Chapter 474: with translation of chapter title

Hu Yulin's face instantly turned extremely grim.

He lifted his foot to leave, but Liu Junyan grabbed him and said, "What are you doing going?!"

"A scholar may be killed but not humiliated!" Hu Yulin's peach-blossom eyes blazed with killing intent, "Even if I have to stake my life today, I must drive those beasts out of the ancestral graves and out of Yin Mountain!"

"No, driving them out is too lenient; I want to flay and dismember them with my own hands..."

"You think you can do it alone?" Liu Junyan interrupted him, questioning, "Now the entire Yin Mountain is under their control—some dead, some wounded, Hu Sanmei is trapped, you are the backbone; if you go in again and get trapped, who will rescue those inside? And who will you get to help you avenge this?"

Hu Yulin

Liu Junyan firmly patted his shoulder: "I know you're anxious and hateful, but now that it's come to this, we should stay calm; the other side has been eyeing Yin Mountain for more than a day or two, and Feng Li Shu's death was months ago—their deployment may be far stronger than we imagine; we've already been caught off guard, and if we attack again we cannot fight unprepared."

Hu Yulin's emotions gradually calmed under Liu Junyan's persuasion.

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I (narrator), Liu Junyan, Wangting Mountain, Lotus Cave, Liu Zhengfeng

Liu Zhengfeng was discarded after being drained of value, but even in that desperate situation he still held onto his faith.

"'The flesh is merely a shackle, the spirit is eternal; all that I offer today will be gazed upon by the Lord God, I will become a Buddha, I will become a god, I will share eternity with heaven and earth, long live the phoenix and the phoenix!'"

This passage, which Liu Zhengfeng repeated over and over in prayer before his death, I have always remembered clearly.

All the higher-cultivation members of the Wangting Mountain snake clan not only died horribly, but also had their inner cores extracted.

But were they passively victimized, or... did they actively offer themselves as sacrifice?

They believed the flesh is a shackle, the spirit is eternal.

They actively sacrificed themselves, including their skins and inner cores, to exchange for the Lord God's gaze, hoping to share eternity with heaven and earth... to share eternity with heaven and earth?

I seemed to have grasped a key point, and I repeated this passage to Hu Yulin once more.

On the night of the surprise attack on Wangting Mountain, Hu Yulin was not present.

He only knew that something major had happened at Wangting Mountain, but he didn't know the details.

When I uttered the words "share eternity with heaven and earth," Hu Yulin shuddered, opened his mouth as if to say something, looked around, then immediately clamped his mouth shut: "Let's change the subject."

(no names)

Even so, Hu Yulin still couldn't blurt out what he wanted to say; we all became cautious and drove straight back to the pawnshop.

In the west room of the pawnshop, we sat together in a circle, and Li Qingying brewed tea.

I held the teacup in both hands and said, "That night of our surprise attack on Wangting Mountain, I felt the enemy withdrew too easily, too cleanly—including the Chaos Evil Formation, which in the end we didn't actually break."

That's also why, when Liu Junyan and I heard that something had happened on Yin Mountain, our first reaction was to ask whether the Chaos Evil Formation had been moved there.

"I feel the opportunity they've been waiting for has arrived, and this opportunity..." I mused, "Could it be related to the black python shedding its skin?"

The black python is not necessarily a black python; he is merely a stitched-together skin of Liu Zhengfeng.

So after he sheds his skin, it may no longer be certain whether he remains a black python's body.

Even at this point, I have reason to suspect that the 'shedding' we see is probably not a true shedding in the genuine sense.

"My mind is in utter chaos now; I can't calmly think about the information you're saying." Hu Yulin pinched his brow hard and said, "But Liu Zhengfeng, before his death, mentioned the words 'share eternity with heaven and earth,' which immediately reminded me of some forbidden secrets of the Yin Mountain fox clan."

Hui Moqiong and Li Qingying immediately indicated they would recuse themselves.

Hu Yulin said it wasn't necessary: "We're all our own people; we've come to this point, and I have nothing left to hide."

He lifted the teacup, took a light sip to calm himself, then said: "In fox cultivation, since ancient times, one's rank has been determined by the number of tails; achieving eight tails is already exceedingly rare, and nine tails is even rarer in the world."

"You may have also heard the saying that each of the nine tails of a celestial fox represents a life, and when facing a mortal peril, one can preserve one's life by severing a tail."

Everyone nodded; indeed they had heard this legend.

"The fox clan has many branches; the Yin Mountain fox clan is just one of them. I don't know if others are the same, but in our Yin Mountain, cultivating nine tails invites heavenly punishment."

Hu Yulin's words left us stunned.

Even Liu Junyan, my childhood friend, apparently didn't know this; he asked, "How come I've never heard you say this before?"

Clearly, when Hu Yulin previously cultivated eight tails, everyone was happy for him.

Yet just one step away from nine tails invites heavenly punishment—what is the reason?

I, Xiao Jiu? Actually, "Fox Immortal her" refers to the Fox Immortal (female); but Xiao Jiu is Xiao Jiu, who appears later.

Hu Yulin was quite surprised: "Xiao Jiu, how do you know?"

"I don't know; I'm guessing." I said, "Because I once saw her true form earlier, and I wondered then—her cultivation isn't low, so why does she have only one tail? Now I think it might be related to the heavenly punishment."

Hu Yulin nodded, self-mockingly saying: "We foxes, upon reaching a certain cultivation level, are called 'fox immortals' by people, but essentially, before receiving the heavenly decree, we are merely refined monsters who have attained the Dao."

"Eight tails make a spirit fox; nine tails already make a celestial fox, requiring at least twelve heavenly thunderbolts' baptism, enduring them all, before one might be acknowledged by the heavens—this step‑by‑step process is practically harder than ascending to heaven."

Yet our lineage's ancestors actually cultivated ten tails.

(no names)

(no names)

In this world, true perfection is exceedingly rare.

"If we follow the folk saying that nine tails give nine lives, then ten tails would mean ageless immortality, sharing eternity with heaven and earth."

Hu Yulin scoffed: "A mere monster who has cultivated the Dao actually dares to dream of sharing eternity with heaven and earth—that's a huge provocation to the higher powers, right?"

(no names)

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"If not acknowledged by the heavens and not becoming a god, then one is merely a demon, a fiend!"

"With such a huge label placed on her, the heavens need not lift a finger—her own clan can no longer tolerate her existence; she is denounced, framed, and forcibly had all ten tails cut off..."

I dared not interject: "How could that be?! She has cultivated ten tails; the entire Yin Mountain fox clan should have no one stronger than her—how could she possibly be defeated so easily?"

This is unreasonable!