The fox demon was about to take advantage of the opportunity to pursue him when He Lin, standing behind it, pointed with her right hand. The white silk in her grasp shot out like a swimming dragon and tightly wrapped around the fox demon.
Before coming here, they had already devised a plan.
The three of them would hold one fox demon at bay while Xue Zhi killed the other alone.
He Lin and Zhu Heng had clearly worked together for a long time. One attacked while the other defended, advancing and retreating with perfect coordination. They firmly restrained the silvery-white Illusory Mind Fox in place, preventing it from going to its companion’s aid.
Chu Ran was not idle either.
He only made occasional attacks to keep the fox demon occupied, while his gaze rapidly swept across the woods.
Sure enough, not far away, a tree roughly twice the height of a person was covered in thumb-sized, bright-red fruits.
Red Profound Fruits!
Xue Zhi had not lied to him. This eased Chu Ran’s mind somewhat.
Seeing the three of them surrounding it without attacking, the fox demon suddenly let out a sharp shriek. Its demonic power erupted violently, and its silvery-white fur stood on end.
With a sweep of its claws, it unleashed a fierce gust of wind that forced all three of them back.
Then, a bright red glow flared in its eyes. It opened its mouth, and an extremely eerie sound emerged from its throat.
“Cackle, cackle~ Wuu, wuu~ Hahaha~ Hehehe!”
The sound rose and fell unpredictably, impossible to distinguish as laughter or weeping.
It was as though countless fox demons were whispering beside their ears. Even after they blocked their hearing, the sound still pierced their eardrums and burrowed straight into their minds.
Chu Ran felt his vision twist. The trees around him began to sway and distort, eventually transforming into fox demons one after another. Each one was grinning eerily at him.
Not far away, He Lin and Zhu Heng’s eyes had already turned as red as the fox demon’s. The two of them were actually fighting each other.
The Illusory Mind Fox’s voice truly could disrupt the mind.
Just as his last trace of clarity was about to vanish, Chu Ran infused his spiritual power into his voice and shouted:
“Break!”
His shout rang out like a great bell, instantly drowning out the Illusory Mind Fox’s voice. Chu Ran immediately regained his senses.
He raised his right hand and gathered spiritual power in his palm. A white vortex spun rapidly in his hand, drawing in the surrounding air.
In the blink of an eye, the vortex formed a rotating wind blade two feet in diameter. It sliced through the air with a buzzing sound.
Chu Ran flung the wind blade with all his strength, sending it toward the Illusory Mind Fox, which was still screeching.
Faced with the attack, the fox demon had no choice but to stop its mind-rattling cry. It leaped high into the air, narrowly avoiding the wind blade.
With the eerie cry gone, He Lin and Zhu Heng also regained their senses. They summoned their magic artifacts once more and again held the Illusory Mind Fox at bay.
The Illusory Mind Fox had slowed considerably, and its movements were no longer as agile as before. Clearly, that previous technique had consumed a great deal of its demonic power.
From a distance, Zhu Heng called out to Chu Ran, “Many thanks for saving our lives, Fellow Daoist Chu. Your will is indeed resolute—you weren’t bewitched by the Illusory Mind Fox. Senior Brother Xue truly judged you well.”
“Fellow Daoist Zhu, you’re too kind. We’re all in this together.”
In truth, Chu Ran had not wanted to save them. If the two of them died, he would not be a match for the Illusory Mind Fox unless he used the Life-Burning Art.
Deep in the valley, the sounds of Xue Zhi’s battle with the other Illusory Mind Fox came and went, accompanied by the clash of metal and the roars of the demon beast.
It would probably still take Xue Zhi some time to kill it.
The three of them held out for the time it took an incense stick to burn. At last, a figure appeared outside their encirclement.
Xue Zhi had returned.
He held a bloodstained sword in his right hand and carried a fox demon as large as himself in his left. The creature was completely dead.
Seeing its companion slain, the remaining Illusory Mind Fox let out a mournful shriek. The red light in its eyes blazed, and it frenziedly pounced on the three of them.
It was all futile.
With Xue Zhi joining them, the four of them attacked in a surging tide. In less than ten breaths, Xue Zhi thrust his sword into the fox demon’s head, ending its resistance.
The valley fell silent once more. Xue Zhi sheathed his sword and looked toward Chu Ran.
“Fellow Daoist, you’ve expended quite a bit of spiritual power. Meditate and recover for a while. I’ll go pick the Red Profound Fruits.”
Chu Ran nodded. “Thank you, Senior Brother Xue.”
Chu Ran found a tree root and sat down cross-legged. He secretly took out a spirit stone, held it in his palm, and quickly replenished his spiritual power.
For cultivators, using spirit stones to restore spiritual power was actually quite extravagant.
Unless there was an emergency, they generally relied on slowly absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
It was slower, but at least it was free.
One spirit stone could fully restore the spiritual power of a fourth-level Qi Refining cultivator in the time it took an incense stick to burn, yet it required a month of menial labor to earn one.
If he meditated for a day, he could recover as well.
But Chu Ran still did not know Xue Zhi’s true purpose. He could not afford to spare this spirit stone.
Before long, Xue Zhi returned with the Red Profound Fruits cupped in both hands.
His face was full of smiles as he said to the three of them, “We’re quite lucky. There are eleven jin in total.”
The other three all showed delighted expressions. This was a real windfall.
Xue Zhi divided the Red Profound Fruits into four portions as he said, “As we agreed beforehand, I’ll take forty percent, and each of you will receive twenty percent.”
He put his own share into his storage bag first, then handed the other two portions to He Lin and Zhu Heng, who were standing closest to him.
The two accepted the fruits and thanked him repeatedly.
Finally, Xue Zhi walked over to Chu Ran and presented the Red Profound Fruits before him with a smile.
“Fellow Daoist Chu, this is your share—two jin and two liang in total.”
Xue Zhi was really giving them to him. Could it be that he had simply been overthinking things?
“Many thanks, Senior Brother Xue!”
Just as his fingertips were about to touch the fruits, the Red Profound Fruits in Xue Zhi’s hand suddenly vanished.
He flipped his palm. His sleeve slid back, revealing a section of a sleeve-mounted arrow artifact, its opening aimed directly at Chu Ran’s chest.
Whoosh!
A faint yet piercing sound cut through the air. A silver needle shot out from the sleeve arrow, heading straight for Chu Ran’s heart with astonishing speed.
The silver needle had traveled less than a foot when it abruptly came to a halt.
A callused hand had caught it firmly.
The needle was clamped between Chu Ran’s fingers, its tip no more than three inches from his chest.
The smile on Xue Zhi’s face froze, and his eyes filled with astonishment.
Chu Ran gave him no time to react. He raised his foot and viciously kicked Xue Zhi in the abdomen.
The kick was sudden and powerful, accompanied by a sharp whistle as it tore through the air.
But Xue Zhi was a fifth-level Qi Refining cultivator after all, and his reactions were extremely fast. He thrust out a palm, meeting Chu Ran’s kick head-on.
After that brief exchange, both of them retreated several steps and put some distance between themselves.
Chu Ran gave him a mocking smile. “Senior Brother Xue, you needed to launch a sneak attack against a fourth-level Qi Refining cultivator like me?”
Feeling the aura of a fifth-level Qi Refining cultivator radiating from Chu Ran, Xue Zhi glanced at Chu Ran’s half-white hair and smiled as well.
“Aren’t you a fifth-level Qi Refining cultivator too, Fellow Daoist Chu? When did you discover something was wrong?”
His sneak attack absolutely could not have been blocked by a fourth-level Qi Refining cultivator who had already expended most of his spiritual power.
That could only mean Chu Ran had been on guard from the very beginning.
Moreover, judging from Chu Ran’s appearance and the sudden increase in his cultivation, he must have used some kind of forbidden technique that consumed his lifespan.
Chu Ran slipped the silver needle into his own pocket and said, “Senior Brother Xue’s performance was indeed flawless. I was almost fooled and truly believed you were a carefree scion of an immortal clan who never had to worry about resources.”
“But as luck would have it, I learned a bone-reading technique. When I make physical contact with someone, I can calculate their age.”
“Although Senior Brother Xue looks young, you should be nearly sixty years old.”
Only then did Xue Zhi remember that Chu Ran had grabbed him when they first arrived in the valley.
Just a light touch to his own arm was enough to expose his true circumstances.
He was nearly sixty years old, yet had only reached the fifth level of Qi Refining. This showed that, like Chu Ran, he was a menial cultivator who had clawed his way up from the very bottom. He had no backing whatsoever and had relied entirely on his own struggles to make it this far.
Otherwise, no matter how poor his spiritual roots were, with the help of a Foundation Establishment master, he would have reached the late stages of Qi Refining long ago.
Xue Zhi was silent for a moment before suddenly laughing, his smile tinged with self-mockery. “Then, Fellow Daoist Chu, you still dare to come?”
Chu Ran spread his hands. “I can’t help it. The temptation of the Red Profound Fruit is simply too great. As it happens, I’m both greedy and very confident in my own strength.”