Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“This is?”
Jiang Li smelled the tail, but he was still a little uncertain.
“Hehe, I caught it in that tomb. Who would have thought that in this Netherworld Illusion, there would be such a Ghost Fox Cave hidden near Fengdu City?”
“The ghost foxes inside are weak and don’t even have the strength to transform. However, there are really many good things in the tomb.”
“Alliance Leader Jiang, look. This is a necklace made of Jade Essence Beads. This is a porcelain bowl refined from crystal soil. There are still many such things inside. As long as you refine it again, you can create quite a number of artifacts. Even if you smash it and sell it for money, you can still make a huge profit.”
It was hard to imagine that these materials were not used to refine artifacts. Instead, they were made into the most ordinary decorations and furniture with the simplest methods of mortals.
This kind of action was a hundred times more exaggerated than holding a golden rice bowl. It was a typical waste of natural resources.
The fox tail that Zhao Tiangang took out was also covered in spiritual light. One look and one could tell that it was an excellent weapon refinement material.
However, what made Jiang Li slightly concerned was that there was not one tail on this fox, but two.
Jiang Li suddenly recalled the flag that the sword cultivator clone had seen in the underground palace.
Originally, he thought that it was just a coincidence that the names were the same. Now, it seemed that it might really be the burial mound of those two.
“Thank you for your information. You’ve helped me greatly. When you have time in the future, you must come to the Great Mountain Alliance to visit.”
This was not a place to stay for long. After Jiang Li obtained the exact location of the Ghost Fox Cave from Zhao Tiangang, he thanked him with small talk before parting ways and continuing to rush over.
In just a few minutes, with Jiang Li’s current flying speed that had already reached the Nascent Soul realm, he could already see the outline of Fengdu City from afar.
However, before he could approach, a blood-colored saber light slashed at him.
Jiang Li frowned as he stretched out his hand to grab the bloody glow. The ferocious and sharp blade qi pushed forward with all its might. That force was indeed extremely dangerous. Fortunately, Jiang Li’s defense had always been good, and he forcefully held the blade light in his hand until it was completely shattered.
“The Myriad Slaughter Sect is handling matters. Those who pass this line will be killed!”
After Jiang Li shattered the blade light, he looked at a guard of the Myriad Slaughter Sect below.
The blood saber cultivator stood on a stone monument and pointed the blade at Jiang Li. Judging from his expression, he probably looked forward to Jiang Li charging forward and fighting him.
“These sinners from the Myriad Slaughter Sect are crazy. One day, I, Jiang Li, will uphold justice on behalf of the heavens.”
However, it was not time yet. He and the Great Mountain Alliance were still too weak.
From afar, he looked at Fengdu City.
Just as Zhao Tiangang and the others had said, this ghost city was already in chaos.
All kinds of looting and burning could be heard clearly from dozens of miles away. If one entered, it was hard to guarantee that they would not be involved.
Not to mention that in the center, there were top cultivators of the various great powers of the Eastern Region who were digging a thousand feet underground, intending to forcefully dig out the legendary Fengdu underground palace.
Jiang Li was only interested in the ordinary treasures in the ghost market. With his current strength, he was obviously unable to compete with the other top cultivators.
Now, he could only cooperate with the sword cultivator clone to see if he could find some opportunities.
Jiang Li did not have a conflict with the Blood Saber cultivators of the Myriad Slaughter Sect.
Instead, he turned around and left the Ghost City.
There were also some rogue cultivators from the Eastern Region who had rushed to the vicinity of Fengdu City like him.
Unfortunately, they were a step too late. This city had already been sealed off by the various large sects. They were circling the entire city, trying to find a way to enter from other directions.
However, nearly fifty kilometers around Fengdu City were divided into several areas guarded by different large forces.
With the combat strength invested by the various large sects this time, the defensive net was absolutely firm to an unimaginable extent. Ordinary rogue cultivators could not withstand it at all.
They could only wait there for the opportunity. If the Ghost Kings returned, they might have a chance in the chaos.
At this moment, Jiang Li had found a desolate desert according to what Zhao Tiangang had said. There was not a single blade of grass here and there were no resources, so practically no cultivators would come here. Supposedly, there was a fox demon that could be called a fat sheep hidden beneath this desert.
“Then let me see what this Fengdu Ghost City is made of.”
With a wave of his hand, he released a large number of Soul Burial Ghost Soldiers and let them search this desert. He felt that the Twilight Cave was very closely related to Fengdu City.
In the legends of his previous life, the location of this Fengdu Ghost City was actually not very clear.
The Mythological stories that Jiang Li and most of the ordinary people in his previous life were familiar with should be the various gods of the Heavenly Court, as well as the constellations and celestials in the sky.
As for the ancient legends that controlled the underworld, they should be a series of law-enforcement agencies like the “Yama Hall”, “Gates of Hell”, “Yin-Yang Realm”, and “Eighteen Levels of Hell”.
Ghost Judge, Bull Head and Horse Face, and the Black and White Deities were the most familiar names to everyone.
However, this Fengdu City was said to be located beside the Six Heavenly River. It had three palaces and nine mansions, and the Imperial Palace was like the Heavenly Court. The Ghost Emperor presided here and commanded a myriad of ghosts and gods. It was the home of the human ghosts.
It sounded like its authority overlapped with Yama Hall’s, and its status was even higher.
However, the division of labor between the two was quite unclear. They were both organizations that controlled all the ghosts in the world. Could there be a situation where one person died and two waves of envoys came to capture the souls?
Furthermore, he had never heard of rumors like the Heavenly Court governing Fengdu City.
The Ten Kings of Hell were also directly under the Heavenly Court. There was no such thing as Fengdu Ghost City interfering.
Now that he thought about it, perhaps they were not part of the mythology of the Central Heavenly Court…
Because he had already obtained a rough location from Zhao Tiangang and the others, under the large-scale search of the ghost soldiers, Jiang Li quickly discovered a pile of rocks that had been overturned not long ago.
This rock pile looked ordinary. If not for Zhao Tiangang’s information, Jiang Li would not have been so free to dig it up and take a look.
After approaching, he focused his mind and carefully sensed. Soon, he smelled a familiar smell from the gaps of the rock pile.
It was a stench similar to that of a high-grade fox demon. Compared to the smell of the fox girls he had encountered in the Red Lantern Street, the aura here was clearly more high-grade and noble, mixed with a faint and soul-stirring fragrance.
Jiang Li looked around and did not see any other cultivators.
With a thought, his figure was enveloped by green light. Then, his entire body transformed into a slender tree root. He twisted nimbly on the soil twice and entered through the gap in the rock pile in the blink of an eye.
This was an escape technique of the Nine Nether clone’s Foundation and Nine Nether Dao Scripture. It had been used in Nightless City, and after a long time, it could already bring Jiang Li along with it.
He transformed into the roots of the Nine Nether Wood, splitting open rocks and soil, crossing mountains and valleys. It was as simple as a fish swaying its tail in the water.
Its speed was fast and hard to detect. It was the best choice to kill and seize treasures.
When cultivated to the limit, one could even rely on such an escape technique to casually return to the Nine Nether Spring.
He followed the gap in the rock pile all the way down. After breaking through another layer of soil, he finally arrived at a relatively spacious underground space.
The shattered rocks here had probably been specially blown up by Zhao Tiangang and the others before they left. They probably wanted to avoid being discovered by other cultivators and planned to come back a few times in the future.
However, because of some relationship between Ink Sect and Jiang Li, they still told him this news.
What surprised Jiang Li was that the underground tomb actually did not seem dark. Rows of Night Pearls the size of heads were embedded in the stone wall, illuminating everything clearly.
Jiang Li shook his head and clicked his tongue in wonder.
This was a rare treasure embedded in the wall.
This kind of luminous pearl actually did not glow. Its ability was to automatically absorb the energy in the earth vein. The effect of this glow was actually a phenomenon where the earth vein spiritual qi gathered and overflowed.
As a rune array master, a luminous pearl of this level was an important material for the “perpetual motion array formation”.
To a spiritual plant master, if they embedded a few Night Pearls on the spiritual plant shed, the growth speed of the spiritual plant would also increase.
Zhao Tiangang and the other rogue cultivators had no experience staying in a large sect. They actually took a wrong look here and did not even take away such a treasure.
Wu ~ Wu ~ Wu ~
Jiang Li tore open the luminous pearls as he walked forward. After walking for a distance, a few canine-like whimpers sounded from behind a corner.
He turned the corner and looked in the direction of the voice. There were a few fox corpses that had been skinned lying on the ground. Beside them, a few white foxes and black foxes were lying on the side, wiping their tears very humanely.
From the looks of it, it was clearly mourning the death of his companion.
Sure enough, they were all demon foxes and looked to have considerable intelligence.
“Boohoo, wait. Sisters, be careful. There’s a strange smell again! Oh no, it’s a human cultivator. Run!”
One of the three-tailed that had been lying on the ground suddenly raised its head and sniffed left and right, and then it turned around to look at Jiang Li.
Jiang Li’s body had multiple statuses like the Immaculate Body that could not emit a smell. The smell on his body should have already been concealed to an extremely low level. He did not expect to be discovered by a few foxes so easily.
“Run!”
Those ghost foxes were not strong and could not even transform. However, their speed based on their racial talent was really not slow.
The white and black collided, directly fusing into a phantom that flew into the distance.
However, Jiang Li’s speed was obviously faster. With a wave of his hand, a large number of vines grew from the seeds that he struck out, and they directly weaved into a large net in the air and enveloped all the ghost foxes.
He did not know the principles behind their black and white spell technique, but it clearly could not last long. After being interrupted, the net was divided into black and white foxes.
“Boohoo, damned humans! You killed my brothers and sisters and actually dare to come to the Empress’s Tomb! I, Third Sister Hu, will fight you to the death!”
Inside, a snow-white fox with three tails used its claws to support the vine net and bared its teeth at Jiang Li.
Unfortunately, if it wanted to injure Jiang Li, it would have to cultivate for at least a few hundred years.
Alliance Leader Jiang pulled out their tails from the cracks of the vines and pulled on them forcefully. Yes, it was true, they were not stuck together by glue.
Everyone knew that the auspicious beast, Nine Tails, was the limit of the fox demon’s evolution. However, no matter how ordinary fox demons cultivated, it was impossible for them to grow a second tail.
This was because according to the records in the mysterious book in his previous life, the Classic of Mountains and Seas, the original text wrote, “300 miles east, there is a mountain called the Green Mountain. There is a demon beast, it is like a fox with nine tails, and when the demon appears, it is an auspicious sign. Its voice is like a baby, it can eat humans, and those who eat it will not be dazed.”
What it meant was that there was a type of beast called Nine Tails on this mountain that looked like a fox.
Its characteristics were that it had nine tails, and its voice was as crisp as a baby’s and it ate humans as food. After eating its flesh, the human mind would not be confused.
It would only appear when the world was peaceful. It was an auspicious beast.
Therefore, this green-tailed beast only looked like a fox. There was no necessary blood relationship between the two.
Only the beasts of the Green Mountain could gradually grow and produce nine tails under the circumstances that their cultivation level, opportunities, and fate had arrived.
Their official name should be one-tailed, two-tailed, three-tailed, and nine-tailed.
It was only because the appearance was too similar to the fox clan that the two were often mixed together. Later on, people directly called them the fox clan.
The origins of the two black and white ghost foxes here were very obvious.
“You’ve misunderstood. I’ve just arrived here. Your companions did not die by my hands.”
“In addition, you said this is the Empress’s Tomb? May I know which Empress is buried here?” Jiang Li picked up the vine net and asked the foxes.
“Treacherous human, I won’t believe you! Let my sisters out! If you want to capture one of us, take me instead.”
The Ghost Fox Tomb that had just encountered a calamity was now very vigilant. It was clearly unable to convince them with just talk.
“Don’t worry, I don’t have any ill intentions. There are some spiritual fruits here as a token of my appreciation. I believe you’ll understand that I’m a good person after eating them.”
Jiang Li smiled as he took out a few small Nine Nether Earth Fruits and sent them to their mouths.
He was generous with the spiritual fruits. He believed that such a precious gift would definitely be very effective in increasing his favorability.
“Sisters, don’t eat what humans give you! He must be up to no good!”
The three-tailed fox that called itself Third Sister Hu was still baring its teeth and speaking in human language.
Jiang Li ignored it and handed a few Nine Nether Fruits to the mouths of the two, two, and three.
The strong smell of the Earth Fruit instantly filled their noses. Even if they had just encountered a calamity, even if they were actually carnivores, they could not resist the instincts of their bodies. Saliva dripped down.
Even Jiang Li himself found it difficult to resist the temptation of the Nine Nether Spirit Fruit, let alone these wild and untamed demons.
The saliva at the corner of its mouth flowed all over the ground. In the end, a fox was unable to endure it and bit the Earth Fruit in Jiang Li’s hand before sending it into its mouth.
Without chewing, it swallowed the Earth Fruit in one go. The two-tailed fox immediately narrowed its eyes in bliss and cried softly in Jiang Li’s direction. Its tail moved to its mouth and shook gently.
Its furry face was filled with the enjoyment of eating the spiritual fruit.
When the other foxes saw their companions’ expressions, they could not endure it anymore. Ignoring Third Sister Hu’s obstruction, they crawled out from the cracks of the vine net and took the Earth Fruit from Jiang Li’s hand.
“Your companions have all eaten. If you don’t eat one, you won’t fit in.”
In the end, only Third Sister Hu was left. Jiang Li opened its mouth and squeezed the last Nine Nether Earth Fruit into its mouth.
A few minutes later, Jiang Li released the vine net. Six foxes who were looking up at him with adoration had already appeared on the ground.
Three of them were black and three were white. Two pairs were two-tailed, and the other two were three-tailed.
“Tell me who your Fox Immortal Queen is.”
The six little foxes brought Jiang Li deeper into the tomb.
Although the size of this tomb was not large, there were many funerals. Countless natural treasures were scattered on the ground like rocks and sand.
After walking through a maze-like graveyard, he finally walked into a luxurious bedroom.
In the bedroom, there was a beautiful female statue.
The six fox demons stepped forward and bowed respectfully.
“Greetings, Empress Daji!”
Jiang Li finally confirmed his thoughts when he saw this.
What was buried in this tomb was the Empress of the last Emperor of his dynasty, the Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox, Su Daji!
Since Daji was here, there was no need to guess who was under the Fengdu underground palace..