When the foxes woke up, they had no idea how much time had passed. The first fox that woke up found that it was already dark. However, some foxes were still sitting by the stream, motionless like statues. By the time almost all the foxes had woken up, the sun had risen again in the sky.
Hu Li was the last one to wake up. When he woke up, it was already bright outside and all the other foxes gathered around him and looked at him.
"How long has it been?"
"It should have been a day." "Yes, I feel the same way."
"Well, it should be one day."
"Grandpa, I found myself standing on the top of a mountain admiring the moon." "I saw myself jumping among the flowers."
"I, I, I, I saw that I had become a human being and even had a wife!"
"Ah? Marry a wife? Is she a human or a fox?"
"Of course it's a fox. How can a human live if he's so ugly and has so little hair?"
"That's right." "That makes sense..."
"Great grandfather, great grandfather, what did you see?"
There was not much excitement on Hu Li's face at this moment. He just took a breath to calm down, looked at the book on his lap, closed it, and said to the foxes.
"I have made up my mind to leave here and go far away. If I don't leave far away with this book "Dream in the Clouds", I will be wanted by Dazhen sooner or later."
“But, but this is Zu Yue.”
A fox said this and Hu Li shook his head.
"Zu Yue is not a big deal at all, so it's better to stay as far away from here as possible. Of course, if you don't want to go with us, you can just go back to the mountain. There shouldn't be any problem. You can also use what you saw yesterday to practice well. As long as..."
Hu Li recalled what he had seen in the book and hesitated for a moment before continuing.
"As long as you behave yourself, at least your asxs will be higher than other monsters, and you'll be safer."
This was a tactful suggestion to some foxes to leave, but these foxes were more or less aware of the ins and outs, and many of them began to hesitate.
"Can we, can we..."
A fox looked at the "Dream of Wandering in the Clouds" in Hu Li's arms and said half a sentence hesitantly, but was immediately stopped by Hu Li.
"No! We still have room for choice. Once we are out of this forest, the direction we are heading will be the road we will take in the future. If we go back on our words, we will only bring about an irreparable disaster."
Hu Li knew there would be consequences, but he didn't know what they would be. The idea of eternal damnation was just something he made up, but he didn't just use it to scare the fox, he really felt that way.
“Is there anyone who hasn’t seen the scenery in the book?”
When Hu Li asked this question, the foxes looked at each other, but no one answered. This made Hu Li feel a little happy, as it seemed that everyone had some understanding.
"Since you all have the insight and have seen the vision, it means you all have benefited. I am going to continue to the northwest. I don't know if I can return to Xiaoliu Mountain or here in the future. Those of you who are willing to go with me can go, and those who don't want to come don't follow me. It will be more peaceful."
After saying that, Hu Li sat cross-legged on the spot, put the book in his arms, and did not get up immediately. Instead, he sat there to rest and absorbed the surrounding spiritual energy. He waited for half an hour.
During this process, the foxes nearby were talking in whispers, some were discussing, some were arguing, some were worried, and some were excited. Thirty-one said a lot, and Hu Li listened carefully but also kept a calm mind.
I am just watching the scenery in the picture, but Hu Li is also thinking about this matter. Now his sense of mission is the strongest among all foxes, and he has already let it go.
Half an hour later, Hu Li opened his eyes again, stood up without saying anything, put away his magic, and transformed into a gray-haired fox again. Then, without saying a word, he ran and jumped towards the northwest.
"Grandpa, Grandpa!" "Brother Li!"
"Uncle!" "Wait for me..."
Before the foxes could react, they saw Hu Li had left, and they subconsciously stood up. A small number of them leaped out and ran after him, a small number stood up but hesitated to move, and the majority started to jog after him.
Among the trotting foxes, some started out running quite fast, but gradually ran slower and slower, while others, after jogging for a while, sped up and chased forward.
The morning sun had risen, and Hu Li leaped out of the woods at the foot of the mountain. Behind him, several foxes also jumped out. He looked back and saw that in such a short time, several more foxes jumped out, and there were several fox shadows behind them.
Hu Li ran forward for several hundred feet and then stopped, and the foxes around him also stopped.
The foxes didn't say anything to each other. They all turned around and sat down facing the woods.
Time passed slowly, and one after another seven or eight foxes jumped out of the woods and ran towards them, sitting in a row on both sides together with the foxes that arrived earlier.
In the evening, the sun was setting and the woodland was already covered in shadow.
"Grandpa, no one will come again."
The little red fox beside him said this to Hu Li, and the gray-haired fox beside him narrowed his narrow eyes, patted the red fox's head, nodded and spoke.
"let's go."
After saying this, led by the leading gray fox, the fifteen foxes stood up and ran towards the northwest again. No fox looked back.
Each fox has its own ambitions, and no one can tell which choice is the right one at this moment.
…
Even though they have become monsters, Huli and other foxes are far from being powerful monsters. Most of the time they will try their best to run away from danger, but they dare not delay their journey.
Find a place to rest during the day, read "Dreams in the Clouds" together, and practice together after reading the book.
At night, all the foxes came out from their hiding places and continued running on their way. They were not running aimlessly, because in the next few days, a special "cloud map" emerged in "Dream in the Clouds".
The so-called cloud map is the name given by immortal cultivators, and later it was widely accepted by the cultivation community. It is the landing point of some realm ferries and various large-scale flying magical instruments. The flight routes of the realm ferries are not marked particularly clearly, and the corresponding many immortal ferries are the main components of the cloud map.
Feeling this cloud map, the foxes now had a direction and headed northwest. During their journey, they lived a simple and happy life.
It was a summer night in a mountain village near Yuelu Mountain. A farmer got up at night and was about to go out to take out his tools to drain the water when he suddenly heard a noise coming from the backyard.
"Gaga..."
This was clearly the sound of a rooster crowed suddenly and stopped. Hearing this sound, the farmer stopped wanting to pee, picked up a hoe from the side of the house, and carefully went to the backyard.
Looking in the direction of the chicken coop from afar, there seemed to be a dark shadow lying there, and there were several dark shadows jumping around.
"Who? You dare to steal my chicken? I'll beat you to death with a hoe!"
The farmer yelled and rushed towards the chicken coop in the backyard with a hoe in hand, obviously scaring the figure over there.
"No, no, no, it's a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding, please have mercy on me, please have mercy on me!"
The dark shadow next to the chicken coop suddenly jumped out of the coop, and there seemed to be many kitten-like shadows around it that jumped out of the fence.
The farmer raised his hoe and walked up to the figure, but in the end he didn't hit the ground with the hoe. He looked nervously at the dark figure who was hunched over there.
"Who are you and why are you stealing my chicken?"
With the help of moonlight, the farmer could see that this was a slightly plump man, and there was an old hen outside the chicken coop, lying on the ground, seemingly dead, with blood all over the side.
"Misunderstanding, misunderstanding. It's too hot during the day in midsummer, so I traveled at night. When I passed by here, I saw a fox jumping into the yard to eat chickens, so I entered the yard to catch the fox... Oh, if you don't believe me, there are two dead hens here. Just consider them as those I bought. I'll buy a few more. Give me money, give me silver!"
"silver?"
"Yes, give me the silver!"
The man fished out his purse from his bosom and took out some change from it. At this moment, his stomach began to growl.
"Coooo..."
"Uh hehe... I've been traveling all night and I'm really hungry..."
The farmer was also a kind-hearted man. After seeing the silver, although he still had some doubts, he put away his hoe and looked at the sky. The distant skyline was already glowing golden red.
"In that case, come to my house and have a seat."
"Why!"
Although the man was not nervous, he pretended to wipe the sweat off his face, saying that he was very scared just now. Then he stared in the direction outside the fence and followed the farmer to the front.
The man was none other than Hu Li, who was traveling with a group of foxes. What happened tonight was that a little fox was hungry and greedy. It passed by here and heard the crowing of a rooster. It suddenly became wild with its foxiness and rushed here to eat the chickens. When Hu Li came over, he had already bitten two chickens to death.
The sky gradually brightened and the villagers began to move around. The farmer's house on the edge of the village was particularly lively at this moment, with more than a dozen guests in the yard early in the morning.
Hu Li, who was born with the ability to read people's expressions, paid the money and waited until dawn before telling the farmer that he was not alone, but brought many people with his family. He was afraid that so many people might scare people. When the villagers got up in the morning, he asked to buy a meal at the farmer's house.
Anyone would be happy to buy a table of food with half a tael of silver. As there were more than a dozen people with their families, including men, women, old and young, the farmer's family readily agreed. They killed chickens and ducks and prepared vegetables. The yard was busy early in the morning.
Although their cultivation over the past few months cannot be said to have made great progress, the foxes have benefited a lot. At least now, except for Hu Li, the other foxes can maintain their human form during the day.
There was already a fragrant smell wafting out of the kitchen, and chicken soup was boiling on the earthen stove next to it. The foxes sitting on the benches in the yard were drooling with envy, which made the busy peasant women passing by very happy. Among these people there were a few pretty girls. I had thought they were from a wealthy family, but now they seemed quite simple and cute.
"The food is almost ready. Shall we eat inside or out in the yard?"
The foxes responded quickly.
"We'll eat in the courtyard!" "Yes, yes, we'll eat in the courtyard!"
"Yes, yes, it's cool in the yard..."
"Yes, there is no need to bother the host. We are a long way from home. It will save you the trouble of cleaning up if we eat in the courtyard."
"Okay, then we'll eat in the yard. Just move a round table out!"
The peasant woman walked into the house with a smile on her face. She was quite pleased with the idea that these people were obsessed with them. However, after she entered the house, all the foxes, including Huli, turned their heads and looked in the direction of their house.
At the top of the hall, there is a statue of a god standing there, with a stick of incense stuck in the small incense burner in front of it. The statue has fluttering sleeves and a long beard, and looks like a leisurely old man, looking towards the outside of the hall with a smile.
It’s hard to describe the feeling, but the foxes just didn’t dare to approach the statue.