Chapter 3: The Green Bamboo Protects the Master

In the courtyard, a fierce struggle was underway, while inside the room, the three aunts were busy assisting with the delivery of the Tian family's baby, completely unaware of the commotion outside. Aunt Zhu shouted to Chen Youfu in the outer room: "Chen, the head of the family, the baby is crowning, hurry and get a wooden basin and prepare hot water. Cui'e, you need to push harder; the baby's head is already out, give it your all." On the bed, Tian Cui'e's forehead was covered with bulging veins, and the cloth in her mouth was nearly bitten to shreds. Upon hearing Aunt Zhu's call, Chen Youfu stopped watching the seven-tailed fox outside and thought to himself: 'What is meant to be will be; if it is a disaster, it cannot be avoided.' He picked up the wooden basin and went to the stove to fetch hot water.

Aunt Zhu, when she was in her hometown, had indeed assisted her sister-in-law during childbirth. Although she was not a midwife, she knew a thing or two. Now that it was a matter of life and death, she thought about the many favors that Chen Youfu and his wife had bestowed upon her family. Gritting her teeth, she decided to help deliver the baby and instructed, "Aunt Guihua, please bring all the oil lamps from the outer room; it is truly dark and frightening outside."

In recent months, I have indeed seen Tian Cui'e several times, and the golden light emanating from her abdomen was evident. Generally, demons and monsters have a dark aura above their heads, while mortals do not possess such an aura; only immortals radiate golden light. The seven-tailed fox demon surmised that the fetus within her must be an immortal descending to the mortal realm. If she could obtain the physical body of the immortal, she would be able to ascend to immortality and divinity instantly, which is why a multitude of demons gathered before Chen Youfu's door, provoking a great thunderstorm.

In fact, the seven-tailed white fox was originally a fox demon that had cultivated its essence outside the city of Lin'an. For every hundred years of cultivation, it would grow an additional tail, and now it has been cultivating for over seven hundred years. After death, one becomes a ghost along with their books. Ghosts and spirits, after a hundred years of cultivation, become demons, and demons, after a thousand years, transform into devils. This seven-tailed fox demon, while roaming the night in Lin'an, discovered an abundance of spiritual energy at the foot of Ziyun Mountain in Chenjia Village. It later transformed into human form and found the home of Chen Youfu, but the seven-tailed fox demon was obstructed by the green energy within the house. After several attempts to spy, it was unable to succeed, thus it decided to settle in Chenjia Village.

Tian Cui'e clenched her cloth shirt as waves of abdominal pain nearly caused her to faint. Aunt Zhu said: "The birth canal is open, Aunt Guihua, Aunt Chen from the Chen family, you two hold down Cui'e's hands, Cui'e, push with all your might..."

After lighting all the oil lamps in the outer room, Aunt Zhu wrung a small cloth shirt in her hands and placed it in Tian's mouth: "Sister Cui'e, it is said that giving birth for a woman is like crawling around on a coffin. Soon, you will have to exert yourself, and the continuation of the Chen family's lineage depends entirely on you."

Chen Youfu, no matter how foolish he was, understood that the white figure before him was certainly not a good thing. Frightened, he turned and hid inside the house. The aunts and older women in the house also heard the chanting from the courtyard and curiously asked Chen Youfu: "Why didn't you go to invite the midwife? How did you end up summoning a monk instead?"

Aunt Guihua said, "Aunt Zhu, what are we to do about this?"

Chen Youfu pressed his body against the door in a state of panic, his entire body drenched in cold sweat, trembling as he said: "That midwife, Bai... that Bai..." Chen Youfu dared not say more, fearing it would frighten them. "That midwife, Bai, is not at home." The aunts in the inner room, upon hearing Chen Youfu speak, also became flustered, blaming him for being about to become a father yet still lacking composure. His wife was on the verge of giving birth, yet he hadn't even called for a midwife. It was understandable, given that such weather had not been encountered in decades; perhaps the midwife was too scared to come and assist with the delivery. In the minds of these women, their thoughts were always quite simple, and they would not consider the possibility of monsters lurking outside. The sound of the monk chanting was likely just the wind outside.

The seven-tailed white fox in the courtyard has been driven back for the third time by the bamboo shoots shot from the green bamboo. The shot bamboo shoots resemble red-hot iron rods, leaving a brand on the white fox's body, and the courtyard is filled with the stench of burnt fur

Tian Cui'e began to roll in pain on the bed, unaware of what was happening outside. Beside her, Aunt Zhu and Aunt Guihua from the neighborhood were taking care of her.

Aunt Zhu suddenly shouted: "The amniotic fluid has broken, she is about to give birth"

There are only five people in the room. In the inner room, three aunts are assisting Tian Cuie in giving birth, while in the outer room, Chen Youfu is peering through the crack in the door, trembling like a sieve.

Today, the fox demon finally followed Chen Youfu to break through the azure energy and entered the courtyard. Unexpectedly, it was obstructed by this bamboo and revealed its true form. Generally, when deities descend to the mortal realm, their spiritual energy is at its peak only at the moment of their birth. Once they enter the secular world, they become tainted by the mundane impurities and turn into ordinary people, unless someone enlightens them or they can recall their past lives. The seven tails of the seven-tailed fox demon behind it spread out like a peacock's plume, and the white fur on its tails transformed into countless silver needles that shot towards the bamboo. The chanting emanating from the bamboo grew louder and merged into a chorus. The silver needles burst forth in a silver light amidst the incantation of the Demon-Subduing Vajra Mantra.

Chen Youfu peered through the crack in the door into the courtyard, where the seven-tailed white fox was emanating a dark aura that shredded the bamboo leaf net to pieces. Its eyes were a fiery red as it slowly approached the house