Chapter 52: The Greed and The Fox
One sheep, two sheep, three sheep, roasted whole sheep, braised lamb, stewed lamb, happy...
...I'm hungry~ o(╥﹏╥)o
Feeling the gentle, steady breathing beside him, Liumu lay rigidly in bed, his eyes wide open like a pair of hard-boiled eggs.
Torture.
Heavenly torment.
A beauty right beside him, and he was… a six-year-old child! Utterly powerless!
"Ugh…"
With a heavy, internal sigh, Liumu carefully lifted Haku's jade-like foot from where it rested on his waist and slid out of bed. The sleepless-night angst that should only belong to someone in his late teens felt like a distant, cruel memory.
Glancing back at Haku's peaceful form, he decided to retreat to the mental sanctuary of the Time Chamber.
He hadn't yet opened the reward from Haku's hidden mission. With nothing else to do and sleep eluding him, now was as good a time as any. To avoid a repeat of the Taotie's world-shaking arrival, he'd conduct the draw within the chamber's isolated space.
Initiate Summoning Contract draw?
Yes.
As Liumu mentally confirmed, a pristine summoning scroll materialized in the air. Bathed in an ethereal, sunlight-like glow, the scroll slowly unfurled.
Then, under Liumu's watchful gaze, a pair of slender, perfectly white hands emerged from the parchment. A haunting, sorrow-laden melody filled the air, weaving tales of endless grief and resentment. From a swirling mist of white, a breathtakingly beautiful woman stepped forth. She moved with the grace of a celestial dancer, her form draped in light gauze that did little to conceal her ethereal, enchanting figure.
"This…"
A human?
A song?
Liumu was stunned. This made no sense. Wasn't this supposed to be a summoning template? How did a person come out? And one dressed so… captivatingly!
What do I do?
He wanted to roar at the injustice of the heavens, lamenting his infantile state while simultaneously cursing the temptation laid before him.
A brilliant flash of light erupted. The summoning scroll dissolved into a card, which then absorbed the spectral woman in a single pulse. With a whoosh, it shot into Liumu's waiting palm.
Liumu: "…???"
He looked down at the card's inscription.
[Celestial Fox (Tianhu): One of the Twelve Divine Beasts of the Northern Asterism. Form resembles a fox, with three tails growing from its back. Possesses knowledge of events within a hundred miles.]
"Celestial Fox?" Liumu searched his memories of the Classic of Mountains and Seas. The divine beasts were categorized under the Two Rites and Two Sages—the Sun Candle and the Shadow. Beneath them were the Four Symbols: Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise. And beneath them resided legends like the Celestial Fox, beings of the Northern Asterism realm.
Different from the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox of this world, the Celestial Fox began with three tails, growing a new one every century until, with nine tails, it could ascend to immortality. At fifty, it understood human nature; at a hundred, it could take human form. Legends said that after taking form, it often accompanied immortals as a goddess who could comprehend the affairs of heaven and earth.
While not a powerhouse in physical combat, the Celestial Fox's dual-pupiled eyes were peerless: capable of weaving illusions, crafting dreams indistinguishable from reality, but also of piercing through worldly confusion and guarding the purity of one's heart. In rank, it was perhaps comparable to an immortal beast, lesser than the prime divine beasts, but its unique abilities were profound.
In this ninja world, possessing it would be like having an invincible master of illusion.
Looking at the image of the nine-tailed fox on the card and recalling the humanoid dancer from moments before, Liumu realized the system had granted him a template of a centuries-old Celestial Fox, already capable of human form.
"That's… surprisingly considerate."
However, at that very moment, the crimson, strange flame of the Taotie's Gluttony in his dantian suddenly flared to life of its own accord. The devouring instinct surged up, latching onto his right hand—the hand holding the Celestial Fox template card.
Liumu: "?!"
"What the hell?!"
Before he could react, the Celestial Fox template ignited. Countless glittering fragments scattered and were instantly consumed by the raging, greedy fire, reduced to glowing ash.
Liumu: "…?!"
"Your mother—!"
"You son of a—!"
"Give me back my beauty… I mean, give me back my Celestial Fox!"
He roared in furious protest, but could only watch helplessly as the template dissolved. The Taotie, a being of primordial greed that could devour all things, one of the legendary Four Fiends… it seemed its nature could not tolerate sharing space with another divine beast's essence.
Ding. Divine Skill: Taotie's Gluttony has been automatically upgraded.
Automatically? Liumu seethed. That wasn't automatic! That was proactive theft! It devoured the template without his consent!
Grudgingly, he checked the skill description. Under the original Gluttony, two new, faintly glowing lines of text had appeared:
[Divine Skill: Celestial Fox's Eyes. The dual-pupiled eyes can bewitch hearts and craft dreams of perfect illusion.]
[Divine Skill: Celestial Fox's Heart. Can pierce worldly falsehoods and guard the purity of one's core being.]
After reading, Liumu sat down hard on the non-existent floor of the Time Chamber with a soft thump.
Honestly, compared to these two divine skills… he'd rather have kept the Celestial Fox template.
Wait a minute…
A sudden realization struck him. Was this why the system's summoning templates were always so… problematic? The Taotie couldn't manifest in this world, and now the Celestial Fox template was consumed before he could even use it.
"I suspect this damn system is scamming me, but I have no proof," he muttered.
His dream of having a summon was, for now, crushed. But at least this compensated for his biggest weakness: Genjutsu. He could now…
"Ah, what a waste!"
The more he thought about the human-form Celestial Fox's ethereal beauty, the more irritated he became. She was like a fairy straight out of a mythological drama!
"Damn you, Taotie! You really are inhuman!"
Returning to reality, Liumu glanced at the clock. The time was exactly the same as when he'd entered the chamber. The Time Chamber's temporal stasis was under his control; time outside froze completely when he entered alone. If he sent someone else in, like Haku, but remained outside himself, time flowed normally.
He wiggled his toes. Still not sleepy. If anything, after the Celestial Fox episode, he felt oddly energized.
But then…
Swish… Swish-swish…
Several swift, dark figures flashed past his window, one after another, moving across the rooftops.
Night patrols in Konoha rarely use the rooftops, Liumu thought, to avoid disturbing the villagers' sleep. But tonight…
After a moment's hesitation, he crept to the window and peered out in the direction the shadows had vanished…
(End of Chapter)
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