At this thought, Lu Chen grinned and closed in on the little fox.
Whimper, whimper, whimper...
Seeing Lu Chen's evil expression, the little fox sensed something amiss and let out fearful whines.
"Heh heh heh, hand it over!"
With a stride, Lu Chen reached out and scooped the little fox straight into his arms.
Disregarding the little fox's struggles, Lu Chen's wandering hands stroked it all over its body.
Whimper, whimper, whimper...
"I have to admit, it really is great to pet—fluffy and silky smooth."
Lu Chen muttered to himself as he stroked it.
At that moment, the little fox looked utterly dead inside, its originally silvery-white fur turning completely pink.
Congratulations on completing the Reversal Mission: embracing the high-and-mighty, ice-cold, and detached generation of Demon Emperor in your arms and petting her fiercely.
Reversal Mission completed. Mission reward: Demon God Contemplation Diagram!
Note: The Demon God Contemplation Diagram exists within the void. The host only needs a single thought to summon the Demon God Contemplation Diagram.
At that moment, a translucent panel appeared before Lu Chen's eyes once again.
Text slowly materialized across the transparent panel.
"It really is!"
Seeing the text on the panel, Lu Chen muttered to himself.
Who could have imagined that the little fox in his arms right now, who was practically at his mercy, would turn out to be a generation of Demon Emperor and the holy maiden of the mysterious Demon Race sacred land in the future.
"Let's go, time to head back."
Setting the little fox down, Lu Chen turned his head to look at Zhang Yanxin, who was eagerly catching fish in the back.
"You got it, Boss."
Hearing this, Zhang Yanxin eagerly hurried to his side.
"Little fox, your background is extraordinary, so I assume nothing will happen to you. Bye-bye, we'll part ways here!"
Lu Chen waved at the little fox on the ground, then walked straight toward the city with Zhang Yanxin.
Leaving the little fox standing in place, tilting its head as it watched Lu Chen's retreating back.
With a soft whimper, the little fox quickly trotted along behind Lu Chen.
Then, with a sudden leap, it directly jumped onto Lu Chen's shoulder.
"Huh? Little fox, you want to follow me?"
Seeing this, a surprised look appeared on Lu Chen's face.
Yet after thinking for a moment, a trace of a smile inevitably surfaced on his face.
"Since you want to follow, come along then."
Lu Chen stroked the little fox's head and spoke.
"Fatty, I hope you didn't see anything that happened today. Remember that!"
At the entrance of the Anjiang Marquis Manor, Lu Chen looked at Zhang Yanxin with a beaming smile.
Yet looking at that smiling expression, Zhang Yanxin caught a chilling intent to kill within it.
At this thought, Zhang Yanxin immediately shivered.
"Don't worry, Boss, I swear I didn't see a thing. My name is Zhang Yanxin, and I always keep my word."
Zhang Yanxin spoke with heavy emphasis.
Hearing this, Lu Chen nodded in satisfaction, reached out to pat Zhang Yanxin's shoulder, and handed him a spatial ring.
The spatial ring belonged to the assassin in black from earlier.
Lu Chen had transferred everything from that spatial ring into his own.
He had no use for the extra little spatial ring, so he left a Rejuvenation Pill and a Breakthrough Pill inside it as a favor to Zhang Yanxin.
Back inside the imperial palace, Lu Chen walked along its winding and rugged paths.
Before long, he returned to Yuan Xiu Palace.
It was already approaching evening.
Yet no sooner had Lu Chen stepped into Yuan Xiu Palace than he discovered that the courtyard in front of it was densely packed with piles of rare treasures.
At the entrance of the main hall, Lu Chen's mother, Consort Yuan, wore a triumphant expression.
At that moment, a eunuch happened to be setting down a gift and preparing to leave. Catching sight of Lu Chen walking in, his expression turned startled, and he immediately lowered his head in utter reverence as he spoke.
"This servant pays respects to the Eleventh Prince. This servant was sent by Consort Hua to offer congratulations to the Eleventh Prince on her behalf."
The young eunuch spoke respectfully.
Hearing this, Lu Chen experienced a sudden flash of understanding. He let out a cold snort and waved his hand, prompting the young eunuch to immediately scamper out of Yuan Xiu Palace with his head bowed in reverence.
"Chen'er, you're back."
Upon seeing Lu Chen, Consort Yuan's face instead bloomed with doting and joyful affection. She trotted over to Lu Chen and swept him up into an embrace.
Lu Chen's vision went dark; his mother was somewhat full-figured, making it slightly hard to breathe.
"Mom, I'm already six years old, you can't pick me up anymore!"
"What nonsense is that? No matter how old you are, you're still Mom's precious son, and Mom will pick you up whenever she wants."
Consort Yuan hugged Lu Chen tightly and spoke with joy.
Yet within Consort Yuan's eyes, tears were faintly brewing.
Heaven knows how difficult these years in the palace had been for a consort of palace maid origins.
Compared to those consorts whose maternal families possessed towering influence in the background,
Consort Yuan had already exhausted every ounce of her strength just to safely raise Lu Chen.
Therefore, Consort Yuan had pinned all her hopes upon her son.
Fortunately, her well-behaved child had not let her down.
He had gained the Azure Emperor's Favor during the talent assessment,
and rose to sudden fame that very morning in the Golden Palace Hall, becoming the talk of the town within the imperial palace.
Countless factions both inside and outside the court came to offer congratulations and try to forge connections.
"Mother, don't cry. Chen'er knows the suffering in your heart, but everything is in the past now. Our life will only get better from here on, and no one will ever dare look down on us or bully us again!"
Lu Chen raised his head, looking at the tears on Consort Yuan's face. His heart ached, and he reached out to wipe the tears from his mother's eyes.
"Chen'er is right, our days will only get better from now on."
Consort Yuan nodded.
After soothing his mother, Lu Chen carried the little fox back to his room.
The Tianchen Hall bestowed upon him by the Azure Emperor had not yet been cleaned up.
He would still spend tonight at Yuan Xiu Palace, and could move back tomorrow.
"Underworld, emerge!"
Inside Lu Chen's secret base, the basement beneath his room,
Lu Chen spoke softly.
The next moment, gloomy winds swept through the entire underworld, accompanied by the wailing of ghosts and howling of spirits.
Right after, five terrifying figures abruptly appeared before Lu Chen.
The instant these five figures materialized, Lu Chen felt an incomparable chill, as though plunging into an ice cellar, and even felt himself placed within the Netherworld Underworld, separated from death by a mere step—terrifying beyond measure.
Yet this terrifying sensation was fleeting, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
"Emperor Fengdu pays respects to My Lord."
"Eastern Ghost King, Western Ghost King, Northern Ghost King, and Southern Ghost King pay respects to My Lord."
The next moment, the five terrifying figures ahead dropped to one knee before Lu Chen and bowed respectfully.
With a flicker of his mind, Lu Chen concentrated every fiber of his focus on the five figures before him.
He saw that the figure at the very front was about one meter seventy-eight tall, dressed in a long black robe adorned with eerie and terrifying patterns of the Hundred Ghosts Night Parade, the Bridge of Helplessness, the Yellow Springs Road, the eighteen levels of hell, and more.
Upon his head he wore a terrifying ghost mask that obscured his true features, yet the moment Lu Chen laid eyes on him, his entire body shivered.
It was the intensely terrifying sensation of death itself.
Before you continue