14: Chapter 14 Qingqiu Nine-Tailed Fox, what...what do you want to do?

The young Taotie was enraged.

It opened its huge mouth and drew in a sharp breath, and the surrounding air suddenly collapsed toward its mouth, forming a visible vortex to the naked eye.

Stones, sand, and wood fragments—everything was flying toward its mouth.

Lin Ye's footsteps also dragged two marks on the ground, and his body involuntarily slid toward that huge mouth.

Fortunately, his reaction was fast enough; the zhulong staff was fiercely thrust into the ground, and he grabbed the staff body to stabilize his posture while simultaneously stimulating the dark gold aura of the yellow emperors essence blood within his body, causing the Human Emperors Coercion to erupt once again!

"Get... down!!"

The dark golden wave of air exploded centered on him, directly colliding with the young Taotie's devouring vortex.

The two forces collided, and the surrounding air emitted a muffled sound like cloth being torn, while the ground cracked into numerous fissures.

Although the young Taotie's devouring power was strong, it was too young.

Under the dual blessing of the Human Emperors Coercion and the Zhulong Divine Sense, its vortex was forcibly suppressed back.

"Now!"

Lin Ye pulled the staff out from the ground, the muscles in his legs erupted, and his entire body turned into an afterimage, rushing straight in front of the young Taotie.

The body of the zhulong staff burned to the extreme, and with a single strike, it stabbed into its open mouth, pouring the Temporal Crimson Fire straight down its throat.

Hiss, hiss, hiss!

The young Taotie let out a heart-rending shrill cry, its entire body trembling violently.

The black smoke on the surface of its body was burned away in large patches by the dragon fire, and its dark gray fur cracked inch by inch, oozing a dark red light from the cracks.

It struggled desperately, its four hooves scraping deep trenches into the ground, but Lin Ye tightly grasped the staff body with both hands, continuously pouring the Temporal Crimson Fire in.

Ten breaths later, the young Taotie's shrill cry abruptly cut off.

Its body collapsed to the ground with a bang, twitched a few times, and completely stopped moving.

"Hoo..."

Lin Ye let out a long breath.

As expected of an ancient fierce beast; even a cub is so difficult to deal with.

A bizarre scene appeared.

The corpse of the young Taotie began to disintegrate.

The dark gray fur, flesh, and bones collapsed inward like a crumpled paper ball, turning into a fist-sized dark black light sphere in less than a few seconds.

Inside the light sphere, a certain extremely pure power was surging.

That was neither spiritual power nor malignant aura, but something more fundamental... devouring!

"The Taotie's Devouring Origin?"

Lin Ye was overjoyed.

He reached out and touched that light sphere.

The light sphere burst, turning into a dark black stream of light that drilled into his palm, rushing straight along the meridians into his sea of consciousness.

Deep within the sea of consciousness, in the void beside the zhulong seal, a dark black spherical mark slowly condensed and formed.

Compared to the zhulong seal, it was much smaller and much dimmer, but the power circulating within it carried a faint sense of hunger.

It was as if something was waiting to be fed.

A weakened version of the Taotie origin... the power of devouring!

Lin Ye felt it, and his eyes suddenly lit up.

This thing's ability was simple and brutal:

Devouring the flesh and blood of exotic beasts could convert it into his own nourishment; the stronger the exotic beast, the higher the conversion efficiency.

Moreover, it wasn't just physical constitution; even repairing injuries and replenishing stamina could be achieved.

In other words, every single exotic beast that died in his hands in the future would become his nourishment.

It was not only useful in the Classic of Mountains and Seas.

Returning to Blue Star to kill those demons and ghosts would be the same!

He stood in place for a moment, took a deep breath to suppress the surging excitement, and turned to walk toward the woman behind the large tree.

The woman was still cowering behind the tree, her two long, fair legs curled in front of her, her hands still hugging her knees, looking at him timidly with raised eyes.

After confirming that the young Taotie was truly dead, she let out a long sigh of relief and stood up by bracing against the tree trunk.

Her clothes had a few tears, and there were several abrasions on her arms, but this did not affect her stunning beauty.

"Thank you for saving me! My name is Tushan Yue. If you hadn't arrived in time, I would have already..."

"You aren't human, are you." Lin Ye interrupted her bluntly.

Tushan Yue was stunned, blinking her eyes: "Ah?"

"You are a demon."

The expression on her face stiffened for a moment, "How did you figure it out..."

Lin Ye did not answer.

After absorbing the yellow emperors essence blood, he was extremely sensitive to the auras of exotic beasts and demons.

That faint aura emanating from Tushan Yue's body was not something a human could possess.

Tushan Yue sighed and no longer concealed it: "You guessed correctly. I am a Qingqiu fox."

This time it was Lin Ye's turn to be surprised.

A Qingqiu fox, wasn't that a nine-tailed fox?

Recorded in the Classic of Mountains and Seas: On the mountain of Qingqiu, there is a beast whose shape is like a fox with nine tails, and its sound is like a baby.

No wonder she is so beautiful.

Legend has it that when nine-tailed foxes take human form, they are all breathtaking beauties; this saying is truly not false.

"What is a Qingqiu fox doing running all the way here?"

"A strange phenomenon descended from the heavens, ah. With such a huge commotion, who wouldn't be curious? I just thought of coming over to take a look, just in case there was some fortuitous encounter."

Tushan Yue said dejectedly, "Who knew that as soon as I approached the valley, I would be targeted by that young Taotie? It chased me all the way for several miles, and no matter what, I couldn't shake it off."

When she said this, she raised her eyes to look at Lin Ye, her gaze filled with a bit more admiration:

"However, Senior, you are way too powerful! That is a descendant of Taotie, after all. Even though it's a cub, ordinary Qi refiners only have a chance to run when they see it. You actually managed to kill it... Just what kind of person are you?"

Lin Ye did not answer, his mind flipping through another record.

The Classic of Mountains and Seas records: The nine-tailed fox, those who eat it are immune to poisons.

What does that mean?

Eating the meat of a nine-tailed fox can grant lifelong immunity to gu poison, evil spirits possessing the body, and low-level illusions!

Although it was only low-level illusions, under certain specific circumstances—

for example, dealing with those demons adept at confusing people's minds, this ability was quite practical.

Tushan Yue suddenly shuddered and took a step back: "Hey, why aren't you talking? You... what are you thinking about?"

Lin Ye raised his eyes to look at her: "Nothing."

"You're lying!"

Tushan Yue covered her chest with both hands, her legs feeling somewhat weak: "That look in your eyes just now was even scarier than the Taotie's! Do you want to eat me?!"

"...You can even guess what I'm thinking?"

"Nonsense! I'm a fox!"

Tushan Yue was on the verge of tears, "Please don't kill me. I can give you a treasure, truly, an ancestral one, absolutely useful!"

Lin Ye thought for a moment: "What thing?"

Tushan Yue flurriedly felt out a fist-sized bead from her sleeve. Its entire body was glossy white, with a layer of colorful mist circulating inside.

She held the bead with both hands and handed it over, looking eagerly at Lin Ye: "This is the huanyue bead, a treasured heirloom of our Qingqiu fox clan. It can create extremely realistic illusions with a coverage range of a hundred zhang. At the same time, it can also break through illusions and hallucinations of the same level. If you encounter enemies that can cast illusions in the future, this bead can hard-counter them to death!"

Lin Ye took the bead and weighed it in his hand.

Creating illusions.

Breaking illusions?

Both of these abilities were very practical.

Many of the demons and ghosts of Blue Star had means to create illusory realms to confuse humans. With this bead, at least he wouldn't be helpless against illusions of the same tier.

"Alright."

He put the huanyue bead into his bosom, squeezing it together with the spiritual herbs and medicines wrapped in animal skin.

Tushan Yue let out a long breath, leaning against the tree trunk like a deflated ball, her long hair sliding down her shoulders.

"I've given you the bead, so you must not plot against me anymore!"