Chapter 344

Chapter 344: Foxy Has a License

The weird otherworld Yuan Ling described lit a fire under Yu Sheng’s curiosity.

Yuan Ling, of course, didn’t refuse. “Of course. If you’re willing to help, that is truly for the best. I can arrange the celestial ship right away and send you and Xuan Che to the Nethermoon site to have a look. But…”

By the end of it, he looked a little embarrassed. “You’ve come as guests from far away, and you haven’t even rested before rushing straight into an otherworld. That makes it look like I’ve failed in hospitality.”

Yu Sheng didn’t care at all. “Hey, don’t say that. Once my curiosity kicks in, I can’t sit still. Going over there to move around can count as digesting, too.”

As he said it, he remembered the unlucky guy who’d been dragged along. He turned to Zheng Zhi, who still looked a bit dazed.

“You shouldn’t come with us,” Yu Sheng said after a moment. “You haven’t even passed probation. If you go somewhere like that with us, you could just die. How about I open a door and send you back?”

“Ah, no need.” Zheng Zhi snapped back to himself and waved quickly. “I’ll just go back to the station and stay inside. I can get more familiar with the equipment anyway. Don’t worry about me.”

He scratched his cheek, then added awkwardly, “I’m actually pretty interested in this place. It’s the first time in my life I’ve come this far. Can you let me stay here for two days? Of course, if you think it’s troublesome, forget it. I’ll go back to Borderland first.”

“It’s not troublesome.” Yu Sheng thought for a moment, then turned to Yuan Ling. “Could I trouble you to look after my friend for now?”

Yuan Ling smiled. “Naturally.”

After arranging for Zheng Zhi to rest on Cloud Viewing Terrace, Yu Sheng—very much a pedestrian in this place—followed Yuan Ling and Xuan Che to the Immortal Ark Platform behind Parted Clouds Palace.

Along the way, Yuan Ling led him through grand halls and across hanging corridors. The magnificent sights within the highest immortal palace of Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain left Yu Sheng shaken. As the face of one of the most influential factions in an interstellar power, these buildings perched atop the peak were almost part of the mountain itself. Pavilions, towers, terraces, and halls had been expanded and refined over a thousand years. In Yu Sheng’s eyes, it had surpassed the idea of architecture and become something closer to a natural megastructure.

The view was especially overwhelming from above. Gates, stairways, terraces, and palace towers stretched from the mountain foot all the way to the summit, piercing cloud and fog, climbing layer by layer with the terrain. Just looking at it, the phrase “stairway to immortality” stamped itself into the mind.

Even Irene—usually thick-nerved—stared down the mountainside and blurted, “…How exhausting would it be to climb up here from the foot of the mountain?!”

Yuan Ling stroked his beard, smiling serenely. “No matter. There are elevators in the mountain.”

At least half the awe in Yu Sheng’s chest drained out immediately.

“It can’t be helped.” Xuan Che spoke from the side, earnest as ever. “Not everyone in the sect can soar on clouds to reach the mountain. New entry disciples sometimes still have to come up to attend lessons. We don’t follow the old rules like ‘menial disciples may not go up the mountain, outer disciples may not enter the hall’ anymore. And there are merchants who deliver goods up the mountain too.”

As he spoke, Yuan Ling stopped and pointed ahead. “This is the small celestial ship used to travel between the Grand Void Spiritual Axis and Nethermoon. A bit slower than your Borderland intra-system high-speed shuttle, but light and flexible.”

Yu Sheng followed his gesture with immediate curiosity.

At the edge of a cloud-top platform, a shuttle hovered above the end of several stone steps. It shimmered with silvery light, twenty to thirty meters long, shaped like a curved feather. A hazy light screen covered it, and at its nose and tail, mysterious talismanic runes flickered faintly in the air. Light rippled outward like waves in water, making the whole craft look as if it were floating on an invisible surface.

Yu Sheng’s horizons expanded in real time, but in the middle of his amazement he thought of something else and turned to Xuan Che. “Don’t you immortals also know sword flight? And even if you don’t sword-fly, you can still fly. Without a celestial ship, can you fly to Nethermoon yourself?”

“I can.” Xuan Che nodded. “But I only sword-fly to the moon occasionally to temper myself. It’s pretty tiring.”

He hesitated, then added, “Speaking of which, Grand Void has a competition for this too. Every two years. You start from the Grand Void Spiritual Axis, then within one day and one night, you climb Nethermoon, Everbright, and Everdark in succession. I joined once and got a decent ranking by luck.”

Yu Sheng thought about it and realized that was basically the cultivation world’s marathon.

Just then, someone tugged his sleeve.

When he turned, he saw Foxy hovering close, hesitant like she was bracing herself to say something she knew would sound ridiculous.

“Benefactor,” she said quietly, “I don’t want to ride that.”

Yu Sheng blinked. “Huh?”

He rarely saw Foxy be willful, and it caught him off guard. But he understood the next second.

“I want to run by myself,” Foxy said, eyes starting to shine. “I’ll follow behind the celestial ship and run!”

Yu Sheng stared at her, then at the sleek shuttle nearby, and after a beat, he said, “…What? You can keep up with that?”

“Probably!” Foxy said happily, tail swishing. “I don’t know how fast it is, but in space I can go full speed! There’s nothing blocking the sky here, unlike the valley or Boundary City. I haven’t run outside in a long time, Benefactor…”

Yu Sheng felt his composure wobble under the force of a nine-tailed demon fox acting cute. But the real shock hit him a moment later, as a new understanding clicked into place.

“Foxy… don’t tell me you’ve been holding back this whole time and never really ran to your heart’s content. Even in the valley, it still wasn’t enough?”

Foxy nodded—then quickly shook her head, as if afraid he’d take it the wrong way. “I’m still happy when I run. It’s just… not full speed…”

Yu Sheng went quiet.

Foxy loved running. Really, really loved it—second only to eating.

And now Yu Sheng realized he’d been underestimating what “running” meant to an otherworld demon fox.

His mind immediately flashed to the two “space traffic code” books he still hadn’t finished. Instinctively, he looked at Yuan Ling. “Can she do that? How do you classify motorized pedestrians and non-motorized pedestrians in your near-space domain?”

Yuan Ling clearly hadn’t expected that question. He paused, expression strange. “That depends on what form she takes to ascend. As far as I know, demon fox as a clan—”

Before he could finish, Foxy sprang forward and transformed with a soft whoosh into a massive nine-tailed demon fox. She turned her head to stare at him, unblinking.

Yuan Ling: “…”

After a stiff pause, Yuan Ling lifted a hand. A streak of radiant light sped in from the void, and a jade token glowing with silvery sheen appeared in his palm.

“…A temporary Motorized Immortal Driving Permit,” he said, handing it to Yu Sheng. “Demon fox are spirit beasts, but on Grand Void they stand alongside immortals. Have her carry this jade token on her. Also, you must guide her properly. No dangerous flying. It’s best if she stays behind the celestial ship the whole way.”

“Understood, understood. Thank you.” Yu Sheng nodded quickly, accepting the token and walking toward Foxy. Then he paused, staring at the huge fox. “Where do I hang it on you?”

Foxy lowered her head. “Under my chin, under my chin. Tie it to a tuft of fur. Don’t worry, Benefactor. I’ll protect it with protective spiritual aura. The wind won’t blow it off.”

Yu Sheng genuinely didn’t know what to say anymore. He’d come from Borderland to a planet full of cultivators, and before he’d even had time to stumble into a classic “mystic treasure and strange adventure,” the first thing he’d done was get a temporary license plate for the fox immortal living in his home.

And Foxy, the involved party, looked like she might explode from joy.

“Benefactor,” Foxy asked, now properly licensed, eyes bright, “will you come with me? I’ll carry you while I run. I’ll protect you with protective spiritual aura.”

“Nonsense.” Yu Sheng rolled his eyes. “Of course I’m coming with you. That’s your driving permit. What I’m holding is the driver’s license.”

“Oh.”

Yu Sheng glanced at Irene, who was inching toward the celestial ship, and then at Luna, still standing obediently nearby. “You two want to come with—”

Before he could finish, Irene shot onto the celestial ship like a tiny rocket, shouting as she went, “No way! Silly Fox only knows how to protect you when she runs!”

Luna stood there for a second, looking at Yu Sheng, then toward the ship, lost.

“Forget it. You go with Irene on the celestial ship too,” Yu Sheng said, waving her along. “I’m not comfortable with her going alone. She’s clumsy and always squeezing into places. I’m afraid she’ll get stuck in a seat and no one will notice.”

Luna nodded and hurried after Irene.

A moment later, Xuan Che lifted off slowly on the celestial ship.

Foxy found an open spot on the platform and stretched hard, all four legs braced. Her nine tails unfurled like a forest of blades.

Fox fire swelled.

With a low hum, the celestial ship turned into a streak of light.

Nine streams of fox fire erupted—and the silver-white figure shot into the sky in an even fiercer start, accelerating like a meteor and catching up to the ship that had lifted off first.

Yuan Ling stood at the Immortal Ark Platform, watching the nine-tailed demon fox rocket upward with nine jets of flame, and only after a long moment did he recover from the shock.

“Truly worthy of an otherworld fox,” the old immortal said, rubbing his face in disbelief. “…That Motorized Immortal Driving Permit might have been too conservative.”