I closed my eyes, hoping that this was a dream, but the pain was too real and I was not sure. Or maybe there was no accurate distinction between reality and dreams at this moment.

Since I have made my position clear and will remain hostile to the white fox holding the Yinxie Pot, and if I pose a threat to it, I will inevitably die. After all, in order to guard this, it will dare to bite anyone, even the Antelope Witch, so how can it care about my life?

However, after waiting for a while, she still didn't make a move. I was a little confused, but then I saw her stop her hands, and her beautiful hands gently stroked my face, saying, "Zhou Lang, I don't want to kill you. If it were someone else, I would have eaten his heart long ago, but you are different. I can't bear to see you die. I will be very sad if you die. Maybe you really saved my life by chance, or maybe it's because I have you in my heart... Forget it, I will keep your life, but if you dare to come and grab the treasure, I will not let you go easily next time."

After saying that, she let me go. There was no movement behind me. Gradually, all the tails, mist, and everything that had just appeared disappeared, leaving only her last vague words: "I promised Zhou Lang that I would try my best to use the ancestral items for the right reasons. Can Zhou Lang rest assured?"

At this moment, I was suddenly awakened by a violent shaking. I opened my eyes and saw that the room was still the same. I was woken up by Yunwen and Bailu. My forehead was full of cold sweat. I touched my chest and found a lot of blood. Yunwen said anxiously: "Zhou Bo, the Yinxi Pot is gone. Also, a black shadow jumped away from your body just now. We saw that your chest was bleeding."

I smiled bitterly. It seemed like a dream and it was real. I asked, "Yunwen, why did the antelope witch scold the nine-tailed white fox Yagula?"

She was stunned for a moment. Seeing that I was not surprised by what she said, but asked this question, she couldn't help but touch my forehead, thinking that I had a fever and was crazy. But seeing that I was not, she said, "There is an allusion. It is said that this word was originally used by the Blood Eyes Clan to scold foxes that harassed their people. Later, it was basically used for abuse, meaning lowly beasts."

After hearing this, I understood. It seemed that what the fox fairy said was true. The Yin Xie Pot was indeed snatched from the fox clan by their Blood Eye Clan. After that, the foxes always wanted to take it back, and because of this, they were given the special title of "Yagula".

Since it is something of their own clan, they will not pursue the matter of returning it. They only hope that the beautiful fox fairy can use it for righteous purposes as promised, and not use it to refine corpses to prolong life. However, it took the Nine-tailed White Fox five hundred years to find this pot, and it could have survived for so long relying on itself, so why would it need those special methods to prolong its life?

There is no killing without buying and selling. If the profit (lifespan) is not the key, then other derivative markets (taking living things and refining corpses) will not exist. But what did the fox tribe use the pot for before? Is it necessary to go to such great lengths to find it back?

However, I guess there will be no answers to these questions. It is pointless to think about them, so I will just stop thinking about them.

In the next few days, the girls basically went to the river to catch some frozen dead fish and stewed them. Other food was impossible to find in the ice and snow. Due to my physical disability, I could only stay at home and wait for them. This was a rare reversal of roles. Usually, I was the one who went out and they were waiting for me at home.

All I can say is that it’s so comfortable to stay at home!

The horse was also found. When Yunwen and Bailu told me about it, I finally understood what happened. It turned out that the reason why the horse did not leave any subsequent footprints was because when it walked near the street, it jumped directly onto the roof of a nearby house. Since the roof was flat, it jumped to a backyard somewhere and hid there. When Yunwen found it, it was in a backyard somewhere, so I never found it.

That night, Yunwen came to rescue me on a horse. I guess it was hiding in the backyard, and when it heard Yunwen's voice, it appeared in time to let her ride on it. Then it was scared away, and probably hid in a backyard again. When Yunwen went out with Bailu to find food this time, it appeared again. So one member has returned.

I also discussed Yingchun's matter with the two girls. We decided to wait until my arm gets better before going to the cave together. After all, the nine-tailed white fox reminded me in my dream not to go to the cave, saying that I would be involved in some danger again. I was afraid that the girls would get into another accident and become unable to get out, so I gave them a slight warning and asked them to wait for me.

Although Yunwen knows archery, horse riding and other sports that only nobles like to learn, she has a fatal flaw. She can only participate in competitions for fun. If she is put in a real survival battle without my command, she will appear very simple and clumsy. After all, her combat experience is completely insufficient.

In a field fight, combat skills are important, and they need to be applied flexibly. It is not enough to just shoot at the target. For example, if the opponent is very close, can you react suddenly and use close-range archery to defend yourself? Basically no, because Yunwen is more like a textbook, she is good at rote memorization, but lacks flexibility.

Not to mention Bai Lu. When something happens, she will quickly betray her teammates and then hide herself. This is her habit. Therefore, it is okay to let them go to the cave alone to play, but if they know there is danger, then it is unnecessary. There is another point, I also want to know what the danger that the nine-tailed white fox mentioned is. Only when you know the danger can you defend yourself. As the saying goes, it is easy to dodge a spear but difficult to guard against an arrow from the dark.

After a series of intimidation, the girls were successfully frightened and just waited for my arm to get better.

In the next three or four days, the girls found some willow branches, made some willow baskets, and often took Sanfu to the mountains to collect food and brought them back. Yunwen would come to chat with me and talk about how she learned a lot of elegant sports such as golf, horse riding, archery, etc. under the guidance of her parents when she was a child. In the following time, she basically accompanied Bailu to do some odd jobs, and also fed the horse Sanfu to help calm its frightened heart.

In addition to cooking, finding food, and stewing some medicinal soups for me every day, Bailu would also report to me what she saw and asked. She especially wanted to enter the cave, so every time she went to the top of Four Seasons Mountain outside North City, she would take Yunwen to investigate outside the cave and tell me her opinions. Of course, most of the time she still thought that Yingchun might be inside.

In order to make me get better faster, she specially stewed the remaining Ganoderma lucidum and some wild jujubes together, hoping to help me replenish my blood. However, when they left to find food, I was bored. In addition to reading some papers on the bookshelf to make myself sleepy, I would occasionally drink a sip or two of wine, of course, just to kill time. But doing so would go against the original intention of Bailu.

Affects wound healing.

After four days of living a life of drunkenness and dreaming, tonight, Bai Lu made fish soup and served it to us. As we were eating and drinking together, she couldn't help but say, "Brother Zhou Bo, I've noticed that there's really nothing in there. I threw a torch and the flame burned for a long time, which means there's enough oxygen. I've been standing there for a long time. If there's poisonous miasma, the cold wind in the cave should have poisoned me. So there's no poison. I think there should be no problem. Otherwise, sister Yunwen and I will go in. You take a good rest. I'm afraid if Yingchun is really in there, she won't be able to wait."

I have also tried to do rehabilitation these two days. Although the wound on my shoulder blade has not healed, I can still move. Besides, I only need to move when I encounter danger. If I don't encounter danger, it won't matter if I go in with a blunt sword. In summary, with my current physical condition, I am definitely not capable of fighting, but I can try to escape and cover the rear.

"No need. Let's do this. I'll go with you tomorrow. We'll go into the cave and look around. If we find the fish, we'll bring it out and go back to the post station happily and leave this damn place. If we don't find it, or if we're in danger, it means Yingchun is either not here or dead. There's no need to linger there anymore. It's time to go back to the post station and live our own lives. We can't pick up so many dead fish in the Tianhe River anymore. They're basically rotten now. Eating them again will probably lead to food poisoning and infection. Bailu, you know better than me, right? Without food, we'll be trapped to death." I said.

Bai Lu's face was full of worry, then she sighed and nodded.