Raising a Fox Spirit in My Home

Recognition

When Li Yundong opened his eyes again, the smooth, fair skin of Zi Yuan\'s cheeks was the first thing he saw . Her eyes were closed, and she had a serene expression on her face . And judging from her posture and the way she was sitting, she was meditating .

He raised his hands above his head and stretched . Zi Yuan\'s blinked open as soon as he moved .

"Oh . You\'re up . "

Li Yundong released a long sigh . "What time is it?"

"It\'s been nearly three hours since you began your first Qi Transmutation cycle . "

Three hours? Time sure flies .

"How do you feel?"

Li Yundong chuckled and lowered his arms back down . "Not too bad I suppose . But . . . I don\'t feel extra powerful or anything . Um . . . Actually, I feel just the same . No difference . "

The whole thing honestly felt like a long nap .

Zi Yuan was looking past his shoulders . He turned his head and saw the Fan of the Seven Treasures that he\'d leaned against the side of the couch when he walked in earlier .

"Why don\'t you try channeling your Zhenqi into the Fan of Seven Treasures and see what happens?"

Li Yundong swiveled his head around and found Zi Yuan smirking at him .

Indeed, the significance of what Zi Yuan was asking him to do wasn\'t lost on him at all . All this while, his usage of the Fan of Seven Treasures didn\'t involve any magic or spiritual energy . Even then, the Fan had proven itself to be capable of terrifying feats of power .

What would happen if he juiced it up with magic?

Li Yundong reached behind him and pulled the Fan of Seven Treasure from the couch towards him . He lay the bulky object down on the floor in front of him, then stared at it warily .

So help him God if he ended up destroying the whole apartment after this training session . . .

"Go on . " Zi Yuan\'s voice jolted him out of his musings . "What are you waiting for?"

Li Yundong stole a fearful glance at Zi Yuan . Suddenly, this whole thing felt like a terrible idea . Shouldn\'t they take this somewhere outside the apartment?

"O- Okay . " He cleared his throat and sat up straighter . Then, he took a deep breath and ran his fingers along the fan\'s metallic surface .

He should probably start with just a little bit of Zhenqi .

Baby steps, right?

"Just use the same Qi control techniques, right?" he asked tentatively . "Like the ones I practiced during the Lianqi phase?"

"Mm-hmm . "

Alright then . . . He focused his mind on the Zhenqi circling around the surface layer of his Vital Orb .

Here we go…

He mobilized a small portion of Zhenqi and guided it along the Hand\'s Major Yin Lung Meridian . A moment later, he felt his Zhenqi leave the surface of his palm .

Shit . . . What\'s with this weird—

His Zhenqi was met with a resistance the moment it entered the fan, almost as though the fan had some kind of inner defense mechanism . The resistance grew stronger as it tried to push his Zhenqi back into his body . He kept pushing back against the resistance and, with some effort, managed to keep his Zhenqi inside the fan . Seconds later, he felt something else: his Zhenqi had lost some of its vitality; like the fan had extracted something from his Zhenqi .

He slowly guided his Zhenqi back into his body . When he felt the last of his Zhenqi entering his meridian, he cracked open an eye to take a peek at the fan .

Nothing . Absolutely nothing .

The fan lay as still as a dead fish .

He opened both eyes and looked towards Zi Yuan . "Um . . . "

Amusement shone through Zi Yuan\'s eyes as she studied him . Somehow, she managed to make him feel about as helpless as a three-year-old kid trying to drive a truck .

"Well? What did I do wrong?"

Zi Yuan smiled . "Technically, you didn\'t do anything wrong . "

"But . . . " Li Yundong\'s eyes went to the fan again . "It didn\'t even react . It\'s like nothing happened . "

"Nothing? Are you sure about that?"

Li Yundong\'s gaze went from the fan to Zi Yuan\'s face . One of her brows was arched .

Then, he spent a while recalling every sensation he\'d felt during the process .

"My Zhenqi was met with some kind of resistance," he said .

"Uh-huh… What else?"

"After that it was like . . . like something was drawn out of my Zhenqi?" Li Yundong paused to take a look at Zi Yuan . Something clicked inside his mind . "It was my spiritual energy, wasn\'t it? The fan consumed my spiritual energy . "

"Precisely . "

"Okay . . . " Li Yundong frowned . "So did it even work?" He gestured at the fan . "It didn\'t react at all . "

He didn\'t expect the fan to suddenly explode or anything, but he figured it would at least glow .

Zi Yuan shook her head like she would at a child who\'d just told her something utterly nonsensical .

"What?" he asked .

"Suppose that an item costs a million yuan," she said with a quirk of a brow . "Do you expect to buy it for ten yuan?"

Oh . So he had to channel more spiritual energy into the fan was what she was saying .

Right . Stupid . He cleared his throat, suddenly feeling as though his cheeks were on fire .

"More spiritual energy . Got it . "

"If this were a thousand years ago, the fan wouldn\'t respond to you even if you spend the next two years channeling your Zhenqi into it . "

Li Yundong stared at Zi Yuan for a moment, unable to believe what he\'d just heard . "T-Two years?"

"At your current level, yes . " Zi Yuan\'s eyes darted to his face . "Not even a single budge after two years . "

Two frigging years . You\'ve gotta be shitting me .

"Hold on . You said a thousand years ago . How is the fan different now compared to a thousand years ago?"

"Grandmaster Pan Shi was still wielding it at that time," Zi Yuan answered . "Unlike now, the Great Fox Elder\'s spiritual signature inside the fan was still thriving . . . "

"Spiritual signature?"

"A spiritual signature is exactly as its name implies . It is a mark indicative of the presence of spiritual energy . "

"I see…"

That sounded a bit similar to DNA…

"Remember . . . " Zi Yuan\'s expression turned serious . "The magical object chooses its master . " She pointed at the Fan of Seven Treasures . "And that is exactly what you need to do in order to pass the second dan of the Shentong phase . You need to get the Fan of Seven Treasures to choose you as its new master . " Zi Yuan placed her hand back onto her lap . "The most basic way to use your spiritual energy isn\'t to cast spells, but to use it to gain the allegiance of a magical object . " Zi Yuan\'s expression softened . "That resistance you felt earlier is due to the spiritual energy of its current owner trying to expel yours . " Zi Yuan shot him a pointed look . "And yes, until you can get the fan to recognize you, Grandmaster Pan Shi is still its owner . "

Li Yundong stared wordlessly at the Fan of Seven Treasures .

Suddenly, Zi Yuan chuckled . "It\'s amazing how Grandmaster Pan Shi\'s spiritual signature remains inside the fan even after a thousand years . "

Zi Yuan shook her head in awe . "It proves just how powerful his spiritual energy was when he was at his prime . "

"Spiritual signatures weaken with time?"

"Without constant exposure to the owners\' Qi, then yes, they do . "

Li Yundong nodded and stared at the fan again . That must be why Zi Yuan had asked him to keep it beside him at all times .

After a while, Li Yundong chuckled and shook his head .

"What\'s so funny?" Zi Yuan asked .

"How does it even work?" he asked, glancing over at Zi Yuan .

"It\'s not that complicated . Just keep channeling your Zhenqi into the fan and try to fight against its resistance," Zi Yuan explained . "Your spiritual energy will do the rest by slowly erasing Grandmaster Pan Shi\'s spiritual signature from the fan . " There was a pause . "The task might take a while, but it should be possible even for someone at your level . It\'s been a thousand years since Grandmaster Pan Shi last wielded it after all . . . "

Li Yundong wanted to ask how long "a while" was, but he held his tongue in the end . He figured it wouldn\'t be as long as that trip to Tibet . At least that was what he hoped .

"Okay . What actually happens when the fan acknowledges me as its owner?"

Would it involve some kind of ritual?

"Several things," Zi Yuan said . "At the exact moment a magical object acknowledges you as its owner, a connection will be formed between your Spirit and the magical object\'s Spirit . "

Li Yundong glanced down at the fan, then looked back up at Zi Yuan . "Magical objects have Spirits?"

"Of course . " Zi Yuan smiled, then nodded at the Fan of Seven Treasures . "You\'ll soon see that it has a will of its own . "

"Wow…"

"Now pay attention . This is very important," Zi Yuan said sternly . "That connection between your Spirit and the object\'s Spirit is a sign of ownership . You understand?" There was a pause . "Do you know how you managed to take the damask from Hongling back then?"

Li Yundong shook his head . He just remembered telling himself to do everything in his power to stop that f*cking thing from hurting Su Chan . He didn\'t recall doing anything special .

"Your Spirit severed the connection between Hongling\'s Spirit and the damask\'s Spirit . That\'s how you took it from her," Zi Yuan said wryly . "The damask no longer recognized Hongling as its owner after you grabbed it from thin air . "

Li Yundong could feel his own eyes going wide . "Wait . You mean I became the owner of the damask after I took it?"

Zi Yuan shook her head . "I don\'t think so . " She quirked a brow . "You didn\'t even have a Vital Orb back then . There was no way you could\'ve claimed ownership without exposing it to your Zhenqi . "

Hold on . Something didn\'t add up .

"Then how did I steal it in the first place?" Li Yundong frowned . "You said it yourself . I didn\'t even have a Vital Orb . . . " He glanced down at the Fan of Seven Treasures on the floor . "And I had to send my Zhenqi into the damask for it to recognize me, right? Like I\'m trying to do with the fan?"

Zi Yuan shook her head . "You couldn\'t establish ownership, that\'s true . But that doesn\'t mean you couldn\'t break the existing connection between the object and its current wielder . " Zi Yuan raised a finger . "And you\'re forgetting something else . "

Li Yundong sat there and waited for her to carry on her explanation .

"Again, what is Zhenqi?" Zi Yuan prompted . "We discussed this earlier . "

"A condensed form of Qi that\'s been fortified by the Spirit . "

"Precisely . The Jindan\'s Aura is itself a highly condensed form of Qi, you see? And during the battle, your Spirit must\'ve been strong enough to fortify the Aura to convert it into a powerful form of Zhenqi . . . " She paused and studied him for a moment or two . "Did you feel any resistance when you grabbed the damask back then?"

Li Yundong nodded .

"Describe it . "

"Er… There was some kind of red aura pushing back against my hand . "

Zi Yuan nodded . "That was Hongling trying to fight back . But her Spirit is weaker than yours . " Zi Yuan chuckled wryly . "Her spiritual signature got erased by the Jindan\'s Aura the moment your hand touched the damask\'s surface . "

Li Yundong cleared his throat . "Will she still be able to use it after this?"

"Of course . " Zi Yuan shrugged . "She just has to do what you\'re trying to do now . " Zi Yuan nodded at the Fan of Seven Treasures . "She has to expend her spiritual energy to regain ownership of the damask . "

"Look…" Li Yundong raised his hands defensively . "I had no choice, okay? She tried to kill—"

Zi Yuan silenced him with a palm . "I\'m not blaming you . I already told the girl not to act rashly, but she didn\'t listen . So she paid the price . . . " Zi Yuan shook her head slightly . "Anyway . We\'ve digressed . Where were we . . . ? Ah . Right . Like I said, the formation of Spiritual connection will be the first thing that happens during the recognition . After that comes the awakening . "

"The awakening?"

"The moment the magical object… comes to life, so to speak . " Zi Yuan flicked a glance at him . "This is when you\'ll see the magical object act as though it has its own free will . "

"Wait… You mean it\'ll start moving around on its own?"

"It\'ll do more than that, actually . " Zi Yuan chuckled . "It\'ll use its owner\'s spiritual signature as a guide and start seeking out the owner\'s Zhenqi . "

Li Yundong glanced at the fan again . She made it sound as though magical objects could act like pets .

"Try again . "

Li Yundong looked up to find Zi Yuan giving him an encouraging nod . "Work on it until you succeed . "

Li Yundong took a deep breath and sat up straighter . "How long do you think it\'ll take?"

"It doesn\'t matter how long it takes," Zi Yuan said in a tone of finality . "You\'ll keep trying until the fan recognizes you as its true owner . "

With that, Zi Yuan closed her eyes and went back to her meditation .