The little fox’s tail drooped behind him, and his ears flattened against his head. His whiskers twitched. He could not resist licking his own nose, then lowered his head and vigorously groomed the fur on his paws.
Yue Jingming reached out, picked him up, and held him in front of his face. “Don’t be nervous. I can still control myself for now.”
“By ‘control yourself,’ you mean you almost turned me into a spirit pet?” Xiao Chunhe stared at him expressionlessly. “This isn’t a formation you learn in a day. Have you been planning this for a while?”
“No. I only happened to read about it in an ancient text when I was young. Most animals that gain sentience eventually become demons, so they are difficult to turn into spirit pets. And forcibly making them become spirit pets dependent on me would be improper,” Yue Jingming said. “I cannot force them to become entangled in my karma.”
Xiao Chunhe glared at him. “Then why did you set up this kind of formation for me?”
Yue Jingming lowered his eyes and looked at the layer of soft white fur on Xiao Chunhe’s chest. The patch he had accidentally cut away before had already grown back. He said softly, “I don’t like seeing you like this.”
“Like what?” Xiao Chunhe asked, bewildered.
Yue Jingming held him and rocked him gently. “Hurting your own body for other people, trying to solve every problem by yourself, never honestly telling me what you’re thinking, always lying to me… sharing a room with another fox.”
“…” Xiao Chunhe stared at him in shock. “Hu Xiaohu is my servant. He can’t even take human form!”
Yue Jingming said coolly, “You said foxes like sleeping curled together. Have you slept holding him before?”
Xiao Chunhe choked. “Th-that was when he was little. He had just been weaned and kept crying outside my door, so I carried him in by the scruff. Later, once he grew up, he built his own nest and slept there.”
Yue Jingming’s gaze grew even cooler. “What about last night?”
“Of course not. Look how old he is now,” Xiao Chunhe said.
Yue Jingming remembered that the other fox was rounder even than Xiao Chunhe’s current form and said in a low voice, “He was lying on your clothes.”
Xiao Chunhe said, “Those were clothes I’d taken off to wash… Heavens, Yue Jingming. Now that you’re falling into qi deviation, you even care about something like this?”
“Mm.” Yue Jingming smoothed the white fur on his chest and settled him on his forearm. “You’re mine.”
Xiao Chunhe was delighted and helpless at once. “Yes, yes, of course I’m yours. I already was. But you can’t turn me into your spirit pet just because you’re jealous.”
Yue Jingming stroked his soft, fluffy tail and said casually, “If I didn’t tell you, you wouldn’t know. Once your cultivation was gone, you’d know even less. You would only listen to me.”
Xiao Chunhe was horrified. “You really weren’t planning to tell me?”
Yue Jingming pinched his ear and buried half his face in the fox’s furry head. “But then I thought about it again. That would be unfair to you.”
“Of course it would be unfair to me!” Xiao Chunhe cried. “What has this damned ghost qi turned you into? Before this, you wouldn’t even have had thoughts like that!”
Yue Jingming said, “…”
The little fox was bent under the pressure of his face. He struggled to prop himself up, pushing Yue Jingming’s chin with his head, then cupped Yue Jingming’s face in both paws and said with some alarm, “Say something.”
Yue Jingming merely gave a soft laugh and leaned in to kiss his damp nose.
Xiao Chunhe leaned his head back. His whole fox self felt increasingly uneasy. He murmured, “No way…”
“Thought arises, thought is born, and returns to no-thought. I cultivate the No-Thought One-Mind Art. However many good thoughts arise in my heart, just as many evil thoughts arise as well. There has never been an exception.” Yue Jingming caught both of his front paws and buried his face in the fox’s belly, his voice muffled. “It is simply that ten thousand thoughts arise and perish together. I do only what I wish to do and am able to do.”
His warm breath brushed the fox’s belly, carrying a faint heat. Even Xiao Chunhe, shameless as he was, felt awkward and embarrassed lying there with his stomach exposed. He gritted his teeth. “Enough, Yue Jingming.”
Yue Jingming raised his head to look at him. “Before, this was something I wanted to do but could not. Now I can finally follow my own wishes. The fur on your belly is especially soft, and it smells better too.”
Xiao Chunhe’s fox face burned. He was immensely grateful that it was currently covered in fur. He raised a paw against Yue Jingming’s chin and warned him, “Don’t think you can do whatever you want just because you’re in qi deviation. I’m not going to indulge you.”
Yue Jingming lowered his head and bit his ear, then reached out and gripped the base of his tail.
Every hair on Xiao Chunhe’s body nearly stood straight up at once. He froze, an involuntary muffled sound escaping him. Fortunately Yue Jingming still possessed a shred of conscience. He only stroked from the base of the tail all the way to its tip before reluctantly releasing the large fluffy tail.
Furious, Xiao Chunhe opened his mouth and bit Yue Jingming’s hand, his sharp canines leaving two small bloody punctures.
But the moment he finished biting, his heart softened. The foul Daoist’s personality had changed drastically because of qi deviation, which was understandable enough. Xiao Chunhe stuck out his tongue and quietly licked the wound for him.
Yue Jingming watched thoughtfully as the little fox licked his wound. “You have to bleed yourself every fifteenth, so your blood essence must be damaged. Since I’m going to disperse my cultivation anyway, you might as well drink more of my heart’s blood. Don’t waste the blood essence I cultivated.”
Xiao Chunhe thought about it and found that it did make sense. He was just about to agree when he met Yue Jingming’s smiling eyes. He jolted fully awake, raised a paw to Yue Jingming’s chin to keep him from coming any closer, and declared righteously, “Behave yourself. Stop coming up with rotten ideas.”
Now that Yue Jingming was falling into qi deviation, all the thoughts he had once suppressed were pouring out. But because this Daoist had always been far too upright, everything he said naturally sounded trustworthy and even perfectly reasonable. In truth, all of it was just like that incomprehensible formation from earlier: dangerous to an outrageous degree!
A trace of disappointment crossed Yue Jingming’s eyes. “If you are unwilling, I won’t force you.”
The handsome, otherworldly Daoist lowered his eyes and looked faintly dejected. Xiao Chunhe’s fox heart immediately softened, and he nearly agreed to the request. But in the next instant Yue Jingming opened his mouth and bit his other ear, while one hand slid back onto his tail.
“…” Xiao Chunhe drew a deep breath, turned his head, and bit down on Yue Jingming’s hand.
Control himself, my ass!
* * *
Liang Yun was surprised to see Yue Jingming come out carrying a little fox. “Huh? The little fox you picked up before came back?”
“Mm.” Yue Jingming scratched under the little fox’s chin.
“Where’s Brother Xiao? I don’t think he ever saw this little fox, did he?” Liang Yun said. “Come to think of it, Jichuan is a fox demon too, so they count as the same kind. You really do have quite the affinity with the whole fox family.”
Yue Jingming looked down at Xiao Chunhe. Xiao Chunhe scratched his damp ear with one paw, then turned away and presented him with nothing but the round back of his head.
“Why has Martial Uncle turned back into a fox?” Ye Shijiu walked out of his room stretching.
“Martial Uncle?!” Liang Yun stared at him in shock.
Ye Shijiu said, “…They never told you?”
“Told me what?” Liang Yun looked in horror at Yue Jingming and the little fox in his arms. “Wasn’t Xiao Chunhe a fox spirit? I had to open my Heavenly Eye before I could see his true form, and it was obviously a huge, magnificent fox!”
“Chunhe becomes smaller when he is badly injured to conserve true qi.” Yue Jingming had his wrist caught in the fox’s teeth and could only explain aloud. “We didn’t tell you before because we were afraid you might be startled. Brother Liang, please don’t take offense.”
“Hey, nothing to take offense at. I’m just curious.” Liang Yun was broad-minded. He waved a hand, then could not help looking again at the fluffy fox in Yue Jingming’s arms. It was slightly smaller than an ordinary fox, with a shorter muzzle and a much fluffier tail, making it look extremely cute.
“So it really is Brother Xiao?” Liang Yun reached out to touch his ear.
Yue Jingming stepped back half a pace, avoiding his hand.
Liang Yun looked up at him. “I can’t even touch him once?”
Yue Jingming said calmly, “He carries demonic qi. It may clash with you.”
“Oh, got it, got it.” Liang Yun believed him without question. “Brother Chunhe, can you talk?”
Xiao Chunhe wriggled free of Yue Jingming’s hands and nimbly leapt onto Liang Yun’s shoulder. Smiling, he said, “Of course I can talk. Not only can I talk, I can also dig out people’s hearts and eat them.”
Liang Yun tilted his head toward the fluffy talking fox and widened his eyes in fascination. “Amazing.”
Xiao Chunhe snorted with laughter. Seeing Yue Jingming approach to pick him up, he immediately turned and jumped onto Ye Shijiu’s head instead.
Yue Jingming said, “…”
Looking down at him from above, Xiao Chunhe said, “Brother Jingming, your true qi is weak right now, while Little Ye has true qi to spare all around him. Staying near him is good for my recovery. We can wait until I’ve accumulated enough true qi to return to human form before doing what we discussed.”
He had finally figured it out. Yue Jingming might be in qi deviation, but in front of other people he could still keep up appearances. Only in front of Xiao Chunhe did he stop pretending entirely. Back in the room, he had practically kneaded and squeezed the fox every which way with no humanity at all. Xiao Chunhe had lived this long without anyone ever pawing him all over like that. It was practically no different from being stripped bare, touched everywhere, and kissed all over!
This Daoist was far too skilled at taking liberties with foxes!!!
Yue Jingming looked at him with an unreadable expression and said calmly, “If I don’t remove that talisman, you won’t be able to return to human form.”
Xiao Chunhe slowly narrowed his eyes. “Then why aren’t you hurrying up and taking it off?”
Yue Jingming said, “The injury in your chest is too serious. You need the formation’s support. Stay beside me.”
“In your dreams.” Xiao Chunhe huffed through his nose.
Stay beside him so this shameless Daoist could take liberties with him to his heart’s content again?
“Oh, Brother Yue already said so. Brother Xiao, you should listen to him,” Liang Yun could not help advising. “He definitely knows what he’s doing.”
“That’s right, Martial Uncle. Master must have his reasons for doing this.” Ye Shijiu carefully kept his head steady beneath the fox. “When something goes wrong, listening to Master can’t be wrong.”
“Don’t let him fool you! He’s in qi deviation right now and his whole personality has changed!” Xiao Chunhe said. “You have no idea how bad he’s become.”
Liang Yun laughed. “Anyone else might fall into qi deviation, but Brother Yue never would. Brother Xiao, don’t joke around.”
“At most, Master’s ghost qi is a little heavier and his true qi somewhat muddled right now.” Ye Shijiu could no longer see clearly after Yue Jingming had placed a talisman over his eyes, so he could only judge from past experience. “Besides, Master has lost all his cultivation. Martial Uncle, if you stay beside him, you can protect him too.”
Yue Jingming looked calmly at Xiao Chunhe. “Chunhe. Come here.”
Xiao Chunhe swished his tail irritably, then his eyes shifted. “Sure. Let me return to human form first, and everything is negotiable.”
Ye Shijiu secretly reached up and touched one of his paws. Liang Yun beside him watched with equal fascination. After all, not everyone got to see a fox that could talk with their own eyes, much less one who was their friend.
Seeing this, Yue Jingming’s gaze darkened slightly. “All right.”
Once that hateful talisman was removed, the little fox transformed into human form with a shake. Xiao Chunhe rolled his neck and shoulders, then fixed Yue Jingming with a cool look from those glittering fox eyes. “At least you know what’s good for you.”
Yue Jingming walked over and caught his wrist. To Liang Yun and Ye Shijiu he said, “Chunhe may feel unwell after just returning to human form. I’ll take him back to the room first.”
The two naturally had no objections. They assumed Yue Jingming had considered everything he did. Xiao Chunhe, however, felt alarm bells screaming in his head, because the hand gripping his wrist was extremely tight. He could even sense the cold, sharp aura rolling off Yue Jingming. The Daoist was clearly very displeased.
No wonder people said those in qi deviation became moody and unpredictable. This Daoist was not only impossible to read now, he had become terribly difficult to deal with.
“We could stay outside,” Xiao Chunhe tried, tugging his hand back.
Yue Jingming did not budge. “Chunhe. Don’t make trouble.”
The moment he said it, the other two believed him completely. Xiao Chunhe laughed from sheer anger and ground his teeth viciously. “Fine. I’ll go back to the room with you. You’d better actually be planning to treat my injuries.”
Yue Jingming glanced at him, then forcefully interlaced their fingers and led him toward the room.
Xiao Chunhe drew a deep breath and only then belatedly realized something was very wrong.
If Yue Jingming had not lied, then he had already begun falling into qi deviation back when Xiao Chunhe severed his finger. And if the evil thoughts in his heart were as numerous as the good ones, then under influences neither of them had noticed, he might already have been led into doing who knew how many things he should not have done…
“Yue Jingming.” Xiao Chunhe hesitated before asking, “Have you really made up your mind not to cultivate the No-Thought One-Mind Art anymore?”
Yue Jingming opened the door, turned his head, and looked at him calmly. “Naturally.”
Xiao Chunhe stepped inside, his throat shifting. “Then what are you planning to cultivate?”
Yue Jingming closed the door and turned to face him. Suddenly he raised a hand and gently touched the red mole at the center of Xiao Chunhe’s collarbone. That mole joined the several red marks formed by blood talismans across the middle of his chest, and at a glance they almost resembled a faint red thread passing through the flesh.
His expression looked perfectly clear, his gaze firm. “Where no-thought dies, ten thousand thoughts are born. Let’s kill Xiao Wen and Feng Qingying first, then decide.”
Xiao Chunhe said, “…”
This was very bad.