The crackling of the firewood was harsh; Brian Clark shivered and, trembling, reached into the cloth bag to fish out a steamed bun.

To calm his nerves!

Out of respect for ghosts, his shaking hand failed to hold the bun steady. It bounced off Brian Clark’s knee, rolled out of the array’s coverage, spun in place, and came to a stop at the foot of the offering table.

The faint, cold light suddenly dimmed. Immediately after, a red figure darted out from the side, quickly reached the bun, and, using both hands and mouth, pushed it back into the shadows at the corner of the wall.

Brian Clark: "..."

He saw it clearly—it was a little fox.

At that moment, a noisy chattering erupted from the corner. Two beams of blue light flashed fiercely, trying to restore order to the chaos.

It was useless. No matter what was happening in the corner, Brian Clark was no longer panicked. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, feeling ashamed of his earlier cowardice, and tossed a slice of cooked beef out of the array.

The corner instantly quieted down.

The temptation of cooked food far outweighed that of a steamed bun. The blue light faded in despair, completely dimming. At the same time, four little foxes darted out from the shadows, grabbed the meat slices, and rolled farther and farther away.

On Brian Clark’s side, another slice of cooked beef was thrown out. He didn’t look at the four little foxes fighting among themselves, but kept his eyes fixed on the shadowy corner. One leader and four troublemakers—there was still one fox that hadn’t shown itself.

The earlier cold gaze indicated that this fox had not only gained intelligence but could also use magic to scare people.

Wild animals shouldn’t be fed cooked food, as they get addicted after just one taste. The four little foxes, after a few bites of the salty beef, couldn’t stop and fought even more fiercely.

The blue-eyed fox in the corner couldn’t sit still any longer. It stormed out angrily and stood before its four disappointing teammates.

Like the other four, its fur was red, but it was a size larger, and its eyes glimmered with intelligence—it was indeed a little demon fox that had awakened its mind.

Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack!

Four consecutive swats landed, and the little foxes lay on the ground, whimpering. After glaring at them a few times, the little demon fox turned to look at Brian Clark inside the array.

In its gaze, there was a mix of ferocity, fear, and longing—fear of the array, longing for the food.

As for the ferocity...

There was no use pretending to be fierce now.

"Heh heh."

Brian Clark grinned. Under the little demon fox’s slightly surprised gaze, he picked up a few pieces of cooked beef...

And stuffed them into his own mouth.

Little demon fox: "..."

The four others: "..."

"Sigh, it doesn’t taste that great. Is it because I’m too full?" Brian Clark shook his head and sighed. Seeing the little demon fox’s blue eyes widen, he grabbed a steamed bun, tore off half, and tossed it over.

"Eat up. What can I say, I have a kind heart!"

The little demon fox trembled all over, its red fur bristling. Unfortunately, its teammates were truly useless. Though the four little foxes found the plain bun tasteless, they still rolled into a ball fighting over it.

Seeing this, the little demon fox instantly lost all its momentum. Head drooping, it came to the front of the array, imitated a human bow, placed its front paws on the ground, and pressed its head tightly to them.

Impressive!

Brian Clark’s eyes lit up. Seeing that it was at least obedient and sensible, he put away his mischievousness and tossed out some cooked food and buns from the array.

The four little foxes swarmed forward. The little demon fox stood warily to the side, waiting for them to finish before swallowing the leftovers.

After eating, the four little foxes disappeared into the shadows at the corner through the hole they came from. The little demon fox, however, bowed again and started chattering noisily.

"We’re strangers—one meal is enough. Do you expect me to feed you forever?"

"Chatter, chatter."

"Huh, you can understand what I’m saying?!"

Brian Clark raised his eyebrows in surprise. Following the little demon fox’s gaze, he looked down and fixed his eyes on the porcelain bottle at his feet.

Qi Ling Pills.

Brian Clark picked up the porcelain bottle and shook it. The Qi Ling Pills were the size of soybeans; there were twelve in total, but he had already taken ten, leaving only two.

"It’s not that I don’t want to give you any, but there aren’t many left."

Brian Clark poured out the last two Qi Ling Pills and raised his eyebrows, saying, "If I’m not mistaken, you want the pills for those four little foxes. They really don’t seem too bright, but there are only two pills here. The problem isn’t scarcity, but unfairness. If I really gave them to you, wouldn’t I be harming you?"

The little demon fox whimpered twice and bowed its head, not rising.

"How about this—come back at this time tomorrow. My senior sister definitely has more. I’ll ask her to share... Hey, don’t go! We can talk about this! I have no bad intentions, I won’t harm you!"

The moment Brian Clark mentioned James White, the little demon fox immediately became alert, cautiously retreated into the shadows at the corner, and no matter what Brian Clark said, vanished without a trace.

"Junior Brother Clark, what are you doing?"

A white-robed figure, as light as air, drifted down—James White, returning from Dasheng Pass, floated behind Brian Clark. After removing the array, she glanced at the corner.

"There’s a den of foxes in the mountain gate. One of them has gained intelligence and asked me for Qi Ling Pills. I found it interesting and teased it for a while," Brian Clark explained sheepishly.

"Don’t slack off in your cultivation. Don’t get distracted by such trivial matters," James White reminded him, not paying much attention to the little demon fox that had gained intelligence, and asked about his progress in refining his foundation.