Chapter 473: with translation of chapter title

My hand is shaking.

I don't know if it's because I just expended too much stamina, or because I'm excited.

The tail of the arrow feather rests on the string, but it just won't open fully.

Liu Junyan sighed, then squatted down to grab my foot, put on my shoe, then took my bow and arrow feather, and led me to the main courtyard.

Although there is a moon tonight, the moonlight isn't very bright.

Li Qingying turned on the door light.

Liu Junyan was just like when she first taught me to draw a bow on the back hill of Tafengcun, wrapping her arms around me from behind, guiding my hand, and together we nocked the arrow and drew the bow.

Whoosh~

The instant the arrow feather flew out, it carried puffs of flame, shooting into the midair, slicing through the darkness, with unstoppable force!

"Ah! It flew out of the courtyard!"

When the arrow feather left my hand and flew over the wall, I finally came to my senses and lifted my leg to chase after it.

This arrow feather was hard-won; I can't afford to lose it.

The next moment, I suddenly recalled something, chanted a spell, and the arrow feather that had flown out immediately returned to my hand.

Overjoyed, I gripped the arrow feather and gave Liu Junyan a goofy smile.

Liu Junyan reached out and pulled me into her embrace: "Xiao Jiu, after hardship comes sweetness—congratulations on retrieving your natal artifact."

Whenever the natal artifact is mentioned, I think of Liu Junyan's ancient bronze sword.

I put away Feng Wu, looked at Liu Junyan, and asked: "Āyàn, your natal artifact was left in Linghai, and in the end we still couldn't get it back…"

Liu Junyan shook her head: "When my mother gave it to me, I naturally took it as my natal artifact to cultivate with, and the process went smoothly—until that day, in the Linghai Forbidden Ground, the little white dragon snatched it from my hand… Only then did I realize its true master is…"

It is the White Dragon.

Liu Junyan didn't say it, but I understood.

The White Dragon is dead, but the ancient bronze sword can still serve as Liu Junyan's natal artifact for her continued cultivation.

But it remains left in Linghai to suppress that dragon qi, and we can't retrieve it for the time being.

I asked: "Will you choose another weapon to recultivate?"

"Let it be as fate wills," Liu Junyan said. "Such things can be encountered but not sought."

Indeed.

I opened my arms and embraced him, sincerely praising: "Even without a weapon, you are just as mighty in my heart."

Liu Junyan chuckled helplessly, hooked a finger to flick my nose, and said: "It's not dawn yet; rest well—I'm heading to Yin Mountain."

I immediately stretched my limbs, confirmed I was fine, and said: "I'll go with you."

Having said that, I went straight to change clothes.

Liu Junyan restarted the vehicle.

But before the car could even pull out, Li Qingying received a call from Hui Moqiong saying they had already withdrawn from Yin Mountain, bringing back many wounded, who were directly arranged to go to Jiǔyàn qū.

We immediately shut the pawnshop doors and headed straight for Jiǔyàn qū.

Before leaving, Li Qingying also gathered and took the various medicines that Bai Shulan had previously given.

Jiǔyàn qū has been in frantic construction; for now it only has a basic framework, but Hui Moqiong has been stationed there these months, and despite the many brothers, basic living conditions are still in place.

We were mentally prepared, yet we didn't expect the fox tribe's wounded to be so numerous—most are external injuries, skin split and flesh torn; a small portion of high-cultivation members suffered internal injuries, some comatose.

Liu Junyan seized Hu Yulin and asked: "What happened?"

"By the time I rushed back, it was already too late—Yin Mountain had fallen completely," Hu Yulin said, anguished. "They chose tonight precisely because they had calculated it."

He pointed to the few members with the highest cultivation yet gravest injuries and said: "They fought to the death to shield these juniors as they escaped, but the clan's even higher elders and the fox immortal remain trapped in Yin Mountain."

Hu Sanmei is in closed-door cultivation; if disturbed now, she could easily suffer qi deviation.

Her close elder guardians would surely give their all to protect her, thus missing the chance to flee.

I ached: "How long have they been lurking in Yin Mountain? Have they already re-laid the Chaos Formation?"

Liu Junyan shook her head: "Judging from everyone's wounds, it doesn't seem closely related to the Chaotic Evil Formation."

The Chaotic Evil Formation mainly works by disrupting order and confusing people's minds to control the overall situation.

But the wounds on the fox tribe members look savage, as if torn by some wild beast.

Some wounds are directly punctured by something sharp, leaving bloody holes.

"It's a beast very much like a wild boar, rampaging through Yin Mountain," Hu Yulin said. "I charged into Yin Mountain and clashed with it head-on; its head resembles a wild boar's, but its size exceeds that of an adult tiger, its eyes are dark green with a red glint, its tusks are longer than my fan, and its fur is like steel needles all over."

A beast like a wild boar?

My first reaction was: "Taotie?"

Taotie—huge in size, mouth like a wild boar, stubborn and ferocious.

All its traits match Hu Yulin's description very well.

I thought of it immediately also because we have already taken down three of the Four Great Fiend Beast Formations, leaving only this final Taotie Fiend Formation, which has never been exposed.

"I can't be certain," Hu Yulin said, utterly despondent. "Perhaps it truly is the Taotie Fiend Formation; they had long laid an ambush, and all this grave mistake… was forged by me—I am the sinner of the entire Yin Mountain fox tribe."

Saying this, he slapped himself hard.

It is obvious that the Tuóluán could silently infiltrate Yin Mountain because Hu Yulin had once brought Feng Lianji back there.

Feng Lianji tampered with things in Yin Mountain.

And she has been dead for a long time.

No one imagined that Yin Mountain, which seemed as impregnable as a fortress, would suffer the worst defeat.

All of Yin Mountain became the Tuóluán's domain; the fox immortal is trapped, and the elders guarding her couldn't get out either.

More importantly, based on Hu Yulin's description, that boar-like beast is likely bred with the aid of the Taotie Fiend Formation.

As for what it's fed, that's not hard to guess.

The vicious beast's eyes glowed with a red light amid their eerie green, a sign of a yin-evil creature.

Not just that one.

Beside him, a badly wounded fox-clan member said, "When night fell, we patrolled into the heart of Yin Mountain and saw dozens of those eyes; my six brothers who were with me… all… all were devoured by them."

Recalling the horrifying scene again, the man trembled all over like a sieve, unable to speak clearly.

"The heart of Yin Mountain?!" Hu Yulin seized the man's collar and demanded, "Yin Mountain has six or seven sections of its interior— which part are you referring to?"

The man's teeth chattered: "An… ancestral… burial ground…"

Another person nearby whispered, "They don't just kill living beings, sucking blood and eating marrow, extracting the inner elixir… they also… also eat corpses."