Chapter 45 — The Surging River's Water Mansion Opens Its Dragon Gate

Shen Mu stepped closer and, peering through the window lattice, saw the white fox holding a bamboo tube, cheeks puffed out, blowing at the firewood beneath the cooking stove. Shen Mu coughed and said, "Is anyone home?" The white fox in the thatched hut started, hastily hid the bamboo tube, and said in an aged voice, "Who dares shout and clamor, disturbing this one's quiet cultivation? I am a demon of many years, and I shall grind your bones to powder and scatter your ashes!" Shen Mu laughed despite himself; hearing the laughter, the white fox hurriedly looked up, and seeing the youth at the window, breathed a sigh of relief. Her voice returned to normal, quite pleasing to the ear: "So it is the young man who asked me for wind the day before yesterday. I went to a banquet that day and drank too much—rather rude of me, and I neglected you. Do not stand out there; come in." Shen Mu entered the thatched hut and looked around, a little taken aback, for the hut proved to be remarkably neat and clean, furnished with a bed, a rice jar, furniture, a screen, and even a dressing table. The white fox stood on her hind legs and made a curtsy to Shen Mu. "My humble home is poor and bare, young master; pray do not laugh at me." Shen Mu returned the courtesy and asked curiously, "Are you cooking?" The white fox said, "Yesterday one of my sisters treated me to a feast, and I drank a few cups too many. This morning I woke with a headache, so I am brewing a bowl of hangover soup. Please sit, young master." Shen Mu privately marveled—this white fox was even more clever than the Nether Ape, actually knowing to brew her own soup. It was only that the fox was fond of the cup and got drunk every day. He caught sight of a bookshelf to one side and walked over. The shelf held some ancient books; he drew one out, and it treated of the arts of breathing and guiding qi, along with some magic arts, but all of them were incomplete. "Do you know how to read, young master?" The white fox, having brewed the hangover soup, noticed Shen Mu reading with absorption and said in surprise and delight, "I cannot read the characters in these books; I only cultivate by looking at the pictures. Since you can read them, would you be willing to explain them to me?" "Why not?" Shen Mu sat down. The white fox's tail stirred, and a bowl of hangover soup, borne on the wind, came to rest on the table. The white fox sat opposite him, eyes bright and keen. Shen Mu opened the first page and read: "Circulate qi at Mount Fangcun, rouse the Primal Elixir; the tiger treads beneath the lungs, the Sea of Qi trembles cold..." The white fox drank her hangover soup, listening with rapt attention, and suddenly said, "Where is Mount Fangcun?" "Mount Fangcun lies between the brows," Shen Mu said. "The spot between the brows is the Spirit Mansion of the Soul. To circulate qi at Mount Fangcun is to guide one's primordial qi to that spot. But when the primordial qi reaches it, a divine sound comes from beyond the nine heavens and severs your qi." The white fox tried it and shook her head. "I heard no divine sound." Shen Mu knit his brow. In the past, whenever he guided his primordial qi to the spot between his brows, a divine sound would always block him from breaking through the wall. He had assumed the white fox would encounter the same; he had not expected her to say there was none. "Is the Spirit Mansion of the Soul constructed differently in humans and foxes?" He did not dwell on it and continued his explanation. Before long, he had finished explaining the whole volume. The cultivation method recorded in it indeed had its unique insights, but it did not accord with Shen Mu's Overlord Body, so he could not practice it. The white fox was clever and grasped the contents of the book, and said with a smile, "I used to cultivate by the pictures, thinking I had already mastered what was recorded in this book; I never imagined I was still practicing many parts wrongly. Thank you for clearing up my doubts, young master. My name is Hu Ling'er; may I ask yours?" "My name is Shen Mu—it means a cowherd of the Qin family, not some young master," Shen Mu said with a smile. "I live near here, not far away. Where did you get these ancient books?" Hu Ling'er drank her hangover soup, feeling that her foggy head was somewhat better, and said, "Sixty li to the west of here there is a ruin. Once, when I went out and came home late, I hid from the Darkness in that ruin and accidentally opened a stone chamber, where I found these books and also a bottle of elixir pills. I swallowed the pills, and all at once my eyes and ears grew keen and I gained wisdom. I thought the books were good things, so I brought them back—only I cannot read, so all along I could do no more than look at the pictures. Every one of my magic arts I learned from those books." "Sixty li west?" Shen Mu was startled and pondered. "Could it be the Dragon Palace of the Surging River's Dragon King?" Hu Ling'er's eyes brightened. "Indeed, there are many dragon statues there. But the place is very dangerous, with great perils; I did not dare go in, and only brought back a few books." Shen Mu said eagerly, "Can you take me there?" The little white fox said, "It is very fierce in there; one cannot enter lightly. I had no sooner reached the entrance than I was scared..." She was deeply ashamed and did not finish, evidently having been frightened out of her wits. Shen Mu was rather excited. "Don't you want to see the Dragon Palace? There may even be a Dragon King inside!" "No." Hu Ling'er thought it over, her eyes blinking craftily. "If Young Master Mu will come often and explain these ancient books, then I will take you there—but I won't go in." "Deal!" Shen Mu laughed and raised his palm. Hu Ling'er hesitated a moment, then raised her furry paw and touched it to his, and drained the hangover soup to the last drop. Man and fox walked out of the thatched hut and headed west. "Whose banquet did you attend the day before yesterday?" Shen Mu, recalling the events of that day, asked. "It was a banquet hosted by Demon King Yaoling, inviting all the great demons of every direction. After I obtained the ancient books from the Surging River Dragon Palace, my spiritual intelligence opened wide, and I have become a great demon of some small fame nearby. It is only that I cannot defeat those fellows with brute strength, so I rank last among the great demons." Hu Ling'er hopped onto a plantain leaf, worked her magic, and raised a demonic wind that lifted the leaf, and she laughed: "Demon King Yaoling has already cultivated a human form—truly remarkable. All the great demons within a thousand li, whether lords of exotic beasts or not, must obey his commands." The demonic wind stirred the plantain leaf and sent the white fox into the sky. Shen Mu leaped up and, treading the wind's ridges, hurried westward. At this very time, two or three li from the thatched hut, a giant taotie was looking around in every direction, utterly mystified: "By my count, Mu'er should have arrived long ago. This time I have disguised myself as an exotic beast, so he certainly will not recognize me... Strange! Where in the world has the brat gone? Eh? A fox's demonic wind! The brat goes out hunting for the first time and is carried off by a vixen!" On the river, a hundred li from Hidden Remnant Village, a breeze stirred a plantain leaf a full zhang in length; on the leaf sat a white fox, and beside her ran a youth upon the wind—none other than Shen Mu and Hu Ling'er. "With my cultivation, I still cannot fly on my own; I can only use my arts to raise a demonic wind, and it is the wind blowing the plantain leaf that lets me stay in the air. If I tried to run in the wind like you, I would certainly fall... The Dragon Palace is right around here!" Hu Ling'er brought the demonic wind down; Shen Mu and the white fox on the plantain leaf gradually neared the ground, and after a moment, the two landed. Shen Mu looked arou