In the main hall of the Palace of Radiance,
The newly appointed Celestial Official of the Morning Star, He Heng, was peacefully sleeping on the 999-square floating auspicious cloud bed. However, at this moment, the curtains on both sides of the hall, which had been tightly closed, suddenly lifted, and several dazzling rays of light instantly shone on his face.
Disturbed by the glaring sunlight, He Heng furrowed his brows, rubbed his eyes, and irritably sat up from the bed.
“What’s going on? Again? Isn’t today a day off?”
The next moment, the intelligent little robot of the Palace of Radiance, Xiangyun, floated immediately to his side. “Dear Celestial Official of the Morning Star, good morning. It is currently 7:10 in the morning according to the Heavenly Court time. May I inquire if you had a good rest?”
At this moment, He Heng was fully awake. He adjusted his sleepwear and countered, “7:10 AM, and you think I slept well?”
Xiangyun replied, “I sincerely apologize for disturbing your pleasant dreams at this time, but according to the central intelligence display…”
At this point, it produced a bright blue screen and pointed to several areas turning red on the screen, addressing He Heng, “In these dozen or so red-marked regions, there has been a widespread power outage. We urgently need you to go down and handle the power distribution.”
“Alright, got it.” As He Heng finished speaking, he floated down from the bed and made his way to the bathroom.
Brushing his teeth and washing up, he silently wondered why there always had to be overtime even on weekends.
Initially, they declared that the Palace of Radiance staunchly resisted the 996 work schedule1working from 9AM to 9PM, 6 days a week, pledging to fully uphold the labor rights of every Heavenly Court employee. However, in reality, the days seemed no different from a 996 schedule.
After finishing his morning routine, He Heng took out a black long robe specifically for power distribution from the wardrobe.
Once dressed, he stepped onto the auspicious cloud, ready to head out.
However, at that moment, He Heng noticed that his auspicious cloud seemed to be malfunctioning. No matter how many times he tried to restart it, the cloud wouldn’t start, and it wouldn’t charge either.
After numerous attempts, he angrily tossed aside his newly purchased Auspicious Cloud 13 Pro, muttering to himself, “I shouldn’t have used that fast-charging plug given by the God of Land last time. Well, forget it. I’ll go borrow one from the Supreme Old Lord.”
Standing tall in the clouds, the Palace of Eight Views appeared majestic and imposing.
As soon as the small palace maidens at the entrance recognized that the newcomer was the Celestial Official of the Morning Star, they immediately covered their faces with their sleeves and excitedly whispered, “The new Radiant Envoy is really handsome.”
Another one nodded repeatedly, agreeing, “Yes, and he has a lot of hair. It’s not easy to find someone with so much hair these days.”
He Heng didn’t pay much attention to the palace maidens’ hushed discussions. He simply explained his purpose for coming to the Palace of Eight Views to them.
The two immediately let He Heng in on the spot.
When He Heng found the Supreme Old Lord, the latter was as usual, immersed in alchemy in the alchemy room.
He Heng had long grown accustomed to this routine. After all, out of 365 days in a year, the Supreme Old Lord spent 366 days practicing alchemy.
Upon learning He Heng’s intention, the Supreme Old Lord left him with a casually airy remark, “The auspicious clouds are in the basement; just go get them yourself.”
With that said, he turned back to his alchemical work.
Following his instructions, He Heng made his way to the bottom floor of the Palace of Eight Views.
Upon opening the door to the basement, a visible cloud of dust particles greeted him. There, the auspicious cloud was casually tossed into some obscure corner by the Supreme Old Lord, accumulating a layer of dust on its surface.
Seeing this, He Heng had no choice but to pick up the auspicious cloud and shake it vigorously.
At first, it seemed harmless, but with one shake, it startled him.
The next second, “Plop!” A fluffy white lump fell from the auspicious cloud.
He Heng was immediately stunned, thinking, “No way, right? Is the quality of this auspicious cloud so poor that it falls apart with a simple shake?”
In the moment of his bewilderment, the “white lump” on the ground suddenly, and without warning, gave a little shake.
Though the movement was subtle, He Heng sensed that something was amiss.
The color of this lump was noticeably several shades whiter than the dusty auspicious cloud. Upon closer inspection, it had eyes, a nose, and a mouth. It wasn’t an auspicious cloud at all; it was unmistakably a white fox!
Currently, having pets in the Heavenly Court requires a permit, making the presence of animals like foxes extremely rare. Keeping a pet without authorization could lead to significant fines.
Realizing this, He Heng quickly picked up the white lump from the ground. However, the moment his fingertips touched the soft fur of the creature, he sensed that something was amiss.
The little fox felt icy cold to the touch, almost like ice. Its eyes were tightly shut, its ears drooped, and its big tail was wrapped tightly around its body, resembling a puppet that could be manipulated and remained motionless.
He Heng thought this was troublesome. This little fox probably “smuggled” its way up here. Somehow, it managed to sneak into the auspicious cloud of the Supreme Old Lord without being noticed, and then, quietly and furtively, ascended to the Ninth Heaven.
As the auspicious cloud passed through the thin atmosphere, the temperature around it dropped to around minus ten degrees Celsius. Heavenly beings in the Heavenly Court naturally wouldn’t feel the cold, but small creatures from the mortal realm were a different story.
Seeing the pitiable state of the little fox, He Heng compassionately tucked it into the folds of his clothes. Uttering an incantation, he aimed to warm the fox quickly. Then, in a hurry, he stepped onto the auspicious cloud of the Supreme Old Lord and rushed back to his own Palace of Radiance.
Upon returning, He Heng took the little fox out from his clothes and placed it next to the stove in his room, hoping to warm it up. Seeing no signs of the fox waking up, he went to the kitchen and fetched his long-preserved Confused Immortal liquor.
It is said that drinking alcohol warms the body, so if it works for humans, why not for a fox?
With this thought in mind, He Heng took a sip from the gourd-shaped liquor bottle and directly fed a small amount to the fox’s mouth.
The next moment,
“Cough! Cough! Cough!”
The little fox, choked by the strong liquor forced into its throat, began to cough violently, its small snowy face turning bright red.
Seeing the little fox finally awake, He Heng felt that the method of giving it a few sips of alcohol might indeed be effective.
Thinking this, he reached over and tousled the fluffy ears of the fox, then brought the gourd-shaped liquor bottle to its small mouth for another sip.
“Wu-wu~”
The little fox choked uncomfortably, feeling the warmth spreading through its body, but its throat burned as if on fire.
At this moment, it finally opened its eyes and saw the man standing before it.
The man was handsome, with sharp features—a face marked by sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes. His eyes were deep, his nose straight and tall, and his phoenix-like gaze appeared particularly divine. The little fox had never seen a human so good-looking, and for a moment, it was a bit stunned.
However, in the next instant… He Heng approached with the gourd-shaped liquor bottle again.
This frightened the little fox, making it shrink into the corner with ears drooping. Now, at the sight of that bottle, it felt a bit apprehensive.
“Can’t drink alcohol?” Seeing this, He Heng smiled, finding the little fox even more amusing.
With that, he set the liquor bottle aside and directly reached to scoop up the little fox, pulling it into his arms.
When the little fox’s head nuzzled into the man’s neck, it widened its round eyes in shock.
In that moment, as it gazed at the man’s throat and the well-defined jawline so close by, its whole body stiffened.
Though it couldn’t speak yet, it was, after all, a fox about to transform into a human!
They were so intimate now… Was this appropriate?
Thinking about it, the little fox emitted a few soft “wu-wu” sounds from its throat, indicating that He Heng should be mindful of the boundaries.
He Heng, unfamiliar with fox language, ignored the hints and continued to caress.
Initially, the little fox struggled a bit, but when He Heng’s fingertips scratched under its chin, it couldn’t help but purr in contentment. Even its eyes narrowed into slits as it lifted its pointed face, allowing He Heng to scratch its chin.
In this moment, curled up in the warm embrace of the man, it tucked its large tail and was so content that it was almost falling asleep.
Being held like this… feels quite comfortable.
He Heng looked at the little creature in his arms, now curled into a ball with its eyelids starting to tremble. He thought, this little fox has quite the courage, daring to venture into the Ninth Heaven alone. Now, even when meeting a stranger, it shows no signs of fear.
But what if it encounters someone malicious? Wouldn’t it be like selling itself and even counting the money for the seller?
On the other hand, the little fox remained oblivious to He Heng’s thoughts. After being frozen for several hours earlier, its body nearly stiffened. Now, nestled in such a warm embrace, it quickly succumbed to drowsiness.
Before long, it truly fell asleep in He Heng’s arms.
The little fox was awakened by the aroma of food. When it opened its eyes, it found itself covered in a warm blanket, stretched out into a long shape, completely disoriented.
Having not slept so comfortably in a long time, the little fox stretched its body, yawned, revealing a tiny pink tongue.
Finally sitting up, it sniffed the tantalizing aroma of meat, its damp nose twitching. Both ears stood upright, fully alert.
At that moment, He Heng approached the little fox with a freshly cooked plate of meat and a bowl of warm water. He had finished dealing with the power distribution.
Seeing the little fox’s hungry gaze fixed on the plate of meat, He Heng couldn’t help but smirk.
“Hungry?”
The little fox was indeed starving, but it hadn’t forgotten its mother’s advice to maintain a certain level of dignity as a fox. It shouldn’t foolishly be deceived by humans just because they offered food.
With these thoughts in mind, the little fox glanced at the plate of meat and then at the man before it, feeling somewhat conflicted.
Observing the fox’s dilemma, He Heng decided to push the bowl of meat directly in front of it.
At that moment, the little fox’s stomach betrayed it with a loud growl.
Feeling embarrassed, the little fox buried its face.
He Heng didn’t expect the fox to be so concerned about its pride. He chuckled and said, “If you don’t want to eat, I can take the meat away.”
The next moment, “Wu wu wu!”
“No!” The little fox vehemently protested, immediately darting from the corner to the plate of meat and indulging itself.
Seemingly genuinely afraid that He Heng might take the meat away, it voraciously bit into the large chunk of meat, devouring it with gusto.
Seeing how eagerly the fox was eating and fearing it might choke, He Heng pushed the bowl of water towards it and said, “Eat slowly; no one’s going to snatch it from you.”
As he spoke, He Heng reached out and gently touched the fox’s fluffy ears and back.
The little fox, absorbed in its meal, showed no signs of defensiveness. It focused entirely on devouring the meat, even its tail showed no reaction when He Heng held it.
While caressing the furry head, He Heng said, “By the way, you don’t have a name yet. I can’t keep calling you ‘fox’ all the time, can I?”
Upon hearing this, the little fox swallowed another piece of meat hastily and made a vague “wu-wu” sound.
It seemed it hadn’t considered the issue of a name yet. However, once it completed its transformation into human form, it would undoubtedly need a name. So, what should it be called?
At that moment, the little fox heard He Heng continue:
“Don’t they say white foxes have nine tails? How come you only have one? Is your cultivation too low?”
Little fox: ??? Are you being polite?
Who has the lower cultivation? You’re the one lacking!
However, to He Heng, all these words sounded like different frequencies of “squeak, squeak, squeak.”
He Heng: “Look at you, you can’t even speak…”
Little fox: “Squeak, squeak, squeak!”
Who says I can’t speak?
You just didn’t understand!
He Heng: “Then, how about I call you Yan Jiu? Maybe someday you’ll learn to speak, and growing nine tails might not be impossible either.”
Seemingly to prove that it could indeed speak, the little fox immediately set down the bowl of meat and made two “squeak, squeak” sounds towards He Heng.
He Heng, taking it as a response to his earlier words, used the squeaks as confirmation that the name “Yan Jiu” was well-received.
Thinking about this, he affectionately patted the fox’s ears.
“Alright, I’ll call you Ah Jiu from now on.”
