Chapter 32

Chapter 32

Second Master Huang had mentioned he'd casually catch the fox spirit's true form on the way, and indeed, that's precisely what happened. Mid-run, he abruptly halted, kicked aside a nearby bush, and emerged with a red fox, sound asleep, clamped firmly in his jaws, without the slightest hesitation.

Propelled by the weasel's incredible speed, Chen Ji arrived home before noon. System Cat, after a quick shake of its fur, sauntered gracefully to greet him.

Second Master Huang was aware Chen Ji had a cat, but seeing Chen Ji bend down to scoop the feline into his arms, petting and cooing at it, an inexplicable sourness welled up in him. "A useless little cat, all it does is eat and sleep. What good is it? Tsk!"

System Cat: "What's Second Master Huang saying?"

Chen Ji: "He says you're a worthless snack, only good for eating and sleeping."

"Meow! How dare he insult me! Chen Ji, let me go! A mere weasel acting all high and mighty! Let me at him!" System Cat thrashed wildly in Chen Ji's arms, sending fur flying. Chen Ji held its head down, keeping it securely in his embrace to prevent it from launching an attack.

Chen Ji wouldn't dare let System Cat actually fight Second Master Huang. Unless System Cat deployed some high-tech gadgetry, how could it possibly win? One swipe from Second Master Huang would be the end of it. System Cat might not care, but Chen Ji would be heartbroken.

Second Master Huang was equally defiant, one paw on his hip, the other pointing at System Cat. "Oh ho! You dare get angry at your Second Grandfather Huang? Come on then! Who's afraid of whom? If I don't flatten you into a cat pancake today, you won't know who's boss!"

System Cat: "Bring it on! Who's scared of whom?"

Chen Ji couldn't help but chuckle, especially realizing that Second Master Huang could only hear meows, and System Cat clearly didn't share his auditory senses. They couldn't understand a word each other was saying... Were they having a one-sided argument?

He held System Cat tighter and tried to placate Second Master Huang: "Second Grandfather Huang, could you help me lock the fox in the chicken coop? I'll go make a couple of dishes and warm up some wine for you."

Second Master Huang snorted coldly and trotted off with the fox spirit in his mouth. He had initially thought locking the fox spirit in the chicken coop would be a reward for it, but upon arrival, he found not a single chicken inside, which instantly improved his mood.

To thank Second Master Huang, Chen Ji prepared three elaborate dishes for lunch: butter-fried cod, Orleans-style roasted chicken, and eight braised pig's trotters. He also opened a 2.5-liter bottle of cola for Second Master Huang, who ate to his heart's content before heading home with the leftovers Chen Ji had packed for him.

"Alright, I'm off! Remember to call me if you need help picking up packages! Don't treat your Second Grandfather Huang like an outsider!"

"Got it," Chen Ji replied with a wave and a smile before heading to the chicken coop. The red fox spirit was already awake. It had two bloody holes where Second Master Huang had bitten it and was trembling in a corner of the coop. When it saw Chen Ji enter, it panicked and tried to jump over the wall to escape, but it was tied down by Second Grandfather Huang’s rope and couldn’t get away.

System Cat finally appeared, peeking cautiously at the red fox. "It looks so pitiful now... Chen Ji, don't get too close. Be careful it doesn't bite you and give you rabies."

"I know," Chen Ji said. After observing the red fox’s condition, he went to the kitchen to fetch some food and water, placed them in a corner of the coop, and left.

Uncle Liu probably wouldn't be coming this afternoon.

Even with few people around, dust still settled in the rooms. Chen Ji had been lazy these past few days, and a thin layer of dust had already covered the green bricks of the main hall.

Chen Ji fetched a bucket of water. System Cat thought he had finally decided to do some cleaning, but then it watched as Chen Ji dismantled the robotic vacuum cleaner, poured the water into it, and uploaded a pre-designed blueprint into its system. Soon, the robotic vacuum cleaner was diligently sweeping the floor.

System Cat: "..."

It stared as Chen Ji draped a yellow cloth over the robotic vacuum cleaner, adorned with cloud and lotus patterns and embroidered with four large golden characters: "Mountain Lord’s Mercy."

"When did you buy that..." System Cat muttered. "Why not just buy a speaker to play scriptures while you’re at it?"

"I bought it while you were asleep," Chen Ji said, glancing sideways. "I wanted to buy one earlier, but I wasn’t sure if Grandfather Mountain is considered Taoist or Buddhist. Better not play anything random—I can’t exactly play 'Qi Li Xiang' or 'Jiang Nan' for Grandfather Mountain, can I?"

System Cat was momentarily speechless.

Chen Ji pinched its paw and spoke earnestly, "Grandfather Mountain, this is a new gadget from down the mountain called a vacuum cleaner. I thought your hall must be cleaned regularly, but I’m useless—my health is poor, and I still have to repair the temple. I’m stretched too thin, so I spent a lot of money on this vacuum cleaner to ensure Grandfather Mountain’s hall remains clean and bright at all times!"

"My respect for Grandfather Mountain is in my heart, not just for show. Grandfather Mountain will surely feel my sincerity!"

System Cat: "Hmm..."

Chen Ji gave System Cat a look, and it obediently shut up.

Now that he knew Grandfather Mountain truly existed and was likely protecting him, Chen Ji naturally couldn’t pass up such an opportunity. After all, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

Grandfather Mountain might not know what a robotic vacuum cleaner was and might think Chen Ji was just being lazy, using some messy gadget to avoid cleaning. But by explaining proactively that the device was expensive, costing him a lot of money, and that the reason was to free up time for temple repairs, perhaps Grandfather Mountain would be moved by his sincerity and grant him more protection?

Sometimes, words are more important than actions.

Chen Ji supervised the robotic vacuum cleaner for a while before returning to his room, satisfied, for an afternoon nap. System Cat, meanwhile, went to the pond in the back to fish with its tail. It didn’t eat the fish it caught—it purely enjoyed the fun of fishing. Who knew if a cat’s tail could even catch fish?

About an hour later, Chen Ji woke up. The sun was at its brightest outside. He drew the curtains, letting sunlight flood the bed. Bathed in the light, he flipped through the "Scripture of the Mysterious Cavern" he had drawn from System Cat earlier.

Although the book was practically gibberish to Chen Ji, Uncle Liu had mentioned that the past twenty to thirty years had been peaceful until this fox spirit incident... This gave Chen Ji a bad feeling. Coupled with the various supernatural beings occasionally appearing on Little Green Mountain, he had no choice but to study it seriously.

After all, relying on others is not as reliable as relying on oneself.

The first part of the "Scripture of the Mysterious Cavern" consisted of lengthy passages of sage teachings. Chen Ji skimmed through them, understanding the gist, but his focus was on the talismans that followed. The first talisman Chen Ji chose was the "Tongxuan Talisman," which was used to communicate between yin and yang.

Chen Ji initially considered using a tablet to practice drawing the talisman, but as soon as he opened it, he put the stylus down and instead took out a stack of plain paper and a pen to practice.

As expected, the first attempt was disjointed, lacking both spiritual resemblance and formal accuracy. It felt as if he couldn’t quite catch his breath while drawing it. For the second attempt, Chen Ji analyzed the talisman’s structure, breaking it into three parts and drawing them separately. This went much smoother, at least achieving formal accuracy.

The third, the fourth... Chen Ji patiently drew them one by one. Practice makes perfect; he just needed to keep at it. After drawing thirty or forty talismans in one go, System Cat ran in from outside. "Chen Ji, why aren’t you coming out?"

Chen Ji replied, "I’m practicing drawing talismans."

"Let me see!" System Cat jumped onto the bed and peered at the talismans. "Didn’t you say you opened your heavenly eye? Why are you still learning this talisman?"

Chen Ji tapped a line in the "Scripture of the Mysterious Cavern" with his pen cap. "It can communicate with the mysterious."

"I can see them, but if I want to touch them, it seems I need to enter their realm." Chen Ji thought for a moment and continued, "Today, Second Master Huang mentioned 'Dharma Form.' The Dharma Form probably refers to those shadowy figures... It seems a spirit can be split into two parts: one is its physical body, its form in our dimension—a weasel is a weasel, a fox is a fox."

"And the Dharma Form exists in another dimension. The Dharma Form probably can’t easily enter our human world. Like that King Cobra earlier, it dragged me into its realm. Here’s the key point: that snake spirit should be around Second Master Huang’s level, or slightly higher. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have spoken about it in that tone."

System Cat tilted its head. "But I remember Second Master Huang’s Dharma Form entered the three-dimensional world before."

That time, Second Master Huang was nearly strangled by Chen Ji and had no choice but to manifest his Dharma Form to speak directly to him.

Chen Ji nodded. "The snake spirit dragging me into its realm happened after it was killed by the white tiger. That means its true body was reduced to bones, and its Dharma Form was using the bones to cause trouble. So, it could only pull me into its realm to attack me directly through its Dharma Form."

"This morning’s fox spirit was different. It forcibly attached its Dharma Form to someone else’s body, breaking through the dimensional barrier. Second Master Huang said that forcibly crossing dimensions damages one’s cultivation." Chen Ji said softly, "The problem is here: since it has already crossed into our world and is in the same dimension as me, why can’t I touch it? Logically, I should be able to."

"I looked it up. Some folk remedies say that rhinoceros horn incense and ox tears can temporarily communicate with yin and yang, but none mention touching yin entities... Rhinoceros horn incense is out of the question—it’s illegal, with sentences starting at three years. But ox tears are worth a try..."

System Cat suddenly understood. "No wonder you brought that red fox back... Isn’t that a bit too cruel?"

Chen Ji spread his hands. "I just want to test if ox tears and the Tongxuan Talisman work. How is that cruel?"

System Cat: "You say that now, but don’t you dare lay a hand on it later!"

"Why would I hit it for no reason?" Chen Ji thought to himself that he still didn’t know the full story behind the fox. What if Xiao Wang had poured cement into its den and provoked it? ...Surely it would be fine if he just touched it a little?

System Cat didn’t bother exposing Chen Ji’s true intentions. It lay down in the sunlight, leaning against Chen Ji’s leg for an afternoon nap. Chen Ji rested a hand on it, stroking it slowly. Suddenly, a wave of drowsiness washed over him, and his eyes grew heavy.

Just a couple more talismans. The beginning is always the hardest.

Chen Ji struggled to stay awake, but his consciousness grew hazy. The pen hung loosely in his fingers as he effortlessly drew a talisman he had practiced dozens of times. Chen Ji felt a sharp sting in his eyes and suddenly snapped awake. There, on the paper, was a talisman almost identical to the one in the "Scripture of the Mysterious Cavern."

Did he draw that?

Chen Ji blinked and drew another talisman, but this time the lines were broken and disjointed, not as smooth as the previous one. Chen Ji was somewhat surprised, then remembered something and tried to empty his mind, focusing only on the image of the talisman. His wrist moved as if guided by an invisible force, flowing naturally—another flawless execution!

Could it be that drawing talismans required this kind of mental emptiness?

Before Chen Ji could ponder further, he tilted his head and fell asleep.

He slept until 4:30 in the afternoon, only waking up when System Cat gave him a "leap of faith." Chen Ji felt extremely hungry and was shocked to see it was already 4:30—perfect timing to make a couple dishes for dinner. He immediately headed to the kitchen to get dinner ready.

System Cat grumbled, "Sleeping so much during the day, be careful you can't sleep tonight."

Chen Ji yawned in response, "No worries... I'm still so tired. I'll go to sleep right after eating."

Just as he said, after eating, Chen Ji went straight to bed, too tired to even wash the dishes.

...

Outside the temple, the white tiger moved through the mountain forest. It stopped under a huge old tree, where the wind rustled the leaves. A root came up from the dirt, and the white tiger, as if sensing something, lowered its head to look at the root. After a long while, it turned and left.

Not long after it left, a dark figure appeared under the mulberry tree. It resembled a human but seemed like a tangled mess, indistinct and blurred. It placed a hand on the mulberry tree and whispered something. The wind grew stronger, making the branches and leaves dance wildly. The shadow emitted a faint, blurry laugh before vanishing.

Inside the temple, Chen Ji was sound asleep. He had forgotten to close the curtains, and his good-looking features were fully exposed under the moonlight.

The dark figure appeared silently beside Chen Ji. The "human-shaped" head turned slightly, glancing at the fat cat sleeping soundly nearby. A corner of the quilt silently lifted and covered the cat.

A vine came out from the dark figure's sleeve, gently wrapping around Chen Ji's right hand. It guided his hand into its own, where dense black mist formed finger-shaped forms, intertwining with Chen Ji's fingers, caressing and playing with them over and over.

...

***

The next day, Chen Ji stared at his entirely bruised-looking right hand, lost in thought.

System Cat was also deep in thought.

"Drawing talismans... such a big reaction?" Chen Ji said, puzzled. "How could writing words bruise my hand like this?"

System Cat seriously said, "Although my checks show nothing wrong... maybe you should go to a reliable hospital for a full check-up? Just in case? Even if it's bad blood flow, it shouldn't be this bad! There's nothing wrong with the blood vessels in your right hand! No subcutaneous bleeding either!"

Chen Ji thought it made sense. After preparing breakfast and offering it to Grandfather Mountain, he also asked Grandfather Mountain for time off and decided to go for a full check-up—he wondered if Uncle Liu was in the village. If he could get a ride from Uncle Liu, getting to town would be quick.

That said, Chen Ji had no intention of contacting Uncle Liu—since Uncle Liu hadn't come up the mountain today, he likely had taken the Wang family to the hospital yesterday. With no one left to manage things at home, he was probably still at the hospital.

Before leaving, Chen Ji started the roomba. It had enough battery for two cleaning runs, so he set it to clean once in the afternoon and again the next afternoon. If he couldn't make it back today, he'd return tomorrow or the day after.

As he walked down the mountain, a sudden flash of light struck Chen Ji's eyes. He instinctively closed them, then opened them again... probably a piece of mirror?

He had walked this path many times before. Why had he never noticed it?

Chen Ji blinked, put on his sunglasses, and looked toward the source of the glare. With the sunglasses, he could see clearly—the light was coming from a bush by the roadside. Since it was only a few steps away, Chen Ji decided to take a look.

Still cautious, Chen Ji used his walking stick to push aside the bushes. The light grew brighter, and then Chen Ji fell silent.

System Cat was also stunned: "...What is that?"

Chen Ji poked the object with his walking stick. It didn't move or puncture—it was hard. "...Not paper money."

The object was none other than a gleaming, golden ingot!

System Cat said seriously, "Don't touch it yet. Let me scan it..."

The next second: "Holy crap, it's gold! Pure gold! And solid! A full 500 grams!"

Chen Ji's handsome brows furrowed, his expression conflicted. Five hundred grams of gold, at a recycling price of 600 RMB per gram, meant this single gold ingot was worth a full 300,000 RMB.

It was like money falling from the sky!

In the past, Chen Ji would have picked it up without a second thought. Although there's a saying that money found inexplicably on the roadside shouldn't be taken lightly—who knows if it's a lucky windfall or cursed "money that buys lives"—Chen Ji would have laughed it off. Hesitating even a second would be disrespectful to cash!

But now he hesitated because he knew "money that buys lives" might very well be real.

300,000 RMB in exchange for his life? That would be a raw deal—his life was worth far more than 300,000! Even if he died suddenly in the office, his boss would compensate more than that. Then again, Chen Ji's family had only one male heir for nearly four generations. His parents and grandparents were already gone. If he died, he wouldn't even know who to leave his inheritance to.

Unless he could predict his death, cash out everything he owned, and burn the money for himself in advance.

System Cat: "Maybe you should just take it! It's 300,000 RMB! You could buy so many delicious things!"

Chen Ji sighed, feeling as though he were insulting money itself, then turned and ran faster than he ever had in his life! As he ran, he shouted to System Cat, who was still by the ingot: "I'm afraid I won't live to spend it! You're not afraid of death—wait until I'm far away, then you go pick it up!"

System Cat: "..."

"I *your entire family—! Chen Ji, are you even human—!" The System Cat, realizing what was happening, cursed loudly. Reminded by Chen Ji, it glanced back at the gleaming gold ingot and felt goosebumps all over. It immediately ran after Chen Ji.

The gold ingot lay quietly in the bushes, untouched.

What Chen Ji didn't expect was that along the way, he kept getting flashed by reflections. Upon closer look, they were all gold ingots. He didn't believe gold ingots were littered everywhere; instead, he felt something was targeting him, insistently offering him "money that buys lives"!

System Cat was also panicking and hid inside Chen Ji's body; if I can't see it, I don't have to think about it.

The downhill journey, which usually took over an hour, was completed by Chen Ji in just forty minutes. He felt like he was tasting blood when breathing, his clothes soaked with sweat, his face pale and devoid of color.

Seeing the smoke from cooking from Shangyang Village ahead, he breathed a huge sigh of relief. Someone noticed him and hurried over: "Xiao Chen... Mr. Chen, what happened to you?"

Chen Ji looked up and saw it was one of the villagers who had been watching outside the house yesterday. Gasping for breath, he waved his hand: "It's... it's nothing..."

The villager, seeing his pale face, knew it wasn't "nothing." Before he could ask further, Chen Ji looked up seriously and said, "Don't go up the mountain these days. If you see any jewelry or money, don't take it. Be careful of bad luck... it could cost you your life."

The villager was startled, recalling yesterday's events with a chill—those who were inside had told them afterward: a weasel had dashed in, Mr. Chen said a few words, the weasel gestured at Old Man Wang, and he woke up... He quickly nodded: "Okay, okay, we definitely won't pick up anything!"

"Should I tell the others in the village?" the villager asked.

Chen Ji nodded. The villager, no longer concerned about Chen Ji—figuring if Chen Ji could rest here, it must be safe—immediately rushed back to the village to tell the neighbors.

After resting enough, Chen Ji slowly walked into the village. The villagers didn't dare ask too much, only inquiring if Chen Ji needed anything. Chen Ji said he needed to go to the town hospital. When he raised his hand, everyone saw his unnaturally bruised hand and immediately stopped asking. They quickly found someone with a motorcycle to take Chen Ji to town.

Chen Ji was bounced around the whole way to the town hospital. Getting off the motorcycle, his butt felt numb. He resolved to buy a car and drive back—he had suffered enough. Some hardships could be avoided, so he would avoid them...

Taoist Priest: "Mind your own business!"

Taoist Priest: "???"

Around 6 p.m. yesterday, the Taoist Priest sent another message: "Not dead, are you?"

Taoist Priest: "If it's really bad, take it to the City God Temple!"

Taoist Priest: "Are you dead?!"

Chen Ji silently took a photo of his hand and sent it to him: "Taoist Priest, what's wrong with me? Yesterday's matter was resolved, but I woke up today like this."

Taoist Priest: "That fox spirit pinched you!"

Chen Ji: "I never made contact with it..."

Chen Ji briefly explained the situation. The Taoist priest: "...? Wait, are you saying that fox spirit is currently locked up in your chicken coop?"

Taoist priest: "Why did you even catch it? What, are you trying to boss around a fox spirit like Daji?!"

Chen Ji: "The Yellow Weasel's the one who helped me catch it."

Taoist priest: "Now you're giving orders to the Yellow Weasel?! Just how many random spirits have you been worshiping?!"

Chen Ji: "You might not believe this, but I've never worshiped the weasel. It just keeps coming to my place to mooch some food. I felt sorry for it and fed it a few times..."

Taoist priest: "[Cupping hands emoji.jpg] Our ways are too different. Fellow practitioner, let's limit our contact from now on!"