Transforming into a stunningly beautiful fox spirit, leaving a scar on the heart of a prodigy.

The morning air carried a chill.

When Chen Xuan pushed open the door to Chen Daolin's study, four direct descendants were already waiting on both sides.

Chen Daolin sat behind his desk, a cup of tea beside him, its steam just beginning to dissipate.

Chen Xuan stood at the door without bowing.

"Ancestor, I've figured it out."

Chen Daolin picked up his teacup.

"I wish to enter the Guiyuan Hall for seclusion."

The teacup hovered halfway, paused for a moment.

Chen Xuan's voice was flat, as if he were talking about something trivial.

"But there is one condition."

Chen Daolin looked up from the teacup.

"Li Changgeng personally protected the Dharma."

The study fell silent.

Chen Daolin placed the teacup back on the table. Then he picked it up again. Then he put it down again.

twice.

Su Chang'an saw these two actions clearly in his mind.

Picking up is instinct. Putting down is hesitation. Picking up again is weighing the options. Putting down again means making a decision but not being certain.

That old man has something to hide.

Li Changgeng's intervention was not entirely within his control. He wanted to trap Chen Xuan with the Guiyuan Palace, but he didn't intend to let Li Changgeng in as well. These two each had their own plans, sharing the same chessboard, but not playing the same game.

crack.

The first crack she saw with her own eyes.

"it is good."

Chen Daolin picked up his teacup for the third time and drank it this time.

"Enter the palace at noon today."

-

To get from the study to the Guiyuan Hall, one must pass through seven gates.

On either side of each door stood a direct descendant elder, and the light patterns of the spiritual energy array stretched from the door frame all the way to the gaps in the floor tiles.

Chen Xuan walked in the middle.

Four elders followed at a distance, supposedly "escorting" him, but their steps were as synchronized as if they were escorting prisoners.

The warm jade talisman at her waist became slightly hot as she passed through the first gate.

The second door was even hotter.

At the third gate, the tracking array patterns on the jade surface lit up briefly.

By the fifth gate, the warm jade token was like a red-hot charcoal, burning painfully even through clothing. Chen Xuan's expression remained unchanged. Su Chang'an silently memorized the array patterns corresponding to each gate in his sea of ​​consciousness.

Monitoring accuracy is being upgraded.

After passing through the seven gates, the main gate of Guiyuan Hall appeared before us.

The palace doors were cast in black iron, without any patterns or inscriptions. The two bare black doors resembled a closed mouth.

The aura within the hall seeped out from the cracks in the door. Cold. Sticky. It wasn't ordinary spiritual energy; it was like the residue of a shattered spiritual vein, caked in the air.

There was a slight tremor in the ground. The main root of the spiritual vein meandered beneath my feet, like a lurking giant python, its heavy breathing rising from the earth.

The leading elder stopped and stepped aside to let them pass.

"Your Highness, the palace guards."

Chen Xuan stopped in his tracks.

"All weapons must be temporarily stored outside the palace."

Su Chang'an felt the tendons in Chen Xuan's right hand tighten. His hand rested on the hilt of the heavy sword behind his back, his knuckles turning white.

He didn't move.

The elder repeated, "The spiritual veins within the hall are pure, and the energy of metal would interfere with the circulation of the veins. The Third Ancestor specifically instructed that the Emperor's weapon be kept in our care."

That's very polite of you.

They were as polite as if they were taking away a prisoner's weapon.

Chen Xuan's fingers tapped on the hilt of the sword for three breaths.

Take a breath.

Two breaths.

Three breaths.

Su Chang'an didn't urge him.

On the fourth breath, the fingers loosened.

The greatsword was taken down and placed horizontally on the weapon rack outside the palace gate. The black blade struck the iron rack with a dull thud.

Chen Xuan didn't turn around.

He entered the Guiyuan Hall. The black iron gate closed behind him, cutting off the sunlight from outside.

There were no lights inside the hall. The faint light from the main root of the spiritual vein seeped up from the cracks in the floor tiles, tinged with a pale blue, not enough to illuminate the four walls, but only enough to see three feet underfoot.

Chen Xuan sat down cross-legged in the center of the hall.

Close your eyes.

Into the set.

-

At the thirtieth breath he had taken, Su Chang'an moved.

Deep within the sea of ​​consciousness, nine tails slowly unfurled.

The red-clad inner demon huddled in a corner, sensing the change in aura. With its back pressed against the barrier of its consciousness, it dared not even breathe.

Su Chang'an didn't look at her.

Her spirit extended a tail tip and gently touched the inner demon's brow.

The inner demon's body stiffened for a moment, then it began to release its aura.

It wasn't the aura of the inner demon itself.

It was Su Chang'an who taught her to simulate—the primordial fluctuations of the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox. Extremely faint. Extremely weak. Like a wisp of silk about to break.

This fluctuation emanated from the inner demon, passed through the barrier of his consciousness, and merged into Chen Xuan's spiritual energy cycle.

Chen Xuan was in meditation. His spiritual energy circulated slowly through his meridians. The wisp of celestial fox aura mingled with his spiritual energy, inconspicuous and unobtrusive, like a drop of ink falling into a river.

The spiritual energy flows along the meridians through the dantian and limbs, eventually dissipating from the body surface.

The aura passed through Chen Xuan's body and seeped into the floor tiles of Guiyuan Hall.

Beneath the floor tiles lies the main root of the spiritual vein.

The main vein of the spiritual energy leads to the underground.

Su Chang'an leaned against a corner of her sea of ​​consciousness, controlling the frequency of the inner demon's aura release with the tip of her tail. It couldn't be too fast. Too fast would attract Li Changgeng's attention. It couldn't be too strong. Too strong would expose her presence.

Just enough to reach the ground.

It seemed to be the residual scent of an injured fox that had inadvertently leaked out.

The taste of prey.

She was in the hunter's cage, exuding the scent of her prey.

But she was the one who baited the bait. And the hook was hers too.

Last time in this city, Li Changgeng touched her through the frame of her sea of ​​consciousness, almost giving her away.

This time, it's her turn to decide who gets to come in.

The breath seeped into the ground.

One breath. Ten breaths. One hundred breaths.

Su Chang'an waited patiently. The floor tiles of Guiyuan Hall were cold, and the aura of the main root of the spiritual vein surged beneath her feet like an underground river. Her Heavenly Fox aura merged into the underground river, sinking down along the path of the spiritual vein, and further down.

Nothing happened.

Su Chang'an wasn't in a hurry. He continued releasing the contents.

The breath sinks deeper into the depths.

She almost thought she had guessed wrong.

Then the floor shook.

It's very light.

It's not a spiritual vein fluctuation. A spiritual vein fluctuation is continuous and rhythmic, like a pulse.

Now he's isolated.

Like a heartbeat.

a bit.

Only once.

And then that was it.

Su Chang'an's nine tails exploded simultaneously.

The shockwave carried a powerful energy that rushed into her soul, like a bucket of ice water being poured over her head.

She recognized her.

The origin of the nine-tailed celestial fox.

Exactly the same as her.

No. Not exactly the same. Older. More intense. So intense it's bitter.

There was something in that aura that wasn't spiritual power or laws; it was something else entirely.

It took Su Chang'an two breaths to figure it out.

It is sadness.

A sorrow that has seeped into my very bones and been sealed away for countless years.

She unconsciously took a step back.

His heel landed on the inner demon's tail. The inner demon groaned, biting its lip, afraid to make a sound.

What's buried under Guiyuan Hall isn't a magical treasure.

It's not a base.

It's not some ancient relic.

It is a living nine-tailed celestial fox.

Or rather—half alive.

The clan emblem in the Palace of Bones. The celestial fox clan chief in the Emperor's Palace. Li Changgeng's cry of "Master" in the Sutra Repository. Chunxian's mention of "her".

At this moment, all the fragments were pieced together to form a complete picture.

Su Chang'an's breath caught in his throat for a moment.

Footsteps could be heard outside the hall.

Very light. No spiritual energy fluctuations. Cloth shoes stepped on the stone slabs, one step at a time.

Su Chang'an instantly concealed all his aura. The release of his inner demons was also abruptly stopped at the same moment. His sea of ​​consciousness returned to a stagnant stillness.

The footsteps stopped outside the palace gate.

The black iron gate remained closed.

The people outside the hall stood at the doorway and remained silent for three breaths.

Then Su Chang'an heard a sentence.

The voice was very soft. As if speaking to oneself. Carrying an expectation that three thousand years could not erase.

"Are you awake?"

He wasn't asking Chen Xuan.