Chapter 2: My First Day as a Fox

The next day, as soon as dawn broke, Lin Ling was awakened by the sounds of the Temple Caretaker busying himself about.

Rubbing her eyes, she saw the Temple Caretaker carrying a plate of steamed buns and pickles, placing them in front of the Fox Immortal’s statue.

The Temple Caretaker bowed respectfully and then went back out to sweep the courtyard.

Just as Lin Ling was staring at the buns and salivating, the Temple Caretaker’s voice drifted in from a distance: “Go ahead and eat, Miss. These were meant for you anyway; they were just presented to the Great Immortal first to be consecrated.”

Hearing this, Lin Ling no longer worried.

She sat on the offering table with her usual reckless abandon and began to munch away.

Her thought process was simple: since she was already in this state, how much worse could the Fox Immortal punish her?

For now, she would follow her whims and do whatever made her happy.

After eating her fill, Lin Ling let out a yawn, looking as though she was about to fall asleep again.

***

The Temple Caretaker walked in at that moment and said, “Miss, you forgot to wash up.”

Lin Ling rolled her eyes, not wanting to pay him any mind.

Seeing her like this, the Temple Caretaker shook his head and smiled.

“What would you like to eat for lunch, Miss? As your final meal before joining the Inspectorate of Blessings, this old man will certainly satisfy you. After this, you won’t be able to have things your way anymore.”

Lin Ling glanced at the Temple Caretaker, muttering in her heart.

How should she put it?

In the end, she really would be able to come here and eat for free every day.

Her mood was quite complicated.

“I want to eat.”

Lin Ling opened her mouth, but suddenly felt her jaw stiffen, unable to speak the words.

Awkwardly, she said, “Everything is according to your wishes, sir.

【Roast chicken, roast goose, roast duck, braised pork trotters.】”

Lin Ling immediately gave herself a punch.

Dammit!

What kind of joke was this?

She wasn’t even allowed to say what she wanted to eat?

This was a bit too much!

The Temple Caretaker watched Lin Ling squatting in the corner repeatedly slapping her own mouth.

He shook his head, pulled a charcoal pen and a wooden board from his pocket, and said, “If there are words you cannot say, you can try writing them down.”

Lin Ling slapped her forehead, the bell around her neck jingling twice.

Then, with tears in her eyes, she looked at the old Temple Caretaker with a face full of gratitude.

And she secretly vowed: from now on, she would absolutely not open her mouth to speak unless it was absolutely necessary!

Watching the Temple Caretaker cheerfully head out to buy ingredients, Lin Ling felt incredibly depressed.

She sat sprawled on the ground, resting her chin on her hand in deep thought.

As the sun rose, people continuously arrived at the Fox Immortal Temple to burn incense and worship.

Lin Ling hid in the back, watching the many elderly men and women outside sincerely praying to the Fox Immortal.

For a time, the entire temple was filled with the scent of incense.

Lin Ling let out a bored yawn, but she really couldn’t sleep.

These people would occasionally set off firecrackers in the courtyard.

So, she simply began to stare at these elderly folk, salivating as she watched the various offerings they continuously brought forward.

Soon, Lin Ling noticed a man.

The man carried a deep air of decadence.

He had stubble that hadn’t been trimmed, looking completely different from the elderly people who had come specifically to worship the deity.

Lin Ling had a feeling that the person before her was a cultivator, and perhaps his realm wasn’t even low.

At the very least, he was higher than the cultivator who had wiped out her mountain stronghold.

The man was somewhat thin, at least 1.8 meters tall.

With his head lowered, he quietly stood in line behind the elderly worshippers.

When it was his turn to step forward, he respectfully prostrated himself on the prayer mat and kowtowed several times.

Afterward, he didn’t light any incense; he just walked out in that same dejected manner.

Lin Ling quickly finished the fruit in her hand and went thumping up the stairs, leaning over the window frame to look at the decadent man.

In that instant, the man seemed to sense Lin Ling’s gaze and instinctively looked up toward her.

Seeing him turn around, Lin Ling immediately retracted her head and hid beneath the window.

By the time she poked her head out to look at the courtyard again, the man’s figure had already disappeared.

Lin Ling muttered a couple of words: “Strange person.”

After the Temple Caretaker returned, he mingled with the elderly crowd, making for a lively scene.

She stopped paying attention and began searching through her memories for methods of cultivation.

A beginner must Seek the Way and Ask the Heavens, opening their Spirit Root to perceive the spiritual energy of the world and bring it into the body.

Initially, one uses this spiritual energy to transform the body.

After mastering the sensation of Qi and bidding farewell to the mortal coil, one senses the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to formally step through the gates of cultivation.

This is called the first realm of a practitioner: the Spirit Awakening Realm.

Lin Ling closed her eyes.

Following the patterns in her memory, she slowly sensed the thin spiritual energy drifting through the world.

This sensation was very peculiar, as if she had practiced it countless times before.

Very quickly, she felt this energy.

Her entire being was enveloped in joy; she could truly feel this ethereal aura.

“…Finally! I can also cultivate.”

Lin Ling clenched her fists, unable to contain her delight.

Barefoot, Lin Ling sat cross-legged on the floor.

Her gaze gradually became vacant as a flood of past memories, carrying the cultivation methods for future realms, poured into her brain.

In the memory, the Fox Immortal was standing before her.

At that time, she still had a physical body, not this ethereal deity-like appearance she had now.

“Sister.”

Lin Ling heard herself calling out to the Fox Immortal.

The Fox Immortal turned her head and gave Lin Ling a smile.

“What’s wrong?”

Lin Ling was just reminiscing when someone suddenly flicked her forehead.

She snapped back to reality, clutching her forehead and crying out in pain: “Ow!”

Just as she was about to curse, she bit her tongue again, rolling on the floor in agony.

There stood the Fox Immortal, Lin Kejing, looking at her with a mischievous grin.

Lin Ling immediately felt a surge of anger.

She grabbed the pen and wrote on the ground: “What are you doing?!”

“Just look at how you’re sitting—sprawled out everywhere with no sense of image, showing half your backside. Can’t you be more of a lady?”

Lin Kejing said speechlessly.

Lin Ling rolled her eyes, not caring at all.

She dismissively tossed the pen aside, indicating that she was never a lady to begin with.

Lin Kejing tilted her head and smiled.

“Fine, I won’t force you. You’ll naturally change over time anyway.”

“Wait, Sister Fox Immortal. 【You dead fox, wait a minute.】”

Lin Ling said.

“What’s going on with my height?”

She stared at Lin Kejing with a serious face, then pointed at her 1.4-meter stature.

“Uh. 【Isn’t this a bit of a twisted hobby of yours!】”

Lin Ling opened her mouth angrily, but no sound came out.

“Well, it’s better this way. It lets you experience life as a beautiful young girl starting from your teenage years. What’s so bad about that?”

Lin Kejing said with a giggle.

“You…”

Lin Ling gritted her teeth, stiffening her neck as she forced out: “You are a beast!”

Immediately following the backlash of her oath, she rolled her eyes and fainted.

“Oh dear, hating me that much.”

Lin Kejing shrugged her shoulders helplessly.

***

When Lin Ling woke up again, it was dark once more.

She sat up in bed, her face full of despair toward life.

In the kitchen, the souls of the Temple Caretaker and Lin Kejing were waiting for her.

Lin Ling wobbled her way there, just about to burst into a tirade against Lin Kejing, when her eyes were drawn to the roast chicken on the table.

Lin Kejing then chuckled secretly.

As expected, she was still exactly the same as she used to be—a total glutton.