"Is it hurt?" Mu Chen didn't move. He understood what that little whine was for. It was filled with pain―a call for help. But he was hesitant.

"Aargh!" Mu Chen groaned. "Xia Ping, I hope you are right…" He moved towards the fallen fox in slow steady steps. But the fox didn't move at all even when he had reached an arm's length.

Mu Chen crouched beside the fox and prodded it with the scabbard, but the fox kept still. Mu Chen inspected it but didn't find any sign of injury or blood. After hesitating a bit, Mu Chen placed his hand on its side.

"Is it sick?" Mu Chen pondered. The fox's body temperature was off the charts. It seemed as if it had a fever.

"What do I do?" Mu Chen sighed as he picked the fox and caressed it. Its fur was very smooth and cottony. "If Xia Ping was here, he would have known what to do." Mu Chen thought. But it was already several days since they had separated. Mu Chen didn't have a way to contact him. He wasn't even sure if he was still in the forest.

Mu Chen carried the fox to where his spatial pouch was. Placing his sword on the ground, he rummaged through the contents of the pouch. He grabbed a few blood essences and held them near the fox's snout.

The fox wrinkled its nose and began to sniff. It opened a weary blue eye and saw the blood essences in Mu Chen's hand. It began to squirm trying to get them. Mu Chen brought his hand closer to its mouth. The fox began to eat the blood essences greedily and whined for more.

Mu Chen grabbed some more blood essences from his pouch and fed them to the little fox. After eating over dozens of blood essences, the little fox was finally content. Its body was no longer as hot as before.

"For being so tiny, you sure can eat a lot, huh?" Mu Chen's face twitched as he watched the fox sleep peacefully in his arms. His stock of blood essences had hit rock bottom. "Well, it doesn't matter much, I can always kill more monster beasts."

Mu Chen wanted to wear his clothes, so he tried to place the little fox on the ground, but it woke up and began to whine and squirm, kneading his chest with its paws.

"Hey, relax! I'm not planning to get rid of you!" Mu Chen tried to convince the fox.

But the fox wouldn't let him put it down.

Tiny, a glutton and pampered. Mu Chen had to reevaluate the little fox.

Mu Chen removed his clothes from his spatial pouch. He struggled to get into his pants while using just a single hand, the other holding the little fox. He had only managed to get one of his legs through, when he heard the sound of leaves rustling.

"Shit! Not again!" Mu Chen grabbed his sword he had placed on the ground. Then he stabbed down so the scabbard penetrated the ground a few inches deep. Mu Chen gripped the sword handle and pulled the blade out pointing in the direction the sound came from.

A few figures flew out of the trees. Mu Chen looked at the newcomers and lamented. Although he had tried to avoid their meeting, it had still come to this.

Mu Changshou was the first to stop and step down his flying sword. Qin Huang and others followed suit, seeing him stop and looked at Mu Chen in confusion.

Mu Chen saw the look of surprise that flashed across Mu Changshou' s face, but it was quickly stifled.

"Brother Changshou? Why are we stopping here?" Qin Huang said. Then he looked at Mu Chen."This hillbilly...do you know him?"

"Him? I don't know him." Mu Changshou shook his head. "Probably some loose cultivator."

"Oh! Just a nobody. Look at him, thinking he can fight us with an ordinary sword." Qin Huang sneered, eyeing Mu Chen's raised sword. "Let's get going, we don't have time to waste on him. If someone else gets to the treasure first—"

"Brother Huang," Mu Changshou whispered, "They say a bird in hand is worth more than two in the nest. What do you think of it?"

"A bird in hand?" Qin Huang said. Then his eyes fell on the white little fox cuddled in Mu Chen's arm. "You don't say?"

"Brother Huang, even if we reach the treasure first, it won't make any difference. A treasure that can cause fluctuations on levels like that is not something we can handle. It is instead better to let others explore the dangers. But that monster beast, on the other hand..." Mu Changshou said. "A snow fox monster beast is rare in our Southern Continent."

"But..." Qin Huang looked in the direction that they had been heading. "It's just a monster beast."

"Brother Huang," Mu Changshou said in a soft voice, "a beautiful monster beast like that can win any woman's heart…"

Hearing Mu Changshou's words, Qin Huang became excited and he began to eye the little fox with a fervor. Qin Huang waved his hand. One of his companions from the Ming Dynasty came forward.

"Hey, you!" The guy shouted across the pond. "Senior Brother has taken a liking to that fox. Leave it behind and get lost!"

Bastard! Mu Chen cursed inwardly. Although Mu Changshou and Qin Huang were whispering, he heard everything.

"The fox is mine." Mu Chen shook his head. Although he and the little fox had just met, he couldn't hand it over to someone else. The little fox had poured its trust in him and Mu Chen had accepted it.

"There is no need to waste time being courteous, Brother Huang." Mu Changshou urged Qin Huang. "He is just a nobody. Just snatch the beast, then we can be on our way towards the treasure."

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"Young Master Changshou!" Mu Chen called out. "Are you going to stand still and let outsiders rob a fellow member of the Family?"

Qin Huang was about to order his men to snatch the monster beast but hesitated on hearing Mu Chen's words.

"Brother Changshou?" Qin Huang looked at Mu Changshou. "What is he saying? Is he from your family?"

"I don't know him." Mu Changshou shrugged. He looked towards Mu Chen. "Who are you?"

"Hahaha!" Mu Chen said. "Young Master must be joking? You didn't recognize me?"

"Sorry," Mu Changshou shook his head. "but who are you, again?"

"I am Mu Chen." Mu Chen narrowed his eyes and looked at Mu Changshou. He wasn't sure if Mu Changshou knew that he had identified him as the culprit behind the assassination. If possible, he wanted to let Mu Changshou think he was still unaware.

The other Mu Family members looked at each other. "Brother Changshou, he indeed looks like Mu Chen." One of them said, the rest nodded in agreement.

"Mu Chen?" Mu Changshou sneered. "I have seen him. You indeed look similar to him. But the Mu Chen I know of is now a cultivation cripple. There's no way he could have come to this part of the forest."

When Mu Changshou said this, the other Mu Family members's gaze became doubtful. Mu Chen's appearance had changed quite a bit over the year, and they hadn't seen him at all during this time.

"I don't have to explain that to anyone." Mu Chen shook his head. Although he saw the doubt in other Family members, he didn't want to explain. It would be tantamount to exposing his cards.

"Can't explain? How convenient." Mu Changshou smiled. Mu Chen saw the trace of ridicule hidden in it and he had a bad feeling. "Everyone! I suspect this person is an imposter. He must have killed the real Mu Chen and wearing his skin." Mu Changshou said, causing other Mu Family members's faces to turn dark.

"Brother Huang, help me get rid of this vile scum." Mu Changshou said. "Of course, you can keep the fox."

Hearing Mu Changshou's words, Qin Huang no longer hesitated. He waved his hand and his companions moved to flank Mu Chen from both sides, while he and Mu Changshou both prepared to attack.

Shit! Mu Chen cursed. He didn't want to fight. If they were alone, he might have fought with Mu Changshou. With his sword intent, it might be possible to catch him off guard and even kill him. But with everyone present, he couldn't fight. It would only expose his strength and achieve nothing else.

Run? That seemed the only viable option. Although it would expose part of his strength, it was better than exposing all his cards.

Mu Chen turned heel. He had never thought the day he would have to run stark naked through the forest would arrive so soon despite his efforts. But he had just taken a step, there was a brilliant flash of red fire. It blocked the cultivators from the Ming Dynasty who were trying to flank Mu Chen. The line of fire cut across the region dividing it into two. Even on the surface of the water, the fire continued to burn causing the water in the pond to bubble and turn into steam.

Mu Chen paused. Mu Changshou and Qin Huang also paused. As if on a cue, everyone looked towards the girl who had appeared between them.

A while later, more figures dropped from the sky. They surrounded the girl who had cast the line of fire.

"Miss Liu." Mu Changshou said. "What's the meaning of this? Are you challenging the dignity of Mu Family?"

"Sister Fengying?" One of the girls, who was first to descend said.

Liu Fengying didn't respond but looked at Mu Chen to see if he was alright, before looking ahead.

"Kyaa!" Some of the girls screamed when they saw Mu Chen who was naked and holding a fox and began whispering among themselves.

"See? I had told you! Men will be men." One of the girls whispered to another timid-looking girl.

"You...you! How could you do that...to a little fox?" The petite girl pointed at Mu Chen and cried out with a face full of shock.

"Do what?" Mu Chen looked at the several new faces that had popped up. He noticed their strange and furtive gazes. Black lines formed on his forehead.

"Hanying, stop spouting nonsense." Su Rong said. She looked at Qin Huang who was across the pond. "Martial Brother Qin, what are you doing here?"

"Brother Huang was helping me apprehend the Mu Family criminal." Mu Changshou said. Qin Huang nodded, his eyes locked on the fox in Mu Chen's embrace.

"Criminal? Since when did Mu Chen become a criminal?" Liu Fengying snorted.

"Miss Liu," Mu Changshou said, "The identity of the person behind you is suspicious. I need to apprehend him and bring him back to Mu Family for interrogation."

"What are you talking about?" Liu Fengying looked behind at Mu Chen. Mu Chen smiled and gave her a wink. "He is Mu Chen."

"Appearances can be misleading, Miss Liu." Mu Changshou shook his head. "Everyone knows Mu Chen was crippled a year ago. He is weak and fragile, a mortal. How can someone like him travel freely in this part of the dark forest? I believe this person is someone who stole Mu Chen's appearance."

"Don't you have your Family's identity token?" Liu Fengying turned to Mu Chen.

"It's useless." Mu Chen shrugged. "I can't activate it."

Liu Fengying was stunned. "Then how to get out of this mess?"

Mu Chen shrugged. "Let me get dressed first." It was embarrassing to be ogled at and gossiped about. Mu Chen stabbed his sword into the ground and picked up his pants once again, juggling with a single hand trying to get dressed.

"Liu Ru, go help him." Liu Fengying said after watching Mu Chen struggle. Liu Riu blushed a bit but nodded and walked towards Mu Chen.

"He is Mu Chen." Liu Fengying said, looking towards Mu Changshou. "I can vouch for him."

"This is up to Mu Family members to determine. As a matter of Mu Family, the Liu Clan shouldn't interfere." Mu Changshou shook his head.

"And the people from the Ming Dynasty can?" Liu Fengying said.

"I requested the help of Brother Huang," Mu Changshou said, "it's different."

While they talked, several figures on flying swords passed over. The passersby only shot them a fleeting glance and continued to fly in a hurry in a particular direction.

"Sister Fengying, do we really want to waste our time here?" Su Rong whispered as she saw several cultivators pass by. "If he is from the same family, wouldn't it be better to let him go with them? At most he will be detained for a while—his identity would be proved sooner or later?"

"You don't understand." Liu Fengying said. "You came a bit late. You didn't see what I saw." Mu Changshou and Qin Huang weren't trying to capture Mu Chen as they claimed.

"You said you wanted to apprehend him?" Liu Fengying said. "How about I help you escort him back to Mu Family?"

"Someone as noble as Miss Liu doesn't need to escort a suspect." Mu Changshou said.

"I insist." Liu Fengying said, causing Mu Changshou to fall silent.

"Brother Changshou?" Qin Huang also became impatient after seeing many cultivators fly in the direction they were originally headed.

"Miss Liu, if we continued to argue, we might lose our chance to contend for the treasure." Mu Changshou said."Don't you agree?"

"So what?" Liu Fengying shrugged.

"I see. Miss Liu's heart is broad and she cares more about relationships than treasures." Mu Changshou praised. "But as the successor of Liu Clan, is Miss Liu really going to give up the opportunity to get such a treasure?"

"Get to the point." Liu Fengying snapped.

Mu Changshou's face twitched, but he still put up a smile. "Since Miss Liu is so confident about this person's identity, I can entrust Miss Liu to bring him to Mu Family for trial…"

"But?" Liu Fengying frowned.

"To ensure Miss Liu will fulfill her promise, we need some collateral." Mu Changshou said.

"Collateral? What do you want?"

"That fox." Mu Changshou said. "If you hand over the fox, everyone can be on their way."