Chapter 416: Again, This Guy Snagged a Big Bargain

The one who came was Hu Yulin, who had just successfully passed his tribulation and broken through to the eighth tail.

He was naturally handsome, with a pair of peach-blossom eyes; as his gaze flowed, he was extremely charming.

Now a tiny red mole had appeared at the corner of those peach-blossom eyes, like a divine brushstroke, adding a hint of mystery to his allure and captivating the heart and soul.

I couldn't help but sigh inwardly—how could a man be this good-looking!

He seemed to have taken two more steps forward, and a faint fragrance from his body came over me; I sniffed and suddenly realized this scent was very similar to Hu Sanmei's—probably a unique trait that appears when a fox immortal's cultivation reaches a certain level.

I pulled away Liu Junyan's hand that was covering my eyes and looked toward Hu Yulin.

Unfolding his folding fan, Hu Yulin smiled and said, "Back when we suppressed this Qiongqi evil formation, I also had a share of the merit; now that we're moving again here, how could I possibly be absent?"

"First, retract your scent glands." Liu Junyan retorted, "What are you showing off for? Afraid others won't know you've broken through to the eighth tail with your scent glands open?"

Hu Yulin instantly replied in a tsundere manner, "Members of the fox tribe who can cultivate eight tails are already as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns; moreover, not all eight-tailed spirit foxes can smoothly open their scent glands, so of course I must show off properly."

He then turned and threw me a charming look: "Xiao Jiu, you agree, right?"

I nodded without hesitation: "Yes, it's certainly pleasing to the eye and fragrant."

Covering his face with his folding fan, Hu Yulin laughed heartily.

Liu Junyan gave him a big white-eye.

After the teasing, Hu Yulin still retracted his scent glands, and the faint fragrance on his body vanished instantly without a trace.

Quite miraculous.

Hu Yulin said, "Later, once the dragon qi of the Lock Dragon Formation is exhausted and the Qiongqi evil formation revives, you two should hold off on acting—let me test my skills first, and we'll talk if it fails."

Liu Junyan verbally despised this childhood friend of his, utterly so, but his actual actions told another story.

He laid another small formation on the Lock Dragon Formation, placing that piece of Golden Scale on the formation's eye; instantly, golden light shone everywhere, sparkling.

This was the secret that had once drawn countless extraordinary individuals to Bull Tiger Mountain for sightseeing.

But this time, the process didn't last long.

When that golden light was fully gathered back into the Golden Scale, the moment Liu Junyan took back the scale, the entire Bull Tiger Mountain began to move.

It was no longer a tremor or shake, but like a fierce beast fully awakening.

Liu Junyan immediately pulled me aside to retreat; Hu Yulin shifted his form, turning into a pure-white fox, and dove straight into the Qiongqi evil formation.

The next moment, a black shadow leapt out from the Qiongqi evil formation.

It was huge in size, with a head like a bull, a body like a tiger, and a long tail tipped with a hook—utterly feral.

It came with overwhelming force.

Unfortunately, at the moment it leapt out, the white fox on its back suddenly unfurled its eight tails behind it—clearly beautiful but lacking strength—while the massive beast's thick, muscle-laden four legs staggered simultaneously, its body tilting as if about to fall.

Just as the giant beast tried to resist, a strange fragrance quietly spread…

Liu Junyan immediately covered my nose and swiftly led me away.

Meanwhile, the giant beast's struggling motion, at the moment the strange fragrance diffused, froze…

It became slow in movement, its gaze dull, as if it had suddenly entered a state of old age.

But it was clearly still the same beast from just moments ago!

Liu Junyan shook his head: "It seems that half a year ago, it was seriously injured by our joint efforts with Fox Brother, losing too much cultivation; otherwise, Hu Yulin's little trick could never control it."

Finally, he chuckled: "Once again, this guy has snatched a huge advantage."

As they spoke, the giant beast had already been pressed into a pit by the white fox, its eight fox tails frantically lengthening and constricting its neck… gradually, I could no longer see the black shadow of the giant beast.

The white fox was also covered by those eight snow-white tails.

All that remained in the mountains was a painful howl.

But that howl grew fainter and fainter… weaker and weaker… until it vanished completely.

Bull Tiger Mountain shook again, rocks rolling down its slopes nonstop, and amid the trembling a huge crack split open along its spine.

The white fox leapt up from that crack, transforming into human form; Hu Yulin reminded, "What you're looking for should be right here."

I and Liu Junyan immediately went over, peered into the opened fissure, and indeed saw a redwood small coffin lying still at the bottom.

The redwood small coffin was bound with layer upon layer of iron chains.

Just like the redwood small coffin Zhao Zixun found across the Pearl Plate River, this one was identical.

The moment I saw this, I realized our speculation was completely correct!

The fissure was large; I went first, holding the Soul-guiding Lamp as I jumped down.

When I placed the Soul-guiding Lamp on the redwood small coffin, gloomy winds swirled all around, and the ghostly faces on the lamp's interior raged.

My gaze stayed fixed on the lamp's interior, watching the merit inside slowly diminish until it stopped decreasing.

It had dropped a total of about two centimeters.

I looked up and nodded at Liu Junyan.

Liu Junyan leapt down, gesturing for me to stay back, then struck the iron chains with a palm.

The iron chains snapped at the sound, the lid of the redwood small coffin also shattered, revealing what lay inside.

Indeed, inside the redwood small coffin lay still a Qiongqi-shaped cinnabar spirit bone, with no red mist rising.

Nevertheless, I produced the Cangwu Dark Seal, wrapping it into an egg and placing it into the box I had brought beforehand.

The mountain body continued to tremble, especially here where the fissure was, and faintly from beneath my feet came the sound of flowing water.

Liu Junyan grabbed my waist with one hand and directly pulled me out of the fissure, sprinting downhill.

We had just steadied ourselves at the mountain's base when Bull Tiger Mountain burst open from the fissure, forming north and south peaks.

Between the peaks, water trickled out.

As we saw the water about to rush toward the town below, we hadn't yet had time to warn the villagers—the newly surged flow instead fell back down, seeping into the soil and disappearing without a trace.

I was puzzled: "What just happened? I clearly saw the water come, how did it suddenly vanish?"

Hu Yulin walked over and, using the rib of his folding fan, brushed aside a bit of soil.

We were shocked to discover that the soil underground in this area had a strange color.

The soil was entirely black, its consistency like that of an ointment sludge, giving off a foul odor, and within the black ointment, blood threads could be seen faintly flowing……

"It's yin-yang water!"

Liu Junyan and Hu Yulin almost spoke in unison.

Immediately, Hu Yulin called Hui Moqiong to go with him to evacuate the nearby residents, while Liu Junyan had me get through to Fang Chuanzong on the phone.

The call was answered quickly, and Liu Junyan rapidly described the situation here, finally concluding: "You must bring people over as soon as possible—handle prison dispatch, evacuate the townsfolk, and deploy professionals to manage the soil and water sources long contaminated by corpse qi, as well as advance epidemic prevention and other tasks; none of these may be neglected!"