Chapter 503: Interrogation

Shouming Mountains.

The Shitian Rat, seeing that the silver fox it had captured could actually speak, immediately became interested.

Among their own kind, only yaozu with highly awakened spiritual intelligence could speak the human language—even if they reached the third rank, ordinary beasts still could not.

Only after reaching the late stage of third rank, when they had refined the throat bone inside their bodies, could they speak like humans.

Those who could speak at third rank were exceptionally rare, one in ten thousand.

The silver fox before it was clearly only at early third rank; its spiritual intelligence must be extraordinarily high.

The Shitian Rat roughly pinned the silver fox's limbs to the ground; the tiny creature struggled fiercely, but its strength was no match for the rat's, and it could not break free.

"Oh? You can actually speak?"

"Among all the yaozu, your spiritual talent is as rare and exceptional as mine."

The Shitian Rat rummaged all over the silver fox's body, checking for hidden items that might let it escape while the rat wasn't looking.

Humiliated by this behavior, the silver fox felt intense shame and fury, her face flushing red as she opened her mouth to bite the rat.

But the Shitian Rat pulled out a black steel fork and pressed it carelessly against the silver fox's neck, demanding angrily:

"Hmph! I've long heard that fox yaonü are masters at bewitching hearts—your pathetic act won't work on me!"

"Speak! Who sent you to steal the spirit herbs?"

"Don't you know that if my master returns and finds his herbs destroyed, he'll banish me to farm the land!"

"For at least ten years."

"It's all your fault!"

Trapped beneath the Shitian Rat, her delicate paws tightly bound, the silver fox pleaded in a trembling voice: "Wu-wu, I didn't mean to—it was out of desperation. My mother is wounded and needs the spirit herb to heal."

"Great King, please have mercy and spare me this time! Wu-wu-wu~"

The Shitian Rat paused, startled—the fox had stolen the herb to save someone. It hesitated.

Then it asked: "Your cultivation isn't low, and your spiritual intelligence is high. Which fox clan are you from in the Shouming Mountains?"

"I'm from the Silver Moon Tianhu clan."

Hearing this, the Shitian Rat inwardly gasped: Silver Moon Tianhu! A royal bloodline beast! Before Qin Ming took it as a spirit pet, it had roamed the Shouming Mountains for years and knew the yaozu factions well.

Among them, the Silver Moon Tianhu clan carried royal blood and was one of the Four Royal Clans.

Their clan leader, Lady Silver Moon, was said to have reached the peak of third rank, just one step away from breaking into fourth rank and becoming a transformed beast sage.

The Shitian Rat thought of this and loosened its grip slightly, then asked again: "You're so young and already at third-rank beast king cultivation—could your mother be the clan leader of the Silver Moon Tianhu?"

"But if she's that powerful, how did she get so badly wounded?"

The silver fox pouted, crying as she explained:

"Something happened in the Shouming Mountains. After the Green-Faced Poisonous Dragon died, other major yaozu began fighting over its territory. Our fox clan had no intention of getting involved."

"But the other clans, fearing our strength, were swayed by the Black Heaven Beast King of the Riftwind Eagle clan, who united several other yaozu to ambush us."

"My mother and I barely escaped with our lives."

The Shitian Rat was stunned—it hadn't expected such chaos among yaozu after Qin Ming killed the Green-Faced Poisonous Dragon.

Seeing the silver fox's pitiful appearance, clearly not faked, it bound her limbs and slung her over its shoulder: "Whether I spare you or not isn't up to me."

"I'll leave it to my master to decide when he returns."

The silver fox cried out: "Let me go! My mother is gravely wounded and needs me to return with the herb!"

The Shitian Rat ignored her, frowning:

"If I let you go, what will I present to my master?"

"Why steal from anywhere else? You had to target my master's spirit fields."

"Behave yourself, or I'll spank you!" Without another word, the Shitian Rat dragged the silver fox back near the spirit fields.

……

Two days later.

Qin Ming disposed of his stolen goods at the black market and returned to the Five Elements Mountain Market via the Litian Immortal City teleportation array.

He had also gathered some rare spirit materials during his time at the black market, for farming and pill refining.

After a brief gathering with Han Yuan and the other two, Qin Ming flew toward his spirit fields.

But when he returned, the sight before him made him frown.

The dozen or so spirit plants in his ten mu of fields had been half-eaten by beasts.

【Fortunately, the spirit plants with newly spawned entries were still intact.】

Jia Heyi and Li Lan from the Jingxue Pavilion stood trembling before Qin Ming, drenched in sweat, too terrified to even breathe.

"Li Lan, what happened here?"

"Didn't I tell you to watch over the spirit fields when I left?" Qin Ming asked coldly.

Li Lan trembled violently, rushing to explain:

"I—"

At that moment,

Qin Ming received a mental message from the Shitian Rat: "Master, I've got something urgent—come quickly."

Qin Ming frowned, then said to the group before him: "Enough. Go about your business. I have something to attend to—this matter will wait."

Then Qin Ming vanished in a streak of blue light.

Left behind, the Jingxue Pavilion members exchanged bewildered glances—they had expected Qin Ming to fly into a rage over the loss of so many third-rank spirit herbs, yet he had brushed it off so lightly. It was utterly unexpected.

Qin Ming didn't care much about the stolen plants—he had the 【Regenerating Spirit Seed】 entry; as long as the roots remained, the plants could revive.

【Still, spawning entries isn't easy. That traitorous Shitian Rat keeps slacking off—didn't even notice a beast sneaking into the spirit fields. Looks like it needs a good beating.】

Qin Ming thought as he flew to the Shitian Rat's location.

The place was a temporary cave the Shitian Rat had dug in the Shouming Mountains.

As Qin Ming stepped into the cave, he sensed two third-rank beast king auras inside, and his brow furrowed in confusion.

"Hehe! Master, you're back!"

The Shitian Rat rushed out with a forced grin, clearly embarrassed by the incident in the spirit fields.

"Hmph. If I hadn't returned, would the spirit plants be completely eaten by now?" Qin Ming said, expressionless.

The Shitian Rat shuddered instantly and declared solemnly: "Yes, yes! That thief is truly despicable!"

"But I've caught it—waiting for you to decide its fate."

"Oh? Caught it?" Qin Ming was surprised.

He followed the Shitian Rat deeper into the cave.

Inside, he saw a silver fox yaoshou tightly bound with ropes, its aura clearly at the early third rank.

The silver fox, seeing a human cultivator enter, panicked—her heart pounded like a startled deer, eyes filled with deep fear.

Though young and inexperienced, she knew humans and yaozu were mortal enemies—anyone captured by humans faced a grim fate.

……

(End of Chapter)