The Human-Fox Pact to Accompany Each Other for Life

“A-miao, stop quickly!” Wugou roared.

A soft growl escaped A-miao, feeling a touch of confusion. Yet, having spent such a long time with Wugou, its trust in him was absolute.

A-miao had witnessed Wugou’s peculiar abilities on numerous occasions.

It was safe to say that among all within the Saint Water Palace, the short-legged tiger, A-miao, understood Wugou best.

Thus, even with the dining hall right before its eyes, A-miao managed to resist the temptation, patiently awaiting Wugou’s command.

Wugou touched his head, noting the considerable dampness. A sense of exasperation washed over him.

Clearly, A-wu was on the verge of losing its patience. Whenever it came to the dining hall with Wugou, they almost always returned laden with food.

Over two years, A-wu had developed a habit: whenever it neared the dining hall, its drool would flow uncontrollably.

Helplessly, Wugou plucked A-wu from his head, stroking its fur for a moment. He chuckled, “You greedy fox, hold on for a bit. I’ll make you something delicious later, hehe.”

Upon hearing Wugou’s promise, both A-wu and A-miao’s eyes lit up.

A-wu blinked several times before instantly darting into Wugou’s arms, dislodging the small black hat that had been perched on its head.

A-wu poked its head out from Wugou’s collar, then craned its neck to lick his chin. Both it and A-miao adored Wugou’s cooking, yet he rarely cooked himself. Wugou was still too short, making preparing a dish quite an arduous task.

“Haha, A-wu, that tickles! Your ears are too long, haha…”

Wugou quickly pressed A-wu’s ears down, then chuckled, “Heh, A-wu, you usually love perching on my head. But now that you’ve heard about food, you’re all about fawning over me and acting cute?”

“Let’s go, let’s go!” A-wu nudged Wugou’s chest again with its small head.

Wugou gestured towards the dining hall with his chin. “A-wu, look ahead.”

A-wu turned its head. It was pitch black; today’s moon was not very bright. If not for the fact that demonic beasts’ night vision was far less affected than humans’, even the outline of the dining hall building would have been indiscernible.

“What is it? I can’t see anything~ A-miao, did you spot anything?” A-wu asked.

“Roar.” A-miao vigorously shook its head.

Wugou was eager to show off a little. He had always been a boastful sort, but after all, he was currently only an eight-year-old child in appearance. If he were too ostentatious in front of others, it would be difficult for him to live out this brief life peacefully.

A-wu and A-miao were not human; they didn’t have complicated thoughts. Wugou always felt at ease with them, able to freely display his abilities without reservation.

“A-wu, today I’ll teach you about formations!” Wugou smiled confidently, patting A-miao’s shoulder. “A-miao, forward! Stop when I tell you to!”

“Roar!”

Finally, it had begun. A-miao’s stomach had been grumbling for ages.

“Stop!”

The moment Wugou’s voice fell, A-miao and A-wu felt a sudden blur before their eyes. The dining hall, which had been so close, had vanished into thin air!

“A-wu, do you see now~ This is a basic Qimen Dunjia technique, which can also be called a formation. Originally, this formation is quite ordinary; if someone with complete Five Element spiritual roots enters it, they wouldn’t be affected in the slightest. The problem is, you both almost exclusively possess single spiritual roots, which makes this formation especially potent.”

Wugou paused, noticing that both A-wu and A-miao wore utterly bewildered expressions. He couldn’t help but feel a little smug.

In his previous world, this basic Qimen Dunjia was mostly used by mortals, for instance, in military formations. A famous practitioner was Jiang Ziya, who held the Investiture of the Gods, a true master of Qimen Dunjia. After all, mortals often had incomplete spiritual roots, and thus would be greatly affected.

“The ‘Qi’ refers to the Three Wonders: Yi, Bing, and Ding. The ‘Men’ are the Eight Gates: Open, Rest, Life, Harm, Obstruct, View, Death, and Alarm. As for ‘Dunjia,’ it signifies hiding beneath the Six Rites: Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, Ren, and Gui.”

“Qimen Dunjia has three plates—Heaven, Earth, and Man—symbolizing the Three Talents.”

“The Heaven Plate’s Nine Palaces house the Nine Stars, the Earth Plate’s Eight Palaces represent the eight directions, and the Human Plate’s Eight Palaces arrange the Eight Gates.”

“These Three Wonders, Six Rites, Eight Gates, and Nine Stars, arranged through various human-devised layouts, form the structure of Qimen Dunjia!”

“A-wu, you’ve remembered all that I’ve said, right?”

A-wu: “…”

A-miao: “…”

“Cough, cough. Ah, how truly lonely~” Wugou gazed at the twinkling stars in the sky, a hint of melancholy in his voice.

“Wugou, it’s fine if I can’t remember. We just need to stay together, right?” A-wu nudged its head against Wugou’s chin again. It had sensed a trace of loneliness in Wugou’s eyes just now; a demonic beast’s intuition was always much sharper than a human’s.

“Always together?”

“That’s right! We’ll always play together, until we’re old. Haha, haven’t we always been happy?” A-wu popped out from Wugou’s collar and settled back onto his head, its exclusive “seat.”

“Let’s go, let’s go! My tummy is so hungry~” A-wu deliberately lowered its voice, conveying that it was almost too weak from hunger to move.

“Roar!” A-miao also lifted its head, looking utterly impatient.

“Hehe, yes, let’s just play~ Who cares what happens later, we’ll play first, haha!” Wugou felt a surge of relief, as if he had suddenly understood something profound.

Within him, true qi suddenly surged, and power instantly rocketed from his tailbone to the Baihui acupoint on his head, traveling unimpeded.

From that moment, the most crucial meridian channel within Wugou was opened. Wugou’s entire body trembled, a sensation of exhilaration piercing directly to his brain.

A-miao and A-wu also sensed the anomaly within Wugou’s body. Before they even had time to worry, Wugou had already successfully broken through to the first level of Qi Refining.

“Haha, Wugou is so amazing! Congratulations, congratulations!” A-wu happily bounced on Wugou’s head.

“Roar!” A-miao also looked up, showing Wugou a smiling face.

“This… I broke through just like that?”

Wugou extended his hands and examined them. Outwardly, there was no change, but the true qi within his body circulated incredibly swiftly, ten times faster than the qi gathering speed of the first Qi Refining stage, like an unbridled wild horse.

“This… this effect isn’t what Old Man Zhu said it would be! How could it be so fast?”

After some thought, Wugou took a deep breath and tried to condense the vital essence within him. As usual, the transformation into true qi was completed in an instant, but the fatigue in his body was much lighter than before.

‘It seems the cultivation methods of this world still have their merits,’ Wugou mused. ‘The sheer speed and thrill of gaining power are incomparable to the tedious process of “comprehending the immortal path.” This feeling is truly exhilarating, almost addictive.’

Wugou smiled knowingly, wondering if he should be a little more diligent in the future—perhaps by sleeping for an hour less?

“Let’s go, let’s go! My tummy is so hungry now~” A-wu urged.

In A-wu’s eyes, whether Wugou was strong or not didn’t matter; as long as they could eat and play together, that was enough.

“Hehe, that’s right, let’s go get some midnight snacks!” Wugou’s body felt a bit tired now, but his spirits were exceptionally high.

Wugou glanced at the sky, then at the arrangement of objects in front of the dining hall. He began, “Three gates of Heaven, four doors of Earth; how does one navigate this path? Taichong, Xiaoji, and Congkui—these are the secret passages of the Heavenly Gate… This is the Heavenly Gate and Earthly Door layout.”

“A-miao, ten steps forward, then five steps to the right!” Wugou instructed, pointing.

“Roar!”

“Another twenty steps forward…”

In merely the time it takes for an incense stick to burn…

“Haha, A-miao, your favorite ham~” A-wu slowly backed out of the storage cabinet, wiggling its small bottom and wagging its big tail. Its small size and keen nose made the kitchen its domain.

“Roar~ Roar!” A-miao excitedly cried out.

Clang!

A-miao, not paying attention, bumped its swaying backside into a table, knocking down a large pot lid that had been placed on its edge.

“Shh! A-miao, quiet down,” Wugou warned.

But not long after.

Clatter!

A-wu, once again, knocked over a plate.

“I told you, Old Man Xing lives in the dining hall, didn’t you forget? Keep it down!”

In the past, there was no such troublesome formation outside the dining hall.

With A-miao’s speed, they wouldn’t have had to worry about anyone.

However, Old Man Xing surely knew the core of today’s formation.

If they woke him, the formation outside would hinder their swift escape. They might just capsize in a ditch, so to speak.

After all, Wugou’s current power was too weak to directly break the formation.

“Hehe! You scoundrel! So you do remember that this old man lives here, do you? You’ve got quite some nerve!”