Chapter 16
Li Qingshan carried the little fox back to the bamboo hut. He saw that the little fox was shivering despite already being wrapped in a towel, so Li Qingshan channeled True Qi into her body to slowly relieve her of the cold.
As Li Qingshan channeled his True Qi into the little fox’s body, he discovered that there was also a huge pool of True Qi already lying within and enveloping her core.
This must be the reason why she had taken 40 years to be born.
“Until she is able to completely absorb this mass of True Qi, she will still remain in her fox form. Such an unfortunate little girl,” commented Li Qingshan, as he caressed the little fox with a heavy heart.
Her entire body was as white as snow, as pure as the first snow of winter with not a single blemish on her. Since she was just newly born, she had yet to open her eyes.
Under Li Qingshan’s watchful gaze, the little fox’s eyelids trembled, as though about to open.
Li Qingshan watched with a smile, realizing that first person the little fox would be seeing were not her parents, but him.
As expected, the little fox opened her eyes.
The moment she saw Li Qingshan, her pupils had changed from its initial innocence to sudden terror. The fur on her body stood up as she arched her body. With a sharp cry, she quickly escaped from Li Qingshan’s bamboo hut.
Li Qingshan’s expression changed as well. He unleashed his powers and quickly gave chase.
The little fox escaped from the bamboo hut and followed the scent that led her back to her parents’ grave. She felt heartbroken and cried softly like a toddler, as her claws scratched at the tombstone.
On the tombstone, she could pick up a scent that was deeply ingrained within her memories. Thus, she knew that her mother had already left her.
Unlike other newborn monsters, the little fox already possessed sentience the moment she was born and was already agile on her feet.
And she was terribly fearful of humans.
Li Qingshan had noticed this, so he stopped in his tracks a distance away from her and watched the little fox silently.
The little fox cried out in sorrow. She could not awaken her parents so she chose to run away from the Repentance Cliff instead.
Li Qingshan immediately followed behind.
The little fox ran and finally came to the edge of Repentance Cliff. She was surrounded by cliffs in all directions, with white clouds floating beneath, while wild geese flew past with the west wind.
The Repentance Cliff was a remote island with its chains fully sealed. There was no other way leading to the outside world besides flying.
But the little fox was just newly born so she did not know how to fly. She could only stand by the edge of the cliff, trembling in fear.
Li Qingshan watched from a few hundred meters away, with a pondering look on his face.
When the little fox saw Li Qingshan approaching, she immediately turned ferocious and stared back at him furiously.
“Squeak. Squeak.”
She cried out with all her might in order to express her fury.
“This little fox has been in her mother’s womb for 40 years. Even though she was not yet born, she most likely has had sentience for a long time. The entire time, she saw how her mother was being punished in the Monster Refining Tower, so naturally, she would fear and despise humans,” Li Qingshan analyzed based on her behavior and stepped back slowly.
Only then did the little fox slowly retract her fierce look. But she stood alone on the edge of the cliff, pitifully and helplessly.
Instead, Li Qingshan used the Grandmaster Domain to watch over her and made sure that she was okay, before slowly walking away.
Eventually, Li Qingshan retreated back to his hut.
And that was the only time the little fox felt safe. She walked back to her parents’ grave and curled up into a ball, trembling.
Li Qingshan could not tell if she was hungry or cold. But he figured that it was both.
After pondering for a while, he stepped out of his house again and gathered the precious dewdrops from the surrounding flowers.
Since Repentance Cliff was a place rich in spiritual Qi, the flowers that grew here have received the baptism of both the sun and the moon’s essence. Naturally, the dewdrops they produced would also contain spiritual Qi and were a great help to cultivation.
When she saw that Li Qingshan had left the house once more, the little fox quickly ran away and hid herself in the shadows but continued to observe him from far away. She was indeed so weak and pitiful.
Li Qingshan simply ignored her, knowing that the little fox was currently like a frightened bird who would not be able to take any surprises. Li Qingshan gathered the dew of the flowers, took out a mat and a blanket, and came before the grave of Wu Shaobai and his wife.
“Your daughter is very cautious of humans. So for now, let her stay here,” Li Qingshan said with a sigh. He looked at the little fox, who had retreated a further few hundred meters away from him, and shook his head helplessly.
Li Qingshan placed down the mat and blanket as well as the dew he collected and returned to the bamboo hut.
He closed his eyes and began to cultivate. He left the little fox to her own devices and did not look at her anymore.
Li Qingshan believed that the little fox must be feeling hungry and cold right now. Once she was sure that she was not in danger anymore, she would definitely search for food.
Rather than continuing to watch her, which would only make her feel endangered, he was better off cultivating instead.
As expected, once the little fox was certain that Li Qingshan had returned to the bamboo hut, she slowly walked back to her parents’ grave. At first, she did not want to use the mat and the blanket and did not plan to drink the dew as well.
However, in the end, the starving little fox could not resist the sweet scent of the dew. She gave it a lick and closed her eyes with a blissful look on her face. It was too delicious.
As she drank the dew, the little fox continued to watch the bamboo hut closely, checking whether Li Qingshan had come out.
Finally, the little fox finished the dew. She had noticed that Li Qingshan did not come out since, only then did she put her guard down. Drowsily, she burrowed into the mat and the blanket and curled up into a ball as she fell asleep quietly.
Inside the hut, Li Qingshan cultivated quietly, raising his cultivation plane.
While outside the hut, the little fox needed more sleep in order to grow.
Another busy day had passed by just like that.
Li Qingshan cultivated for the whole night, while the little fox slept peacefully throughout the night.
Both parties were very comfortable.
The next morning, Li Qingshan stopped his cultivation and left the bamboo hut.
Immediately, the little fox was startled awake and dashed away and disappeared quickly, like a bolt of white lightning.
Li Qingshan did not pay her any heed and continued to collect the dewdrops of the flowers. Then, he summoned the five ghosts to build a small wooden hut for the little fox so that she would not be exposed to the elements of nature.
The five ghosts worked rapidly, and very soon, the wooden hut was completed. It did not require much effort to build a suitable shelter for the little fox after all.
By then, Li Qingshan had finished collecting the dew as well. He rearranged the mat and the blanket and once again placed the dewdrops he had collected. Then, he left to wipe some steles in the distance in order to comprehend the techniques on them.
The five ghosts had cleared away from the vicinity as well. They turned static as they silently comprehended the Five Emperors Demonic Technique.
When the little fox was certain that there was no imminent danger and that Li Qingshan had left, she slowly walked toward the wooden hut. She seemed much happier once she had picked up the scent of the dew.
“Glug. Glug.”
The little fox was hungry and finished off all of the dew. She was still not familiar with the wooden hut, and so she paced back and forth in front of it. She wanted to drag out the mat and the blanket, but was not strong enough to do so. In the end, she gave in and slumped down inside the wooden hut.
Soon, the sound of soft snoring could be heard, as the little fox was so tired that she had fallen asleep again.
By the time Li Qingshan had returned from comprehending the steles, he slowly retreated to the bamboo hut to cultivate, not wanting to disturb the little fox’s beauty sleep.
Li Qingshan thought to himself, “For now, I can only help and influence her in subtle ways, since her experience in the Monster Refining Tower has caused her to not trust me at all. I must slowly earn her trust.”
This would be a long process, but he had enough time to achieve this goal.
And just like that, Li Qingshan returned to cultivating again in the bamboo hut, while the little fox slept in the wooden hut, with neither of them disturbing nor intervening in the other’s business.
