Master of Ten Thousand Foxes

"Why did the Pill Palace engrave so many illustrations of peculiar root systems onto the stone wall?"

He opened a roll of Leaf of Rubbing again and frowned at the prints on it.

"This... this is... a map of the Ancient Immortal Dynasty?"

It was Bai Mo’s first time seeing such a thing; he unfolded it and began to study it carefully.

"Oh? So the Ancient Immortal Dynasty had more than just Nine Kingdoms? There were plenty of vassal kingdoms too?"

The nine largest sections of the map represented the Nine Kingdoms.

Together, they covered more than half of the map’s total area!

Their population centers and Celestial Palaces were all located in today’s Jiuzhou Region!

"Hmm, back then, the continents and oceans, the shapes of the plates, seemed much the same as today?"

The territories of the Nine Kingdoms divided what is now the Jiuzhou Region, stretching their lands north to the Arctic Ocean, west to nearly the entire continent, and even across the sea to other continents.

Along the borders of the Nine Kingdoms were a series of small vassal kingdoms!

"Why does this gigantic stone wall keep showing maps?"

After roughly scanning this map, he rolled it up and continued to read other leaves.

One page after another recorded unusual plant root illustrations, until he opened a page with written descriptions.

[...The most important ritual when vassal kingdoms paid tribute to the Dan Kingdom was tying the roots of plants from their own territories to the top of their hats]

[This symbolized the vassal kingdoms as the spread and extension of the Dan Kingdom’s prosperous roots on this land]

[This symbolized the vassal kingdoms as forever being the end points of the Dan Kingdom’s root system]

[We thus recorded the strange roots atop their heads during the grand assembly of kingdoms, engraving them onto the wall of a thousand roots]

"Oh, I see."

Bai Mo understood suddenly.

That gigantic stone wall, the root illustrations on it, were all products of the bizarre rituals of the Ancient Immortal Dynasty?

Bai Mo smiled widely at the sight of various special root systems recorded onto a tablet.

"This ritual isn’t bad."

Bai Mo continued to read the documents.

After a while, recording a few illustrations of root systems, he turned to the Cyan Moon Pill Palace’s records of two receptions of vassal kingdoms. He read the list of tributes from vassal kingdoms, the list of return gifts from the Pill Palace, and the "special talents" left behind by vassal kingdoms.

[...The Celestial Palace, Holy Land, and Pill Palace all have duties to receive vassal kingdoms]

[The Cyan Moon Pill Palace was newly established, with unstable foundations, and its duties were reduced]

[...The Donglang Vassal Kingdom presented gifts: fifty pounds of Dragon Snake Grass, a hundred pounds of Vermilion Fruit...]

Huh?

Bai Mo furrowed his brow.

Is this all for tribute?

What kind of junk are these?

[The Marquis personally returned the gift: ten bushels of Purple Earth Dragon Origin Immortal Qi...]

Hmm?

Bai Mo grinned widely.

"Hehehe."

Back then, the Marquis went to pay homage at the Celestial Palace, ruthlessly taking advantage of them.

When the Pill Palace accepted Donglang’s tribute, Donglang took advantage of them in turn.

Was this... the cycle of cause and effect, retribution inescapable?

Bai Mo could even imagine the Marquis’s sour expression at being taken advantage of.

[The Donglang Sovereign suggested that the ten-year interval between tributes was too long, insufficient to demonstrate Donglang’s admiration for the Pill Palace, and hoped to change it to every three years. The Marquis jokingly said that the ancient ceremonial laws should not be changed easily...]

Huh?

This Donglang Sovereign felt that collecting tribute every ten years wasn’t satisfying enough and wanted to change it to every three years?

Bai Mo grinning, could picture the Marquis smiling on the surface but cursing inwardly back in the day.

[The Donglang Sovereign left ten geniuses as a tribute to the Pill Palace. These ten, at a hundred years old, advanced to Sequence Seven...]

Hmm?

Bai Mo smoothed the Leaf of Rubbing with his hand to ensure he hadn’t misread it.

Geniuses, a hundred years old, Sequence, Seven?

Didn’t misread it, but why does it sound so odd when read?

[The Donglang Sovereign stated that should these ten fail in their studies after fifty years, they could be sent back to Donglang]

So, they want these ten to study for fifty years in the Pill Palace before returning to Donglang?

[The Marquis stated, no need to wait fifty years, homesickness is the bitterest, and these ten could return any time]

It seems the Marquis wasn’t that keen on such centenarian Sequence Seven "juvenile" geniuses either...

[These ten kneeled and wept in front of the Marquis, crying bitterly, saying they were Dan Palace people when alive and Dan Palace ghosts when dead. They swore never to return to Donglang]

Bai Mo, combining this with life experiences, roughly guessed that these ten really did want to stay in the Pill Palace forever and never go back.

...

The day passed swiftly.

As night fell, the great hall of the Fox Mountain dormitory bustled with activity once again.

Fox apprentices formed circles, some practicing martial arts, some practicing swordsmanship, others sipping wine.

Of course, the vast majority were boasting to each other!

"Eww eww, oooh oooh oooh..."

Quanquan Hu puffed out his chest and bragged about the super valuable documents he unearthed during the day!

"Oooh ooh, eww eww eww!"

In another circle, Black Nose raised a wine goblet, boasting about how he made salted cream out of soy milk!

Whoosh...

Having just recovered Primordial Qi enough to fly slowly and shakily, the Immortal Sword Red Snow Thousand Mountains flew into the circle of foxes, gritting its teeth as it questioned the group of foxes.

"Who is called White Claw?

"I want to challenge it to a swordsmanship duel!"

Sitting behind the sword’s hilt, White Claw squatted on the ground, clasping its pair of white fox paws together, its fox face filled with indifference.

For now, it wasn’t White Claw; it was "Clawing."

As for who White Claw was?

Unknown.

Unfamiliar.

Never heard of.

The Immortal Sword didn’t get an answer and flew off shakily to the next circle to continue its inquiries.

...

Sitting by the bedside, Bai Mo continued to unfold a piece of Leaf of Rubbing, reading the documents.

Two fox apprentices, Honey Peach Cake and Grape Cake, nestled shoulder to shoulder with their master, eyes wide, reading the documents together with their master.

"This... huh? What’s the meaning of this?"

[The immortal technique paths of vassal kingdoms are consistent with the sovereign kingdom, without exception throughout the world]

Upon reading this line, Bai Mo furrowed his brow.

"So, in the world, only Dan, Wu, Sword, Artifact, Talisman, Beast, Gu, Array, Divination are the nine paths?

"Then what about Sakura’s ninja, wandering swordsman, witch... how do they fit in?"

The more Bai Mo thought, the more wrong it seemed.

Ninja, wandering swordsman, divine attendant witch, Yin Yang Master—these things, how many years of history do they have in total? A few hundred years at best.

And, all these are popular elements frequently seen in TV shows, movies, and anime.

Once he considered this, Bai Mo sensed something amiss, a hint of conspiracy.

"This... what exactly is going on here?"

Bai Mo didn’t dwell too much.

Tomorrow he would host Miyamoto Rokuzo; seeing clearly at that time would suffice.

He continued to read the documents.

[...There was once a rebellion by a vassal kingdom in history, where the sovereign became a Fallen Immortal]

[There was once a sovereign of Bone Sword Country who ruled for seven hundred years]

[For seven hundred years, all citizens upon reaching the age of twenty were required to offer a tibia to the sovereign]

[Thousands upon thousands of tibiae were ground into Living Bone Sword, creating the Living Bone Sword Array, which later wiped out three princes of Artifact Kingdom]

Bai Mo watched with bewilderment.

Seven hundred years? Every citizen’s tibia? Living bone?

"During these seven hundred years, he resided in the palace, enjoyed the offerings of an entire nation, and could break Celestial Law by collecting living material; this... this counts as being a Fallen Immortal? Typical Fallen Immortals could not compare to him!

"Fallen Immortals live rough lives, fearful and suffering, often penniless; how do they have the face to compare to him?"

Bai Mo smacked his lips.

[There was once a sovereign of Snake Nest who ruled for six hundred years]

[For six hundred years, all citizens had bamboo tubes inserted into their waist ribs, collecting bile each day to nurture his serpents]

[He fed a Mortal Bitter Poisonous Cyan Snake to surpass its limits, elevating it to Sequence Four]

[Its poisonous cloud spewing from its mouth afflicted thirty thousand people of Beast Kingdom, ultimately slain by Prince Lingyan]

Bai Mo read this with more sighing and speechlessness.

These small vassal kingdoms, tucked in remote corners, with information sealed off, the sky high and the emperor far away. The king’s deterrent force indeed allowed them do as they wished. Far superior to typical Fallen Immortals.

This Snake Nest Sovereign could actually press out the bile of a nation for six hundred years?

What ordinary Fallen Immortal dared dream so boldly?