Chapter Eleven: Master, this is not the time for fancy moves

  All the good words about foxes are gone, and what's left are some unflattering terms like "sly", "foxy" and "stinky", which have almost become a haven for derogatory words. As time went on, the fox spirit became synonymous with problematic lifestyle, becoming a notorious lustful animal, and has yet to recover to this day.

  The records on the door book are like this, but it's unclear whether the fox spirit belongs to the ancient divine beast or not. However, people from the south gate said that in the ancient era, it was an era of chaotic monsters. As for whether the fox spirit was good or bad at first, there is no way to investigate. The door book records that the fox spirits are all harmful things. The door book also recorded a matter about the upper court, if you like to read the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, you will definitely know that the matter of Bi Gan digging out his heart is related to the fox spirit.

  It is recorded in the Zhāng Mén Shū that King Zhou, in order to please Daji, disregarded the suffering of his people and built a Deer Platform. After the platform was completed, King Zhou listened to Daji's evil words and wanted to meet with immortal maidens.

  Daji conceived a plan, and on the fifteenth night, she invited all the fox spirits in Xuanyuan's tomb to transform into immortals, gods, and immortal maidens to attend a banquet at Lutai, where they would enjoy the heavenly feast of the Nine Dragons, bewildering King Zhou.

  At the banquet, the fox spirit with a strong odor and shallow skills unexpectedly revealed its tail.

  The banquet scene was seen very clearly by Bi Gan, the uncle of Zhou Wang. After the banquet, he informed Wu Cheng Wang Huang Feihu about this situation. Upon investigation, it was found that all the fox spirits were from the Xuan Yuan Tomb. Then, Bi Gan and Wu Cheng Wang Huang Feihu led troops to block the entrance of the fox cave and set fire to burn all the foxes to death.

  Bi Gan made a cloak from the unburned fox fur and presented it to King Zhou in the severe winter, intending to intimidate Daji's heart and make her unable to be at peace with the king. When Daji saw that the cloak was made of the skin and hair of her children and grandchildren, she felt as if her heart had been cut by a knife and deeply hated Bi Gan, vowing to dig out his heart. After some deliberation, Daji found Hu Ximei, a beautiful woman, and the two decided to jointly plot against Bi Gan's life.

  Later, there was also the saying that Bi Gan was harmed by the fox spirit's heart-wrenching trick. However, according to the records in the Palm Gate Book, using fire to burn is useless against the fox spirits. The fox spirits have at least practiced for over a hundred years and already possess the ability to separate their physical form from their spirit. If you burn their physical body, their spirit will not be destroyed. To thoroughly eliminate them, one must first scatter their spirit, which can dispel the magical powers on their bodies. The hidden fox spirits will no longer pose any threat to humans.

  There is no record in the annals of history how Bi Gan burned to death a group of powerful fox spirits in Xuanyuan Cave, but the Southern Gate's manual records that there is something that can easily subdue the fox spirits, which is easy to find and very common. Fu looked around, his eyes fixed on a place hidden by dense forest, and he crawled towards it.

  Three sheep found it strange, but when Fu Chuan crawled back with two long thin bamboo sticks in his hand, San Yang was even stranger. "Master, this is not the time to play."

  " Bah!" Fu Chuan snorted, "Let you take a good look at the sect's manual. You don't read it, all you think about is this."

  Fu Chuan said: "According to the records in the 'Palm Gate Book', when Bi Gan led his men to set fire to Xuanyuan Cave, they didn't have a surefire way to kill those fox spirits. However, he received guidance from an immortal, who told him that bamboo with clear wind and bright virtues could suppress the evil aura of the fox spirits. Bamboo is the purest thing in the world, while fox spirits are the most evil things in the world. Only the purest thing can eliminate the evil aura on the bodies of the fox spirits. The fox spirits had cultivated for so many years just to maintain that evil aura to harm people. So Bi Gan ordered his men to make a set of furniture with dried bamboo and put it in Xuanyuan Cave. Those fox spirits thought the furniture looked good, so they moved into the cave without realizing that their evil aura would be drained away as soon as they sat down. Moreover, since the bamboo was dry, one spark of fire was enough to get rid of them completely."

  "So that's how it is." San Yang took a bamboo stick and asked, "Master, what should we do now?"

  "Don't hurt this fox spirit, put it in the Hundred Spirits Bag, it will come in handy later." Fu Chuan said.

  After returning to the hotel, Xing Chengtian sat on the balcony, seemingly thinking about something. San Yang placed the Hundred Spirits Bag he had been carrying behind him on the table. The bag looked very light, but when it was put down, it still made a thudding sound. After all, the fox spirits inside were genuine goods.

  "What is this?"

  Three sheep smiled and said to Xing Chengtian: "Fox spirit, I just received it from my master, and my master said it would be useful when brought back."

  Xing Cheng Tian didn't know what Fu Chuan was up to, he turned to Fu Chuan who had just come out of the toilet and asked: "Still not enough trouble, now you're catching a fox spirit."

  Fu Chuan said: "Don't worry, it will come in handy when we catch it back."

  Fuhe patted the cloth bag and said, "It's probably a fox fairy that has been cultivating in the forest. You haven't seen what a real cultivated fox fairy looks like. Fox fairies have always been auspicious creatures since ancient times. Although they are extremely seductive, ancient history books record that fox fairies are animals with a full body of immortal bones. Especially this one that has been cultivating for over a hundred years, its whole body has undergone a transformation, and it can produce a white mist that brings people joy and makes them forget their worries. It will absolutely not be a green, eerie aura."

  "So you mean fox spirits are pests."

  "It can be said that I think the fox spirit's sacred aura must have been contaminated by something, which is why it's full of demonic energy." Fu Chuan said. In fact, in ancient times, there were many things that would later be called demons and monsters, but they actually belonged to the category of divine beasts of the ancient era. At that time, they were objects of worship and sacrifice for various tribes, just like the fox spirit, which was once considered a totem by many tribes.

  Xing Cheng Tian couldn't help but ask: "Do you know what it is?"

  Fu Chuan curled up the corner of his mouth and said, "I don't know for now, but I'll definitely find out soon. Tonight, I'm going to interrogate it thoroughly." Upon hearing that he was going to interrogate the fox spirit, San Yang immediately stepped forward bravely and said, "Master, I'll accompany you." Fu Chuan twitched the corner of his mouth and gave San Yang a cold glance.

  After dinner, Fu Chuan and Xing Chengtian discussed things on the balcony, San Yang went to prepare something that would be used later. Fu Chuan somehow found a bottle of white wine produced in this province, and then took out a bag of snacks from San Yang's backpack, and they started drinking with Xing Chengtian on the balcony.

  While drinking, the topic naturally turned to this mountain stronghold. Xing Chengtian said to Chuang Yu, "The people in this stronghold give me a feeling that they don't dare to tell the truth."

  Fu Xiang nodded and cracked a peanut, saying: "The village should have been controlled by some evil thing."

  "Did you see what those people in the village were wearing?" Xing Chengtian said, Fu Chuan shook his head, he really hadn't noticed: "What's going on."

  Xing Chengtian's gaze fell on the hundred demon bag beside Fu Chuan, and he said: "As long as the history of this bag."

  "If I'm not mistaken, the fabric they're wearing is no longer seen in today's society. The clothes they wear are made from a type of tree fiber found in the mountains, and this craftsmanship has long been lost."

  Xian Chengtian started to show off his knowledge again, saying: "The indigenous people living on the Songhua River in Heilongjiang also use birch bark to make clothes, but the kind of clothing we see appeared thousands of years earlier than those made from birch bark."

  This Fu River certainly knows, CCTV's "What?!" ecological program has done an introduction, but what makes Fu River puzzled is why these people are wearing clothes made of fabrics from thousands of years ago.

  Fujiang looked at Xing Chengtian, poured himself a cup of wine, hoping to get an answer. However, Xing Chengtian himself was also unable to explain clearly what the reason was. He said: "This is not within my power to explain, such a strange thing should be something you do."

  Fu Xiang knew he was being asked a white question, so he said: "What do you think about the fox spirit?"

  "I think that since you feel the fox spirits are being polluted here, there must be a source of pollution. However, as for what is polluting the forest's gods and monsters, I don't know yet. As long as we continue to investigate, we will definitely find out. And I feel like everything about this place is so strange, from the moment I arrived, I didn't feel very comfortable."

  Fuhe looked at him, then got up to go find San Yang. The time had arrived, the full moon was high in the sky, and it was also the best time to interrogate the Fox Spirit. Legend has it that if a Fox Spirit does not cultivate for a thousand years, it will not be able to speak. However, Heaven pitied these foxes who found cultivation difficult, so those Fox Immortals who had cultivated for less than a thousand years could only open their mouths to speak during the full moon of every month.