The fox spirit is in a hurry like a law enforcement officer.

  The day I paid homage to my master, he told me some rules and taboos. After all, times are different now, there's no need to adhere to old customs rigidly. He simplified things as much as possible. His requirements for me weren't many, just the usual stuff like respecting parents and elders, not using martial arts for evil purposes, etc. Then he began formally teaching me his art. Since I was a "martial arts blind man", we had to start from the very basics: the five elements generating and overcoming each other, the heavenly stems and earthly branches, the eight trigrams' symbolic images, the sixty flower Jiazi calendar's Na Yin sounds, etc.

  Additionally, my master taught me a qigong technique called Yin Yang Jue. He said this is a unique skill of the Yin Yang family and cannot be used for immortality or to kill from afar, but it can enhance one's spirit and spiritual power, making talismans and spells more effective. Suppressing the demon fox within my body mainly relies on Yin Yang Jue, according to his estimate, practicing up to the third level should be enough to subdue it.

  "All spells require spiritual energy to work, without spiritual energy there is no efficacy. Most of the hand seals, steps and incantations used when casting a spell are for concentrating one's own spiritual energy or borrowing the power of ghosts and gods. If you have strong enough spiritual energy, you don't need to recite any nine-character mantra, just saying a 'fart' word can subdue all demons. 'Talismans have no fixed shape, with energy as their spirit', as long as you have strong enough spiritual energy, without paper, pen and cinnabar, just drawing a few strokes in the air can also subdue dragons and tame tigers." My master revealed the mystery to me in one sentence, urging me to practice the yin-yang spell diligently.

  I nodded in understanding, spiritual power is like the internal force in martial arts novels. People with deep internal force can kill others with just a flick of their sleeve or a gentle touch of their fingers, and can easily break through other people's ultimate moves; those without internal force, no matter how beautiful their moves are, are useless when they encounter a real master.

  Ideals are beautiful, reality is cool. I spent an entire afternoon and still couldn't remember the names and positions of the relevant acupoints. I sat for three or four hours at night, but there was no sensation of qi in the qihai point.

  I hadn't been asleep for long when I suddenly woke up with a start, because I heard the sound of chickens clucking in the backyard. It wasn't a rooster crowing or a hen laying eggs, but rather the distressed squawking of several chickens that had been startled.

  To supplement my body, my mother bought seven domestic chickens and killed two of them. There are still five chickens being raised in the backyard behind my house. My family's yard is behind the kitchen, mainly for growing vegetables and a well. This summer when I was at home, I built a bathroom and shower room. At night, the chickens were locked in the shower room.

  My bedroom is over a dozen meters away from the bathroom, separated by a brick wall and an earth wall. I don't know why the faint crowing of chickens woke me up. I immediately got out of bed, opened the door, rushed into the kitchen, and then opened the back door of the kitchen. With my night vision ability, I didn't need any light, and in less than thirty seconds, I arrived at the backyard.

  The cries of the chickens grew louder, and at the entrance to the bathroom stood a person, one hand grasping a chicken, the other hand holding a small flashlight that shone dimly inside, where another person was catching chickens. On the wall of the courtyard crouched a person, probably the lookout, who couldn't see me in the darkness but heard the sound of my opening the door and hastily whispered: "Someone's coming!"

  The person standing at the door said: "Don't be afraid, catch one more, at least two are enough to eat."

  I recognized this person, his name is Fan Qiang. He was in the same class as me in elementary school. From a young age, he was known for being fiercely competitive and fighting without regard for his own life. In the end, he didn't even finish elementary school. At that time, he had already joined a group of young rascals, getting into fights and causing trouble, stealing chickens and dogs. His family couldn't control him either. Later, they joined the "Butterfly Gang" and became even more arrogant, changing from secretly stealing to half-stealing and half-robbing. Sometimes, villagers knew it was them who stole things but didn't dare say anything. The Butterfly Gang dominated the entire town, monopolizing transportation and vegetable markets in recent years. It's said they have official backing...

  My family was also stolen by them before, my mother tried to calm me down and advised me not to conflict with them. I'm a bookworm, although I'm angry, I didn't dare to really confront them. But this time I caught them red-handed, I got furious and shouted: "Stop it, what are you doing!"

  Fan Qiang was startled, hastily turned around, and shone his flashlight at me. Seeing that I had nothing in my hands and was alone, he immediately calmed down and laughed: "Nothing's going on, just catching two chickens to snack on."

  I grew even angrier and rushed over to snatch the chicken from his hands: "Put that down, this is my chicken!"

  Fan Qiang hid the chicken behind his back, and with his other hand, he flexed his arm to block me, showing off his strong muscles. He shouted: "Damn it, what's the big deal about eating your two chickens? I'm giving you face by catching your chickens."

  The man who was holding the chicken inside also squeezed out, tall and majestic, with a nickname of Ah Tong, fiercely saying: "What are you yelling about? Yell again and I'll beat you to death!"

  Fan Qiang said: "He is my classmate, give him some face, catch one more and leave."

  I couldn't bear it any longer and punched Fan Qiang's nose, he immediately fell backwards, dropped the chicken and flashlight, and covered his nose with his hand.

  A Tong threw a punch at me, I dodged to the side and avoided it. He kicked out with one leg again, I dodged once more, grabbed his foot and lifted it up, he immediately fell backwards, his head heavily hitting the concrete floor.

  Fan Qiang's nosebleed flowed profusely, his hands were covered in blood, and he let out a few grunts before attacking me with fists and feet that brought the wind. He was both fierce and ruthless. I retreated repeatedly, barely dodging each time, but suddenly counterattacked with a kick to his stomach. He stumbled back two or three steps, involuntarily bending at the waist, but immediately straightened up again, roaring with rage as he charged towards me, changing tactics to a bear hug. He was very strong, and I wouldn't be able to withstand it if he were to grab hold of me.

  I jumped to the side, he pounced on empty air, it was too dark and he didn't see that I was already standing by the ditch. I threw a punch at his head, he subconsciously dodged and retreated, but ended up stepping into thin air and tumbling into the deep ditch, unable to climb out for the time being.

  The guy who was watching the wind was a bit thin, but his movements were agile, and he jumped in and ran towards me. Ah Tong also got up, staggering and rushing towards me, cursing loudly.

  The field wasn't very flat, and there were many vegetables planted. The two of them couldn't see clearly and stumbled over each other. I nimbly jumped back and forth between the two of them, punching and kicking without any courtesy, beating them until they yelped and jumped around.

  Their movements all seem a bit slow to me, they can't hit me, but I can easily hit them and stand undefeated. I feel a kind of inexplicable excitement, the spirit of the fox makes me stronger, no need to be afraid of them anymore!

  The lights in the house turned on, and then the lights in the yard also turned on. My mother shouted loudly: "Who is it? What are you doing? There's a thief! Catch the thief!"

  A Tong and Xiao Gezi finally panicked, splitting up to escape, but the wall of the courtyard was quite high, no one came to their aid, it wasn't easy for them to climb out. A Tong was pulled down by me and pressed to the ground, then fiercely punched several times, I didn't give him any face, the last few punches were all aimed at his face.

  "Stop hitting, stop hitting... don't hit me anymore, I'm scared!" Ah Tong cowered in the corner, covering his head with his hands and begging for mercy, while Xiao Zi took advantage of the distraction to jump over the wall.

  My mom came out and found that I was fighting with others, and she hurriedly told me not to fight. Fan Qiang only managed to struggle out of the ditch at this time, his whole body covered in rotten mud and stinky water, his face also completely covered in rotten mud and blood, his right hand dangling unable to lift it up, don't know if it was dislocated or fractured.

  My mom pulled me away and wouldn't let me hit them anymore, Ah Tong hurriedly supported Fan Qiang to walk into my house, then went out the front door. Once outside the front door, Fan Qiang started shaking again, saying viciously: "You just wait for me, you're dead meat, your whole family is dead meat!"

  I was so furious that if it wasn't for my mom holding me back, I would have beaten him up like the other day and he could only lie in bed on a drip!

  After my mom confirmed that the blood on me was not mine, she finally let out a sigh of relief and then started scolding me for fighting with them, saying it's better to lose two chickens than to offend those little rascals.

  "Mom, don't be afraid of them. From now on, no one will dare to bully us again. Even if five people come, I can still beat them." I comforted my mother.

  "Ah-Ming, they're all reckless people with power, even the Public Security Bureau doesn't dare to arrest them. How can we possibly win against them? They'd rather die than be treated like a dog, but you're your mother's everything, with a bright future ahead... We can't afford to clash with them head-on."

  They are indeed reckless, lacking family education from a young age, reading few books and not understanding reason. They neither believe in Marxism nor in heaven and earth gods, so they have no faith, ignorant and fearless, thinking they are the best in the world, living just to enjoy and bully others. Fan Qiang probably never suffered such a big loss before, the harsh words earlier were not just intimidation, revenge should be launched soon.

  I comforted my mother: "Don't worry, if they dare to make trouble, I'll call the police."

  "Mother shook her head: "Don't you know, they've been to the Public Security Bureau many times and have become friends with the police officers. Their leader is so powerful that even the Director of the Public Security Bureau doesn't dare to offend him, or else how could he dominate the roads and markets in our town? Tomorrow I'll go find his parents and reason with them..."

  I'm extremely depressed, I hit the thief and still have to apologize to the thief. Is there such logic in the world? However, the sky is high and the emperor is far away, but here really no one can control them.

  My mother nagged for a long time before going to sleep, I lay in bed and couldn't fall asleep. In the second half of the night, the village dogs barked wildly, and I repeatedly thought it was the Butterfly Gang gathering people to take revenge, but no one came to knock on my door, and I passed the night safely.

  I'm somewhat excited, it seems that switching to the spirit of a fox demon isn't necessarily a bad thing, at least my fighting ability has increased dramatically. For the first time in twenty years, I've beaten someone so thoroughly that they don't dare come back again.

  The next morning, Fan Qiang's mother came to my door, saying that I had beaten her son and broken his bones, and demanded that I pay for the medical expenses. This shrew was quite fierce, her voice could be heard throughout half of the village, she loudly scolded me, never mentioning that her son had stolen a chicken, only saying that I had beaten her son badly, making it seem like I was a ruthless killer... With a mother like this, no wonder there's also a son like him.

  This shrew's real name I don't know, the villagers all call her Shengyu Po. The reason she has a "po" character is not because she's very old, but because she claims to be able to communicate with spirits, and often has the likes of He Xiangu or Wang Mu Niangniang possessing her body. After my master passed away, she suddenly rose to prominence as the most famous spirit medium. She has many gods protecting her from above, and her son running amok below, her husband is the only Western doctor in the village, and their family also has several influential relatives, so it's hard for anyone to not make a big deal out of things.

  My mother kept apologizing and speaking kindly to her, but I didn't give her face, arguing with reason and evidence that it was her son who had stolen the chicken and fallen into the ditch, breaking his arm. In the end, half of the village was stirred up, with countless onlookers, and the marks of Fan Qiang's fall into the ditch were still there, with ironclad evidence, and everyone knew what kind of person he was, so no one supported Sheng Yu Po, and in the end she slunk away, defeated.

  But things didn't end there, after she went home, a god possessed her body and said that I borrowed the bronze bell from Fengtou Temple, the god is furious and will bring disaster to the whole village, last night all the dogs in the village barking wildly was an omen.

  It's ridiculous that someone would believe such a thing, but it spread like wildfire in just half a day. The village's busybody old men started whispering to each other and frequently appeared at my doorstep.