Chapter 113: Treatment

My heartfelt thanks to the reader “su” for the two generous red-tip rewards... I have now gained the second League Leader of Strange Tales. How fortunate and capable must Southern Dynasty be to receive such affection from everyone? Thus, although I have been steadily falling down the monthly-ticket rankings, I already feel deeply consoled!

Seeing Jiaona standing helplessly, utterly unsure where to begin, Chen Jianchen was caught between laughter and tears. She had to be the most “useless” demon he had ever encountered. She displayed none of the “great supernatural powers” he had imagined—she was practically a child, stubbornly mouthing defiant words, yet completely at a loss when anything actually went wrong.

Left to deal with matters on her own, she would inevitably act according to instinct alone, without considering any other consequences or repercussions.

It was clearly not a matter of stupidity. The only fitting description was that she was inexperienced in the ways of the world.

Becoming a demon was difficult enough; becoming one and then entering human society was harder still.

One had to understand that attaining enlightenment merely meant that one’s spiritual intelligence had first awakened. It was necessary to learn all kinds of knowledge and use it to arm oneself before one could truly be said to have learned how to apply what one knew. To use a somewhat inappropriate analogy, Chen Jianchen recalled certain characters from the martial-arts novels of his former life. If someone had entered a monastery as a child and never experienced the mortal world, then even if he later encountered some extraordinary opportunity and gained peerless internal power, he would still be utterly “tragic” when it came to emotional intelligence.

Not only would he be easily deceived, but he would also handle affairs in a biased and improper manner.

Jiaona had been raised at Master Huangfu’s side from childhood, almost like a pampered captive. More importantly, she possessed a strong rebellious streak and refused to heed any preaching from the outside world. Under such circumstances, it was indeed no easy matter for her to mature.

Compared with Yingning—both of them fox spirits—Yingning had been forced to fend for herself and could be regarded as the perfect example of how “a poor family’s child learns responsibility early.” She was far more sensible and mature. Jiaona, by contrast, had grown up in silks and fine food, an idle young miss who had learned nothing useful.

All the spells Jiaona knew had come from her father. Because of her temperament, however, she liked only those arts that were strongly offensive in nature. She had no interest in practical auxiliary techniques and had never been willing to study them. That was why she now found herself helpless before her injured and unconscious father, with no idea what to do...

Suddenly, Jiaona felt intense remorse for all the time she had wasted in frivolous play.

“Teacher, do you think I’m useless?”

It was a familiar question, aimed at the same knot in her heart: the bewilderment of someone unable to find a direction. Yet those very words made Chen Jianchen feel that Jiaona had finally opened her heart completely. In other words, this “problem student” was preparing to turn over a new leaf.

“If you believe yourself useless, then from now on you must do things that are useful and meaningful.”

“But I don’t know how.”

“The Master said, ‘Do not be ashamed to ask those beneath you. If you do not understand, then learn.’ Otherwise, what need would you have for a teacher like me?”

At those words, Jiaona finally broke into a smile through her tears.

Master Huangfu’s room was quite spacious. Numerous calligraphic works and paintings hung upon the walls, all steeped in antique elegance. They were clearly valuable pieces of considerable age.

Chen Jianchen had originally intended to have Jiaona search the room for some healing elixir to give the old fox. In many legends, swallowing a single pill was enough not only to cure grievous wounds, restore flesh to bones, and bring the dead back to life, but also to make one’s cultivation advance by leaps and bounds—to complete in a single day what others required a year to accomplish. Such effects were practically standard.

Who could have guessed that the little fox spirit would answer mournfully that their household possessed no such elixirs? They did have some medicinal wine and wound remedies, however.

How was that possible?

Chen Jianchen’s eyes widened. He had secretly wanted to swallow such a pill himself for quite some time.

“Teacher, elixirs with profound effects are not so easy to refine. The ingredients alone are an enormous problem. Besides, the formulas are generally treasured within the orthodox Daoist sects. How could outsiders possibly know them?”

Chen Jianchen was first astonished, then relieved.

After all, this was not a world where gods and Buddhas filled the heavens and sages were as common as dogs. Demons, monsters, and cultivators who had attained the Dao were all subject to great restrictions. Perhaps that was the true balance governing Heaven and Earth. Otherwise, if someone could shatter a planet with a single slap, ordinary people would truly be no more than ants, and their existence would have no meaning at all.

Chen Jianchen preferred a world like this.

The medicinal wine and wound salve were soon brought out. Master Huangfu had personally improved and prepared them through his own experimentation, so their effects were naturally far superior to those of ordinary medicines.

Drawing upon the memories of his former life, Chen Jianchen first washed the wounds on Master Huangfu’s body with clean water. He then carefully applied the salve and bound the injuries with white cloth.

By the time he finished, a full hour had passed.

He laid Master Huangfu on the bed and covered him with a quilt. As he went through the motions of tending to the old fox in his true form, Chen Jianchen was filled with a strange sense of emotion.

The Master had said, “Treat all alike.” His own views had now come very close to that principle.

Afterward, Jiaona dug up a jar of wine from the rear courtyard. She said that Master Huangfu had buried it ten years earlier and that it was a fine medicinal brew with remarkable healing properties. She opened the jar, poured out a cup, and personally fed it to her father.

Cough, cough!

Sure enough, after being given a large mouthful of wine, the old fox immediately broke into a fit of dry coughing, much like an old man. Then he slowly opened his eyes.

The moment his eyes opened, he saw Chen Jianchen and Jiaona and struggled to rise.

“Father, you mustn’t...”

“Master Huangfu is seriously injured. He should not move recklessly.”

The second sentence came from Chen Jianchen.

The old fox stared fixedly at him, his expression extremely complicated. Then he suddenly spoke in a human voice.

“Liuxian, you are still willing to call a fox ‘Master Huangfu’?”

Chen Jianchen laughed.

“Since Master Huangfu dared to send me a dream and ask for my help, how could I not dare call a fox ‘Master Huangfu’?”

Master Huangfu’s body trembled.

“Could it be that you knew of my daughter’s and my identities long ago?”

Jiaona immediately cut in from the side.

“Teacher really did know from the beginning.”

She then concealed nothing, recounting everything that had happened, including the danger they had encountered in Suzhou the previous day.

The more Master Huangfu listened, the more astonished he became. When he heard that the Dawn Monk had appeared, the corner of his mouth twitched, and he drew in a sharp breath. Struggling to sit up, he bowed respectfully to Chen Jianchen.

“No words can express my gratitude. The debt you have shown my daughter and me is as high as Heaven and as deep as the sea. We shall never forget it for as long as we live.”

Chen Jianchen hurriedly helped him up. Seeing that his spirits were fairly good, he naturally asked what had happened and how he had come to be captured by mortals.

Master Huangfu made no attempt to conceal anything. From beginning to end, he described the entire course of events, including all its twists, turns, and terrifying dangers.

After hearing the story, Jiaona immediately said angrily, “That accursed monk again! Don’t they always say that all beings are equal? Why does he try to exterminate us the moment he sees us?”

Master Huangfu shook his head and sighed without speaking.

Though he was a fox spirit, he could honestly say that throughout his cultivation he had never harmed an innocent person. He had devoted himself to doing good, and much of what he earned from his business went toward charity and aiding the poor. In fact, he was even more compassionate than many monks.

Yet the moment the Dawn Monk saw him, he had treated him as an aberration and immediately attacked, eager to kill him.

Chen Jianchen remained silent as well. The prejudices of sect and species had existed for who knew how many years. Such deeply rooted beliefs could not be changed easily.

At that moment, Master Huangfu said to Jiaona, “Nana, I am greatly comforted that you listened to your teacher instead of acting rashly and recklessly.”

Jiaona pouted.

“When I saw Father suffering, I truly wanted to use my magic at once and slaughter them all.”

Master Huangfu’s voice sank.

“And what would killing them accomplish? It might give you a moment of satisfaction, but it would bring endless trouble afterward. It would also implicate your teacher and all the servants on the estate.”

“Thank you for teaching me, Father!”

As she spoke, Jiaona turned toward Chen Jianchen and made a mischievous face, sticking out her tongue.