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

"So, that scruffy little fox cub shivering in the snow all those years ago was you?"

The cold wind inside the ice cave suddenly stopped. Su Chang'an's clear, cold voice echoed among the huge white bones of the celestial fox, striking the millennia-old black ice.

Ten feet away, Chunxian's slender body trembled violently. Her dark red robe fluttered slightly, and a few ice shards fluttered down from the edge of the hem. She slowly closed her eyes, avoiding the overwhelming white bones and the face in front of her that resembled her by seven parts.

Two lines of clear tears silently slid down the lines around her eyes, washing away the white frost on her skin and dripping into the ice, etching tiny holes.

"It's me." Chunxian managed to squeeze out broken syllables, her voice hoarse and barely audible. She lowered her head, her shoulders heaving. "Three thousand years. I've been guarding her last breath in this tomb of white bones. Outside, the wind and snow have stopped and started again, and the world has changed beyond recognition. I've almost forgotten my own voice, but I dare not forget the warmth of her arms when she lifted me from the snowdrift."

Three thousand years of loneliness poured out, causing the spiritual energy of the icy cave to stagnate. Su Chang'an quietly watched the dark red figure, his five fingers slightly spread, and the dark red fire lotus at his fingertips quietly dissipated. The intense heat was withdrawn, and the mysterious ice vapor condensed back into frost.

The transformation of demons into human form is never a matter of whim. When those of lower bloodlines shed their beastly bodies, their very souls involuntarily gravitate towards the being they cherish most. The moment Chunxian transformed, her heart was filled with the nine-tailed celestial fox who had pulled her back from the brink of death. This unwavering devotion reshaped her bones and skin, giving birth to a face that bore an unmistakable resemblance to her benefactor.

Su Chang'an lowered her right hand, the sleeve of her plain white robe sliding down her wrist. She looked at Chunxian, the murderous intent in her heart gradually subsiding. This was nothing more than a pitiful creature trapped by gratitude for three thousand years, a self-imposed prison.

However, the moment Su Chang'an relaxed his senses, a sudden change occurred!

Chunxian suddenly opened her eyes, all sorrow vanishing, replaced by tangible killing intent and extreme loathing. The aura of a peak Great Sage erupted, her dark red robe fluttering wildly. The violent pressure transformed into invisible chains, tightly binding Su Chang'an's weakened soul. The heavy pressure caused the ice beneath her feet to crack extensively, the fissures spreading like a spiderweb.

"I waited for three thousand years, but it wasn't her I waited for!" Chunxian's voice was shrill and piercing, the demonic markings at the corners of her eyes twisted and bloodshot. She stared intently at Su Chang'an, pointing a finger, her venomous voice echoing through the icy cave, "You are not her at all!"

The temperature in the ice cave plummeted, the white skeletal fox on the dome trembled slightly, and the demonic script and blood-red light were dazzling.

Su Chang'an's heart skipped a beat, and her mind was filled with turbulent waves. She had possessed this quasi-emperor's body, inheriting all the inherited memories, and no one in the world knew that she was not the original owner.

But her expression remained calm. Facing the Great Sage's oppressive aura, she took half a step forward and coldly retorted, "If I am not her, how do you explain this pure Heavenly Fox essence within me, and this perfectly aligned divine soul aura?"

Su Chang'an opened his arms, letting the source flow freely. The dark red halo resonated with the laws of the secret realm, and all spirits submitted.

"There are countless cultivation techniques in the world, but none can forge the soul imprint of a quasi-emperor. Bloodline cannot be faked; what makes you so certain?"

Spring Strings remained unmoved, tilting its head back in a bitter laugh, desolate and sorrowful.

"The bloodline is real, the souls are aligned! But so what?" She pointed at Su Chang'an and shouted, "Back then, to suppress the calamity of heaven and earth, she drew in all the evil energy from the heavens. The Heavenly Dao descended with three hundred and seventy-two chains, piercing through her heart, bones, and blood! For three thousand years, her life force was drained, and the evil energy backfired. Her true consciousness was long ago extinguished in the torment! You are nothing but a wretched creature, a usurper, reborn from those withered bones using the remaining essence and resentment!"

These words were like thunder from the heavens, exploding in Su Chang'an's mind.

Her pupils contracted, and her hands clenched uncontrollably. Many previously deliberately ignored doubts were brutally torn apart. She had thought her easy control of the body was a stroke of divine inspiration, but she hadn't anticipated that three thousand years of imprisonment had long since extinguished the original owner's soul. This body, now without its master, had instinctively developed a new rudimentary consciousness over the long years. Her arrival was merely a convenient step, taking over this newly formed, empty shell.

Therefore, their souls are in harmony, and their origins flow freely, simply because her soul is the result of the evil deeds of this physical body.

The spiritual energy in the ice cave completely surged.

Hundreds of thick bone spikes burst forth from the ice wall, pointing directly at Su Chang'an. "Those who are not my benefactors, kill without mercy!" Chunxian gritted her teeth. "I should have unleashed a killing array long ago to shred your lonely ghost! Using her power, wearing her face, to save those ants outside is the greatest desecration of her!"

The bone spikes flickered with a ghostly blue light, poised to strike. Su Chang'an neither dodged nor evaded, nor did she use her inner energy to defend herself; she simply watched calmly as Chunxian went berserk. She knew she couldn't withstand this fatal blow.

A whooshing sound arose as bone spikes pierced the air.

A strong wind tore through Tai Su's white robe and cut off a strand of hair at his temple.

However, just an inch from the center of her brow, the overwhelming killing intent abruptly ceased. Her bone spurs trembled violently, and Chunxian's killing intent reached its peak, only to collapse like a tree without roots.

Bang! Chunxian's knees buckled, and she collapsed heavily onto the solid ice.

Three thousand years of obsession, in the end, could not overcome that face. She covered her face with her hands, her fingers digging deep into her hair, sobbing uncontrollably. "But..." she knelt on the ground, large tears seeping from between her fingers, her voice broken, "The way you protected me just now, it was exactly the same as when she shielded me in the snowstorm, when she risked her life to protect Li Changgeng..."

Chunxian looked up, her face contorted with tears, and screamed in despair, "With this face and the same temperament, how can I bring myself to do it! Why don't you just be a cowardly coward and let me kill you to my heart's content!"

Su Chang'an lowered her eyes, looking at the weeping Chunxian, her tightly clenched fingers in her sleeve slowly loosening. Before three thousand years of obsession with life and death, words were pale. She simply stood quietly, letting it all out.

After a while, the crying stopped. The bone spurs in mid-air turned into ice powder and fell down in a flurry.

Chunxian hastily wiped away her tears and struggled to her feet on the ice. Her oppressive aura vanished, revealing her thin, tattered dark red robe. She raised her swollen eyes, the killing intent gone, replaced only by deep weariness and resolute determination.

"I won't kill you." Chunxian's voice was hoarse. "It's not because I'm soft-hearted, but because that body has reached its limit."

Su Chang'an's gaze sharpened slightly: "What do you mean?"

"Li Changgeng has gone mad." Chunxian looked at the white bones on the dome, her voice weak. "He couldn't accept that his benefactor's mind had been extinguished, and he tried to sever the chains of heaven to save him. Little did he know that the body's vitality was endless, entirely dependent on the chains to suppress it! If the chains break, the evil energy of heaven and earth that has been suppressed for three thousand years will surely erupt completely."

She abruptly turned her head and stared intently at Su Chang'an: "Once the resurrection array is activated, it won't save her; it will only detonate the evil energy! At that time, the Northern Region will become a dead land, and billions of lives will be buried with it. That body will also be reduced to a monster that only knows how to kill, never to be reborn."

The ice cave was deathly silent.

"I am trapped in the secret realm and cannot stop it." A desperate madness flashed in Chunxian's eyes. "But you, the possessor born from her bones and blood, your soul and body are perfectly integrated. You are the only person in the world who can ignore the evil aura and return to your body."

Chunxian took two steps closer, staring directly at Su Chang'an, her voice heavy and deliberate: "I want you to go back. Before the great formation detonates, take control of this body, and then..."

She closed her eyes, tears streaming down her face again: "I destroyed it with my own hands. For her sake, I'm asking for a release."