Chapter 1 A little fox of a hundred years

The morning sun had just risen.

Hong Mei's fine fur trembled lightly as she basked in the morning sun. Her nine tails moved nimbly and spread out freely as she groomed herself under the gentle morning sunlight on a large rock, perfect for a nine-tailed red fox to sunbathe.

The vast peach blossom forest and the clear lake served as Hong Mei's resting place since she hadn't returned home last night after drinking peach blossom wine she had dug up from under a large peach blossom tree. She had gulped down the wine and if her uncle found out, she would surely face punishment.

Her uncle, Hong Yilan, was the resident and owner of this peach blossom forest. Hong Mei often sneaked here after causing trouble, as usual, but of course she mustn't be caught by her uncle.

As a member of the red fox clan that ruled the Qing Qu kingdom, Hong Mei was the third daughter, born when her older siblings were already married and had families of their own. She could be considered a surprise child, unexpected by her parents, the king and queen of Qing Qu.

The youngest child, she was very mischievous and often caused trouble in the Qing Qu kingdom. However, she is the beloved of all creatures in Qing Qu because, although she often caused mischief, she never meant any harm and only wanted to help, though sometimes she just wanted to tease someone.

She was already 1,000 years old this year... and she was still causing trouble everywhere. She could be considered a good fox spirit not like the demon fox clan of the demon realm which consumed all being hearts to enhancing their body cultivation. 

When she felt she had sunbathed enough, Hong Mei descended from the rocks with her small paws. Instantly, pink smoke appeared around her and from the smoke emerged a beautiful woman with a small face, skin as white as flawless jade and emerald-green eyes that shone brightly. Her long, wavy pink hair cascaded down to her curvaceous hips.

She wore a chest wrap and a long skirt made of soft red chiffon, paired with bright purple with the remaining fabric floating around her body.

She was truly a beautiful and alluring fox.

However, when she saw her uncle approaching from afar, her tails stood on end and she immediately swung her arm toward the jars under the tree, making them disappear in an instant. She had hastily thrown them into the bottom of the pond.

"Xiao Mei?" Hong Yilan pushed aside the young peach blossom branches that obstructing his view.

"Uncle!" After disposing of the evidence of her mischief, Hong Mei gave a stiff smile and prepared to transform back into her nine-tailed fox form, but she forgot to refill the hole she had dug under the peach blossom tree.

"What is..." Sniff sniff. Hong Yilan's sense of smell was very sharp, and the strong aroma of wine lingered in the air. He immediately knew that his mischievous niece had drunk a lot of the wine he had stored under the large peach blossom tree, the ground still scattered and full of holes behind Hong Mei.

"My wine..." Hong Yilan ran to the tree and saw that all his wine had been dug up, with some broken jars scattered under the tree.

"Xiao Mei!! What have you—" Hong Yilan saw the nine-tailed red fox running away from him, a vein popping on his forehead. This niece of his was so infuriating! He would punish her when he caught her later.

Then Hong Yilan floated and flew, searching for Hong Mei, who was running very fast below. When he saw the red fox rushing through the dense peach blossom trees, he immediately descended and intercepted her.

"Hong Mei! Naughty girl, don't run!" Hong Mei stopped with all her might and turned around, panicking as she tried to escape her uncle. However, her uncle swiftly lifted her and spanked her furry bottom hard several times. "Naughty girl! How dare you drink all of Uncle's wine! Naughty girl!"

Hong Mei whimpered, "Kaing... Kaing," and she shifted back to human. She slipped from her uncle's grasp, who had been holding her by the scruff of her neck.

"Ouch, Uncle! I promise I won't be naughty again!" She fell at her uncle's feet, who then squatted and spanked her again on her hands.

"Xiao Mei apologizes!! Uncle, don't be angry! Hiks hiks," she cried heavily, making her uncle stop spanking her.

"I promise, Uncle!" she said as her uncle released her and let out a long sigh.

"Xiao Mei, why did you drink so much of Uncle's wine? you still young and shouldn't drink uncle's wine!"

"Uncle... I already grown up! I'm 1,000 years old, why does uncle still treat me like a child? I'm not a child anymore!" Hong Mei said with a red face and tears streaming down to her 250,000-year-old uncle.

"If you're already grown up, why do you still act like a child? you don't study or practice, just eat, cause trouble, and give this old man a headache?" Hong Mei pouted as Hong Yilan scolded her.

Her uncle was a white fox spirit famous for making wine, but his wine was very strong and sometimes those who couldn't handle it would faint from it. Besides, the wine supply this year was running low because he had just returned from the war between immortals and Dong Fang Tang demon in the mirage realm. He was also worried that the wine would damage the thousand-year cultivation of his niece, who had just recently matured after gaining her ninth tail.

"But Uncle, Xiao Mei—"

"Uncle doesn't want to hear any excuses! Xiao Mei must promise uncle that you won't be naughty anymore because you already grown up! If you want to drink wine, you must ask uncle's permission first. Do you promise?!" Hong Yilan demanded a promise from Hong Mei, who looked like she was about to cry again.

"Yes, yes, I promise. I will go now." Without waiting for Hong Yilan to respond Hong Mei disappeared from his sight and from afar, the shadow of a red fox with nine tails could be seen running out of the peach blossom forest. Hong Yilan sighed deeply and shook his head. This time, he didn't chase her.

"Huuhh..." He held his aching head and slowly walked back to his residence beneath the peach blossom forest mountain.

Hong Mei had indeed promised her uncle about her naughty behavior, but this time she was very curious about the human world, far from the Qing Qu kingdom. Yesterday, her friend, an eagle spirit, said that he had visited the human world and met many of his friends there, but they couldn't cultivate well because the spiritual aura in the human world wasn't suitable for spirits.

Humans living in that world could ascend to the immortal realm, but only one in 10,000 succeeded.

Hong Mei became curious about the body cultivators the eagle had mentioned, and she intended to go to the human world to see how they trained their bodies. Besides wanting to see the human world, she was also bored in Qing Qu. If she had diligently practiced the techniques taught by her family to enter the immortal realm and improve her cultivation, she would have succeeded. However, Hong Mei felt that fox cultivation wasn't suitable for her, so she tried to find new things to learn to improve her cultivation. Yes... that was Hong Mei's foolish thinking.

So she walked along the river that led to a waterfall, which opened a portal connecting Qing Qu and the human world.

This time, she intended to go for just one day, which in Qing Qu would be equivalent to one month in the human world.

Of course, she didn't tell anyone about her departure because she didn't want to be punished again for sneaking out of the spirit realm, as she had done before when she sneaked into the immortal realm to visit her married siblings. Besides nearly losing her life being chased by the gate-guarding dragon and lacking sufficient cultivation, she was almost beaten to death by her father, the king of Qing Qu, when he found out about her mischief.

However, neither of those things ever stopped her from causing trouble and bothering the residents of Qing Qu every day. There was always some Qing Qu spirit who would come to the palace and report Hong Mei's actions to the king and queen, giving her parents headaches.

Hong Mei stared intently at the portal that opened between the waterfall, occasionally closing momentarily when the waterfall's flow became heavy.

Hong Mei transformed into her nine-tailed fox form and walked slowly, sometimes leaping over rocks and flying over the river before entering the open portal.

Hong Mei felt intense nausea from crossing realms and when she finally emerged from the portal inside an oak tree connected to the waterfall portal.

The large oak tree was still lush, but the cave inside its trunk was vast enough to hold a hundred people at once.

The curious little fox immediately hid eight of her tails, leaving only one visible.

Hong Mei walked through the dense forest, trying to find her way out to meet human body cultivators who could ascend to the immortal realm. She loved the immortal realm, but her cultivation wasn't sufficient to stay there and she wanted to learn the methods humans used to cultivate so she could officially ascend to the immortal realm.

On her journey through the forest, she encountered many wild animals, but she managed to defeat them all because she could use a little magic, though not proficiently. Compared to the low-IQ creatures living in the human world, she was superior and successfully made her way through the dense forest into a lush forest where sunlight still penetrated the sparse trees.

Not far from where she walked, near a bamboo forest, two figures in yellow and blue were fighting. The two humans were testing their agility, causing chaos in the bamboo forest with their spells and clashing weapons.

Curious, Hong Mei moved her four paws closer to where the two figures were and accidentally a blue spell hit her from the front, striking her face. Hong Mei was flung far and whimpered briefly before fainting.

To be continue...