Chapter 2: White Fox

It's late autumn. Although it's still a little chilly, Murong Chong doesn't care. Few people come to the ancient temples in the deep mountains. The air in the mountains is not dirty and refreshing. No wonder many practitioners are willing to practice in the mountains.

A round of red sun rises, the golden light dissipates, and a little light passes through the cracks in the leaves. The mountain wind blows, and the woman shakes. Coupled with the thin fog in the mountain, it makes people feel like a fantasy.

"Well, what is that?"

A white shadow flashed past and rushed into the grass beside it. It seemed to be a fox. There was a noisy sound from the bottom of the mountain. People called, horses hissed, dogs barked, and mixed together. Hundreds of birds flew in the mountains and forests. Who came up the mountain.

Looking back, a hairy head appeared in the grass. It was a white fox. Thinking about the crowd at the foot of the mountain, Murong Chong suddenly understood.

In the golden autumn season, September eagles fly, which is a good time for fox hunting. Every autumn and winter, some princes and nobles go to the mountains to hunt. Luoyan Mountain is not high. The terrain at the foot of the mountain is open and the forest is dense. It is a good place for hunting.

The little fox was snow-white, with no hair at all. His eyes were black and bright, slightly smaller than the common wild fox. It seemed that he was chased by people at the foot of the mountain and fled near the ancient temple. His whole body was weak and shaking. When Murong rushed to look at it, he was unable to hide any more. He looked directly at Murong Chong's eyes, with a pleading face, and tears appeared in the fox's eyes.

In Murong Chong's eyes, the white fox gradually turned into a girl in white. She was helpless and sobbed in a low voice. His heart moved inexplicably. He couldn't help walking over and stretched out his hands and wanted to hold it away. The white fox did not dodge and let him pick it up. At the moment Murong Chong touched the white fox, there was a flash in his mind and remembered the first few. A story I saw in Dream Creek Travels.

"Mengxi Travels" is written by Ranger Liu Mengxi, which records some anecdotes that happened during his travels. It is a miscellaneous book.

This first story was recorded in the book.

Liu Mengxi traveled to Wannan County, stayed in the deep mountains at night, and met a family in the mountains. He was already a person who lived in seclusion in the mountains and forests to avoid disasters. Under each other, he found that this family was talking well. From the two generations of Yin and Shang in the previous dynasty to the suffering of the people's livelihood, they all talked about it. After a night of discussion, the weather was bright. In the sun, the family is not a literati, but a nest of white foxes.

Later, Liu Mengxi's experience gradually grew, and he knew that that night was just his deep dream and was confused by the fox spirit, but after thinking about it, he couldn't help but be convinced by the talent of these fox spirit.

At the end of the story, it is written that the black fox and the white fox are the most psychic. When they are not cultivated as demons, they can make people think about what they think through their eyes and minds. The white fox is a good fox, which talks about practice and understands cause and effect. Therefore, there is often a saying in the story that the white fox repays kindness, while the black fox is an evil fox, which is regarded as the embodiment of hatred.

Although I don't know if the fox can be charming, the white fox in front of me must be very spiritual, able to communicate and argue right and wrong. Seeing that Murong Chong's action was a little hesitant, he immediately put away his plea, staggered up and was about to run to the depths of the mountains and forests.

Murong came to his senses, and the sound of the hound's gasp could be heard in his ear. The group of people at the foot of the mountain had begun to walk towards the temple. The white fox fell to the ground again, with despair in his eyes.

Murong sighed, bent down to pick up the white fox, entered the Wankong Temple, and took out all the incense ash from the incense burner in front of the Buddha statue and scattered it near the yard and temple gate. Fortunately, although there were few incense in the temple, the incense burner was never cleaned up, and there was a lot of incense ash accumulated over the past hundred years. And the older the ash is, the more pungent the smell is.

Finally, Murong Chong climbed to the Buddha platform and put the white fox on the big hand of the Buddha statue. The Buddha statue was about three feet high. He sat cross-legged, pinched a formula with each hand, put one hand on his lap, and raised the other hand flat. The big hand was about two feet wide. Put the white fox on it, and it could not be seen at all from below.

Murong Chong found a broom, walked to the temple gate, and began to clean the yard.

Not long after, a group of people rode horses and came up the mountain with hounds.

It can be seen from the horses they ride that these people are by no means ordinary rich families, but the sons of princes.

More than a dozen horses have pure hair color, thin skin, oily and shiny, full and beautiful body shape, high head and neck, slender limbs, light and elegant pace, slender and beautiful body, and full of explosive power between running. It is much higher than the common horse in the Zhou Dynasty. It should be the tribute horse of the Izumo Kingdom.

This kind of tribute horse is also known as Tayun BMW. It is said that there are Tianma on Tianmu Mountain in the country of Izumo. It is as fast as the wind, as powerful as electricity, and can't be caught. In the season of the horses**, the herdsmen around put the superior ema under Tianmu Mountain to attract the Tianma running down from Tianmu Mountain, and get the pony, and then match the above. The forage is raised, and it can travel thousands of miles a day and 800 at night. It is a tribute horse designated by the Zhou Dynasty.

Look at those hounds, they are not ordinary. Murong Chong can recognize it. It is a mastiff dog on the grassland. It is four feet long, has thick body hair, resolute, fierce, and wild. It only eats fresh meat. The adult mastiff can fight tigers and leopards. It is extremely obedient to its owner. It only recognizes one owner in his life and never abandons it. , can only be raised from an early age. He is a good assistant to take care of the family and go hunting. The upper-class magnates are all proud of mastiffs when hunting, and a young mastiff can be worth a lot of money.

The three people moving forward, a man and two women, are all fifteen or sixteen years old.

Followed by six people, with an arrogant expression, a cold expression, a flexible vision, high temple bulging, and a great accomplishment of internal strength. But judging from his attitude, it is obvious that they are only the guardian masters of these royal palaces.

A group of people walked to the front of Wankong Temple. A little girl was in front of the horse, with a bright red cloak and a strong suit. She had a long bow on her back, and her long hair was tied up by a golden ring. Her facial features were beautiful and her face was heroic.

"Sister Zheng, I didn't expect that there was a temple in this ghost place. The white fox must have got in here."

Then followed by a woman, a little older than the previous one, wearing a white hunting suit, with picturesque eyebrows, which was eye-catching. She nodded and was a little curious about this deep ancient temple.

The young man behind him was gorgeously dressed, with swords and eyebrows, and extraordinary utensils. He patted his horse and came forward and saw the mastiffs losing their direction because of the influence of incense ash and walking back and forth at the gate of the temple. Looking at this temple, the four walls of Wankong Temple are airy, and there are many holes in the courtyard wall.

"Well, it should have escaped in. Go in and search and you will know that the little thing has been chased by us all night, and we don't have much strength."

The woman in white frowned, waved her hand and said, "Forget it, the quiet place of Buddhism is ominous. Since the little thing has escaped to the temple, let it go."

"That won't work. I finally found such a pure white fox. If I hadn't been afraid of breaking its fur, I would have shot it to death. How could I let it escape like this?" The girl in red quit: "Sister Zheng, it will be my mother's birthday in two days. I plan to make this white fox skin into a shawl as a birthday gift. !"

The fox's hair color is mostly gray and light red, and the rarer is fiery red. The most rare is pure white. White also represents good luck, which is mostly sought after by upper-class noblewomen. The complete white fox fur is more rare, and it is difficult to buy heavy gold, so the girl in red is extremely persistent.

"Yes, the court suppresses Buddhism and promotes Taoism. Where is the holy place of Buddhism now? The white fox skin is the best to keep warm. Mrs. Yuan's shoulders are sore every winter and autumn. This white fox is also unattainable. This is the best birthday gift. Yuting's sister is full of filial piety. Why do you care about Buddhism or Buddhism? The teenager also persuaded.

In the Zhou Empire, martial arts are prevalent, but the court is still divided into civil and martial arts. The military officer is led by Yuan Fengyun, the Duke of Protector, and the civil official is led by Prime Minister Zheng Minfeng. This girl in red is the pearl of the palm of the original wind and cloud, Princess Yuting, who was sealed by the emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and the girl in white is the daughter of Zheng Minfeng, Zheng Hongxiu, and the teenager is Mrs. Zheng's distant nephew, Lin Muzhi.

The woman in white stopped insisting and didn't say anything.

Several people got off the horse and came in. Seeing someone in the temple, the teenager asked Murong, "Hey, that boy, did you see a white fox running in from here?"

Murong rushed to look at several people, only shook his head and waved his hands, signaling that he didn't see anything and continued to clean the yard.

The young man's eyebrows were firm and he was waiting to speak.

Yuan Yuting was in a hurry. She stopped Lin Muzhi and said, "This temple is not big. Just let the guards look for it."

At this time, the old host and Liu Wei also came out. Hearing that several people came to this temple to look for the white fox, they were also quite curious. All three of them stood in the yard, allowing them to look for it.

The temple has been dilapidated for a long time. There are not many rooms, and there are very few things in the house. Each house can basically be seen at a glance. In less than a column of incense, several bodyguards have searched the whole temple.

"No? How can it be," Yuan Yuting said anxiously, "No matter what method is used, you have to find it even if you dig three feet."

Zheng Hongxiu, who was beside him, advised, "Maybe the white fox didn't escape to the temple. Let's look for it nearby."

Lin Muzhi's face was also a little sad. He personally took the bodyguard to look for it again, and said to a bodyguard unwillingly, "Lao Liu, you guys and I will look nearby again. The little thing has no strength to run far. If you really can't find it, let go of all the mastiffs, spread it nearby, and bite the little thing to death." There was a trace of cruelty in his words, and he came out of the temple with several guards.

"I'll go too. You are not allowed to damage the white fox skin." Yuan Yuting was anxious and ran out.

As soon as the old host got up, he was not very sober. He was broken into the temple by this group of people. He was even more afraid and couldn't help trembling.

Zheng Hongxiu was a little sorry and handed over a gold cake. He smiled at several people as an apology and went out with the crowd.

After a while, the barking of horses and dogs outside went away, and the mountain became quiet again.