novelNature of Fox
| ← Ch.186 | Ch.188 → |
Lin Luoran knows how sharp the teeth of the gophers are. In this situation, she won't wait for these ferocious creatures to get any closer. Lin waves the Bright Sword and cuts the web.
The huge gopher with gray whiskers gets angry. It commands the gophers to rush at Lin. The cave is quite large, and the gophers can't eject venom like the scorpions did. Lin waves her sword and the gophers rushing at her are dead.
Seeing the flesh and blood of the dead gophers, the living ones get mad. They come at Lin in groups. The cyan little fox is scared. It hides its head deeper into Lin's arms. Lin surrounds herself with a firewall and easily kills all the gophers inside the wall. Those outside can't get in at the moment. A stream of red light gathers on Lin's fingertip. She is preparing for the "Fire Arrow Spell".
Destroy the leader and the gang will collapse. If the gophers don't back off, she will have to kill the huge gopher with a fire arrow. This is the quickest way to get out of the troublesome situation.
The virtual red arrow appears in Lin's hand. The power on the arrowhead frightens the crowd of gophers. This old gopher doesn't even stand a few seconds in this confrontation.
The flame leaves lots of burn marks on the wall. The old gopher can set traps. How can it not see the situation? It slips away into the round hole it came from. Soon, all the gophers are gone.
Lin has no idea where the round holes lead to. The gophers are not Lin's enemy. Hence, Lin has no interest in following them. She waits for a while to ensure that the gophers are not coming back. Then she puts the two foxes on the ground.
The white fox lies on the ground, half-dead. The cyan little fox looks at Lin with begging eyes. Lin squats down and checks the white fox's condition — its vital energy and blood are almost drained. This is not because of its injuries. It has lived to its lifespan. In other words, the white fox is beyond remedy.
The cyan little fox is so pitiful. Lin infuses some wood Reiki into the white fox. Though the Reiki can't save its life, it will give the fox some energy.
The white fox wakes up. The cyan fox weeps for joy. With tears in its eyes, the cyan little fox looks wretched but adorable. It doesn't know that the energy of the white fox is temporary. How can it not be happy when it thinks that the white fox is cured?
The white fox is surprised to see the cyan little fox. It didn't believe that the cyan fox would be able to save it, so it thinks that the cyan fox is also captured by the gophers! Then the white fox notices Lin's presence. It looks at Lin with alert, like she is more intimidating than the gophers.
Foxes are born paranoid. The white fox's surprise is in accordance with Lin's expectations. Lin doesn't mind. After the cyan little fox explains to the white fox what happened, the white fox's eyes becomes gentler, though it does not put down all its guard.
Lin looks at the two foxes and says, "You two should leave now..." She still has to search for Baojia and Wen Guanjing, and she has wasted too much time. Though they're pitiful, she can't take care of them forever.
Lin Luoran urges them to leave. However, the second she turns around, the cyan little fox grabs her by the leg. It barks and makes gestures. Still, Lin can't understand what it is trying to say.
The cyan little fox drags Lin to the other end of the cave. Lin has no choice but to follow.
It is the smell of medicine.
At this time, Lin Luoran finally sees that some plants grow by the small cave at the corner of the big one. The plants look like ginger. Lin knows that they are sealworts.
With a quick glimpse, Lin sees at least a hundred of sealworts in this cave. The age of the sealworts varies, but most of them are over 100 years old. However, the soil was freshly turned. Some leaves have fallen on the ground.
Were the sealworts the little fox brought to Lin stolen from the gophers? No wonder the gophers catch the white fox... No. This is not logical. Lin doubts that maybe she has done bad things with her good intention. She asks coldly,
"Did you dig up the sealwort here?" Lin lowers her head. She is hoping that the cyan little fox can give her a negative answer. The sealworts look like the belongings of the gophers.
Though the cyan fox is highly-intelligent and it can understand human language, it is not capable of telling the difference of tones. It doesn't realize that Lin is angry and it nods gladly.
Lin's heart sinks yet she doesn't want to blame the little fox wrongly. She pursues, "Did the white fox get caught when it tried to steal the sealwort?"
The cyan fox nods and then shakes its head. It becomes anxious because it can't explain itself. Nevertheless, Lin has got the answer.
As expected, she has done wrong things with good intentions... She thought the gophers were bad because her first impression on them were bad. As a result, she believed that the two foxes were the victims. She killed so many gophers back then. Now it seems that the foxes were the ones to be blamed.
The cyan fox tries to let Lin pick more sealworts. Lin feels bad and leaves.
The cyan fox stands still blankly. It doesn't know it has done something wrong. The white fox sighs. Feeling wronged, the cyan fox jumps into the arms of the white one.
The white fox pats the cyan fox on its back. It has a mixed expression of lovingness and grieve.
The cyan fox acts like a spoiled child for a while and realizes that they should not stay here for long. It pulls out a piece of sealwort from the small cave and leaves with the white fox.
The gophers are ready for action. Lin shows herself from the dark and stares at them with cold eyes. The gophers restore silent.
The "Mini World" combined with the "Breath-holding Spell" are perfect for hiding. The only defect is that as long as she moves, the Breath-holding Spell will lose its efficacy and "Mini World" is not enough to hide herself completely.
Can she improve the Breath-holding Spell... ? Lin Luoran puts the idea behind her and follows the foxes at a distance.
Why is she following the foxes that tricked her?
Lin has no idea. She is so softhearted. Maybe she worries that the foxes will be eaten once she leaves.
Whatever. She has already been delayed. She may as well see this through.
Lin follows the foxes at a distance, walking along the twisted tunnels. The piece of sealwort is like a beam because it contains quite a lot of Reiki.
The cyan little fox supports the white one along the way. They don't walk too fast. Two hours later, the foxes walk into a stone cave with an arched door and disappear in front of Lin's eyes.
Hum? The waves on the arched door look like an inhibition!
It's not easy for Lin Luoran to just go inside. She stops by the door and looks inside. The cave is not big, but it's paved with soft grass. Some medicines are scattered on the ground and they seem to be of high quality. A few flowers are blooming. They glow like the tunnels do. Lin doesn't know what kind of flowers they are.
Normally, Lin has done enough by protecting the foxes all the way back their home. She should have felt relieved and go to find Baojia and the others. However, she is surprised by the inhibition at the door of the foxes' home. She has checked the cyan little fox for Reiki and she didn't find much. The white fox's vital energy is almost drained. Is there a chance that the two foxes are beast cultivators who are strong enough to hide their cultivation from Lin?
Was she tricked... ? Lin feels dry in her mouth. Is the nature of fox so cunning that they have been deceiving her from the beginning?
Lin looks inside. The cyan little fox is mashing the sealwort with some other medicines. Making bolus is hard even for humans. Though the little fox is only making medicines, it keeps scratching its head, thinking about the proportion of the ingredients.
Did the little fox steal medicines to prolong the white fox's life?
If so, its behaviors can be forgiven. Lin Luoran nods. She is a person who puts family first, and she is moved by a fox who shares her ideology.
However, the ingredients the little fox has picked are mostly used to replenish vital energy and blood. Did it make some mistakes? Lin Luoran used to make boluses and she is familiar with medicine. The ingredients in the cave don't seem to be the right treatment for the white fox. Lin is confused.
She keeps watching.
The cyan little fox busies with the ingredients for half an hour. The medicine is finished. Some dark green paste is in the bowl. The little fox doesn't give the paste to the white fox. Instead, it puts the bowl aside and goes to clear the grass on the corner.
A piece of cloth is under the grass. Lin Luoran is surprised.
Later, the cyan little fox finishes clearing the grass. A lifeless man is lying on the ground. Lin Luoran is so familiar with the clothes the man is wearing.
The little fox applies the paste on the man. Lin pinches herself on the thigh — the man is Wen Guanjing!
Did the two foxes steal medicine to save him?
Lin Luoran is ashamed of herself. People always say that the nature of fox is cunning. However, she just assumed that the foxes wanted to trick her. Now, Lin is too guilty to hide in the dark anymore. She tests the inhibition and walks in after making sure that it is not dangerous.
The white fox is not surprised to see Lin as if it has already known that she is there. The cyan little fox jumps gladly with excitement!
| ← Ch. 186 | Ch. 188 → |