Chapter 89: Evil Face, Divine Heart

Su Yuanshan's heart stirred, and he spoke.

"That can no longer be called miraculous; it is terrifying! If that were truly the case, it would absolutely violate the laws by which the Heavenly Dao operates!"

Ji Wenqing stroked his beard and pondered.

"What the Prefect says is most correct. I only heard it through hearsay; whether it is true or not remains to be verified."

The little white fox scratched its ear and asked.

"Prefect, since you are discussing the Taoyuan Xujing like this, are you planning to go inside and take a look?"

Su Yuanshan nodded slightly and said.

"I have exactly that intention! I plan to go in and meet this Taohua Xianren. Of course, the fact that Baie Hou is one of the Three Blood Slaves is what decided this trip—it is one of my motives, but only one."

"Then please take me along too!" the little white fox pleaded, its face full of hope.

It was unwilling to give up any opportunity to find its mother.

The Yinchai Xia Buqian advised from the side.

"The Taoyuan Xujing doesn't sound like a good place at all. Your cultivation is shallow; going there will only cause trouble for the Prefect. So, Xiaobai, listen to me, let's not..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Ji Wenqing stroked his beard and laughed from the side.

"Let it go. If it doesn't stay by the Prefect's side, I fear it will feel completely uneasy. After all, it is the Prefect's subordinate deity, and it might still be of some use at a critical moment."

Upon hearing this, the little white fox was overjoyed and raised its little paw to make a bow to Wen Panguan.

Even Su Yuanshan could not help but smile, and with his hands behind his back, he said.

"Very well, it is fine for you to follow, but you need to change your appearance. After all, you are too conspicuous in this form."

A spirit fox with pure white fur—it would be difficult not to be conspicuous.

Ji Wenqing, standing nearby, laughed heartily and said.

"What the Prefect says is not without reason. Sometimes, being low-key and inconspicuous is also a form of wisdom."

As he spoke, he took a bottle of medicinal pills from his sleeve and handed it to the little white fox.

"This bottle contains Fox Fire Transformation Pills. They can transform you into Fox Fire. They have no other function, only the ability to transform. Taking one will last for twenty-four hours. There are ten here, which is enough for you for a period of time."

"Thank you, Elder Ji!"

The little white fox accepted them happily and swallowed one. In truth, it did not swallow it into its stomach, but hid it inside its cheek. Ever since it became Su Yuanshan's subordinate deity, a storage space had inexplicably appeared inside its cheek; although not large, it could store some things.

At this moment, Su Yuanshan was heard saying.

"If there is nothing else, everyone go about your business."

Then he said to the little white fox.

"We will set off early tomorrow morning. Make sure not to oversleep."

"Understood, Prefect!" the little white fox said, jumping onto the roof to absorb the essence of the sun and moon.

Just then, a pilgrim wearing a wealthy man's robe and with a potbelly came toward the back hall under the guidance of the temple keeper. A white shadow flashed by, jumped onto the eaves, lazily stretched, and licked its little paw.

This scene made the pilgrim's eyes light up, and he asked the temple keeper in surprise.

"Master Temple Keeper, what was that thing that just jumped onto the eaves? Its fur is very beautiful!"

The temple keeper smiled and said.

"That is a wild fox in our temple. Perhaps it was summoned by the grace of the City God and gradually gained spiritual intelligence. It often appears here, and we have become accustomed to it after a long time. You find it novel because it is your first time here."

The pilgrim sighed with emotion.

"So that's how it is. People say foxes are spiritually sensitive; it seems that saying is not false."

"That is so, that is so. Otherwise, how could there be the saying of a 'fox spirit'?"

"Makes sense, haha, makes sense. Either way, that is still a fox spirit. Haha."

The two talked and laughed as they walked through the corridor, bypassed the large incense burner, and entered the backyard.

The news that the Taoyuan Xujing had been discovered spread throughout the ten miles and eight townships of Huangliang Xian; even cultivation sects in other counties had heard of it.

In fact, this Xujing had long been discovered by Baie Hou, but at the time, very few people knew its exact location. It was mainly limited to mountain spirits, wild monsters, the Land Deity of Pavilion and Township, door gods, the Earth Mother, well gods, the Household Deity,

the Kitchen God, the Wall Deity, water gods, the Wood Deity, mountain gods, the Heaven and Earth Deity, the Granary Deity, the Window Deity, the Residence Deity, and other minor deities who knew a little. As for those cultivators, unless they were particularly well-informed, the others knew nothing at all.

But now, it was different. It was unknown who had leaked the secret of the Taoyuan Xujing, attracting a large wave of cultivators from various sects to seek opportunities.

As for whether it was an opportunity or a death trap, no one could say for sure.

In any case, early in the morning, Su Yuanshan put on a black robe and changed his appearance. Just as he left the city, he ran into several rogue cultivators recruiting teammates under an ancient pine tree.

Looking at their cultivation, naturally, few were profound. They knew that going alone carried great risk, so they planned to band together to enter the Taoyuan Xujing to seek opportunities.

Seeing a black-robed person wearing a bamboo hat seemingly staring at the recruitment notice on the ancient pine, a young cultivator wearing blue robes walked over and asked enthusiastically.

"This fellow Daoist, are you also a rogue cultivator?"

The black-robed person's hat brim remained pulled very low, which made the blue-robed cultivator a bit curious, and he couldn't help but ask again.

"Fellow Daoist? Fellow Daoist, are you interested in cooperating with us?"

Finally, the black-robed person lifted his bamboo hat, revealing his dark, swarthy face!

His face was full of pockmarks, his teeth were like saw blades, and he revealed a pair of 'three-white' eyes, with the pupils sitting very high and small.

Seeing this, the blue-robed cultivator shuddered in fright, stumbling back two steps, nearly falling to the ground.

He was greatly shocked in his heart, as if saying, what kind of ghost is this? How could someone look so terrifying? It was just like an evil demon or ghost; this was too scary.

And this person was exactly what Su Yuanshan had transformed into. Seeing the blue-robed cultivator shudder just from one look at him, he felt quite satisfied.

And this was exactly the result Su Yuanshan wanted.

He did not want others asking him questions, so he directly transformed into a 'face' that kept strangers at a distance; this would save a lot of trouble.

Seeing his companion's face change drastically and nearly fall, another rogue cultivator approached in confusion and asked with concern.

"What is wrong, Brother Daoist? He..."

"Hoo!" Unable to help himself, the cultivator cast a glance at Su Yuanshan and couldn't help but gasp, yet he still had enough composure not to retreat in fright, nor did he flee in a panic, though being startled was unavoidable.

"Apologies, I didn't scare you, did I?" Su Yuanshan lowered his bamboo hat again to cover his face.

"No... no..." Seeing Su Yuanshan cover that terrifying face, the first cultivator finally breathed a slight sigh of relief, but he no longer brought up the matter of working together.

Clearly, Su Yuanshan had thoroughly frightened him.

However, these fellows had mediocre cultivation, so even if they went to the Taoyuan Xujing, the probability of them just throwing their lives away was high; let alone seeking opportunities, whether they could even come out alive was a question, so Su Yuanshan had little interest in teaming up with them for an expedition.

Moreover, they were not the only group of rogue cultivators recruiting teammates in the vicinity; there were others, even including disciples from some small sects.

Among them, a cold-faced beauty in a purple dress with a proud figure caught his attention; what caught his attention was not her figure, but that peculiar aura on her body.

However, this cold-faced young woman was not like the other rogue cultivators, pulling people in everywhere; instead, she stood with her arms crossed, leaning against a cypress tree, looking up at the sky.

Su Yuanshan noticed a few small black dots in the sky, circling and refusing to leave.

Others might have mistaken those things for birds, but Su Yuanshan knew—they were not!

He had not expected that this cold-faced young woman in the purple dress had also noticed; from this, it could be seen that her insight was extraordinary!

Aside from the young woman in purple, the only others who truly noticed those few small black dots in the sky were...............