With the communication cut off, the area by the Spirit Spring briefly returned to silence.
Qian Yu let out a soft sigh.
This feeling was very strange.
The future Demon Venerable lady, who always spoke of tossing people into the Tongtian River at the drop of a hat, was unexpectedly easy to coax.
Conversely, that Feng Aotian, who was supposed to have excellent character, constantly brought her heart palpitations and a sense of danger.
Even the fact that she wanted to question her tomorrow was enough to trigger her survival instinct.
Before, Qian Yu didn’t understand where this danger from Gu Qinghan originated.
But just now, right after communicating with that easy-to-coax future Demon Venerable lady, Qian Yu finally knew what this sense of crisis regarding Gu Qinghan stemmed from.
The Soul Questioning Mantra.
Qian Yu was no fool.
As someone who inherited the Fox Tribe’s world-shaking wisdom, she had already pieced everything together after Nalan Yunyan explained the effects of this divine ability.
Just as she had previously surmised, some unknown change had occurred within the protagonist who possessed Heaven’s Mandate.
It was this very change that allowed her to glimpse something special about Qian Yu.
To verify her hypothesis, the other party had chosen to cultivate the Soul Questioning Mantra, intending to personally extract the truth about this special nature.
The reason she had to wait until tomorrow was most likely because she needed to study this divine ability tonight.
If the special nature of Qian Yu’s body was truly just some small schemes like “opportunism, double-dealing, and playing both sides,” it would be fine.
Even if Gu Qinghan forced it out of her, she likely wouldn’t go as far as actually killing her.
But the problem was… the special nature of Qian Yu was the memories in her mind!
If Gu Qinghan managed to extract those, Qian Yu couldn’t imagine what would happen afterward.
Any normal person, upon discovering that she knew of many future major events and opportunities in every direction, would want to keep her firmly within their grasp, or even slice her up for research.
After all… in her memories, every major opportunity for how to achieve Dao Enlightenment was clearly marked.
Qian Yu couldn’t imagine any cultivator aspiring to become a Venerable or a Saint who could refuse such a temptation.
Furthermore, the current Gu Qinghan, who would secretly learn the Soul Questioning Mantra, certainly didn’t seem like a pure white lotus whose heart was solely focused on cultivation anymore.
The other party might truly have experienced Rebirth while carrying hatred for her.
Fine beads of cold sweat appeared on her forehead.
Qian Yu was beyond grateful that Nalan Yunyan had forced a call with her tonight.
Otherwise, by tomorrow, she wouldn’t even know how she died.
But…
She had figured out where the sense of crisis came from, but how was she supposed to solve it?
Qian Yu propped up her small face, looking extremely distressed.
Seeking help from Nalan Yunyan was one path.
However, the other party was her boss, not her nanny; it was impossible for her to solve every little thing.
She hadn’t even completed her Certificate of Loyalty yet, so the other party might just be planning to sit back and watch for an opportunity to profit.
If Qian Yu passed Gu Qinghan’s test, it would prove that her heart was on Gu Qinghan’s side, and that her confession and rhetoric to Nalan Yunyan were all lies.
If she failed to pass Gu Qinghan’s Soul Questioning Mantra and something was truly extracted, it would cut off Qian Yu’s path with Gu Qinghan.
Then, Nalan Yunyan could simply take back this subordinate whose loyalty had been verified and assign her a different Certificate of Loyalty.
But as for the boss…
“The worst outcome you’ve envisioned is me being beaten out and only being able to cry to you for help. But once the secrets on me are questioned out, it’s truly possible I’ll be imprisoned or even killed!”
Qian Yu tried to take deep breaths, constantly reminding herself to stay calm, but it didn’t have much of an effect.
Gu Qinghan was coming to interrogate her tomorrow morning.
In such a short time, it was too late to do anything significant.
She could only passively wait for her fate after having her secrets extracted by the Soul Questioning Mantra.
If the other party was kind-hearted, they would keep her as a captive tool Fox.
If they were more ruthless, they might even kill her after extracting her memories.
Qian Yu couldn’t accept either outcome.
She was still thinking about breaking through to the second realm early to grab her first opportunity and begin her path to soaring success.
She hadn’t expected to run aground here.
At the Initial Stage of the First Realm, she had no capital to resist Gu Qinghan.
Aside from the other party voluntarily giving up, she couldn’t think of any way to break the deadlock.
“Gu Qinghan specifically chose a method harmless to her soul; how could she possibly give up on the soul questioning?”
Qian Yu pouted, sighing inwardly as even her ears drooped down.
It would have been better to just go all in with Nalan Yunyan from the start and be a big-tailed strategist behind the scenes.
Eh, big tail…
Qian Yu’s sighing stopped for a brief moment.
As her mood gradually sank to the bottom, a flash of inspiration suddenly flickered in her mind for no apparent reason.
Intuition?
Warning?
Big tail?
Had she overlooked something?
Her small eyebrows knitted together as Qian Yu sat up straight from the ground.
She felt vaguely like she was about to grasp something, yet she couldn’t remember exactly what she had ignored.
Her mind contained knowledge of many future opportunities, and any one of them could solve the current problem.
But those things were either far away or she lacked the strength to touch them.
She had already combed through everything carefully without finding any gaps, so what exactly made her feel like she had missed something?
She couldn’t remember.
The stifling air caused Qian Yu’s tail to subconsciously slap the ground.
It was that one slap!
A spark of inspiration flashed through completely. Qian Yu’s eyes instantly brightened. She knew what she had overlooked!
In the furthest corner of her memory palace, a small, dust-covered detail was hidden.
It was something that happened after the future version of her was kicked out of the Luoxia Immortal Sect because she failed the Year-end Examination.
A Saintess of the Demon Race from the Demon Realm had captured her.
The original intent was to play with her for a while before refining her along with other Half-Yaos into a Blood Pill.
However, when the time came to kill the Yao and take the blood, she suddenly let her go.
“Oh? Such a mangy Fox, yet she actually hides a bloodline within her? Interesting.”
The demon woman had murmured to herself that a type of Ancient Fox bloodline flowed within Qian Yu.
Unfortunately, it was so thin that even this high-ranking Yao, who was also from the Fox Tribe, would subconsciously overlook it.
Wait until later, then she could bring some manual or other to experiment on Qian Yu.
This was a simple detail that had only been mentioned once and never recurred.
Its appearance was probably just to give Qian Yu a reason for being tortured without actually being killed.
If it weren’t for the fact that the demon woman had been holding Qian Yu by her big tail, dangling her upside down while saying it, she would have completely failed to remember it.
“Heaven’s Mandate is truly with me! To think I could even remember something like this! Jie jie jie…”
Her drooping large ears perked up high.
Qian Yu waved her small fists, letting out wicked cackles from time to time by the empty Spirit Spring.
In her original life, she had never awakened the bloodline in her body until her death.
That overbearing Saintess had also been beaten into a miserable retreat by Gu Qinghan, who had descended the mountain to slay demons, immediately after she gave up on refining her.
Naturally, that manual which was supposedly meant for experimenting on her was never mentioned again.
Qian Yu didn’t even know what it was.
But now… after remembering this one detail, everything was connected.
The Demon Race Saintess’s original plan was to infiltrate the Luoxia Immortal Sect and destroy the Sect Protection Array.
Their ultimate goal was to conquer this righteous holy land to use as a foundation for entering the world.
In that case, the manual she referred to when she said “bring some manual or other later” was most likely only one thing…
One of the thirty-six core heritages of the Luoxia Immortal Sect—the Nine Tribulations Returning to Origin Holy Canon.
As beings that were neither human nor Yao, the bloodline within a Half-Yao made them unsuitable for the Human Race’s cultivation methods and also unadapted to the Demon Race’s cultivation system.
Their progress in cultivation was extremely difficult.
And this Nine Tribulations Returning to Origin Holy Canon was one of the only high-level manuals in the entire Cultivation World suitable for Half-Yao cultivation that led directly to the Venerable Realm.
It had no special spiritual energy or accompanying divine abilities.
Its only effect after entry was the probability of awakening the latent Demon Race bloodline within the body.
The manual Gu Qinghan had helped her select at the Heritage Ground was most likely this one as well.
In that case…
“As long as I can use this manual to awaken the bloodline in my body a step ahead of time, it’s possible Gu Qinghan will give up on the soul questioning.”
A fish doesn’t realize what water is.
Without thinking deeply about it before, it was difficult for Qian Yu to notice that thin, almost nonexistent bloodline power in her body.
She needed a turning point to look at it from the outside, and that memory from just now was the turning point that made this little fish realize the existence of the water.
She suddenly realized that over the years, those instances of intuition that had saved her life several times—which she had dismissed as just a flash of inspiration—might not have been an instinctive sensation at all.
They were very likely the manifestation of that so-called Fox Tribe bloodline.
And there was only one such type of Fox: the Ancient Heavenly Fox.
Bearing pure energy, understanding Yin and Yang; knowing fortune and misfortune, avoiding disaster and calamity. The future Gu Qinghan would obtain a pet of this very kind.
Born as auspicious beasts, they naturally possessed the ability to avoid disaster and resolve difficulties.
If Qian Yu’s so-called intuition was a manifestation of this Heavenly Fox bloodline, everything could potentially be resolved.
The “specialty” on her body was due to the accidental awakening of her bloodline ability.
If Gu Qinghan had been reborn, then the reason Qian Yu was showing a completely different reaction than before was because her bloodline was telling her to seek fortune and avoid calamity.
This would still trigger Gu Qinghan’s suspicion, but being surprised that Qian Yu possessed a bloodline was on a completely different danger level compared to discovering the memories in her mind.
No matter how strong an Ancient Heavenly Fox was, it was still just a future pet for Gu Qinghan.
“As long as Gu Qinghan still remembers the pain of having her own soul searched in her childhood—which even led to her mother’s location being discovered—she shouldn’t casually perform such a divine ability that harms the natural order…”
Once given a reasonable explanation, Qian Yu might have a chance to avoid the soul questioning.
So, now there was only one problem left.
How was she to awaken her bloodline before tomorrow arrived?
Or rather, how was she to obtain that manual that could allow her to awaken her bloodline?
After a moment of silence, Qian Yu’s gaze suddenly shifted to the Flowing Cloud Bracelet that Nalan Yunyan had gifted her earlier.
If she remembered correctly, the other party had just said that the Heritage Ground of the Luoxia Immortal Sect was the Nalan Family’s back garden.
“Hello… Senior Sister Nalan, do you have a manual called the Nine Tribulations Returning to Origin Holy Canon on your end?”
“Um, I know that Gu Qinghan might gift this manual to me tomorrow.”
“But… Xiao Yu wants everything of mine to be yours… Even if it’s the same manual, Xiao Yu wants to receive it from you, not her.”