Chapter 98: The Early-Death White Moonlight in a Cultivation Novel (Part 29)

Zhou Yanxi had been walking for some time but couldn't shake the feeling that something was tailing her. To figure out what it was, she suddenly twisted her body and leapt into the treetop.

After the time it took for a cup of tea to pass, she finally saw it—it was that Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox from before, sneakily tracking her. When it noticed her figure had disappeared, it began circling under the tree, sniffing the air with its keen sense of smell.

Since there was no avoiding it anymore, Zhou Yanxi decided to get straight to the point.

"Little thing, you've been tailing me this whole time. What exactly do you want? I suggest you be honest with me—don't try to play any tricks."

Bi'er also chimed in from the side:

"Yeah! My big sis is right. If you try anything bad, I'll burn you!"

"Don't get mad, both of you! I just want to follow you out of the secret realm. I can be useful—I can help you confuse spirit beasts!"

If this guy could help with illusion formations while she harvested spiritual plants, then it wasn't a bad deal.

"Fine, I'll take you out with us—but you'll have to pay the fare. All the spiritual items you collect during these two years in the secret realm will go to me. Once we're out, I'll dissolve the contract."

Seeing the fox's clearly skeptical expression, Zhou Yanxi added:

"If you don't believe me, we can both swear an oath to the Heavenly Dao. How about that?"

"I, Zhou Yanxi, swear that as long as this Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox follows my orders faithfully in the secret realm, I will keep my promise: once we're out, I'll release him from the contract. If I break this vow, I shall never ascend."

"I, Xiao Tian, the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox, swear to obediently follow Zhou Yanxi's orders within the secret realm. If I break this vow, may the Beast God abandon me forever."

With their oaths complete, Zhou Yanxi temporarily formed an equality contract with Xiao Tian.

To her, Xiao Tian was just a temporary partner. Whether or not she'd keep him around in the future depended on further observation. After all, he was nothing like the honest and pure Bi'er.

Pure and innocent Bi'er (in her mind): I didn't realize Big Sis values me so much! I'll definitely keep a close eye on that little fox so he doesn't cause any trouble.

And so, one girl, one beast, and one flame began their looting expedition through the Langhuan Secret Realm. Whenever they encountered high-quality spiritual plants, Xiao Tian set up illusions, Bi'er stayed on guard, and Zhou Yanxi swiftly harvested the goods—their teamwork was seamless.

One day, Zhou Yanxi had just successfully retrieved some Clear Heart Lotus Seeds from a lake when she was spotted by a three-person team from the Beast Taming Sect.

They immediately saw that Zhou Yanxi was alone—and the moment they noticed the Grade-Six Clear Heart Lotus Seeds in her hands, greed clouded their vision.

The three formed a triangle formation, surrounding her. The lead female cultivator arrogantly sneered:

"I suggest you, junior sister from Haomiao Sect, hand over that treasure. If I'm in a good mood, maybe I'll let you walk away."

But Zhou Yanxi was already signaling to Bi'er with her eyes—and soon, flames of Canglan Heavenly Fire began scorching the area around the three.

The Beast Taming Sect disciples reacted quickly, releasing all of their contracted beasts.

As disciples of the Beast Taming Sect, they had unique contract techniques with no limit on the number of beasts they could tame, only limited by the strength of their mental power.

Altogether, they summoned nine spirit beasts, each roughly at the mid-stage Foundation Establishment level.

Zhou Yanxi struggled to hold her ground. Xiao Tian was still weaving an illusion about a Clear Heart Lotus guardian beast, the Green Python Spirit Snake, so he couldn't help. Bi'er had her hands full fending off the three hostile cultivators.

With no other options, Zhou Yanxi could only fight defensively, holding onto her weapon and repeatedly casting saber techniques.

With her free hand, she threw out Thunder Talisman after Thunder Talisman, but she was still alone.

One of the enemies' Shadow Leopards suddenly clawed her arm, leaving a deep wound. The pain only sharpened her strikes, making them fiercer and more ruthless.

When Bi'er saw Zhou Yanxi injured, she burned her own source essence, unleashing a devastating blaze that reduced the three enemies to ashes.

With their masters dead, the contracted spirit beasts were overwhelmed by violent backlash. Zhou Yanxi seized the moment and counterattacked, finally killing them all.

Her entire body was covered in blood and wounds, her green cultivator robes soaked crimson. She didn't even stop to rest—she stumbled toward Bi'er.

But Bi'er had exhausted her source power and now lay collapsed on the ground, her blue flames nearly extinguished.

Without fire-type spiritual items to nourish her, Bi'er would fall into a long dormant state.

Zhou Yanxi hurriedly picked up the weakened flame and stored her within her dantian, where she could recuperate. Then she tossed all the beast corpses into her storage bag.

As for the three enemy cultivators' storage bags—they had long been incinerated to dust by Bi'er's source fire.

Normally, Zhou Yanxi might have felt heartache over the loss of treasure, but today's events left her heart heavy and cold.

Her expression was like still water, her whole body radiating an icy chill. When Xiao Tian finally caught up, he didn't dare get close.

He, too, felt deeply frustrated at his own uselessness, unable to protect either of them.

For now, Zhou Yanxi could only focus on finding a place to recover, so she could regroup and plan her next move.

—

Meanwhile, on the Azure Blue Continent, the Demon Clan secretly activated the spies they'd planted in the upper ranks of various sects—triggering a catastrophic internal war.

In Haomiao Sect, the biggest traitor turned out to be the sect master himself. When the chaos broke out, Dao Lord Daoyun and others barely had time to rescue the remaining disciples—many still perished in the turmoil.

This wasn't isolated to just one sect. Every major sect had demonic agents embedded at high levels.

Before the dust could settle, the Demon Clan launched a full-scale invasion, taking advantage of the chaos.

The entire Azure Blue Continent descended into turmoil, with countless cultivators and demonic cultivators alike dying in the war.

—

At the same time, inside the Langhuan Secret Realm, a faction of demonic cultivators was targeting isolated disciples from major sects.

Their mission was simple: hunt down and eliminate the most talented young cultivators inside the secret realm.

Author's Note:In her past life, Li Haochen was also a spy for the Demon Clan. Because he held significant influence in his sect, the demons didn't act rashly back then.That time, the demons weren't as aggressive as they are in this life. They preferred to slowly erode the cultivators' foundations rather than outright assault them.