After practicing medicine in Green Ox Town for over a month, "Healer Tang's" reputation had spread not only within the town but even surrounding villages often had villagers comingadmiringly to seek treatment. Xiao Qi still diagnosed daily, charging little, with "superb" medical skills, treating people gently, deeply loved by the townspeople. The Dao seed in his dantian, after absorbing the pure thoughts of gratitude, expectation, and joy after recovery from many mortals, grew warmer and more transparent, its connection with this mundane world also even closer.
However, this region was not only inhabited by mortals. Though spiritual qi wasn't dense, between mountains and marshes, spirits and monsters also bred.
One night, the moon was bright and stars were sparse. Xiao Qi wasn't resting at the inn but, as usual, meditating on a secluded slope outside the town, absorbing moonlight to consolidate his cultivation, while quietly covering the small town with divine sense, both for guarding and as a form of cultivation.
Just past midnight, his slightly closed eyes suddenly opened, a trace of surprise and gravity flashing in them. In his divine sense perception, a weak yet sinister demonic power was quietly sneaking into Green Ox Town, heading straight for a relatively wealthy household on the town's east side where an elderly person was bedridden with long illness and weak yang qi.
"Demonic qi... seems to be absorbing living people's essence?" Xiao Qi's brows slightly furrowed. This kind of behavior was a quick-success method commonly used by evil cultivators and demons, but often harmed others for self-benefit, creating deep karma.
His form swayed, like a gentle breeze merging into the night, silently heading toward that household.
Approaching that household's courtyard wall, he could only see a thin, nearly transparent pink fog seeping in through window cracks, wrapping toward the elderly person on the bed who was barely breathing with a wax-yellow face. As the fog wrapped around, the elderly person's already weak vitality seemed to dim another shade, while that pink fog slightly solidified.
Xiao Qi didn't immediately act to dispel this demonic fog. His purification power was most sensitive to this kind of sinister aura, but what he sensed from it was not the deep malice of an old demon, but rather like an... ignorant, anxious, even fearful instinctive behavior.
He concealed his aura, divine sense like the finest tendril, gently touching that strand of pink demonic fog.
"Wuu..."
An extremely faint whine carrying pain and grievance fed back along the divine sense. That demonic fog suddenly trembled as if frightened, quickly detaching from the elderly person, condensing into a ball, shrinking in the room's corner, revealing a blurry, approximately palm-sized phantom resembling a little fox. Its eyes weretimidly, its whole body trembling, its demonic power weak and unstable, obviously its spiritual intelligence had just opened not long ago.
Xiao Qi understood in his heart. This wasn't some fierce great demon, probably just a little demon fox that had just awakened spiritual intelligence and gone astray. It might have chosen to absorb mortal essence, this drinking poison to quench thirst method, either to quickly increase power or to heal something (Xiao Qi noticed one of its hind legs in the phantom was somewhat unnaturally twisted).
If following the cultivation world's usual practice, this kind of demon harming people would naturally be killed alongside exterminating demons.
But Xiao Qi looked at that trembling, fear-and-helplessness-filled little demon fox, his heart moved. He remembered his newly realized Dao—purification was not only about elimination.
He slowly revealed his form, not emitting any pressure, just peacefully looking at that pink phantom.
The little demon fox seeing him, its whole fur stood on end in fright, the phantom nearly dissolving, issuing an even more mournful whine.
"Don't be afraid." Xiao Qi spoke, his voice gentle, carrying a stabilizing power, a kind of application of his purification power fused with guardian Dao rhyme. "Why do you absorb this old person's essence? Do you know this act harms heaven's harmony, not only harming others but ultimately backfiring on yourself, making your spiritual intelligence dust-covered, forever falling into the demonic path?"
His voice seemed to carry some strange magic, directly acting on the little demon fox's ignorant mind. The little demon fox's trembling gradually subsided somewhat, timidly raising its head, looking at Xiao Qi's peaceful and profound eyes. Its spiritual intelligence wasn't high, unable to understand complex language, but it could clearly feel the "truth" and "goodness" in the other party's words, and a kind of... warm "care" it had never felt before.
It hesitated a moment, raised that twisted hind leg, issuing a tiny mournful cry, then pointed at the weak-breathing elderly person on the bed, its eyes showing a kind of anxiety and... a trace of pleading?
Xiao Qi's divine sense carefully explored, and indeed at the little demon fox's old injury on that hind leg, he felt a stubborn yin-cold corpse qi eroding its demon origin, causing it endless pain. And that elderly person on the bed, seemed to have accumulated a similar yin-cold illness qi in his body due to long illness leading to weak yang qi. Was this little demon fox trying to use the yin-cold illness qi in the elderly person's essence to attack poison with poison, to relieve its own pain? Only its method was completely wrong, instead worsening the elderly person's illness.
Xiao Qi sighed inwardly. Indeed it had gone astray.
He extended his finger, circling extremely weak yet pure purification light, like fireflies' soft glow. He didn't attack the little demon fox, but slowly pointed that purification light toward its injured hind leg.
The little demon fox was initially very frightened, wanting to dodge, but the warmth and vitality contained in the purification light made it instinctively feel comfortable. It forcefully endured its fear, not moving.
The purification light merged into its injured leg, and that stubborn yin-cold corpse qi met its nemesis, rapidly dissolving. The little demon fox only felt a warm current entering, the severe pain instantly reducing by more than half. It comfortably narrowed its eyes, issuing tiny purring sounds, its gaze toward Xiao Qi filled with dependence and gratitude.
"Absorbing living people's essence is the evil path, harming others and not benefiting yourself." Xiao Qi withdrew his finger, his voice still gentle but carrying a trace of admonition, "Heaven and earth are vast, there is naturally a righteous path to follow. Sun and moon essence, mountain and river spiritual qi are all resources heaven and earth bestow on all beings for cultivation. Though progress is slow, the foundation is stable, with a clear conscience."
As he spoke, he activated a trace of his own Dao seed's Dao rhyme, that meaning representing "order,""vitality," and "guidance," like spring wind turning to rain, quietly moistening the little demon fox's ignorant mind. At the same time, he pointed toward the bright moon in the window and the faintly visible mountain range with relatively abundant spiritual qi in the distance.
The little demon fox looked along his pointing finger. Its newly awakened spiritual intelligence seemed to have a new window opened. Moonlightsprinkled on its body, and it instinctively felt a more comfortable, more pure cool energy than absorbing that filthy essence entering its body. Though weak, it made its whole body comfortable, its demon origin even condensed a trace. It looked at Xiao Qi again, eyes already filled with admiration and understanding.
"Go, find a mountain wilderness with abundant spiritual qi and no one disturbing, quietly absorb sun and moon essence, temper your demon body. When your cultivation succeeds, you can also be like me, doing good and accumulating virtue, helping others and yourself, that is the righteous path." Xiao Qi waved his hand.
The little demon fox seemed to understand yet not understand, but it remembered that warm power, remembered the comfort brought by moonlight, also remembered the brand of "doing good and accumulating virtue" left in its mind. It bowed respectfully toward Xiao Qi, then transformed into a weak pink flowing light, passing through the window, disappearing into the vast night, heading toward the distant mountain range's direction.
Xiao Qi watched the direction it disappeared, giving a slight smile. He could feel that at the moment the little demon fox left with understanding, the Dao seed in his dantian seemed to grow another shade lighter and more agile. The "purification" and "guardian" feeling brought by guiding toward goodness and enlightening ignorance was far more aligned with his Dao than simply eliminating an evil being.
He turned, walked to the bedside, his fingertip condensing a trace of pure vitality power, lightly pointing at the elderly person's brow center, dispersing the accumulated yin-cold illness qi in his body, and leaving behind a trace of origin to warm his vitality. The elderly person's wax-yellow face rapidly returned to ruddy at a speed visible to the naked eye, his breathing also becoming steady and long.
After doing all this, Xiao Qi quietly left, as if he had never appeared.
Several days later, that long-ill elderly person miraculously got out of bed and walked, the townspeople all thinking Healer Tang's medical skills were divine. And Xiao Qi's divine sense could occasionally perceive that in some corner of the distant mountain range, a pink little fox was breathing toward the morning sun and moonlight, its eyes clear, its demon power though growing slowly, was pure and stable.
Guiding the little demon, leading toward goodness. This experience gave him a deeper understanding of practicing his own Dao. Purification and guardian could take many forms. And his mundane world wandering thus added new meaning.