Chapter 15 - Kill the Young, Comes the Adult. Marry a Vixen, Comes a Furry Granddad.
At midnight, a manor in the city was dark and quiet, in contrast to the joyous mood and bright light in the city. Demonic foxes of the Yuemei Clan packed their belongings onto their carriages. Some of the foxes threw away their masks and carried palanquins, bringing their master out of the city.
In a palanquin was a black demonic fox, who had helped Yuemei Xie earlier. He played with two karma coins that he had gotten from his subordinate in his hand.
Yuemei Wuxin, the older brother of Yuemei Xie, was a colleague of Xiao Han Ce. He also worked with the Starlight Taming Guild to suppress and annihilate other inferior demonic species while amassing wealth for his clan. He had planned to assimilate the Celestial foxes with his clan through marriage, but the plan was ruined.
He was annoyed. Since Jin Yu didn't play along, he no longer had any reason to spare this place. He might as well sell Jin Yu and her people to his friend.
"A man from the Ji Clan, Xia Clan, Imperial Army, or someone from the Buddhist Land?"
Yuemei Wuxin mused over the identity of Fu tong. He fetched a jade slip, which had the inscription of a Chinese word "Xiao". The long item brightened the interior of the palanquin as he injected his Qi inside, activating it. He talked to the jade.
"Han Ce."
The jade gleamed. A voice replied. "Senior brother Yuemei? What's wrong?"
He contacted Xiao Han Ce for one purpose. Using a mainland dialect, he solemnly muttered.
"You've been searching for a certain female nine-tailed fox to add to your slave collection, right? I know where to find one."
—
The next morning, Fu Tong woke up in Jin Yu's bed, feeling lightheaded. His lower body parts also felt lighter than usual. Despite not getting enough sleep, his stamina quickly recovered.
After opening his eyes and getting up, a floating semi-transparent blue screen greeted him with a message. But his game mod management menu didn't have a messenger or AI function. He frowned and read the lines.
You have violated the Laws of Causality. You have received a penalty mission.
The warning sobered him.
'Penalty mission? Causality Law? What the hell?'
Fu Tong had never heard of Causality Law before. He touched the screen, and his system information panel was updated.
Name: Fu Tong
Age: 18
Cultivation Base: Qi Condensation Level 5
Active Mods: 2
Current Mods:
- Mod Management Menu
- Infinite Gold Coins
Mission Objectives: Travel to the Divine Cloud Sect and join the entrance examination event within a month. (28 days remaining)
Mission Rewards: Infinite Carrying Weight Mod
Failure Penalty: You lose one of the mods.
Penalty Mission Objectives: Donate 7 Karma Coins to any mortal Buddhist temple and pray for the victims, whom Celestial Foxes have tricked and eaten in the past 10,000 years, using Soul Releasing Scripture.
Mission Rewards: Clear of the causality and negative karma. One Merit Coin.
Penalties: A random status attribute permanently decreases by seven points every midnight until the mission is completed. If the mission isn't completed within seven days, the penalty will increase sevenfold at midnight each day. You cannot use Command Console until the causality and negative karma are cleared.
The mission seemed easy at a glance, but it warned Fu Tong of a higher power's existence—Someone might be manipulating his system or tampering with his game mod management menu.
His eyes were attracted to the rewards of the mission and the penalties. Everything hindered his progress, except for the reward.
Merit Coin was the highest denomination currency of the game universe. Karma coins were nothing but a fragment of a penny compared to a merit coin.
One coin could be exchanged for anything in the game world, including an equipment gear of the final villain or the strongest protagonist, a godly pill, or a secret treasure of the highest realm. It could also be used as a ticket to bypass any harsh heavenly tribulation. However, nobody could access the secret store that accepted the currency unless they cleared the end-game dungeon content and found the secret store in the boss room.
In short, even if Fu Tong had it, the coin would be useless for a long time.
'What is causality anyway? Why is this system punishing me for? What did I do wrong?'
Fu Tong contemplated yesterday's events. He closed his eyes, putting himself in the developer's shoes. If he had a supreme power that dictated the entire universe, how would he keep cheaters like him in check?
As soon as he thought of that, Fu Tong stared at the system panel.
'Since it prevents me from using the command console, is the punishment related to that? Was it because I edited my attributes, so someone with power punished me for that? But why merit coin?'
Even in the game's lore, nobody knew how a merit coin was made, and the developers didn't explain how they came into existence. The only clues were the Time Lord Dungeon—The end-game content dungeon.
As worrying about the end-game content would be a waste of time, Fu Tong closed the system menu. He turned to his wife, who curled up next to him in bed. Jin Yu smiled in her sleep, content and happy, body and mind.
Since Jin Yu seemed to have a good dream, Fu Tong got up, put on his clothes, and rang a small bell on the bed cabinet. Two female attendants teleported into the room without making another sound.
Fu Tong asked them.
"Guide me to the meeting room and summon all elders, generals, ministers, and officials. Tell my wife to come later when she wakes up. Also, I need some clean water and something to eat."
The masked fox retainers nodded. One of them vanished while the other one quietly opened the door and led Fu Tong to the other building.
—
In minutes, elders and generals from yesterday's wedding party assembled in the government building—A 4-story pagoda. They gathered on the second floor, where common meetings were always held.
Fu Tong sat on the honored seat next to Jin Yu's throne. All elders and generals took their usual poses, leaving the crimson carpet and the middle area vacant. They formed lines and ranks, with the military personnel on the right and the internal affairs officials on the left. As usual, everybody was in their human appearance and wore a fox mask.
Looking at the formation, Fu Tong felt like a Chinese medieval overlord, gazing at his retainers. He mustered his courage and announced the reason for his summons.
"I know that my wife isn't here, but I'm going to hasten our relocation plan. Tell me, who is in charge of the Cloud Plateau treasure?"
Fu Tong referred to the artifact, which condensed the cloud mass into the floating land.
Treasures, artifacts, pills, and items were categorized in different tiers. In the mortal realm, only three levels existed—Man, Earth, and Heaven. However, in the immortal realms, two higher-grade items existed, such as immortal-grade and celestial-grade.
The Cloud Plateau treasure belonged to the immortal-grade tier due to its flexible defensive mechanisms and utilities. In addition, a floating land that could support a large city was more valuable than weapons and consumable items at the same grade. As such, the treasure was kept secret, and only a few individuals could access it.
A 2-meter-tall fox-masked man with short white hair stepped out of the crowd. His burly physique, plate armor, and a pair of bone shoulder guards made him stand out from the rest. He stood in the middle of the room and took off his mask, revealing his seasoned, rugged skin and deep eyes, full of wisdom.
"I am called Jin Yanxiong, the city lord's grandfather! Did thou have fun last night?"
"…Ah."
Fu Tong forgot about this man.
Jin Yu might have lost her parents, but she still had a grandfather.