Chapter 575: Plan

Furthermore, the name Fox Immortal Valley particularly intrigued Lu Ye. He took out his ten-point map to compare it with his current location. The map had no special markings for this area; in other words, the existence of this valley was not recorded. This suggested that the name 'Fox Immortal Valley' was unique to the cultivators here.

He had previously speculated that the Honored One was a demon, but it was hard to determine the specific demonic race unless they revealed their true form. Fox Immortal Valley was undoubtedly a good clue. A fox demon? That made sense. Legends say fox demons transform into human form, with men becoming handsome and women enchanting, which matched the Honored One's description.

However, the Honored One, despite being at the Cloud River Realm, could employ soul-controlling secret arts that manipulated people's minds, suggesting they were no ordinary fox demon. It was highly likely they possessed an extremely rare bloodline. Just like Amber, there are countless tiger-type demonic beasts in this world, but apart from Amber, he had never heard of any other tiger-type demonic beast capable of converting changling (ghosts of victims controlled by tigers). Amber, on the other hand, possessed the bloodline of the White Tiger, one of the Four Sacred Beasts, and converting changling was its innate divine ability.

Regardless, the Honored One was not easy to deal with. Now stranded in Fox Immortal Valley, Lu Ye was protected by his Talent Tree and unaffected by the Honored One's secret arts. However, Li Baxian's mind had been controlled, making him utterly devoted to the Honored One. Lu Ye would certainly not be able to take him away. Even Feng Yuechan, with whom he had lived for years, could be decisively cast aside, illustrating the domineering nature of the soul-controlling secret art. If Lu Ye were to forcibly take Li Baxian away, it would only expose his own secret of being immune to the control. At that point, all the cultivators in Fox Immortal Valley would likely come after him.

This place was filled with powerful cultivators, with many at the eighth and ninth layers of the Cloud River Realm. If it came to that, the consequences would be unpredictable. He secretly felt fortunate that Ju Jia had been injured earlier and Feng Yuechan stayed behind to care for him. If they had come along, they would surely have been swept up together. Now that Feng Yuechan and Ju Jia were still at the spirit land, Lu Ye still had at least one backup plan available, preventing him from being isolated and helpless.

Fox Immortal Valley existed in the Cloud River Battlefield but had never been discovered before. Firstly, it was located deep within the Grand Desolation Mountains, making it difficult for ordinary cultivators to reach. Secondly, due to the rules of Fox Immortal Valley, all cultivators who entered had to sever ties with their past. Under the Honored One's soul-controlling secret art, no one would transmit information about this place to the outside world. As a result, even if a cultivator went missing for a long time and couldn't be contacted, their sect or even their relatives and friends would have no way to find them. At most, they could only determine if they were alive or dead through their battlefield imprint.

If Lu Ye wanted to take Li Baxian away from here, he would first have to break the soul-controlling secret art planted by the Honored One. Otherwise, Li Baxian would not willingly comply. However, soul secret arts involved soul power, and how could Lu Ye, a mere Cloud River Realm cultivator, possibly break it? Unless the Honored One herself lifted the secret art, which was clearly impossible. Or, he could kill her! Comparatively, killing her was the only feasible solution.

No matter how strong she was, she was only equivalent to someone at the Cloud River Realm. From what he had seen of her today, she was not a hegemon-level existence. In other words, her strength was at most equivalent to a Cloud River Realm peak cultivator. So, while killing her would be difficult, there might still be a chance of success. The challenge was how to deal with the cultivators in Fox Immortal Valley. Lu Ye wasn't sure how many cultivators were gathered here, but since encountering Zhou Yuntian, he had seen over thirty in total. And these were just the ones he had encountered; there were certainly many more he hadn't seen. What did this fox demon intend to do by gathering so many cultivators under her?

After much thought, Lu Ye had a rough plan. Regardless, it was crucial to first scout out the strength of Fox Immortal Valley. Only by understanding everything about the valley could he more effectively deal with the current situation. He needed to contact Feng Yuechan and Ju Jia first. He and Li Baxian had been chasing Xia Liang and Tan Sheng, and with no news for so long, Feng Yuechan must be worried. Li Baxian couldn't reply to messages, so he had to make contact himself. Moreover, when he was feigning unconsciousness earlier, messages had already arrived, but he hadn't found it convenient to check. If he wasn't mistaken, they should be from Feng Yuechan.

Raising his hand to touch his battlefield imprint, Lu Ye quietly checked. As expected, it was Feng Yuechan, and there were several messages, continuously inquiring about his and Li Baxian's situation.

“Senior Sister Feng.” Almost as soon as the message was sent, Feng Yuechan replied, clearly having been waiting.

“Junior Brother Lu, you finally replied. How are things on your end? Are you injured? What about my Senior Brother? Why isn't he replying to my messages?” Through the battlefield imprint, Feng Yuechan could confirm that both Lu Ye and Li Baxian were alive, but their lack of replies had led her to some unsettling conjectures.

“Senior Brother and I are both safe and sound, you don't need to worry. However, we've encountered some issues here, and it seems we won't be able to return to the spirit land anytime soon.”

“Where are you? I'll come find you.”

“You can't come!” Lu Ye quickly refused, then meticulously recounted what he and Li Baxian had experienced, informing Feng Yuechan of their current predicament.

Feng Yuechan was clearly greatly shocked: “You mean Senior Brother's mind has been controlled by a fox demon?”

“'Fox demon' is my speculation. I haven't seen her true form, so I can't confirm it, but his mind being controlled is true. Senior Brother is acting normally, except for one thing: under the influence of that soul secret art, he is utterly obedient to that fox demon. I can't forcibly take him away.”

“That hateful beast!” Feng Yuechan cursed loudly. Though she was curious how Lu Ye remained unaffected by the secret art, she didn't press the matter. After all, if Lu Ye were truly affected, he wouldn't be discussing these things with her.

“The fox demon here has a rule: once inside Fox Immortal Valley, you must sever ties with your past. So, Senior Sister Feng, if you message Senior Brother, he won't reply. However, to avoid revealing anything, please pretend you don't know and continue to contact him.”

“I understand,” Feng Yuechan replied, quickly sending another message: “Hearing you say that reminds me of something. Several years ago, a Cloud River Realm cultivator from the Danxin Sect went missing in the Grand Desolation Mountains. Although his battlefield imprint confirmed he was still alive, no matter who from the sect messaged him, there was never any reply. The sect assumed he had met with some accident and organized multiple search parties into the Grand Desolation Mountains, but always came up empty-handed. Now, it seems that missing person might have also fallen into that Fox Immortal Valley.”

“What was that person's name?” Lu Ye quickly asked. If that were true, the person must still be in Fox Immortal Valley.

“He's already dead. His battlefield imprint disappeared a year after he went missing.”

A chill ran through Lu Ye's heart, and he became even more certain that Fox Immortal Valley was not a peaceful place. Furthermore, judging by the situation in Fox Immortal Valley, the Danxin Sect was not the only one to have missing cultivators over the years. However, because there was no way to contact the missing cultivators, the situation in Fox Immortal Valley had never been exposed. Although Lu Ye didn't know how many cultivators had ended up in Fox Immortal Valley, the number was definitely not small. Yet there were only about a hundred habitable pavilions here. Even if each person had one, that would only account for a little over a hundred people. Where did all the other cultivators go? There must be some dangers here that he hadn't yet seen.

“Junior Brother Lu, please be extremely careful over there and look after your Senior Brother. If there's any abnormality, be sure to inform me.”

“I know, Senior Sister Feng, don't worry. By the way, how is Ju Jia doing?”

“Junior Brother Ju Jia has a strong physique, and his injuries aren't severe. They just looked a bit alarming, but he's fine now.”

“That's good.” After exchanging a few more words with Feng Yuechan, he ended the communication.

Sitting on the bed, Lu Ye's eyes flickered. To kill the fox demon, his strength alone wasn't enough. Perhaps he could have Feng Yuechan contact some people to wait at the spirit land? However, Lu Ye quickly dismissed this idea. There were quite a few cultivators in Fox Immortal Valley. If he were to contact helpers, he wouldn't know how many would be enough. Besides, there was a pack of wolves at the spirit land. When the right opportunity arose, he just needed Feng Yuechan and Ju Jia to bring the wolf pack out. There was no need to go through the trouble of finding other helpers. Therefore, what he needed to do was integrate into Fox Immortal Valley as much as possible, scout out the valley's forces, especially the fox demon's strength. To kill someone, he at least needed to understand their capabilities.

Having made up his mind, Lu Ye stood up and began tidying his room. There were many remnants left by the previous owner, which naturally needed to be cleaned. Soon, everything was in order. Lu Ye then walked out of the small building and set up some simple formations outside. While he was at it, he went to Li Baxian's neighboring residence and set up some formations for him as well. The night passed peacefully in cultivation.

The next morning, as dawn broke, Lu Ye was cultivating when he heard the voices of Li Baxian and Zhou Yuntian conversing in the neighboring building. Zhou Yuntian had come to deliver rewards. When meeting the fox demon yesterday, she clearly valued Li Baxian's talent and specifically instructed Zhou Yuntian to bestow some cultivation resources upon him. Zhou Yuntian naturally dared not disobey the fox demon's command. Lu Ye didn't know what exactly he brought, but since they were cultivation resources, he figured it was either spirit stones or spirit pills.

A moment later, Zhou Yuntian emerged from Li Baxian's place and walked directly to Lu Ye's, calling out, “Fellow Daoist Lu, are you there?” Lu Ye stood up, pushed open his door, and walked out, cupping his fists. “Fellow Daoist Zhou.”

Zhou Yuntian chuckled and asked with concern, “How are you finding your stay here? Are you getting used to it?”

Lu Ye replied, “The valley is quiet and serene; it suits me perfectly.”

“That's good,” Zhou Yuntian nodded, not beating around the bush. He went straight to the point: “You mentioned yesterday that you have some accomplishments in the Dao of Formations?”

“That's right. Do you need to set up some formations?”

“Not exactly. While there are quite a few fellow Daoists in the valley, only Fellow Daoist Xie cultivates the Dao of Formations. Therefore, all the formations in the valley are his responsibility. Since Fellow Daoist Lu has attainments in formations, the Honored One wishes for you to assist Fellow Daoist Xie in maintaining the formations.”

Lu Ye naturally wouldn't refuse such a request. This was a good opportunity to familiarize himself with the situation in Fox Immortal Valley. He immediately nodded and said, “I can do that.”

***

With this move, Tang San's grasp of time, position, and distance was exceptionally precise. He knew very well that even with his Tang Sect peerless arts and third-tier Mysterious Heaven Skill cultivation, wolf demons were innately gifted and physically strong. In a head-on confrontation, he might not be their match. Especially since he was young and lacked sufficient vital energy, he definitely couldn't sustain a long battle. If that transformed human hadn't powerfully killed one wolf demon, he might not even have acted against two third-tier wolf demons; his own life was paramount.

However, once he made a move, he had to hit his target. The wolf demon was in a state of extreme fury at this moment. Thus, it only realized Tang San's presence when his palm had already struck the side of its eye. With a fierce twist of its head, its fangs lunged directly at Tang San.

Tang San's other hand, however, seized its clothes at that moment. Using his small stature to his advantage, he pulled the wolf's fur, changing his direction. He flipped to the other side of the wolf demon, almost brushing against its chest. His right index and middle fingers formed a sword-finger. With Mysterious Jade Hand activated, causing his two fingers to gleam with a pure white jade color, he lightning-fast thrust them towards the wolf demon's eye, which was turning back.

Pffft! His slender fingers instantly plunged into something warm. In terms of physical strength, Tang San was certainly far inferior to this third-tier wolf demon, but once he struck a vital point with equivalent energy, there was no chance of survival. With the infusion of Mysterious Jade Hand, the Mysterious Heaven Skill practically spiraled into the wolf demon's brain. As a result, the wolf demon's other eye burst open instantly, and its brain was pulverized into a pulp. Its roar abruptly ceased as if its throat had been choked, and its strong body tumbled to the ground.

Tang San pushed off its body with his toes, flipping to land some distance away. This strike yielded such a result, largely thanks to his rich combat experience from his previous life. His child's slender body and the darkness provided the best cover, coupled with the third-tier wolf demon being in a furious state, which diminished its perception. In a direct confrontation, Tang San's Mysterious Jade Hand might not even be able to break through the wolf demon's thick hide. However, the eyes were the most vulnerable point. Piercing an eye and injecting Mysterious Heaven Skill energy meant certain death.

As his feet landed, the third-tier wolf demon on the other side also fell silent. Only then did Tang San breathe a sigh of relief. He didn't rush to check on the human but quickly lay on the ground, pressing his ear to the earth, listening for any movement around, to see if there were any pursuers. With his current strength, a head-on confrontation with a third-tier wolf demon was difficult. No matter how good his technique was, his young body was simply too frail. If he were hit by a wolf demon even once, it could be fatal. That seemingly simple attack just now was, in fact, his full effort, elevating his mental will to its highest degree.

There were no other movements around. Evidently, only two third-tier wolf demons were pursuing the human who could transform. This also allowed Tang San to relax; otherwise, he would have had no choice but to flee. Only then did he walk towards the human, while remaining vigilant. When he approached the person, he immediately noticed that the fur that had previously grown on them had disappeared. This caused Tang San's heart to beat a little faster.

Given his young age and having no relation to the transformed human, the safest option before would naturally have been not to intervene and wait for the wolf demons to leave. Yet, he still chose to act. One reason was that the pursued individual was human. Another crucial reason was the transformation that had just occurred. In Tang San's original Douluo Continent world, there were Soul Masters with Beast Martial Souls who possessed similar abilities. They could also continuously grow and become stronger by cultivating their Beast Martial Souls. If similar abilities existed in this world, then being able to learn them would naturally greatly benefit his own strength and make it easier for him to integrate into this world!