I underestimated you

In Fireburn Kingdom, where the Azure Mist Sect stood, the names Tian Mingye and Thousand-Faced Fox rang out like thunder.

These two titans among demons and monsters were Fireburn Kingdom's crouching dragon and fledgling phoenix. Either one alone could bring calamity to the world.

And now Jiang Chen had run into both of them!

Tian Mingye needed no introduction. A four-armed demoness from birth, she possessed the greatest talent the Devil Race had seen in a century.

When the Dagan Dynasty had nearly wiped out the Heavenly Demon Sect, she had turned the tide as it collapsed and propped up a mansion on the verge of ruin. She reclaimed the Twelve Heavenly Demon Mountains, then slaughtered twenty human cities in retaliation.

Domineering, cruel, treacherous, and cunning, she regarded humans as food. For generations, she had been a nightmare Fireburn Kingdom could not shake; women and children wept through the night at the mere mention of her name.

Jiang Chen had only seen her projection and had not felt particularly afraid. He had even thought her clothes too revealing and wanted to become a guardian of virtue just to bundle her into a thick cotton coat.

But Jiang Chen had heard that the stronger a member of the Devil Race became, the more indescribable their true form grew.

Unlike the seductive demons in the films and games of his previous life, the Devil Race of this world was exceptionally cruel. They had become an intelligent life-form utterly unlike humanity.

Though few in number, the Devil Race was fiercely united. They lived in spatial rifts within the uninhabited reaches of various prefectures, maintained a rigid hierarchy, and rarely encountered humans alone. They often moved in groups to raid cities, carrying away the people and the cities themselves.

Unlike the united Devil Race, monsters were not a single species. The term encompassed all kinds of beasts that had taken human form. Most had distinct temperaments and went their own way.

A few monster tribes lived secluded in mountains and rivers, cut off from the world and feeding on plants and spirit beasts. Most, however, hid within human society, lying low by day and emerging at night to await their chance. Some had even repaid debts of kindness to humans.

Thousand-Faced Fox was a thousand-year-old fox spirit renowned throughout Fireburn Kingdom. Skilled in illusions and disguise, she could conceal her monstrous aura and cultivation, then transform into men or women, young or old, with such uncanny precision that no one could tell her apart from the real thing. She was all but impossible to guard against.

She often stirred up disputes wherever she went, stealing treasures amid the chaos, yet no one had ever seen her true face.

Now she had infiltrated the Heavenly Demon Sect and, on its behalf, gone undercover in the Azure Mist Sect. A spy within a spy.

Jiang Chen could not help thinking back.

Did that mean that, in the third Plot Simulation, he had slept with a thousand-year-old fox spirit without knowing it?

And had the image from the Butterfly Effect just now shown him her true face?

Jiang Chen had assumed Liu Ruyan was too strikingly beautiful for undercover work.

But judging by the breathtaking face he had just glimpsed—silver hair spilling over nine tails, a nine-petaled cherry blossom marking her snow-white brow, dewdrops clinging to long lashes like crystal diamonds, eyes shimmering like a lake of stars, skin as pale and tender as a baby's, and features that seemed painted by an immortal's brush...

Compared with such otherworldly beauty, the Liu Ruyan Thousand-Faced Fox had disguised herself as looked positively ordinary.

Jiang Chen hurriedly replayed the third simulation.

He had been with Liu Ruyan the whole time, until the final incense stick's worth of time...

Thousand-Faced Fox had replaced Liu Ruyan!

That figure... Jiang Chen nearly sprayed blood at the sight.

"I underestimated you!"

Jiang Chen regretted it.

But on second thought, Thousand-Faced Fox was far more dangerous than Liu Ruyan.

He even suspected that, in the first simulation, Thousand-Faced Fox had deliberately allowed herself to be caught to identify whoever had sent the warning.

The one thing he could not work out was whether that first time with the thousand-year-old fox spirit had been real or an illusion.

He watched the third simulation again, checking it frame by frame in slow motion.

Only then did he discover, to his shock, that his earlier cultivation sessions with Liu Ruyan had been illusions.

Only the final Qi Refining session... had been real!

He had admitted that he came from beyond this world and, moved by the moment, voiced that thought:

"Have you ever wondered: if the world we live in is a script unfolding within some mighty being's sea of consciousness, and it could end without warning at any moment, what would you want to do in the final moments of your life?"

Had those words won over the fox spirit?

Something about it did not add up.

Yet Jiang Chen had already made his choice. He could only seal away that wonderful memory.

An old fox was still an old fox. She might not have given herself to him sincerely; she might well have been willing to sacrifice her body just to uncover his identity.

He could not fall into her trap simply because the old fox was beautiful and had a fine figure.

Jiang Chen drew back his thoughts and returned to the matter at hand.

Judging by Thousand-Faced Fox's usual methods, she surely intended to provoke a war between the Heavenly Demon Sect and the Azure Mist Sect, then steal some treasure from the Azure Mist Sect in the ensuing chaos.

As far as Jiang Chen knew, the Azure Mist Sect's foundations lay in its expertise in basic cultivation and in using its high-quality Flame Vein to forge low-grade spirit swords and magical artifacts, which sold throughout Xihe Prefecture.

Could such an unremarkable sect be hiding a treasure even Thousand-Faced Fox wanted?

And why was the Heavenly Demon Sect so determined to take the Azure Mist Sect?

The affair grew ever more bewildering.

But none of that was what Jiang Chen needed to worry about right now.

He was still a nobody who had only just reached Qi Refining.

He had fled to the barren mountains beyond the sect because he feared the Devil Race would attack at once.

The spiritual energy here was negligible, making the place unsuitable for cultivation.

Since the Demon Sect would not act for another ten days, he could return to the Azure Mist Sect for now and use his Qi Refining cultivation to enter the inner sect.

There he could collect the standard set of inner-sect disciple robes, a spirit sword, and a Storage Ring, cultivate for nine days, then flee.

During those nine days, the simulator might even bring him another opportunity.

With that in mind, Jiang Chen returned to the Azure Mist Sect.

After returning, he could no longer be satisfied with the spiritual energy on Stubborn Stone Peak.

He said a brief farewell to Chen Ping, the steward of Stubborn Stone Peak, and asked him to write an application for an outer-sect disciple to transfer peaks.

Chen Ping's eyelids drooped as he asked groggily:

"You are..."

"This disciple is Jiang Chen. I came up the mountain two years ago and was fortunate enough to reach Qi Refining today. I wish to enter the inner sect to cultivate, so I came to bid Steward Chen farewell."

"Jiang what?"

"Jiang Chen."

"Chen what?"

"..."

Jiang Chen was speechless.

He had no choice but to explain patiently to Steward Chen and ask him to write the transfer application.

Chen Ping drowsily wrote the application and watched Jiang Chen leave. Then his aged eyes suddenly sharpened.

"That brat has always kept his head down and cultivated, never once trying to curry favor with me. Now that he's reached Qi Refining, he wants to flaunt it in front of me... Does he think I'll fall for that?"

Jiang Chen had reached Qi Refining less than a day ago and could not yet fly on a sword. He had to cross mountains and ridges, traveling through the night to the Internal Affairs Hall.

The Internal Affairs Hall, Fish-Leap Pavilion.

Even in the latter half of the night, a steward was on duty.

Jiang Chen presented his transfer application with both hands.

The elderly steward glanced at the application and murmured:

"Jiang Chen. Joined two years ago. Stubborn Stone Peak... Just reached Qi Refining... You can't wait even that long? You had to come pick a peak in the middle of the night?"

Under the Azure Mist Sect's rules, anyone who reached Qi Refining could become an inner-sect disciple and cultivate within the inner sect.

However, outer-sect disciples transferring peaks had limited choices, and peaks with better instruction required an assessment.

Jiang Chen had no time for an assessment. Any sparsely populated peak would do.

"This disciple's talent is mediocre. Life has its limits, but cultivation has none. Naturally, I dare not delay my cultivation for even a moment."

The elderly steward on duty was mildly startled. He turned to glance at the travel-worn young man.

"You have some perspective."

"Go to Tranquil Heart Peak. You're in luck; it has one spot left."

Wasn't Tranquil Heart Peak where Senior Sister Liu's residence was?

What would be would be. Jiang Chen marveled inwardly at the twists of fate and bowed to the elderly steward.

"Thank you for showing me the way, Senior!"