Unsurprisingly, Yan Zhao was bitten by the fox again.
“Tsk.” Yan Zhao inhaled sharply, lifting her arm to shake the little fox dangling from her hand. “What’s wrong with you, fox? I’m worried about you, and you bite me!”
The little fox let the words go in one ear and out the other, rolling her eyes at her.
Before Yan Zhao’s voice had even faded, a sharp pain shot through her other hand.
The little red fox, learning by example, was now dangling from her other arm, its big tail swaying back and forth.
“……”
Wuwuwu… someone save me…
Yan Zhao was about to have a proper argument with the two foxes and give them a lecture when she suddenly heard a strange crying sound again.
The sound was near and far, sometimes clear, sometimes indistinct, as if drifting in from outside the house, yet also echoing within the room.
Yan Zhao tilted her ear to listen, the intermittent cries for help always faintly present.
“Do you hear anything?” Yan Zhao asked the little foxes.
Snowball’s emerald-green eyes flickered, and Bai Jin tilted her head. Judging by their confused expressions, they probably hadn’t heard it.
A fox’s ears should be sensitive enough. Yan Zhao wondered if she had misheard.
She didn’t take it to heart. After being forced by Ren Qingyue to study for an hour, Yan Zhao was a bit tired, so she climbed back onto the couch to sleep for a while.
However, as soon as she lay down, the crying started again, sobbing and lingering in her ears.
It seemed clearer with her eyes closed.
Who exactly was crying?
Yan Zhao couldn’t sleep and grew irritated.
But the two little foxes beside her were completely indifferent.
The crying annoyed Yan Zhao so much she couldn’t stay in bed.
She flipped over and got up, casually scooping Snowball into her arms, pushed the door open, and walked out.
The little red fox was still sleeping on the couch, digesting the Demon Core the Fox Immortal Sister had given it the previous night. It didn’t notice Yan Zhao’s departure.
Snowball poked her head out of Yan Zhao’s arms, glancing up, puzzled as to why Yan Zhao had come out of the room.
Yan Zhao left the room, searching for the source of the sound.
She circled the courtyard once but found nothing and prepared to look outside the yard.
Passing a room, the crying sound suddenly amplified. Yan Zhao stopped, turning her head to look at the tightly closed door.
So the sound was coming from here.
Yan Zhao pushed the door open and walked in.
It was a study, a space about three zhang square, not very spacious. But due to the simple furnishings, it looked quite tidy.
However, besides a large desk and several bookshelves lining the walls, there wasn’t a single soul in sight.
Yan Zhao frowned, thinking hard. Even though the sound was clearer, she still couldn’t pinpoint the exact source of the crying.
She searched every possible hiding spot in the study, baffling the little fox, who had no idea what madness had seized Yan Zhao this time.
Not only trespassing into someone else’s study, but also rummaging around carelessly—if the fox were in human form right now, she’d at least smack Yan Zhao’s palm a few more times with a ruler.
At that moment, Yan Zhao’s rummaging stopped.
She stood before one of the bookshelves. On the shelf sat a locked wooden box.
The crying was coming from inside this wooden box.
Perhaps because Yan Zhao had noticed it, the thing inside the box stirred, bumping against it and causing the box to shift slightly, revealing a mismatched trail of dust on the shelf.
The little fox then heard the sound of the box moving. Her Spiritual Sense probed over and felt a barrier layer.
This wooden box had a powerful Seal placed inside; ordinary people would find it very difficult to open.
Yan Zhao’s gaze fell on the surface of the wooden box, her head tilted with a puzzled expression.
Just as her hand rose, the little fox bit her sleeve, stopping her action.
“There’s something in here, and it won’t stop fussing,” Yan Zhao told the little fox. “It’s so noisy I can’t sleep.”
The little fox was stunned.
Other than that slight movement of the box just now, she clearly hadn’t heard any sound.
In her daze, Yan Zhao’s hand pulled free from her mouth and touched the wooden box.
Instantly, the world spun, the void around them twisted, the scene inside the study collapsed, replaced by a completely different landscape.
Yan Zhao stood holding the fox atop a high cliff, a bottomless abyss at her feet.
An evil wind howled below the cliff. The sky was gloomy, clouds rolling and churning, pressing down like vicious beasts, as if trying to swallow any unlucky soul who dared trespass.
Ren Qingyue was shocked.
They had been pulled into a strange Sea of Consciousness!
Yan Zhao’s face also showed surprise. One moment she was in the room, the next she was suddenly outdoors.
The sobbing cry hadn’t disappeared with the change; it drifted up from below the cliff, echoing between the mountain peaks.
Yan Zhao looked down over the cliff edge. Unfortunately, thick fog swirled at the bottom, obscuring the view and hiding the depth.
Turning her head, the path behind was hidden in pitch-black void. The perimeter of the peak she stood on continuously collapsed, the habitable area under her feet shrinking steadily.
“……”
Yan Zhao pondered for a moment, then bent down, picked up a stone, and threw it off the cliff.
The stone fell, cutting a trail through the rolling thick fog, then made a thud sound, hitting something unknown.
The next instant, a terrifying air current burst through the clouds, and a massive black shadow, like a small mountain, leaped from the bottom of the cliff, soaring into the air and casting a huge shadow.
Yan Zhao and the little fox looked up simultaneously.
That was…
A Pill Furnace.
·
The little red fox woke up to find the Fox Immortal Sister gone again.
Not only was the Fox Immortal Sister missing, but Yan Zhao was also nowhere to be found.
Yan Zhao must have taken the Fox Immortal Sister away.
This Human Cultivator was truly annoying, always hogging the Fox Immortal Sister, not letting her play with it.
Bai Jin shook out her fur, crawled out of the bedding, and jumped off the bed.
No one was in the courtyard. She circled the pavilion but couldn’t find the Fox Immortal Sister.
Passing by a study on the way, the door was open.
She poked her head inside. The room was empty, no one there.
Could they have gone outside?
Bai Jin looked at the closed gate at the edge of the courtyard, her head tilted in thought.
After a moment’s hesitation, she darted across the courtyard with a whoosh, deciding to look outside.
The tiny figure of the red fox soon disappeared into the thicket. Not long after, another dark shadow appeared outside the study.
Nangong Yin stepped lightly into the study.
On the bookshelf, from the seams of that tightly closed wooden box, a cold, dark light seeped out.
·
The pitch-black surface of the Pill Furnace gleamed with a sinister metallic luster, nine dragon motifs coiled upon it.
As it leaped into the air, the nine dragons suddenly came to life. With a flash of silver light, they transformed and encircled the Pill Furnace from all directions, which was trying to break free, forcibly dragging it back down below the cliff.
The sound of dragon roars echoed continuously, while the furnace’s howling cries and roars grew increasingly distinct.
This time, Ren Qingyue heard it too.
Yan Zhao stood on the cliff, exchanging a glance with the little fox.
“…Save me… save me…”
The voice was childish, like a four or five-year-old child.
If one hadn’t seen it with their own eyes, who would believe a Pill Furnace could become sentient, even crying for help like a human?
Pressing down the swirling fog, the Pill Furnace was suppressed into the bottom of the cliff by the nine black dragons, lacking the strength to jump up again, but its wailing continued.
“Stop crying,” Yan Zhao said. “I can’t save you. Find someone else.”
“…Wuwuwu… You can… only you can save me… wuwuwu… If you let me out… I’ll agree to anything…”
“Agree to anything…” Yan Zhao rested her chin on her hand, pondering.
“Yes! I’ll agree to anything!”
The Pill Furnace’s tone was urgent.
Yan Zhao thought seriously for a moment, then asked it: “Can you kill Demon Beasts to hunt Demon Cores?”
The Pill Furnace: “……”
“Seems not,” Yan Zhao muttered to herself, stroking the fox’s head. “Snowball, let’s go back.”
The Pill Furnace panicked. “Wait! Don’t go!”
Yan Zhao walked toward the pitch-black vortex without looking back.
Her intuition told her that was the exit.
“Halt!” A fierce roar came from the bottom of the cliff, shaking the entire mountain cliff.
Then, a black Hurricane burst through the thick fog once more. A cluster of dark purple flames abandoned the furnace body and rushed toward Yan Zhao.
It surged with a menacing aura, transforming into an eagle in midair, its wings blazing fiercely, swooping down at Yan Zhao.
Just possess her.
A voice whispered in its mind.
Even if its power was greatly damaged, as long as it Possessed this body, it could leave this place.
As the killing intent closed in, the little fox’s expression changed drastically.
Her body moved before her mind, leaping up to block Yan Zhao’s path.
The time was too short, no chance to Transform into human form.
The black eagle formed by the Furnace Spirit pounced close, its sharp beak reaching the fox’s claws.
Riiip— It tore a bloody gash.
Yan Zhao’s pupils constricted.
The little fox fell back to Yan Zhao’s feet. The wound on her shoulder caught the firelight, flames scorching her fur.
She thrashed on the ground, but the flame wouldn’t go out. She could only use Spiritual Qi to temporarily suppress it, preventing it from spreading.
The expression on Yan Zhao’s face vanished, replaced by a gloomy layer of frost.
Suddenly, violent gusts of wind swept across the cliff, the air pressure plummeting.
Sensing the abnormality, the little fox’s heart skipped a beat. She whipped her head around, a bad feeling rising within her.
The black eagle in the sky, having missed its first strike, circled back for another pass.
This time, the fox was powerless to stop it. It shrieked fiercely, charging straight at Yan Zhao.
Yan Zhao raised her head, her hair scattering.
A dark red gleam flashed and vanished in the depths of her eyes.
The instant it met Yan Zhao’s gaze, an icy chill crawled up its spine.
Before it could react, the twang of a zither string echoed from the void. Flying blades whooshed across the void, cutting off its wings.
It hurtled past Yan Zhao and plunged into the abyss with a scream.
A feather brushed past Yan Zhao’s cheek, slicing a small wound just under her ear, half an inch long.
She looked darkly at the void, where those flying blades had appeared out of thin air, her eyes investigative, but found nothing.
The wound on her cheek rapidly closed. Yan Zhao picked up the little fox and tucked her into her arms.
The next moment, in silence, she jumped off the cliff.
A terrifying storm filled the deep chasm. The Furnace Spirit, severely injured, felt the desire to retreat, thinking it better to return to the furnace and wait another few thousand years rather than lose its life.
Suddenly, a shadow descended from above.
Its vision shifted upward as the thick fog broke open a hole. The human it had tried to attack earlier entered its sight, then with a whoosh, appeared right before it.
“……”
As the spirit of a Pill Furnace, it had never felt such fear in any moment.
Like a human, its spine chilled. If it had a human body, it would likely be drenched in cold sweat by now.
Yan Zhao reached out and grabbed it.
The flames on its body burned her hand, but while her flesh continuously festered, it also continuously regenerated.
Her blood seeped into its body, like thousands of needles stabbing into its soul.
“AAAAAHHHHH!!!!”
Clang—
Yan Zhao’s body landed on the Pill Furnace with a dull thud.
Her feet stepped on the Furnace Lid, the nine black dragons exploding outward, circling and dancing in the air.
Blood dripped onto the Pill Furnace, seeping into the exquisite carved patterns on its surface. After a moment, a glow emanated.
The Furnace Spirit in Yan Zhao’s hands turned into a ball of fire. Its Spiritual Intelligence had been forcibly erased.
The nine dragons flew back, merging into the furnace body, the Seal undone.
The palm-sized flame shed its aggressiveness, flickering cheerfully in Yan Zhao’s palm.
That disgusting, hostile feeling from before was gone.
Yan Zhao stared at the flame for a moment, then casually tossed it away.
The flame landed on the Pill Furnace, fluttered briefly, then burrowed into the furnace, merging completely with it.
Then, the Pill Furnace floated up, carrying Yan Zhao as it flew up from the base of the cliff.
Yan Zhao returned to the cliff top, feeling a strange new connection in her mind. The echoing sobs that had persisted were finally silent. Her ears were at peace.
The Pill Furnace shrank to the size of a palm, hopping behind Yan Zhao like a rabbit.
Yan Zhao saw it and frowned.
She kicked it aside.
The Small Pill Furnace: “…Whimper.”
Yan Zhao gave a cold snort.
With a thought, the Illusion Realm shattered, and she returned to reality.
The landing point seemed a bit off; she appeared in a dense thicket.
In the forest, she could smell a scent similar to the small courtyard. She felt the pavilion shouldn’t be far from here.
The murderous aura in her eyes faded, Yan Zhao’s consciousness returning to calm.
She picked up the little fox.
“Eh?”
There was no obvious wound on the little fox’s body.
But it looked somewhat weak, curled up in Yan Zhao’s arms, resting with its eyes closed.
Yan Zhao immediately took out a Water-Attribute Demon Core and held it to its mouth. “Want to eat?”
The little fox opened its eyes, weakly swallowing the Demon Core.
“Where are you hurt?” Yan Zhao asked it.
The little fox shook its head.
“Its soul is damaged. Taking Demonic Cores alone is not enough.”
A voice appeared out of thin air.
Yan Zhao looked up. The one-armed woman she had seen in the Immortal’s Cave Abode appeared before her.
