Chapter 36: Counterstab

"Wouldn't that be better, so we don't have to waste effort searching again."

"Take this ten‑thousand‑mile messenger talisman and hope you bring me good news." If Jiang Yu were to inexplicably find the mine again, Hu Zhenren would surely urge the sect leader to accept her as a named disciple.

Disciples with such luck are rare; when you encounter one, shouldn't you quickly take them under your wing, lest junior brother Xue Lin miss a golden opportunity?

While she jokes, her divine sense continuously scans the area where the disciples saw the demon fox.

Jiang Yu, unaware of her thoughts, merely gathered two items, released a few instructions from Jiang Tu, and then let Swiftwind Wolf carry them flying into the bamboo forest.

She immediately sat on the flying sword, closed her eyes to concentrate her spirit in the clay‑pill palace, and sensed Jiang Tu's condition through the soul contract.

If only she could be as good as ancient cultivators, opening an infinite sea of consciousness during the Qi Refinement stage, then within ten thousand miles she could constantly communicate with Jiang Tu's soul.

Time drifted slowly, the flying sword floated steadily, and she suddenly sensed Jiang Tu's joyful mood—could this guy be thrilled about riding a demon beast into the sky?

No kidding, Jiang Tu was indeed happily transmitting to Swiftwind Wolf: "Hey, I've gone to Spirit Beast Valley many times and never seen you.

Some demons live among humans; at the sixth rank they can obtain pills to refine crossbones for speech. Have you refined them?"

Swiftwind Wolf, hearing Hu Zhenren's command, landed at the designated spot, folded its wings, and focused on sniffing the path the blue‑eyed fox had taken, hoping to track it by scent.

But Jiang Tu, unwilling to give up, kept searching for it, saying, "Looks like you haven't refined the crossbones yet; the Yao Race is slow to reach the seventh rank for speech.

Otherwise, when I return I'll find the speaking herb and give you a sprig."

Swiftwind Wolf kept its head down searching, and even complained that it was noisy and wanted to drop it.

Jiang Tu grew displeased, gently pressed with a forepaw, and the wolf, mid‑run, let out a whine as its front limbs softened and fell.

"Swiftwind?" Hu Zhenren, who had been invisibly pursuing from mid‑air, descended swiftly.

Jiang Tu, feeling insecure, transmitted to Swiftwind Wolf: "Dare to report, I will destroy you."

Jiang Yu sensed its tension and hurriedly pulled it back from the wolf's back.

"Whine, whine." Swiftwind Wolf raised its front paw at Hu Zhenren, then turned its body farther from Jiang Tu.

Jiang Tu stretched his neck and saw: Oh, it's just a few fox hairs.

"What just happened?" Jiang Yu couldn't help turning sideways to transmit to Little Turtle.

"Nothing." Jiang Tu denied too quickly, then immediately corrected himself: "I only told that wolf that the demon fox is probably not in the bamboo forest."

The fox clan is very clever; during the day that big commotion delves underground to search, and when it doesn't lack food, it certainly won't stay on human territory.

Jiang Yu made no comment, followed Hu Zhenren forward a few zhang, and saw her emit a yellow spiritual light at the base of a clump of bamboo, instantly revealing a bowl‑sized hole.

Swiftwind Wolf let out a howl and rushed up, spitting wind blades to widen the opening.

Hu Zhenren stepped forward, patted it, and with a few cultivation gestures, split the area open several zhang deep.

"Swiftwind, stay alert; Jiang Yu and I will descend." One reason is she doesn't trust the little girl staying up there, and another is that bringing Mystic Turtle can ward off evil.

Jiang Yu prepared to use a ground‑vanishing talisman; Hu Zhenren raised his hand, pulling her to share a high‑level vanishing talisman to descend underground, only to find the hole extended hundreds of zhang deep.

Moreover, it wasn't a straight shaft; at the bottom it twisted and turned sideways countless times, the space large enough for a person to crawl down.

No wonder the stationed Foundation Establishment cultivators didn't notice; it requires sect disciples to conduct thorough ground‑vanishing inspections.

Because ordinarily a cultivator's divine sense cannot broadcast like radar, probing the distant for twenty‑four hours.

Even when penetrating underground, soil layers limit it, lacking the extensive coverage of surface detection.

Moreover, this is a several‑thousand‑mu planting area; aside from pest eradication, people only deliberately send their divine sense a few zhang underground, and no one would casually look down there for fun.

Just as Jiang Yu thought the demon fox was cautious enough, Jiang Tu transmitted: "There seems to be a formation ahead."

"Celestial Pivot Invisible Formation?" Hu Zhenren accelerated to the hazy, barely‑visible mist.

Jiang Yu's divine sense saw no formation traces, but sensed massive spiritual energy fluctuations, "Elder, is the formation losing its effect?"

"Hmm, otherwise I would also have trouble spotting it." Hu Zhenren flicked his ten fingers, launching several fire spiritual energy strikes forward, then a storage ring, wielding a formation banner into different parts of the mist.

Jiang Yu felt very envious, but for a moment a sudden bloom appeared before her eyes, accompanied by a few buzzing sounds as the formation light flickered.

Hu Zhenren tightened another technique; the earlier formation banner abruptly emerged from the formation light, and she changed hand signs, commanding the banner to forcefully create a doorway in the Celestial Pivot Formation's light shield.

They reinforced their defense, approached the cave entrance without entering, and raised the Moonlight Stone to inspect with the naked eye.

Inside the cave a few zhang deep, aside from a figure curled in a corner, everything else was empty.

Jiang Yu watched Hu Zhenren step inside, and she hesitated to move forward.

Little Turtle, Jiang Tu, projected his divine sense out of his body, rushed in first, then disappointedly withdrew: "No fox, only a cultivator."

"Alive?" Jiang Yu instantly took the sword‑qi talisman hidden in her sleeve pocket and grasped it.

But she heard Hu Zhenren say inside: "Dead, indeed a Flower Daoist of the Heavenly Demon Sect."

"Is the primordial spirit still there?" Before confirming safety, Jiang Yu could not insert her divine sense to look.

Hu Zhenren couldn't help a light laugh; this junior disciple is truly cautious.

Of course, she herself carefully released dantian fire, soaring across the several‑zhang‑wide cavern to scorch.

Then, as she approached the corpse leaning against the wall, a strange screech came from behind it, and a red light orb rushed straight toward the exit.

Jiang Yu angled aside, ready to fling the sword talisman; at the instant Hu Zhenren thrust a strand of spiritual energy to push her back, she drew her sword for a slash.

Bang

In a single flash, the red orb hit the ground with a wail.

Jiang Yu stuck out her head to glance; it was indeed a scarlet demon fox.

But Little Turtle, Jiang Tu, said: "It's not the one we saw."

"Hmm, this is a fifth‑rank one." Hu Zhenren spread his hand and sucked the demon fox into his palm.

The barely‑living little fox, however, stubbornly spat fire again, but faced a late‑stage Golden Core cultivator, it couldn't harm it at all.

"Its master seems to have fallen not long ago; the contract restriction is gone, yet it still guards this place."

Add the missing sixth‑rank one, it's quite odd.

Unless… Jiang Yu's mind sparked, she approached and examined the little fox closely: "Male."

"Hehehe, Flower Daoist, you've been seen through by a junior." Hu Zhenren lifted the little fox, laughing loudly at it, or perhaps at himself.

The little fox opened its mouth, "Hum, a tiger fallen to the plains — that's all."

"Senior, you're not acting human — truly wronged." Jiang Yu's words carried a double meaning, and in her speech she also did not spare the other party.

The Flower Daoist's anger flared, "Hu Lingzhang, discipline your disciple."

"You surnamed Hua, coming under my sect's jurisdiction to be a thief, and still expect me to treat you with courtesy?"

"Come on, tell me, what's the deal with the small teleportation array in Ershan Marsh?"

"And you, who are you collaborating with to steal my sect's ore vein?" Hu Zhenren gripped the fox's neck tightly, his technique striking several major acupoints like electricity.

Jiang Yu's brow twitched, and she hastily clasped her fists in farewell: "Disciple goes to find Jifeng."

"No need, the sect has those who eat inside and steal outside; they must be exposed to the public and severely punished." Hu Zhenren stared at the little fox with a half-smile.

And the little fox, who hadn't moved, gave a hehehe laugh: "You speak nicely, yet you really can sacrifice a Golden Core cultivator."

"And you, this little girl, truly just sitting there listening, aren't you afraid of being silenced?"

"Senior, who silenced you?" Jiang Yu suspected this person remembers eating but not being hit, and immediately struck back.

The little fox's eyes instantly turned red.