After three months of seemingly getting along like a house on fire, it was finally revealed that the basement was haunted.
It was just a tiger and her prey.
Wu Yu already knew that all the Ninth Spirit had shown him was an illusion. This was a frightening woman. She never had the intention of changing her mind.
And now that she knew Wu Yu knew the truth, she did not have to pretend at all. After all, she knew that even if the two did not feel deeply for each other, the demonic rite would still bring her to the fourth tier of the Jindan Dao Realm.
And things having progressed to this stage, the Ninth Spirit had already run out of patience to keep up the facade.
Wu Yu took a deep breath and said, "So that's how it is. My last shred of goodwill towards you is gone as well. Ninth Spirit, all I have for you is hatred. Given the chance, I will definitely kill you!
"You and Jiang Xie are no different. Jiang Xie wanted to kill me cleanly. You want to kill me too, just through other devices. And with your revelation today, you are truly no different from Jiang Xie."
The Ninth Spirit screeched a laugh. "Of course. Why should Jiu Er love you? Just because you're a genius with a bright future? Jiu Er only loves herself. And no one else."
Being firmly in her control, Wu Yu tried many methods, but none of them were effective. A few days passed by his reckoning before the Ninth Spirit suddenly came to a stop. The strength imprisoning him suddenly eased, and Wu Yu tumbled to the ground. He sprung to his feet and looked around, realizing that he was inside a cave. The space was enormous, and all the walls were solid rock. There was some mist in the cave which slightly obscured one's vision.
"This is my territory. Fox Branch Mountain."
He saw a Beautiful Fox of the Nine Heavens, eyes glowing red and body snow-white. Her front paws were bent slightly on the ground as she stared at him with a look of pure lust. She was clearly famished to the extreme.
To think that she had actually brought him back to her camp. Honestly, this place should not be difficult to find.
"Outside of Fox Branch Mountain, there is a naturally disorienting formation that is even bigger and more complex than the one at your Valley of Immortal Fate. Even if your master comes here, he will take at least 10 days to find us. So you had best give your hopes a rest."
The Ninth Spirit's words pronounced Wu Yu's death sentence.
Wu Yu looked around him. He had no idea where the exit to the cave was. Clearly, it had been sealed by the Ninth Spirit, similar to the underground room in the Valley of Immortal Fate. In this place, there was only him and the Ninth Spirit. Neither heaven nor hell would even respond.
Surveying his surroundings, there was something beside the thick walls that caught Wu Yu's attention. It was another Beautiful Fox of the Nine Heavens of about the same size as the Ninth Spirit. However, this Beautiful Fox of the Nine Heavens had lifeless eyes and lay as still as death. Moreover, it was not actually alive, but a sculpture of ice that was so lifelike, Wu Yu had almost mistaken it for an ice fox.
Besides this ice sculpture of the Beautiful Fox of the Nine Heavens, there was nothing else here.
The Ninth Spirit did not seem to be in a rush. After all, this place was sealed, and she was almost certain that no one would come to the rescue. She looked at the fox sculpture, and a look of nostalgia and anger came over her. "That was my elder sister."
"Elder sister?" Wu Yu had thought it a mere ice sculpture.
Speaking of the ice sculpture, the Ninth Spirit's anger rose. She stared balefully at Wu Yu. "That's right. It was my elder sister. We grew up together and cultivated together. We looked for a body of pure yang together, to complete our Beautiful Fox of the Nine Heavens transformation. A pity that she had already been harmed by you martial cultivators before she succeeded!"
What Wu Yu needed most right now was time, to think of a way to fight the Ninth Spirit. Since she had brought up this topic, he quickly latched on to it. "That's impossible. Why would a demon become an ice sculpture?"
The Ninth Spirit aggressively lashed out with her claws and tail and screeched, "She was stupid. She fell in love with a martial cultivator, and even gave up on our Beautiful Fox of the Nine Heavens' transformation for him. She was taken in by his honeyed words, and merged with him, giving up her chance to metamorphose! What was more laughable was that the martial cultivator only liked her looks. He did not love her. In the end, he fell out with my elder sister, then he called his sect to use Jindan dao techniques to turn my sister into ice!"
This sounded like a romantic tragedy.
Or, more accurately, it had shaped the Ninth Spirit into who she was today.
"Humans and demons are natural enemies. Love cannot exist between them! But she was a fool. She could not even comprehend such a simple logic, and willingly gave her everything for that man. Until even her life was taken from her! That is why Jiu Er will not believe you. Today, I will fulfill the wish of us sisters. I will metamorphose into a Spiritual Fox of the Nine Heavens! I will surge to the fourth tier of Jindan! Not just for myself, but also for my sister....
"One day, I will take revenge for her. I will make those who harmed her pay with everything they have!"
Speaking thus, her eyes flamed even redder and more savage than before. Her look at Wu Yu was filled with hatred. This was her true face.
Wu Yu had not expected her to have such a tale.
Perhaps he could understand her hatred for humans and sympathize with her sister. But she was going to use Wu Yu as the springboard for her transformation into a Spiritual Fox of the Nine Heavens!
"In the fight between humans and demons, there is no good or evil. Humans have emotions and intellect, and demons do as well. The Ninth Spirit is not evil, but she and I have opposing goals. She wants me dead and is my natural enemy. My foe!"
Wu Yu was clear that exactly because of this, her reasons - however valid - demanded no sympathy!
At this point, the Ninth Spirit seemed to have run out of patience. Her eyes flashed and her nine tails thrashed madly. She eyed him like prey as she came creeping step by step towards Wu Yu. The cave was only so big, and Wu Yu could only retreat a few paces. There was nowhere to run!
At this time, he was truly in a nervous position.
"Are you so sure that you will eat me? Ninth Spirit." Wu Yu turned, pulling out his black and white swords, staring at her.
"What else?" The Ninth Spirit laughed coldly.
No matter how you thought about it, Wu Yu could not possibly escape Fox Branch Mountain.
Even Ming Long had come out. She had pulled a long face after surveying their surroundings, saying, "Wu Yu, oh, Wu Yu. You're so pitiful. You finally gained this godly inheritance after much difficulty, but now you're in this checkmate. Even I cannot save you."
"You're serious?" Wu Yu found this hard to bear.
Ming Long rolled her eyes. "Granny has no cause to lie to you. If you get out of here alive today, I'll call you ‘Daddy.’"
That said, she returned to the Jingu Bang. She was but a remnant of a spirit, and could not help Wu Yu much.
Even Ming Long had said so. That indicated that Wu Yu's chances of escaping were pretty much non-existent.
Unless he reached the ninth tier of Qi Condensation. But to achieve that, he needed a few months of training and time to condense qi.
As the Ninth Spirit neared, Wu Yu started to sweat profusely!
Was his own cultivation journey going to end right here?
Was he going to become a power-up flower, a delicacy for this fox demon? The grand heir of the Great Sage, Heaven's Equal; a corpse of bones in a cave? All for a fox demon's rise?
Fear, anxiety, and a tightening of his entire body...,.
"Wu Yu, Jiu Er will thank you. I will remember you for the rest of my life." The Ninth Spirit's last words were still warm, although a flash of killing intent tinged them.
Bang!
The 1,000-year fox demon's killing intent exploded outwards!
"Taiji, yin yang!"
Wu Yu's twin swords flashed out. This was the move that had killed Tian Yijun!
The 1,000-year fox demon's tails writhed, forming a round ball that rotated at high speed. It sheared the Nascent Yin Yang Single Sword Strike into nothingness!
"Your power is puny," the fox demon taunted.
Great Dao of the Golden Sword!
Both swords merging into one, the huge golden sword cleaved down. But the fox demon's tails were as hard as steel. They easily blocked it. At that moment, Wu Yu truly felt the difference between the Jindan Dao Realm and the Qi Condensation Realm. Even if he were at the ninth tier Qi Condensation Realm, he would still be far from her level of spiritual power!
"I have a spiritual immortal treasure too...."
With a flash, the Ninth Spirit shapeshifted into her human form. That sexy figure hung in the mist. Wu Yu could see a silver chain in her hands, and it grew into a giant snake phantom. It cracked at the air with a whistling sound, sending Wu Yu's Onyx & Pearl Dao Swords flying out of his hands.
This was a complete shutdown!
Wu Yu understood that the road of cultivation was endless. No matter how much of a genius he was, there would always be people who outclassed him. For example, the Ninth Spirit!
"Fix!"
Finally, he tried the Fixed Body Art, but his spiritual power was too inferior in comparison to the Ninth Spirit's. Along with the blow to his mind, the Fixed Body Art failed.
Ming Long sighed. "Kid, it's not that I don't want to save you. I'm helpless too. I don't know how many thousands of years I'll have to wait after you die, perhaps forever. Really...."
Saying thus, even she began to cry.
Finally, she said, "But this fox demon is beautiful. Taking you before you die is also a sort of pleasure. Sometimes life is just like that. Since you can't fight it, then just enjoy it to the fullest. I'm going to hole up and have a good cry. This sort of wanton scene makes me embarrassed to watch."