A green path of vines, ten thousand snowy peaks clear in the light.
Morning light broke through the dawn, slicing through the biting cold and dotting the summit of the snowy mountain with soft golden light.
The black-haired girl named Gu Qinghan stepped onto the summit, a flicker of exhaustion passing imperceptibly between her brows.
Although the Soul Questioning Mantra had a niche effect, as a divine ability that could be placed within the Heritage Ground, it required a very high degree of control from the cultivator.
Even with her talent, attempting to master it overnight was a task that drained much of her mental energy.
Fortunately, though it was tiring, she had successfully cultivated the divine ability.
Even her soul power, which had been somewhat obscured due to the overlapping of two lifetimes, gained new insights during the cultivation process, showing signs of an impending breakthrough.
“Ah, no wonder Shizun Yu told me back then that it would be best if I never experienced any storms or setbacks in my life. Otherwise, to do good, I would always have too many scruples; to do evil, it would be hard to harden my heart.”
Sighing softly, Gu Qinghan felt she was being a bit foolish.
To verify a suspicion, she had actually chosen such a niche divine ability with one of her only two remaining chances to enter the Heritage Ground.
Out of a sliver of guilt for wanting to directly use soul questioning on someone, she had even exchanged the first three layers of the Nine Tribulations Returning to Origin Holy Canon for Qian Yu as compensation.
It would have been better to just kill Qian Yu with a single strike.
It would be safer and save a lot of trouble.
Beneath her expression, which was like an eternal, unmelting iceberg, a bit more weariness appeared.
She disliked these matters that had nothing to do with Dao Enlightenment.
But unfortunately, there was no existence in this world like Shizun who was completely trustworthy and skilled at handling these twists and turns.
“If that Fox isn’t stupid, she certainly has many schemes…”
After inexplicably telling herself a cold joke, Gu Qinghan stepped through the gates of the Cave Residence.
No matter what she thought, now that the decision was made, she shouldn’t regret it.
She intended to use the Soul Questioning Mantra to interrogate Qian Yu to confirm whether the girl possessed Heaven’s Mandate and the exact reason why her actions were the complete opposite of her previous life.
Steeling her mind, she walked toward Qian Yu’s room.
Before she could even get close, Gu Qinghan’s eyebrows twitched slightly.
She discovered that the little stupid Yao had actually activated the Concealment Formation outside the room.
Feeling uneasy, she had even placed several small Formation Flags outside the door to mask her aura.
Seeing the crude appearance of those flags—so poorly made that no one would even trade two Spirit Stones for them—they were likely hand-crafted by Qian Yu herself.
What was she doing? Guarding against her with secrets?
A few doubts flashed through Gu Qinghan’s mind.
A tiny Half-Yao at the Initial Stage of the First Realm—what secret could she possibly have that was worth such a “grand gesture” of protection?
Furthermore, this was her Cave Residence.
It went without saying exactly who the girl was guarding against.
“But has this Qian Yu really only developed half of her spiritual intelligence?”
This was her Cave Residence, and the formations set within all bore her mark.
If the other party had even a relatively normal level of intelligence, she would know that those trash-like Formation Flags could never stop her.
She didn’t know if Qian Yu was overconfident or simply looking down on her.
Gu Qinghan’s eyes were complicated; she felt both a hidden flash of suspicion and a sense of speechlessness.
She was no longer in a hurry to knock on Qian Yu’s door for the soul questioning.
Instead, she used her Spiritual Sense to directly break through the Formation Flags the girl had arranged outside.
She wanted to see what the girl was doing so cautiously.
Perhaps it was related to her secrets.
The trash-like Formation Flags were broken without any resistance.
Gu Qinghan raised an eyebrow, waiting to watch the show, when a particularly melodious and suppressed sound of gasping suddenly drifted from inside Qian Yu’s room.
Breath as fragrant as orchids, voices soft and thin; gasping delicately against the railing, like falling flowers drifting light.
That weak and mournful voice sounded as if she were…
Her advancing footsteps went from a pause to a sudden retreat, as if she had been struck by lightning.
Gu Qinghan’s beautiful face, as pure and cold as a snow lotus from the heavenly peaks, was filled with utter shock.
Surely not?
Qian Yu had been so cautious at the door just to do this?
“Mnh~”
The sounds from the room became even clearer.
Judging by the slightly youthful voice, it was definitely Qian Yu herself.
No matter how firm her mind was, scenes of that small-statured but exceptionally cute little Half-Yao doing strange things inevitably flashed through Gu Qinghan’s mind.
“How… how could it be… so scandalous…”
The speechlessness in her heart made her clench her fists.
She retreated even further, intending to back away first to give Qian Yu her private space, but her departing steps paused again.
Wait.
This is…
Her gaze hardened, and the Spiritual Sense Gu Qinghan had retracted flared out once more, surging directly toward the room where Qian Yu was supposedly swaying like clouds and water.
In the next moment, only a faint shattering sound was heard.
The suppressed moans that had been coming from the room instantly vanished, as if they had never existed.
Heh, as expected.
Those sounds just now were an Illusion Art.
A hidden light rippled in Gu Qinghan’s eyes.
That Half-Yao, who looked pure and innocent, indeed had schemes.
All those sounds of “breaking the ice and plunging into the well” just now were part of an Illusion Art.
The active formation in the room and the trashy Formation Flags outside were all just distractions to hide this Illusion Art.
Think about it: any normal person, after having their curiosity piqued by those formations and flags only to break through and find the other party taking precautions because they were worried about being discovered in a moment of passion, would darken their face and leave quickly.
And that would be falling into the girl’s trap.
What Qian Yu was truly doing was entirely hidden beneath that Illusion Art.
What a truly clever method!
The hidden depth in her eyes grew. Gu Qinghan finally found her spirit.
The Illusion Art just now was very exquisite.
Even she, with her spirit momentarily “polluted,” almost instinctively got tricked.
Now this was interesting.
Where did Qian Yu get such a high-level Illusion Art?
What was she trying so hard to hide?
If Gu Qinghan previously felt that Qian Yu’s little secret only had a small chance of being relevant and was only hoping to catch her in the act, then now, Gu Qinghan felt there was a very high probability that what Qian Yu was hiding was related to her core secrets.
Becoming serious, after breaking the Illusion Art, Gu Qinghan imperceptibly broke through two more small formations that were also somewhat interesting.
The scrutiny in her eyes grew thicker.
However, when she clearly saw what Qian Yu was actually doing inside, she froze once more.
That stupid Fox had tinkered with so many concealment methods outside just to… cultivate?
After breaking through the layers of mist, she saw Qian Yu inside the room, dressed in thin disciple robes, sitting cross-legged on the bed.
Faint white spiritual energy was steaming and swirling around her.
Her cultivation at the Initial Stage of the First Realm was revealed without a doubt.
After running several cycles in succession, the spiritual energy in her body finally increased by a tiny, perilous sliver.
It was incredibly slow.
“She’s just cultivating. Is it necessary to be so defensive? Is she afraid I’ll find out she’s a trash at cultivation?”
Gu Qinghan became even more confused, yet she couldn’t think of a reason for the time being.
However, in the next moment, when Qian Yu suddenly paused her cultivation and hesitated for a moment, her large tail curled upward and lit up with a faint, divine light, Gu Qinghan’s expression changed.
Bloodline…
“Qian Yu’s bloodline actually awakened?”
As a former Fifth Realm Venerable, Gu Qinghan naturally knew that a bloodline power existed within Qian Yu.
It was just that the bloodline was so thin that it was impossible to even tell which Fox Tribe it came from, so she hadn’t paid it much mind.
However, just now, after that faint divine light—so light it could almost be ignored—lit up on the tail behind Qian Yu, Gu Qinghan discovered that the thin bloodline in the girl’s body had actually awakened a little.
Though it was still thin, compared to before when she couldn’t even tell who her ancestors were, she had truly taken the first step.
“Is this the secret she was so painstakingly trying to hide?”
Gu Qinghan shook her head, having already understood everything.
The girl was still a stupid Fox who thought herself deep and calculating, trying to plot something but unable to figure it out.
For some reason, the bloodline hidden in her body had awakened, but she was worried that others would feel greed toward her thin lineage.
Thus, even when she was just cultivating, she had to cautiously prepare so much.
Although…
“If you were really worried about me finding out, you shouldn’t have cultivated on my territory.”
Gu Qinghan fell silent for a moment.
She didn’t realize that if she had directly seen the awakened bloodline through the room today, she might have suspected whether the girl had let her see it on purpose.
But now, after experiencing a series of discoveries like “finding a path through the willows and flowers,” she no longer doubted the conclusion in her heart.
She even automatically filled in a reason for why Qian Yu was taking such risks to cultivate—the girl had the Year-end Examination coming up, so she had to seize every second.
“But is the bloodline hidden in Qian Yu actually the Ancient Heavenly Fox? No wonder I couldn’t tell her bloodline had awakened when she wasn’t actively stimulating it.”
After discarding the possibility that Qian Yu had intentionally let her discover the bloodline, the Gu Qinghan of this life, who was full of schemes due to her Rebirth, figured everything out.
As a race born with the auspicious energy of heaven and earth, the Ancient Heavenly Fox had been coveted by experts seeking the path of destiny since their birth.
Through this constant hunting, they had honed their survival skills.
They were born with a natural talent for Illusion Art, and the automatic concealment of their bloodline was the most fundamental of their survival techniques.
The reason she hadn’t noticed the awakened bloodline before was likely because of this.
After understanding this, all of Qian Yu’s actions that were completely different from the previous life could be explained.
The Heavenly Fox bloodline, naturally adept at seeking luck and avoiding calamity, had caused her to actively move closer to the reborn Gu Qinghan.
“Truly a fence-sitter…”
Though she sneered, the lingering doubts in Gu Qinghan’s heart were finally dispelled.
She abandoned the idea of performing the Soul Questioning Mantra on Qian Yu.
Why the girl’s bloodline awakened early in this life was still worth investigating, but since it didn’t involve Heaven’s Mandate, it wasn’t worth using soul questioning.
Furthermore… the fact that the girl possessed the Ancient Heavenly Fox bloodline actually put Gu Qinghan’s mind at ease.
Auspicious beasts could not achieve the Dao.
It could be said that their birth was meant solely to accompany those destined for Dao Enlightenment as they grew.
***
On the other side, sensing that the feeling of crisis in her heart had vanished, Qian Yu quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
It seemed her plan had succeeded.
That so-called child of Heaven’s Mandate, Gu Qinghan, had walked right into her calculations step by step, allowing her to successfully avoid the soul questioning as she wished. Jie jie.
“Only, why do I feel like I had a choice when I awakened my bloodline earlier?”
Qian Yu quietly wiggled her stray hair, recalling the scene that occurred during the bloodline awakening—the hidden bloodlines in her body were mysteriously active, as if there were more than one.
Whichever one she chose would be the one that finally awakened.
But that was probably an illusion, right?
Who could have so many different types of bloodlines mixed in their body?
Wouldn’t that make them a literal mutt fox?
Besides, the Ancient Heavenly Fox was already powerful enough.
If there were other bloodlines hidden in her that could rival it, then who was the protagonist—her or Gu Qinghan?
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