Raising a Fox Spirit in My Home

Chapter 1: Human Origin Gold Pill

T/N: Human Origin Gold Pill/Core. I guess I should start this by explaining some cultivation basics.

RenYuan JinDan 人元金丹 – Human Origin Gold Core or Pill: I’m sure most of you are familiar with Gold Core or JinDan (金丹). So you’re either thinking this is the same thing or some sort of special Gold Core. Well it is and it’s not. It’s a pill in this story. See the footer for more details.

“Sorry, you’re a nice person, but we’re truly not suited to each other…”

“Screw! Another nice guy card!*” An extremely intoxicated Li Yundong mumbled to himself, “Your mother, she even used that kind of obsolete excuse to dodge the great me!”

Thinking back to this morning’s confession by the school building, Li Yundong could not help but feel gloomy and miserable, “Am I supposed to be this tragic? What the heck is twenty-one nice guy cards in a single year of university?”

“Your mother, what’s the big deal? One day, the great me will find a girl that’s prettier than all of them!”

Ding Dong. The elevator door opened. Li Yundong staggered unsteadily out of the elevator and arrived at the door of his rented apartment before drunkenly taking out his keys.

His parents divorced when he was still young. His father left the nation and found a tall busty foreigner to share a free and unfettered happy life with. His mother was not willing to fall behind; she also found a foreigner and moved to Europe long ago to enjoy her decandent life style. Only he was left behind in this nation receiving bits of ’emergency relief fund’ from both sides.

Without any familial attention, Li Yundong had slacked since his senior year in high school. With these circumstances, he obviously did not get accepted into a good university. Tiannan City University was already the best university that he could get into, but it only qualified as a second or third rate university domestically.

However, even though this university was only second or third rate, its art division was quite famous. It has even produced a number of celebrities. The school could be called a land where beauties gathered like clouds. For the virgin Li Yundong, it was more than his eyes could take. The only pity was that according to the scientific theory of opposite genders attract, the land where beauties gathered like clouds was often also the place where handsome guys were numerous like drops of rain.

While Li Yundong was not ugly, he was not handsome either.

Moreover, in this era, men needed to be either handsome or strange. For those who had average forgettable features, my apologies, if the nice guy cards didn’t end up with you guys then where else would they end up?

Li Yundong had his own pride and the girls he pursued were all classroom belle or campus belle grade beauties. Thus in a single year, he received twenty-one nice guy cards, fighting on despite continual setbacks, suffering continual defeat despite fighting on. He was already regarded as an object of ridicule on campus.

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Simply thinking of the mocking faces of those busybodies, especially their ridiculing eyes that saw him as the toad trying to eat swan meat**, Li Yundong became full of resentment, enough that he gritted his teeth.

“Bastards!” Li Yundong roared, throwing up both arms while still standing in front of his doorway.

Clink.

His keys fell onto the floor.

Li Yundong squinted his eyes and bent down only to find there was a foxdog*** with a full body of crimson fur lying by his doorway. A bunch of blood stains could be seen on its hind leg, indicating it had been injured.

This foxdog turned its head around to lick at its wound with great effort even as it pitifully stared at Li Yundong.

Its expressive gaze immediately moved Li Yundong, he picked up the foxdog without hesitation, “Your owner doesn’t want you anymore? How pitiful. Sigh. I’m also the same. My mom and dad don’t want me anymore. People look down on me. They turn their backs to me. Are you like me? Don’t worry. Don’t be sad. I’ll look after you from now on. I won’t turn my back to you!”

He entered the door. Inside was the living room, which led directly to the balcony. Between the two was a french window, protected by a thin screen to keep bugs out.

A glass coffee table was placed in the middle of the living room. Under that coffee table, there was a carpet. On top, there was a PS2. Beside the game console were a pile of game disks and a cup of half finished cold water.

A muddleheaded Li Yundong brought the little fox into his home but he could no longer support his drunken body. With a wobble of his head, he dropped onto the carpet just beside the coffee table. Soon after, loud snores could be heard.

The little fox he was hugging to his chest started to tremble. Eventually its body calmed down. A pair of eye became brighter and brighter under the clear cold light of the moon. It used its sharp nose to poke at Li Yundong’s chin, testing if he were truly asleep.

After a couple attempts, the little fox discovered Li Yundong was less likely to wake up than a dead pig. So it curled its entire body into a ball and started to emit faint azure radiance. This azure radiance acted like countless threads of light. They seeped into Li Yundong’s body before slowly coming back out. These gossamer threads of azure had become crimson in the process. Then these crimson thread would roam their way back into the little fox’s body before emerging again with their color reverting to azure once more.

The little fox repeated this cycle a couple times, retrieving yang qi from Li Yundong’s body. Its vitality improved visibly and the wound on its claw also stopped bleeding. Suddenly, with a push, it jumped off of Li Yundong’s chest. Looping around once on the spot, it suddenly became a girl who wore a crimson dress.

This girl appeared approximately fifteen or sixteen years old. Her height was about 165 cm. Her eyes were bright and beautiful, full of life and spirit. Her black pupils seemed like they could glow with light, giving off a feeling of wit and refinement.

She carefully looked around the room, before letting out a breath and patting her chest. She quietly spoke to herself, “That was really close, I almost died just now. My master worked hard to help me steal this Human Origin Gold Pill. If I died before using it, wouldn’t that be an injustice the size of heaven?”

The little fox sized up Li Yundong before tilting her head. Looking at this man who held her while spouting drunken talk, without knowing why she felt slightly emotional. ‘This guy’s circumstances are actually quite similar to my own.’

The little fox gave a sigh before standing up. She wanted to leave this place.

However, she suddenly had second thoughts. Her enemies were pressing in and they were going to chase her to death. Her own injuries had not yet healed. If she left now and was discovered, what would she do?

“I might as well consume this Human Origin Gold Pill right now!” The little fox took out a pill that was completely golden in color and approximately the size of a pinky’s fingernail. She held it in the middle of her palm as if respecting a supreme treasure.

The moment she took out the Gold Pill, the entire room was brightly lit with golden light.

The little fox had encountered relentless pursuers that would not let her catch her breath just after stealing the Gold Pill, thus she had no opportunity to consume and refine it.

Just as the little fox thought of her misfortune, she suddenly saw, out of the corner of her eye, two streaks of azure light flash once. Her entire body tensed as her looked over in fright.

“I’m done for. Finished. How did they chase all the way over here?” the little fox’s face paled as she panicked.

Why did these guys linger like deceased souls that refused to disperse? No matter where she ran, they could always follow.

The little fox’s thoughts were fast like lightning, but she could feel two strong presences closing in on her and she was also panicking. Suddenly, her eyes fell upon Li Yundong who was beside her. She immediately thought, ‘Perhaps the Human Origin Gold Pill is emitting medicinal power and that is what keeps drawing my pursuers.’

The little fox reacted extremely quickly. She swiftly pounced beside Li Yundong. Her hand pressed down on his cheeks forcing his mouth open and then she threw the Gold Pill in. After that, she quickly transformed into a little fox, and hid on his chest.

The little fox’s scheme could only be considered perfect. She threw the Human Origin Gold Pill in Li Yundong’s mouth because she wanted to use Li Yundong’s virgin yang qi.

Virgin yang qi is the purest yang qi of this world. It is the purest portion of the body’s original yang essence qi, normally hidden in the HuiYin acupoint. Only when stimulated by yin qi unique to females would this virgin yang qi leave the HuiYin acupoint.

This virgin yang qi has many uses—one of which just happens to be the ability to conceal certain presences, for example: extreme yin qi, polluted qi, and even the unique spiritual qi associated with immortal pills and divine artifacts.

The little fox threw the Human Origin Gold Pill in Li Yundong’s mouth without worrying that he would consume it because: first, the Gold Pill was not chocolate and would not melt; second, Li Yundong was clearly in an extremely drunk condition. People in this condition would not swallow objects that were in their mouths unless water was involved.

Li Yundong’s virgin yang qi would not only cover the immortal qi of the Gold Pill, it would also concealed the little fox’s yin qi. This could be considered shooting two bird with one stone.

As expected just as the little fox jumped onto Li Yundong’s chest, the two azure lights approaching from outside the window suddenly stopped. Two shadowy figures appeared on the balcony. Their forms were graceful. Based on their slender and elegant silhouettes, the two could vaguely be identified as two women.

“Strange, how come it suddenly disappeared?” one of the women said softly, her voice clear and slightly cold.

“Big sis Zi Yuan, did we maybe chase the wrong target?” asked a rather lively innocent voice.

“Completely impossible!” refuted the pure and cold woman.

“Then, I’ll go in and check. We chased up until this home before the trail suddenly disappeared!” said the lively sounding girl.

Listening to the exchange between the two people outside, at first the fox was quite proud of her sudden inspiration. Her fox tail rose up in pride. But once she heard the younger girl planned on busting in to check, she was so scared her entire body shrunk into a ball, shivering violently, too frightened to even breathe.

However, the other clear and cold voice softly scolded, “Don’t be willful, how can a cultivator intrude upon the mortals of the mundane world?”

The lively sounding girl retorted, “But if we go back like this, how will we explain ourselves?”

For a time, both women on the balcony were silent.

The little fox was filled with alarm and fear and her mind was a complete mess. She prayed incessantly, “Grandpa Heavens, please let them leave quickly. No matter what, they must not come in. I am kowtowing to you guys.”

Just as she prayed with all her heart, suddenly Li Yundong moaned. His dry mouth and tongue made him want to swallow reflexively. But there was a Human Origin Gold Pill in his mouth, how could he possibly swallow that?

The round Gold Pill rolled down into his esophagus and the blockage cause his face to scrunch up in pain. Half asleep, Li Yundong barely managed to prop himself up and felt around for the something on the coffee table with great effort.

The little fox’s eyes were opened so wide they were practically round. She watched as Li Yundong’s hand found the half empty cup of water. Gulp gulp gulp. He guzzled several mouthfuls. And that water along with the Human Origin Gold Pill went down his throat…

~~~

In this book, the 人元金丹 or Human Origin Gold Pill should be a medicinal pill from external alchemy rather than a condensed core from internal alchemy (a.k.a. Cultivation). But you guys might want some background information anyways. Eastern mythology has always been a mess, especially for Westerns (or at least Canadian like me) who all know Zeus and Odin but who the heck is the Jade Emperor, nevertheless that doesn’t prevent it from being cool.

There are actually several ways of forming your Gold Core. The process of cultivation is actually also known as internal alchemy in contrast to external alchemy. Where pills of immortality or at least health supplements are concocted by external alchemy, internal alchemy (cultivation) refines your body and concocts a Gold Core/JinDan as part of the route to immortality. Your body includes your meridians and your acupoints, bones, marrow, blood, mortal body, and so on. The process mostly involves breathing or circulating ‘qi’ as in gas or air, usually spiritual qi (spiritual gas/air).

Now there are three paths to cultivate and get that Gold Core:

1) The best method as in the top tier route for those blessed beings born under auspicious signs with divine brilliance, we have TianYuan DaDan (天元大丹) or Heaven Origin Grand Core. It is achieved by comprehending heaven and manifesting one’s full potential by matching your desires with the will of heaven. Basically it’s esoteric stuff not meant for mere mortals to comprehend.

2) The worst method as in the bottom tier route for those who are rich and famous and possess secular power but no real talent, we have DiYuan ShenDan (地元神丹) or Earth Origin Spirit Core. It is achieved by mass refinement of pills and other products of external alchemy. Creating miracles from dust.

3) The middling method as in the middle tier route for those lucky enough to be suited to it and actually possess a proper manual, we have RenYuan JinDan ( 人元金丹) or Human Origin Gold Core. It is achieved by dual cultivation between male and female, the union between the duality that is yin and yang.

Now this is all background. Since this is a story, not actual eastern mythology, there is a chance the human origin gold core/pill is something else entirely (a product of external alchemy).

*good guy card 发好人卡 – receiving a good guy card: this basically comes down to being rejected while being labeled a ‘nice guy’. ‘Bad boys get all the girls and nice guys get screwed over.’ This is a type of common sense in Chinese writing. Of course the main character isn’t affected since he’s got main character aura.

** toad eating swan mean – someone reaching above their position especially an ugly guy and a beautiful girl.

*** It’s some type of spitz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spitz, probably a Japanese Spitz. Basically the main character mistook a fox for a dog that looks like a fox. It probably didn’t help that he’s drunk.