Thinking of this, Zhang Chen's heart stirred as he recalled the Fox Spirit being caught by Wang Wu, almost skinned alive to make a fur collar. His heart moved: "Could it be... the Fox Spirit was severely injured and unable to use her Demon Technique, which is why she took the risk of a Soul Emergence? Or is there another reason?"
Zhang Chen now arrived at the crack in the wall, staring at the gap hesitantly for a long time, feeling deeply apprehensive and unsure if he should continue to watch. His curiosity about the spirit was immense, and he wanted to take the opportunity to see the Fox Spirit's secrets.
Besides, not watching would make him look guilty!
If he does watch, he fears further angering the Fox Spirit.
Zhang Chen hesitated for a moment and decided to pry open the crack slightly and spy secretly. Since the Fox Spirit had noticed his actions, it seemed more suspicious not to continue peeping, potentially revealing his flaws.
Zhang Chen carefully pushed aside the sand, gazing through the crack. He saw a white-haired fox curled up inside while a slightly phantom-like girl in white clothes, looking listless, was dealing with a wild chicken, cursing under her breath: "Those damned villains, those damned mortals, they dared to harm Nannan. Nannan will never forgive you; Nannan will avenge in the name of justice."
"It was so difficult for me to achieve Soul Emergence, Night Travel, Day Travel, Exorcism, reaching the state of Possession, just on the verge of Appearance, yet you damned golden light harmed me, costing me considerable Dao Practice! You wretched fool truly deserve to die!" The girl fumed silently at a certain fellow next door, feeling wronged to the point of even referring to herself as "old lady." However, she didn't dare make any noise for fear of being overheard.
"But this kid's golden light is so powerful, it could actually be used to my advantage. Earlier, I found a page of the Golden Book in that ancient tomb, where there was quite a tricky fellow..." Mulling over this, the girl's eyes flickered mischievously as if she had thought of something.
The girl deftly plucked the wild chicken, channeling her anger into her task. Not long after, the feathers were gone, and she started cursing and preparing braised chicken rice.
As she cooked, the girl turned her head towards the crack in the wall, a sly look in her eyes. The next moment, she seemed to unintentionally flick a piece of chicken, sending a drop of scalding hot water directly towards the gap.
Zhang Chen, caught off guard, let out an involuntary scream, falling straight to the ground, painfully holding his mouth to keep from shouting as he writhed on the floor in agony, cursing in his mind: "This damn Fox Spirit did it on purpose! She's deliberately retaliating against me!"
After a long while, the pain subsided. Zhang Chen opened his swollen eyes, one eye not blind but vision still blurry, evidently scalded.
"It's not without gain, at least I learned some of the Fox Spirit's background. Previously, her soul appeared solid like a real person, but now it's ghostly, clearly heavily injured by my golden light." Zhang Chen felt slightly more confident, no longer just a weakling without the ability to protect himself against the Fox Spirit.
Yet, the Fox Spirit's ability to control objects with her soul left Zhang Chen with lingering fear. This time she threw water; next time, it might be a knife, especially since her soul can pass through matter — impossible to guard against.
"Forget it, for the Skill Points, I'll endure!"
Zhang Chen silently resolved, already inflating his status to that of a grandfather to the Fox Spirit.
Of course, Zhang Chen had considered escaping, breaking free from the Fox Spirit's control to start anew somewhere else, but he simply couldn't escape! In the past, when Zhang Chen first noticed the Fox Spirit's antics, he attempted to flee, only to 'accidentally' encounter a snow-white fox crossing his path, compelling him to scurry back. Looking back, that was clearly the white fox toying with him, intending to make him work for free, providing for it.
The invisible threat is the most powerful and terrifying!
Without a doubt, Zhang Chen was scared. He knew it was the white fox's warning. Since then, Zhang Chen hadn't tried to run!
Now that Zhang Chen realized he had a smidgen of ability to resist the Fox Spirit, he was delighted, his mood greatly improved and he was no longer in a hurry to fight her. Now, with a Golden Finger, as long as he quietly bided his time to grow, gaining experience points to level up, there was no fear of dealing with the Fox Spirit in the future.
The cost of this was merely supporting the Fox Spirit — not a big issue, as Zhang Chen was known to be a skilled hunter. As long as he could gain experience points, he didn't mind placing the Fox Spirit on a pedestal.
But despite his desire to quietly develop, the Fox Spirit wasn't willing.
He thought that as long as he could hunt prey, life would settle down. But on the third day when Zhang Chen ventured into the mountains again, he quickly encountered something strange.
On this day, Zhang Chen returned empty-handed from the mountains. None of the dozen or so traps yielded any result, vastly different from his usual days of abundant harvest. Just as he was about to return empty-handed, a wild chicken, from who knows where, directly crashed into a tree right before Zhang Chen and fell to the ground, its wing bending at an unnatural angle.
Overjoyed at the unexpected windfall, Zhang Chen was about to seize the dazed wild chicken when, the next moment, he saw the chicken flapping its broken wing, drifting through the forest.