Carved from moon-pale stone and warm cedar, the Fox Palace opened into layered halls of silk screens, jade floors, and quiet lantern light.
Elder Su led the group into the palace absentmindedly.
The air was thick with tension and unspoken melancholy.
The fox youths who had their head lowered in thoughts were captivated by the splendor of the interior palace.
Stairways coil upward into lofted pavilions and hidden chambers, where the air grows heavy and luminous.
In the upper rooms, qi pools like morning mist, drawn and refined by an unseen gathering array woven into the walls themselves.
Prince broke the silence. " The princess will take the first room and I will take the second in the upper rooms."
Everyone froze.
The fox youths turned toward him in unison, dissatisfaction written plainly across their faces.
Tushan Hui asked angrily,
"Why should the Princess occupy an upper room as well?"
The others shared the same question.
They were not blind. They could clearly feel that the qi in the upper chambers was far denser than anywhere else.
The Prince smiled softly.
"Why can't she?"
Silence followed.
Why should she?
She was only at the Foundation Establishment realm. What right did she have to occupy a cultivation chamber meant for elites?
Defending her against outsiders was one thing—but that did not erase their disdain.
Yet none of them dared voice their thoughts. Unlike the Princess, the Prince had the strength to back his authority.
They turned to their elder for help.
Elder Su "....."
He looked at the young foxes who seemed to have forgotten their earlier fright.
He sighed helplessly "Alright, We will go with the Prince's arrangements."
The fox youths were dissatisfied but could only resign themselves to fate–not without casting sharp glares at Bai Shuo.
Bai Shuo "...."
She didn't even do anything and had attracted a wave of hostility.
Not that she cared though.
She didn't sense any true malice from them –just palpable contempt.
Some of the young foxes didn't really care about the room arrangement. They were excited about another thing–
Tushan Fei, the icy beauty asked the elder politely. " Elder Su, when are we entering the Sacred Ground?"
The others whipped their head towards Elder eagerly.
Elder Su smiled " No hurry, everyone should go and rest, we will enter tomorrow."
The fox youths deflated like a punctured balloon.
They still had to wait till tomorrow?
Bai Shuo, on the other hand, was pleased.
This people are far too wordy.
She couldn't wait to ask Tushan Xin about the Ancestral Fox Prince and more importantly observe her meridian networks.
The group dispersed as they moved towards their respective rooms.
Surprisingly, there was no arguments as they just took the rooms according to their cultivation realms.
Tushan Xin was overjoyed. She saluted the prince and walked to the first room with Fox Bai Shuo in her arms.
The dense qi surged towards her and her pores shivered in excitement as she stepped into the room.
"Shou'er, You are really my lucky star, I can't believe I'd be able to enjoy such luxury."
" The qi here is the most densest, I've ever seen." She continued confidently
"I will definitely break through to the Nascent Soul realm if I cultivate here for a while."
Bai Shuo was dazed looking at the young fox girl that have already sat cross-legged on the bed ready to enter meditation.
She nearly vomited blood from anger.
She hurriedly tugged her sleeves.
"Answer my questions first ."
Tushan Xin frowned unhappily "Shou'er, what questions again?"
"Why is the fox clan on the verge of decline? "
"Oh," Tushan Xin scratched her head and sighed " it's a long story."
"I'm listening."
"It began one thousand years ago, a member of our Fox Clan challenged the White Tiger Ancestral Prince and defeated him becoming the new Ancestral Prince."
Bai Shuo was stupefied.
"The White Tiger Ancestral Prince?"
"Yes."
"Why the White Tiger Ancestral Prince?"
Tushan Xin frowned, her voice a bit unsure.
" Our Fox Clan is one of the middle-tier clan under the White Tiger Clan, I'm not sure,"
"But our Fox Clan once banished him from our clan and the major clan–White Tiger Clan made sure to enforce it."
Bai Shuo's eyes widened.
"Your clan banished a genuis that could defeat an Ancestral Prince?"
Tushan Xin lowered her voice unconsciously. " That's because the Ancestral Fox Prince is a hybrid."
Bai Shuo's mind went blank.
Only one word resounded.
A hybrid.
A cross between an Ancestral race and a human.
A despised species.
"A hybrid?" She echoed softly.
Tushan Xin nodded. " Yes, he's hybrid. His mother violated our clan's oath and fell in love with a human during her tribulation training in the human realm .
"To wash away our shame, they killed his mother in front of him and banished him from the clan. So he grew up in the human realm. No one expected him to become very strong within just two thousand years."
By now, Bai Shuo's fox's mouth was wide agape. A Dao and Law realm expert at the age of two thousand. Even she, in her past life wasn't sure if she could break through from the Soul Transformation Realm before the age of two thousand years.
Ultimately, Human genius were known for insane cultivation speed and comprehension, while Ancestral Clans were known for bloodline comprehension.
"A super genius." She whispered.
Tushan Xin nodded reverently. "Yes he's a genius. He's not the first hybrid in existence but he's the first to break through to the Dao and Law realm and even broke through the limit of our bloodline."
Bai Shuo's heart skipped a beat.
Bloodline?
Her mind went back to the fox, she once saved in her previous life.
It was a nine-tailed fox and although it was injured, she had felt his powerful aura then.
If the Ancestral Prince was really the fox she saved then….
Her heart raced at the thought.
But something else clicked in her mind.
Doesn't that mean that she's also a hybrid? Their meridian networks looked similar.
She was broken from her reverie by Tushan Xin's voice.
The young Fox continued sadly. " That's why our clan is on decline. When he became the Ancestral Prince, he slaughtered all the elders involved in his mother's death. His mother was from the Red Fox faction and they suffered the most."
Her voice rose in anger."The Wolf Clan is also middle-tier clan under the White Tiger Clan but they dared to attack us because of this, even those proud weak birds dared to look down on us."
Bai Shuo exhaled lightly and asked "Why didn't your clan kill him when he was young?"
Tushan Xin frowned at her and reprimanded softly " What your clan? You are the princess of our Tushan Clan so it's our clan."
Bai Shuo's lips twitched slightly.
She nodded impatiently and urged her to continue.
Tushan Xin sighed " First, no one thought much of a hybrid. Which of the Ancestral Clans didn't have a few hybrid but none of them amount to much."
"And secondly, his mother wasn't supposed to die, just locked up probably for a thousand years in prison but she exchanged her life for her son."
Bai Shuo was stunned.
That was still possible?
Tushan Xin chuckled at her dumbfounded expression and continued " While some lower-tier clans might spare their hybrids, most middle-tier clans kills them when discovered."
"The Ancestral Fox Prince wasn't discovered early because he grew up in the Human realm before they were found."
Ruthless huh? But the Human realm was like that too. Hybrids were treated with despise and contempt.
They didn't have a place in both Primordial Abyss and Human Realm.
Bai Shuo sighed inwardly.
If she was really a hybrid and the Ancestral Prince was the fox she once saved–then her path to power would be smoother than she'd imagined.
Her fox mouth curled up slightly.
She felt a surge of anticipation.
But first–
She had to examine another fox's meridians.
She looked at Tushan Xin and wondered how to bring up the request.