“Do you know whereshe issealed?” I asked.

“I don’t know the exact location, but I can sense Tamamo no Mae-sama’saura exuding from the mountain.” Jade Tailspreadherarms.

Yin Xinyue was curious. “Little fox, how can you speak Chinesesowell? Aren’t you a Japanese fox?”

“Tamamo no Mae-samacame fromChina. That’s why we can speak the language. Moreover, I’ve been out for ten years already!” pouted Jade Tail.

“I thought you just escaped.” I was surprised.

“We were sealed inside the silver fox, and it was really hard toweakenthe seal. Unfortunately, a Chinese master who liked tostickhis nose in otherpeople’s business came and reinforced the seal. Later, there was a timewhenthey took out the silver fox to mend something. We took that chance and bewitchedtheexpert in charge,makinghim destroy the seal. That’s howwe were able tocome out to play!” Jade Tail proudly lifted her chin.

“Whatdid the man who reinforced the seal look like?” I asked.

“Hmm, helookedsimilar to you…”

“What?” I was amazed.

“You are so annoying! How could I knowwhathelookslike? I was still sealed at that time!”

Ihad toask my grandpa about this matterthe next time I sawhim.

Jade Tail yawned. She wasdwelling inside anotherworldlyitem, so she couldn’t endurethe daylight fora long time. If shewantedto live longer, shehad toabsorb Yin energy like Jade Fang. She eventually turned into a crystal-clear glazed bead. I put her into my bag to protect her.

Chiba frowned. “Mr. Zhang, this bead…”

“Don’t worry. I’ll keep it safe. After everything is solved, I’ll give it back to you,” I said.

We leftthechamber. Urashima told us that Xiao Gao had woken upand that he was about to call the police.

“Please don’t. If the policecomeand seal this place, wewon’t be able todo much. If weare unlucky, they will take us to the station for oral confessions. Itwon’t begood for Xiao Gaoas he will become the mainsuspect.”

SinceXiao Gao wasn’t here, Chiba had to translate for us. Urashima thought it was reasonable. He agreed that he wouldn’t call the police. However, he hoped that we would bring back their Silver Fox Guardian as soon as possible.Since it was a hard task,I didn’t dare to promise anythingand just saidthat I would do my best.

Itwould besillyto searchthe wholecity. Furthermore,we weren’t detectives. I decided to use a passive approach. We would wait here for Jade Fang. As long as we got him, the Silver Fox Guardian would return.Chuyi and Iwanted to goto the mountain to check. However, Li Mazi’s waist was hurting sinceXiao Gao had bumped into him; he didn’t want to go. Ru Xuewanted tostay with him, too. I asked Yin Xinyue to stay with them, but she insisted that shecomewith us.

In the end, Chuyi, Yin Xinyue, Chiba, and I went to the mountain behind the shrine together.

It was a small mountain, and the mountain trail wasn’tverysteep. The bamboo forest was silent, and athick mist hovered like a layer of miasma. Yin Xinyue pulled my arm. She looked scared.

Chuyi pinched some soil between his fingersand observed it. After a while, he said quietly, “Many people died here…”

“Thiswasabattlefield! Those samuraiswerefighting every day to claim the territory.” A voice came from my chest. It was Jade Tail talking.

Chuyi chantedaspell. Little Lin protruded from his chest. He floated and ledthe wayforus. Soon, we saw a broken statue. We couldn’t tell what it used to be fromitsremains.

When Little Lin passed the stone statue, he flashed like a brokentelevisionscreen. I immediatelyunderstoodwhat was happening. This stone statue was part ofasealing formation, whichled us to believethatitwas really vast as itcoveredthe entire mountain.

“The power of the sealing formation is weakening,” I said. Since Little Lin was aspiritualbeing, if the formation was strong enough,hewouldn’t be able togothere.

Chuyi nodded.

Chiba asked, “Mr. Zhang, can we mend it?”

“I assume we’llhave to break the seal and createa new one. Of course,the most dangerous moment is when webreakthe seal. If we are careless, Tamamo no Mae can escape before we can cast another seal…” I said.

Chuyi suddenly gestured at my chest. I understoodwhat he meant. He was still cautious against Jade Tail. He was afraid that the two foxes were cooperating and they would take actiononcewe lifted the seal.

His worriescouldn’t be dismissed.Ifwe accidentally released Tamamo no Mae, we couldn’t imagine the consequences.

“We should leave the mountain to prepare somethings. We’ll comebacklater,” I said.

Whenwe returnedto the shrine, I asked Li Mazi to buy something.SinceJade Tail could listen to our conversation, I casually told him some general items whileI textedhim. I askedhim to get me a bag of lime, a bag of jade fragments, a bag of lead powder, a few black snakes, iron nails, several shovels, and a bottle of rooster blood.

Li Mazi smiled.“Little brother, the stuff you want has become more and more difficult to get. We’re in Japan. Where should I go to get them?”

Chibaglancedat the list. “We can get them in Kyoto. I can go with you.”

Li Mazi was happythatChiba wanted to accompany him, butRu Xue immediately intervened. “No, thank you. My husband can doeverything by himself. Isn’t thatright, honey?”magicLi Mazi was embarrassed. “All right, all right. I’ll figure it out later.”

“You should get themas soon as possible. You’d better come back herebefore nightfall. This time, the situation israther complicated,” Itoldhim.

“Okay, I’m leaving now.”

Li Mazi and Ru Xue left first. Due to the language barrier, Xiao Gao went with them. Yin Xinyue, Chuyi, and I left for lunch.

At around 2:00 PM, Li Mazi, Ru Xue, and Xiao Gaoreturned. They told methat theyboughtall the stuff.

“LittleBrother Zhang, I couldn’t find the jade fragments, soI bought real jade andground itinto a powder. You don’t know how hard it is to buy jade in Japan. I spent a lot of money!”

I checked the items. “It’s okay. I’ll pay you back.”

“Hey, I haven’t asked you yet...But how muchcan weearn this time?”

“I’m not gonna mistreat you.”Li Maziwould throw a tantrumif he knew there would be no payment.

I asked Xiao Gao to take Yin Xinyue and Ru Xueon atour or go shopping with them.This afternoonwould be a busy one, and there would be nothing interesting to see.When we went to the shrine to find Chiba, Li Mazi became more livelyand teased hersinceRu Xue wasn’t there. Chiba was polite enough togo along with him.

I pulled Li Mazi aside and said, “Canyou please mind your image? She’s amiko, and you asked her if shehasa boyfriend. Do you want to bebeaten black and blue?”

“She’s such a beautiful girl. It’s lame that she’s living like a nun.” Li Mazi shook his head and sighed.

“You’re truly hopeless!” I didn’t know if I should cry or laugh.

The four of us went to the mountain. We decided that Chuyiwouldbreakthe seal while Li Mazi and Iwould prepare the newformation.Wehad to carryout the tasksat the same timeto increase our odds of success.

If itwasan ordinarysoul, we would just need a small formation todeal withit. However, this sealing formation was used to seal a fox spirit that hadcultivated forseveral thousand years. Wehad toprepare a large-scale formationfor it.

I used limepowderto draw a hexagram. Then,I started to dig a ditch with Li Mazi’s help. The entire process took two hours.The sky abovebecamedarker in themeantime. Afterward, we sprinkled the jade powder into the ditch, covering it withlead powder. I thenpoured the rooster blood to finish the arrangement.

Jades were items with thick Yang energy,but they weregentle at the same time. My grandpa used to tell me that if we casually used stuff with thick Yang energy to seal evilspirits, thespiritswouldfightback hard. If that happened, they wouldbe able to chip the seal bit by bit.

Abe no Seimei’s seal wasgentle. Thatwaswhy it could last for more than one thousand years.

Afterwe finished withthe outerlayer, we went to the core of the seal. There was a huge pine tree that stood alone in a vastandempty area. Chuyiwas standingunder the tree.

“I’ve been waiting for you guys for quite a long time. This place is the eye of the formation. I haven’t opened it yet,”he said.

“Let’s start with the last step!” I said.

But all of a sudden, I felt so exhausted.Everything in front of me turned black.