Chapter 144: Candor

The Demon King was a clever man. He immediately guessed the identity of the voice’s owner, and with a loud clang, he knelt on both knees, prostrating himself on the ground as he pleaded, "I am dull and foolish. I beg you, My Lady, please show me the way. How may I find my destiny?"

The voice let out a light, chuckling laugh, maintaining the same tone as before: "Nine-Tailed Silver Fox, it is fate that has brought us together, given that you have managed to break through my three-fold maze. Very well, I shall point you toward a path. Several centuries ago, a Goddess from the Upper Realm underwent a reincarnation to transcend her tribulation and is currently in the Lower Realm. If you can earn the favor of this Goddess, that shall be your destiny."

The Demon King was an old, seasoned spirit; naturally, he understood what it meant to earn the favor of a Goddess. To say he wasn't tempted by such a grand opportunity would be a lie. Yet, thinking of his own status, the fox felt utterly hopeless. He prostrated himself on the ground in deep distress and asked again, "My bloodline is lowly. I fear I am unworthy of the Goddess's notice."

Unexpectedly, the voice laughed again, appearing unconcerned: "She has not yet returned to her divine position, so she is not the high and mighty Goddess you imagine. She is merely a wandering cultivator, drifting like duckweed."

The Demon King remained prostrate, silent. A Goddess is a Goddess; her inherent noble bloodline is an unchangeable fact. Furthermore, the bloodline of beasts is among the lowest, making it difficult to achieve greatness on the path of cultivation. Perhaps his current cultivation level was far higher than the Goddess's, and becoming her life-bound guardian beast would greatly benefit her current journey. However, in the long run, the Goddess had limitless potential, and one day, he would surely become a burden to her. This was a future any ordinary cultivator could foresee. Could the reincarnated Goddess really be so shortsighted?

"Cultivation is, by nature, an act of defying the heavens. If you were to abide by every rule and convention, why bother cultivating at all?" the voice asked leisurely, without a hint of irritation.

These words spoke to the very unrest in the Demon King’s heart. It resonated deeply within him. He knocked his head against the ground three times with a thud and apologized, "Your wisdom is profound, My Lady. It is I who was blinded by my own thoughts."

The voice seemed satisfied and laughed, "Truly, you are as clever as they say. Very good. I shall grant you eight more words: Sincerity leads to success; devotion opens the way. However, there is no gain without sacrifice; my eight words cannot be given to you for free. Here is what we shall do: you may leave now, and in two days, I shall send an envoy to pass on my command." In other words, Lady Nüwa’s favor came with conditions.

Then, the Demon King felt a surge of spiritual power push him, and his mind suddenly grew dazed. When he regained consciousness, he was already in a sea of brilliant flowers.

Feng Ke'er frowned, "Is that envoy the man in black who has been helping you in secret?" Piecing together the facts she had observed, the whole matter became crystal clear. Lady Nüwa was setting a trap, and the target was actually her!

*Tsk*, a reincarnated Goddess from the Divine Realm descending to transcend tribulation? Does she look like one to me?

Hu Li nodded, "Yes, Master, your guess is correct. That envoy was indeed Brother A-Long." He had not dared to wander off, waiting quietly in the sea of flowers. Two days later, a burly man in black descended from the peak of Kunlun, claiming to be A-Long and stating that he brought a divine decree from the Lady.

Lady Nüwa was true to her word. The Demon King, overjoyed, lifted his robes to kneel, but A-Long blocked him with a simple, honest smile, "We are not in the Lady’s presence, Brother Hu, why bother with these empty formalities?" He then produced two jade slips, saying they contained Lady Nüwa’s decree, but they must only be opened after leaving Kunlun.

The Demon King was overcome with joy. He accepted the decrees with both hands. Since A-Long would not accept a bow on behalf of the Lady, he bowed three times devoutly toward the peak of Kunlun before cupping his hands in farewell to A-Long.

Traveling westward, nearly a thousand miles away from Kunlun, the Demon King opened the two jade slips in the center of a desolate, uninhabited desert.

One slip contained information about the Goddess: a woman with the surname Feng, a wandering cultivator currently training in the Barrier Sea. However, Lady Nüwa made it very clear in the slip that she did not advise the Demon King to seek her out in the Barrier Sea just yet. Once the Goddess finished her training, she would send A-Long to inform him.

The other slip contained the price demanded by Lady Nüwa: he was to establish a network of eyes and ears—an intelligence network—across the human realm as quickly as possible. The requirement was that, excluding Kunlun Mountain and the five-hundred-mile radius around it, the network had to effectively cover everywhere else.

"Where are the jade slips?" Faced with such physical evidence, Feng Ke'er could not help but interrupt him.

Hu Li shook his head, "Both 'jade slips' were condensed from spiritual power. After being opened, they dissipated in less time than it takes to burn a stick of incense." For hundreds of years, Feng Ke'er was only the third person to know of this; he had kept his mouth shut, never telling a soul. Because he was the Master's life-bound guardian beast, he had to tell her everything without reservation. Of course, he still held the same respect for Lady Nüwa, but when comparing the two, the closeness was evident—the latter was an outsider.

As expected, Lady Nüwa operated with such slippery grace that she would never leave behind such glaring evidence. Feng Ke'er pursed her lips and asked, "Was this the original intention behind establishing Joy Valley? To collect intelligence for Lady Nüwa?"

Hu Li nodded, "Aside from that, I had two personal desires. One was to amass a large amount of spiritual stones to one day offer to you, Master. The other was that during my travels, I witnessed the difficult plight of demonic beasts and wished to find a place where my kind could live in peace."

So that was it. As expected of someone who had been a Demon King, his way of thinking was different from ordinary people. Feng Ke'er was somewhat moved, "Isn't the Barrier Sea a place for demonic beasts to live in peace?" Moved as she was, she was still a human cultivator; subconsciously, she did not approve of encroaching on human territory.

"The Barrier Sea?" Hu Li raised an eyebrow, his expression one of disdain, "That is nothing more than a hunting ground for human cultivators." What he hoped for was that one day, human cultivators and demonic beasts could coexist in peace and equality, rather than being trapped in a cycle of hunter and prey.

She did not expect this fellow to have such 'ambitions.' Feng Ke'er gasped, thinking to herself: Great God Pangu’s concerns were not without reason; the ambitions of demonic beasts have always been vast.

On second thought, she wondered: what did his ambition have to do with her? He was asking for "peaceful coexistence," not for slaves to rise up and become masters. Moreover, after hundreds of years of cultivation, she increasingly realized that humans were merely a part of the natural world. Following the laws of nature and developing alongside other species was the only path to longevity.

At that moment, she felt her Origin Spirit shudder vigorously within her dantian, and then the fellow spat out a sentence: "Cultivation has improved a bit."

*Whoa*, the Origin Spirit has such functions? She isn't just an appendage of mine! Feng Ke'er nearly dropped her jaw.

Seeing this, Hu Li quickly lowered his eyes and bowed to apologize, "I am fortunate that you, Master, did not abandon me and chose me as your life-bound guardian beast. I should not have let my greed get the better of me, letting my mind wander and overreach."

Oh my, what is this guy thinking? Feng Ke'er came to her senses, crouched down beside him, and covered her mouth with a laugh, feeling awkward, "Sorry, my Origin Spirit just told me my cultivation has improved a little, so I was distracted." Trust and rapport were built slowly by both sides. Since they were in a long-term partnership, it was best to be honest about such small misunderstandings immediately. Besides, the Origin Spirit was a stranger to her; there wasn't much record of such things in Great God Pangu’s cultivation notes, and the archives of the Qingyun Sect had nothing on the subject. The only one she could discuss this with was the person before her.

To her surprise, Hu Li was first bewildered, but then his face was filled with envy. He rubbed his hands and sighed, "It seems there is a reason for the low status of us demonic beasts." If this had been in front of others, or before today, he would never have said such a thing. But as clever as he was, how could he fail to see the intent behind Feng Ke'er’s actions? Since his Master treated him with sincerity, he must treat her with even greater sincerity.

"How so?" Feng Ke'er watched him, puzzled.

Hu Li laughed, "The strength of an Origin Spirit is closely related to one's spiritual sense. Before this, I only knew that because of our lowly bloodlines, our spiritual sense was far weaker than that of human cultivators of the same rank, but I never realized the gap was so immense. Although my cultivation is equivalent to the Great Circle of Ascension, it is still far inferior to the capabilities of your Origin Spirit, Master. To this day, he has never spoken a word to me." Poor fellow, he didn't know he had encountered an anomaly among human cultivators!

Could it be that demonic beasts are truly that inferior? Feng Ke'er covered her mouth in disbelief.

What she didn't know was that in a servant contract, there is a hierarchy of status; the Master does not need to pay attention to the thoughts of the life-bound beast, but the beast and the Master are connected in heart and mind. Because of this, the former can better serve the latter. It was precisely for this reason that, since the contract was signed, Hu Li had no need to use mind-reading in her presence.

As her life-bound guardian beast, he certainly knew of Feng Ke'er’s "self-reproach."

It seemed he really had encountered the best Master in all the Three Realms. His heart felt warm, and Hu Li simply smiled, saying nothing.

The way he smiled—eyes full of affection and grace—was truly charming. He wasn't a woman, so why be so alluring? Feng Ke'er rubbed her nose, looked away, and changed the subject, "Fox, do you know the identity of that A-Long?"

"That is a strange question!" Hu Li suppressed his smile, "Is he not the envoy sent by Lady Nüwa?" Thinking back, Lady Nüwa had been too good to him. Over the years, whenever he burned incense, his requests were always answered—A-Long had given him a piece of black incense, thick as a finger and half a foot long, saying that on Lady Nüwa’s orders, if he encountered any thorny issues, he only needed to burn the incense and pray. No matter when, A-Long would always arrive at the first opportunity to help him.

"I didn't expect Lady Nüwa to be so desperate for me to accept this life-bound guardian beast," Feng Ke'er touched her forehead and laughed, "Fox, have you heard of the Heavenly Dragon Venerable?"

Hu Li was startled, "Master, do you mean Brother A-Long is the Heavenly Dragon Venerable?" What merit did he have to deserve the attention of such a Venerable?

Feng Ke'er looked into his eyes and answered word for word, "I saw it with my own eyes."

Having reached this point, if Hu Li still couldn't guess Lady Nüwa’s intentions, then he wasn't a Silver Fox with a heart of jade, but a stupid pig.

His face turned deathly pale, and he gritted his teeth, hanging his head as he sobbed, "Master... I am sorry."

Feng Ke'er patted his shoulder generously and let out a light laugh, "It's fine. Actually, you are quite excellent. It is my honor to have you as my life-bound guardian beast." How many Demon Kings are there in the Lower Realm? And one who is such a feast for the eyes. Be content, dear!

Hu Li suddenly lifted his head. Her smile was like the spring breeze of March, dispelling the last bit of inferiority in his heart and carving itself into his soul forever. From that day on, the fox would charge through fire and water, seeking only to win a smile from his Master.