Transforming into a stunningly beautiful fox spirit, leaving a scar on the heart of a prodigy.

Li Changgeng did not push the door open.

Su Chang'an's divine sense pierced through the palace wall and saw his raised hand. His five fingers were spread, the fingertips less than half an inch from the black iron door. He paused for a moment. Then he withdrew it. He raised it again. Then he withdrew it again.

twice.

His movements were exactly the same as Chen Daolin's when he picked up the teacup.

Su Chang'an remembered this detail.

Li Changgeng's hand finally fell to his side. He stood outside the door and waited for another ten breaths. There was no response from inside the hall. The main spiritual vein beneath the floor tiles surged silently, just as it had before.

The footsteps faded into the distance, and he seemed to turn and leave again.

The sound of the wind around the corner was carried by the robes, and the scent of sandalwood dissipated.

Su Chang'an's nine tails slowly retracted from their exploded state. They were halfway retracted when they stopped.

wrong.

The vibration frequency of the main root of the spiritual vein has changed.

When Li Changgeng was outside the door, the aura of the celestial fox from the ground was dormant—like a trapped beast curled up in a cave, its breathing so weak that it was almost imperceptible.

But afterwards, that aura actually grew stronger.

It wasn't caused by the bait that Su Chang'an laid out.

It was that being underground responding to the person outside the door.

Su Chang'an's tail tip stiffened for a moment.

She used to think she was the only fishing rod. Now she realizes that the fish in the pond not only recognize her bait, but also another person's footsteps.

She glanced down at the red-clad inner demon cowering in the corner. The inner demon's lips were trembling; it had clearly sensed the change in the aura as well.

Su Chang'an remained silent.

She suppressed the celestial fox aura released by her inner demons even further, almost severing it completely. Then, she extended the tip of her tail again and touched the fluctuation node of the main root of the spiritual vein.

This time, she didn't use any bait.

She was listening.

The response from underground came faster than expected.

It's not a heartbeat.

It's a scene.

Like a shattered and pieced-back bronze mirror, with cracks running through it, the image is distorted and deformed in the gaps.

Snowfield.

A blanket of white. The horizon was razed straight by the wind; there were no trees, no mountains, only snow.

A nine-tailed celestial fox stood in the middle of the snowfield.

Its fur was red. As red as the hottest burning coals. Nine tails spread out on the snow, covering an area of ​​several feet in radius, the tips of the tails slightly curled, covered with bits of ice.

A boy squatted in front of the celestial fox. He was about fifteen or sixteen years old, as thin as a bamboo pole. His gray Taoist robe was two sizes too big, and even with the sleeves rolled up three times, it was still too long.

The boy held a ball of spiritual energy in his hands. The shape of the spiritual energy was crooked and twisted, like a clay figure that had been molded.

The celestial fox raised its front paw and placed it on the boy's head.

The boy raised his face. His lips were purple from the cold, the tip of his nose was bright red, and his expression was overly serious. He forcefully pushed the ball of spiritual energy forward. The spiritual energy dissipated. It shattered into countless silver specks of light, which fell onto the snow and melted.

The boy's expression froze.

The celestial fox lightly tapped him on the head with its front paw.

Then Tianhu sighed.

Su Chang'an was all too familiar with that way of sighing.

They were frustrated by his lack of progress, yet reluctant to utter another word of criticism. They were quick to retort, but immediately turned around to devise an even more inept method to teach him.

That's how she treated Chen Xuan.

The scene shattered here.

Like a stone breaking through the surface of water, ripples spread out from the center, swallowing the snowfield, the celestial fox, and the boy, leaving only a blank space.

But that feeling didn't disappear.

Patience. Indulgence. Exhaustion. Heartache.

All of it surged into Su Chang'an's soul.

Her hands were shaking.

It wasn't fear. It was an indescribable feeling. Like seeing my own reflection in someone else's story, a reflection that was older, more weary, and had endured longer than hers.

That boy was Li Changgeng.

She made up her mind in an instant.

Three thousand years ago, there was that clumsy young man on the snowy plains who couldn't quite grasp spiritual power. The founder of the Supreme Forgetfulness Sect. The one who called her "Master".

Su Chang'an's tail tightened. Tightly, intertwined.

She shouldn't have been moved.

This is a mission. It's a scheme. It's a means of survival. Who the celestial fox underground is, and whether she has any connection to it, is unimportant now. What matters is—

"What are you doing?"

Chen Xuan's voice broke free from his meditation.

With the alertness of a frightened bird.

His eyes opened. The spiritual energy that had been closing during meditation suddenly accelerated in his meridians, instantly filling his limbs. He pressed his hands on the floor tiles, exerting force from the heels of his palms, and his upper body sat upright.

The first thing is not to look at the outside world.

It means looking into the sea of ​​consciousness.

Su Chang'an was not in a good state. His nine tails were tangled together, and the tips of the tails were trembling violently.

"What's wrong?" The voice lowered even further.

Su Chang'an did not answer.

Her consciousness was still deeply embedded in the main root of the spiritual vein. The scene shattered, but the lingering sorrow remained in her soul.

It was like drinking a sip of wine that had been brewed for three thousand years. It was too strong. It burned as soon as it went down my throat.

Chen Xuan frowned.

His tolerance for Su Chang'an not speaking was lower than his tolerance for the sky falling down.

"Su Chang'an."

Su Chang'an's consciousness was pulled back. She opened her mouth, wanting to say that she was fine.

The floor tiles are now shiny.

Not just one piece. All the floor tiles within a three-zhang radius beneath our feet simultaneously lit up with a ghostly blue light. The direction of the main spiritual vein was outlined by the light patterns, spreading outwards from the center of the hall like a spider web.

Su Chang'an's pupils contracted.

Seven gates.

From the outside in, the array patterns were activated sequentially. The first gate's array lit up with a golden light barrier, followed by the second and third gates.

chain reaction.

Her emotions were turbulent when she received that footage. The Celestial Fox's essence trembled in her sea of ​​consciousness for a fleeting moment—just a moment. But that was enough. The Guiyuan Palace's spiritual vein array detected the abnormal energy.

The hurried footsteps of the direct lineage elders echoed outside the hall. The sounds of magical artifacts clashing rang out. Someone was loudly issuing orders.

"Seal off the Guiyuan Hall! The main root of the spiritual vein is showing signs of disturbance!"

The fourth door lit up. The fifth door. The sixth door.

Light patterns shot up from the cracks in the floor tiles, climbed along the walls of the hall, and wrapped the entire hall tightly like vines.

Chen Xuan had already stood up.

There was no sword. The sword was left outside the palace.

His right hand clenched into a fist, his knuckles cracking. The aura of a Great Saint surged from his body, colliding head-on with the array's sealing power.

The spiritual vein beneath the floor tiles trembled violently as if it had been provoked.

Su Chang'an finally spoke. His voice was steady.

"Don't move."

Chen Xuan's fist hung in mid-air.

"The formation isn't targeting you. It's the spiritual vein's own protection. It only recognizes you as an intruder if you move."

Chen Xuan didn't pull his hand away, nor did he continue.

He is waiting.

Su Chang'an quickly assessed the situation. How long would it take to activate all seven gates? What was the extent of her emotional fluctuations? Would Li Changgeng return to fight?

The seventh door lit up.

The array patterns converged inside the palace gate to form a complete sealing array. The golden light barrier sealed the Guiyuan Palace from the inside out, turning it into an airtight box.

But there was no attack.

Su Chang'an breathed a sigh of relief.

This is a defensive mechanism, not an annihilation command. The spiritual vein array detected an anomaly and activated a lockdown. It's like locking a safe, not pressing a self-destruct button.

She has time.

Chen Xuan slowly loosened his fist.

"What exactly did you touch?"

Su Chang'an remained silent for two breaths.

There's something underground.

Chen Xuan remained silent.

"A nine-tailed celestial fox." Su Chang'an's voice was very soft. "Alive."

The hall was so quiet that one could hear the muffled thud of the main root of the spiritual vein surging.

Chen Xuan's breath hitched. He looked down at the paving stones beneath his feet, as if he could see through the stone slabs to the bottom of an abyss.

Su Chang'an was about to continue speaking.

A second tremor came from underground.

It's not a heartbeat.

It's not a spiritual vein fluctuation.

It's a sound.

Extremely faint. Extremely distant. Like a syllable that traveled from the very bottom of an abyss, through countless layers of seals and rock, its edges and strength worn away, before finally reaching her ear.

Su Chang'an heard it clearly.

"...Chang Geng?"

Her nine tails exploded at the same time.

The celestial fox underground did not call her.

She was calling to the person who had been standing outside the door for three thousand years.

The footsteps outside the hall disappeared. The golden light of the sealing array flowed across the hall walls.

Su Chang'an curled up deep within his sea of ​​consciousness, his heart pounding like a drum.

She suddenly remembered the look in Chunxian's eyes when she looked at her in the Palace of Bones—not the look of looking at a stranger. It was the look of looking at an old mirror.

A mirror that reflects the image of an old friend.

"She and I..." Su Chang'an's voice was squeezed out from his throat, so low that only he could hear it.

Outside the hall, someone was running.

The footsteps were hurried. They carried the scent of sandalwood.