Chapter 581: Secret of the Fox Demon

The formations here consisted of a concealment array and a protective array, perfectly integrated. It was evident that the person who set them up possessed considerable skill in array arts, surpassing Xie Yunhan, though still falling somewhat short compared to Lu Ye. Therefore, infiltrating such formations was not difficult for Lu Ye.

At the spot where the formation flag was embedded, the flow of spiritual energy completely stopped. Lu Ye raised his hand, retrieved the flag, and then slipped inside, entering the great formation. After he left, and with the formation flag's interference gone, the spiritual energy on the great formation's light barrier slowly began to flow again.

Upon entering the great formation, Lu Ye immediately concealed himself and alertly surveyed his surroundings. There was no apparent danger; everything within this forbidden area was clear at a glance, as this was, in fact, not a very large space.

Within a radius of about twenty zhang, a solitary grave stood. In front of it was a stone tablet, and not far from the tomb, an ancient-looking structure, only a few zhang high, resembled an altar.

"This is the forbidden area?" Lu Ye frowned. Even with the enhancement of his Insight Spirit Mark, he didn't see anything particularly noteworthy.

He strolled forward to the stone tablet in front of the tomb. He looked up, and under the moonlight, the inscription on the tablet caught his eye:

"Tomb of Master Lei Zhengyin."

There was only this single line of text. Lei Zhengyin was likely the name of the person buried in the tomb, but the word "Master" couldn't help but evoke certain associations. From what Xie Yunhan had said earlier, it was clear that this forbidden area had existed for at least over a decade, and the person in the grave must have been dead for just as long.

However, the tombstone looked very clean, not a speck of dust on it, and not a single weed grew on the grave mound. It seemed as though someone regularly visited to pay respects and clean it. In the entire Fox Immortal Valley, the only one who could enter here was the fox demon.

Lu Ye's gaze flickered for a moment. He stopped focusing on the grave and instead looked up towards the altar. This altar immediately struck him as ancient and extremely rustic. Lu Ye stepped onto the altar, examining it from all sides. He saw that the altar was covered with intricate patterns. The entire surface seemed to be enveloped by a complex and profound great formation. Lu Ye stared at it for a moment, unable to understand what kind of formation it was.

He had some attainments in array arts. Even with the most complex formations he hadn't encountered before, he could usually discern something. He couldn't make anything out. Either these intricate patterns weren't formations at all, or their profound nature completely exceeded his understanding.

After scrutinizing it for a while longer, Lu Ye suddenly noticed that each of the four sides of the altar had a groove. Lu Ye was not unfamiliar with this. Generally, such grooved positions required spirit stones to be placed inside, similar to the Spirit Gathering formations found in many sects. So, if he wanted to figure out what this altar was for, he probably just needed to place spirit stones in the grooves.

However, Lu Ye naturally wouldn't act so rashly. If he did, he would very likely alert the cultivators in Fox Immortal Valley and be caught red-handed. He couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. The fox demon had designated this place as a forbidden area. He had thought it concealed some extraordinary secret, but to his surprise, there was only a solitary grave and an ancient altar, and he couldn't even determine what the altar was for. A wasted trip!

Just as he was about to leave, an unusual movement suddenly reached his ears. Lu Ye's expression changed. He immediately applied concealment and breath-holding spirit marks to himself and stood motionless on the altar. A seductive figure suddenly appeared before him. It was the fox demon.

Lu Ye inwardly cursed his bad luck. He had seen that the tombstone was spotless and there were no weeds on the grave mound, so he knew someone frequently came to pay respects. But he never expected to encounter them here late at night. Now he was caught red-handed. If it weren't for his spirit mark enhancements, he would surely have been exposed.

Under the moonlight, the fox demon quietly walked to the tombstone, looking down at it. Her face slowly became shrouded in sorrow. A moment later, soft sobs could be heard. Tears streamed down her eyes, leaving deep streaks on her face. The fox demon collapsed onto the tombstone, weeping bitterly and muttering something indistinctly. Lu Ye could only make out words like "Master," "Xian'er," and "I'm so tired." As for anything else, he couldn't hear it clearly at all.

He couldn't help but feel fortunate. The fox demon was grief-stricken at the moment and likely didn't expect anyone in Fox Immortal Valley to defy her orders and come here in the middle of the night. Otherwise, at such close proximity, even with Lu Ye's concealment and breath-holding spirit marks, there was still a chance he could have been discovered.

After crying for a long time, the fox demon finally raised her hand to wipe her eyes, then carefully wiped the pristine tombstone. She took a deep breath, her ample chest rising significantly. The sorrow on her face vanished, replaced by endless malice and resentment. Even her originally seductive voice turned chillingly grim: "Master," she vowed, "it won't be long. In just one more month, I'll be able to avenge you! This time, I will not fail!"

Perhaps due to her intense emotions, as she spoke these words, her entire body pulsed with surging demonic energy. Under the moonlight, several fluffy tails, condensed from demonic energy, suddenly appeared behind her enchanting figure, swaying gracefully. From Lu Ye's perspective, the sight possessed a chilling beauty.

She gazed at the tombstone with deep, reluctant affection for a moment longer. Once her emotions calmed and her demonic energy subsided, she turned and left, passing through the formation that enveloped the area until her figure vanished.

Lu Ye stood silently on the altar, completely motionless. Not until a full half-hour later did he softly call out, "Yiyi!"

Yiyi's figure materialized, saying, "It's safe outside."

Lu Ye nodded and immediately headed out. When entering from outside, he had to employ methods to sneak in, but leaving this place, the formation presented no hindrance. Soon after, he quietly returned to his pavilion.

Recalling the scene he had just witnessed, Lu Ye's brows furrowed deeply. He had previously inferred, based on the name "Fox Immortal Valley," that the esteemed one's true form was a fox demon. After witnessing the anomaly that appeared when her demonic energy surged today, he was even more certain of his original conjecture. It was indeed a fox demon, but not an ordinary one, because she had not just one tail, but six!

The Heavenly Fox tribe? And a Six-tailed Heavenly Fox! No wonder she possessed such an uncanny ability to manipulate people's minds. If she truly belonged to the Heavenly Fox tribe, then it all made sense. Although Heavenly Foxes couldn't compare to the Four Divine Beasts, they were still exotic beasts with innate divine abilities. To Lu Ye's knowledge, Heavenly Foxes at the Cloud River Realm generally only had two or three tails. Therefore, even if they had special innate divine abilities, they couldn't control people's minds to that extent. At most, they could slightly confuse one's mind, but a sufficiently strong mind could quickly break free.

To possess six tails meant that this fox demon was an anomaly even within the Heavenly Fox tribe. Under normal circumstances, a Six-tailed Heavenly Fox's strength was comparable to that of the Divine Sea Realm! Although this trip didn't yield any substantial gains in the forbidden area, he had, by chance, glimpsed the true form of the fox demon, so it wasn't entirely without reward. However, this discovery wasn't particularly helpful for the current situation.

"Lu Ye," Yiyi suddenly spoke from the darkness. "That fox demon seems very pitiful."

"How is she pitiful?" Lu Ye retorted impatiently. "The pitiful ones are the cultivators trapped here, whose minds she has manipulated, making them utterly devoted to her."

"Her master died," Yiyi said, her eyes red. "She wants to avenge her master."

Lu Ye turned to look at her, feeling that this little girl was too sensitive. The fox demon's master had been dead for at least over a decade; why was she crying?

Yiyi sniffed and said, "If you die someday, Amber and I will definitely do everything we can to avenge you!"

Lu Ye chuckled. "Amber and I are bound by the Life-Bound technique," he said. "If I die, Amber will be finished, and so will you. What revenge would there be? We'd all go to the netherworld together, so it wouldn't be lonely on the way."

Yiyi puffed out her cheeks. "Anyway, that fox demon is just really pitiful." After saying that, she stamped her foot and dove into Amber's body, unwilling to bother with Lu Ye anymore.

Lu Ye was speechless. In the darkness, his eyes slowly deepened. The fox demon had said she would avenge her deceased master within a month. The question now was... who was the enemy?

Lu Ye hadn't quite understood what the fox demon intended to do by gathering so many cultivators. But now, the situation was very clear. She had always been trying to avenge her master. She couldn't achieve revenge with her own strength alone, which was why she needed to gather cultivators who ventured deep into Mount Taimang. And after so many years, the fox demon must have acted more than once. She must have made attempts before, but they had all failed. The deaths of the cultivators under her command must be related to this.

Currently, there were over eighty cultivators in Fox Immortal Valley, fifteen of whom were at the Ninth Layer. Moreover, apart from Lu Ye and Li Baxian, all the others were above the Sixth Layer. If such a force were deployed, it couldn't be said to sweep across the Cloud River battlefield, but at the very least, it could occupy a territory and become a dominant power without issue. Yet the fox demon hadn't made a move. Either she lacked confidence, or she was waiting for the right moment. Regardless of which it was, her enemy's strength was extraordinary. Looking across the entire Cloud River battlefield, there was only one possible type of enemy that would make her treat them with such caution!

Lu Ye quickly took out the ten-point map and checked the markings on it. A moment later, his gaze fixed on one particular marking: Overlord-level demon beast, Raging Giant Ape!

Lu Ye's eyelids twitched. If things were truly as he suspected, then they were in trouble. He wasn't sure how powerful an Overlord-level demon beast of the Cloud River Realm truly was. But he had deeply experienced the strength of an Overlord-level demon beast in the Spirit Stream Realm. It was a power that completely surpassed the scope of the Spirit Stream Realm. He himself had once ascended to an Overlord-level existence among cultivators. It could be said that within the same realm, he had no true rivals.

The power of Fox Immortal Valley was indeed formidable. But taking such a force against an Overlord-level demon beast, it was really hard to say who would have the last laugh. One month... Lu Ye suddenly felt a headache coming on.

Should he try to knock Li Baxian unconscious and just take him away? But setting aside whether he would succeed, if he failed, he would inevitably expose some of his secrets, and then perhaps no one would be able to escape. Even if he did manage to knock Li Baxian unconscious, as long as the Soul Secret Art wasn't broken, it would always remain a hidden danger.