Chapter 259

Chapter 259: Not Like You, You Smell So Nice
Yu Zhao could see it too.

In fact, both Nine-Tails and Bai Ling were secretly worrying about the Heavenly Ladder breaking.

It was just that one did it in the open and the other in the dark, so outsiders could not see the connection between them.

No, it was not only outsiders. Bai Ling himself probably did not know that Nine-Tails was paying attention to this matter. Otherwise, he would not have gone so many years without contacting her.

Nine-Tails refusing to tell Yu Zhao the truth was also within Yu Zhao’s expectations.

The gap between the human and demon clans was not something she could erase with a few words.

Yu Zhao said: “Sister Nine-Tails, if you don’t trust me, I won’t force it. But Clan Chief Bai Ling has been devoted to you for a very long time. I hope you can give him a chance.”

Bai Ling’s face turned bright red. He instinctively wanted to deny it.

But when he remembered how he had lost control and spread his tail earlier, making a fool of himself, he gave up and turned his head away, acting like he did not care.

Nine-Tails glared at Yu Zhao in pretend anger and said: “Little girl, your elder sister’s business doesn’t need you to meddle in it.”

Yu Zhao smiled in understanding.

She casually found an excuse, turned, and slipped away.

“Yu Zhao…” Bai Ling called.

When Bai Ling saw Yu Zhao leaving, he stood up in panic.

Nine-Tails said softly: “What, you don’t want to talk with me?”

“N-no, that’s not it, I mean, okay.”

Bai Ling’s broken, stammering voice drifted into Yu Zhao’s ears.

Yu Zhao ran even faster.

[Clan Chief Bai Ling, for the future of the cultivation world, I can only sacrifice your good looks.]

Once she left the range where the two demons could sense her, Yu Zhao slowed down. Her gaze grew deep.

In her previous life, the White Peacock Clan and the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan had fallen out badly because of Quan Ye.

The White Peacock Clan had protected Quan Ye at every turn and had supported him many times in his fight for the position of Beast King. The Nine-Tailed Fox Clan strongly opposed him. Because of that, when Yu Zhao died, Quan Ye was only the most favored candidate and had never managed to sit on the throne.

If Yu Zhao had not come along with Bai Ling to Qingqiu Mountain this time, she never would have known that those two famous enemies from her past life actually had such a history between them.

This time, she had found a demonic beast egg that belonged to a descendant of the Azure Dragon to take Quan Ye’s place. They probably would not walk down the old path again.

Thinking of Quan Ye, the corner of Yu Zhao’s eye twitched slightly.

She recalled once more how Quan Ye had looked when he was tied to the tree, half dead.

She did not know whether Quan Ye would remember what he had gone through after he woke up, or whether he would rein in his arrogant and domineering temper.

For some reason, Yu Zhao felt a bit of expectation.

“Are you human too?” a voice asked.

From the grass, a gray little fox stuck out its head. Its big, bright eyes blinked, and its two furry little tails swayed back and forth behind it.

In the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan, rank was divided by fur color and by the number of tails.

One-tailed green foxes were the lowest rank. Nine-tailed white foxes were supreme.

But the cultivation world had not seen a nine-tailed white fox appear for many years. The strongest now were five-tailed dark foxes at the Divine Transformation stage.

Nine-Tails and Hong Wei at the Ascension stage were both five-tailed dark foxes.

The little fox in front of Yu Zhao had gray fur and two tails. It was a two-tailed ghost fox, with a cultivation level equal to a cultivator at the Foundation Establishment stage.

Yu Zhao gave the little fox a small smile and said: “Yes.”

The little fox seemed to feel the goodwill Yu Zhao was sending her. She hopped out of the grass to Yu Zhao’s feet, sniffed lightly with her nose, and her round eyes widened again.

“You smell nice, not like them!” she said.

The little fox frowned and repeated: “They stink. I don’t like them.”

[Them?]

Yu Zhao fell into thought.

She crouched down and took a handful of dried little fish from her storage space, handing them to the little fox.

The little fox was not polite at all. She stretched out her two chubby paws, hugged the dried fish, opened her mouth wide, and chomped down.

She froze in disbelief for a moment, then quickly gobbled down all the dried fish like a gust of wind sweeping away clouds.

“If you give me lots more dried fish, I’ll tell you whatever you ask,” she said.

Before Yu Zhao could speak, the little fox had already guessed what she was thinking. She licked her paw and took the initiative to offer a deal.

Yu Zhao waved her hand.

With a loud thump, two baskets of dried fish fell in front of the little fox.

These were specialty snacks she had bought in Nanming City back then. Because they were cheap and tasty, she had bought a lot in one go.

The little fox lowered her ears and glanced left and right, then quickly put both baskets of dried fish into her own storage space.

Then she took out one dried fish. While chewing, she mumbled unclearly: “Tell me, who came up with this little thing… why does it smell so good…”

Yu Zhao could not help bursting into laughter.

She almost wanted to feed her all the rest of her snacks.

But before that, she still needed to clear up her doubts.

She asked: “Who were you talking about when you said ‘them’ just now?”

“That big lug, and a big block of ice and his slave,” the little fox said.

The big lug was Quan Ye. The big block of ice and his slave naturally referred to Master Qing Yan and Su Ming.

Yu Zhao could not help sighing at how deep the karmic ties between them ran.

There were seven or eight famous great demons in the cultivation world whose names everyone knew, yet Master Qing Yan had picked the very Nine-Tails Yu Zhao planned to visit.

“Where did the other two go?” Yu Zhao asked.

“I don’t know that,” the little fox answered seriously as she licked off the last crumbs. “It should be very far away. The chieftain made things hard on purpose. She definitely won’t let them have a good time.”

“Why did Clan Leader Nine-Tails make things hard for them?” Yu Zhao asked.

At that topic, the little fox was filled with anger. She waved her two chubby paws and said: “It’s because that big block of ice looks down on demons. As soon as he came to Qingqiu Mountain, his face was all stinky. His words were stinky too. He even complained that our fox smell here was too strong. Of course the chieftain had to teach them a lesson.”

Yu Zhao could not help laughing.

That really did fit Master Qing Yan’s style.

No wonder Quan Ye had ended up tied to a tree and tormented. He must have been dragged down by Master Qing Yan.

“All the elder sisters like that big lug, but I don’t,” the little fox went on. “He’s ugly, and he always glares at me. You’re not like that. You smell nice, and you have dried fish. I’ll marry you in the future. My fox den is big and warm. Then I can eat dried fish every day.”

The little fox shared her bright dream with Yu Zhao.

Yu Zhao’s eyes curved with a smile. She could not resist reaching out to rub the furry little head.

“Thank you for liking me,” Yu Zhao said. “But you can’t want to marry me just for a few dried fish. People who give you dried fish aren’t always good people. Sometimes the dried fish might be bait with poison inside, used to trick little foxes like you who don’t know much about the world.”

The little fox grabbed her belly in fear and said: “There’s poison in the dried fish? Then am I about to die?”

“The ones I gave you aren’t poisonous,” Yu Zhao said. “But the dried fish you meet in the future might not be the same.”

Yu Zhao could tell this little fox had probably never left Qingqiu Mountain before and had no caution toward people at all.

That was very dangerous.

The little fox let out a long breath of relief and patted her round belly: “Then I’m fine. I can tell good people from bad people. You’re a good person. The big block of ice and the big lug are bad people. No matter how good their dried fish smells… slurp… I still won’t eat it.”

Yu Zhao doubted the little fox, who was swallowing her saliva even as she spoke so firmly.

“Really, really,” the little fox said. “I’m the smartest little fox in the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan. If you don’t believe me, I’ll take you to find my elder sisters. They can prove it.”

The little fox leaped up and landed on Yu Zhao’s shoulder, directing her to go find her clansmen.

Feeling the heavy weight on her shoulder, Yu Zhao bared her teeth.

[Tsk, I didn’t realize this little fox was solid all the way through.]