“Is she going to be alright?”
Without answering, his mother reached out and placed her finger back where she had removed it from mere minutes ago and closed her eyes. The little fox was calm, oddly it was still looking past the finger on its forehead and directly at him.
“It’s going to be alright. Little one.” He gently assured the little spirit fox, probably more talking to himself considering the fox didn’t seem to be too bothered. As he was saying that, his other hand came up and he started slowly petting the little spirit fox on the back, which seemed to get a reaction out of her as she nuzzled into the hand that was holding her looking rather content.
As he was petting her, his mother lifted her finger from the fox and opened her eyes. “She is fine, Long’er, in fact she is better than fine.”
“She was saturated with stellar qi, which was obviously an inevitability, however, what was beyond my expectations is how exceptionally compatible she would be with it. The chances that she would be compatible with a type of qi as rare as stellar qi are vanishingly small, the chances that she would be this compatible are so small as to be almost impossible.”
Still slowly petting the little fox, Xu Long looked at his mother and saw that she was wearing quite the look on her face, like she couldn’t believe what she was saying. “So what does that mean for her?”
“It means that a not insignificant portion of her path is set in stone before her, and that she will walk down it with almost comical ease.”
“Oh, I understand.” Looking a bit dejected Xu Long stopped petting the little fox and held out his hand to his mother. “It would be better for her if she stayed with you then.”
His mother only smiled in reply. “You were right, Long’er, that oath you took will be no big deal for you. But even if I agreed with you, which I do not, that oath is also why she will be staying with you regardless. In case you are wondering why she hasn’t taken her eyes off of you since she woke, it is because of that soul oath, she can no doubt sense a fraction of the feeling her mother gave off on you.”
Xu Long, looking rather surprised, retracted his hand and looked at the little fox who was still looking at him, but now had a look on her face like she was annoyed that he stopped petting her. He quickly rectified this as he went back to petting, which seemed to placate her.
“As to why I don’t agree with your assessment. What you have to understand Long’er is that to me the stars and stellar qi are tools, ultimately my Dao is the Dao of Formations. Our little fox however will understand the stars on a far deeper level than me, she will feel them instinctively. I am obviously in a position to help her along her path, but that help will be minimal, both because that is what is best for her and because that is all I am able to provide.”
Looking at his mother with a critical eye, this was probably the first time in his life that he had gotten an inkling from her that she was not all knowing, and she was talking about something that he assumed she was a great expert in. He wasn’t quite sure if he believed her, he got the impression that she was being excessively humble.
Possibly sensing his skepticism she just smiled and continued on. “Now how about you give our talented little fox a name so we can stop calling her little fox.”
That got his attention, this was a big deal. He looked down at the small spirit fox in his hand, still luxuriating in pats that Xu Long seemed to be giving without even thinking about it anymore. As he looked into those spectacular eyes a name came to mind rather quickly, the more he thought about it, the more he thought it couldn’t be anything else.
“Xu Xing”
He said the name in a soft voice still looking at the cute little spirit fox in his hand, it seemed to get a small reaction out of her, but he wasn't sure if he was just imagining it. When he looked up to see if his mother approved, she was smiling at him.
“It’s perfect Long’er.”
Then her smile turned a little mischievous, “so since you gave her the family name are you planning for her to be your sister or your daughter?”
Xu Long went a little pale. “Sister, definitely sister. I am far too young to have a daughter, Mother.”
All he got in return was a laugh from his mother, which made him smile, it was rare to see his mother laugh.
“Come on Long'er, let's take Xiao Xing here to your room and we will get her all set up.”
Xu Long nodded and followed his mother as she began to walk towards his room, still petting the little spirit fox in his hand. They made the walk in relative silence, and when they arrived his mother gave him a look.
“Why don’t you set her down Long’er, we still need to check if there are any adverse effects from her ordeal and subsequent recovery, that is if you can bear to stop petting your cute little sister.” Giving him a mischievous little smirk.
Turning a little red from his mother’s teasing, Xu Long stopped petting Xu Xing, getting quite the disgruntled look in return and then set her down on the ground of the courtyard outside his room. When she tried to stand her legs were a little wobbly, but she was quick to adjust and was standing steadily within half a minute. Xu Long was more than a little impressed considering that she had been completely unmoving for three years.
“Walk over here Long’er and try to get her to follow.”
Nodding his head, Xu Long walked towards his mother in a few brisk strides and then sat down with his legs crossed looking towards Xu Xing. He gently patted the ground and tried to get her to walk over to him, which was met with a tilt of her head and then her sitting down and scratching her ear with her back leg.
That got a chuckle from his mother, who then took out a small shallow bowl and filled it with what appeared to be water, she then took out her teapot which Xu Long could recognize anywhere and tilted it so that a single drop landed in the bowl. The effect was instant, both with the water in the bowl, which faintly looked like it was reflecting the night sky despite it being the early morning, and the little fox who perked up and began staring at the bowl with quite the fervor.
Smiling and handing the bowl to Xu Long. “Try this Long’er, I suspect our stubborn little girl here will respond more positively to bribery.”
Respond she did, before Xu Long had even placed the bowl on the ground Xu Xing was already up and headed in his direction. Her first few steps looked more slow and deliberate, but she very quickly began to pick up her pace and was basically trotting by the time she had made it to the bowl, which she threw her face into with reckless abandon.
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Looking up at his mother with a raised eyebrow. “Just what is in that tea of yours?”
His mother turned her gaze from the gluttonous little fox to her son with a subtle smile on her face. “It is brewed from the Stellar Lotus Blossoms in my garden, I had a feeling she would take to it.”
Xu Long looked at her thoughtfully. “That reminds me, what are we going to feed her?”
“Honestly, I am unsure. You remember our discussion on why cultivation is best started at 15 or 16?” After Xu Long nodded she continued. “Well Xiao Xing, owing to her compatibility with stellar qi, has technically already started cultivating at one month old. But she is in an incredibly unique position, I would estimate that the advancement of her spirit is at the level of a late Qi Condensation Realm cultivator or even early Foundation Establishment, but her body barely reflects that in the slightest.”
“Now, she is a spirit beast with all the differences to humans that that entails, regardless, I suspect that she will develop incredibly slowly compared to her spirit fox brethren. If she had come out of the formation, the stellar qi barely affecting her, if at all, like I had anticipated, I would have fed her with spirit beast meat like her mother no doubt would have. As she is, with the much slower development I expect her to experience, I suspect that she will rarely eat, if she does at all.”
“You suspect, so we are in totally uncharted territory?” Xu Long asked, looking more than a little worriedly at Xu Xing who was now licking the empty bowl.
“Don’t worry Long’er, while it is true that these are unique circumstances, and I am only fairly confident in my conjectures, I have full confidence that we can navigate this little predicament.”
Xu Long looked at his mother. “Ok, I trust you Mother, what should we do going forward?”
When she saw the total faith that her son had in her she almost teared up. “Thank you, Long’er.” And then when she saw that smile on his face that so reminded her of him, she took a breath. “For the time being our course is very simple, her diet will consist of my tea, diluted of course, and we will offer her spirit beast meat even though I am not anticipating she will be interested. For the next couple of days our lessons will be free time for you and her, you can do whatever you want. As for her cultivation, we will put that on hold for a while until she is a little older.”
As she was talking she watched as the little fox finished licking the bowl for the third or fourth time and sauntered over to her son and sat on his lap, he then resumed petting her without diverting his attention, still listening intently to her. She had to smile.
“Finally we are going to have to do something about your sleeping arrangements, Xiao Xing here is going to benefit greatly from sleeping under the stars, so you have two choices, either I put your bed outside, or I put a sizable hole in your roof.”
Looking at her son's surprised and somewhat incredulous face she stifled a laugh. Then after he thought about it and realized he couldn’t leave the little fox to sleep by herself at such a young age, he sighed. “Let's put my bed outside, no point in destroying a perfectly good roof.”
“Good choice, I have the perfect place to move it to. While I sort out your new accommodations, why don’t you show our newest family member around the valley, this is her home now after all.”
Xu Long smiled at his mother when he heard her call Xu Xing family, then he looked at the little spirit fox on his lap. “Shall we go Xiao Xing? I’ll show you around.” She tilted her head in response. Xu Long took that as a yes, so he placed Xu Xing in his hand and got up to leave.
As he was walking off holding the little spirit fox he thought about what his mother said about how slow she is likely going to grow, which if true would mean that he would be carrying her around for quite some time. He was going to have to come up with a better solution than this, so he started to look at himself with a critical eye, thinking about the best place for her to hitch rides. Shoulder was out for now, too young and not self assured enough to be responsible for balancing herself all the time, likewise pockets were out, too bumpy of a ride getting knocked about by the legs moving. In the end he landed on using his robe, so he tested it out and placed her in the bottom of the V in his robes on his chest, her back supported by his sternum and her two front paws resting on his robes. All in all he was pretty proud of himself, not only was it practical but she looked pretty adorable sitting there like that, and given her curious looks around as they walked she didn’t mind the arrangement.
Their tour of the valley was rather peaceful and mostly uneventful, Xu Xing was curious about anything and everything they passed by. Xu Long knew from his mother that even the slightly dangerous animals in the valley would never harm him as they were under her control, he had neglected to inquire if Xu Xing had the same protection yet so he limited letting her investigate herself to a handful of occasions and locations that he knew would be safe. That being said she still managed to get into trouble when she attempted to pounce on a small bird that was foraging in the brush, the bird obviously knew she was there but had decided to ignore her as a non-issue, this attitude obviously went out the window after the attempted pouncing and a swift rescue was in order from Xu Long.
After the bird incident Xu Xing had to resign herself to exploring from her new perch in Xu Long’s robe. They soon found themselves entering a grove that was very familiar to Xu Long, he had deliberately saved this place till last. “And this, Xiao Xing, is my favorite place in the valley, I come here to train every day.”
As he was preparing to start explaining the features of the grove he came within sight of the pond and froze speechless. To the left of the pond a few trees had been removed and in its place was his room, minus the room. The bed was behind a folding privacy screen that blocked off the view to the entrance of the grove, and the table and chairs that he had spent so much time studying at was between the bed and the pond, sitting at said table unsurprisingly was his mother sipping on some tea.
Xu Xing obviously didn’t find any of this strange, even if she could it wouldn’t matter, she only had eyes for the teapot sitting in the middle of the table. She squirmed quite persistently as Xu Long made his way to the table and sat down across from his mother. “So this is my new room then?”
“Do you like it?” His mother asked as she was pouring water into the bowl she had just materialized for the fidgety fox in the front of his robe.
“I love it, I have to admit I assumed I would just be sleeping in the courtyard, this is much nicer.” Xu Long replied as he liberated Xu Xing from his robe and placed her on the table.
“You are getting older now Long’er, even though circumstances dictate that you sleep outdoors, I figured I could facilitate at least some privacy for you. In that spirit, this grove is now officially yours, Wu Zhong and I will not enter except for our scheduled lesson times unless we announce ourselves at the entrance to the grove.”
Xu Long looked up from the gluttonous little spirit fox to his mother, more than a little surprised at this latest revelation. “Really?”
“Really. Also in case you were wondering, there is a small transparent barrier that will cover the area around your bed and table when it rains in the valley, and obviously since I don’t allow rain or clouds at night in the valley this will not interfere with the entire reason you are sleeping outdoors.” Looking at Xu Xing who still had her head in the bowl with a small smile.
“Wu Zhong has stepped out for a couple of days, I suggest you take the time to settle into your new accommodations and spend time with our little glutton here. For the rest of the day and tomorrow I will be the one to distribute her tea while I experiment with different intervals to determine the optimum timings of her feedings, after that I will let you handle it. I will also bring some spirit beast meat for her to try when I bring your dinner.”
As Xu Long watched her stand up and wave her cup and teapot away he saw Xu Xing look up poutily from her bowl and couldn’t help but shake his head, then he looked at his mother. “Is everything alright with Old Wu?”
His mother looked back at him. “Everything is fine. That being said, if I were you I would enjoy this small time off you have, I would hazard a guess that your training is about to get more intense.”
He saw a small smile on her face, then she continued walking out of the grove, his grove now, he supposed. Looking down at the little spirit fox on the table. “Well that was extremely ominous, wouldn’t you say Xiao Xing?”
The only reply he received was a brief look up and a tilt of the head before she got back to her bowl.