Chapter 346

Chapter 346: The Out-of-Town Fox

The huge silver-glowing satellite grew larger and larger in their view. Soon they could make out energy domes on its surface, an artificial atmosphere, and scattered settlements and megastructures below.

The celestial ship sent Foxy another reminder to slow down and dock. A moment later, Yu Sheng watched as the ship—like a fallen leaf made of light—descended toward a navigation glow on Nethermoon’s surface.

Foxy adjusted her tails and thrust again, following the immortal ship’s descent path. Guided by docking instructions, she passed through the atmosphere and approached the ground.

A large facility came into view: a high tower built on a plain, a Seven-Treasure Ling Long tower wrapped in auspicious clouds. Many white-jade platforms floated around it, each etched with immortal talismanic script. From time to time, celestial ships dropped in from space and docked at those platforms. The platforms then shifted position, lowering to the ground or retracting into hangars on the tower’s lower levels, boosting takeoff-and-landing speed and overall capacity.

When Foxy approached a platform, the artifact spirit within the Seven-Treasure high tower immediately sensed the “temporary mobile immortal driving permit” tied under Foxy’s chin. The platform sent out a guiding beam and moved on its own to the best docking position.

A distant, airy voice drifted into Yu Sheng and Foxy’s ears. “Welcome—temporary docking—nine-tailed high immortal—visiting Ling Xi Mine Scenic Area. Free berthing is provided at this scenic area spaceport.”

Foxy perked up at once, delighted. “Benefactor, parking me here is free!”

Yu Sheng stared. “…Mm. Sure. As long as you’re happy.”

After a short queue of a few minutes, the white-jade platform slowly descended to the ground near the high tower. Foxy hopped down lightly and headed toward where the celestial ship had landed.

Yu Sheng took the chance to look around, and his eyes snagged on another platform lowering from the sky nearby.

He glanced up casually—and saw a giant fox standing there too. Jade-faced, golden-furred, five-tailed, proud and full of spirit. When the platform settled, it lifted its head and stepped down with imposing elegance.

It was Yu Sheng’s first time seeing an immortal fox from this place. He lit up and tugged at Foxy’s fur. “Hey! Foxy, there’s another fox immortal over there!”

“Where, where?” Foxy craned her neck, spotted the golden five-tail strutting forward, and trotted over with bright, happy steps. “Hi!”

The next second, the jade-faced golden fox shuddered all over. She lifted her head to stare at the nine-tailed silver fox, her whole body stiff with shock and tension—though Yu Sheng couldn’t really read shock on a fox’s face. He mainly judged by the fact that the other fox’s tail puffed up like a ball.

“High Immortal?” the jade-faced golden fox instinctively crouched lower, tilting her head carefully as if she didn’t dare look Foxy in the eye. A crisp girl’s voice came out of her mouth. “Is there something you wish to instruct me on…? Ah, I didn’t mean to steal your immortal ark platform! I saw no one parked, so I came up…”

“Huh? You didn’t steal my spot.” Foxy tilted her head, completely confused. “I just saw another fox and brought Benefactor over to say hi~~”

Yu Sheng stood up on Foxy’s back and walked to the top of her head so the jade-faced golden fox could see him. He clasped his hands in greeting like the locals. “Hello. I’m Yu Sheng.”

The jade-faced golden fox blinked. “Ah… hello?”

After a beat, she looked back at Foxy, still cautious. “High Immortal… do you have any orders?”

“Nope,” Foxy said casually. “Now that I’ve said hi, I’m leaving. We’ve got things to do.”

“Uh… High Immortal, take care…”

Foxy carried Yu Sheng off at an easy stroll.

The jade-faced golden fox stayed where she was, body still tense. Only after she watched the nine-tailed silver fox vanish into the distance did she finally let out a breath. Her puffed-up fur slowly settled back down.

Almost at the same time, a middle-aged man’s voice came from the side. “Ling Long? What are you standing here for?”

Ling Long turned her head and saw a pale, lanky man in a purple robe, hair tied up beneath a tall crown. He watched her with confusion.

“Great-Uncle!” Ling Long lowered herself at once, eyes sparkling, voice bursting with excitement. “Nine tails! That immortal elder just now—nine tails!!”

“What nine tails? Speak properly.” The purple-robed man frowned. “I told you to come find me as soon as you landed. You didn’t show up for ages. I thought you’d collided with someone else’s celestial ship again, and then I see you standing here spacing out! Did you forget how you got rear-ended last time and lay around for more than a month with your tail wrapped in bandages?”

“Hey, I wasn’t spacing out!” Ling Long babbled, too excited to listen. “I ran into a high immortal! A nine-tailed silver fox, so white… not a single off-color hair! You didn’t see her—so beautiful! Pure spiritual fire floating around her, and she just walked over, her fur like satin… How does she take care of her coat so well? Ah, I didn’t dare ask. The high immortal came right over and greeted me… Nine tails!!”

The purple-robed man finally pieced together the gist from Ling Long’s messy, overexcited description. Surprise flickered across his face—then he frowned, troubled.

“A nine-tailed silver fox? What’s a high immortal like that doing here… touring a mine park too?”

“I don’t know. She didn’t tell me.” Ling Long’s eyes widened as she remembered another detail. “But I also saw a person standing on the high immortal’s head. He said his name was Yu Sheng, and he looked like an ordinary person. The high immortal called him ‘Benefactor.'”

“…?!” The purple-robed man stared.

“What is it, Great-Uncle?”

“Stop reading those comic books your father collects!”

“Huh?”

—

Near a pavilion built against the mountains, Yu Sheng met Xuan Che, who had come down from the celestial ship, as well as Luna and Irene.

The moment they arrived, Yu Sheng saw Irene standing on Luna’s shoulder, peering around like a lookout on a ship’s mast.

“This place is awesome!” Irene shouted the instant she spotted Yu Sheng. “It’s not as grand-looking as the Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain, but there are huge buildings everywhere—machines and ships! I thought this ‘satellite’ would be desolate!”

“It’s an immigrant world developed for centuries. How could it still be desolate?” Yu Sheng laughed, then looked the two dolls up and down and sighed. “I’m honestly surprised you two didn’t fight.”

Irene crossed her arms. “C Buckle lost to me. I don’t need to bully her.”

Luna didn’t seem to care about the smug doll on her shoulder. She only nodded slowly and reported in her usual flat cadence, “Shorty Irene didn’t mess around. Didn’t get stuck in a chair.”

“See?” Irene bragged, then hopped onto Yu Sheng with a hard little jump and waved at Luna. “I keep telling you Yu Sheng worries too much. I’m a doll from Alice little house. What’s there to worry about sitting in a shuttle? But, uh… your accent is kind of heavy…”

“Did everything go smoothly on the way here?” Xuan Che asked, glancing at the nine-tailed fox squatting beside Yu Sheng and scratching an itch. “I saw you took quite a while after landing before you came out.”

Yu Sheng nodded. “It was fine. We just ran into another fox immortal after landing and went over to say hi.”

“Still, people kept staring at us the whole way,” Foxy muttered, scratching at the soft fur on her neck with a back paw. “What are they looking at?”

“…Perhaps Foxy young lady is a bit… attention-grabbing,” Xuan Che said after a moment, hesitating. “Nine-tailed spirit fox are rare here, and silver fox are even rarer. Fox clan honor white above all, and tail count shows cultivation. I forgot to warn you.”

Foxy stopped scratching and tilted her head. “Huh? More tails means stronger?”

“More or less. The old saying goes, ‘A fox continues its tail with its life.’ It refers to an ancient method of spirit fox cultivation. Each cycle consists of four tribulations—birth, aging, sickness, and death. With every completed cycle, one tail is added. You could say a spirit fox must pass through a life-and-death ordeal to gain one tail of cultivation.” Xuan Che’s tone grew thoughtful. “The method is mostly obsolete now, but ranking by tail count is still widely accepted among many beast spirits and demon immortals.”

Foxy stared for a moment, then visibly brightened. “Hey, Benefactor, then I can—”

“No.”

“I haven’t even said—”

“You’re not allowed to summon ten-thousand-tails paying homage here. And you can pretty much change back now. With you walking around that size in a crowd, I keep worrying you’ll step on someone.”

“Oh.” Foxy’s ears drooped.

She rubbed her nose against Yu Sheng, grumbled under her breath, then obediently released shapeshifting and returned to her lively girl form—though she still didn’t hide her nine tails.

After all, she’d come to Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain to fully enjoy the happiness of letting her tails breathe and see the light.

Yu Sheng saw it and didn’t comment. Compared to Foxy dragging nine tails around, he was the one hauling an “artificial saintess” everywhere.

Of course, he had already confirmed Luna’s situation with Bai Li Qing. The conclusion was that in this world, forget ordinary people—even most extraordinary individuals wouldn’t recognize the artificial saintess. There were never many worth making an artificial saintess act, and even fewer who lived after seeing her. In a place like Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain, packed with artifact masters and all kinds of bizarre mechanism dolls, there was even less to worry about.

“I’ll take you to the entrance of that strange Otherworld,” Xuan Che said. “On the way, I confirmed a few things with my master. The entrance is deep within the mine restricted zone. Come with me.”

Yu Sheng nodded and stepped after Xuan Che.

But just then, Irene on his shoulder snapped her head up and blurted, completely out of nowhere, “Killing intent!”