"Otherwise what?" Shen Hua shrugged.

She wasn't in the mood for jokes. She just saw that he was a bit free and wanted to train his physical fitness so that he could deal with demons and monsters later.

This feud is now in the making. She just injured her apprentice, Shen Hua. Is she pretending he doesn't exist?

Let them know that she exists.

...

When the fox came in, it had wandered into a maze, and even it couldn't tell which way was which.

It walked for a long time but remained in the same place until a fox bigger than itself stood in front of it, at which point it realized it had been under an illusion.

It immediately felt challenged and wanted to prove itself, but unexpectedly, it lost every time it made a move.

Finally, he collapsed from exhaustion, gasping for breath on the ground.

"I'm not fighting anymore, I'm not fighting anymore, I can't win, just tell me! Why did you trap me here?"

"Xiaoqi, I am your mother."

Lu Qi: ...

It's one thing to beat it, but to try and take advantage of it and even ask for its mother back? How could that be? It belongs to its... that's right.

But why is there this inexplicable bond in our bloodline that prevents me from retaliating?

Could it really be true?

Impossible. Foxes, being so noble, have memories passed down through generations. Why doesn't it have any recollection of them?

"You're talking nonsense, I popped out of a rock."

Even it itself became less confident after saying that, but the fact that it sprang from a crack in a rock made many small animals envious.

After all, small animals with mothers' care are not as capable as it. It's not like it lacks love; my niece treats it very well.

Seeing it retort like that, the fox wasn't angry. It slowly walked over on all fours and then tapped Lu Qi's brow with one of its paws.

Suddenly, a memory flooded into Lu Qi's mind: a beautiful, gentle fox who treated him extremely well.

It was strikingly similar to the one standing in front of it, even the expression on its face was exactly the same.

Just as it was about to explore more memories, it found itself in complete darkness. The memories that had been transmitted were all beautiful, and it felt a little reluctant to leave after reading them.

Tears welled in its eyes as it looked at the fox before it and choked out, "Are you really my mother? Then why did you abandon me?"

"Xiao Qi, Mother didn't mean it. Will you blame Mother?"

"Even if you are my mother, the moment you abandoned me, you ceased to be my mother. So why are you still here?"

"Xiao Qi, I'm not here to disturb your life on purpose, but I foresaw that you're about to face a calamity and I can't bear to see you suffer."

"Nonsense, I've always been fine. I'm so strong, what difficulties could I possibly have?"

Then the mother fox showed it to it, and that's when it realized that the foxes of their kind had a little bit of the ability to foresee the future, but at a high price.

So it looked at its mother fox in disbelief. Would a mother who could abandon it really give up such a great price to make up for it?

Since such a great sacrifice is possible, why can't we keep it by our side? Is it really because we have no choice? Or is it because we've become more sensible?

How can I avoid it?

At this point, it had become more rational and was no longer so willful.

Having inherited so many memories, it has gradually transformed from its former adorable nature, growing up almost in an instant.

"There's no escaping it, you can only face it. Improve your abilities, and all difficulties will cease to be difficulties. So from now on, I'm going to put you through grueling training. Are you ready?"

Lu Qi nodded emphatically and said, "Ready."

This time, it persisted not only for itself, but also for its niece.

It used to be a child, but now it has to take on the responsibility of making it look old. Although its niece is always more capable than it, its clan is not weak if it rises up.

When they are combined, they will be invincible.

It was called "devil training," but in the subsequent training, it would only occasionally go out to fight in order to improve its combat ability.

Most of the time, the fox mother would find the inner core of a demon beast for it to consume.

In just a few days, its abilities improved dramatically, and it was difficult for it to encounter any monsters that could defeat it here.

I believe that in a little while, it will be the strongest among the monsters here.

Compared to it, the mother fox looked increasingly haggard, and it gradually focused its attention on it, and the two slowly developed a bond of affection.

It also discovered that its mother was not as cruel as it had initially thought; on the contrary, she loved her cubs very much.

Why has your body become weak? Did you do something?

This made it think more deeply, because its mother fox was too cruel to itself, working day and night without rest, all to find more demon cores for it.

"It's alright, there's nothing wrong with my body, you don't need to worry. The most important thing now is to improve your strength."

Actually, it didn't explain to Lu Qi another reason why it was in such a hurry to improve its strength. If it had explained it, it might not have followed that path.

"You call this okay? You're practically dead!" Lu Qi roared angrily.

You can become stronger through your own efforts; there's no need for it to sacrifice itself like this, and there's more than one way to do so.

The mother fox looked at it, and it knew that the anger was because the fox was worried about it, and it was also happy because the fox cared.

But in the current situation, there's simply no extra time for it to think about all that.

"Okay, Mother was really wrong. I will definitely rest more in the future."

"Not only do you need to rest more, but next time you should save some of your demon core. I'm not worried about you, I'm just afraid you'll collapse and no one will be there to collect your body."

Lu Qi turned her head away haughtily, she hadn't even acknowledged it yet.

Although it neither admitted nor denied it, this alone made the mother fox very happy.

"Okay, okay, whatever Xiaoqi says is right."

Lu Qi felt a little awkward, so he pushed it to go rest right now, saying that it could handle the demon core matter by itself.

Although it couldn't capture any large demon cores, small ones were still enough to replenish its energy.

Seeing its persistence, the mother fox agreed, but she didn't fall asleep after lying down. As soon as Lu Qi left, she quickly opened her eyes.

It found a nearby place and went there, so that it could find the demon core and get there in time if Xiao Qi encountered danger.

Lu Qi killed monsters with great ease along the way, and he could barely hold onto the demon cores in his hands. Only after killing his way through did he realize that these monsters were extremely ferocious and would attack people with all their might on sight.