Chapter Ninety-Three: Xiao Hong Is in Danger

Wang Tong still could not bring himself to take his eyes off Lin Yi, and he was inwardly suffering in dread, afraid that Lin Yi would lay all the blame for everything at his door.

"There is something I need your help with," Lin Yi said.

"Mr. Lin, that's far too formal of you. Whatever it is, just give the word."

Wang Tong let out a secret sigh of relief. As long as Lin Yi was not here to settle accounts with him, that was enough.

"He is Chen Sen, a friend of mine. Find him a job, and remember, it just has to be suitable."

Lin Yi deliberately placed emphasis on the last word.

A job did not have to start high up to be good. On the contrary, only by beginning at the bottom could one avoid forgetting one's original intent.

Lin Yi did not want the childhood friend he had once known to become another Zhao Pansheng because of his help.

"Understood."

Though Wang Tong was a gluttonous wastrel, he was not utterly stupid.

...

At the same time, on Phoenix Mountain, a group of people was hurrying along at great speed.

At their head were three elders, each ruddy-faced, their inner force radiating outward. With every step, they covered more than ten meters with ease, truly appearing to shrink the earth beneath their feet.

Behind these three elders followed two women, one soft and alluring, the other plain and ordinary.

These two were Jia Yueru and Wu Fangling.

Jia Yueru said in a seductive voice, "Master Mo, three kilometers farther south and we'll reach my master's former residence. That three-tailed red fox is surely there as well."

"Excellent." Master Mo's face lit up, and his pace quickened again.

A few days earlier, someone had seen a three-tailed red fox on Phoenix Mountain.

Unlike a demonic beast, the three-tailed red fox was a spiritual beast.

A spiritual beast was a beast that had awakened intelligence and knew how to cultivate on its own. Some powerful spiritual beasts could even take human form, and were terrifying beyond measure.

Moreover, spiritual beasts formed inner cores within their bodies. Once consumed, these could greatly increase one's strength.

Even their flesh and blood could temper the body. In short, every part of a spiritual beast was a treasure.

Unfortunately, spiritual beasts were exceedingly rare. This time, in order to capture the three-tailed red fox, the Blood Oath Alliance had dispatched three grandmasters at once, a clear sign of how much they valued it.

Before long, the group arrived at a valley.

Jia Yueru said, "This is my master's former residence. It really has not changed at all."

Master Mo glanced around and said, "The scenery is indeed pleasant. A fine place to retire."

Wu Fangling gave a soft laugh. "The two of you hide yourselves. My younger sister and I will lure the red fox out."

The three grandmasters all nodded, then pushed off lightly and retreated quickly.

The moment Wu Fangling and Jia Yueru entered the valley, they both felt thoroughly disoriented.

"Big sister, what's going on? Where are we now?"

Jia Yueru looked around and realized that she was not in any valley at all, but had instead appeared on a vast prairie.

"I don't know. It must be some formation that old thing set up. Damn it. Let's see if we can break it."

Wu Fangling cursed furiously, drawing a whip from her waist. Sharp golden inner force clung to it.

With a crack, the whip lashed out, seeming to split the very air before them.

It struck the ground and instantly blasted out a deep crater.

If that whip had landed on a small car, it might well have split it clean in two.

"Again."

Wu Fangling struck several more times. It looked as though the illusionary formation was about to be broken, yet some tiny margin still remained lacking.

Seeing this, Jia Yueru also joined in.

She slapped the storage pouch at her waist, and a water-blue treasured sword flew out.

Jia Yueru gripped the sword and worked with Wu Fangling, both of them striking in the same direction.

A thunderous boom rang out. Dust billowed, and the two women instinctively shut their eyes.

But when they opened them again, they found that this space still remained.

"This..."

The two exchanged a look.

After a moment's thought, Wu Fangling said, "Let's walk forward and see. If that doesn't work, we'll come back."

Jia Yueru nodded. The two of them walked for more than ten minutes, and then the world before them suddenly opened wide.

But when they looked more closely, they discovered that they were still standing at the entrance to the valley.

"We're back?"

Jia Yueru looked around, a flicker of joy rising in her heart.

Wu Fangling's expression, however, was dark. If they could not break this illusionary formation, how were they supposed to go inside and search for the three-tailed red fox?

At that moment, the three grandmasters also came out and asked, "The red fox didn't come out with you?"

"Don't mention it. That old thing set up an illusionary formation at the entrance. We couldn't even get in," Wu Fangling said with a shake of her head.

Master Mo smiled dismissively. "Ha, I thought it was something serious. Grandmaster Qin Yong is a master of formations. A mere illusionary formation can be broken with a wave of the hand."

"Wonderful," Wu Fangling said.

Qin Yong was a spirited little old man, dressed in a retro white robe, holding a feather fan in his hand, very much like a scholar from ancient times.

Arriving before the valley, Qin Yong went straight into the illusionary formation.

Ten minutes later, when Qin Yong came out again, the calm expression on his face had vanished completely, leaving only deep solemnity.

"Old Qin, how is it?" Master Mo asked anxiously.

Qin Yong shook his head. "No good. The one who set up this formation is far too skilled. I have absolutely no solution."

The others grew anxious. Could it be that they could only stare helplessly at the red fox so close at hand, yet still be unable to act?

"Old Qin, think of something quickly," Master Mo urged.

Qin Yong gritted his teeth, then took a palm-sized black compass from his storage pouch.

"This is the Heavenly Secret Compass passed down in my family. It can break all kinds of formations, but it must be activated with a toll of lifespan," Qin Yong said.

The others fell briefly silent. No wonder Qin Yong had hesitated so much.

Master Mo said, "Old Qin, if the formation is broken this time and we can capture that three-tailed red fox, then your contribution will be the greatest. You will take half of the inner core for yourself."

Wu Fangling's expression changed, and she hurriedly asked, "And what about our share?"

Master Mo's face darkened. "You can have some of the spiritual beast's flesh and blood."

Wu Fangling was unwilling, but she did not dare say more. Such was the world: only the strongest fists carried authority.

"That detestable old thing." Wu Fangling silently etched the hatred into her heart.

The flesh and blood of a spiritual beast were indeed good, but compared with its inner core, they fell short by more than one level.

Qin Yong hesitated only briefly before nodding. "All right!"

He was already over seventy. Given that grandmasters could live for more than two hundred years, he still had over a century left. Wasting a little would not matter.

Holding the Heavenly Secret Compass, Qin Yong stepped forward once more and entered the illusionary formation.

"Break for me!"

Qin Yong bit his index finger and dripped a thread of blood into the Heavenly Secret Compass.

The pitch-black compass instantly turned scarlet. Threads of red energy as fine as hair spread out from it, rapidly extending in all directions.

But in the next instant, a streak of golden light suddenly cut horizontally through the air, severing those red currents at once.

Pfft.

Qin Yong vomited a mouthful of blood, and his spirit visibly withered.

The Heavenly Secret Compass and his mind were linked. Once the spell of the compass was broken, he naturally suffered a backlash as well.

Qin Yong was horrified inwardly. His ancestors had relied on this Heavenly Secret Compass to break who knew how many great formations.

Yet now he had been defeated by a mere illusionary formation. And what was that golden light? It had actually cut through even those intangible red currents on the spot.

"Terrifying. Whoever set up the formation here has probably already attained near divine mastery in formations."

At this point, Qin Yong had no desire left to break the formation. He only wanted to get away from this place immediately.

More than ten minutes later, Qin Yong appeared in the others' line of sight once again.

"Old Qin, what's wrong?" Master Mo asked, frowning.

"Backlash. The one who set this formation is far too formidable," Qin Yong said weakly, his face pale and his voice exhausted.

His body was not the main issue. It was his spirit and soul that had been damaged.

Suddenly, from the corner of his eye, he caught a red figure flashing past.

"Wait, the three-tailed red fox!" Qin Yong cried out hastily.

Fast as the three-tailed red fox was, he was still barely able to make out the red figure as a grandmaster.

The others all looked over as well, and in the end it was Master Mo who was first to spot it. The three-tailed red fox was standing on a tree a thousand meters away.

They had originally thought the red fox was hiding in the valley, never expecting it to be outside instead.

Wu Fangling called out in a soft voice, "Little Red, come quickly. I'm your senior sister."

Hiss.

The three-tailed red fox shrieked, the fur along its back bristling upright.

"You ungrateful little beast! After all, I used to feed you," Wu Fangling cursed angrily.

The three grandmasters exchanged glances, and Master Mo said, "Attack together."

"Earth Fiend Hand!"

Master Mo thrust out a palm. A black hand made of inner force rapidly struck toward the three-tailed red fox.

This Earth Fiend Hand was Master Mo's signature technique. His inner force carried poison. If struck head-on, even a grandmaster would be severely injured, if not killed outright.

A flash of fury crossed the three-tailed red fox's eyes, and it narrowly evaded Master Mo's Earth Fiend Hand.

The black palm imprint struck the tree trunk where the fox had been standing. White vapor instantly rose in wisps, and in less than three seconds, a thirty-meter-tall tree, so thick that one person could barely encircle it, had completely vanished into thin air.

However, the moment the three-tailed red fox landed, another figure appeared behind it out of nowhere.

"Thousand Mechanism Pull!"

Qin Yong drew his arms into a circle, and within his embrace, strands of white inner force continued to gather.

At last, with a sweep of his arms, those currents of force burst forth like a horse freed from its reins, surrounding the three-tailed red fox layer upon layer.

The fox jumped backward again, but before it could complete the movement, strands of tenacious inner force had already wrapped around its limbs.

Roaring in fury, the three-tailed red fox opened its mouth and bit down on a piece of tortoise shell, shattering it.

Then it was completely encircled by inner force, becoming a gigantic cocoon.

...

After arranging things for Chen Sen, Lin Yi intended to go home.

Suddenly, his brow furrowed slightly. The tortoise shell he had left for Little Red had been shattered, which meant that Little Red had encountered danger.

A cold glint entered Lin Yi's eyes. Little Red was a spiritual beast, and if it drew human attention, it would become very dangerous.

If it remained within the formation he had set up, it could still be kept safe.

But a spiritual beast needed food as well. Little Red was a carnivore and needed to hunt. That was probably precisely why certain people had found an opening to exploit.

Lin Yi took out his phone and called Angel. "Have a helicopter ready for me immediately."