Blood Fox's Revenge, Night Raid Shocks and Reveals Strength

Moonlight slanted in through the window crack, falling across the iron chain and casting a cold gleam. I stared at the Black Iron Rings around my ankle and lightly tapped them with a finger, producing a dull sound.

Good.

The more I resembled trash, the safer I would be.

After Afu left, the room returned to silence. I closed my eyes and kept my breathing steady, but my mind remained taut.

That tremor from the Jade Slip had not been an illusion. It was responding to something—deep underground, something was loosening.

Without betraying anything, I rubbed my fingertips against my sleeve cuff, confirming that the pale-gold flake was still there. This was residue I had secretly kept after last night's altar explosion. I could neither keep it nor dispose of it too cleanly. Only a little trace would make what followed seem reasonable.

Just after midnight, the sounds of the guards changing shifts drifted over. Footsteps moved from east to west as two patrols crossed paths, leaving the woodshed briefly unguarded.

Now.

I slowly reached into my clothes. The Jade Slip was as cold as ever. But the instant I touched it, a bloody gale slammed the broken door open!

The door crashed against the wall with a tremendous bang. A crimson shadow darted inside so swiftly that only an afterimage remained. The Three-Eyed Blood Fox—it had come.

It was faster and fiercer than I had imagined.

Its claws tore through the air, lunging straight for my throat. Its eyes were scarlet, its third eye flickering with a ghostly blue light. An old wound along its neck had split open, blood threading down through its fur. It had come for me, not to assassinate me, but for revenge.

My pupils contracted, and instinctively, I wanted to dodge.

But I could not move.

If I dodged too cleanly, I would expose myself. I had endured in hiding for three years, all to accumulate strength for this day. Before throwing a single punch, I absolutely could not shatter the board.

I gritted my teeth and let it close in.

Its claws were less than half an inch from my throat—

Boom!

An invisible force exploded from within me. A pale-gold sheen surged from deep in my bones, instantly covering my entire body and forming a Protective Light Membrane as thin as cicada wings. The Blood Fox seemed to have slammed into a wall of bronze and iron. Its entire body was violently flung back, smashing hard into the earthen wall opposite. Bricks and stones burst apart, and dust billowed everywhere.

When it hit the ground, its limbs convulsed, blood spilling from its mouth.

The ghostly blue radiance in its third eye shook violently, as if it might go out at any moment.

I did not move.

My expression did not change in the slightest. I merely curled up in the corner, my shoulders trembling faintly, and began to mutter, "F-fox... the fox... eats people..."

My voice came in broken fragments, my gaze scattered, blood seeping from the corner of my mouth—I had bitten through my tongue to create bloody foam. My crazed appearance had to be flawless.

The Blood Fox struggled to raise its head. Its third eye stared fixedly at me, its venomous resentment nearly taking tangible form. It recognized me, and it recognized this power. But it could not understand why a cripple could repel a Primordial Alien Species.

With a low growl, it turned, crashed through the window, and leaped into the night, vanishing beyond the courtyard wall.

Within only a few breaths, a commotion broke out outside.

Lanterns and torches lit up one after another, footsteps in disarray. Ji Hantian had arrived.

He was not wearing his Purple-Gold Python Robe, only an outer garment, his hair ribbon slightly loose. Yet his gaze was sharp as a blade. Two guards carrying lanterns followed behind him, illuminating the broken grass and bloodstains covering the ground.

He crouched down, first examining the cracks in the wall before looking down at the small pale-gold fragment left on the ground—that was the lingering trace left after the Protective Light Membrane dissipated.

He reached down, picked it up, and scrutinized it in his palm.

The light was extremely fine, nearly transparent, yet beneath the lantern glow, it still shone with a trace of metallic coldness.

"This doesn't resemble an ordinary Spirit Pattern," he said softly. There was no surprise in his voice, only gravity.

He raised his head, his gaze settling on me.

I was hugging my knees in the corner, trembling all over, repeating, "The fox eats people," while drool ran from the corner of my mouth. I looked utterly wretched.

He watched me for a while, then suddenly rose and walked over. He planted one foot on that pale-gold fragment.

Crack.

A crisp shattering sound rang out, and powder scattered in all directions.

He lowered his head to look at the sole of his boot, then glanced at the old torn wound at my waist—dried blood still clung there, the very source of the scent that had lured the Blood Fox.

"Just a piece of trash, frightened half to death by even a demonic beast." He sneered. His voice was not loud, but it carried bone-piercing coldness. "Looks like he really has gone mad."

He waved a hand. "Take him back and lock him up tighter. If he dares run around in the middle of the night again, break his legs."

The guards answered and stepped forward, hauling me outside. I did not resist. My head hung low and my eyelids drooped halfway shut, but from the corner of my eye, I continued watching Ji Hantian's movements.

He did not leave immediately.

He stood where he was, staring at the crushed gold powder on the ground for a long time.

Only after we turned past the courtyard corner did he turn and leave, his back disappearing into the darkness.

Back in the woodshed, the guards threw me onto the pile of straw, checked the shackles again, and only left after confirming the chains were intact. The door was locked, and their footsteps faded away.

I lay on the ground without moving.

A moment later, I slowly raised my hand, took another pale-gold flake from my sleeve, ground it into powder with my fingernail, mixed it into the ash beside the straw, and gently scattered it.

Only after finishing this did I close my eyes and sink my consciousness into my Sea of Consciousness.

The system operated soundlessly.

[Heaven-Slaying Origin: Ninety-Nine Percent]

One thread short.

Just one thread short.

That strike had not been something I actively unleashed. It was the Pseudo-Primordial Body automatically activating at the critical moment. The system had judged my "situation perilous" and "enemy pressure intense," slightly increasing the absorption rate. The Remnant Dao aura brought by the Blood Fox and the oppressive pressure of Ji Hantian's personal arrival were both adding fuel to the Origin's accumulation.

As long as there was one more similar fluctuation...

As I pondered, I suddenly felt a chill in my chest.

The Jade Slip moved again.

It was not trembling. It was heating up.

I hurriedly reached into my clothes. The instant my fingertips touched it, I felt a faint pull—as though something deep underground was trying to resonate with it.

At the same time, a faint, shrill cry drifted from the direction of the distant Black Market.

It was the Blood Fox.

It had not died, but what had it brought back?

I opened my eyes and looked at the night sky beyond the hole in the roof. Thick clouds covered it, hiding both stars and moon. But in one instant, an extremely thin gray line seemed to flash across the horizon, so fast it felt like an illusion.

I sat up and leaned against the wall, one hand pressing against the point where the chain connected.

The chain was icy cold, biting into my lower leg.

I lightly tapped it twice.

The rhythm was slow.

As though waiting for something.

Outside, wind passed through dead branches, producing faint scraping sounds.

In an inconspicuous corner, a patch of shattered gold powder slowly seeped into the soil, its color growing fainter and fainter until it completely vanished.

And deep underground, a fresh crack emerged on the surface of a Stone Tablet that had been sealed for a thousand years.