Translator: CinderTL
Mo Yexue had been using formations to break the formation for a full seven days.
At this moment, the protective barrier around the high platform rippled like water whipped by a fierce wind, its surface constantly churning. It looked as though it was on the verge of collapse at any moment.
Mo Yexue wore an iron mask, concealing her expression and emotions.
However, the aura emanating from her body made it clear that she was nearing her limit.
Both her Spiritual Power and Divine Sense had been severely depleted.
Yang Yu, Gou Jun, and Mi Hai stood with impassive expressions, their gazes fixed on Mo Yexue's back in silence.
Only Lan Chen showed a hint of concern on her face.
"Fellow Daoist Mo, can you still continue?"
"I'm fine!"
Mo Yexue exhaled softly, and in the brief pause between forming hand seals, she tossed a pill into her mouth.
"I'll trouble Fellow Daoist Lan Chen to help me refine this pill and restore my Spiritual Power."
"Of course!"
Lan Chen stepped forward, positioning herself behind Mo Yexue. Placing her right hand on Mo Yexue's back, she channeled a gentle stream of Spiritual Power into her body, like a fine trickle of water.
Mo Yexue's nearly depleted Spiritual Power began to slowly recover.
Just then, a sharp glint flashed in the eyes of both Mo Yexue and Lan Chen.
In Lan Chen's left hand, a drop of milky-white spiritual liquid suddenly appeared.
This drop of liquid seemed to contain the purest essence of heaven and earth, radiating an incredibly potent fluctuation of Spiritual Qi.
As the spiritual liquid appeared, a miniature spiritual qi storm began to form in Lan Chen's palm, slowly swirling.
Lan Chen flipped her hand and slapped it down on Mo Yexue's head. The spiritual liquid followed, entering Mo Yexue's body.
Mo Yexue's aura rapidly intensified, instantly returning to its peak state.
"Myriad Spirits Immortal Dew!" Mi Hai exclaimed.
Lan Chen had actually used the Myriad Spirits Immortal Dew on Mo Yexue—a substance renowned for restoring a Nascent Soul cultivator's full Spiritual Power with just a single drop?
Gou Jun, Yang Yu, and Mi Hai all felt a sense of foreboding.
Simultaneously, the three cultivators attacked, each employing their own techniques to strike at Lan Chen and Mo Yexue.
However, they were still too slow.
The instant Lan Chen produced the Myriad Spirits Immortal Dew, the array seal in Mo Yexue's hand abruptly changed.
Nine formation flags shot outward, their surfaces flashing with light and interwoven with runes, forming a barrier that enveloped Lan Chen, Mo Yexue, and the high platform between them.
The three cultivators' attacks landed on the barrier.
The barrier trembled violently but did not shatter.
"Lan Chen, hurry! I can't hold this much longer!" Mo Yexue shouted.
Suddenly, a chicken-egg-sized bead appeared in Lan Chen's hand.
The bead was as black as ink, seemingly capable of swallowing all light around it. Its surface was not smooth but covered in intricate, complex runes.
"The Forbidden-Breaking Pearl!"
At the moment the pearl appeared, the expressions of Gou Jun, Yang Yu, and Mi Hai turned grim.
"Lan Chen, Mo Yexue, you dared to try and monopolize the Blood of Fallen Immortal! I'll tear you both to shreds!" Gou Jun roared.
Their attacks immediately intensified.
Gou Jun summoned a peak-stage Tier 4 Corpse Puppet, Yang Yu summoned an Ice Soul Spider, and Mi Hai conjured a massive Vidyaraja Phantom.
The Formation barrier swayed precariously.
Lan Chen's Spiritual Power surged like an unstoppable flood, pouring into the Forbidden-Breaking Pearl.
The runes on the pearl's surface seemed to awaken. One after another, profound runes shot out like arrows, striking the protective Restriction on the high platform.
Already on the verge of collapse, the Restriction's light dimmed with each impact. Finally, under the relentless barrage of runes, the protective Restriction shattered with a thunderous crash, dissolving into motes of light that vanished into the air.
The Forbidden-Breaking Pearl in Lan Chen's hand crumbled into dust.
With a flash, Lan Chen appeared above the stone coffin.
She raised her hand and with a wave, the coffin lid flew off.
At that moment, everyone held their breath.
Suppressing her excitement, Lan Chen gazed into the stone coffin.
Mo Yexue, straining to maintain the Formation Flag and fend off Gou Jun's attacks, also sent a strand of her Divine Sense into the coffin.
Outside the Formation, Gou Jun, Yang Yu, and Mi Hai also soared into the air, flying above the stone coffin. Through the Formation's barrier, they peered inside.
Three miles away, Song Wen, concealing his aura and hidden behind a stalactite hanging upside down from the cave ceiling, cautiously peeked out.
Except for Xue Mei, who was worried about revealing her location, everyone turned their gaze toward the stone coffin.
When Song Wen saw the scene inside, his eyes narrowed slightly, and a look of disbelief flashed across them.
Inside the coffin lay the corpse of a two-tailed fox.
Aside from its pitch-black fur, the fox looked no different from an ordinary one.
The body was submerged in a preserving liquid, completely undamaged, as if merely asleep.
The Divine Blood Gate had gone to great lengths, setting up a separate protective prohibition to preserve what turned out to be nothing more than a fox corpse.
More precisely, it was the corpse of a Second-Tier Nether Fox.
Song Wen's gaze shifted to the coffin lid, which Lan Chen had flung aside.
The lid had landed on the ground with its inner surface facing upward, revealing a line of small characters:
"Nether Fox: A hybrid creature born from the union of a Nine-Tailed Fox, a Nether Leech, and a Soul-Devouring Hou."
Song Wen knew of the Nine-Tailed Fox—a legendary Divine Beast.
Legend has it that long ago, the Tianyuan Continent was home to Nine-Tailed Foxes. However, once they reached their fifth tail, they would ascend to the upper realms, never truly reaching the full nine-tailed form.
As for the Nether Leech and Soul-Devouring Hou, Song Wen had never heard of them, nor were they mentioned in the numerous Ancient Texts he had read.
The revelation that Nether Foxes were artificially hybridized beings left Song Wen somewhat incredulous.
The Nether Fox corpse before him was likely the first of its kind in the world—the ancestor of all Nether Foxes!
Suddenly, Song Wen remembered something.
The Nether Fox he had captured had once said:
"Nether Foxes have no gender distinction and can reproduce on their own. As each Nether Fox approaches the end of its life, it will independently conceive and give birth to one to four cubs, thus ensuring the continuation of our lineage."
Song Wen had found this peculiar at the time, as the Nether Fox's reproductive method seemed deliberately designed to prevent the species from extinction.
He never imagined that Nether Foxes were actually artificially hybridized beings.
While Song Wen was stunned by this revelation, he was also filled with doubt. What made this Nether Fox corpse so special?
Why was this Nether Fox's corpse preserved separately instead of being placed with the other mixed-blood creatures?
Furthermore, the Ancient Texts Gou Jun had produced clearly stated that the Corpse King Hall and the Demon Spirit Hall held the Divine Blood Gate's most important treasures and secrets.
The Corpse King Hall contained the Corpse King's Rebirth Art.
This technique was a closely guarded secret of the Divine Blood Gate, and it wasn't an exaggeration to call it their most important treasure.
But what did the Demon Spirit Hall contain?
Could it be the pile of mixed-blood creatures' corpses in the Demon Origin Cave? Or perhaps the corpse of this second-tier Nether Fox before them?
What value could there possibly be in corpses that had long lost all vitality, from which not even a drop of essence blood could be extracted?
Song Wen's mind suddenly flashed back to Xue Mei's words: the Demon Spirit Hall was a crucial location for the Divine Blood Gate, responsible for researching the hybridization of living beings.
This revelation cleared everything up for Song Wen.
From his perspective, or Gou Jun's, the Nether Fox's corpse and those of the other mixed-blood creatures were utterly worthless.
However, in the eyes of the Divine Blood Gate back then, these corpses might have held immeasurable value, comparable to rare treasures. Their worth could have far surpassed even Fallen Immortal Blood and Soul Destroying Demon Pills.
(End of the Chapter)
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