After Transmigrating into an Evil God - Chapter 25.3

One person and one monkey, carefree in heart, were quite content and amused.

But Li Chi had something on his mind.

He hadn’t followed the karmic threads to trace the origins of the red fox Li Feng’s past.

First, that pink karmic thread carried lingering affection—it was Li Feng’s private matter. Since he was unwilling to speak of it, Li Chi had no intention of investigating. Second, on Li Feng’s body, besides the various common karmic threads, there was a rather special type of karmic thread.

It wasn’t a karmic thread connected individually to some living being, but rather one connected to the clan fortune of the entire Qingqiu Li clan.

The karma of all Li clan fox folk was connected, gathering continuously into a whole, transforming into the fortune of the entire clan.

This clan fortune, though connected to karma, wasn’t within the scope of karma—it exceeded Li Chi’s expertise. When he saw the Li clan fortune, his heart gained understanding.

This was destiny, belonging to the domain of expertise of that deity Taiyin he had seen in his dreams.

On the karma connecting the Li clan fortune to each Li clan fox, faint fortune energy permeated, enveloping the clan members.

Li Feng also had Li clan fortune enveloping him, obscuring his karmic fate.

Though Li Chi could see through it, he was too lazy to expend this effort.

The Qingqiu Li clan’s fortune was vigorous. Though Li Chi wasn’t skilled in destiny, he could still see that the Li clan was strong and prosperous.

Li Feng was born into this clan and would naturally have other successfully cultivated elders to guide him. Since he knew something yet still wavered, that was his own choice.

Li Chi could help him cultivate, but couldn’t make choices for him.

Just as on that cultivation path, even if someone built you a ladder to heaven, you still had to climb that ladder yourself.

However… that pale pink karmic thread seemed to be the “love” among the seven emotions. The emotion had deepened, perhaps capable of condensing a Seven Emotion Trigger.

If this red fox truly reached such emotional depths that Li Chi could extract a Seven Emotion Trigger, he should also save Li Feng’s life.

It depended on his destiny.

……

Li Feng was currently extremely upset.

When Jin Yan reminded him not to forget why he had been invited here, Li Feng suddenly realized where he had erred.

Jin Yan had invited him to be a teacher. Though he had rushed urgently along the way, when finding him, Jin Yan had always treated him with courtesy. He had requirements, and Jin Yan had agreed to them.

But after arriving here, he had only cared about his own requests. He spoke of “wishing to serve,” yet had completely forgotten about being a teacher.

Taking oaths lightly, lacking determination—what right did he have to make requests of others?

Once this thought occurred to Li Feng, he immediately felt ashamed. He then went to find the disciple he should have received on this trip.

Coming to Ding Qin’s courtyard, Li Feng saw the small monkey helping Ding Qin water the plants.

The small monkey had learned etiquette from him to gain entry to this residence. Now it was his turn to learn from the small monkey not to forget his original purpose.

Etiquette was external—everyone could learn it. But sincere intent was internal—that was the essential meaning.

He had studied human learning and etiquette for so long, yet in the end had only grasped the surface. Fortunately, it wasn’t too late to reform now.

After Li Feng’s self-reflection, he settled his heart and conversed with Ding Qin, inquiring about her learning progress, testing her strengths and weaknesses, organizing a teaching plan for what followed, and then began earnestly instructing Ding Qin.

Ding Qin was spiritually intelligent with the ability to remember everything she saw. Her learning could draw inferences from one instance, and Li Feng grew increasingly delighted as he taught.

Every morning and evening, Li Chi cultivated. Spirit mist condensed into sweet dew, spiritual essence manifested creative transformation. Mountain wild monkeys daily brought spirit wine. From time to time, Li Chi would expound on the Way for the old monkey, and Li Feng listened in from the side, also finding great gains, often having insights and feeling joyful.

Living like this for a long time actually allowed Li Feng to regain the joy of mountain forest wildness and cultivation freedom.

However, with karma connected, Li Feng ultimately couldn’t achieve true freedom. After teaching for twenty days at the Li Manor, Li Feng came before Li Chi to request temporary leave, hoping to come teach Ding Qin for twenty days each month, with the remaining ten days counted as vacation.

Li Chi’s gaze fell on Li Feng’s karma. That pale pink karmic thread was trembling lightly, with longing and worry intertwined. With this karmic connection pulling at him, Li Feng’s heart naturally couldn’t be at peace. That he couldn’t stay long was something anticipated early on.

Jin Yan clacked his sharp beak once and asked, “The mountain is peaceful. I’ve seen you quite happy these past days—why do you want to leave?”

Having cultivated in the mountains these past days, Li Feng’s restless and uneasy heart had somewhat calmed, so he no longer resisted speaking of his own affairs as before.

He had a red fox body with a coat as brilliant and fiery as flames, yet at this moment he actually showed some embarrassment.

“I love books, but being unable to take human form makes borrowing in human society very inconvenient. Moreover, some clan collections won’t let outsiders see them. So I often use magic to sneak into book repositories to read in secret.”

“Three years ago, I heard that the Wei clan of Langye had a rich collection with many excellent works, so I secretly infiltrated to read. But once, I got so absorbed in reading that I forgot to maintain my concealment spell and revealed my form, and was seen by their young daughter.”

Li Feng sank into his memories, his face naturally showing a gentle smile. “She didn’t cry out, but instead helped conceal me. We discussed things with each other, and after much back and forth, we developed feelings for each other…”

Jin Yan was so soured his beak root ached. “The Wei clan is a great clan—didn’t their clan’s ghosts and gods cause you trouble?”

“I come from the Qingqiu Li clan—it’s not like I have no one behind me,” Li Feng said. “Besides, Qiuning and I developed genuine feelings—I didn’t bewitch her. What right would the Wei clan’s ghosts and gods have to trouble me?”

Taking ten days off each month was no problem. After Li Chi agreed, Li Feng left.

But Ding Qin was somewhat worried.

“High God,” she asked Li Chi, “will Teacher encounter disaster when he returns this time?”

Li Chi shook his head. “As long as he hasn’t taken human form, that disaster won’t befall him for the time being.”

Ding Qin was confused, but Jin Yan understood.

Li Feng wasn’t some small wild demon. The Wei clan temporarily didn’t want to, and couldn’t, do anything to him. But this was also because Li Feng hadn’t achieved transformation.

Though he appeared in illusory human form when they met, he ultimately didn’t have a human body. If calculated by Li Feng’s normal cultivation speed, by the time he cultivated to transformation, Wei Qiuning would long since have become a handful of white bones. They ultimately couldn’t be together.

The Wei clan was waiting—waiting for them to realize this and give up.

Now three years had passed. Though the Wei clan’s patience was nearing its limit, as long as Li Feng remained in fox form, there was still room for negotiation in this matter.

But if Li Feng transformed… the Wei clan would absolutely not allow clan members to unite with demons.

Jin Yan could only sigh, hoping he would wake up soon and not end up with a tragic conclusion.

……

Langye City, the Wei clan residence.

The Wei clan was a great family passed down for hundreds of years. Their ancestral land had been managed for a long time—the residences were grand and sprawling with carved beams and painted rafters. Being built in a prosperous city, compared to the Li Manor, it had more imposing grandeur and less quiet serenity.

Mischievous boys and beautiful maidservants walked about, their steps steady and quiet as they came and went.

However, almost everyone avoided a small building in the eastern part of the residence.

Wei Yu walked toward the small building, refined and dignified, but all this bearing completely crumbled when he saw the young woman in the building.

“Elder Brother,” Wei Qiuning greeted him with a gentle, calm face.

“Fifth Sister,” Wei Yu looked at her. “He has been gone for twenty-two days.”

But Wei Qiuning didn’t respond to this, instead saying, “Elder Brother rarely comes once—why not play a game of go?”

“Very well,” Wei Yu swept his robes and sat down at the table across from her.

He and Fifth Sister Qiuning had originally had a very good relationship. Qiuning was intelligent and perceptive with a gentle temperament, never causing anyone worry. Then three years ago, that incident occurred. She had reached marriageable age but it was delayed.

During these three years, their relationship had been strained several times. Wei Yu didn’t want to start arguing with her as soon as he arrived.

Wei Qiuning said nothing, just quietly took out the go board and set it up. Wei Yu watched this scene, feeling somewhat dazed for a moment.

He and Fifth Sister… hadn’t played go in three years.

Wei Yu’s mind was unsettled, and he didn’t invest his full attention when he began placing stones. Qiuning wasn’t skilled at go—three years ago when they played, Wei Yu often needed to give her a four-stone handicap, and she still lost more than she won.

This time, Wei Yu still unconsciously gave Qiuning a four-stone handicap as he had three years ago.

Qiuning made no comment, only quietly placed her stones. But halfway through the game, Wei Yu couldn’t help exclaiming in surprise. He looked at the board, shook his head, and returned the stone in his hand to the bowl. “I’ve lost.”

“Elder Brother, play another game with me,” Wei Qiuning said. “You need not give me a handicap this time.”

Wei Yu agreed, taking it as accompanying Fifth Sister to ease her mind.

However, after collecting the stones and starting another game, before long Wei Yu stopped his hand.

He held the stone over the board, hovering for a long time but ultimately couldn’t place it. There was no need to continue—he could see his position had fallen into a dead end. He couldn’t find a way to turn the game around. Even if he continued, he couldn’t escape the outcome of losing.

“Fifth Sister’s go skill has improved greatly,” Wei Yu praised.

Wei Qiuning smiled gently. “He found a teacher for me.”

Wei Yu’s expression sank.

Wei Qiuning continued, “These three years, seeing that I loved books, he searched for all sorts of precious texts and personally taught me. Seeing that my calligraphy was gentle but lacked backbone, he collected copybooks for me to trace. Now my calligraphy is no less than Elder Brother’s. Fearing I’d be bored, he invited a ghost-spirit friend skilled at go to teach me. Being with such a person—what does Elder Brother have to worry about?”

“A person?” Wei Yu said. “If he were human, I wouldn’t need to worry so much.”

Wei Qiuning asked, “Elder Brother has also spoken with him—is his learning not excellent? Or does his character have great flaws?”

Wei Yu didn’t answer.

During these three years, Li Feng had assumed human form and conversed with them several times, attempting to get the Wei clan to agree to him being with Qiuning.

His learning was indeed excellent, his knowledge broad—there was almost nothing that could stump him in questioning. But…

“Fifth Sister, you are human, he is a fox—you’re not the same species. If you wanted to be friends with him, we wouldn’t need to obstruct you like this. But you want to marry him—this goes against the principles of heaven and earth. Father and Mother have found suitors for you. I’ve met them—they’re all extremely outstanding young talents. Those are what match you.”

Wei Qiuning only smiled and asked in return, “Among those young talents Elder Brother has met, is there one whose character, appearance, and learning surpasses his?”

Wei Yu couldn’t answer.

The young man Li Feng transformed into was romantically handsome with elegant bearing. Every movement followed propriety, every word was refined. His learning was broad, his knowledge deep—not inferior to the great Confucian scholars of the age.

If he were human, even if his family background was lesser, the Wei clan wouldn’t refuse but would gladly approve.

But he just happened to be a fox, just happened to have entangled with Fifth Sister.

Wei Yu threw down the stone in his hand. “Would you spend your life with a fox?”

“Why not?” Wei Qiuning asked in return, her eyes calm and determined. “If I cannot marry a gentleman who knows me, with whom my heart and mind are in harmony, I would rather remain solitary and widowed for life.”

Wei Yu was silent for a long time. “Have you already resolved on this?”

Wei Qiuning nodded.

Wei Yu knew he could no longer persuade her.

This Fifth Sister of his had been gentle in temperament since childhood, almost never disobedient to her parents. So after that incident three years ago, the elders in the family had always believed she was bewitched by the fox, which was why she had become so stubborn and unfilial.

But Wei Yu knew that Qiuning’s gentleness was only superficial.

As a child, she loved reading, so Father made an exception to let her attend the clan school. Later, as she grew older and couldn’t continue at the clan school, she asked Father for a token to enter the book repository. Whenever she didn’t understand something, she would ask him or Father, and Father always made time.

After the incident three years ago, Father had privately raged several times that he shouldn’t have let her read so many books, that it had made her lose a woman’s gentle compliance.

Wei Yu only listened. Wasn’t Fifth Sister’s outer gentleness and inner strength exactly what he had cultivated in her since childhood?

Though Qiuning never disobeyed in small matters, once she had firmly decided to do something, she never gave up.

Unfortunately… Qiuning wasn’t a man. If she had been born male, being somewhat strong-willed wouldn’t matter. But reality was thus—if a woman was too strong-willed, she would suffer hardship.

If she were male, forming a friendship with Li Feng wouldn’t be any great matter.

But she just happened to be a girl.

Qiuning had already butted heads with her family for three years over Li Feng. If it were some other matter, with her parents’ affection, they might have granted her wish.

But this matter—it was something that absolutely could not be allowed, no matter what.

The Wei clan had been passed down for hundreds of years as a great clan of the Lu Kingdom. If they were mingling with demons, how would the other clan members deal with it?

They couldn’t affect the fortune of the entire clan for her alone.

Wei Yu looked at Qiuning, his heart melancholy, but only responded faintly, “Very well.”

He turned to leave.

He only heard Qiuning say behind him, “Elder Brother… Elder Brother, he is a fox in form. Between us, we can only be like this. Can’t you just… consider me unmarried for life? Or else, just consider me dead…”

Her voice gradually lowered.

Wei Yu’s footsteps paused. He should have turned back to rebuke her for being unfilial, but in the end he said nothing and walked out of the small building step by step.

……

After Li Feng left, Ding Qin returned to her previous daily routine. Besides her daily lessons, she often went down the mountain to help the villagers of Liquan Village solve problems like lost items or aching backs.

Farmers rarely could afford medical treatment. Though the Yun Family Medicine Shop and Jiang Family Medical Hall in Shuigu Town occasionally held free clinics, buying medicine cost money. For ailments that could be endured, most people in Liquan Village just toughed it out. After enduring long enough, they got used to it. Only when they were truly laid up and couldn’t bear it anymore would they think about treatment.

Ding Qin had divine arts for transforming vital force. Though not like Li Chi, able to instantly heal wounds and regenerate flesh, she could still alleviate or even cure some of the villagers’ ailments.

For this reason, everyone in Liquan Village now treated her with respect and enthusiasm. Many households, like Zheng Liang’s family, privately enshrined another tablet for Li Chi at home. When Ding Qin returned, she was often given a few fruits by this family or some vegetables by that family.

When she went to Shuigu Town, however, it was no different than before.

Shuigu Town had many deities. There were demon-spirits, ghost-spirits, and even spirit-gods who cultivated by this means. Almost every aspect was occupied, unlike Liquan Village which only had Great King Yishan, who besides protecting villagers from demon and ghost intrusion and granting villagers increased strength, had no other abilities.

So far, in Shuigu Town, only Miss Yun Ling from the Yun Family Medicine Shop knew that Ding Qin was a divine messenger.

On Ding Qin’s second visit to Shuigu Town, Yun Ling’s gaze at her had been somewhat mysterious. When no one else was around, she quietly asked if Ding Qin was connected to some deity.

Ding Qin admitted she was a divine messenger and asked curiously how Yun Ling knew.

“Our Medicine Divine Lady told me in a dream last night,” Yun Ling said, surprised and happy. She continued, “The night I first met you, I dreamed of the Medicine Divine Lady. She told me you have a deity’s protective aura—that aura is clear and pure, quite rare!”

“The Medicine Divine Lady appeared to you in a dream?” Ding Qin exclaimed in surprise.

“Yes,” Yun Ling nodded. “My father said that our Medicine Divine Lady has favored me since childhood. My birth was very smooth—Mother didn’t feel any pain at all. And I’ve never been sick my whole life.”

Yun Ling added, “By the way, our Medicine Divine Lady also asked me to inquire whether the deity you serve is interested in collecting incense in Shuigu Town. If so, she can help.”

“That won’t be necessary. The High God doesn’t need incense,” Ding Qin shook her head. “I will convey this to the High God. Please help me thank the Medicine Divine Lady.”

Yun Ling agreed and didn’t take this matter to heart.

But Ding Qin couldn’t help pondering it.

Helping compete for incense in Shuigu Town was something that could easily offend other deities. This Medicine Divine Lady who wished to cultivate as a demon-god had no connection with High God Li Chi—why would she show goodwill toward the High God?