The Golden Lion was startled, its golden fur bristling like threads as it suddenly turned to look at her. Li Fei shivered involuntarily upon meeting its cold, emotionless golden eyes, her back instantly drenched in cold sweat.
Had—had she been too impulsive? Would it swallow her whole in a fit of rage?
She stared wide-eyed as the enormous creature approached, stopping less than a zhang away from her. Then, it lowered its head and cautiously sniffed at her.
Seeing it sniff incessantly, with large drops of saliva dripping down, Li Fei felt as though her soul had left her body. Trembling, she stammered, "I—I don’t taste good! No meat!"
The Golden Lion scrutinized her carefully for a moment, snorted through its nose, then turned and walked away—walked away? She hadn’t been eaten? Li Fei felt as though her heart, liver, and stomach were all about to leap out of her throat. Her legs were so weak she couldn’t stand, and she collapsed limply to the ground.
The Golden Lion walked into the distance, let out a few low growls, and finally seemed to yawn before flopping onto the ground and falling asleep.
This—this truly felt like a rebirth after disaster… Li Fei was still shaken. She tried to move slightly, but the Golden Lion suddenly opened its eyes, its golden pupils silently watching her for a moment before closing again. This happened several times, and she didn’t dare move anymore.
What should she do now? Stand off against this Golden Lion in the restricted area until the end of time? Lei Xiuyuan and the others were severely injured—if left unattended, something terrible would surely happen! Not to mention Ji Tongzhou had been hurt by the Miasma earlier—he might even be in mortal danger.
Li Fei tried moving again, quietly rising to her feet. But before she could take a few steps, the Golden Lion suddenly sauntered over and swatted her with its massive paw. She had no chance to resist, knocked flat against the ground like a pancake—was it going to crush her?! Li Fei was terrified beyond belief, but the paw, larger than her entire body, didn’t press down. It seemed to only want her to stay still, lightly holding her in place as it yawned and then heavily lay down beside her, falling asleep again!
Li Fei’s face was pressed against the ground, a plump paw lightly weighing on her back, leaving her unable to move. The discomfort was unbearable. Just as she was despairing, a familiar hoarse voice suddenly rang in her ears—though now it was drowsy and indistinct, murmuring, "I sense it… a part of my Demon Qi that was taken from me… is here?"
Hearing Ri Yan’s voice now was like sunlight suddenly piercing through the darkest night. Li Fei nearly cried, "Ri Yan! This is the restricted area you’ve always wanted to come to! This lion… those people… I…"
She was so flustered she didn’t know how to explain the situation. Ri Yan, perhaps still half-asleep, couldn’t manifest as the little white fox. After a moment of silence, he suddenly said, "This lion has a Seal on its back containing my Demon Qi? You fool! You actually jumped down here?!"These matters would take too long to explain in detail, so Li Fei briefly summarized the situation. Ri Yan's voice sounded extremely weak, perhaps because he wasn't fully awake yet. He gave a cold laugh: "The amount of Demon Qi sealed here is quite impressive. Hmph... In the past, I only felt a sense of familiarity at the bottom of this cliff—there must have been Demon Qi sealed here. Who would have thought... Let me think, it must have been a hundred years ago. Those Celestials back then were truly extraordinary talents. Even though I didn't encounter the Year of Calamity, I still found them troublesome and had to abandon part of my Demon Qi to escape. So, those people must have been the founders of this Academy? To think they sealed my Demon Qi on the back of such a lowly suanni beast! How laughable!"
Li Fei struggled to turn her head in another direction: "Look, this suanni is pinning me down and won't let me move. What should I do?"
Ri Yan snorted with amusement: "It seems to like you quite a bit. No wonder—even though my Demon Qi is sealed, some of it inevitably leaks out. That Demon Qi has made it restless and irritable. With you here, the Demon Qi is blocked, so of course it doesn’t want to let you go!"
Li Fei paled in shock: "So I can't leave?!"
He fell silent again for a long while before finally speaking: "If you could break this Seal... No, forget it. Don’t worry. You people won’t be stuck here for long. Someone will come to rescue you from above. Whoever raised this suanni beast must have a way to control it."
Li Fei noticed an unusual hesitation in his tone, as if he were deeply regretful. She couldn’t help but recall how he had repeatedly urged her to jump down before. The Demon Qi sealed here belonged to him, and the amount was substantial. To have it so close yet out of reach—his frustration and unwillingness were understandable. This once-mighty thousand-year-old Nine-tailed Fox, who had his Demon Qi sealed during the Year of Calamity, was now forced to linger weakly inside a young girl’s body, only waking for brief moments every ten days. How painful that must be.
"Ri Yan," she suddenly said, "I’m willing to break this Seal. Tell me how to do it... And first, help me figure out how to get this suanni off me."
Ri Yan paused before replying sharply, "This isn’t like the Second Selection. If the sealed Demon Qi goes missing, you’ll be held accountable. I advise you not to touch it."
"Aside from the suanni, no one would know, right?"
"Fool." Ri Yan sneered. "Do you think this Seal is like those worthless scraps of paper outside? The moment your finger touches it, the one who placed the Seal will know exactly who tampered with it. Go ahead and try if you dare—see if you don’t get yourself killed!"
"Then what about you?" she asked helplessly.
His tone turned outright rude: "You idiot, you can’t even save yourself, yet you’re worrying about me?! Who told you to jump down for no reason?! Even if my things fall into someone else’s hands, I, Ri Yan, will reclaim them one day! What business does a brat like you have meddling?!"
Li Fei was stunned by his sudden outburst. Hadn’t he been the one constantly telling her to jump down before? How had it suddenly become her own reckless decision? The more she thought about it, the funnier it seemed, and she couldn’t help but let out a snort of laughter.
Ri Yan flew into a rage: "What the hell are you laughing at?!"
"Nothing." Li Fei shifted to find a more comfortable position. "Just wait a few more years, Ri Yan. When I’m strong enough—strong enough to break the Seal without anyone knowing—I’ll definitely come back."
"Who asked you to?!""You're so stubborn, would saying thank you kill you?"
"Thank you, my foot!"
"Then let me say thank you. You gave up something within easy reach just to protect me. I'm so touched..."
"Ugh! I don't want to hear your sweet talk! Shut up!"
"Instead of getting all flustered and angry, why not help me figure out how to get this lion to let me go?"
"Who's flustered and angry?! You—wait, what’s that in your arms? The smell is familiar."
Li Fei struggled to move. Something hard in her embrace was pressing painfully against her. After a moment’s thought, she said, "Oh, I think it’s the fruit those Monsters gave me. Eating it heals any injury. Too bad I can’t move right now, or I’d give them some. Maybe then we could escape."
Ri Yan scoffed, "These Demons sure know how to flatter. Giving you Demon Vermilion Fruit—they just want you gone!"
"Demon Vermilion Fruit?" Li Fei murmured the unfamiliar name. "Wait, they fed me just to make me leave? What does that mean?"
"Obviously! With you here blocking and purifying the Miasma and Demon Qi, how could they possibly cultivate properly? They’d beg you to leave rather than dare kill you!"
Li Fei asked in surprise, "I block and purify Miasma and Demon Qi? Then how can you still hide inside me?"
Ri Yan grew impatient. "How dare you compare those lowly Monstrous creatures to me?! Stop asking so many questions! If you want to leave, toss out one of those Demon Vermilion Fruits!"
Li Fei still had to ask, "What... is Demon Vermilion Fruit?"
Ri Yan snapped, "Why must you be so dense with questions?! It’s infuriating! Who cares what it is? It won’t kill you if you eat it! Hmph, those fools passed out over there—knocked unconscious by the Golden Lion’s roar, right? Can’t even handle a Golden Lion, all heavily injured—what a joke! When you get the chance, feed them the fruit and hurry up! They’re an eyesore!"
Mo Yanfan and the others weren’t profound Celestials—at best, they were elite disciples, far from immortality. Judging them by his own standards, Ri Yan naturally saw them all as fools.
Li Fei shook her head and continued struggling to move under the Golden Lion’s claws. Trying to retrieve a Demon Vermilion Fruit from her embrace felt harder than scaling the heavens. Suddenly, she remembered something. "Ri Yan, that woman earlier called you a Nine-tailed Spirit Fox. This is the first time I’ve heard someone call you that."
Ri Yan replied indifferently, "Ignorant! The Mountain Sect even treats lions as Mystical Beasts! They even tame lizard Monsters to cook for them! Ridiculous! So that little girl from the Myriad Immortals Assembly finally showed her true colors? A Sea Sect Disciple cozying up to Mountain Sect people—utter nonsense!"
As he spoke, his voice grew faint, as if exhaustion had overtaken him. "Waking abruptly from slumber has weakened me. I’ll need to sleep for several more days. I’m off now. Tell me everything that happened today when I wake."
Before he could finish, his voice had already faded away.
He always came and went so abruptly. She wondered when he’d ever stay awake long enough. Li Fei sighed and kept fumbling in her embrace. Her fingertips were close to touching the Demon Vermilion Fruit, but the fruit was slippery and hard to grasp. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead from frustration.Suddenly, hurried footsteps came from behind—someone was approaching! Li Fei strained to lift her head as if granted a reprieve, only to see Hu Jiaping and the black-veiled woman. Their expressions darkened at the sight of the unconscious bodies strewn across the ground, and when they spotted Li Fei pinned beneath the Golden Lion, Hu Jiaping's face turned ashen.
"Little girl!" His voice trembled slightly. "Are you alright? Don’t move! I’ll get you out right away!"
Li Fei replied, "I’m fine... Sir, this Golden Lion is too powerful—you can’t defeat it! Save the others first!"
"A Mu, move the others farther away," Hu Jiaping whispered, his eyes locked on the dozing Golden Lion. Perhaps because it had Li Fei trapped, it paid no attention to the two newcomers. "No wonder Zuoqiu Xiansheng gave me a talisman paper before we descended—it must be for this moment."
As he spoke, he drew out a pitch-black talisman paper from his sleeve, its surface densely inscribed with blood-red curse scripts, starkly different from ordinary curse seals.
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