Chapter 43: Fox"s Grace
According to Hu Xing, that thing had to have killed at least nine people, and at present, there were six victims.
And Hu Xing also mentioned before that the thing might have set its sight at himself. Right now, Chi Yan couldn"t say that he was not apprehensive and worried.
This Sat.u.r.day, when Chi Yan went out to play basketball, he told Ye Yingzhi in advance that he wouldn"t be back for dinner. He casually came up with an excuse and invited his group of basketball friends and another group of friends he was familiar with to have barbecue outside the west gate of the school after playing.
Hu Xing and her Junior Martial Brother were sitting on the other table. They were secretly observing the people at Chi Yan"s table.
Her Junior Brother was Old Yuan"s junior high school cla.s.smate, when he heard that what was happening at A City were not that simple, he specially rushed over to with the intention to help, but he was instructed by Hu Xing not to act alone. If something was amiss, he must inform her in order to avoid himself falling into the demon"s hands.
At the end of the dinner, Chi Yan arranged for everyone to go back while he stayed behind to settle their bills. He met Hu Xing at one corner and asked, “Sister Hu, how is it? Did you discover anything?”
When he asked this question, he couldn"t describe what was going on in his heart. He had hoped that the other party would detect the demon in human skin as soon as possible to avoid more people being killed, but he was also afraid that she would point out a friend of his as the demon who was harming humans.
Hu Xing shook her head.
Chi Yan was somewhat disappointed but he was also relieved. He then suggested, “Sister Hu, you can come to my cla.s.s on Monday to check it out. That thing might be mixed in among my cla.s.smates.”
It was already nine o"clock by the time he finished eating the barbecue. Hu Xing wasn"t worrying about going back alone. She then proposed to send Chi Yan back to Ye Yingzhi"s residence along with her Junior Brother. After all, he was probably the next target of that thing.
Chi Yan cherished his life a lot, naturally he would not be polite with his current situation. He didn"t make any refusal and boarded Hu Xing"s car straight away.
The three chatted in the car. Chi Yan sat alone in the back seat and thought of the little fox, “Sister Hu, how is Ah Sheng? Has it gotten better? “
“Much better,” Hu Xing replied. “It bullies the weak and fears the strong. It is also very smart. When it sees evil things that could fight back and give him backlash to itself, it naturally knows how to avoid them. It will hide instead of charging in, so it"s going to be fine after a few days of rest.”
Chi Yan thought of the way the little fox followed him and how it hid upstairs. His heart agreed that that was indeed true. “I see that you take good care of that fox, Sister Hu.” He then added, “You came as soon as possible when you heard that it might be ill that day.”
“En,” said Hu Xing as she drove. “Her mother saved my life. I should take care of her.”
Her mother? Isn"t that a fox? Chi Yan was very curious, he even propped up body forward slightly.
Seeing that he was interested, Hu Xing simply opened her mouth and told him, “This is related to my own experience.
“I was born in a relatively backward village, and my parents preferred boys over girls. When I was five, my brother was three and was bitten by a weasel. In folklore, the weasel is always a kind of animal that is more monstrous. In our opinion, a child who is bitten by a weasel is considered to be taken away by a great immortal and can"t be saved.
“But at that time, my master happened to pa.s.s by. He said that he could save my brother"s life. But if he saved my family, then my family would owe him a disciple that he could pa.s.s on his mantle, so he asked my brother to leave with him to study. My parents agreed so as to save my younger brother at that time, but when master really saved my younger brother, they regretted their decision. They couldn"t bear to give out their only son, so they pushed me out and let me follow my master."
“My master is a wandering old magician, because at that time, my outlook was big and environment was relatively dest.i.tue. But I don"t feel that life is much harder and busier than at home. I have seen a lot of things when I followed master around. When I was twenty-three, I went to the mountain to pick wild vegetables. I was accidentally bitten by a vemouous snake. At that time, I fell on the ground and was too numb to make any movements. Although I was young at that time, I knew that I might die this way, but there was nothing I could do. At that time, a black female fox appeared. I saw that its abdomen was badly hurt and a lot of blood flowed out. It slowly approached me, suddenly fell on its knees near my wound, bit the wound, sucked out all the poisonous blood, then came to my mouth and fed me its blood and saliva. I could not resist, and I felt that it had no malice, as if it was saving me, so I swallowed them.
“Slowly I felt my body regained sensation, but the fox disappeared. After a while, it took another fox cub and put it on my shoulder. It growled at me twice and then it lost her breath. After I buried it, I took the little fox back to see Master and told him about my experience. Master said that the fox knew that she had been injured and could not live for long, so it saved my life and entrusted its cub to me. The blood it fed me was not any ordinary blood, but it should be its blood that contained its essence. The fox can not be considered as a demon, but it had some spirituality and skills obtained from learning taoism. It selected me because I was young, pure, had not done any evil things, and was a person who practiced spells and arts. Generally, I would pay attention to karma, so I decided to take care of its child.”
"Maybe because I"ve received the fox spirit"s essense blood, since then, I"ve developed my skills faster, such that I even surpa.s.sed my master. I didn"t have the surname Hu1 Fox [/efn_noted] before, I thought of how my parents gave life to me, but they ended up giving me up, so my relationship with them was broken; but the fox saved my life and gave me its blood essence, so I might as well change my surname to Hu. After that, I changed my surname. I have forgotten what my surname used to be."
She spoke so lightly, but Chi Yan was listening attentively. He didn"t expect that Hu Xing had such an experience, and she could tell the story as if nothing much had happened. He couldn"t help admiring and trusting more her more.
Old Yuan"s junior high school cla.s.smate was sitting in the front pa.s.senger seat. He had heard the story of the elder martial sister since a long time ago. After hearing it, he added, “That is, my master and senior martial sister used to live a very miserable life. Later, catching up with the rapid economic development of the country, the situation of real estate industry was very good. Master then made money by tricking people and showing them Feng Shui. He settled down and sent her to school. “
“Don"t utter nonsense,” Huxing scolded. “What trick?”
“I"m not wrong,” said Old Yuan"s junior high school cla.s.smate. “Master is not specialized in the study of exorcism. He also doesn"t know much about fortune telling and geomancy.”
Hu Xing didn"t speak. It seemed that she couldn"t refute this sentence.
“But my senior sister is more reliable than master. She"s often asked to solve some more difficult and complicated cases that ordinary people can"t handle.”
The three people continued chatting like this, and they didn"t feel that the journey was long. They arrived at Ye Yingzhi"s house soon. Chi Yan took out his mobile phone and found that it was already half past ten.
Hu Xing admonished, “Don"t come out after dark. Try to stay in the house and lock the doors and windows. According to the traditional saying, every house has its own soul. It"s not so easy for uninvited things to harm people in their own homes. If there are any abnormality, please contact me immediately. “
Chi Yan nodded in response. Hu Xing and her Junior Brother watched him taking the key, opening the door and entering the house before they drove away.
Because Chi Yan had been staying at his house, Ye Yingzhi had pa.s.sed him a set of keys within two days after his first stay. At first, Chi Yan was too embarra.s.sed to take the keys, but after thinking how Ye Yingzhi had to run up and down to open the door for himself in this large house, he thought it would be better for him to take it out of convenience, Otherwise, Ye Yingzhi had to wait for him if he went back home late, just like today.
After entering the house, Chi Yan found that the lights in the living room was still switched on, and Ye Yingzhi was sitting on the sofa waiting for him. After seeing him, Ye Yingzhi closed the book in his hands, raised his head and smiled. “You"re back. Why are you so late? How did you get back?"
Chi Yan still did not dare to tell him about all these supernatural matters, so he vaguely explained, “Ate barbecue together, so we took longer. The girl that Old Yuan is chasing sent me back.” If this lie continued on, he would really believe that Old Yuan was pursuing Hu Xing.
He added, “Yingzhi, I heard that it"s not safe recently. You"d better not go out or come back too late at night. Don"t open the door so easily even if someone we know knocks late at night.”
He thought that since the thing was disguised as a human and was among them, it was probably a person he and Ye Yingzhi knew, and it was not impossible for it to come knocking on the door and commit murder with the ident.i.ty of an acquaintance.
Ye Yingzhi looked at him with a smile as he kept on urging him. His eyes were slightly curving upwards as he replied, “I understand, it"s you who shouldn"t let other people take advantage of you.”
After saying that, he stood up, put down the book, and extended his hand to Chi Yan. “Let"s go, it"s late, go back to the room to sleep.”
Chi Yan nodded and followed him upstairs obediently.
The night was deep. It was a cloudy day. The moon also quietly hid itself.
The moonlight was dim, and in the middle of the darkness, Ye Yingzhi quietly opened his eyes and looked at the man who was sleeping soundly beside him. He then turned over and held him in his arms.
He gently bit Chi Yan"s ear and whispered, “Little b.a.s.t.a.r.d… Are you worried about your husband… “
There was a hint of teasing in his voice, together with it was a kind of intoxicating and enticing tone.
Unfortunately no one could hear it.
Chi Yan felt that someone was disturbing him at his ear, he gently slapped Ye Yingzhi"s jaw with his palm.