SFS Chapter 28 Fox Girl
Chapter 28 Fox Girl
The three agreed on a way to contact each other and then went their separate ways.
Zhou Ning visited Lanruo Temple again.
Lanruo Temple during the day is completely different from that at night.
Sunlight shone on the ruins, which, though still dilapidated, had lost some of their gloom and gained a sense of desolation.
He entered the main hall and carefully examined every corner.
There are still some black ash remnants at the place where I fought the woman in white last night.
Those were marks left after being burned by the "exorcising talisman".
Zhou Ning squatted down, picked up a bit of ash with his fingers, and smelled it.
There was a faint, fishy smell, unlike ordinary wood ash, more like... the smell of burning corpses.
"Could it be that the woman in white wasn't alive?"
Zhou Ning became suspicious.
He continued his search and discovered a hidden tunnel entrance behind the Buddha statue in the main hall.
The entrance was covered by a stone slab, which was covered in dust and looked like it hadn't been opened in a long time.
However, Zhou Ning noticed that the dust on the edge of the stone slab showed signs of having been moved.
Although it was deliberately smoothed out, you can still see it if you look closely.
He pushed the stone slab aside with force, revealing a dark hole underneath.
A cold, damp aura wafted out of the cave entrance.
Zhou Ning drew an "evil-repelling talisman" from his waist and held it in his hand, while holding the Qingfeng sword in his other hand, and slowly walked into the tunnel.
The tunnel was very narrow, only wide enough for one person to pass through at a time.
The walls were damp and covered with moss.
Every few steps, you can see some strange markings, like some kind of runes.
Zhou Ning didn't recognize these runes, but he could sense that they contained a faint spiritual power.
"Was this tunnel dug by that monster, or did it already exist?"
As he walked, he pondered to himself.
The tunnel was very long and winding, and I had no idea where it led.
After walking for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the area in front of Zhou Ning suddenly opened up.
This is a small stone chamber, about the size of an ordinary family's bedroom.
Inside the stone chamber was a stone bed covered with dry grass and animal hides.
Beside the stone bed was a stone table with a bronze mirror, a wooden comb, and several pieces of women's clothing on it.
"Is this... the dwelling place of that monster?"
Zhou Ning walked to the stone table and picked up the bronze mirror.
The back of the bronze mirror is engraved with some patterns, and it looks quite old.
He turned the bronze mirror over, and his face was reflected in the mirror.
But strangely, in the mirror, his face was pale and his eyes were sunken, making him look like he had been seriously ill.
Zhou Ning frowned and put the bronze mirror down.
He picked up the wooden comb again, with a few long strands of hair wrapped around it. The hair was jet black and emitted a faint fragrance.
"Is this the monster's hair?"
Zhou Ning picked up a strand of hair, held it to her nose, and smelled it.
Besides the delicate fragrance, there was also a faint, almost imperceptible, smell of blood.
Just as he was about to continue the search, he suddenly heard a faint sound of footsteps coming from outside the stone chamber.
Zhou Ning's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly hid behind the stone bed, holding his breath.
The footsteps grew closer.
Then, a figure entered the stone chamber.
It was a woman dressed in white.
But not the one from last night.
This girl was even younger, looking no more than fifteen or sixteen years old, with delicate features and clear eyes.
In her hand, she carried a bamboo basket filled with wild vegetables and fruits.
She walked to the stone table, put down the bamboo basket, then sat on the stone bed and sighed.
"Sister, when are you coming back..." she murmured to herself.
elder sister?
Zhou Ning's heart skipped a beat.
Is this girl in white the sister of the woman in white from last night?
As he hesitated whether to reveal himself, the girl suddenly turned her head and looked in the direction where he was hiding.
"Who's there?"
Zhou Ning knew he couldn't hide any longer, so he had no choice but to come out from behind the stone bed.
The girl was startled when she saw him, then stood up warily and drew a dagger from her waist.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?"
Zhou Ning raised his hands to indicate that he meant no harm:
"My name is Zhou Ning, a cultivator. Young lady, you are...?"
The girl sized him up for a moment, and seemed to sense that he meant her no harm, which made her relax a little.
"My name is Xiao Cui," she said.
"This is my sister's house. You...you're here to arrest my sister?"
Zhou Ning did not deny it: "Your sister... is that the woman in white with red eyes?"
Xiao Cui's expression changed:
"You've seen my sister? You...you hurt her?"
Zhou Ning said, "Last night at Lanruo Temple, I fought with your sister. She abducts innocent women and drains their life force; this is evil magic, and I cannot stand idly by."
Xiao Cui's eyes reddened: "No, my sister... she's not a bad person."
Zhou Ning looked at her and said in a deep voice, "Then tell me, why did she kidnap those women?"
Xiao Cui lowered her head and remained silent for a long time.
Finally, she raised her head, her eyes filled with tears.
"Because...because those women's ancestors owed our family a blood debt."
A brief silence fell over the stone chamber.
Zhou Ning looked at the girl in white, who appeared to be about fifteen or sixteen years old. Her eyes were clear and she didn't seem to be lying.
But her sister, the red-eyed woman in white, did indeed abduct seven innocent women and drain their life force.
This is a fact, and there is no room for argument.
"Blood debt?" Zhou Ning tried to make his voice sound as calm as possible:
"What blood debt?"
Xiao Cui lowered her head, her hands gripping the hem of her clothes tightly, her knuckles turning white from the force.
After a long while, she finally raised her head, her eyes filled with tears.
"Our home wasn't originally here."
Her voice was very soft, as if she were talking to herself:
"More than a hundred years ago, my family lived in Qingqiu Mountain, which is 300 miles away from here. The mountains there are beautiful and the water is clear, and the spiritual energy is abundant. My family and I cultivated ourselves there and lived a peaceful life away from the world."
Zhou Ning's heart skipped a beat.
Qingqiu Mountain?
Isn't that the legendary habitat of fox spirits?
"Are you fox spirits?" he asked.
Xiao Cui nodded, not denying it:
"We are a branch of the Qingqiu Fox Clan. My grandfather was the clan leader of that branch. He cultivated for five hundred years and had profound Taoist skills. He was very prestigious in that area."
"More than a hundred years ago, there was a village at the foot of the mountain called Qingshi Village. The villagers made a living by hunting and gathering herbs. Although life was hard, they were still able to get by."
One year, the village suffered a famine, and the crops failed completely. The villagers were so hungry that they ate tree bark and gnawing on grass roots.
My grandfather was kind-hearted. He had his clansmen gather wild fruits and medicinal herbs from the mountains and secretly deliver them to the village entrance to help the villagers.
Zhou Ning listened quietly without interrupting.
"This went on for half a year. The villagers slowly survived the famine and were extremely grateful to my grandfather. They erected a monument at the entrance of the village with the inscription 'The Fox Spirit Saved Our Lives' on it, and they would worship him every year."
"And then what happened?" Zhou Ning asked.
A flicker of pain flashed in Xiao Cui's eyes:
"Later... a wandering Taoist priest came."
"A wandering Taoist priest?" Zhou Ning's heart skipped a beat.
Xiao Cui nodded: "That Taoist priest's surname was Wang, and he claimed to be a master from Longhu Mountain. He stayed in the village for a few days, and I don't know what he said to the villagers. From then on, the way the villagers looked at us changed."
"They are no longer grateful to us; instead, they fear and hate us."
Some say that fox spirits will harm people sooner or later, and that they are kind to you now so that they can eat your heart and liver later.
Some say that fox demons need to absorb human essence to cultivate, and the wild fruits they gave you might have been poisoned.
Zhou Ning clenched his fist.
He was all too familiar with these kinds of remarks.
He had read similar stories in history books when he was a student.
Ingratitude and resentment are sometimes more terrifying than demons and monsters.
"One night, that Taoist priest Wang led the villagers, carrying torches, hoes, and sickles, and rushed up Qingqiu Mountain." Xiao Cui's voice began to tremble:
"They...they killed my grandparents, my father, my mother, and my two older brothers."
Tears welled up in her eyes and slid down her pale cheeks.
"My sister... my sister was only ten years old that year. She held me and hid deep in the cave, blocking the entrance with her body. We heard screams, cries, and... the sound of flames devouring everything outside."
"Once everything quieted down, we crawled out of the cave. Home... was gone."
"The bodies of my loved ones... were burned to ashes. Only a jade pendant left by my grandfather before his death was retrieved from the ashes by my sister."
Xiao Cui took out a jade pendant from her bosom and handed it to Zhou Ning.
Zhou Ning took the jade pendant and examined it carefully.