Draining Him Dry

Ye Wuyou stood where he was, his expression calm, recalling the information he had read about the Demon Fox.

Twenty-four years ago, the Qingqiu Demon Fox had taken the form of a beautiful woman and infiltrated the Thousand Illusions Sect. She had used her fox charms to bewitch its Sect Master and steal the Sect Treasure, ultimately bringing about its destruction.

Murong Huan's Fourth Realm remnant soul had now dissipated like smoke, leaving nothing behind.

Only the "Ghost" behind Ye Wuyou seemed to have grown slightly more substantial.

The Formless Heart Sutra within him continued circulating on its own.

Ye Wuyou closed his eyes and opened them again, a trace of bewilderment flashing through them.

What exactly was No-Self, the first stage of the Formless Heart Sutra?

When he had first entered this stage in the Heavenly Prison, he had devoured Xia Anmeng's immense soul power and, through a bizarre twist of fate, swallowed an "Uncanny."

He had not known what realm he had reached, but his Vital Breath had been absurdly powerful then.

At the time, even some of the ambitions buried in his heart seemed to have been influenced by that tremendous power, gradually swelling.

If he had to put it into words, only one feeling had remained in Ye Wuyou's heart then.

No-Self. No equal.

Having entered this stage, his eyes seemed able to see through every falsehood.

Whatever his opponent was, whatever supernatural ability appeared before him, his mind understood it clearly.

It was as though... the narrator had completely merged with his body.

Was I still myself now?

The confusion in his eyes seemed to deepen.

Ye Wuyou stood rooted to the spot, motionless.

"Hey, Ye Wuyou, are you all right?" Lin Qingqing stood nearby, her breathing somewhat ragged, several bloody marks showing through the clothing over her slender body.

Murong Huan had vanished, and the Illusion Realm had dissolved along with him.

But... for Lin Qingqing and the other two, perhaps none of it had been an illusion.

A Truth and Illusion Realm woven of truth and falsehood—even after it dissipated, everything that had happened remained real in the minds of those within it who had failed to recognize its nature.

They had truly fought a giant wolf Demon Beast and driven it away, while its inexplicable supernatural ability had also slashed countless wounds across their bodies.

"Are you all right? Why are you spacing out?"

Lin Qingqing walked up to Ye Wuyou and reached out to pat him, a trace of uncertainty in her eyes.

"I'm fine."

His familiar voice sounded, flat and utterly devoid of emotion.

Ye Wuyou gently lowered her hand, the confusion gone from his eyes.

He looked at the three people standing nearby, each bearing different injuries, and, after a moment's thought, offered a friendly smile.

Right, should I smile now?

"Thanks for the effort. What should we do now? Go back and rest, or capture the Demon Fox?"

Ye Wuyou posed the question with smiling eyes, yet his voice was unnaturally calm, without a hint of amusement.

Standing before him, Lin Qingqing frowned slightly.

She kept feeling that something about Ye Wuyou was strange, but she could not put her finger on it.

It was as though he had become someone else.

Lin Qingqing said nothing, but Xu Fang spoke up.

The burly man had suffered the worst injuries, yet he was also the most vigorous. He was a body cultivator, after all; wounds to his flesh were not enough to threaten his life.

"You little brat, we haven't even asked you where you went! When that Demon Beast attacked, you disappeared all of a sudden!"

"We were fighting through blood, and you don't have a scratch on you! Do you realize that with one more person keeping it occupied, that Demon Beast wouldn't have escaped? We would've killed it on the spot!"

Killed it on the spot?

Ye Wuyou genuinely did not understand.

How were you supposed to kill a creature inside an Illusion Realm?

By dreaming, perhaps?

Ye Wuyou lowered his eyes slightly. Rather than argue, he simply offered a quiet apology.

But Xu Fang's anger did not abate in the slightest. Ye Wuyou's lukewarm apology did nothing to soothe him.

On the contrary, the fact that the three of them had faced danger while Ye Wuyou had "fled the battlefield" and emerged unscathed infuriated him.

"Fuck, I really can't stand that attitude of yours! Either give me an explanation or act like a man and have a proper fight with me! If apologies did any good, what would we need fists for?" Xu Fang said.

Listening to him, Ye Wuyou showed no displeasure.

The man's words were like air, stirring nothing within him.

Only...

Honestly, body cultivators were fools beyond saving. How should I explain it to him?

It was nothing but a false illusion. Why insist on arguing with me?

Too noisy. Should I just kill him?

No, what am I thinking?

Ye Wuyou shook his head slightly. Why would he have such a foolish thought?

There were still two others here. How could I think of killing him?

I should kill them all.

Three Second Realm cultivators, all wounded. If I fought seriously, it probably wouldn't take long...

Ye Wuyou raised his head and looked ahead, his eyes cold and utterly unruffled.

A spectral-blue Ghost Hands extended from behind him, followed by a second, then a third...

Not only were they invisible to the naked eye, even Xia Anmeng's experienced Sixth Realm remnant soul had been unable to sense the slightest trace of them.

A hum...

An inexplicable tremor seemed to come from the mountains.

The trees swayed, and birds fled.

An enormous fissure suddenly burst across the ground, then branched into countless more.

"Is this... an earth rumble?"

A white fox darted through the mountain forest. Feeling the violent tremors, she immediately flattened herself against the ground and lay motionless.

Her eyes rolled about, brimming with intelligence as she pondered something.

She had three tails behind her... or rather, she had originally had three.

Blood dripped steadily from the severed tail, the pain making the white fox bare her teeth in a distinctly human grimace.

She was the very Demon Fox Ye Wuyou's group was searching for.

"As if those lackeys from the Heavenly Prison finding me weren't enough, that woman came too."

The woman the white fox referred to was, of course, Bai Lu of the Joyous Union Sect.

She was also her older sister of the same clan, though they shared neither mother nor father.

Before reaching the fourth tier, Demon Beasts possessed intelligence but had yet to awaken their spiritual awareness and could not take human form.

But the Demon Fox Clan could.

Thirty-six years ago, upheaval had struck Qingqiu. Fleeing together, they had crossed the Ten Thousand Mountains and the Cloudmist Mountains, arriving in the remote land of Great Yan.

She and her older sister had parted ways to wander the human world.

Relying on the Demon Foxes' unique gifts, she had bewitched human hearts and advanced her cultivation.

Her older sister, meanwhile, seemed to have joined a human sect.

Eventually, when she reached the third tier, she encountered the Sect Master of the Thousand Illusions Sect.

She sensed something familiar about him.

It was the aura of her ancestor.

To investigate further, she had taken human form, approached him, and entered the Thousand Illusions Sect, finally discovering the source of that familiar aura.

The Thousand Illusions Sect's supreme treasure, the Thousand Illusions Purple-Gold Bell.

How was that the Thousand Illusions Sect's supreme treasure? It was clearly a relic left behind by an ancestor of her own Demon Fox Clan.

Who could rival the Demon Fox Clan in the art of illusions?

What was wrong with taking back her ancestor's relic?

Originally, she would have needed only a few more years to cross easily into the fourth tier and become a Great Demon with the help of that ancestral treasure.

But during one of her essence-draining encounters, she had run into a terrifying old man!

The thought of him made the white fox gnash her teeth in fury.

Fortunately, she had not carried the treasure with her, but hidden it beforehand.

That was the only reason the people of the Heavenly Prison had not killed her.

Now that the Heavenly Prison had collapsed, she had been given another opportunity.

"After leaving that treasure in these mountains for so long, it must have absorbed enough essence from the sun and moon. All that remains is to retrieve it."

A lively gleam appeared in the white fox's eyes, mingled with a trace of ruthlessness.

Once she recovered her ancestor's relic, she would leave Great Yan immediately.

By then, she would be a fourth-tier Great Demon. Even if she returned to Qingqiu, she could claim a territory of her own.

"Hm?"

The white fox's eyes shifted. Her vision was excellent.

Amid the crumbling mountainside, she spotted a human figure.

A lackey of the Heavenly Prison!

The white fox's heart trembled, and she was about to turn and flee. Then she steadied herself and looked carefully.

It was only a First Realm cultivator.

The white fox licked her lips, her tails swaying gently behind her.

Perfect, since I was injured... I would drain this man's blood essence until I'd had my fill.