Chapter 2 Dangerous Turning into Fox Skin
On this day, the five little foxes transformed into a group of fawns drinking by a small stream when suddenly a mournful scream came from a short distance away. An arrow shot a goose through the body, falling heavily from the sky. Two hunters with a few hounds caught the goose, and there was great laughter and barking. The five little foxes, alert to conceal themselves, hurriedly changed from the form of a deer into five small trees.
Their change of art can hide from the eyes of the hunters but not hide from the noses of the hounds. One of the hounds smelled the fox's scent, and it slowly approached this small bush that appeared out of thin air, baring its teeth and grinning with an eerie blue light in its menacing gaze. When it was just about to pounce, its master called it to return. It had to give up, look at the place unwillingly, and turn away.
The five little foxes' hearts were pounding so hard that they were almost on the verge of vomiting their hearts out. They grew up living on Beva Mountain, surrounded by the boundary left by their ancestors as a barrier and the heavenly dangerous terrain as a second line of defense. Although there were also beings of different races on the mountain, everyone had always been friendly, and this kind of close contact with death was a first for all of them.
After the hunter and the hound left, the fox boss settled down, gathered his younger siblings around him, and said, "Fortunately, we are acting together; if we were separated, it would have been awful to lose our lives to the hunter."
"Did you guys see that ugly dog? It's so horrible that I almost screamed out." The third sister said with a sobbing voice.
"But I think we should move separately so the target won't be too big." Fox Xiaoxian suggested in a small voice.
"I'm not going to! I want to go home; I want my father and mother; I don't want to cultivate. I'd rather be a fox for the rest of my life than see that ugly dog again." The third sister wailed and cried, and her cries grew louder and louder.
"Don't cry, don't cry; if you keep crying, you should attract the hunters over." Boss hurriedly covered Third Sister's mouth. After pondering for a while, he asked his brothers, "How about this! I'll send Third Sister back, Oldest Two; you take Oldest Four and Oldest Five and find a hole near here to hide; wait for me to come back and meet up with you guys."
"How can that be? Big brother, as long as we join hands, we can beat that hunter and a few broken dogs; this journey is too dangerous; I'll go with you! The fourth brother and Little Five stay here. We'll be back in a few days."
"Good, Little Four and Little Five, you guys be careful yourselves, we'll go and come back."
"Brother and sister, don't worry, we will take care of ourselves." Little Four and Little Five responded in unison.
The five foxes split into two ways: one returned to Bieva Mountain in the night, and the other found a small cave in a dense mountain forest and hid. Although this cave is small, the good thing is that it is on top of the cliffs, and few natural enemies can efficiently run up to it. The two little foxes curled up, snuggling together, even if the storm was outside, but they also could be considered to have a moment of peace and a little rest. Although Fox Xiao Xian was also very tired and scared, she still let the fourth brother hide a little bit inside; she used her own not-very-rich and thick fur to help her brother block the wind and rain outside.
Early the following day, the torrential rain stopped, and the two foxes began to manifest their forms to go out and forage for food. Fox Xiaxia turned into an eagle and caught a large fish in the river, while Fox Xiao Xian turned into a spirit monkey and traveled among the trees, gathering several wild fruits and mushrooms. The two little ones feasted beautifully and began to nap.
Although they hid themselves, they still couldn't escape the hunter's pursuit, and they were sleeping soundly when the hunter silently used a mechanism to spread out a capture net, sealing the tiny hole instantly.
Fox Xiaxia was instantly stunned; he forgot that he could transform into a smaller insect to fly out of the net hole. He kept struggling in the net, and as a result, he was entangled more and more tightly. Fox Xiaoxian, on the other hand, was surprisingly calm and hurriedly hugged his brother, saying, "Brother, you have to change quickly! Turn into a bee, and you'll be able to go! My illusion skill is not as good as yours, so you should go quickly and find big brother and second brother and the others to save me!"
When Fox Xiaxia heard this, he was immediately saddened; at this time, he even wanted his little sister, whom he had never been able to see, to give up her life to offer help. He had mixed feelings, but this was the best way. He hurriedly gave birth to a mantra in his heart, transformed into a flying insect, and escaped. Fox Xiaoxian saw that her brother had successfully escaped, and she herself was relieved. It's not that she didn't want to change and run together. How could it be that the net happened to be wrapped around her tail and one of her hind legs? No matter how she couldn't break free, if it had been a little later, her fourth brother may have missed the time to escape as well.
Fox Xiaoxian was hung upside down by the hunter and brought back to a small courtyard. She saw a few cages scattered in the yard's corners, locked up pheasants, hares, deer, wild boars, lynxes, and other small animals. Some were crying, some were already paralyzed with fear on the ground, some were maniacally barging around wanting to escape, and even some were too timid to die of anxiety already. There is also a fox who has been skinned but is not yet dead, covered with blood, gasping for breath in the corner, whimpering and wailing in pain ...
On the other side of the courtyard, a large table and case were set with hideous and horrible tools, including axes, saws, knives of various shapes, and a cauldron churning with blood-red liquid. In addition to the wailing sounds of multiple animals, a few ferocious hounds at the courtyard entrance kept barking furiously, and it looked like they were the same ones that had tracked the foxes two days ago. One of them saw Fox Xiao Xian on the hunter's back and almost broke free from the chains to pounce and bite over. Although the hunter reprimanded it with a roar, it still stared at Fox Xiao Xian with a ferocious light in its eyes.
Fox Xiaoxian was terrified! But she still forced herself to calm down and hurriedly think of a way. She didn't want to be stripped of her fox skin, and even more so, she didn't want to die as soon as she stepped off the mountain.
"Boss Xie! Why did you catch so little today?"
"Hey, today is fucking evil. I clearly remember that when I put the organ in order to catch two foxes, one of them was especially beautiful. The fur color is crystal clear, white, and bright, but I don't know how. The one that returned is such a small fox with mixed colors; how did the other one run away? How could the other one have escaped? What bad luck!"
"Aigoo, this fox's fur can't be sold cheaply! But ... these eyes are quite chic. Digging them out may also be useful. Together with the one that has been skinned together, chopped, and fed to the dog."
The hunters spoke to each other; to them, these captured small animals were just prey, and there was no need to sympathize. But as one of the "prey," Fox Xiaoxian, after all, is a fox demon of the Spirit Fox Clan; even if her magical power is weak, she can't easily sit and wait for death. She pretended to pass out and was untied by the hunter and thrown into the cage. She quietly observed, taking advantage of the hunter to go away. She hurriedly used her magic power to perceive everything around her. It turned out that the skinned fox was only two years old and was brutally killed before it was enlightened, and the lynx turned out to be a spirit beast, and it seemed to be practicing a similar dao as her.
She quietly said to the lynx, "Hey, I say this cat, big brother? How did you get caught here as well?"
The lynx manically tried to escape from the cage, and in his distraction, he heard a minor demon of his kind calling him and looked at Fox Xiaoxian in surprise. This little fox of mixed colors in front of him looked unimpressive but stared at himself with two gleaming eyes as if there was a force in those eyes that could suck him in. He hurriedly shook his head; he had long heard that the fox demon was good at the art of change and seduction; how could he fall into her way?
"I say this cat, big brother, don't pretend; I know you are also a demon; I tell you, we have to discuss how to escape together now?"
"Since you are a fox demon, you should be able to change into something else to escape; why are you helping me? Also, I'm not a cat, I'm a lynx spirit, my name is Shan Xiaohu, what's your name?"
"My name is Fox Xiaoxian. I just felt the surroundings; these small animals are ordinary birds and beasts. The ability to save themselves is not good, but we two have the magic power to join hands to beat the hunter and those few dogs."
"You mean, not only do you want to help me escape together, but they also need to come along?"
"Yes! Why don't they run together? If I escape to change, a mosquito is not run well; lame mosquitoes can also fly ah!"
Shan Xiaohu scratched his head with a big fat paw, and he did not expect this little fox demon to be quite kind. "That's fine! What do you say about how you want to save yourself? This cage holding us looks quite broken, but strangely enough, no matter how much I struggle and charge, it just doesn't move, as if a boundary has been set up."
Fox Xiao Xian touched the lock on the cage and sniffed around. This doesn't look like an ordinary iron cage in the mortal world. Rather, it is a bit like the Binding Immortal Rope that her family's father used to clean up the naughty fox cubs every time, even the net that couldn't break free just now; how could an ordinary earthly net possibly trap herself? Why did they have the Immortal Binding Rope? Fox Xiaoxian couldn't figure it out at this time and didn't have time to think carefully. With a turn of her fox eyes, she said to Shan Xiaohu:
"Brother Xiaohu, let's both pretend to fight and invite those two hunters to come over. Once they release us, won't we be able to cast spells?"
"Right! This is a way. When I was napping inside the forest, suddenly a net covered me, and I was caught there, and I couldn't use my spells. Well then, let's do it!"Don't rush first, Brother Xiaohu. Is hunting dog a bit strange? Why do I always feel that it keeps staring at us?"
Shan Xiaohu followed Fox Xiao Xian's line of sight and looked at that ferocious hound. It had been looking at them, and it seemed to understand what these two were planning completely completely... Murphy? It wasn't an unusual hound, either. A goblin with magical powers as well? Nay, they couldn't exert much mana in the cage to tell, but they all felt that this wasn't an excellent master to deal with and would have to think long and hard about it.
At night, the forest became dark, and occasionally, a few cries of ghosts could be heard. But the forest is no more dangerous and scary than the small courtyard, and at this time, it is like a hell of hell. During the day, the little-skinned fox died and did not survive the night. The body was chopped into pieces and fed to the hunting dogs. The strange thing is that the largest and most ferocious one did not eat, but from the beginning to the end, staring at the fox Xiao Xian, they did not move. The hunters plucked and roasted the two scared pheasants; the aroma was overflowing, but fox Xiao Xian, a single small tiger, two beasts, had no appetite. The little wild boar looked at the side of the non-stop companions who were slaughtered, terrified very much, non-stop fear screaming by the hunter in a fit of anger with a stick knocked out. The animals in the cage shivered, including Fox Xiao Xian and their two demons.
The hunters hiccuped and smelled of alcohol as they walked out of the thatched hut, casually throwing the leftover pheasant bones to the dogs guarding the door; several dogs scrambled for them; they were jubilant. Suddenly, a strange wind swept over the head of the one called Boss Xie, and the drunken one stumbled and fell unexpectedly, causing the other one to laugh wildly.
"He grandma bear, who assassinated me? Don't you fucking laugh, help me up."
"I said, are you getting old? If you can't do it, just quit and go back to the village to serve your wife and kids!"
"You're the one who's fucking old! I'm only in my forties, and I'm still young! I'm still young, hunting for the Grand Master and surrendering the furs of rare and exotic animals. How can I possibly quit? The silver fox's skin we got today will fetch us a few buckets of rice, enough to feed my family for two or three months. Tomorrow and then later to catch the fox and lynx skinned, meat sold to the village east head of the Zhang butcher can earn a fortune. Hahahahahahaha ..."
"You say, this buyer of ours, why is he a sick kid? In the heat of the day, he still has to wear such a thick fur cloak, and I'm all hot and bothered by it."
"Who cares? We don't care whether he wears it or covers it. If we can exchange it for money, we'll have food and wine to drink! Let's go, let's drink!"
"Walk one, walk one, hahahahahaha ..."
The two hunters drank until the middle of the moon before the end of the day; snoring shook the thatched hut following the tremor. Several hunting dogs fell asleep one by one. At this moment, the one that had been staring at Fox Xiao Xian and the others quietly paced over to stand in front of Fox Xiao Xian.
"I know you are not ordinary beasts." He spoke.
"You, you, you really ..." Fox Xiaoxian looked at him in surprise.
"I'm not a mortal dog. I'm from the heavenly realm. When I followed my master to fight in the war, I was accidentally injured and fell into the mortal realm. This butcher saved me, but I don't know where he got the Binding Immortal Lock variation of the chain tethered to it, and I was never again able to exert my magical power to return to the heavenly realm. You guys are also demons that know spells. How about we make a deal?"
"What deal? Would you be so kind as to help us?" Shan Xiaohu asked as he vigilantly stopped Fox Xiaoxian behind him.
"Hmph, of course, I won't be kind enough to help you guys; as long as you can help me untie this chain, I'll help you escape."
"Are you telling the truth?" At that moment, an owl flew down from the top of the cage and looked the hound dead in the eye.
"Who are you?"
"I am Fox Xiaxia, and in the cage is my sister, Fox Xiao Xian."
"Your Spirit Fox Clan sure is good at change arts, huh? I can't believe I didn't see that you were a fox just now."
"Cut the crap; what you're about to say is true; I'll help you open the chains; you help me save my sister, otherwise ..."
"Humph, a little fox demon, can you intimidate me? Even if I don't help you guys, there will always be a chance for me to find a way to escape."
"That's not certain ..."