Chapter 4: The First Time I Came to the Mortal World, I Met with Him (2)
Translator: Xu Kun
Proofread by Zhu Yuan

Finally, I saw the acrobatics show, but I was not satisfied. I lost my interest soon, so I decided to go back and find Bai Xiaoshan. As I was walking back, a Taoist priest in his 50s suddenly grabbed me by my arm and stared at me for a long time. I also looked back curiously. I saw a long bamboo pole in his hand with a canvas hanging on it, which said “Demigod Zhang”.

“This young lady, you must listen to me,” I was about to speak when he started first.

I pretended to listen to him and looked at him very sincerely.

He gave a cough and said slowly, “I am a Taoist from Maoshan Mountain. I just saw that your forehead was blackish and you were somehow dazed. I suspect that you are bewitched by an evil spirit after that close examination. If you don’t exorcise the evil spirit as soon as possible, I’m afraid that you will be faced with an imminent disaster”.

“You mean…” I immediately looked at him in panic. At that moment, I had to say that I acquired excellent acting skills

“What strange places have you been to recently or what strange people have you met?” The Taoist priest asked solemnly.

I wanted to say no, but the mortal world was indeed a strange place for me, and the man in black clothes I just met was also a strange person, so I nodded to him honestly.

“What you saw just now was a monster. No wonder you look so tired. It is possible that the evil spirit has extracted a lot of essence from you.” The Taoist said with a serious look.

I touched my face subconsciously. How could that be possible? Did I look so haggard? Was it because I ate too much?

“But fortunately, you meet me,” said the Taoist priest, taking out an amulet from his pocket and giving it to me. “As long as you take this, there will be no monsters who dare hurt you.” He took out another one and said, “Take this back home, and it will guarantee the safety of the whole family.”

I looked at the two amulets very carefully and asked the Taoist priest, “Will monsters be afraid of this?”

“Of course, I came from Maoshan Mountain. I can subdue and eliminate demons. These two amulets are much valued in Maoshan. I am merciful and honest so I only charge you ten silver ingots for each.”

I scratched my head and thought to myself: how could he be so justified when a monster like me stood in front of him?

So, I continued to look at him with purity in my eyes and said: “I have to pay you ten silver ingots for this?”

The Taoist coughed and said, “If you are really short of money, you can give me ten silver ingots for two. After all, I have already freed myself from money and other external things. With the money you give me, I can draw more amulets and benefit more people.

The Taoist priest spoke sincerely, and I also decided to be honest this time. Therefore, I showed out one of my fox’s paws, patted the Taoist priest on the shoulder very gently, and said innocently, “I’m sorry. Actually, I don’t have any money.”

The Taoist priest looked at me all the way from my face to my hand, and finally stopped his eyes on my paw. He was first serious and calm, but at that moment, he was verging on a breakdown with his eyes bigger than the bells. He threw the bamboo pole away and let out a piercing cry: “This is a monster! Help!”

Watching him run away in a nice mess, I sighed disappointedly. This also proved the importance of professional skills.

I originally intended to go back and find Bai Xiaoshan, but after walking so long, I found that I lost my way. Of course, to get lost was quite understandable for a fox who had never been out of the mountain before.

Since I couldn’t find the way back to the restaurant, I sat down on a stone by the road. I looked leisurely at the passers-by and waited for Bai Xiaoshan to come to me.

“You fox demon, how dare you seduce my husband! I will beat you to death! You son of a bitch!” Bored to sleep, I suddenly heard a noise coming from the crowd nearby. The phrase “fox demon” really interested me. My heart beat like a drum and I jumped up excitedly. For god’s sake, I hadn’t seen another fox demon for nearly one thousand years, and I met one this time. I had to say that this was the only chance in a thousand years.

I headed straight to where the sound came from and squeezed into the crowd of onlookers. My eyes glistened and I searched back and forth for the target fox, only to find a middle-aged woman tugging at the ear of a delicate and pretty young lady with inhumane violence. However, I had no interest in this. After all, the contradictions between them still needed to be solved by themselves. The only thing that interested me was the fox demon.

I used my sharp eyes to scan everyone but didn’t see any fox. I couldn’t help but feel disappointed. Was I too late? Just then, the middle-aged woman swore again: “You fox demon, you seduced my husband! You shameless slut!”

My dimmed eyes were enlightened, and I believed that this delicate young beauty was the fox I was looking for. Had her accomplishments been superb enough to become an immortal? Why didn’t I perceive the smell of fox?

I immediately ran to her with adoration on my face and pushed the middle-aged woman aside. I grasped the hand of the young lady and trembled with excitement, “Are you really a fox demon?”

The beauty was scared by my enthusiasm, and it took her some time to recover. Hearing what I said, her face suddenly became pale, and her eyes turned red. She sighed, “You …”

“Do you have a superb accomplishment? Why can’t I perceive the smell of fox from you?” I didn’t know much about people’s facial expressions, so I was still immersed in my excitement and asked her cheerfully.

“Hum, her accomplishment is the highest in the world! Every male in this city has been seduced by her!” When the middle-aged woman heard what I said, she answered my question with some pride on her angry face.

“Really?” She was indeed an example for me! I continued to ask: “Which mountain do you belong to? How many years have you been practicing? More than two thousand years?”

“Don’t push too far!” The young lady became angry, her lips trembling slightly and her tears dropping like pearls. This puzzled me for quite a while.

Why did she shed tears so much? Was it a feature of her profound accomplishment?

“Don’t pretend to be innocent. It’s no use crying. Why do you love to seduce men? Today I am going to teach you a lesson!” said the middle-aged woman. She rushed over and wanted to beat the young lady again.

I withdrew to one side and looked at them, waiting for the delicate lady to kick the woman away with her superb magic power. However, I waited for a long time and the young lady did nothing but cry. I was alarmed. She was bullied like this, but she only cried and howled. This was not the style of our fox demons! And she was probably a fake fox!

In order to know the identity of the beauty, I pulled out a small round mirror, which was the only legacy left to me by my mother who had already died. This mirror was called the “monster-revealing mirror”. My father made it by imitating the revealing mirror in heaven. It was said that one could see what animal the person was originally with the mirror. However, unlike the authentic mirror in the heaven, this one was totally harmless. It was also the love token between my parents. The only drawback was that every time my mother turned into a gorgeous beauty and decided to look in the mirror, she would see a fox with fur all over the face. This made my mother very angry, so she hid it away in a rage. She took it out and gave it to me on the day of her death, and sighed deeply: “You, my daughter, should not forget your origin as a fox after you have taken a human form!”

Although I always rejected pirated items, this was an antique at any rate. I kept it with me and thought that I could sell it out when I couldn’t make my ends meet. I didn’t expect it to come in handy at this moment.

I walked to the young lady with the mirror in my hand and kicked the middle-aged woman away. Then I looked at the lady in the mirror from different angles. As a result, there was no fox appearing in the mirror.

It turned out that I made a mistake. This delicate young lady was simply a human being!

As soon as I put away the mirror, I stared angrily at the pretty lady: “Why do you lie to me that you are a fox demon since you are in fact not?”

The beauty burst into tears again. She pointed at me with her trembling finger: “I have no quarrel with you. Why do you treat me like this?”

I was thinking about the meaning of her remarks when she said angrily: “You are the fox demon. Your families are all foxes!” After saying this, she ran away.

I was stunned. I was indeed a discerning person. In fact, she was an expert in foxes. She was able to see my origin at a glance. Well, this was a promising young beauty!

“You fox demon! I haven’t finished it yet. Why are you running away from me?” The middle-aged woman wanted to catch her up, but I stopped her.

“She is not a fox! You blamed her wrongly.” I told her this fact with great seriousness.

“Bah! If she is not a fox, who is?” The middle-aged woman gave me a disdainful look and asked.

Upon hearing this, I immediately stood upright with my head held high. I patted my chest with great pride and said: “I am the fox demon!”

“Humph!” The crowd immediately dispersed.

“Are you crazy?” The middle-aged woman rolled her eyes at me and also went away.

“Hey! Why don’t you believe it! I didn’t lie to you! I am indeed a fox demon!” I shouted at them, trying to attract their attention.

Unfortunately, nobody took any notice of me.