Crossing Over: The Strongest Mage

While Yan Huo was still lost in thought, he was suddenly startled by an unexpected voice. The voice came from a stone beam above him.

"Who is it!?" Yan Huo shouted, before realizing that there was no one here except for...

"Is it you? Little Fox?"

"Who told you to call me Little Fox!? How disrespectful!" A small white figure suddenly leapt down from the stone beam, landing right in front of Yan Huo. It was an angry voice. Yan Huo finally took a good look at this 'gatekeeper' of Zhongyangzi's.

The creature had pure white fur with no trace of any other color, its shape resembled that of a cat, but with a sharp mouth and clever eyes. The most peculiar thing was that it had two tails at the back—Yan Huo had never seen such a fox before, and he stared in awe.

"What are you looking at!? Never seen such a handsome fox like me?" The little fox puffed its chest proudly.

"No, it's just that I've never seen a fox with two tails before, so I was curious," Yan Huo replied.

"Hey, little brother! I'm a spirit fox! I've cultivated for hundreds of years, don't compare me to ordinary foxes," the white fox retorted.

"Old man, have you seen this before? Did he tell you when I can leave this place?" the little fox asked.

"Yes! Senior said that when I leave, I should take you with me," Yan Huo answered.

"So you mean I'll be following you around, acting as your bodyguard? That damn old man! Five hundred years of guarding here wasn't enough, now I have to look after someone!" The little fox seemed displeased with Zhongyangzi's arrangement, but it didn't dare openly defy him.

"I don't need you to look after me. Besides, you're so small," Yan Huo replied, clearly uninterested in being 'cared for.'

"I told you, I'm a spirit fox, I've cultivated for hundreds of years. What cultivation level are you at?" the little fox shot back.

"I'm at the late stage of the Dao Solidification realm," Yan Huo said, somewhat proudly.

"Haha! Late stage Dao Solidification? That's laughable!" The little fox laughed mockingly. "I'm already at the mid-stage of the Danhua realm. Do you think I can't take care of you?"

"Mid-stage Danhua!? Foxes can cultivate!?" Yan Huo exclaimed in surprise.

"Hehe! Humans have their own path, and beasts have theirs. Who told you that foxes can't cultivate? It's just that you're cultivating the path of immortality, while I'm cultivating the path of demons. In any case, your cultivation is lower than mine. Now, call me 'senior brother' and show some respect."

"Senior brother!? On what grounds?" Yan Huo asked, frowning.

"Hehe! On what grounds? Since you've accepted the old man as your master, cultivated his technique, and taken his treasures, you naturally count as his disciple. I've been his disciple for five hundred years, so I entered first, and my cultivation level is higher than yours. Don't you think you should call me 'senior brother'?"

The little fox spoke arrogantly.

"I suppose I am Zhongyangzi's disciple," Yan Huo said, his heart swelling with pride. But then, he asked the little fox, "But why do you call him 'old man' instead of 'master'? Isn't that disrespectful?"

"How do you have so many questions? What I call him is my own business! Will you call me senior brother or not?" The little fox sounded a bit impatient.

"Se… senior brother," Yan Huo hesitantly replied.

"Good! From now on, I'll be your senior brother, and the future of the Zhongyang Sect will depend on the two of us! Soon, the Great Fox Immortal will come out of the mountains, hahahaha!" The little fox threw its head back and laughed triumphantly.

"Zh... Zhōngyáng Sect!? Wait a minute! Senior brother, Master is from the Xiāo Yáo Immortal's residence, so doesn't that make us disciples of the Xiāo Yáo Immortal's residence? Why are we suddenly part of the Zhōngyáng Sect now?" Yan Huo asked, thinking to himself: "How come Master didn't tell me about all this?"

"Hehe! You don't know the story behind it, do you? Let me tell you, I've followed him for almost a hundred years. The old man has many secrets!" the little fox said smugly.

"Hmph! What are you waiting for? I'm not going to tell you right now, but if you listen to your senior brother more, I'll naturally share the old man's secrets with you in the future. Now, hurry up and get ready for what you need to do. Once you're ready, we can head out of the mountain."

Each floor of the stone tower had ten paintings, and there were a total of five hundred and ninety paintings from top to bottom. Yan Huo had no idea why Master Zhongyangzi had painted so many identical paintings or why he had to give them to that person. Yan Huo didn't ask, and Zhongyangzi didn't explain.

"I just have to do as Master said." After two hours, Yan Huo carefully gathered all the paintings into his storage ring.

"This ring is really convenient! No matter how many things I need to carry, it's all easy to take." Yan Huo couldn't help but marvel at the ring in his hand.

"What are you dawdling for? Hurry up and help!" A fair-skinned, handsome young man in white suddenly appeared behind Yan Huo, dragging a large wooden box that was about two feet square.

"Senior brother!?" Yan Huo, though he knew there was no one else around, still asked cautiously.

"It's me." The young man said, struggling with the box, which seemed a bit too heavy for him.

"Why... Why don't you just put the box into your ring? Oh, this is exhausting." Yan Huo stared at the young man for a moment, then said with amazement, "Senior brother, you're really amazing, you can transform into different people."

"Amazing my foot! Right now, I can only use a simple illusion technique, and it's just enough to fool mortals." The young man said grumpily. "If one day I reach the Demon Core stage, then I'll be able to truly transform into any person."

"What's inside the box?" Yan Huo changed the subject, asking.

"Guess," the young man teased with a smile.

"Look! The treasures I've collected." The young man slowly opened the box, revealing a dazzling array of golden light—inside were all sorts of rare and precious treasures.

When the little fox, also known as Hú Bái, was still an ordinary fox, it had been saved by Zhongyangzi when it was injured. Afterward, Hú Bái had followed Zhongyangzi for the next ninety years, accompanying him until five hundred years ago when Zhongyangzi left.

Hú Bái had spent the last five hundred years alone in the cave, cultivating in solitude. Had Yan Huo not shown up, it might have continued its cultivation in isolation.

"I told you to hurry up, can't you see the sun is about to set?" Hú Bái complained to Yan Huo.

"Senior brother, I understand." Yan Huo responded before performing another three bows to the stone tower, getting up afterward.

"I haven't eaten meat in hundreds of years. Back then, the old man fed me a mid-grade spiritual pill and then just left me to fend for myself. He's so powerful that he doesn't need to eat or drink, but I was just a low-level cultivator back then. How could I survive without food or water? That's why I spent my days catching mice here." Hú Bái grumbled.