Emperor Xuan Taizong Zhang Chengyan, the second emperor of Xuan Kingdom. She was later murdered and her soul has not been able to escape to this day.

Over the years, the old fox occasionally received dreams from Consort Zhang, which revealed her situation to him. He even tried to go to the palace to rescue her.

But the palace was protected by the dragon's aura, which repelled gods and ghosts. Monsters would reveal themselves if they got close, and the old fox almost died after trying it.

It wasn't until Zhao Wuji appeared that Consort Zhang and the old fox saw hope again.

Therefore, a little fox was sent to deliver ancient books as a gesture of goodwill, hoping that he would come to Hanshan outside the city for a chat and discuss a plan to rescue Consort Zhang.

"I've already seen this, and I'm not very interested. You can go back and get another one, then I'll take a look and consider it."

Zhao Wuji was quite adept at fooling the young white fox, and handed the used pelt back to the fox, "Should I put it in there again?"

The white fox immediately covered its rear end, and then began writing on the ground again.

After reading the message, Zhao Wuji shook his head. "I won't go out of the city with you. Humans and demons are different. I need to ensure my own safety. It's best to keep in touch like this. You should go back first."

Helpless, the white fox hopped closer, picked up the fur with its mouth, and its eyes showed disgust at being teased.

After watching the white fox leave, Zhao Wuji clapped his hands. It's nice to get something for free for a while, but it would be even better if he could keep enjoying the ancient books that the fox delivers for free.

However, that cunning old fox is no pushover.

But now the initiative is in his hands, and the sincerity shown by the other party is not enough for him to take any risks.

This minor incident did not affect Zhao Wuji's continued cultivation.

In the latter half of the night, he used guiding techniques to condense another strand of spiritual power, bringing his total spiritual power to 53 strands.

For the next two days, the imperial city remained quite peaceful.

However, bad news suddenly came from the northern front.

General Fu Yuntao suffered a defeat, losing a full eight hundred elite Xuanjia cavalrymen of the Xuan Kingdom, and retreated to Gushan Pass.

It is said that the Qian Kingdom's Python-Bull Army was divinely aided, and some people saw strange celestial phenomena on the battlefield, with thick fog rising up. When the news spread back, it caused a great deal of discussion among the people, and many speculations about 'immortals and demons' arose.

It was at this moment that the emperor who had been seeking immortality in the Penglai Palace finally seemed unable to sit still any longer and angrily declared that the Qian Kingdom would pay the price.

The Penglai Immortal Gathering was still announced during such a turbulent period.

Emperor Zhaoming invited numerous high-ranking officials and dignitaries to the Penglai Palace to admire the relics and artifacts left by the immortals, seemingly to boost the confidence of his civil and military officials, or perhaps with other deeper meaning.

Zhao Wuji only learned that the Penglai Immortal Gathering was about to be held after receiving a notification from Nan Zhixia.

Along with Nan Zhixia's letter came an invitation to the meeting.

His fiancée, whom he hadn't seen for a long time, also said that she would accompany him to the event to pay homage to the sacred site.

"I didn't expect Zhixia to go too. As the candidate saintess of the Supreme Sect, isn't she worried about being exposed? Or has she not used that sacred artifact to embark on the path of immortality?"

Inside the room, Zhao Wuji stroked the invitation sent from the Southern Prefecture with his palm, pondering as he slowly channeled his spiritual power into the Nine Yin Nine Yang Pearl.

He has tried this many times over the past period of time.

The Nine Yin Nine Yang Pearls share the same origin as his sea of ​​consciousness, and can conceal his spiritual power.

"Before going to the Penglai Immortal Gathering, I should hide my immortal cultivation."
Otherwise, if they were to encounter a powerful immortal, such as a national advisor or emperor, these old monsters might see through their disguise and bring disaster upon them.

(End of this chapter)