Chapter 81: Chapter 63: High-Explosive Gunpowder
Actually, the best way to deal with the Fox Spirit is to envelop the entire house in Golden Light, but upon thinking about it, it seems impractical. If the four walls are fortified with Golden Light, where would the Fox Spirit enter from? It would only be able to burrow in from underground. However, if Zhang Chen wants to trap the Fox Spirit, he must fortify the ground with Golden Light after the Fox Spirit burrows in, but the Fox Spirit is no fool; upon realizing something’s amiss, it might just directly perform an Earth Escape and leave. Once its feet touch the ground, its Earth Escape speed is undoubtedly faster than the speed at which he can fortify the ground with Golden Light.
"What if I fortified three walls, the ground, and the roof with Golden Light, leaving only one wall unfortified? The Fox Spirit’s soul would have no place to land, and it certainly wouldn’t dare to enter further. Moreover, my speed in fortifying one wall with Golden Light seems to be no different from fortifying the ground," Zhang Chen pondered, a thoughtful look flashing in his eyes.
That Fox Spirit is quick, diving underground at the slightest sign of trouble, and I’m afraid I might not be fast enough.
"Since I want to test the Fox Spirit, there might be a way; that is to utilize explosives, which can also help remove suspicion from me. Even if I fail to blow up the Fox Spirit, it wouldn’t suspect me!" Zhang Chen, lying inside a box, thoughts flickering: "I only wonder what the limits of this Fox Spirit are?"
"Don’t rush! Don’t rush! The advantage is mine!" Zhang Chen muttered to himself in the dark: "Since Golden Light can’t truly test if the Fox Spirit has the legendary Divine Technique, then I’ll try using explosives! If the Fox Spirit uses Demon Technique to resist the explosion, I’ll temporarily hibernate; if it doesn’t, and gets hit by the explosives, it will definitely suffer serious injuries, and I can take the opportunity to kill it!"
It’s his first time actively facing a monster, so how could he not be cautious? This isn’t a novel; it’s reality, and he has no opportunity to fail; once he fails, the only path is death.
So he won’t make a move unless absolutely necessary, and if he does, he must use lightning strikes, giving the Fox Spirit no chance to react.
Zhang Chen lay quietly on the box, listening carefully to the movements next door:
"Since the Fox Spirit didn’t get what it wanted, how could it let it go? Given the nature of a Fox Spirit, it surely must come back for a rematch."
An hour passed, then two, then three. As the wait stretched beyond three hours, it became agonizing, and a trace of inexplicable thoughts surfaced in Zhang Chen’s mind: "This waiting for the opponent’s reprisal is indeed unpleasant. Fox Spirits can go to great lengths and defy physical barriers, elusive and unpredictable. If it ambushes me, I’m afraid I can’t dodge it. After all, everyone must sleep; what if the Fox Spirit silently sneaks in while I’m asleep and strikes me? I’m afraid I wouldn’t survive."
As the saying goes, while a thief might operate for a thousand days, it’s impossible to defend against one for a thousand days. Now, waiting for the Fox Spirit’s tactics in the dark, Zhang Chen understands the inner turmoil.
"And this is just exploration on my part. If I truly break ties with the Fox Spirit, and I fail to kill it in one strike, it will surely stop at nothing and use any means necessary to kill me. I fear I’ll never be able to close my eyes, and even exhaust myself to death by its persistence. Furthermore, I wouldn’t dare live in this house, fearing a large stone might fall from the sky, break through my roof, and crush me inside." Lying in the dark, Zhang Chen’s thoughts kept flickering, growing increasingly aware of that damned Fox Spirit’s terrifying deterrence.
"Initiative, ah! Initiative is crucial! I just hope to develop new skills in the future, so when facing monsters, I can turn passive into active. Tomorrow, I’ll use explosives to test and see just how formidable this Fox Spirit is!"
In the darkness, time ticked away, and after roughly three hours and seeing no activity from the Fox Spirit next door, a trace of inexplicable expression surfaced in Zhang Chen’s eyes: "Could it be that the Fox Spirit really has exhausted its tactics? Otherwise, how could it just let it go? Given the nature of that Fox Spirit, it should at least come and teach me a lesson; how could it just let it go? It seems the Fox Spirit might actually have run out of tricks!"
Zhang Chen silently sighed with relief, and his fear of the Fox Spirit greatly diminished.
"If explosives can’t kill it, then I’ll have to take the time to develop myself further. Once I open that ancient tomb, I’ll see to what extent my skills can be upgraded." Zhang Chen closed his eyes, cleared his mind of all distractions, and slowly drifted off to sleep.
Zhang Chen slept soundly, while next door, the Fox Spirit stood in front of the partition wall, eyes fixed on the holes in the fire-wall, peering into Zhang Chen’s room, listening to his steady breathing, knowing he had fallen asleep. Grinding its teeth in the dark, the entire Fox Spirit grew angrier as it thought: "Damn it, when did that little devil master such a sinister skill? His Golden Light can actually be stored externally, retained via external objects, truly sinister! That guy’s literally the nemesis of all ’weird’ beings! Any strange being without a physical body encountering him is basically meeting its bane. Luckily, I, Nannan Ancestor, gifted as I am, received great fortune and a Great Creation in the ancient tomb in the past. Otherwise, it would indeed be a disaster! However, now that kid possesses such a skill, it won’t be easy for me to handle him in future."
Thinking this further agitated the Fox Immortal Nannan Ancestor: "I, the ancestor, am at least a level six existence. Even though I suffered setbacks ascending to level seven, significantly weakening my strength, after five years of recovery, I can still exhibit the power of a level four Exorcism. Yet, could I truly be controlled by a mere young kid? A mere ant I could have easily crushed in the past wants to control me?"