When Lin Luoran suddenly returns to the fox’s cave, the cyan little fox is running around the spot where Lin disappeared. It is so confused about Lin’s sudden disappearance and reappearance. Lin Luoran is happy now. The two foxes have helped a lot in saving Wen Guanjing and Lin has a good impression of them. She gives the cyan little fox a peach from her space.
Wen’s condition is stable now. Lin doesn’t know how long he will take to wake up. She only hopes that he can come to himself sooner. Lin sits in the foxes’ cave and starts to meditate.
The cave smells like medicine and flowers. It is actually quite comfortable to be here. The problem is, she can’t tell the day from the night in this underground world. Lin feels a little depressed.
She has no choice but to dedicate herself to cultivation. Meanwhile, she prays for Wen to wake up sooner. However, she wants time to pass slower so that she can figure out where to find Baojia.
The white fox is getting weaker. The cyan little fox doesn’t see this and it is jumping up and down in the cave. A big fluorescent flower blooms. Lin Luoran gradually goes into tranquility.
Lin laid foundation back in the blood pool. However, she can take a casual attitude about her cultivation because she hasn’t reached the middle stage of Laying Foundation. The woman in black is still out there. Lin shouldn’t stay in Africa for too long… She must return as soon as she finds Baojia. Lin makes up her mind. The mystery of the disappearance of cultivators in and above the level of Gathering Vitality is not the most important thing.
During all these years, someone else must have tried to figure this out. This doesn’t seem to be a problem which may be solved by coming to the desert.
Lin takes a closer look at the Reiki Nebulas inside of her. Color of the Nebula of fire Reiki seems to become a lot darker… Is this because of the Strange Fire?
With her hands free, Lin Luoran can’t help thinking about Wen’s crucial meridians. She realizes that Wen’s secret method of cultivation is not much better than her breathing methods. This is strange. Did Master Jia teach her a high-level method? Lin hasn’t seen Master Jia for three years. She decides to ask Wang Miao’e about Master Jia’s recent situation.
The two foxes and two humans in the cave are in harmony. Lin’s heart was chaotic at first, then she is immersed in cultivation gradually.
When she comes to herself again, she sees Wen looking at her with a smile. As soon as Lin opens her eyes, Wen makes a bow and says,
“Sister Lin, thank you so much.”
Lin feels Wen’s Qi. As expected, he has made great progress. After refined the Strange Fire inside of him, Wen has completed the stage of Training Qi. Though his state is unstable now, he will be alright as long as he focusses on cultivation after getting back home.
“Congratulations… You should also thank these two foxes for this.”
Although Wen holds a prejudice on beast cultivators, he expresses his gratitude to the foxes for saving his life.
Lin stands up and pats the dirt off her body. She says to Wen, “Let’s go. We’ve been delayed for too long.”
Wen hesitates. He can return Lin’s favor later, but what about the foxes? He doesn’t want to owe anyone anything.
Lin sighs and walks to the white fox. She asks, “Is there anything we can do for you? As long as we can…” Even if Wen can’t, Lin decides to take the responsibility first.
The white fox pushes the cyan little fox to Lin.
— Is it entrusting the little fox to Lin?
As a matter of fact, Lin secretly thought about this when she found out that the dying white fox saved Wen Guanjing.
However, it seems to be awkward to force Wen to carry a little fox around all day — nevertheless, this is not Lin’s decision to make.
Lin lets Wen to negotiate with the white fox. As expected, Wen doesn’t want to take care of the little fox. Then Lin realizes that the white fox actually wants to entrust Lin with the little fox.
Lin Luoran never thought about raising a fox, and she definitely never imagined that the fox would be able to find medicine.
“Would you like to go with me, little thing?” Lin squats down and asks. She likes the cyan little fox.
The cyan little fox looks cute no matter what it is doing. Right now, it is almost driven crazy by Lin’s question. “I’m not a little thing! I’m older than you! I am!” It thinks. The cyan little fox still believes that it will just go to the outside world with Lin and play around, and it will come back soon. Therefore, it doesn’t feel reluctant to leave. The cyan little fox has no idea that the white fox is dying and the two of them will be separated forever.
The cyan little fox nods. The white fox smiles.
Lin holds the little fox up and puts it on her shoulder. She leaves the cave with Wen. Lin looks back at the white fox. It is barely standing. Its essence of life is fading.
“The little fox is adorable… I’ll take good care of it.” Lin uses Reiki to send these words to the white fox.
The white fox moves its mouth. For a moment, Lin thinks that the white fox is saying “thank you”. This is just too weird to be true. Not so much beast cultivators can speak human language like the old monkey in the secret land did. Even Goldie will have to cultivate for a long time to do this — the white fox couldn’t even beat the gophers. There is no way that it can speak human language. Lin believes that she just had an illusion.
The cyan little fox looks at the white fox with loving eyes.
— I must focus on cultivation. Don’t come back too soon.
— When should I come back?
— Until you are strong enough to come back alone.
— Ok.
The cyan little fox thinks, “Isn’t coming back alone so easy? It seems that the white fox is not going to focus on cultivation for too long.”
If… If Lin knew what the little fox was thinking, she would be sad. The white fox is clearly not going to focus on cultivation. It just doesn’t want the cyan little fox to watch it die.
Lin and Wen leave the cave with the little fox. The second they step out of the fox’s cave, the inhibition, which Lin doesn’t know what it can do, changes into soil and perfectly blends in the environment.
Lin doesn’t know any of this because something happens not long after they leave the fox’s cave. Lin Luoran has no time to care about the white fox anymore.
Lin sees a group of gophers fleeting in the tunnels. The entire underground world shakes because of them.
The cyan little fox sniffs and becomes anxious.
A piece of cloth dragged by a gopher in the behind draws all of Lin’s attention. She immediately catches the gopher and lifts it up — this is from Baojia’s Chiffon blouse!
“Baojia is around!” Grabbing the cloth tightly, Lin’s hands are shaking.
Wen is more composed. He says, “Sister Lin, the gophers don’t just fleet for nothing… We should be careful.”
Be careful? What about Baojia…? Lin is in a dilemma.
