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Translator: Raikov
Editor: Dhael Ligerkeys
The Grand Wards here had two purposes. One was to conceal, and the other was to protect. Both of these Grand Wards had been combined perfectly. From that, it could be seen that the person who set up these Wards had considerable proficiency in the art, surpassing Xie Yunhan but still falling slightly short compared to him.
That was why infiltrating Wards like these was no difficult task for Lu Ye.
The Spiritual Power in the places where Ward Flags were planted had completely stopped flowing. Lu Ye raised his hand and retrieved the Ward Flags, then swiftly entered into the Grand Ward.
Once he left, and with the interference of the Ward Flags gone, the Spiritual Power on the bright surface of the Grand Ward resumed its gentle flow.
Upon entering the Grand Ward, Lu Ye immediately concealed his figure and cautiously surveyed his surroundings.
There was no danger here. Everything in the restricted area could be seen at a glance
That was because it wasn’t a particularly large space.
Within an area of about sixty meters in diameter stood a solitary grave with a stone tablet in front of it. Furthermore, not far from the mound was an ancient structure only around a dozen meters tall, and it seemed to be an altar of sorts.
[This is the restricted area?]
Lu Ye frowned. Even with the enhancement of Glyph: Insight, he couldn’t see anything particularly worthy of his attention.
He walked up to the stone tablet in front of the burial mound. Under the moonlight, the inscription on the stone tablet entered his eyes.
‘Grave of Master Lei Zhengyin.’
These were the only words inscribed on the tablet. Lei Zhengyin should be the name of the person buried in this mound. The word “Master”, on the other hand, inevitably evoked some assumptions.
From what Xie Yunhan had previously mentioned, it could be inferred that this restricted area had existed for at least a dozen years, and the person in the grave must have been dead for an equally long time.
However, the gravestone looked very clean without a speck of dust on its surface. There wasn’t even a single weed on the mound. It seemed that someone came regularly to mourn and clean.
In the entire Fox Immortal Valley, the Fox Mutant was the only one who had access to this place.
Lu Ye’s gaze flickered for a moment, but he stopped looking at the grave, instead looking up at the altar.
This altar had clearly seen some years. It was extremely ancient-looking. Lu Ye stepped onto the altar and looked around it. Intricate patterns covered its surface, as if it were enveloped by a complex Grand Ward. Lu Ye carefully observed it for a while, but he couldn’t make out the true nature of this Grand Ward.
He more or less had some mastery in the Way of Wards, and even if he hadn’t encountered such a complex Ward before, he should still be able to make out a few things.
However, he couldn’t discern anything here. Either the intricate patterns were not part of a Ward at all, or the level of its profundity far exceeded his comprehension.
After scrutinizing it for a while, Lu Ye suddenly noticed four recesses at each corner of the altar.
Now this was something he was no stranger to.
Generally speaking, recesses like these would require the placement of Spirit Stones, just like many Circles of Boon found in various sects.
So, if he wanted to figure out what this altar was for, he just had to place Spirit Stones in the recesses.
However, Lu Ye naturally wouldn’t act recklessly. If he did so, he would most likely alarm the cultivators in Fox Immortal Valley and end up getting caught red-handed.
He couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed.
He had thought that the Fox Mutant must be hiding some incredible secret to have designated this place as a restricted area, but instead, there was only a solitary grave and an ancient altar, one that he couldn’t even determine the purpose of.
What a waste of a trip!
Just as he was about to leave, a strange sound suddenly reached his ears. Lu Ye’s expression changed, and he immediately used Glyph: Invisibility and Glyph: Conceal Presence on himself. Standing on the altar, he didn’t dare to move even a muscle.
A seductive figure suddenly appeared before him. It was the Fox Mutant.
Lu Ye cursed his luck inwardly. He had noticed earlier that there was not a speck of dust on the gravestone or a single weed on the mound, which suggested that someone came here often to mourn. Who would have thought that he would encounter them now in the dead of night?
Now, he was stuck in place and if it weren’t for the Blessing of his Glyphs, he would definitely have been exposed.
Under the moonlight, the Fox Mutant walked silently to the gravestone and lowered her head, sorrow gradually enveloping her features.
A moment later, a gentle sobbing sound could be heard. Tears flowed down, leaving deep marks on her face as the Fox Mutant threw herself on the grave, pouring out her grief and saying something that was too incoherent to understand.
Lu Ye only caught a few words like ‘master’, ‘Xian’er’, and ‘I’m so tired’. As for the rest, he couldn’t quite make them out.
He couldn’t help but feel glad. The Fox Mutant was currently immersed in her sorrow, and he reckoned that she hadn’t expected someone to defy her orders within Fox Immortal Valley and come here in the middle of the night either. Even with Lu Ye blessing himself with Glyph: Invisibility and Glyph: Conceal Presence, there was still a possibility of being detected at such a close distance.
After crying for a long while, the Fox Mutant wiped the corners of her eyes and carefully cleaned the pristine gravestone. She took a deep breath, causing her plump chest to rise up high.
The sorrow on her face disappeared, replaced by endless resentment and hatred. Even her originally charming tone turned extremely sinister. “It won’t be much longer, Master. I’ll be able to avenge you in another month. I definitely won’t fail this time!”
Seemingly due to the overly intense emotions welling up inside of her, Spirit Essence surged throughout her body as she said these words. Under the moonlight, several fluffy tails made of condensed Spirit Essence suddenly appeared behind her seductive body, swaying gracefully. From Lu Ye’s perspective, this scene carried a chilling beauty.
She gazed deeply at the gravestone for a while until her emotions settled and her Spirit Essence subsided, then she turned around and left, disappearing through the Ward that enveloped the area.
Lu Ye stood silently on the altar without moving.
It wasn’t until an hour passed that he softly called out, “Yi Yi!”
Yi Yi’s figure revealed itself. “It’s safe outside.”
Lu Ye nodded and immediately headed out.
When he came in from the outside, he had to use some tricks to sneak in, but the Ward did not restrict him from leaving this place.
In just a short while, he had quietly made it back to his pavilion.
Reflecting on what he had just witnessed, Lu Ye frowned. Based on the name of ‘Fox Immortal Valley’, he speculated that the mistress’s true form was a Fox Mutant, and from the abnormal phenomenon that occurred when she lost control of her Spirit Essence, he became increasingly convinced of his previous conjecture.
That was indeed a Fox Mutant, but not an ordinary one. That was because instead of having just one tail, she had a total of six!
The Divine Fox Race? And she was a six-tailed Divine Fox!
No wonder she had the uncanny ability to manipulate people’s minds. If she belonged to the Divine Fox clan, that would explain everything.
Even though Divine Foxes could not compare to the Four Sacred Beasts, they were still an extraordinary beast with great Talent and Divine Power. As far as Lu Ye knew, Divine Foxes at the Cloud River Realm typically had only two or three tails. So, even if they possessed special Divine Power, they couldn’t manipulate people’s minds to the extent of complete control. At best, they could slightly confuse a person, which could be easily overcome with strong enough willpower.
Having six tails made the Fox Mutant an anomaly even among the Divine Fox Race. Under normal circumstances, the strength of a Six-Tailed Divine Fox would rival that of a Divine Ocean Realm cultivator!
Even though this trip to the restricted area did not yield him any substantial gains, he did coincidentally get a look at the Fox Mutant’s true form, so it wasn’t entirely fruitless.
But such a discovery didn’t provide significant help to him in the current situation.
“Lu Ye,” Yi Yi’s voice suddenly came from the darkness, “that Fox Mutant looks very pitiful.”
“Which part of her is pitiful?” Lu Ye retorted. “What’s truly pitiful are the cultivators trapped here, being so devoted to her while she’s controlling their minds.”
“But her master died.” Yi Yi’s eyes reddened. “She wants to avenge her master.”
Lu Ye turned to look at her and couldn’t help but feel that this little girl was a bit too sensitive. The Fox Mutant’s master had been dead for at least a decade, so why was she of all people crying about it?
Yi Yi wrinkled her nose. “If you were to die one day, Amber and I would definitely do anything we can to avenge you!”
Lu Ye could not resist the urge to laugh. “Amber and I have established a bond through the Life Energy Art. If I die, Amber will be done for, and so will you. What revenge would you take then? We’ll all go to Yellow Springs together, and it won’t be a lonely journey.”
Yi Yi pouted. “Whatever the case, the Fox Mutant is still very pitiful.”
After saying that, she stomped her foot and dove into Amber’s body, no longer paying Lu Ye any mind.
Lu Ye was speechless. In the darkness, his gaze gradually dimmed.
The Fox Mutant previously claimed that she would avenge her deceased master within a month. Now, the question was… who was the enemy?
Lu Ye was originally unsure what the Fox Mutant’s intentions were by gathering so many cultivators, but now, the situation was becoming clear.
She had been finding ways to avenge her master all this while, but she could not achieve that by solely relying on her own power, and that was why she would need to gather the cultivators who delved deep into Grand Wilds Peak
Moreover, after all these years, the Fox Mutant must have taken action multiple times before, but unfortunately, all of her attempts had failed. The cultivators who ended up dead under her command undoubtedly lost their lives to these endeavors.
Currently, there were over eighty cultivators in Fox Immortal Valley, with at least fifteen of them in the Ninth Order. Besides Lu Ye and Li Baxian, the rest were all in the Sixth Order and above.
With such a force, they could not only sweep through the Cloud River Battlefield but also establish dominance and rule over a territory without a problem.
However, Fox Mutant hesitated to take action. Either she lacked confidence or she was waiting for the right moment.
Regardless of the reason, her enemy must be no pushover. Looking at the entire Cloud River Battlefield, there was only one possibility for an enemy that could make her so cautious!
Lu Ye quickly took out his 10-point map and examined the markings on it. After a moment, his gaze was fixed on one particular label.
Elite-level Spirit Beast, Berserk Giant Ape!
Lu Ye’s eyelid twitched.
If things were really as he suspected, then it would be troublesome.
He wasn’t sure just how strong an elite-level Spirit Beast in the Cloud River Realm was.
However, he had personally experienced the power of an elite-level Spirit Beast in the Spirit Creek Realm. It was a strength that surpassed the scope of the Spirit Creek Realm entirely.
He himself had once ascended to the same level as an elite-level Spirit Beast as a cultivator, and it could be said that he was unrivaled among all others in the same realm.
Fox Immortal Valley’s strength was indeed impressive, but facing off against an elite-level Spirit Beast would be a different story. It was hard to say who would have the last laugh in such a fight.
In one month… Lu Ye suddenly felt a headache.
Should he try knocking Li Baxian unconscious and just take him away? But without considering whether he would even succeed, if he made a mistake, it would undoubtedly expose some of his secrets, and then it might be impossible for them to escape.
Even after knocking Li Baxian unconscious, the Divine Soul Secret Technique would always be a hidden danger if it were not dispelled.
