novelraw Chapter 287: Nine-Tailed Fox, Fang of Huodou
Chapter 287: Nine-Tailed Fox, Fang of Huodou
[You have discovered the Origin-Tracing Nine-Tailed Fox.]
[The woman before you is visibly moved. In disbelief, she asks whether you are a descendant of the Dragon God.]
[You switch back to the Shell of the Knowledge-Seeking Primordial Hermit and declare your identity to the Nine-Tailed Fox.]
[Looking at your dragon-headed human form and sensing the dense aura of dragon bloodline upon you, she cannot restrain her agitation. She drops to her knees and weeps like pear blossoms in rain.]
[She tells you that since the divine war, the Nine-Tailed Fox race has suffered grievous casualties. The tribe dwindled until only she and her elder sister remained.]
[More than ten years ago, her elder sister infiltrated the Imperial Residence to assassinate the Great General, but the attempt failed and she died here. Now the Nine-Tailed Fox clan in Sakura Falls has only her left.]
[She had wanted to avenge her sister, but the thought that even her powerful sister was no match for the Great General made her fear that if she rashly went to Kyoto, the Nine-Tailed Fox clan would go extinct in Sakura Falls.]
[Helpless, she could only hide near Mount Nasu, keeping watch over her sister’s burial place to spur herself to bitter cultivation, hoping that one day she would achieve mastery and avenge her sister.]
[Ten years passed like a white colt crossing a gap. In an instant they were gone. Her strength advanced slowly and to this day is still inferior to her sister’s. She hates her own incompetence and fears that in this lifetime she will never defeat the Great General.]
[Fortunately, today she has met you, Lord Dragonborn.][You inform the Nine-Tailed Fox that you walk the human realm under the Father God’s command to join forces with the great yokai still surviving and slay the Great General to restore the Dragon God’s might. You now need the Nine-Tailed Fox to aid you against the Great General.]
[The Nine-Tailed Fox bursts into tears of joy and bows to the ground.]
[You step forward to help her up and ask whether she is willing to become your shikigami.]
[The woman lightly furrows her brows, looking embarrassed.]
[Thinking she is worried about losing her mind, you promise to preserve her consciousness.]
[The Nine-Tailed Fox shakes her head and continues. As a bloodline scion of the Dragon God, even if you were to erase her mind she would not resist.]
[What makes it difficult is not that, but the suppression object needed to subdue a shikigami.]
[From ancient times to the present, there have been cases in Sakura Falls of humans defeating the three great yokai. Yet even if humans defeat them, few can take them as shikigami.]
[The reason is that the suppression object’s grade is insufficient and cannot match the strength of the three great yokai.]
[Through the Nine-Tailed Fox’s explanation, you gradually understand the origin of suppression objects.]
[The top-tier suppression objects are often formed from the divine thought and corpse of the three great yokai, such as the Killing Stone. This kind of suppression object is what remains after a Nine-Tailed Fox dies.]
[But suppression objects formed from a yokai’s remains rarely equal the yokai’s own grade. Unless one can obtain a suppression object of even higher grade than the Brilliant Killing Stone (Legendary), one cannot subdue the three great yokai.]
[Seeing disappointment on your face, the Nine-Tailed Fox offers comfort. The Nine-Tailed Fox clan is among the strongest yokai in Sakura Falls, but not in the Vermilion Empire.]
[Ancient records handed down by her ancestors state that the Vermilion Empire has even more powerful yokai such as the Phoenix, the Qilin, and the Black Tortoise.]
[If you, Lord Dragonborn, can obtain suppression objects left behind after those yokai die, or acquire man-made suppression objects refined by Vermilion immortals, you can also subdue her.]
Lin Xun’s face darkened.
So in this chapter it is impossible to subdue the three top-tier yokai.
He had worked so hard only to end up with nothing.
[Behind the Origin-Tracing Nine-Tailed Fox appear nine fluffy giant tails. She plucks a small tuft of fur from one tail and hands it to you.]
[You have obtained Nine-Tailed Fox Tail Fur (Item).]
[Nine-Tailed Fox Tail Fur (Item): A pinch of snow-white, soft fox tail fur plucked from the great yokai Nine-Tailed Fox. Use this item to summon the great yokai, the Origin-Tracing Nine-Tailed Fox, to your side to fight for you.]
[She bows again and says slowly that when Lord Dragonborn duels the Great General, you may call upon her to aid you.]
[She will spare nothing and do her utmost to help Lord Dragonborn slay the Great General.]
[You carefully put away the tail fur and wave farewell to the Nine-Tailed Fox.]
[Her figure turns into a streak of light and arcs toward the summit of Mount Nasu, then vanishes.]
“A single-use summoning item.”
Lin Xun looked at the fox-fur summoning item in his Inventory.
The Nine-Tailed Fox had said that the quality of the Killing Stone was insufficient to take the three great yokai as shikigami.
The highest-grade Brilliant Killing Stone in his pocket was Legendary, which meant the three great yokai were at least Legendary+.
“No Master Ball and I cannot catch a divine beast. What do I do? Waiting online, urgent!”
He collected himself and, following the cursed game’s guidance, headed to the marketplace in Fukoka Castle to find the warehouse merchant.
After much time he finally reached the Fish Market.
Circling the Fish Market again, Lin Xun found that the special fishmonger who sold rare seafood was nowhere to be seen, likely out at sea fishing.
[…]
[After passing one shabby stall after another, you enter a dark, hidden alley.]
[At the end of the alley stands a tumbledown shop with an old sign that reads Dark Market Warehouse.]
[You push open the small wooden door. Iron bars protect the wooden counter. Through the arched little window you can see, in the rocking chair behind the counter, an old man wearing imported Western spectacles.]
[The Fire-Worshipping Warehouse Merchant sees a distinguished customer enter and hurriedly rises to receive you.]
[You accept the goods list handed to you and see that the inventory is the same as before.]
[…]
[You shake your head and hand the list back to the warehouse merchant, saying you are going to visit a friend who is addicted to wine and need to buy a bottle of rare vintage.]
[The warehouse merchant looks troubled and explains that the warehouse happens to have a fine wine, pawned here by a customer, but it is still within the redemption period and cannot be sold to you.]
[The warehouse merchant turns, opens a cabinet door, and takes out an antique celadon bottle.]
[Shequan Sake (Treasure): A bottle of precious sake aged in cellars for decades. It relaxes the muscles, promotes circulation, beautifies the skin, and strengthens virility. Tastes better chilled.]
[Selling this item to a merchant will yield a large amount of Spirit Essence. You may also gift it to relevant story characters in this volume to greatly increase favorability.]
[Spirit Essence Cost: 150,000]
Seeing the word Treasure, Lin Xun suddenly remembered that he still had an item in his Inventory named Painting of the Frontier Riders Playing the Flute, whose effect was similar to that of Shequan Sake.
He hurriedly clicked the item.
[You take out the Painting of the Frontier Riders Playing the Flute and show it to the warehouse merchant, asking its value.]
[The warehouse merchant is greatly startled, carefully accepts the scroll, and peers through his Western lenses to examine it closely.]
[After a long look, he cannot help exclaiming in admiration. A masterpiece for the ages, truly a masterpiece.]
[The warehouse merchant hesitates for a while, then turns to open another cabinet and takes out a small paper crane.]
[He lifts a brush, writes a line of tiny script on the crane’s wing, breathes on it, and the paper crane flaps its wings, slips through the counter bars, and flies out of the warehouse.]
[The warehouse merchant explains that he always deals fairly in business and should not break the rules by selling a customer’s item early, but your painting is truly too tempting.]
[He will now use the Paper Crane Charm from the Vermilion Empire to contact the owner of Shequan Sake and ask whether they still intend to redeem it.]
[You watch the Paper Crane Charm fly away, thoughtful. The warehouse merchant has many rare treasures, including curios imported from the Vermilion Empire.]
[An idea occurs to you. You ask whether he has any high-grade suppression objects from the Vermilion Empire.]
[The warehouse merchant starts and, frowning, scrutinizes you. After a long while he softly asks whether you are not a native of Sakura Falls.]
[Among the people the Great General enforces a ban on selling suppression objects. Rumor has it that all suppression objects must be turned over to the Imperial Residence, to be distributed by the Great General to the various onmyoji schools.]
[You form a sword seal and Uzuki-Kir floats in the air.]
[The warehouse merchant’s eyes widen. He bows at once. So the distinguished guest is a disciple of a Vermilion immortal. No wonder you possess Vermilion treasures like the Painting of the Frontier Riders Playing the Flute.]
[He leaves the counter, looks around at the shop door to make sure no one is nearby, then shuts the door, leaving only a narrow slit in the window.]
[Returning to the counter, the warehouse merchant murmurs a mantra and reaches out to produce an object from thin air.]
[It is a huge, razor-sharp fang the size of a palm.]
[Fang of Huodou (Legendary+ Item): A precious suppression object left behind after the death of the ferocious yokai Huodou from the legends of the Vermilion Empire.]
[Use this item, together with related skills, to suppress and subdue yokai-type summoned beasts.]
Lin Xun was overjoyed.
With this item, he might be able to take the Nine-Tailed Fox as a shikigami.
[You quickly ask the warehouse merchant for the price.]
[He shakes his head and says frankly that its value is immeasurable. Without a chance coincidence of traveling to the Vermilion Empire, he would not have obtained it.]
[The Fang of Huodou is far too precious. It can only be exchanged by barter.]
[Whether or not the deal succeeds, he asks you not to divulge the existence of the Fang of Huodou.]
[You nod and ask whether the Painting of the Frontier Riders Playing the Flute can be exchanged for the Fang of Huodou.]
[The warehouse merchant seems very fond of the painting. After much inner struggle, he finally says that although your treasure is indeed valuable, it still falls far short of the Fang of Huodou.]
Lin Xun was not surprised. It was, after all, a Legendary+ item. Its great value was only natural.
He searched his Inventory and found a scrap item titled Twin Dragons Playing with a Pearl. Its description also suggested it could be exchanged to the merchant for Spirit Essence.
But its value seemed very low. The warehouse merchant only glanced at it and shook his head.
For the moment Lin Xun did not know what to do.
“Should I just kill the merchant and take it for free?”
His old problem of freeloading crept back unnoticed.
He shook his head and quickly cast off the thought.
Most Apostles could kill a defenseless merchant, but killing a merchant would not yield the trade goods.
Even killing the merchant after the trade would not drop the Spirit Essence paid for the purchase.
He sighed and searched his Inventory again for something he did not need but that had considerable value.
After a search, he indeed found two items.
One was the Pleasure Quarter Proprietor’s Token. With this token, one could go to the Idyllic Pleasure Quarter and become a true freeloader, of immeasurable value to enthusiasts of that path.
The other was the Great General’s Omamori. Using this item could draw the attention of the Extreme Delusion Fruit, a veritable suicide artifact.
[You take out the Pleasure Quarter Proprietor’s Token and the Great General’s Omamori and ask the warehouse merchant how valuable they are.]
[The warehouse merchant frowns tightly the moment he sees the Great General’s Omamori in your hand.]
[He examines the Omamori closely and grows more and more terrified. Sweat beads on his brow and his face turns pale.]
[The warehouse merchant drops to his knees and begs for mercy, saying he did not know you were the Great General’s right hand. If he had known, he would never have offered a contraband item like the Fang of Huodou for sale.]
[He pleads with you not to report this to the Great General. He is willing to present the Shequan Sake and the Fang of Huodou to you free of charge.]
Lin Xun was dumbfounded.
“Goodness. The cursed game can testify, I did not threaten him at all. I really meant to pay this time.”
He twitched at the corner of his mouth. He knew the freeloader label would not come off.
“Next time I will definitely pay. Definitely. As long as it isn’t too expensive.”
[You quietly accept the Shequan Sake and the Fang of Huodou from the warehouse merchant.]
[You have obtained Shequan Sake (Treasure).]
[You have obtained Fang of Huodou (Legendary+ Item).]
[You tell the warehouse merchant that you have spent the entire day serving the Great General in the Kyoto Imperial Palace, that you have never come to Fukoka Castle, and that you know nothing of the Fish Market or the Dark Market Warehouse.]
[Hearing this, the warehouse merchant finally exhales in relief and rises to wipe the sweat from his brow.]
[You gift the Painting of the Frontier Riders Playing the Flute and Twin Dragons Playing with a Pearl to the warehouse merchant. He is too wary to accept them and declines repeatedly before reluctantly taking the two scrolls.]
[Holding two treasures close, you wave farewell to the warehouse merchant and leave the Dark Market Warehouse.]
[…]
[You leave Fukoka Castle and come to a deserted wilderness.]
[The Great Kyo-no-Oeyama lies west of Kyoto. Do you wish to go there immediately?]
Lin Xun looked at the Nine-Tailed Fox Tail Fur in his item bar.
He wondered whether to summon the Nine-Tailed Fox immediately and bring her into his harem.
After much consideration, he suppressed the impulse. There was only one Fang of Huodou, which meant he could choose only one between the Nine-Tailed Fox and Shuten Doji.
Lin Xun decided to visit the Great Kyo-no-Oeyama first, then decide.