Chapter 17 Heavenly Fox

Carrying the sack and the firearms, Ji Xiang arrived near the county town.

A wave of fox stench, mixed with the scent of incense, gradually approached from the distance, causing him to frown.

"I can't even stomach this incense. It's both foul and stinky, not even as good as the incense from the Mi Long Gambling House!"

Ji Xiang felt a bit nauseous. Logically speaking, the scent of incense should be the same everywhere, but the incense from this female fox's Daoist temple carried a fox stench, which was truly unbearable.

Setting down the sack, Ji Xiang began to burn incense and write a memorial. He casually took out a talisman and wrote on it. A "message" turned to ashes in the burning flames, and a wisp of golden energy floated away, disappearing. It was immediately sent to Mount Tai of the Eastern Peak.

There was a method in Daoist magic to summon the Heavenly Fox. The Heavenly Fox had nine golden tails, served in the Palace of the Sun and Moon, and could penetrate yin and yang. It was among the ranks of the righteous gods of the Heavenly Court.

In no more than seven or eight breaths of time, a fragrant breeze swept in. This time, the fragrant breeze was the pure scent of incense, without the fox stench. Appearing before Ji Xiang was a illusory divine form. After all, Mount Tai was far away from here. The divine general dispatched in response to the summons was only a illusory form.

"This humble general greets Arctic True Man."

Ji Xiang didn't expect that the divine general of the Palace of the Sun and Moon, whom he had summoned at random, would recognize him.

The Heavenly Fox Divine General said that Emperor Wanli had already sent the news of his investiture to some regions. As a great deity conferred by the Ming Dynasty during the late Jiajing period, the Blue Cloud Goddess (Bixia Yuanjun) who governed the cultivators in the Mount Tai region, naturally knew about this matter. Now that Ji Xiang's talisman had been burned to Mount Tai, the Blue Cloud Goddess dared not neglect it, and thus dispatched him.

Ji Xiang said, "I ask you, do you recognize Jiu Lian, the Old Fox?"

The Heavenly Fox Divine General's illusory brows furrowed slightly, and he recalled, "Is it the fox enshrined in the Wenxiang Sect?"

"She once came to Mount Tai to pay homage, hoping to serve in the Palace of the Sun and Moon and cultivate the orthodox Dharma, but she was rejected by the Goddess, because she was born as a purple fox, harmed people, and cultivated by taking people's souls, so she was not allowed to cultivate the orthodox Dharma again."

Ji Xiang was puzzled, "What is a purple fox?"

This was indeed obscure knowledge, and the Heavenly Fox Divine General explained, "In the Tang Dynasty, wild foxes without a master were called purple foxes. At night, they could emit flames by swinging their tails. When they were about to gain spirituality, they had to wear twelve skulls of those who died unjustly to worship the Big Dipper. If the skulls did not fall to the ground, the fox could transform into a human and attain the Dao."

"There is a chance that such a fox will have a charm bead in its mouth. If you can get this charm bead, you can gain the love of everyone in the world."

He had often heard about foxes worshiping the moon, but Ji Xiang had never heard of worshiping the Big Dipper.

Hearing that it was an old method from the Tang Dynasty, he understood. Many things from the Tang Dynasty had been lost, and there were many magical restraints on today's methods. Perhaps some of the spells used by today's people were the paths taken in the Tang Dynasty.

"I order you to subdue this female fox... uh... can you subdue that female fox? Don't be bewitched by her stench, right?"

Because of the previous incident with the little fox, Ji Xiang was not at ease with this Heavenly Fox Divine General.

The Heavenly Fox Divine General immediately felt embarrassed and said, "At fifty years old, a fox can transform into a woman, at a hundred years old into a beautiful woman, a spirit medium, or a husband who has intercourse with women, and can know things thousands of miles away. At a thousand years old, it can communicate with the heavens and is called a Heavenly Fox."

"Although I was not born as a fox immortal in the Tang Dynasty, my Daoist cultivation is comparable to that of a thousand-year-old monster. I have seen the changes of the Song and Yuan Dynasties. What kind of妖精 haven't I seen? How could I be confused by this little female fox with only a hundred years of Daoist cultivation? True Man, rest assured, this form of mine is enough to capture her. I will go find her, chop off her head, and offer it to you!"

The Heavenly Fox Divine General made a guarantee, and at this moment, Ji Xiang also sensed an astonishing yin energy!

This yin energy was similar to the yin energy of the Song court that appeared in the Grand High Mystery Temple!

The Zhengyang Bell on his body was ringing frantically!

..........

A large number of Wenxiang Sect followers changed their targets. Coincidentally, the gamblers in the county town's Mi Long Gambling House had been almost killed. Hearing that the Three Sect Leaders wanted to capture two people, especially a stinky-footed scholar, the followers immediately became active. However, the problem also lay here.

The Wenxiang Sect followers all had the fox stench on their bodies. The incense lingered on them, but Feng Menglong also had a little fox by his side. Although the little fox was a fox immortal and had transformed into a human form, she no longer had the fox stench. However, as long as she wanted this smell, she could still produce it.

Feng Menglong's face was pale, twisted, and twitching.

The little fox had peed on his body.

He actually used this to successfully avoid being captured by the Wenxiang Sect followers.

Although the incense ash in the copper wire fire cage could also be burned to produce the Wenxiang Sect incense, the little fox was afraid of being controlled again, so she dared not use it.

The little fox quickly rummaged through the goods. There was nothing good in the fox's den. She didn't find anything precious in a hurry, but she found a small bead that looked quite magical.

"Where are we going now? Are we going to find Daoist Ji?"

"We can't go to find Master Ancestor! Master Ancestor must be in a place with many monsters and bad people, killing people! Let's go to Jindu! The boatman should... probably, maybe, possibly, still be there..."

Looking at the county town that had turned into a sea of fire and a battleground, the little fox's tone was uncertain.

In this fierce situation, how could the boatman still be waiting at the dock? It was estimated that even if they were waiting, they would have rowed to the downstream of the canal, and they would dare to come back only after this place was quiet.

Just then, some fox Daoists appeared on the street.

It turned out that after Xu Hongru's news spread, someone immediately notified the fox Daoists. One of the fox Daoists returned to the Yin Temple and discovered the fox cubs and grandchildren who had died tragically. He went to the back hall and found that the Northern Emperor's Celestial Canopy Ruler had been taken away. Along with the Northern Emperor's Celestial Canopy Ruler, a charm bead had also disappeared.

"Catch them! That scholar and that little fox fairy, we must catch them all! I smell his scent! He took away the ancestor's charm bead! We must find it back!"

"The ancestor is about to arrive, if the charm bead is not found back..."

The fox Daoists were already nervous.

This charm bead was a treasure. The reason why the Wenxiang Sect's fox stench could bewitch all living beings was that, on the one hand, they used vows mixed with incense to control them, and this incense was extracted from this bead.

With this bead, the effect of bewitchment was immediately increased dozens of times. Almost as soon as someone smelled the fox incense, they would be bewitched. Not only were they the same kind, but even异类 were the same.

Each charm bead was very precious, and it could only be generated with a chance in a complicated ceremony of worshiping the Big Dipper.

The fox Daoists began to smell the little fox's scent. The scent of a fox immortal and a fox妖精 was different.

"Not good, we've been discovered!"

The little fox felt the scent of the fox Daoists approaching. Her urine could hide from those humans, but it couldn't hide from these fox精! The scent of a fox that didn't belong to their nest was detected as soon as they smelled it!