Chapter Text
It was a few hundred years before the Huli Jing, Hu Liya, started to notice that some things about her new life felt peculiarly familiar.
Namely, it was the names of the newer Cultivation Sects that have popped up and risen to fame. GusuLan, QishanWen, and QingheNie just to name a few. Upon hearing the names of the founders of these Sects, Hu Liya was pretty sure she had somehow reincarnated into the world of Mo Dao Zu Shi, or Chen Qing Ling, depending on which adaptation this world would follow.
The thing about Huli Jing that most mortals fail to notice is that they had very good memory and could remember even the smallest things like what they ate on a certain day a hundred years prior to the bigger things like reciting famous poetry. For Hu Liya, this included the details of the epic tale that she was obsessed with before she died.
Anyway, the point is that Hu Liya was special because she was one of the few individuals in the world who remembered their past lives. Although this made her a bit of an anomaly among the Yao community. Yao did not really remember their past lives. It was seen as such a human thing to happen that it astonished the fox clan Hu Liya had grown up in.
Though the Matriarch of the clan wasn’t too surprised as the rest, Hu Liya was after all the product of a clandestine love affair between a Huli Jing and a Human Cultivator. There weren’t too many of those and her ability to recall her past life could be seen as something she inherited from her Human parent.
There was no hiding it either. Foxes did not gain human form until after at least a hundred years of cultivating and from then on they would start gaining their tails. In those first hundred years, aside from wild animal tendencies her only method of communication has been thought transmission. And at first, Hu Liya had found it hard to filter the thoughts that she sent to others. Needless to say, the fact that she remembered being a modern woman in her previous life was blatantly obvious to her clan mates.
And here Hu Liya was, seven hundred years later she had left her clan to roam distant lands making and losing friends as she got into trouble along the way with her six fluffy tails intact.
Now Hu Liya wasn’t good with people by any means and much too quiet in personality than any mischievous fox spirit ought to ever be. But when you find out you have essentially been isekai’d into your favourite story you will find the motivation to interrogate just about anyone to find out where the hell you are in the timeline and if it was possible to turn the plot into a fluffy canon fix-it or at least meet the protagonist.
Hu Liya was in luck.
After ordering a few rounds of alcohol, the restaurant staff in Yunmeng was more than obliged to spill the beans to impress a pretty maiden like Hu Liya. It helped that this particular waiter had a family member who was a servant in the Jiang Household so there was at least grain of truth to the information.
The current Sect Leader was Jiang Fengmian. His son and Heir, Jiang Cheng, had just celebrated his fifth birthday a few days ago. His wife, Yu Ziyuan also known as the Violet Spider had gone on another one of her ear piercing tangents accusing her husband of infidelity with the famous Disciple of Immortal Baoshan Sanren, Cangse Sanren.
“She’s been screaming about it since the early days of their marriage. The folks here in Yunmeng have even started to believe it. Especially since Wei Changze has left the Sect to follow his wife a few years back.”
And so the gossip went on and Hu Liya learnt the dirty laundry of each great sect. Most of it was information she already knew but it helped her ascertain her place in the timeline. There wasn’t really any gossip on GusuLan other than it being an extremely rigid Sect with too many rules to count. There had been the curious whispers a few years back questioning the speed in which Qingheng-Jun had married his wife and many wondered if there was a premarital pregnancy involved. Lan Huan had apparently been born a month earlier than expected.
Hu Liya didn’t know if she could make a difference for the Twin Jades Mother considering the woman was actually being punished for murder by the Lan Sect and she didn’t know if she could. She was only a Huli Jing with six tails. Although powerful by human standards and she was pretty sure these mortal wannabe cultivators weren’t at all a match for her, she couldn’t say that she would make it out unscathed if someone caught her and the so-called Great Sects decided to gang up and call for a Hunt to take down the big bad fox yao.
Hu Liya did not want to risk exposure. The prejudice that humans held towards Yao-kind was not baseless. Sure, plenty of Yao were evil. Just look at DaJi! She was evil to the core. But there were just as many good Yao as there were bad Yao. Many Huli Jing ascended to the Celestial Planes for this very fact. The Matriarch of Hu Liya’s home clan being a prime example of an ascended Celestial Fox.
What she could do was check up on her protagonist. Wasn’t it around this time that Wei Wuxian was orphaned? Since Wei Wuxian was a few days older than Jiang Cheng making him five years old as well, the poor thing could very well have been fighting stray dogs for food months ago already.
So without further ado, Hu Liya paid for her meal and made her way to Yiling in a hurry.
Cangse Sanren and Wei Changze had indeed been in Yiling from what she could gather from the locals. The whereabouts of their son had been forgotten as the locals most likely mixed Wei Ying up with other street kids apathetic to the fate of those unfortunate urchins.
Wei Ying was good at hiding too. It took her three days until she finally found him huddled under a small wooden apple crate to hide from the storm clutching a mouldy bun in one hand and frightened silver eyes flinched at the sound of oncoming thunder as he whimpered.
The sound nearly broke her heart.
“Wei Ying?”
Those silver frightened eyes turned to her in confusion as she slowly approached him.
“JieJie knows Wei Ying?”
“Mn! Jiejie knows Wei Ying. Will Wei Ying come out so that JieJie can take care of him? Let’s get you fed and cleaned okay?”
Those frightened eyes were still wary. Smart boy. He must have learnt not to trust every adult. The temptation of food coupled with her warm smile must have been enough because he crawled out from under the apple crate to take her hand. She noticed that Wei Ying limped a bit as he made his way to her.
On his ankles were what looked to be bitemarks. Some marks looked fresher than others. Most likely from fighting stray dogs for food. She would have to use her spiritual energy to help his immune system fight off any infections.
“Wei Ying. Will you let Jiejie carry you? You must be tired.”
Wei Ying slowly held out his arms to be picked up and she leaned down to bundle him up against her bosom. He stank to the high heavens, but he was the cutest little kit she ever saw.
“Jiejie is pretty.”
Hu Liya giggled, “thank you. Wei Ying is pretty too. He will surely steal the hearts of many when he grows up.”
“Who is Jiejie?”
“I’m Hu Liya. You can call me Liya-Jiejie, okay little one?” Hu Liya tapped on his cute button nose.
Wei Ying returned her smile. “Mn! Liya-Jiejie.”
The little boy relaxed in her arms as she took them to the nearest inn to pay for a room and asked for enough food and a hot bath to be brought up with a change of clothes to fit the little boy.
Wei Ying winced as she battled to undo the tangled bird's nest that was his hair but he didn't complain too much. When the maids finally brought in the hot bath with the promise of food on the way, Hu Liya had to convince Wei Ying to throw away the rotten bun that he had been clutching the entire time in comfort.
"It's not good for your body to eat bad food A-Ying. So please let Jiejie throw it away. Don't worry. Jiejie promises to feed you properly so you won't be hungry anymore okay?" Hu Liya spoke in a gentle voice and stroked his now neatly combed locks.
"Really?"
"Mn! Really. Now let's get you clean."
It was clear it's been a long time since the kit had a bath. Especially a hot one. Hu Liya had to get in with him fully clothed because the maids had brought in a huge bath with too much water and A-Ying was afraid of drowning. It made scrubbing him clean a bit of a challenge but once all the grime and scum came off to reveal pearly clear skin her little kit looked a lot happier.
Hu Liya dried him off with a fluffy towel and dressed him in new robes before conjuring her fox fire to pull out and evaporate the moisture from her own robes.
Wei Ying's eyes were big as he watched her and Hu Liya thought he was utterly adorable so she tapped his little nose.
"Okay, sit down. Be good and show me your bitemarks so I can heal them."
Wei Ying showed her and yelped when his Jiejie started licking his wounds with a surprisingly rough tongue, "Jiejie no don't it tickles!"
When she was done. The wounds were gone and little Wei Ying poked at his ankles in awe. Hu Liya nodded to herself in satisfaction.
The food arrived and Hu Liya encouraged Wei Ying to eat slowly lest he upset his stomach. She watched him eat messily with a fond smile. They cuddled together in bed with full bellies. Once Hu Liya was certain Wei Ying had fallen asleep, she dropped her illusion and six fluffy tails wrapped snugly around her kit as if to keep him safe from the storm raging outside.
'I guess I'm a Mama fox now.'
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For a five year old, Wei Ying had taken her identity as a Huli Jing quite well. Though he most likely didn't understand the threat she represented.
That morning Hu Liya had woken up to him petting her fox ears in wonder. Her six fluffy tails still curled protectively around him as Wei Ying's little body squirmed to free himself out of their grip.
"Jiejie's a fox!"
Hu Liya smiled at his excitement and used her tails to pick him up and deposit him on her lap before casting the illusion to hide her fox features again.
She stroked his head, "Did my A-Ying sleep well?"
"A-Ying slept well!"
"I'm happy to hear that. Now, this is our secret, okay? No one can know that Jiejie is a fox. Others will try to hurt us if they find out."
"But why? Jiejie is so nice and her tails are so soft and strong!"
"Not all foxes are good, just like not all foxes are evil. Not everybody understands this. Maybe one day, the people of this land will believe that again. Until then, you must keep Jiejie's secret, okay?"
"Okay. A-Ying will keep Jiejie's secret."
Hu Liya kissed his forehead, "good boy. Now, let's get breakfast."
There were many things growing little boys needed and money was easy to come by for Hu Liya.
Being a beautiful Huli Jing with six tails, it was all too easy for Hu Liya to bewitch common men of power to do her bidding. And she didn't even have to do much, just sit there and look pretty and they spent money on her for smiles in return.
Before Daji had ruined their reputation in the mainland, there was a popular figure of speech among the common people. It went like this: "Where there is no fox demon, no village can be established."
And it was partly true, in those times there were many cults who made generous offerings to Huli Jing in exchange for protection and prosperity.
In fact during her travels to DongYing a century ago Hu Liya found that this practice was still going strong. The news of DaJi's treachery must not have breached the language barrier of the people of DongYing. Whenever Hu Liya wanted to receive free stuff all she had to do was to pay a visit to the prosperous fox shrines of her Kitsune friends and they were more than happy to have someone help in their mischief.
Anyway, back to the point. She had enough gold and silver pieces to raise her kit. What she lacked was the support system of a cultivation sect to teach her kit. Hu Liya avoided using her charms on Cultivators unless they were particularly weak. A strong golden core could uncover her true nature if she tried anything, and that was the last thing she wanted.
Taking him to the Jiang Sect was out of the question. Hu Liya wasn't at all a fan of the Jiangs and she was pretty sure she would rip Madam Yu's beating heart out with her bare claws if Zidian ever touched a hair on her kit's head.
Although she did feel a bit guilty about separating her kit from possible siblings it wasn't like they couldn't meet when her kit was older and ready to take on the world.
Could she teach him the fox way? Hu Liya considered.
It wasn't impossible. Wei Ying was the Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation. Or at least, he would be if he still showed interest this time around. He could not have pulled it off if he didn't have an affinity for it. Besides, as long as the Yin and Yang energies were balanced in his body it was unlikely that he would go insane and Qi Deviate.
It would have to wait until his mind was older and his willpower stronger.
Like most Yao, Foxes had a pugilistic approach to combat. They used their sharp claws to rip into flesh and bone like butter to dispose of their enemies. It was feral and not at all a suitable combat path for her human kit.
No, Hu Liya needed access to a legit Cultivation Sect. And not one of these wannabe small Sects that kept popping up and disappearing in the same year.
And she had just the place in mind.
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AN Note:
This has been on my mind a lot and I finally got to writing it. This fandom needs more transmigration/reincarnation OC fics so I decided to feed myself.