Chapter Thirty-Eight: Cocoon Transformation

  After spending a few days together, Qin Yun really started to like this snow fox with a temperament similar to that of humans.

  He has a generous and open-minded side, otherwise he would not have sold half of the hard-earned Bileaf Grass to Qin Mingzhu at a low price. He has never been very particular about external things.

  So seeing Xiao Hu Li so eager, Qin Yun would not be stingy.

  Wow! Wow!

  Bixue Snow Fox was so excited that it almost jumped up, it stretched out its small head and opened its mouth to take a bite of the Wolf King's inner elixir, and with a gulp, swallowed it down.

  Swallowed it? Qin Yun was shocked.

  Even the inner elixir of a low-level demon beast cannot be swallowed directly, and to exert its effect, it must be refined into a medicinal pill.

  Of course this is for humans, spiritual beasts and demon beasts might be a different story altogether.

  After swallowing the Wolf King's inner elixir, the Azure Jade Snow Fox curled up on the ground.

  Its belly swelled up at a visible speed, revealing a painful expression, and its limbs twitched in a way that made people feel uncomfortable to watch. Its long tail swung back and forth with no strength.

  Just as Qin Yun was worried about it, the little fox suddenly opened its mouth and sprayed out a mouthful of white mist.

  A mass of white fog carrying a strong icy chill suddenly spread out, completely covering its body inside, and the temperature around it plummeted.

  As time passed, the fog grew thicker and more condensed, until it finally turned into a large oval-shaped ice block resembling a cocoon!

  Through the ice, a snow fox wrapped in jade green can be vaguely seen inside.

  It closed its eyes, as if it had fallen into a deep sleep.

  Qin Yun didn't know what had happened to him, but it was definitely related to the Wolf King's inner elixir.

  But intuition told Qin Yun that the little fox was not in danger.

  After some thought, Qin Yun carefully lifted the ice coffin and placed it in a corner of the room, taking care not to let the ice melt by the stove.

  The heavy snow fell and stopped, stopped and fell again, time passed silently and quietly.

  The days in the deep mountains are lonely and desolate, but Qin Yun's days are very fulfilling.

  What he worried about didn't happen.

  Liezhi Heart Method under Qin Yun's single-minded and bitter practice broke through to the fourth layer, condensing seven true fires.

  His strength boundary advanced to the peak of the second heavy sky, and he successively opened up twenty-seven meridians in his body, leaving only nine acupoints unopened from the third heavy sky.

  During this period, Qin Yun did not continue to explore the Small Dry Sky world, but instead focused on cultivating his Heart Sutra and Thousand Mile Divine Movement.

  The first three layers of the Refining Qi Realm are the easiest to break through, and it becomes increasingly difficult with each subsequent layer. If one does not quickly complete their advancement and accumulation in the early stages, then their future achievements will be extremely limited.

  Qin Yun's cultivation progress was not considered fast among the Qin family disciples, but he had been making steady progress without relying on medicinal pills. This set him apart from the vast majority of people.

  After that life-and-death battle, he deeply understood the huge gap between himself and the seven or eight heavenly martial artists, and his cultivation became more diligent.

  Unconsciously, amidst the swirling snowflakes, Qin Yun spent New Year's and his own birthday.

  According to the customs of the vast nine states, a man can hold an adult capping ceremony at the age of sixteen and formally marry and have children to continue his lineage, and is considered a real man.

  Coming of age ceremony is extremely important for a man, usually with grand celebrations and banquets to invite relatives and friends to gather together.

  Qin Yun had only a few friends in Qianchao City, and was an insignificant younger generation member of the clan. Now he was guarding the mine in the deep mountains, so it was impossible for him to celebrate his coming of age.

  However, Qin Yun didn't mind. With winter passing and spring arriving, in more than half a month's time, he would be able to complete his task of guarding the mine and return to Qianchao City.

  On this day, Qin Yun was practicing his internal energy in his room when he suddenly heard a crisp cracking sound coming from the corner of the room.

  He was moved in his heart and immediately got up to check.

  Only the ice cocoon that had been placed in the corner, which had not moved for a month, appeared with dense cracks like spider webs on its surface, and the sound of cracking ice was heard one after another.

  Is the little fox coming out? Qin Yun's heart was filled with joy.

  This month, he has been worried about this little guy, worrying that it will be frozen inside and never wake up again.

  Bang!

  The ice cracked and split into four or five pieces, and the broken ice was scattered all over the ground.

  A white shadow leapt up like lightning and plunged into Qin Yun's arms.

  It was precisely the Jade Snow Fox!

  Although it had been in the ice for a whole month, it looked great, its body seemed to have grown a bit bigger, and its eyes were even more lively and lovely.

  Qin Yun noticed that her originally emerald green eyes had turned icy blue, but with a hint of green flashing deep within her pupils, making them even more beautiful.

  The little fox nuzzled its head back and forth, Qin Yun also couldn't help but reach out to stroke it gently.

  The little guy suddenly turned his head and bit Qin Yun's hand with his mouth open.

  Qin Yun was completely unguarded and was bitten by its sharp teeth, piercing his skin, and bright red blood immediately flowed out.

  "Ah!"

  Qin Yun involuntarily withdrew his hand, the white jade snow fox had bitten down but not too hard, it didn't hurt, he was just startled that this little guy would suddenly attack him.

  But the little fox immediately relaxed its mouth and stretched out its pink small tongue to carefully lick the wound on Qin Yun's hand, licking away all the blood stains.

  A hint of apology flowed out from his eyes, which Qin Yun could fully sense.

  It's just an accident! Qin Yun didn't take it to heart. Even a domesticated pet has a wild side, let alone a wild spirit beast.

  However, it was strange that after going through this ordeal, he actually had a blood connection with the little fox in his arms and could sense its emotions.

  It wasn't until later that Qin Yun knew how lucky he was.

  Spiritual beasts like the Jade Fox are usually extremely difficult to tame and raise, especially those that have opened their spiritual wisdom, would rather die than submit to being a human's pet.

  And this Jade Snow Fox had just opened its spiritual wisdom, after meeting Qin Yun it received his kindness and even gave him the Wolf King's inner elixir.

  With the help of Lang Wang's inner elixir, Biyu Snow Fox successfully completed an upgrade, which made it more dependent on and grateful to Qin Yun in its heart, willingly acknowledging Qin Yun as its master.

  With blood as a medium, it bit Qin Yun's hand back, which was the process of recognizing its master. From then on, it would never leave or abandon Qin Yun, sharing life and death together!

  The situation where the spiritual beast takes the initiative to recognize its master is extremely rare, and it was only because of a coincidence, combined with Qin Yun's kindness and generosity, that he gained the recognition of the Biyu Snow Fox.

  Of course, Qin Yun didn't know his good fortune yet. He stroked the small head of the Biyu Snow Fox and thought for a moment before saying: "Let me give you a name, how about Xiaoyao?"

  Good grief!

  Qin Yun gave it this name because the little fox always made "yōu yōu" cries, and the word "yāo" had a pleasant sound as well.

  Bìyù Xuě Hú obviously liked this name too, she nodded vigorously and let out a few "yu yu" cries.

  Qin Yun smiled and laughed, feeling joyful and peaceful in his heart. He couldn't help but pick up the little fox and kiss it on the forehead.

  "Oh no!"

  ………

  Time flies, and it's already February.

  In the southern part of the Dragon's Backbone Mountains, spring arrives much earlier than in the north. The thick snow melts gradually under the warm sunshine, and small streams appear in the mountains.

  A hungry black bear emerges from its winter den to search for food, the small birds in the forest sing with their melodious voices, and the breath of spring arrives at every corner of the mountain with the gentle breeze.

  A cavalry of over a hundred people was moving slowly along the rugged and steep mountain road.

  The spring chill is sharp, and the crevices of the rocks still have unmelted frost, the mountain road is slippery, everyone must be very careful, if they are not careful, they may slip into the cliff wall below, that is absolutely a place where no one can survive.

  Baa!

  Suddenly, a mountain goat leaped down from the cliff.

  The pack horse at the head of the queue was startled and suddenly stood up on its hind legs.

  The knight on horseback reacted extremely quickly, immediately clamping his legs tightly around the horse's belly and pulling hard on the reins to force the packhorse down.

  Whoosh!

  An arrow shot out like lightning and hit the culprit's neck!

  "Who?" the knight bellowed loudly, drawing his long sword at the same time.

  "It's me, Wang Guanshi, you've finally arrived!"

  A loud and clear voice echoed, a robust young man with a hunting bow appeared at the end of the mountain road.

  The knight took a closer look and burst out laughing: "Haha, it's you! You almost scared old Wang to death!"

  The young man in armor was naturally Qin Yun, and the knight on horseback was the same person who had brought Qin Yun to the Black Iron Mine.

  This middle-aged steward surnamed Wang was a straightforward and talkative person, and his relationship with Qin Yun was decent.

  He returned to Black Iron Mine today with his cavalry, marking the official completion of Qin Yun's three-month winter guard mission.

  Although Qin Yun could tolerate loneliness, seeing someone replace him still made him feel very happy.

  But in Wang's heart, there was a hint of surprise.

  For over a decade, he had been sending off and picking up the Qin family's children who were guarding the mines, and those winter hunting trips to the mountains left them isolated for several months, generally in poor condition, and they would all be extremely excited when their task was finally over.

  Some were overjoyed and crying, some were cursing heaven and earth, and some were fainting and falling to the ground as if relieved of a heavy burden. But no one had ever seen Qin Yun so calm and composed.

  His face didn't lose its joyful smile, but he responded with composure and calmness, as if he had only stayed in the deep mountains for three days, not three months.

  Wang Guanshi knew a bit about the reason why Qin Yun was sent to the Black Iron Mine, although he didn't want to get too close to Qin Yun and bring trouble upon himself. However, Qin Yun's demeanor still deeply impressed him.

  "This child is no ordinary person!"

  It was precisely because of this idea that he became more and more polite to Qin Yun, and the first thing he did when he arrived at the mine was to complete the task handover.

  "Wang Guanshi, a wooden house here was crushed by snow last month!"

  Qin Yun explained to Wang Guanshi after completing the task: "I saw that all the pillars were hollowed out by termites, so I simply cleaned them up. Look at this matter..."

  "This is a small matter, I'll just have someone rebuild it!" Wang Guanshi didn't have the slightest doubt, and with a wave of his hand said: "Qin Yun, tomorrow we'll head back to Qianchao City together!"

  "Alright!" Qin Yun smiled and replied.