Chapter 42: The Fox’s Gratitude

After hearing what the others said, Shao Xian’s face turned even paler.

The old man and Old Zhou were also stunned. Who would have thought that the man who had spent years offering rewards to find masters to heal his son was actually the one who made him sick in the first place — and that the son wasn’t even his real child? But how had the young girl guessed it?

“The Hundred-Ghost Convergence Formation is formed by gathering a huge amount of yin energy. To fully suppress it, an equally large amount of spiritual energy is required. If there’s the slightest imbalance, the evil spirits inside will break through the formation,” Yun Jiao explained in a low, steady voice. “Shao Lord didn’t have much cultivation, so he obviously lacked enough spiritual energy. To keep the formation stable, he had to be extremely careful. Most importantly, he had to avoid contamination by yin energy — and that includes… abstaining from women.”

So, Shao Xian couldn’t possibly have been conceived by him, right?

“All of this is written in Hundred Ghosts Compilation, chapter three, page seven, line five,” she added, turning to glance at the old man. Her expression didn’t change much, but it seemed to spell out: Read more books when you have time.

Bai Yu: “…”

Old Zhou: “…”

Both felt an odd, quiet sting.

Meanwhile, Shao Xian was completely dumbfounded, his faith crumbling as if the ground had vanished beneath him. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He had always known his father didn’t seem to like him much, rarely let him leave the house, and even when he wanted to attend the academy, it took endless begging to get grudging permission. But he had never imagined… he wasn’t his real son.

His father named him Xian (献) — but what exactly was he meant to be offered up to?

He didn’t dare think any further. The more he thought, the colder and more hollow he felt.

Bai Yu sighed softly, unable to stop himself from stepping forward to pat the young man’s shoulder. “If you want to atone for your father’s sins, then do more good in the future.”

Seeing that Shao Xian was too shaken to respond, Bai Yu didn’t stay longer. After saying goodbye to Old Zhou, he and Yun Jiao returned to Qingyang Temple.

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Bai Yu and Yun Jiao had decided to head to the Celestial Master Hall at the start of the new year to take the qualification exam. So the moment they got back to the temple, they plunged into intense study mode. At first, Bai Yu didn’t think much of it. Sure, the Celestial Master Hall’s assessments were tough — but that was only for high-level rank evaluation. To simply register as a One-Qian Celestial Master? He believed he could handle that.

So at first, he took it easy… until Yun Jiao doubled the number of books on his shelf. Bai Yu’s whole world went dark. Life suddenly felt hopeless. He tried to resist, but was crushed in one sentence:

“Only Five-Qian Celestial Masters get a salary. Otherwise, we’ll starve. Do you think our temple still has any savings to live on?” Yun Jiao’s reasoning was painfully sound.

Bai Yu could only pick up the books with tears in his eyes, feeling like his whole life had been summed up in one word: poor. If he’d known it would be this miserable, he might as well have stayed in Jinyi County exorcising ghosts!

Sure, evil spirits were scary — but hadn’t they always survived every time? And besides, they had Grandmaster Bamboo Tube… no, their Ancestral Master protecting them. His thoughts drifted to the Shao family.

Old Zhou had mentioned Shao Xian in his letters several times. Compared to his father, the boy really was good-hearted. Though he couldn’t fully accept that his adoptive father raised him only to absorb resentment, he didn’t grow bitter. Instead, he even wanted to join the mystic world, hoping to prevent more tragedies like his father’s.

Perhaps because he’d witnessed Yun Jiao’s heroism when breaking the formation, he had asked Old Zhou to see if he could join Qingyang.

Bai Yu’s eyes had lit up at that — thinking of the wealth behind the boy — and after discussing with Yun Jiao, they sent back a carefully worded reply. To maintain the temple’s prestige, they wrote politely: Qingyang only takes disciples of great talent and exceptional standards; the cultivation path is arduous and costly; anyone wishing to join must be prepared both mentally and materially — especially materially.

The reply came: he understood… then promptly gave away all his family wealth and went to apprentice at the Celestial Master Hall!

Bai Yu: “…”

Yun Jiao: “…”

“…Were we… too subtle?”

“Mm. Maybe.”

Damn it, if they’d known, they would’ve just told him the tuition fees directly.

Bai Yu stared at the towering pile of books before him, nearly in tears. He had imagined a future study partner to share the pain, but just as hope arrived at the door, it turned away — and with it, Qingyang’s dream of escaping poverty was gone.

“Don’t forget the Ancestral Master’s monthly test tomorrow,” Yun Jiao reminded him.

“…Are you the devil?”

(;Д')

Blue and broken, like a wilted mushroom.

Yun Jiao turned and walked toward the backyard. “I’m going to check what’s on the windowsill today.”

Bai Yu froze and instinctively asked, “You haven’t checked yet?”

“Nope,” Yun Jiao nodded.

“It’s been three months now. Who on earth keeps leaving those things?” Bai Yu was curious.

“No idea.”

Yun Jiao also found it strange. Ever since returning from Jinyi County, she had been discovering odd things on her windowsill every day. Sometimes a few fruits, sometimes bright leaves, sometimes strange bits of wood — even the occasional dead rabbit.

At first, she thought it was the old man secretly rebelling against the increased workload. But after asking, she learned it wasn’t him. And there were only three of them in Qingyang Temple — it couldn’t possibly be the Ancestral Master, could it?

Thinking of how their Ancestral Master enjoyed eating rabbit stew more than anyone, she firmly dismissed that idea. He only cared about food, never the sourcing.

Then who could it be? Yun Jiao had no clue. After much thought, she made an important decision: she put a menu on the windowsill…

From then on, everything that appeared matched the menu. It saved the temple a fortune in grocery expenses.

Yun Jiao was quite grateful to this mysterious benefactor. She strode toward her room with quick, happy steps — only to find that today’s delivery wasn’t something from her menu but instead… a barely-breathing gray wolf.

Yun Jiao: “…”

A wolf? That’s a protected animal, right? Definitely not edible.

“Awwoo~~” While she hesitated, a low howl sounded nearby. She turned to see a fox squatting beside her — its fur a dull, dirty yellow, matted with blood, and on its belly was a long stitched wound crossing the entire abdomen. The stitching style was unmistakably… her own.

Yes. It was the very fox she’d once saved when it ate something bad.

“Awwoo~~” Seeing her stand still, the fox whined a few more times, its soft ears drooping as it stared at her with pleading eyes.

Yun Jiao glanced at the dying gray wolf, then at the fox. Wait… was the fox bringing the wolf to her for treatment now? Since when did foxes and wolves become best friends?

(End of chapter)