The Little Fox's Immortal Cultivation Encyclopedia

The fox didn't believe that Su Yincha would be so kind. It was the duty of Taishan Prefecture to control spirits and monsters. It was fine if they didn't see them on ordinary days, but now the Yincha were in the city, watching the thing that occupied the mountain god temple jumping around right under their noses. How could they not take action?

It must be that Su Yinchai said he would no longer coax the fox into joining Mount Tai, but he still assigned the work to the fox.

However, this matter concerned the fox's own den, and the fox knew this in its heart, yet it had to admit that it was now under the control of Su Yinchai. The fox would only feel at ease if it handled its own affairs.

"Alright, I understand." The fox shooed the shrew away and then burrowed back into the blankets.

As the moon set and the sky began to lighten, a light drizzle started to fall. The fox pushed open the door, and a chill, carrying the scent of rain, rushed in. The damp cold seeped into the fox's fur, but thankfully, its fur was thick and plentiful.

It exhaled softly, watching the breath condense into a cloud of white mist in the air before being dispersed by the rain. The fox shook its fur, circulated its inner energy, and a warm, soothing current flowed through its body. The fox felt as if it were soaking in hot water. It breathed a sigh of relief and continued walking forward.

The stone bricks in the courtyard were covered with a thin layer of frost. When the fox stepped on them, a chill ran up its paws. As the fox took a step, the fine ice crystals melted, revealing plum blossom-like imprints.

Pushing open the courtyard gate, the dirt road in front of the gate was soaked by the rain, and the pedestrians walked with their necks hunched over and their clothes wrapped tightly around them.

"It's so cold." The fox looked at the passersby and felt a pang of sympathy. Judging from the swallows, this winter is likely to be much colder than last year.

The fox had almost forgotten its experience of spending the winter last year. It only remembered that the rabbits and mice in the mountains had all hidden away, and the fox often had to brave the wind and snow to search for them all over the mountains, its mind filled with hunger and cold.

The fox looked down at the muddy road and closed the door again.

The fox wasn't in a hurry to go back to the mountain or to its bed; it had more important things to do.

The fox sniffed, as if the usual human and plant scents had been completely wiped away overnight, leaving only pure coolness.

The fox understood what was going on. Today was Frost's Descent, and those scents had not been eliminated, but rather hidden away.

"The stored qi is the great qi of all things retreating and hiding. After the frost and before the winter solstice, the yin qi of heaven and earth is at its peak and the yang qi is hidden. There is yin within yin, and the qi changes from cool to cold, hence the name stored qi."

The fox stood still in the yard, its tail outstretched, carefully examining the surroundings, and then took a deep breath.

The breath was very cold; it entered through the tip of my nose, traveled down my throat, and cooled all the way to my stomach.

The fox thought of the willow tree. Compared to rabbits and mice, snakes hid much more thoroughly; they would burrow into the ground and sleep until spring.

They are all hiding.

The stored qi naturally governs storage.

The fox closed its eyes, and the cool air spread through its body. The fox felt the aura that it could not see or touch on ordinary days, but which had always been quietly emanating from it.

The scent of incense, the fragrance of moonlight, the traces of flowing magic... the fox's mind was completely focused on them, trying to draw them back and hide them all.

Conceal your form in nothingness, hide your traces in secrecy.

The two fox tails were also gradually shrinking. The fox's original tail shrank inch by inch until it became a normal size, and the white fox tail shrank directly into the tail orifice.

At this moment, the fox looks exactly like that little mountain fox who hasn't yet found the sound.

However, the fox could sense that the hidden magic power was locked inside its body, almost without any loss. If it wanted to use it, it could unlock the lock at any time and release the hidden power again.

The hidden energy is locked away.

The fox seemed thoughtful. If it encountered Yin energy again now, perhaps it could seal it away completely. And if it were to extend further, and the fox's cultivation deepened, could it even seal away the soul to prevent it from dissipating?

The fox suddenly realized that Shen Erlang and Da Liu were perfect subjects for testing the fox's magic. It collected the yin energy, stored the energy to seal the soul, and then used the life energy to restore Shen Erlang's body to its original state. This was already enough to use three types of energy. Perhaps the other three types of energy could also have wonderful uses.

But could Shen Erlang hold out until the fox's magic was fully developed? The fox thought about it and felt that it was highly unlikely. It would be better to let the underworld handle it; at least it would be faster.

Thinking of this, the fox became somewhat suspicious. Given the speed at which the underworld worked, it was likely that such a small matter would ultimately fall on the fox's shoulders.

The fox's thoughts churned and wandered, leaping about like a wild horse. After a long while, the fox finally calmed down and continued to ponder.

As the last of the six qi, the hidden qi seems to have many functions that the fox cannot figure out. The fox pondered patiently for a while, but still could not understand it.

Something seems to be missing.

The fox thought of the Peach Goddess again. Now, the Peach Goddess was thin and small, all its leaves had fallen, and it looked bare, as if it were dead. But the fox knew that all its vitality was hidden in its roots, in the soil, and in people's hearts, hidden very well, and that one day it would be reborn.

The fox thought of itself last year, having spent the whole winter huddled up, and then running freely through the mountains, stretching its muscles and bones, once the ice and snow melted.

Hiding is for a better rebirth.

The fox understood; it was still lacking the vital energy, the most important of the six elements.

The fox was not discouraged at all; instead, it puffed out its chest and said, "The fox said it was the smartest, but it didn't understand. It's not the fox's fault, it's the weather's fault."

It was quite pleased with itself when it suddenly felt a bloating in its stomach. It didn't know when, but the cold air it had inhaled had accumulated there, piling up in a ball.

The fox felt it needed to burp, so it opened its mouth as if to burp.

But what came out wasn't a burp, but a breath. The moment this breath left its mouth, it condensed into a thin, white ribbon and struck the ground.

The fox looked down and saw that the footprints it had made earlier were gone, and a thin layer of frost had formed on the ground.

"what?"

The fox deliberately exerted even more effort and exhaled again, this time the white mist it exhaled was more condensed, falling to the ground and freezing the wild grass in the cracks between the bricks.

The fox watched for a while, then reached out its paw and pushed the grass away; it broke at the touch. It pressed down on the ground with its paw, finding it slippery.

The fox thought for a moment, and then came up with another idea.

It looked at the old locust tree in the yard, mustered its strength, and blew a strong breath at the lower branches.

The white mist climbed up the branches, and countless fine, fox-hair-like ice threads grew in the areas shrouded in mist. Accompanied by the fox's continuous scent, the ice threads became denser and denser, eventually condensing into ice crystals.

Then, ice crystals grew from ice crystals, spreading outwards in layers. These ice crystals clung to the branches, trembling all at once when the wind blew.

Bathed in the morning light, it looked like a tree full of ice flowers.

The fox nodded in satisfaction. Every year during the coldest part of winter, the trees on the mountain would turn like this. The fox only thought it was beautiful; it never imagined that it could create such a scene itself.

"On the day the sparrow returned, the fox blew the whole mountain of trees like this, scaring the sparrow to death!"