The two Liuyun Sect disciples gave a cry. “Where did that Demonic Beast come from?” While the words still sounded, they readied to attack.
The sound of the Soul Subjugating Horn often came from this bamboo house, therefore the Liuyun Sect’s Demonic Beasts avoided it, regardless of whether they were sapient or not, and regardless of whether they had a Master, few of them were willing to approach this hill. Now, suddenly, a Demonic Beast had rushed in, and it was so savage that it had truly startled them.
“Wait!” Ding Zijing, arriving just in time, snapped harshly.
Shuang Ren stood in front of his sister protectively, watching coldly as the red fox rolled around in pain. The red fox bared his teeth and rushed to bite him, but after taking two steps, he was frightened by the little fox’s imposing aura.
The Frost Soothing Fox was already a Demonic Beast from a superior bloodline, and now Shuang Ren was a Beast cultivator, the immature Demonic Beast could instinctively feel the danger.
The oppressive aura of a high-level Demonic Beast was based on their cultivation level. The little female fox’s cultivation had previously been sealed and her body was weak, so she had been forced into a desperate situation by such an ordinary Demonic Beast. On the other hand, Shuang Ren had spent a certain period of time cultivating at Woyun Sect and had also been systematically learning spells with Yan Lie. After being provided with spiritual wine and spiritual meat for so long, his cultivation was stable and his spiritual power was abundant.
“Get lost!” Shuang Ren attacked the fox with his divine soul, the other party immediately choked and his hair stood on end with fear, he fled with his tail between his legs. He was caught by the two Liuyun Sect disciples outside.
“Oh, I say, no wonder this boy ran away so fast. It turns out he had smelled a female fox.” Mo Tianliao had also come running. Seeing the scene in front of him, he laughed.
Ding Zijin couldn’t help smiling. “This is Mo shishu of Woyun Sect.”
The two disciples in charge of the Demonic Beasts gave a salute to Mo Tianliao. One said, with some annoyance, “The stud was bitten, the task the Peak Master assigned us couldn’t be completed. What am I going to report?”
The other disciple pulled back his shidi. This person was obviously a guest of Ding shishu, they should not be rude.
“Brother, is it really you?” The little fox shrank in the corner, afraid to come forward. She had watched the snowy fox bite and chase away that disgusting red fox, and now he steadfastly stood guard in front of her, glaring at the bad guys outside the fence. She almost did not dare believe her eyes.
Her name was Shuang Hua, she had always lived on the snowy mountains. Recently, she had stopped in the woods at the foot of the mountains to play. She was found by a group of hunters who had gone up the mountain to look for Demonic Beasts. Those people were only Foundation Establishment cultivators, so she had not been afraid. But then they took out a strange horn, when it blew, it made her head ache terribly and it made it difficult to keep her human form.
Her brother had come to save her, but among those hunters, there was a hidden Golden Core cultivator, he and his brother had fought to a standstill, but then they had used that horn again, and captured her and her brother. They had been tossed to the market to be sold, the auction house’s boss had said that women were easy to sell in the righteous path, while men were more valuable in the demonic path, so they had been separated. She had not seen her brother since.
It was said that the people of the demonic path had no morals and that they would also frequently engage in certain acts with their own demonic pets. For her brother who was being sold in the demonic path, his fate would surely be a life worse than death. How could he be here to save her? She must be dying; this was just a hallucination before death.
“Shuang Hua.” When Shuang Ren saw that Mo Tianliao was coming, he breathed a sigh of relief and turned to hug the furball in the corner. Although he could tell that this second shixiong did not particularly like him, he instinctively trusted him. In his opinion, this bad tempered second shixiong was much more reliable than the perpetually giggly da-shixiong.
When Shuang Hua was held in that familiar embrace, only then did she dare believe that this was not a dream, she suddenly could not stop wailing, “Brother, brother!” She had just recently taken human shape and was ignorant of the world. She had suddenly been locked up by these people, and they had tried to force her and a Demonic Beast she did not know into having relations, so that she could give birth to cubs for them to sell. She had long been intending to die, if that Demonic Beast finally touched her, she would blow up her beast core and bury these people with her.
“Huh?” The displeased Liuyun Sect disciple was amazed to see the two foxes huddled together. “This female fox is very stubborn, she already scared away two other foxes. How…”
“Maybe it’s because their colour is similar.” Mo Tianliao leaned on the fence and watched the scene relaxedly.
Shuang Ren held his sister and licked her head. The frightened little fox kept burying herself in her brother’s embrace, her two paws firmly clung to the fluff on his chest. No matter what, she refused to let go this time. As long as her brother was here, she would not be afraid to die.
“It must be fate,” Ding Zijin whispered in Mo Tianliao’s ear when he saw his happy face. “Since brother Mo’s fox hasn’t yet been bound by a contract, it would better to let him have this female fox, you’d be getting a Demonic Beast with no effort.”
Anyone would agree to this. Mo Tianliao only thought about it for a moment, then nodded.
Ding Zijin said something to the two disciples using sound transmission, they looked at each other, orders from the Peak Master, they were immediately overjoyed. No matter how they had tried to breed this fox, they had not been able to succeed. All in all, there were only a few Demonic Beasts without a blood contract in Liuyun Sect, they were even considering trying it with a dog.
Mo Tianliao pretended not to see the three men communicating with their eyes, only looked at the two foxes huddling in the room. “You brat, you see a beautiful girl and can’t walk away?”
“Mo shishu, I apologise for the offence earlier. Since this demonic beast hasn’t been bound by a blood pact yet, could you lend it to us for a few days? After all, you won’t be leaving the Liuyun sect during the conference.” This was said by the disciple who was a bit better at being polite.
Mo Tianliao frowned and asked, “What? Do you really need it for several days?” He seemed very unhappy with someone else wanting to take his Demonic Beast for so long.
“You don’t understand, this fox’s temper is difficult. If we want the mating to be successful, it will take at least a fortnight,” the man said with an apologetic smile. He was mainly afraid that, if this attempt did not succeed, in the future they would not be able to find another fox who would make this female fox behave. One of the sect Elders had taken a fancy to this fox, so it could only be bred once before they had to give her to him. No matter what, there could be no accidents, they at least needed to earn back the same amount of money they had spent when buying her.
“I refuse.” Mo Tianliao got ready to go in and carry the fox out. “This is the Demonic Beast Master just gave me, and it’s not bound to me yet. If I let it stay here, won’t it become your Demonic Beast?”
If they could not reach an agreement, the people of Liuyun Sect were afraid that he would take away the Demonic Beast or make a blood pact with it on the spot. It should be noted that, the offspring of a Demonic Beast without a blood contract could be sold to anyone, but if the male fox made a blood contract with Mo Tianliao, the cubs born could only be used by Mo Tianliao’s blood relatives.
Finally, both parties reached a compromise. The people of Liuyun Sect agreed to let Mo Tianliao place a magical collar on the fox as proof of his ownership, and promised that one of the cubs would be his, while Mo Tianliao agreed to let the fox stay until the end of the conference.
“Well, I am leaving,” Mo Tianliao said to the fox in the corner, reluctant to part. He put a collar on him as he spoke, it was made of crystal, it looked very pretty.
When Shuang Hua saw Mo Tianliao approaching, she warily bared her teeth at him. When she saw that he truly intended to put a collar on her brother, she immediately tried to bite him, but Shuang Ren lifted his foot and stepped on her tail.
“Brother!” Shuang Hua looked at her brother in betrayal.
Shuang Ren shook his head imperceptibly, feigned reluctance while the collar was put on him, then immediately inspected it with his divine sense. This collar was actually a storage bracelet, which contained not only the magical tool which Mo Tianliao had crafted for him to defend against the Souls Subjugating Horn, but also a spiritual sword, some medicine and lingshi, as well as some small magical items which he had never seen before.
It would not be as easy to steal the fox right under everyone’s noses as it had been at Shi Di’s Mo Palace. If something went wrong, it could end up exposing the secrets of Woyun Sect, so they must be careful.
Once Mo Tianliao had finished making the proper arrangements for the fox, he reluctantly followed Ding Zijin to see the Wenyu tree.
The Wenyu tree grew on Liuyun Sect’s most qi rich mountain. Before they had even set a foot on the place, they could feel a peaceful and tranquil atmosphere, fresh and lively.
“This place is called Yushan.” Just as Ding Zijin was animatedly presenting the place to Mo Tianliao, they happened to meet another group of visitors, based on their attire, they should be people from Qingyun Sect.
Another disciple of Liuyun Sect, who was showing everyone around, saw Ding Zijin and said to the people of Qingyun Sect, “This is our sect’s craftsman Ding.”
“Ah, I heard that the Pine Crane Song bottle that was given to Elder Yun Song last time was refined by craftsman Ding,” A female disciple rushed to say, her slightly shrill voice sounded like birds chirping, stabbing Ding Zijin’s eardrums.
Ding Zijin’s face soured, he said coldly, “It’s an honour that young lady remembers the little trinkets crafted by my brother.”
Everyone in Liuyun Sect knew that the Ding brothers did not get along, they immediately felt awkward. However, the girl from Qingyun Sect clearly could not take a hint, as she was still gushing on and on about how good the thing was.
The Pine Crane Song bottle was refined by his half-brother Ding Ziyu. It was said to have been made by imitating Lord Duantian’s technique. It could thoroughly keep the tea’s fragrance inside the pot, completely preventing it from leaking out. No matter how much one fiddled with it or how it was held, its contents would not spill. Only by releasing a valve would it pour out, perfect for being worn as a portable hip flask.
The corners of Mo Tianliao’s mouth twitched. The smell would not leak and the contents would not spill… Why did it sound exactly like the chamber pot he had invented? After urinating, it could just be thrown on the bed carelessly, without fear of it stinking and without fear of kicking it in the middle of the night and spilling urine all over the bed. He heard the female cultivator say that Elder Yun Song carried it with him all the time. Mo Tianliao would look out for him and point him out to Qingtong while waiting for the conference to start, so that he too could laugh at it.
Along the ascending jade steps, the light brown colour of the rocks on the path gradually faded, becoming jade, the higher one went, the more noticeable it became. Halfway up the mountain, all the stone had become jade, grass and shrubs struggling to survive in the cracks of the stone.
“This Yushu tree requires white jade to grow,” Ding Zijin explained in a low voice.
Mo Tianliao suddenly thought that it was no wonder that the Liuyun Sect was full of white jade, it turned out that the sect’s treasure needed white jade to grow. The Wenyu tree fed on white jade, so new jade needed to be added every year to this mountain.
The top of the mountain was an open flat space where only low grass grew. An approximately one zhang tall tree stood quietly in the middle, it did not look like a real tree. The branches were brown, their bark was like uncut jade, uneven and irregular. The tree was luxuriant, the leaves were as thin as cicada wings, they looked more like a carving than real leaves. Numerous jade peaches hung on the branches, sparkling brightly in the sun.
The grass waved in the breeze, yet the tree did not move even a bit.
“Is this a jade carving?” Someone from Qingyun sect exclaimed, dying to get closer and touch it.
Mo Tianliao stood still; through his powerful divine sense he could clearly see that the tranquil grassland was covered by an inescapable trap. Innumerable arrays were thickly laid out, interweaving with each other, like a spiderweb.
“Aaah” Sure enough, the impulsive Qingyun Sect disciple was ejected three zhang away by the outermost array.
Mo Tianliao surreptitiously slid a jade slip into the palm of his hand, imprinting in it the array he saw, and then said slowly, “Brother Ding, is it possible to take a closer look?”
Ding Zijing shook his head. “This tree can only be approached by the sect Elders. If the array is touched, an Elder will immediately arrive. We can only watch it from here, so as not to disturb the Elder’s peace and quiet.”
As a matter of fact, the array here was far more dangerous than Ding Zijin had said. The other Liuyun Sect disciple added that once the Elder noticed someone stealing the Wenyu fruits, he would appear within the span of three breaths and immediately kill the thief. It did not matter whether you were truly stealing or had just gotten lost. After saying that, he pointed to the nearby “Trespassers will die” stone tablet.
Mo Tianliao frowned slightly. Three breaths…
Seeing this, Ding Zijin quickly whispered to Mo Tianliao that when the Wenyu fruit was ripe, his father, as an Elder, would get two. He would try to ask for one to give him.
Back at the courtyard, Qingtong had woken up and was talking to Xuanji who had come to visit. Xuanji was consulting him on what to give to the Liuyun Sect’s Juniors.
“Is it not appropriate to give hemp rope?” Xuanji asked distressedly.
“Mmm.” Qingtong yawned. When he turned and saw that Mo Tianliao had come back, his somewhat sleepy eyes lit up slightly.
Mo Tianliao, naturally, did not miss this slight change. An explosion of indescribable joy suddenly welled up in his heart, his cat was looking forward to his return! If it were not for the presence of Xuanji, he would immediately rush forward to hold him in his arms and caress him.
The big tiger lying at Master’s feet stood up, came over and looked around Mo Tianliao. “Roaaar” Where’s little shidi?
“And Shuang Ren?” Mo Tianliao could not understand the big tiger, but Qingtong could, so he asked casually.
“Taken to breed,” Mo Tianliao said with a smile.
The big tiger’s eyes widened in shock. Breed?
Big wet chest: How come only shidi can breed?
Woodworker: Of course male foxes can breed
Big wet chest: What about me? I’m also male, I’m maler than male!
Woodworking: Yes, you’re a male tiger among male tigers, you’re a gonggong tiger
Unedited, please point out any mistakes
Yesterday’s chapter was a little short but today’s chapter is super long
What a roller-coaster of a chapter, going from an emotional rescue to high-tech chamberpots
Thank you, anon for the ko-fi