A horse-sized fox with three tails landed in front of me, eyes glinting with a mysterious energy and emanating the pressure of a high realm cultivator but imbued with a killing intent similar to my own Sword Intent.

  "Tails!" I demanded in a childish voice.

  As expected, Meadows responded with a soul piercing attack, that would have left most Saints paralyzed or even screaming in terror. But for me, it was only a warm wind massaging my armored soul.

  "Is that all you got? Pathetic!" I declared with a bored voice.

  "Damn stinky human! Why do you...smell a bit nicer?" Meadows growled, then sniffed at me with a curious nose.

  It must have been my recent bloodline upgrade, done with the blood of a Divine Fox. But to make sure, I nodded towards Ming. "Smell her too."

  Meadows frowned cutely as she turned her nose towards Ming Yue. "She also smells a bit better...what did you do?"

  Instead of answering, I poured three more drops of Divine blood into her empty bowl.

  "Grrrr. Don't think you can tame me so easily..." the giant fox growled, then lapped at the special blood while placing her fluffy tails in my arms.

  "Can I? ...." Ming asked in a greedy tone.

  "No!"

  "Absolutely not!" I answered at the same time with the red fox.

  Ming pouted, then stood up and went back to train in the Combat Array. "I can share my bed, but not my special privilege..." I spoke in a dignified voice, and Meadows nodded at me with a proud demeanor.

  "Only the strong deserve this privilege, that's true." she added in a superior tone.

  A teenage girl with purple eyes crawled out from her Combat Array, her lips bloody and her aura frayed by soul shock. Then her face lit up instantly as she noticed the new giant fox. "Meadows! You've grown so big..." she exclaimed and crawled a bit faster to lay beside Meadows and touch her front paw.

  "Little Feng...you can't stay so weak. Didn't you get your fortune box?" Meadows asked then licked Feng on her face and hair, like she was a new born puppy.

  Feng nodded in a tired manner, then took out her box from her small-sized Xiantian space ring. "I did, but mine won't open..." she complained while squeezing a drop of blood from a fingernail. The wooden box glowed faintly, but remained locked.

  Hmmm. A box that won't open? No. Most likely, blood wasn't the requiered trigger for the special box.

  "So sad. Almost brings tears to my eyes..." I mused in a distant voice, while enjoying the fluffiness of the Saint Fox tails. One could die happy, buried under these tails for eternity.

  "...Wait! Maybe my tears?" Feng exclaimed with an enlightened voice, then bit her own nail hard enough to start a tear drop from her purple eyes.

  Plop! Plop! Two tears splashed on the lid of the Bagua box, then sunk into the wood like it had become a sponge. The box began to glow with purple light, then clicked open.

  Meadows glanced at me in surprise, then nudged her puppy girl. "Open it!"

  Inside the box, there was a crystallized tear shifting colors in a gentle rainbow. 'Visionary Dao Fruit, the user can peek inside the karma of the world. Worth: eternity.' my Discerning Eyes read from this object. Another glitch. Just tell me a lump sum, not some bullshit about eternity.

  I felt Grandpa ghost appear beside me and flick the box closed. 'That's a Celestial Treasure, Young Master. It's worth more than an entire Starfield.' he whispered in my mind.

  'Very impressive, but what can it do?' I answered with a careless tone.

  Grandpa glared at me for a second, then covered the box with a blue separation array and made it vanish.

  'It will grant someone eternal life.' he said in a warning voice.

  Hmmm. Very mysterious. Or perhaps a simple hack into the Samsara plane, like a respawn function in a hardcore game.

  'So if you die, this thing just brings you back?' I asked to make sure.

  Grandpa blinked, possibly surprised at my unflattering tone. 'At least that. There are other consequences, being tied with karma strings to an imperishable entity.' he answered after a long minute.

  To be fair, all my CYOA artifacts, including the Tower and its Artifact Spirit were already eternal, able to return in a week, if lost or destroyed. And my spatial ring was also indestructible, beside being infinite on the inside.

  'Another Buddhist trap?' I wondered with some concern.

  Grandpa stood still for a moment. 'Most likely. The other treasures were barely Divine gifts, but this thing...that yellow-robed monk might have been a Bodhisattva, or perhaps even an Avatar of Heavenly Buddha.' he said with obvious concern.

  'So, they saw me already. Building good will with a future powerhouse.' I discerned with a frown.

  'More likely, digging a trap so deep that you can't ever climb out. And they even placed a branch of the Worldtree among the treasures in that market. I should have warned you to stay away from anything Buddhist.' Grandpa said in a sad voice.

  Just like I thought. The Buddhists were always the villains in a cultivation world.

  And I still had more than 30 wooden boxes in my inventory. Were they all personalized gifts for future Tower members?

  How far did the rabbit hole go?

  While asking myself this question, Bai with her Frost Hare bloodline jumped out from the Combat Array, looking a bit tired but still energetic. Already 41 ghost kills. It won't be long until she reaches 49.

  "Master Pef? What was that glowing crystal?" Feng asked with an innocent voice.

  "Just a poisoned gift from the Buddhist Sect. They gave Lin Fei the raw beating heart of a Demon, so he could eat it and grow more demonic." I answered truthfully.

  Feng wiped her remaining tears, and nodded warily. "I heard about that. Who gives out that kind of creepy gifts and calls them a fortune?" she answered in a cogent voice.

  "She can have a drop of my fortune. And the other girls as well. I see now why you kept the blood vial. It would have ruined my growth if I drank it all." Meadows spoke next, while using telekinesis to open Feng's mouth.

  "Well, it will certainly hurt much less than eternal tears. Damn that bald monk!" I growled while pouring a drop of Divine Fox blood into Feng's mouth.

  Bai sat beside me and hugged me with one arm while watching little Feng as she spasmed in bloodline upgrade pains.

  I could also feel the cold emanating from Bai's new physique, called Cold Jade Body. Already at level 10 Body Cultivation, from a single cursed pill. "Open your mouth, Bai. It doesn't hurt that much." I urged my white-haired wife, then dripped a drop of Divine blood into her mouth as well.

  But unlike Feng who was still a tender Xiantian cultivator, Bai absorbed the pain of bloodline upgrade without complains, although her eyes still became watery for a minute. It did hurt pretty bad, I guess. But as the saying goes, no pain no gain.

  Before the ordeal was even over, two powerful Sword Intents flared from the Combat Arrays, and both Lin Fei and Ming Yue jumped out in bloodly states, glowing with Sword Aura.

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  What? Both of them became Sword Saints at the same time? It was kinda too much for a coincidence. Then again, Lin Fei had gained a Devil Heart as his Dao Heart, and a more powerful Asura Sutra method, while Ming Yue got her new Godhead and a bloodline upgrade, including a better talent.

  'What kind of Dao Heart she got?' I asked inward.

  'Ming Yue? She formed a Wisdom Heart. Someone had to become the wise Elder among all you youngsters. Not a bad choice, especially for later. A Goddess of Wisdom will be quite powerful, even before she becomes a True Immortal.' Grandpa Heavengaze said in an approving voice.

  Hmmm. I expected Justice or Truth, but Wisdom wasn't bad either. We were mostly a bunch of stupid youngsters in my Tower. Especially me.

  Lin Fei flew in front of me, and bowed with his head to the floor. "I'm sorry it took so long, Young Master. I've just now reached the place were you stood at 13 years old." he murmured in a humble voice. Was that the right thing to say with a Devil Heart?

  I expected a bit more rage or outrage, not a humble bow. "Well, I have yet to obtain my Divinity, but I hope to get there before I get too old. So perhaps before 20." I answered in the same humble voice.

  Lin Fei turned red in the face, likely raging inside like a demon. "I have to go back to train, Young Master..." he muttered in a cold voice, while turning and flying towards the Soul Array. In a second, Lin Fei vanished inside the array, and among his demonkind.

  A red tail smacked me in the face, for no reason at all. "Are you trying to make that demon explode?" Meadows asked me in a warning voice.

  I was, but for different reasons. "A demon is just like a Spirit Beast, governed by instinct instead of reason. You can tame it and break his willpower, or guide it towards enlightenment. I dislike destroying the wonders of the world."

  Meadows nodded at my words, then froze as she computed the rest of my meaning. "You're talking about me?"

  "I entrusted you with a bunch of young children, my dear fox. Grandpa said you would eat them." I pointed out with a careless shrug.

  Meadows glanced down at little Feng, still sobbing in pain while hugging her front paw.

  "Eat my kids? What kind of monster do you think I am?" she growled in anger.

  I just hugged Bai closer, and wrapped the fluffy tails around her to diminish the cold. I could endure the cold, for years if necessary, but why bother when I had such a fluffy blanket to keep me warm?

  "If you're very hungry...you can take a small bite. You also gave me your blood..." Feng murmured in a feverish voice.

  No wonder that Buddhist monk was willing to gift her eternal life. Buddha himself had given bits of his flesh to a hungry tiger.

  Meadows frowned as she glanced down at her young ward. "I see now, Master Pef. She does look quite appetizing, doesn't she?" the giant fox murmured in a wise voice.

  "And Feng has two kidneys anyway. Maybe wait a a few years until she grows to adult size." I offered in a generous tone.

  Bai elbowed me in the ribs under the blanket of fluffy fur, possibly disturbed by the direction of our Dao discourse.

  "And two lungs as well. Who needs that many?" Meadows countered in a sarcastic tone.

  "See? Bai could use a fox fur stole as well, to keep her warm. The tails are fluffy too..." I noted while rubbing the fluffy fur over my face.

  "Don't cut her tail!" Feng yelled in naive outrage, and struggled to stand up while bleeding from her eyes and ears.

  "Of course not! We can shave the fur off and it will grow right back! We're not monsters!" I answered in the same outraged voice.

  Bai groaned trying to laugh while enduring the pain of bloodline transformation. "Enough...I'm dying in here..." she muttered while spitting a mouthful of blood.

  "That would be the most pathetic death I've seen in this Tower. Dying from becoming too strong, right?" I asked little Feng who managed to stand and leaned on the paw of her fox friend.

  Bai shivered, likely remebering that Young Master from the Oracle Mountain that got burned to ash by Lin Fei. Not that he died in my Tower, but still. Close enough. I did kill a frog in my Tower though, but it probably didn't count.

  Come to think of it, I was quite lax with murder and butchery until now. I should go out and kill some people.

  Meadows sighed, as the hour of tail play was already over, but Bai was still freezing under her tail blanket. "I should sleep a bit. Becoming a Saint was a bit stressful." she spoke in fake tiredness, then lowered her head on the front paws and started snoring instantly.

  I glanced at Feng who had already obtained her Saint Body cultivation from that drop of Divine blood. "What, are you tired too, or do you have more training to do, young lady?"

  Feng sighed and dragged herself towards the Combat Array with a dejected face.

  "Do you think I can become a Sword Saint too?" Bai asked in a hopeful voice.

  Eventually, for sure. But for now, she didn't even reach the 49th kill. "My lovely white rabbit wife. Do you think there is such a thing as a Dao Heart of fluffy fur?" I asked rhetorically.

  Meadows forgot to snore for a moment, likely interested in the question as well.

  "I don't want to run and hide, like my Frost Hare ancestor. When we have children, I want them to grow in safety. So I have to be strong for them." Bai answered in a determined voice.

  Decent enough, for now. Not that I worried about my kids who would be quite safe in the Tower. "You are right, my love. But for the wrong reason. You have to be strong so that your kids don't grow up as orphans. Now go and train!" I urged Bai and kicked her outside the fluffy fur blanket.

  I watched in silence until Bai stumbled into the Combat Array, then Meadows retracted her tails and stood up. "That was a good line, Master Pef. I'll go motivate Romulus and Remus with your words. Poor orphans..." she declared in a sympathetic voice, then jumped away.

  Grandpa appeared at my side, and sighed. "You are an orphan too, Young Master."

  "Yeye, I have you as my family now. Would it be alright if I inherit your name?" I asked in a sad voice.

  The ghost patted my shoulder with a barely felt hand. "Heavengaze is a dangerous name to carry, Young Master. There are Immortals out there in the stars who will remember it, no matter how long it's been since the Artisan died."

  I nodded. "Yeah, but that's only a problem if I am mortal." I answered with a shrug.

  Grandpa stared at me for a minute, then took out a wooden box covered with a blue array. "You'll need to reach 128 Divine Demons before I give you this. Eternal life can mean an eternity of pain if you're caught in a trap."

  I just smiled. Good thing I had my Boundless Freedom perk then. There would be no traps that could hold me, unless I wanted to stay.