Fox Demon's Thousand Layers of Tricks
Bai Yan's Qiankun bag was filled with the scent of pine. Xiaodou huddled inside and sneezed, chewing the tassels at the bag's opening until they were jagged. Bai Yan sighed through the bag, "Stop chewing! They're made of Arctic ice silk."
"What's that taste?" Xiaodou spat out the tassel crumbs. "It's harder than osmanthus cake, and crisper than spiritual fruit."
"...It's a taste you can't afford to offend." Bai Yan was helpless, but when he opened the bag, he secretly stuffed a piece of osmanthus cake into it - the edges were roasted crispy, which was exactly the part Xiaodou liked to eat the most.
The Fox Clan's Yunshen Residence floated in the clouds, its green tiles and white walls swirling with a mist of spiritual energy. As soon as Xiaodou was placed on the ground, he was surrounded by a group of little fox demons, who pointed at his round head and chattered, "Is this Brother Bai Yan's Taoist companion? Why does he look like a sticky rice dumpling?"
"Daoist companion?" Xiaodou tilted his head, his claws unconsciously rubbing against Bai Yan's ankle. "Bai Yan, when they say Daoist companion, do they mean eating osmanthus cake together?"
Bai Yan's ears flushed red, and he scooped Xiaodou into his arms: "Don't listen to their nonsense! I, I just brought him here to recuperate!"
Before he finished speaking, the fox demon clan elder came out with a cane, his eyes lingering on the two people's intertwined claws. "Recovering? Then why are you holding it in your arms?"
Bai Yan suddenly let go, but Xiao Dou took the opportunity to slip into his sleeve and put his face against his hot collarbone: "Bai Yan's body temperature is like a stove, much more comfortable than Ji Shiya."
The elder laughed so hard he slapped his thigh. "Great, great, great! Bai Yan's parents were just as affectionate back then—By the way, Bai Yan, why don't you take him to see the Fox Tribe's treasure house? I heard the Sky-Swallowing Rats are very interested in treasures rich in spiritual energy."
The moment the treasury door opened, Xiaodou's eyes lit up like two black grapes. The spiritual plants, magic weapons, and spiritual stones that filled the room radiated an alluring glow. Especially on the central jade table sat a fist-sized Qinglu spiritual fruit, its skin shrouded in dew as thick as honey.
"You can only look at it, but you can't eat it." Bai Yan held Xiaodou's paw. "These spiritual fruits are produced by the fox tribe only once every thousand years..."
“Crack.”
The fruit, skin and core, disappeared into Xiaodou's mouth, leaving only a string of cores tumbling out from the corners of his mouth. Each core was engraved with auspicious patterns like "Fu" and "Shou." Bai Yan's pupils suddenly shrank, remembering that this fruit was meant for the elder's birthday. Cold sweat instantly soaked his back.
"You..." He wanted to say something but stopped himself, but saw Xiaodou holding his stomach and burping. The spiritual energy of the spiritual fruit spread along the Heaven-Swallowing Pattern and dyed the stray hairs on the tip of his tail silver-white.
"Bai Yan," Xiaodou tugged at his sleeve, "this fruit is a bit bitter, not as delicious as your osmanthus cake."
Bai Yan suddenly laughed out loud, and his fingertips gently brushed the silver hair on the tip of his tail: "Silly rat, the Qinglu Spirit Fruit is originally bitter, but you can actually taste sweet..."
"Because I feel sweet inside." Xiaodou looked up at him, his black bean-like eyes reflecting the pearly light from the treasure house. "Bai Yan is so good to me, it's sweeter than spiritual fruit."
Bai Yan's smile froze on his face, the red tip of his ear nearly bleeding. He spun around, knocking over a jade bottle beside him, sending the anti-aging pills tumbling across the floor. Xiaodou's eyes lit up, and he was about to take a bite, but Bai Yan used his tail to tuck him into his arms, "That's for the female cultivators of our clan. Don't mess with it..."
"Bai Yan?" The elder's voice came from outside the door, "Is the Sky-Swallowing Rat feeling unwell? I brought the ancient books of the Concept Rat Clan—"
The words stopped abruptly. The elder looked at Bai Yan and Xiao Dou hugging each other, as well as the spiritual fruit core and the anti-aging pill on the ground, and suddenly smiled meaningfully: "You guys continue, I didn't see anything."
"No!" Bai Yan stood up suddenly, but because he moved too quickly, he threw Xiaodou to the feet of the elder.
The elder looked at the rune on Xiaodou's claws, his pupils shrinking suddenly. "Is this... the star pattern of the Concept Rat? Bai Yan, you already knew his identity, right?"
Bai Yan's body was frozen, his Adam's apple rolling and he couldn't speak. Xiaodou, however, naively chewed on the head of the elder's cane and discovered that it was a piece of agate carved with a deer. "Elder, this tastes like orange candy."
"When a Concept Rat appears, it will be accompanied by Deer Singing." The elder stroked Xiaodou's head and turned his gaze to Bai Yan. "Back then, your parents went against the will of Heaven to protect the Concept Rat cubs... Bai Yan, do you know why you were able to cultivate into a human form?"
Bai Yan looked up suddenly, and the scene of his parents' death flashed through his memory - they used fox fire to protect a swaddling cloth, and a furry mouse paw was exposed in the swaddling cloth, with the same rune as Xiaodou's engraved on the center of the paw.
"You are the guardian chosen by the Concept Rat," the elder sighed. "Since birth, you have been planted with the star mark. Now that the mark has appeared in the world, it means that the true Concept Rat has returned..."
"That's enough!" Bai Yan suddenly pulled Xiaodou out, "He's just a greedy Sky-Swallowing Rat, not some concept rat!"
Xiaodou stumbled under his pull, but noticed Bai Yan's tail trembling violently, like a bird's feathers drenched by a rainstorm. He reached out secretly, hooking his claws around Bai Yan's pinky finger, only to feel the calluses on his palm—the result of years of sword-holding, yet a soft scar remained on his fingertip, as if bitten by a small animal.
"Bai Yan," Xiao Dou said softly, "Are you afraid that I will leave?"
Bai Yan's steps suddenly stopped, but he heard Xiaodou continue, "Actually, I'm also afraid... I'm afraid that you'll dislike me for only knowing how to eat, and that you'll know I'm the Concept Rat Queen and won't let me eat the osmanthus cake."
Bai Yan turned around and looked at the watery glint in Xiaodou's eyes. He suddenly squatted down to look him in the eye, and gently scratched his nose with his fingertips: "No. Even if you are a concept mouse, you are the dumbest one I have ever seen - you can even taste the sweetness of spiritual energy fruit."
As night fell, Xiaodou lay on Baiyan's windowsill, nibbling at the moonlight. Baiyan sat at the table, spreading out a yellowed ancient book. On it was a rune similar to Xiaodou's paw print, with a note next to it:
The concept rat embodies thousands of laws in one, and its guardian must protect it with his life until the stars return to their positions.
"What are you looking at?" Xiaodou jumped onto his knees, sweeping his tail across the word "Guardian" on the ancient book.
Bai Yan quickly closed the book, his ears slightly red. "Nothing. Tomorrow is the final of the survival challenge, go to bed early."
"What about you?" Xiaodou crawled into his sleeve, "Do you have nightmares? I can help you eat your nightmares~"
Bai Yan's body suddenly froze, but he heard Xiaodou's muffled voice: "Just like you helped me eat away my fear..."
He sighed and gently rubbed Xiaodou's ears with his fingertips: "Silly Mouse, my only nightmare is watching you chew on the marriage certificate as if it were a piece of cracker."
Xiaodou looked up and saw that Bai Yan's eyes glowed amber in the moonlight, like a glass cup filled with honey. The red of his ears was brighter than the cinnabar flowers blooming on the windowsill.
Late at night, Xiaodou was awakened by the sound of footsteps. He opened his eyes and saw Bai Yan standing by the window. The moonlight outlined the flowing golden lines on his body - the same star marks as those in the ancient books.
"Father, Mother," Bai Yan whispered to the moon, "I finally found him... But how should I tell him that our meeting was destined from the beginning?"
A petal from the cinnabar flower outside the window suddenly fell, landing squarely on Xiaodou's paw. He saw Bai Yan's reflection reflected in the petal, overlapping with a vague image in his memory—a young boy crying while holding a baby mouse, his wrist wrapped in a bloody bandage, the faint trace of a deer pattern visible beneath the bandage.
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