Chapter 5: Crimson Flame Fox's Power
In the days that followed, Ye Jingcheng was incredibly busy.
Every five days, he went to exchange for Detoxification Pills and Blood Essence Pills, and every ten days, he visited the Pill Pavilion to refine pills.
After a month, Ye Jingcheng was physically and mentally exhausted.
Even his daily cultivation had fallen behind.
But the results were undeniably rewarding. Within the Ye Family, even without any publicity, many cultivators knew that his Crimson Flame Fox hadn't died.
And to Ye Jingcheng, that was the most important thing.
The fox's own powerful talent also served as the perfect cover.
As for the spirit beast itself, after a month of recuperation under the light of the ancient book, the Crimson Flame Fox’s injuries had completely healed.
Its fur glowed like crimson fire, its pair of blue eyes were full of life, and its large tail looked bushy and weighty.
Its claws were even sharper now—when it jumped up and down on the stone table, it left behind several paw-shaped indentations, making Ye Jingcheng both angry and happy.
He gave the Crimson Flame Fox a few pats on the head, and it let out a series of chirps while spitting out a few playful sparks of fire!
“Not in here, don’t spit fire in here!”
This startled Ye Jingcheng, as he quickly scooped up the Crimson Flame Fox. Fire breaths were not allowed inside!
In his mind, he could sense the fox’s eager spiritual fluctuations.
It was clear that under the treasured book’s influence, the Crimson Flame Fox was growing even faster.
Ye Jingcheng carried the fox outside to the open area on the mountain.
As soon as the fox jumped from his arms, it darted into a crimson blur across the clearing.
Its speed was incredible!
Ye Jingcheng was surprised by the Crimson Flame Fox's speed. He then cast a light body technique on himself to give chase. But even with the boost, he still struggled to keep up with the fox!
Finally, as if tired from playing, the fox chirped and darted back to Ye Jingcheng.
Its cries were light and lively, with some excitement.
Then, in the next moment, it turned its head and opened its mouth!
Boom!
A fireball the size of a palm shot out and slammed into the clearing, blasting a large scorched crater.
“This is way more powerful than the fireball technique!” Ye Jingcheng couldn’t help but grin at the sight.
He had Four Spiritual Roots—fire, earth, water, and wood, so of course he knew the fireball technique. But his hand seals were nowhere near as fast as the Crimson Flame Fox’s release, and the power was significantly weaker. To consider, he's already at the 4th Stage of Qi Refinement.
That meant the Crimson Flame Fox’s current strength was around the mid stage of Rank 1. If you convert that into a cultivator’s realm, that's roughly equivalent to the 5th Stage of Qi Refinement.
This truly exceeded his expectations.
And what’s more, this scene felt very much like the Crimson Flame Fox was intentionally showing off its combat ability, as if it knew he was heading into that dangerous mountain valley in the coming days.
Its intelligence was astounding!
There was no point even bringing up his Jade Ring Mouse, it only knew how to squeak. He’d even asked his 2nd Brother, Ye Jingyong, and the Flying Cloud Leopard only had decent speed at most, barely comparable to the 3rd Stage of Qi Refinement.
After shooting the fireball, the Crimson Flame Fox landed at Ye Jingcheng’s feet, looking a little tired. Its cries quieted down too.
Ye Jingcheng then took out some spirit beast meat and two Spirit Nourishing Pills to begin feeding it.
As the fox slowly ate, he gently stroked its fur, feeling its warmth and quietly thinking.
Just then, a streak of crimson spiritual light flashed across the sky and landed right in front of Ye Jingcheng.
He caught it with one hand, and it was a sound transmission talisman.
The talisman quickly burned, delivering one message: Come immediately!
Ye Jingcheng patted the Crimson Flame Fox's head. The fox lifted its head and gave him a glance before promptly gobbling down the remaining spirit beast meat in one big gulp without even chewing.
Ye Jingcheng then used the spirit beast pouch and stored the Crimson Flame Fox.
When he returned to the small courtyard, he saw his 2nd Brother Ye Jingyong and 4th Brother Ye Jingyu already waiting at the entrance. Beside them was also Ye Jingli. Of the people who went to choose spirit beasts that day, only his 7th Sister Ye Jingyuh was absent.
“Jingcheng, we were just waiting on you. Are you ready?” Ye Jingyong’s voice boomed.
“2nd Brother, I’ve long been ready!” Ye Jingcheng replied with a smile, then greeted respectfully.
“4th Brother, 6th Brother!”
“Jingcheng, I heard your Crimson Flame Fox survived?” Ye Jingyu asked. His voice was gentle and warm like bathing in a spring breeze.
“Yes, I got lucky and it endured.” Ye Jingcheng nodded.
“You should raise it well. It has great potential!” Ye Jingyu said, as if hinting at something deeper.
Ye Jingcheng’s eyes lit up.
He had long suspected that the Ye Family was hiding something.
After all, this cultivation world was known as the Great Yu Cultivation Realm. Aside from the Ye Family, all the other clans and sects placed immense importance on spiritual roots. Yet the Ye Family stood out as an exception!
Ye Jingcheng didn’t believe it was just because the Ye Family was stubborn or simply thought spirit beasts were good for combat.
As the son of the family head, Ye Jingyu clearly knew something. That's why during the spirit beast selection, besides Ye Jingcheng, not a single one hesitated.
The Ye Family’s spirit beasts were definitely more important than he thought.
“Alright, let’s go. Variables may arise if we delay.” Ye Jingyu said, not wishing to say more.
Then, he took out a palm-sized boat and tossed it into the air. With a burst of spiritual energy, it swelled with the wind and transformed into a blue wooden boat no smaller than a tile house.
“Get on!” Ye Jingyu stood at the front, controlling a spirit disk that resembled a wooden rudder.
The other three all revealed looks of amazement. Take Ye Jingcheng, he only had a low-grade Rank 1 dharma sword.
And it was just a standard dharma sword used for fighting. If he tried to use it for flying, his spiritual energy would be drained in no time!
Even so, his dharma sword had cost him 70 contribution points.
As for this spirit boat, they didn’t even dare to imagine owning one.
“This trip will take us into the deep outskirts of Taihang Mountains. When the time comes, we’ll take turns operating the spirit disk. Jingcheng, your cultivation is the weakest, so you’ll take a quarter-hour shift. The others will rotate every half hour. This is the spirit map for our route.” Ye Jingyu took out a map and imprinted basic instructions for controlling the spirit boat into a jade slip for the others.
“Jingcheng, you can release your Jade Ring Mouse. It has a strong sense for detecting powerful demon beasts. As for the Flying Cloud Leopard and Green Scale Snake, wait until we reach the destination to release them. They’ll drain too much of our spiritual energy.” Ye Jingyu instructed one after the other.
But he notably skipped over Ye Jingcheng’s Crimson Flame Fox. Clearly, in his mind, even if the Crimson Flame Fox had recovered, it probably wasn’t capable of battle.
Ye Jingcheng didn’t say much and took out the Jade Ring Mouse. The moment it appeared, the three others looked surprised.
The Jade Ring Mouse was named for its green ears shaped like large rings. It had exceptional hearing and an extremely keen sense of smell, making it one of the more popular spirit beasts in the Ye Family.
But now, even though only a month had passed, Ye Jingcheng’s Jade Ring Mouse looked even better than their Flying Cloud Leopards!
Its fur gleamed with luster, faintly glowing with spiritual light. And its ears would twitch adorably.
“Jingcheng, did your alchemy improve again?” Ye Jingyu’s eyes flashed, and Ye Jingcheng nodded. His 4th Brother was indeed quick-witted.
Actually, even he was a bit stunned just now. He also hadn't expected the Jade Ring Mouse to grow so fast. After all, it had only received a trace of the Crimson Flame Fox’s spiritual light from the treasure book.
Still, his 4th Brother had already thought of an explanation for him in advance!