"Scram!"

The little fox, face flushed with anger, squatted down, at a loss. Going back would mean being bewitched again, but carrying Feng Menglong's smelly socks was simply disgusting.

Ding-a-ling!

Suddenly, the vajra bell rang loudly. Feng Menglong yelped and desperately covered the bell. The sound was even louder than their shouting! If it continued, it would attract the Wenxiang cultists!

Upon hearing the vajra bell, the little fox exclaimed, "The vajra bell can help open wisdom, calm the mind, eliminate resentment, and purify ghosts. It only rings when yin energy is excessive, or when ghosts or yin-heavy demons are present."

The two of them pressed down on the vajra bell, finally silencing it. Meanwhile, a group of fox Daoists appeared in the county town, carrying out the statue of the Nine Lotus Fox Ancestor from the temple.

On the other side, the gambling addicts were scattered and fleeing, pursued by the Wenxiang cultists. Some gamblers, realizing what was happening, gathered together, armed with farming tools and kitchen knives, and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the mortal followers of the Wenxiang sect. Blood and severed limbs flew everywhere, and the sounds of battle echoed from the streets to the alleys.

"Hey! The foxes are out, did you see them?"

"What about it?"

"I'm saying, now that they're out, we can sneak into the temple and steal the thing back! My eyes are sharp. Those people didn't bring the Beidi Tianpeng Ruler with them. That's a treasure that reveals demons, and they wouldn't carry a weapon like that around!"

The little fox pondered. These fox spirits mainly relied on those strange fragrances to bewitch people, and apparently, other mortals were affected too...

Huh?

"That's right, I remember, you didn't seem to be affected by that incense. Why?"

The little fox was puzzled. Feng Menglong had entered the temple with him, so why wasn't he affected?

Could this impoverished scholar who frequented brothels be a hidden master?

The little fox blinked warily, while Feng Menglong spat. "How would I know? I just smelled that their incense was fake, all fox stench, disgustingly foul!"

"I don't know if those people's brains are broken or what, how can they be bewitched by such foul incense...? I can understand you, since you're a fox spirit, after all, a male is easily lured by a female..."

"Huh? Does this mean I have upright qi?"

In Confucianism, those who truly understood the books of sages possessed upright qi, which ghosts and gods could not approach, and demons could not bewitch. They could even achieve "deification" through this upright qi.

Wen Tianxiang's *Song of Upright Qi* says: "Heaven and earth have upright qi, endowed in various forms. In humans, it is called vast and righteous, filling the blue sky."

For creation, upright qi is the greatest and most unyielding force filling heaven and earth.

For humans, upright qi is the qi of integrity, righteousness, and unyielding spirit.

Similarly, Wen Tianxiang was also a Confucian sage revered in the Ming Dynasty. As the saying goes: "Wen Tianxiang supports the heavens, and Lu Xiufu holds up the sun."

But this kind of upright qi was extremely rare. It came from the heart, nurtured by a vast and righteous spirit, and could then condense the upright qi of heaven and earth, and stimulate the vast and righteous energy. It couldn't be cultivated by scholars who shook their heads and wagged their tails, reading books one moment and frolicking in brothels the next.

And those high officials in the court, although they were the leaders of countless scholars in the world, couldn't possibly possess this upright qi because they were constantly engaged in political infighting.

The reason why sages were sages was mostly because they were not people in high positions, so they had the time to write books, think about the principles of heaven and earth and the philosophy of life, and never compromise on certain things, which was why they were often demoted or not valued.

So how could those who constantly thought about how to please the emperor and the powerful, and who liked to use their power to oppress others, cultivate a body of upright qi?

The little fox was also puzzled. "Didn't you say you often go to brothels? Can people who often go to brothels have vast and righteous energy?"

"You're wrong. Although I go to brothels often, I go with an appreciative eye. Have you heard of Liu Xiahui who remained unmoved with a woman in his lap? I'm that kind of person."

"Brothels can temper a person's will. Those women sell smiles, but do you know what kind of human suffering they have experienced? Behind those smiles are bitter stories, and I don't go for their bodies, but to soothe their wounded hearts..."

"To read the books of sages is to worry about the country and the people, to love the country and the people. So, aren't brothel women worthy of love?"

Feng Menglong looked serious, firmly believing that he must have triggered a sense of justice and condensed a vast amount of upright qi because of his past good deeds, so he was not bewitched by the strange fox stench of the Wenxiang sect.

The little fox scratched his head, recalling the reason why these foxes came here, and suddenly slapped his head.

"That's right! I remember now! They told me before that when the lights in the Seven Treasure Pavilion all flew up, I should return to this place and welcome the Nine Lotus Old Fox with them!"

"We have to hurry, or I'll be bewitched when that old female fox comes! Your smelly socks probably won't work anymore! That old fox, I remember, they said she only started cultivating after the Tumu Crisis, and has been cultivating for over a hundred years!"

"But what do we do now? I'll be bewitched if I go to the temple... Huh, what's this?"

Suddenly, feeling around his body, he grasped a flat little object in the innermost pocket. It was about the size of his palm. The little fox took it out and saw that it was actually a magical artifact.

This small magical artifact had been kept inside his body all along. In the little fox's memory, he didn't seem to have ever used it. Perhaps his master forgot about it when he searched his body, or maybe he didn't find it.

And when he was controlled before, he didn't tell those Wenxiang sect fox spirits about it. He had forgotten about it himself.

The little fox thought that his master had a lot of magical artifacts, so he wouldn't remember such a useless little thing.

"What's this?"

Feng Menglong looked at the thing, which was not even the size of his palm, flat, like a small box that could be opened. The lid was actually hollowed out.

"Copper Filigree Incense Cage, this is something my master took from the Wanli Emperor's treasury."

"Wanli...you, what did you say?! You've been to the emperor's treasury?"

Feng Menglong was shocked. "How could you have been to the current emperor's treasury!"

The little fox chuckled. "That's because my master is awesome. You don't know, the Wanli Emperor and my master are friends. I even lived in the Forbidden City for many days! Ha, you poor scholar, you haven't even seen the bricks at the gate of Shuntian Prefecture, have you!"

Feng Menglong's mood suddenly became complicated. He couldn't pass the imperial examination, so he naturally had no official position. After all, a licentiate was only a member of the reserve official team. A village scholar was at most a rural literati, just one of the bottom members of the literati class.

"This copper filigree incense cage, my master said it seemed to be used to confine incense, but whenever my master encountered enemies with incense, he would just eat all their incense in one gulp, so this thing was useless..."

"Always been useless..."

The little fox mumbled, but his eyes lit up.