Less yang and too yin

Yin Xiu stared blankly at her. Although he seemed calm on the surface, the violent shaking of the bell in his pocket still made his scalp tingle.

In his eyes, a faint black aura was emanating from Xiaomeng's head. This was obviously a characteristic of a demon.

Xiaomeng said, "Yin Xiu? I feel that you're completely different from before."

"You've changed too, Fox Demon, or should I say Xiaomeng?"

Xiaomeng gave a sad smile. "There must be some differences. In the last battle, my demon core was taken away, and my cultivation has been completely destroyed."

She lifted her long hair, revealing a 残缺的 ear, which was the mark of the injury inflicted by Uncle Ming last time.

Yin Xiu could also sense that, compared to before, the aura of the Fox Demon was indeed much weaker.

If the pressure the Fox Demon exerted on him before was like that of a tiger, now it could only be regarded as a kitten with its back arched and all its fur standing on end.

Yin Xiu wasn't an old hand like Uncle Ming, but he had studied Sun Tzu's Art of War thoroughly. Therefore, even though the Fox Demon showed signs of weakness, he still remained vigilant.

After all, foxes were very cunning animals. Who knew if it was playing some trick?

Ignoring Yin Xiu's vigilance, Xiaomeng babbled on about many things.

"I'm not a demon from here. Come to think of it, my hometown is in the Qinling Mountains. There are endless primeval forests there, with trees so dense and tall that they block out the sky and are much more crowded and towering than these buildings.

I'm fifty years old this year. For a fox demon, this is a very young age. I shouldn't have come to Hong Kong Island originally. This place isn't suitable for foxes or other beasts to live in, but I had no choice but to come."

A distinct trace of melancholy appeared in Xiaomeng's eyes, forcing Yin Xiu to go over Sun Tzu's Art of War in his mind again.

[Perhaps this tranquil heart has also indirectly strengthened my state of mind?]

Anyway, Yin Xiu remained silent on the surface and at the same time, used his eyes to search for a way to escape.

The werewolf who had saved Xiaomeng before might not be hiding in the dark watching his every move at this moment, but could still appear here at any time.

Although the opportunity to kill the Fox Demon was rare, Yin Xiu didn't intend to take this risk.

"No place has spiritual energy comparable to that of the Qinling Mountains. Even the spirit-gathering arrays of those alchemists in the Imperial Astronomical Bureau intercept many of the tributaries of the spiritual energy of the Qinling Mountains. It's like a small reservoir. When the water flows through, the reservoir fills up.

For the Qinling Mountains, filling up these reservoirs isn't even something that can be called effortless. It just creates these miracles inadvertently, just like a little bit of the leftovers when a whale feeds, which is enough to fill up other small fish and shrimps.

But who would have thought that the spiritual energy of the Qinling Mountains would also run out one day? It was like a surging river suddenly drying up."

Recalling her previous experiences, Xiaomeng's face turned pale under the illumination of the light, and her body couldn't help but tremble.

Yin Xiu's face also didn't look very good. "Is it because of the steam engines and trains?"

Xiaomeng nodded. "That's right. Ever since the people from Europa brought that 'industry' to the East, the spiritual energy in Kyushu has been declining sharply, and even the Qinling Mountains couldn't avoid the fate of depletion."

She took off the black bandage wrapped around her hand, revealing the empty finger and showed it to Yin Xiu.

This kind of minor injury was originally nothing. At most, it would take two weeks to heal, and there would just be a scar left. But as you can see, this wound shows no sign of healing at all. It has completely become a deformity.

This is also one of the signs of the depletion of spiritual energy in Kyushu. On the other hand, it's becoming more and more difficult for me to transform back into my original form. In other words, I'm being trapped in this human body for a longer and longer time."

She leaned against the wall and lowered her head to play with her fingers. Yin Xiu 隐隐 felt that the situation in the north was probably even worse. Otherwise, the Fox Demon wouldn't have come to Hong Kong Island, which was generally recognized as a place with thin spiritual energy.

The power of industry could move mountains and fill seas, and in the blink of an eye, it could completely change the appearance of nature.

"I went out into the open to suck the essence of men precisely because my spiritual power is becoming weaker and weaker. Originally, before this, I could absorb enough power just by mingling with people in Bolan Street, but now it seems that's not enough anymore."

Was it just mingling?

Yin Xiu couldn't help but think of the veiled warnings Pimp Feng had given him on the way here.

"That little woman is a bit strange. As for her customers, it's okay for the others, but there was a tall and strong sailor over two meters tall before. He was so muscular that someone could stand on his arm. After visiting her, he died the next day.

He was lying on the bed, not wearing a single piece of clothing, and he was terrifyingly thin, as if he was suffering from a serious illness. But this isn't the first case. She doesn't have any regular customers, you know? People who have been with her either die or disappear without a trace. I didn't dare to tell anyone about this.

Anyway, you wouldn't believe me even if I told you, right? 'Better to die beside a beauty than live without her.' If you tell any of the customers about this, it will just make them more excited."

I wonder if the rumors he heard in his "previous life" are still useful in this world. Yin Xiu had heard that a three-tailed fox demon couldn't be cultivated just by relying on the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

"Yin Xiu, do you hate the English people here?" she suddenly asked.

Yin Xiu nodded. "Not just the ones on Hong Kong Island, and not just the English people. There aren't many good people among those blond and blue-eyed fellows."

Xiaomeng was still leaning against the wall, and the streetlight reflected the light in her eyes.

"In that case, you can understand the hatred we, who have lost our spiritual energy, hold towards all humans."

"No." Yin Xiu shook his head. "This isn't a reason for you to suck the essence out of others. And there's one thing I really want to know."

"Why did you suck the essence out of three men in a row within a week, but for me, you seemed to observe me for a long time before making a move, so much so that you even figured out my martial arts realm. Was there any need to go to so much trouble?"

Xiaomeng stared blankly at Yin Xiu with a strange look in her eyes. "Don't you still know what's special about you?"

Yin Xiu spread his hands and said, "It can't be because I'm more handsome, can it?"

Xiaomeng laughed. "So you really don't know. Your birth chart shows that you have Yang in the Minor Yang and Yin in the Great Yin. No matter where you are, you're good material for cultivation or for helping others cultivate."

Yin Xiu frowned. "Where did you find out my birth chart?"

Xiaomeng's laughter was obviously a bit triumphant. "You didn't expect it, did you? Before, I sucked the essence out of someone in another place. There was an employee roster on his desk, and it had your name and birth date on it."

Yin Xiu slapped his forehead violently. That should be the employee roster of the factory.

He only found out later that during the time he entered the factory, the Hong Kong Island patrol police suddenly became strict about managing the information of the workers and required that the birth months and years of each worker be registered.

And the workers generally couldn't tell their own birthdays clearly, and some didn't even know how old they were this year.

So the intermediary casually found an old scholar who was good at fortune-telling and made up some birth months and years for their group of people and filled them in.

That old man wasn't very good at fortune-telling, and he understood even less about these modern things. He thought that the foreigners also needed to look at birth charts and do fortune-telling and feng shui, so he made up a whole bunch of birth charts according to the fortune-telling books instead of just writing down the months and years.

Perhaps the inspectors didn't even look at it. Anyway, this roster passed the inspection.

At that time, Yin Xiu had regarded this as a joke. Now, this joke had come back to haunt him.