Raising a Fox Spirit in My Home

Seeing that the Taoist assembly had not yet begun, they were about to fight. The two Taoist ushers from the Gezao Sect were so anxious that they were covered in a fine sheen of sweat. They tried to persuade them, but failed. This is what's called solving one problem only to find another cropping up.

Furthermore, Wei Qing, a guy whose desire was to see the world plunged into chaos, stirred up ill intent from time to time. Especially when she saw Li Yundong, her eyes shone, and her excited look seemed to say, "Fight, fight, hurry up! Let me see who is the most powerful!"

Du Fei had been involved in the mortal world for a long time for the sake of cultivation. As the big Shixiong of the Quanzhen Dragon Sect, he was quite prudent. Feeling a headache coming on, he thought, "Isn't this younger sister too weird? Why is she sometimes stopping him from fighting and sometimes causing trouble?"

The fatter Taoist usher said with a wry smile, "Dear Zhenren, today is a special day in our cultivation world which only comes one time every four years. There is nothing serious about fighting here, but it is a big deal to make the officials unhappy. Even if you win, you'll get into trouble. What'd be glorious about that?"

The thinner Taoist usher also hurriedly advised, "If you have any grievances, can't you settle them at the Taoist assembly later?"

Zhang Tianhe withdrew his gaze, then smiled and said, "The two Tao brothers are right. Let's see which of us is more powerful at the Taoist assembly later!"

After that, he walked toward the docked cruise ship.

Zhang Cunyi and Yue Sheng looked at each other and also boarded the ship.

Only Du Fei and Wei Qing had a good relationship with Li Yundong, so they stayed and watched him approach.

Wei Qing watched him approach surrounded by a gaggle of little foxes from the Fox Zen School. Beside him stood Zi Yuan, Zhou Qin, Su Chan, and others like stars surrounding the moon. She couldn't help saying with a laugh, "It's said that Zhenren Li is a romantic saint. Now it seems that it's true. He is indeed famous, but he is also modest, calm, funny, humorous, and handsome, and his cultivation of kung fu is extremely good. No wonder so many people like him."

Women look at men from one angle, and men look at men from another, so Du Fei paid attention to Li Yundong's bearing and spirit.

It had been more than a month since they had last bidden farewell. Li Yundong had appeared at this time having obviously subdued the burning thumb pot. Du Fei knew how difficult it was to subdue, so he had held onto it and not used it for a long time.

Du Fei carefully looked at Li Yundong. He couldn't help but ask Wei Qing, "Younger sister, do you think there's anything different about Li Yundong?"

Wei Qing looked Li Yundong up and down and nodded with a smile. "Yes!"

Du Fei couldn't help but smile back as he nodded, "Yeah, I thought so. What do you think is different?"

Wei Qing smiled and said, "He has become even more handsome and more mature!"

Du Fei was so angry that he couldn't help laughing. "Why do you only pay attention to that kind of thing?"

Wei Qing looked at him in confusion. "Well, what should I pay attention to?"

Du Fei shook his head and said helplessly, "Master kindly let you get involved in the mortal world for cultivation, but you just read fashion magazines all day long. Today you like one idol, tomorrow you like another. What's the use of just paying attention to people's appearances? We, cultivators, practice internally, not externally!"

Wei Qing retorted defiantly, "I've been paying attention to his inner qualities too, okay?"

Du Fei glared at her. "How dare you talk back! What have you been paying attention to, hm?"

Wei Qing glared back without showing weakness. "I think he has matured. Isn't it inside that he has matured?"

Du Fei was so angry that he chuckled bitterly. Just as he was about to teach his younger sister a lesson, he saw that Li Yundong and others had already come to the front.

Li Yundong smiled and made an obeisance by cupping his hands. "Zhenren Du, we meet again!"

Du Fei had no choice but to indicate that he would let Wei Qing off for the time being, shooting her a glance. He turned his face, laughed, and cupped his hands. "Zhenren Li, I haven't seen you for a few weeks. Your cultivation has improved a lot! When you came over just now, I could see that you already had the temperament of a grandmaster. Congratulations!"

Li Yundong smiled modestly and said, "Thank you for your help, Zhenren Du!"

Du Fei laughed. "Nonsense, we are fellow Taoists, there's no need to be so polite!"

Li Yundong and Du Fei were chatting when a sudden cry came from not far away. A foreign man with a strange accent shouted, "Master, master!"

Li Yundong was slightly stunned when he heard the voice. He felt like it was a little familiar, but he couldn't remember who the man was at that moment. However, when he turned his head and looked at him, he was truly shocked.

Li Yundong saw John, Kris, and a tall, beautiful foreign girl with South American charm running over. He asked curiously, "John? Kris? Why are you here? Is there an exchange student program running again this year?"

John looked excited, and he said loudly in stilted Chinese, "Master, you said you'd take me on as your student as soon as I became able to Chinese!"

Li Yundong smiled bitterly, thinking to himself, "Oh, no. I just said it casually. This guy is stubborn. Seems like he took me seriously!"

Li Yundong didn't reply. He turned his head and looked at Kris, asking, "Then why are you here?"

Kris flicked her curly golden hair, laughed, and said in fluent Chinese, "I'm also here to have you be my master!"

Li Yundong shook his head and said with a smile, "Didn't I tell you last time that I only take males as my disciples?"

Kris seemed to have been expecting him to say this. She pointed at John and said, "Then you should accept him, because you promised him that as long as he could speak Chinese, you would accept him as your disciple! There's a Chinese saying that one word is as heavy as nine sacred tripods. For the sake of your promise, we came all the way from the far-off United States. You should keep your word!"

John was also very cooperative, puffing out his chest and belly like a boy soldier waiting to be inspected by the chief. His face was filled with tension and excitement. From time to time, he glanced at Li Yundong. His hands, which were by his sides, kept sweating, so he grabbed at his trousers to wipe them.

Li Yundong smiled wryly. He hadn't expected Kris to trap him so tightly that he wouldn't be able to resist at all. He sighed and said, "Kris, if you guys want to learn basic kung fu, I can teach you. No problem..."

John quickly shouted, "No, master, I want to learn your Kryptonian kung fu. This kind of kung fu can send people flying through the air and make them dodge bullets! If I wanted to learn basic kung fu, I could study it in the United States. Why would I have to come here?"

Li Yundong shook his head. "No, John..."

John was so anxious that he asked in English again, "God, why can't I? Aren't I speaking Chinese now?"

To one side, Alba had been listening to them continuously speaking Chinese, and she was confused. Now, she was finally hearing something she could understand. She immediately said to Li Yundong, "Hey, are you still living in the old times of the last century? Why are you so full of bad thoughts at such a young age? Come on, it's the twenty-first century! Look around you. Your compatriots are so open. They are no different from the USA in many aspects. Why are you so old-fashioned? Why can't John be your disciple? Why can't Kris be your disciple? Is it just because she's a woman? What's wrong with women? What can't a woman do?"

Alba spoke hurriedly and quickly, like a light machine gun, making a lot of cracking sounds. Li Yundong was stunned. After a while, he turned his head and looked at Su Chan, Zi Yuan, and Zhou Qin. "Does anyone understand what she said?"

Zhou Qin's English was good, but after all, there was a difference between her and a native American English speaker. Alba spoke so fast that even an American with slow reactions would not have been able to completely understand it. So Zhou Qin just smiled bitterly and said, "I only understood one or two sentences..."

Zi Yuan shook her head and laughed as well. "I understood even less!"

Su Chan blinked her eyes and said, "Well, she's just a barbarian. Why should we care about her?"

Li Yundong smiled and tapped Su Chan's nose. "You're even more xenophobic than I am!"

"How about letting me translate?" Kris said.

Before Li Yundong could speak, he saw Wei Qing covering her mouth and giggling. Li Yundong turned around and smiled at her. "Zhenren Wei, do you understand?"

Wei Qing quickly waved her hand. "You don't need to call me Zhenren. I'm not worthy. I understand a little bit of English. If it's okay, I'll translate it for you."

Li Yundong smiled. "Sure. Please translate it quickly."

Wei Qing translated Alba's words with a smile and Li Yundong listened to her very carefully. After listening, he said to Wei Qing, "I also have a few things to say. Please translate it back to English for me."

Kris said indignantly, "Hey, why won't you let me do it?"

Li Yundong smiled and said, "Kris, I know you have a good understanding of Chinese culture, but the culture you understand is only relatively simple stuff for Americans. You are far from truly understanding real Chinese culture! There are so many things that mean your translation may not be as accurate as Zhenren Wei's!"

Wei Qing smiled and grimaced at Kris, which made her turn her head away in anger.

Li Yundong said politely to Alba, "Beautiful American lady, I'm very grateful for your kind reminder. But if you had read our Taoist Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching, then you would know this sentence: 'A fish cannot escape from the abyss, the sharp weapon of a country cannot be revealed to humans.' What does this mean? It means that the most important thing in a country must never be shown to outsiders! Tell me, if I wanted to read your country's classified information, would the people in your country show it to me?"

Wei Qing looked at Li Yundong with admiration and secretly gave Li Yundong a thumbs-up. She whispered with a smile, "Well said!"

Wei Qing smiled and translated Li Yundong's words, then said to John with sympathy, "Give it up! Hurry back to the United States. If you are a true Taoist, we appreciate it. However, if you want to learn our cultivation skills, I'm afraid it's impossible!"

Li Yundong also laughed then. "It's not impossible," he said.

Wei Qing and Du Fei were both stunned, and Du Fei blurted, "No, Zhenren Li. Over the past 2000 years in the Cultivation World, no one has ever dared to accept a foreigner as a disciple. If you accept them, you will become the Cultivation World's target!"

Li Yundong waved his hand with a smile and said disapprovingly, "Zhenren Du, there is something wrong with your statement. In my opinion, the master of the Gezao Sect, Wan Zhenyuan, is a half-blood!"

The fatter Taoist usher, who had been silent all this time, responded unhappily, "Zhenren Li, our master is from Xinjiang, so he just looks like a foreigner."

Li Yundong laughed. "That's right. People from Xinjiang are also Chinese, but what about hundreds, or even thousands of years ago? Before Xinjiang became part of the history of our Chinese territory, weren't they the so-called barbarians of Yidi?"

Li Yundong's question stunned everyone, and they all fell into deep thought.

Li Yundong said again, "Besides, China always calls itself the Central Kingdom. For thousands of years, countless foreign people who are called barbarians of Yidi have invaded the Central Plains and been assimilated, becoming part of the Chinese nation. In the end, we all admit that they are part of China. What does this mean? It means that as long as you can speak Chinese, learn Chinese culture, believe our Chinese faith, and have Chinese nationality, you will be part of the Chinese people. At that point, I can teach you cultivation skills!"

Du Fei was fascinated by his words, especially when he heard the words 'if you have Chinese nationality'. He couldn't help cheering in his heart and he thought, "Zhenren Li is really cunning. He is too embarrassed to reject them right to their faces, so he's actually given such a problem to these foreigners!

"Will these foreigners really be willing to change their nationality for the sake of cultivation?"