Deep within the Xiya Mountains, as twilight deepened…
Lin Che's knuckles were white, his grip like a vise around the struggling, miniature form of Blood Fiend. The creature's cry of "The aura is gone!" had exploded in his mind like a thunderclap, shattering the last vestiges of his hope.
"It's impossible… she couldn't have just vanished into thin air…" His eyes were bloodshot, his voice a low, frantic growl. He flung the tiny serpent back onto Luo Jiayin's shoulder. "Keep searching! I want every inch of this mountain scoured! Turn it upside down if you have to, but find Ying'er!"
At his command, the members of the Slaughter God Pavilion fanned out once more, their spiritual senses sweeping over the land like a plow turning soil. Lin Che himself moved like a man possessed, charging through waist-high weeds and jagged rock formations, his robes tearing on thorns without a second thought.
Suddenly, he stopped.
Ahead, behind a dense thicket, a massive, gray-white silhouette was faintly visible. His heart lurched. He slashed out with a sword aura, and the bushes fell away, revealing what lay beyond.
A colossal stone statue, a hundred zhang tall and weathered by countless ages, stood in a relatively open clearing. It was carved in the likeness of a crouching nine-tailed fox. But this statue was even more dilapidated than the one described by his sister. Deep cracks fissured its surface, several of its stone tails had broken off entirely, and the debris was entangled with withered yellow moss, exuding an aura of desolate, deathly stillness.
"This is it!" Lin Che's eyes blazed with intensity. He strode to the statue's base, lightning crackling in his palm as he tried to provoke a reaction. But no matter how much spiritual power he channeled, the statue remained cold and silent, as inert as any ordinary boulder.
Refusing to give up, he frantically searched the area around the statue, tapping every inch of the base, probing every crack, even sending his divine sense deep into the stone itself. The result was the same—nothing but the marks of time. No spiritual fluctuations, no traces of a formation.
"How… how can there be nothing?" Lin Che fell to his knees, his hands pressed against the cold stone, the veins on his forehead bulging. Days of anxiety and self-blame, combined with this fresh despair, threatened to crush him. He could almost see his sister vanishing near this very statue, yet the "door" to wherever she was remained utterly elusive.
"Lin Che…" Luo Jiayin approached quietly, placing a gentle hand on his trembling shoulder. Her voice was soft but weary. "You've done all you can. Perhaps… Ying'er is simply blessed. Maybe she stumbled into a place of fortune, not danger."
Lin Che's head snapped up, his eyes bloodshot. "Fortune? In the treacherous Xiya Mountains? Jiayin, don't try to comfort me! I'm a failure as a brother. I couldn't even protect my own sister!"
"Pavilion Master, please, calm yourself," Old Ma said, his expression uncharacteristically solemn as he performed calculations with his fingers. "This statue is indeed strange. Its very existence defies logic. Perhaps… the method to open it lies not in force, but in… fate."
"Fate?" Lin Che stared at him, bewildered.
"Think. Why was it that little girl, and no one else, who found this place?" Old Ma stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Perhaps only one who bears a certain specific 'mark' can activate this ancient relic."
Lin Che's heart hammered in his chest as he remembered the mysterious Chaos Azure Lotus Mark on his sister's forehead. Could it be…?
"Keep searching!" he roared, surging to his feet, a flicker of hope rekindled in his eyes. "Widen the perimeter! Any clue, any hint related to 'lotus flowers' or 'nine-tailed foxes' must be investigated!"
Once again, the group dispersed, radiating outward from the statue.
Inside the Secret Realm, the Ruins of the Hall of Ten Thousand Beasts…
Lin Ying let out a satisfied burp and patted her round little belly. The "Secret Realm Special Barbecue" had been a resounding success; the ingredients, rich in spiritual energy, were so delicious she'd nearly swallowed her own tongue.
Now, she was sprawled on a patch of soft grass, her head pillowed on the warm, furry belly of Big White. Basking in the realm's warm "sunlight," she was the picture of contentment, her eyes narrowed to slits. Around her, Little Black, Sky Blue, Golden Yellow, and the rest of her beastly entourage lay in various states of disarray, their snores filling the air.
"Burp… So full…" she mumbled. After a long while, she lazily pushed herself up. "Alright, everyone, naptime's over! Let's go exploring!"
With much grumbling, the army of spirit beasts reformed their ranks and set off. The girl and her menagerie wandered aimlessly through the vast realm, perfectly at ease.
One moment, Lin Ying was exclaiming over a luminous, rainbow-hued Ganoderma mushroom, carefully digging it up and stuffing it into her pouch—a treasure ten thousand years in the making! The next, she was chasing after a squirrel-like creature with wings and a lightning-bolt tail, her eyes shining as she led her troops on a chaotic chase that sent the local wildlife scattering.
And so they traveled, playing, plundering, and exploring, until, without realizing it, they had reached the very heart of the secret realm.
Passing through a grove of ancient trees, the view opened up before them.
A majestic, yet undeniably ruined, palace complex stood silently in the distance. Built from an unknown type of cyan stone, its scale dwarfed any building Lin Ying had ever seen. But time had not been kind. The high outer walls had crumbled in many places, and the vermilion main gate was rotten, only half of it hanging askew. Above the entrance, a massive, weathered plaque hung crookedly, inscribed with three powerful, archaic characters: Hall of Ten Thousand Beasts.
"Hall of Ten Thousand Beasts?" Lin Ying tilted her head, her large eyes alight with curiosity. "That sounds so cool! Let's go check it out!"
She led her friends carefully over the collapsed threshold and into the complex.
Before them stretched an immense courtyard paved with cyan stone, large enough to hold tens of thousands of people. And in the very center of the square stood another statue of a nine-tailed fox! This one was even larger and more exquisitely carved than the one outside. Though it, too, bore the marks of age, its nine stone tails were intact, its pose elegant, its head raised as if howling at the sky, exuding an aura of supreme authority.
Behind the statue stood the main hall of the complex. Its great doors were wide open, revealing a darkness so deep it seemed like the maw of a great beast, waiting to devour any who dared enter.
"Wow! What a huge building!" Lin Ying gasped, showing not a trace of fear as she boldly marched toward the hall.
The interior was cavernous, supported by pillars so thick it would take several people to encircle them. Faded murals of fantastic beasts adorned the walls and ceiling, hinting at a glorious past. At the far end of the hall was a raised dais, upon which sat a massive stone throne—the seat of the sect master.
Lin Ying's gaze was immediately drawn to an object resting on the arm of the throne.
It was a small, palm-sized jade carving of a nine-tailed fox. The jade was pure white and warm to the touch, the craftsmanship so exquisite that every strand of fur was clearly defined. The fox's eyes were inlaid with two rare blue spirit crystals, which glowed with a soft, mysterious light in the dimness of the hall.
"What a pretty little fox!" Lin Ying's eyes sparkled. She bounded up the steps to the dais and picked up the carving.
The moment her fingers made contact with the jade fox—
HUM!
The carving erupted with a blinding, brilliant blue light, flooding the dark hall with the radiance of high noon! The jade fox levitated from her hand, hovering in mid-air.
Then, something even more astonishing happened.
The blue light coalesced, swirling and twisting before the floating carving until it slowly, deliberately, formed the clear, distinct silhouette of a woman.
She wore robes of moonlight-white that flowed like water, her figure graceful and peerless. Her jet-black hair was tied up simply with a jade hairpin, a few stray strands framing a face of breathtaking beauty. Her features were the most perfect Lin Ying had ever seen—eyebrows like distant mountains, lips like rose petals, skin as fair as snow. And her eyes… though formed of light, they seemed to hold entire galaxies within them, deep and gentle, yet tinged with the wisdom of one who has seen ages pass.
She hovered silently in the air, a faint, enigmatic smile playing on her lips as her gentle gaze fell upon the stunned little girl below.
Lin Ying's jaw hung open. It took her a long moment to find her voice.
"You… you're so pretty! Prettier than Sister Jiayin! Prettier than Sister Qingcheng! And… you feel so familiar!"