Chapter 365: May the Gods Bless Me to Become a Nine-Tailed Fox

“Daoist Master Song, haven’t you found a deity you’d like to offer incense to yet?” asked Muyunzi’s senior disciple as he approached.

“I’m just flipping through casually,” Song You replied with a smile, glancing toward the increasingly crowded Thunder God shrine. He asked, “Why are so many people coming to worship the Thunder God today?”

“You may not know, Daoist Master,” the young disciple replied respectfully, “but Qingxiao Temple primarily venerates the legitimate gods of the Thunder Division. The Thunder God’s efficacy is well-known, so his shrine typically receives more worshippers than the main hall. Most people who come here are seeking the Thunder God’s help for exorcism and safety.”

He continued, “Not long ago, a demon was causing trouble in Donghe County, roaming everywhere and particularly fond of luring children outside the villages to eat them. For a long time, children in the surrounding villages didn’t dare play outdoors. Even when they had to go out to herd cattle or gather pigweed, they had to be accompanied by adults. A few days ago, that demon was finally struck dead by a bolt of lightning. When the county folk heard the news, they flocked here to offer incense to the Thunder God.”

“Oh? What kind of demon was it?” Song You asked.

“It was a wild yellow mountain fox that had gained sentience.”

“A fox demon, huh...”

“Fox demons are the worst! I’ve always despised fox demons!” chimed in Miss Wanjiang’s maid as she approached. “The Thunder God did an excellent job!”

“Exactly,” the young disciple said, agreeing but avoiding her gaze.

Song You didn’t comment, instead lowering his head to continue flipping through the

Divine Register

.

“What are you looking for, Daoist Master?” she asked.

“Who are you looking for?”

“And what do you plan to do if you find them?”

The maid fired off three questions in rapid succession, her curiosity entirely unmasked.

Song You sighed inwardly but had no choice but to close the

Divine Register

. He glanced back at the shrine.

There, Miss Wanjiang was kneeling respectfully before the main deity’s statue, her posture demure and her head bowed in apparent sincerity. She seemed entirely unaffected by her maid’s chatter, as though it had nothing to do with her.

“May the Great Emperor Chijin bless me to become a nine-tailed fox...”

The scene was striking: the dignified statue, shrouded in curling incense smoke, contrasted with her slender figure, elegant neck, and loose, flowing black hair. Her bowed posture radiated devout reverence. To the unknowing observer, it might appear as a serene and beautiful moment.

After offering her three sticks of incense with three deep bows, she planted them firmly in the incense holder.

Sensing a gaze upon her, she turned her head. Her face, famously captivating and unrivaled in beauty across all of Changjing, remained calm, her smile unchanging as her eyes met Song You’s. Yet somehow, the combination of her status as a great fox demon and the solemn presence of the deity’s smoke-filled shrine gave the scene an unsettling air.

This fox demon had supreme confidence in her ability to conceal her true nature. She was certain that even the gods wouldn’t detect her, which emboldened her to walk brazenly into the shrine and offer incense.

Still, her statement—“May the Great Emperor Chijin bless me to become a nine-tailed fox”—felt deliberate. It was hard to tell if she was indulging in a mischievous jest or subtly mocking the Emperor, the Heavenly Palace, and even the entirety of Daoism.

The current Heavenly Palace didn’t favor demons.

In fact, the establishment of Great Yan began with campaigns to slay demons, exterminate evil spirits, and suppress rogue deities. It would be hard to believe the Great Emperor Chijin wasn’t influenced by such precedent.

Likewise, most Daoist temples and priests across the land harbored little goodwill toward demons. The deeply rooted belief of

“Those who are not our kind must have different ideas”

had left its mark on many.

Hidden Dragon Temple’s stance on demons, however, was shaped by several factors. Firstly, it had no fear of demons. Much of humanity’s animosity toward demons stemmed from fear and mistrust. Secondly, Hidden Dragon Temple traced its lineage back to ancient times when humans and demons coexisted.

Many of its ancestral masters had even formed ties with demons and spirits. With such a heritage, there was no particular reason to view demons as enemies.

“Why are you looking at me?” Miss Wanjiang asked, her voice soft and teasing.

Song You gazed at her for a moment before asking,

“Aren’t you worried about being overheard?”

“You must be kidding, Daoist Master,” Miss Wanjiang replied with a faint smile. “The Great Emperor Chijin is the Lord of the Heavenly Palace, presiding over all the gods. He’s unimaginably busy, overseeing countless affairs. Temples enshrining his statues number in the thousands, if not tens of thousands.

“And who knows how many households have invited his image or portrait into their homes for worship? As long as he absorbs the incense offerings, why would he care what the worshippers are saying?”

“Besides, even if he does hear, who decreed that demons can’t pray to deities?” the maid interjected.

“Fair point...” Song You nodded, then asked, “So why not offer incense at the Thunder God shrine outside?”

“It’s too crowded—I couldn’t get in,” Miss Wanjiang said as she stood up. Her skirt, spread out like a blossoming flower, instantly gathered toward the center and was lifted as she stood up. “Besides, my request is far too great. While the Thunder Division’s deities are renowned among demons, they can’t grant what I desire.”

“The diligent and upright Duke of Thunder Zhou might overhear if we prayed there,” the maid added with a playful grin, disrupting her mistress’s explanation. “And if my lady couldn’t hold her tongue, Duke of Thunder Zhou, known for his strict and volatile nature, would surely take it as a provocation.

“One Duke of Thunder Zhou might be manageable, but if he shows up with the other Thunder Gods, we’d be in real trouble.”

“You two must be incredibly capable,” Song You said, narrowing his eyes slightly.

“Well, we do come from the nine-tailed fox lineage...” the maid said with a mischievous smile. She paused mid-sentence, hearing footsteps behind them. Worshippers were entering the hall, and she instantly fell silent, leaning against the doorway while watching the newcomers with curious eyes.

Song You pressed his lips together and refrained from speaking further.

The Great Emperor Chijin might rule the Heavenly Palace, but how could he have the power to help a fox demon achieve the status of a nine-tailed fox?

Nine-tailed foxes had been recorded in the archives of Hidden Dragon Temple.

During the ancient era of chaos, when great powers emerged across the land, the nine-tailed fox was a prominent figure among demons.

Thanks to the legacy of that being, fox demons in the Central Plains were perceived differently from other demons in folk tales, even to this day. Regardless of whether they were red, white, blue, Tibetan, or any other type of fox; whether they gained sentience through natural causes or by some other means; whether they were clever or dull, once they became demons, people instinctively distinguished them from other demons.

At that time, the incense-based path to godhood was still in its infancy.

It was said that the nine-tailed fox of old was very close to humanity, and for a long time afterward, fox demons were considered symbols of purity and auspiciousness. The nine-tailed fox, in particular, was even revered as a divine beast in many traditions.

The tarnished reputation of fox demons was a relatively recent phenomenon, spanning only the last few decades.

The primary culprits were likely storytellers and scholars.

Fox demons were traditionally described as pure and beautiful. Scholars, often with a penchant for pretension, and vulgar individuals seeking attention, would fabricate all manner of absurd tales involving fox demons to captivate their audiences or fulfill their personal fantasies.

A similar fate befell the goddess of Mirror Island Lake beneath Yunding Mountain. Renowned for her purity and beauty, she became the subject of fabricated tales. Scholars who ventured on nighttime boat rides across the lake would return with stories of a goddess visiting them in their dreams, eliciting envy from others and feeding the storytellers' egos.

Over time, these fabrications grew widespread, turning into a trend. Many believed the tales to be true. But when impoverished scholars found no saintly and beautiful fox demon offering her companionship, and those who did encounter real fox demons found themselves ignored, slander became the easiest and most effective response.

This wasn’t to say there weren’t some fox demons who fit the stereotypes—those indulging in debauchery or employing cunning to deceive. Such cases, combined with the cultural trend, only further eroded the reputation of fox demons.

Take the Mirror Island Lake goddess, for instance. According to her own account, it was indeed possible that some of her maidens, unable to resist loneliness or inspired by admiration for scholars' literary talents, secretly met with them on the lake at night.

“May I ask, Daoist Master, when shall we set off?”

“In a little while,” Song You replied.

“Whatever you decide,” the fox demon responded with a gentle nod, her demeanor remarkably obedient.

Ding ding ding...

The sound of temple bells echoed softly in the distance.

The man who had entered the shrine earlier finished offering his incense and had dropped a good amount of copper coins into the donation box. However, instead of leaving, he turned back, struck by the unparalleled beauty of the two women standing near the entrance. He lingered at the doorway, attempting to strike up a conversation.

The woman merely smiled without responding.

Her maid, however, leaned casually against the doorway and began chatting with him.

Seeing this, Song You also entered the shrine.

He stopped at the center of the hall, standing before the statue and looking up to meet its gaze. He seemed lost in thought, his expression unreadable. After a moment, he lowered his head, walked over to the donation box, and paused.

The box, surprisingly, wasn’t locked.

When he opened it, he found a significant amount of copper coins and even some pieces of silver inside.

It gave the impression that the offerings were freely accessible to anyone.

“...”

Song You reached into his pocket, pulled out a piece of honeycomb silver used for securing robes, and tossed it into the donation box.

This was something he had discussed beforehand with Lady Calico.

Back when the villagers of the wealthy Peach Blossom Village pooled their money to invite Daoist Master Muyunzi from Qingxiao Temple to exorcize a malevolent spirit, they had collected nineteen taels of silver—a modest amount, considering the danger involved, but more than the tea merchant on the roadside had offered Song You when he had just descended the mountain.

Though Song You had stayed hidden on the mountain during the incident, the swallow had later recounted the events in detail.

Technically, Lady Calico had been summoned by the authorities and was paid with government rewards, while Daoist Master Muyunzi had been hired by the villagers. There was no conflict between the two.

Moreover, the fact that Muyunzi had successfully invoked Duke of Thunder Zhou demonstrated that he had the capability to deal with the malevolent spirit. However, his skills were not as advanced as Lady Calico’s, and his efforts might have resulted in casualties.

Even though it was Lady Calico who ultimately destroyed the zombie, Muyunzi was the one the villagers had hired. It was up to the villagers to decide whether or not to reward him. According to customary practice, even if Muyunzi hadn’t contributed much directly, his long journey at his age—walking two days to reach the village while taking on significant risk—would typically warrant at least a token payment for his trouble.

Yet Muyunzi had handed over the entire reward to Lady Calico.

Lady Calico, being straightforward and having little resistance to money, accepted the reward without hesitation. The moment it was handed to her, she reached out, took it all, and quickly stashed it in her pouch.

The villagers gave the reward to Muyunzi, who felt unworthy of it and passed it on to Lady Calico. She accepted without question. There wasn’t much discussion about whether it was proper or not—it simply wasn’t her nature to refuse. However, not leaving anything for Muyunzi after he made the long, time-consuming journey did seem a bit inconsiderate.

This visit was partly to explore the Daoist

Divine Register

but also to repay the kindness shown by Muyunzi’s gesture. Since he had graciously hosted them for two meals and provided a place to stay for the night, it was only proper to leave some incense money in return.

Song You withdrew his gaze and looked back.

The maid was still chatting with the wealthy visitor, seemingly enjoying the conversation.

It wasn’t until Song You glanced her way that she covered her mouth with a soft laugh. A few words later, she sent the man on his way.

Song You looked outside again.

More villagers continued arriving, seemingly in groups. Some crowded into the Thunder God shrine, while others gathered in the courtyard to chat. Those offering incense squeezed their way in, while those praying formed orderly lines on the prayer mats.

“

Sigh...”

Song You shook his head and stepped out of the main hall.

“Lady Calico!” he called, turning his head.

There was an immediate rustling on the temple rooftop. A calico cat appeared at the roof’s edge, peering down at him.

“It’s time to say goodbye to Daoist Master Muyunzi. We’re leaving,” he said.

“Oh!”

The cat leaped down without hesitation.

The temple’s roof was much higher than an ordinary house, but she landed gracefully, her body stretching elegantly in mid-air. Once on the ground, she glanced around briefly before bounding toward Song You.

Miss Wanjiang saw this and began to follow, her steps measured and graceful. Behind her, her maid obediently trailed along.

The group made their way to bid farewell to Daoist Master Muyunzi.

Many of the villagers in the courtyard couldn’t help but steal glances at the women.