Chapter 34 Chapter 34 How big is this black pot! The caracal thinks...
Lin Xinghuo pondered for several days and even borrowed an old dictionary from the old branch secretary to read it. Even a caracal couldn't bear to read it.
Relying on his ability to communicate with the little fox, the cat man expressed his willingness to take on this "heavy responsibility".
Lin Xinghuo's suspicious eyes drifted over, and the caracal's fur instantly exploded.
The caracal also has a true name, but it's veiled in tradition. Only those who reach the Transformation stage can discover their name and origins. The Transformation stage for demon cultivators is similar to the Golden Core stage for humans. Even though the caracal, aided by Lin Xinghuo's various medicinal baths, has already reached halfway to Body Refining, there are still two major hurdles to overcome: Bone Refining and Demon Core Refining.
When the two of them had signed the pact, Lin Xinghuo had asked the caracal's name. At first, the caracal was reluctant to share this information, but it was only later, as their friendship deepened, that he volunteered the secret. At that time, the caracal had even hesitantly promised not only to reveal his real name but also to use it again in the pact with Lin Xinghuo, thus making their pact a supreme partnership, blessed by the heavens.
Ignored by its own humans and now suspected, the caracal, originally weak, suddenly became confident and called the three fox cubs over. Baring its teeth, the caracal said, "One is called Beiguo, the other is called Dingbao, and the third fox is a male, Tiyang."
Apart from Fox Three's name which is a bit difficult to pronounce, Beiguo and Dingbao are actually quite nice. However, "These are more like nicknames, right? It wouldn't be nice to be called this when they grow up." Two charming and beautiful women seemed to appear in front of Lin Xinghuo's eyes, with the childish names Beiguo and Dingbao.
No! Bagel? Ding Bao? Ti Yang?
Take the blame! Take the blame! Scapegoat!
Seeing that the three little foxes seemed quite satisfied, Lin Xinghuo immediately grabbed the round ears of the caracal, who had bad intentions: "You are being naughty again!"
The caracal rolled its eyes, brushed the human's hand away with its tail, jumped onto the wall, and said to the little fox, "You have a very famous fellow tribesman named Su Daji. Humans attributed the credit for the demise of the dynasty to her, and these three names were given based on her deeds." At the end of The Investiture of the Gods, even King Zhou was deified, but Su Daji was beheaded. If she wasn't a scapegoat, then what was she?
Lin Xinghuo laughed angrily: "I'm reading to you, not asking you to tease the fox cubs!" It turned out that the caracal was impatient to listen to her reciting scriptures to the fox cubs, and insisted on listening to stories about the human world. It happened that there was a copy of "Investiture of the Gods" among the books she bought from the black street. Lin Xinghuo read the book to the caracal with an attitude of reference.
The fox cubs chased to the wall with their big tails wagging, looking very happy. They turned around and whimpered at Lin Xinghuo. Even though Lin Xinghuo didn't understand their cries, he could understand that the three little ones were happy to be called by this name.
Lin Xinghuo hurriedly picked it up and tried to comfort it. The caracal glared at him sideways, looking very unhappy. He then said, "Foxes are the most easily succumbed to the pleasures of the human world! What's wrong with this name? It can also remind them that they are different species and they should not stray from the right path!"
The big fox barked and nodded its little head as if to take off. The second fox also rubbed against Lin Xinghuo and acted coquettishly. Only the third fox couldn't keep up. After being kicked by its two sisters, it whimpered and knelt its little paws towards Lin Xinghuo to say hello.
This is the disadvantage of having too many small animals at home. Not long after the sable arrived, he taught Fox Three his specialty, the "bowing."
But the name that the caracal came up with is too tricky!
Lin Xinghuo was about to tell the story here to the little foxes when she felt her eyebrows and her heart warm up. Under the influence of her mind, the black fox skull spontaneously flew out from the wooden sign on her neck and quickly grew larger. The fox skull had a connection with her that day, and there was a projection of the fox skull in Lin Xinghuo's purple mansion. However, the fox bone was not Lin Xinghuo's magic weapon, and it was not suitable to stay in the dantian for a long time. Then the fox skull found a place for itself: it shrank to the size of a fingernail and hung on the upper right corner of Lin Xinghuo's wooden sign of martial arts.
The leather ropes made of unknown material around the necks of the three little foxes broke with a sound, and the old copper bells fell to the ground and rolled far away.
"Huh?" Lin Xinghuo, who had already retreated far away with the little fox in his arms, watched from a distance the moment the leather rope broke.
The man, the cat, and the three foxes all had large eyes, all looking towards the same spot. Under the gaze of these five pairs of eyes, the bells, without any wind, slowly rolled towards the center... then faster and faster, until they finally collided with one spot.
“Boom!”
Bright light and dust suddenly rose up.
Lin Xinghuo blocked the fox cub with her arm, and the caracal appeared in front of her like a ghost, with its long and thick furry tail sweeping in the air, isolating the explosion like a barrier.
The fox skull floating beside her suddenly grabbed something and started spinning it inside its skull.
"Xuanhu Demon Pill?" Lin Xinghuo felt that her connection with the fox skull was a little closer. The fox skull flew around Lin Xinghuo with the inner pill covering it, and a round bead the size of a pigeon egg fell into her palm.
Everyone carefully examined the off-white demon pill, and the caracal identified it, saying, "This is a top-level purple pill."
Lin Xinghuo used his spiritual power, and indeed, a layer of light purple light was faintly visible in the gray-white: "Low-grade yellow pill, medium-grade red pill, and high-grade purple pill?"
The caracal said, "When the elixir is fully formed, all the purple energy can be absorbed into the demon elixir, forming a golden elixir." Spirit beast cultivation is generally divided into twelve major realms, the first of which are Spirit Gathering, Wisdom Enlightenment, Body Forging, Bone Refining, Demonic Elixir, and Transformation. Transformation is the greatest dividing line in a demon cultivator's life. Humans are favored by the Heavenly Dao, and from the moment a demon beast transforms into a human, the path becomes completely different. Besides regular cultivation, there are two shortcuts to transformation. One is to cultivate the legendary Qingshuizhi, which purifies demonic energy into pure spiritual energy, allowing even the lowest-level spirit beast at the Spirit Gathering stage to transform into a human. The other is to form a perfect golden elixir, which allows one to transform into a human one major realm earlier. Either way, it heralds a smooth path in cultivation.
"This black fox possesses a purple elixir, so it shouldn't be so weak." Even if it was struggling to resist natural disasters during the spiritual energy extinction period, it shouldn't have been so exhausted as to be harmed by mortals. The demonic energy stored in the purple elixir itself was incredibly rich. Furthermore, the purple elixir was still there, and a demon cultivator with a fierce temperament wouldn't want to endure the pain of having their body and heart ripped out. At most, they could just shatter their elixir and start over. The power of the black fox's shattered elixir could instantly annihilate not only seven families, but even seventy or seven hundred people.
The caracal looked at Lin Xinghuo, "Unless—"
Lin Xinghuo's heart moved, and he stared at it: "Unless what?"
"Unless the black fox is pregnant," the caracal said slowly. "Spiritual beasts are like human cultivators. The higher their cultivation, the harder it is to produce offspring. But once a mother beast becomes pregnant, the spiritual fetus will inevitably consume her essence. Half of the mother beasts may even find it difficult to bear a fetus. If the black fox is in the same situation, then leaving the mountains and saving people is not a coincidence, but a necessity."
"Spiritual energy is drying up, and fertilization is difficult to sustain. There is one method that may be able to compensate: merit." Merit is a path cultivated by both orthodox demon cultivators and the four major incense sects. Its uses are countless. However, while this path has many benefits, its sole contribution to increasing cultivation is not obvious. Therefore, few beasts fighting for their lives cultivate merit.
Lin Xinghuo murmured, "If the Black Fox came out of the mountains to accumulate merits to nourish the fetus, then it makes sense that she struggled to save people until she was exhausted during the avalanche." But she didn't expect that people's hearts could be so evil that they could murder their saviors in the blink of an eye.
"That's why Xuan Hu didn't dare to break her elixir rashly. Eighty percent of the demonic energy contained in her purple elixir was used to protect the fetus." The caracal continued, "Even if she allowed anyone to do anything, the spirit fetus still had a glimmer of hope. Unlike human fetuses, a spirit fetus is only connected to the placenta, but a spirit fetus is completely encased within the placenta. With this placenta, the spirit fetus can still survive even when hidden within the demonic elixir! Xuan Hu used all of the essence of the demonic elixir to nourish the spirit fetus. Even if birth doesn't occur, it can still stay alive for a while."
Lin Xinghuo's mind was filled with a thousand thoughts, and at this moment, a thread seemed to fly out: the demon pill, the Buxian Temple, the master, the fox cub, and the bell...
A bell! There's a copper ball inside the bell, but it doesn't ring. Does this sound like the caracal's description of a demonic elixir hiding a fetus? Perhaps the copper ball is the afterbirth layer left behind by the demonic fetus?
Could that spiritual fetus be me?
Xuanhu is the mother, and the man who accompanies Xuanhu, who hides the demon pill in the flesh and blood of the broken limbs and sacrifices the seven souls to help the demon pill escape from the coffin, is the father?
…
Ever since the Black Fox Demon Pill was formed, the fox skull's spirituality has increased a little. When Lin Xinghuo sinks his consciousness into the Purple Mansion, he can sometimes feel some simple emotions from the fox skull - kindness, happiness and longing.
The Black Fox Demon Pill hid in the fox skull and refused to come out. When the fox skull was shrunk again and attached to the wooden sign as a pendant, the inheritance wooden sign turned into a tiny book. Lin Xinghuo flipped through it and found that there were only two pages in the wooden shell. The first page was the content originally micro-carved on the surface of the wooden sign, while the second page had additional chapters on pills, talismans, formations, instruments and spells, which were still suitable for the Qi Refining Stage.
These were all necessary for human cultivation. Furthermore, the Black Fox skull was so attached to the wooden plaque. Lin Xinghuo guessed that the plaque was probably left by that man.
In this way, Lin Xinghuo's life experience is revealed.
*
"An avalanche from over 120 years ago?" Wei Chunfeng helped hide the local chronicle that Lin Xinghuo had finished reading. "That's hard to find! There are so many mountains and snow here, and it was during the chaos of war. You could never be sure where something collapsed, or it was attacked by bandits. Entire villages were often wiped out. You might not be able to find it by searching through these books—but maybe you can ask around among the elderly. Maybe you can find it."
Lin Xinghuo's search for the black fox's heart did not go smoothly. Even though Director Zhou of Fangmaji Commune and He Qingdu helped her look for some ancient books of county and township chronicles, she did not find any useful clues from them.
"Minister He helped me get an internal library card for Zhang County Library. I'll go look for it there in a couple of days." Lin Xinghuo said, "As for asking people, I'll discuss it with the old branch secretary and see if I can have the winery's salesperson ask about it while they're selling the wine."
Wei Chunxing laughed outside and said, "Of course I can do that! There's no need to discuss this with the old Party Secretary. I'll go talk to them right now!"
"They?" Lin Xinghuo and Wei Chunfeng both asked.
Wei Chunxing rubbed his wrist and laughed, "You have no idea how many dirty tricks the old man has! This winery hasn't even brewed any wine yet, but our old Party Secretary has already sent Wang Huzi and a few other smart and talkative people to promote it. Each of them hangs a wine gourd and squats at the door of the supply and marketing station. Whenever someone comes, he shakes the wine gourd. The pine wine smells so good! Not to mention the passers-by can't stand it, even the big-name salesmen in the supply and marketing station have asked about it, but they're still keeping it a secret, and have to wait until the leaders come before they take out the wine cups for people to appreciate."
"That's stingy! The wine cup is as small as a bottle cap. It's really piqued people's interest. People in our village said that this is Buxiantun Song wine. We will sell it next month. If any supply and marketing stations are interested in buying it, they should hurry, because several communes have already placed orders. If you're late, it will be gone."
Wei Chunxing couldn't stop laughing: "The saying 'If you don't shake it, it tastes like wine, but if you shake it, the aroma will make you intoxicated' has become popular! This is a novelty in the countryside, and there are always people coming to join in the fun and smell the intoxicating aroma. Wang Huzi and his gang are so mean. They went there for two days in a row, but there were many people tempted but few people to taste it. But everyone who tasted it had to say it was a good wine. After two days of this, the supply and marketing cooperative leaders were still making fun of it. Well, guess what? They moved to another place!"
Wei Chunfeng shook her head in amusement. "What cleverness? This is called evil! Are the leaders of the supply and marketing cooperatives really blind?"
Of course not! People in Selangor have always loved drinking, and everyone, young or old, can drink. When guests come to our house, no matter what the side dishes are, even if it's just sweet potato vines with half a glass of cheap wine, as long as there is wine, it's a good meal! The refreshing feeling they get from drinking Xianshan Song wine is really incomparable to strong liquor. The supply and marketing cooperative is not unwilling to buy, but it's their usual style. However, these people can't imagine that a workshop run by a brigade can be so aggressive. If you don't place an order, they will turn around and leave! How can the young and old men who are tempted by the wine avoid the supply and marketing station at their doorstep?
Well, the militia at the entrance of the village have already received several salesmen from the supply and marketing cooperative. The female militia on duty today also came to tell Wei Chunxing to keep an eye on the golden ring bees. This group of bees is really rare. Not only can they drive away sparrows that steal seedlings, but they can also guard the house! I don’t know how the little fairy trained them, but if there is someone who is not from the village, two of the bees in the village who are collecting honey will follow. The militia who came is one of the five female militias who were just selected into the team this year. The female soldier spoke crisply: "It’s not that we are afraid of stinging them. The golden ring bees in our village don’t sting people. We are afraid that these people will find out and take off one or two of them while we are not paying attention. That would be unacceptable!"
"Wang Huzi and the others are squatting at the door of the supply and marketing station. They're not squatting there for no reason. They gather there after a round of drinking. It's hard to find other people because there are too many old men!" The young and strong have to work, so the ones who have free time are mostly old people. Because it's wine, there are more old men gathered. If you want to sell well, you have to rely on these old men. After all, it's rare for families in rural areas to split up, and the power of the family is mostly in the hands of the old men and women. Young people may be ridiculed for wanting to drink, but if an old man who has worked hard all his life wants a drink to relieve his old injuries, most people will refuse.
"It's just a casual chat anyway. Asking about this matter will give us something else to talk about." Wei Chunxing drank two sips of water, picked up his shoulder pole and went out.
Wei Chunfeng didn't react until the person had gone far away. She hurried to the west wing to see that there was indeed not a single jar of wine left! Lin Xinghuo had picked up all the second batch of wine!
Wei Chunfeng gritted her teeth and said, "You're turning your elbow outward!" The siblings had agreed privately that they would follow the little fairy wholeheartedly in the future. Since then, the siblings have become even closer. It seems that their relationship has returned to the close relationship before she got married. But this brat didn't even think of leaving some for his sister!
To work with Lin Xinghuo, Wei Chunfeng even resigned from her position as Women's Director—yes, she was still the newly elected Women's Director, but Wei Chunfeng felt more secure following Lin Xinghuo. Secondly, her ex-husband, Chen Laifu, had remarried, marrying the same widow Jin who had previously denied any connection to him. Because she refused to leave Jinjiayao, Chen Laifu had gone along with her, leaving his parents in the vacant lot. Old Lady Chen always tried to appease Wei Chunfeng, claiming she was looking for her granddaughter, to the point that Wei Chunfeng refused to even enter the village: Old Lady Chen was superstitious and wouldn't dare to cause trouble in the little fairy's place.
There was nothing to do at the health station for the time being, so Lin Xinghuo was going back up the hill. Before leaving, she instructed Wei Chunfeng, "Chunxing asked Grandma Wei for some dried gourds the other day. Can you go and look for them?" The dried gourds made in the village last year have become a hot commodity recently, and they are used to store wine!
Lin Xinghuo was walking up the slope. People coming from the north saw her and called out from afar, "Auntie! Auntie Lin! Auntie Xinghuo! Please stop. We have something to talk to you about."
The ones who came running over were Wei Chunfeng's former parents-in-law, Mrs. Chen and Old Man Chen.
Being called "Auntie" by an old lady who could be her grandmother, Lin Xinghuo couldn't help but shudder. Wei Chunfeng, who heard the noise and came out to intervene, laughed: "Aren't you used to it yet?"
Lin Xinghuo sighed inwardly, how could he get used to this?
Wei Chunfeng laughed and said, "That's just our village. Everyone has different surnames. In other villages, there are only two or three major surnames. Everyone in the village can be considered a relative, and many are within the fifth degree of kinship. There are even eighty-year-old men calling eight-year-old kids 'Grandpa'! What's so uncomfortable about that?"
It all started when Lin Xinghuo became a member of the "Village Elders' Association," a group of highly respected uncles, aunts, grandparents, and grandparents. Calling her "Little Fairy Aunt" felt a bit out of place, so some people started calling her "Fairy Aunt," but that didn't seem too intimate, and it also made her look like she was the one behind the shady, secretive Jinjiayao clerk. No one knew who started calling her "Aunt" first, but everyone thought, "Great! Not only does it give Little Fairy Aunt a higher generation, it also makes her a relative." So...
But there was one thing that set her apart from the older ones: they all affectionately addressed her as "Auntie": the father called Lin Xinghuo "Auntie," the sons also called her "Auntie," and the little grandchildren all called her "Auntie" as well! It was really hard for Lin Xinghuo to get used to it. The caracal couldn't help laughing at her distorted expression, and once again offended its friend, who was still angry and hadn't allowed it to get close to anyone for the past two days.
"Auntie!" Old Lady Chen called her "Auntie" affectionately, "We have something to ask you."
"Just tell me what's going on!" Wei Chunfeng was a little angry: "Just your son's trivial matter, and you really dare to disturb the little fairy's peace and quiet?"
Old Lady Chen brushed her off: "I have nothing to say to you! You've already divorced my son, what right do you have to care about my daughter-in-law's pregnancy?"
Then he smiled again, "yesterday your nephew sent a message saying that his wife couldn't eat and would vomit after drinking porridge with grits. I thought she might be pregnant. Could you help him check if she's pregnant? The main thing is that she's already thirty, and this land is a bit old. It would take your nephew's ability to cultivate it well and plant it! But we're all worried about the pregnancy. Aunt, if you're free, we'll borrow the brigade's mule cart to take you back and forth."
Old Lady Chen spoke so fast and furiously that Wei Chunfeng had no time to stop her. Her fists stiffened with anger. "No matter how capable Lin Xinghuo was, she was still a virgin, sixteen or seventeen years old. How could she be saying such dirty things in front of her? You're just saying you're worried about pregnancy. If you don't show off your son, you'll be suffocated to death!"
Chen Lao Niang's family was one of the few families in the village that she disliked. Lin Xinghuo's face was cold: "I am a medical worker in this brigade. I don't go out to see patients in other communes."
If she likes something, she likes it. If she hates something, she hates it. Since she started practicing, Lin Xinghuo has become more open-minded than in her previous life. Her state of mind has actually reached a higher level. Lin Xinghuo thinks that she may have finally entered the first level of "seeing mountains as mountains and water as water".
This one sentence stopped Old Lady Chen's long speech. Wei Chunfeng patted her lightly, signaling Lin Xinghuo to leave, and stopped her ex-mother-in-law herself: "If you really want to seek medical treatment, can't you just bring her here? Come on, stop whining here, or I'll go complain to the old branch secretary and see if he, the patriarch of the Chen family, will give me a fair hearing!"
Pregnant? Lin Xinghuo touched the wooden plaque on her chest. The raised fox skull on it was particularly prominent...
"Meow!" The caracal, who had been squatting in the valley for a while to supervise the work, squatted under the peach tree to greet people.
Lin Xinghuo rolled his eyes at it. The old man had a thicker skin than a city wall and was trying to imitate the little kitten in acting like a spoiled child.
Finally, he couldn't stand the pressure anymore, so when the caracal jumped up, he reached out and grabbed it. Then he heard the caracal say, "Fox cub has one more chance to change his name!"
Seeing Lin Xinghuo looking at him immediately, the caracal secretly breathed a sigh of relief. It was worth it that he had patiently searched every corner of the inherited memory, only to find this: "Spiritual beasts without inheritance who cultivate to the transformation stage are very likely to awaken the blood inheritance, and their names will appear in the inheritance - after that, the true name recognized by the Heaven is the name born from the bloodline." But maybe it was not as good as the one he gave it, so the caracal lay down with round ears and kept this to himself.
In reality, it was Culin Xinghuo who was so attentive to the name he chose that the little fox actually liked it and automatically recognized its master. Only spirit beasts can recognize their masters, which means that at that moment, the fox cubs officially entered the Spirit Gathering Stage, and the Heavenly Dao recognized the name he gave as the fox's true name.
It’s not about the name at all, but these three cubs are just one step away from becoming spiritual beasts!
How big is this pot!
The caracal felt that he should be the one to be blamed.
The brat has the audacity to use his human's last name!
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The author has something to say: Today is a bit short, I will update more tomorrow~
See you tomorrow, little angels!
Black pot·grievance·panama: Please collect this fish online! Collect it, and the panama will have a feast!
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