Chapter 279

Chapter 279: Digging to the Root Means Bearing the Consequences
The little foxes did not get to see the chieftain. They were taken away by the other elders.

Yu Zhao entered a building full of Otherkin Race features by herself. Before she could even sit down, Bai Ling could not help asking: “What did you say to Quan Ye to make him lose control like that?”

Yu Zhao glanced at him.

Bai Ling could hear Quan Ye’s ghost-like howls from here. How could he not know what had happened between them?

It seemed he still had not given up on Quan Ye.

The look in Yu Zhao’s eyes said all of this too clearly. Bai Ling rubbed his nose and gave an awkward smile.

“We all know about how you risked yourself in the Dragon Pool Mountains to save that bunch of little ones. This time, consider it that I, Nine-Tails, owe you a favor,” Nine-Tails said.

Nine-Tails thanked Yu Zhao with her mouth, but thick killing intent flashed in her eyes.

Did those people think everything would be fine just because they escaped the Dragon Pool Mountains?

From the moment they stepped into the Dragon Pool Mountains, a mark from that place had been left on them. Countless demonic beasts had collected their scent. One passed it to ten, ten passed it to a hundred.

As long as they dared show themselves in any place where demonic beasts roamed, what awaited them would be a hunt that would not end until one side died.

Yu Zhao said: “I want to trade that favor for a question.”

Nine-Tails and Bai Ling exchanged a glance.

Nine-Tails asked: “Is what you want to ask related to Ascension?”

“Yes,” Yu Zhao replied.

After Yu Zhao answered, the surroundings suddenly grew quiet.

A long time passed.

Then Nine-Tails’ voice sounded again.

“The matter of Ascension concerns the entire cultivation world. Are you sure you want to know?”

Digging to the root meant bearing the consequences. This was why Nine-Tails had avoided talking about it in the beginning.

Yu Zhao was too young. She was afraid Yu Zhao was acting on impulse and would not only fail to help, but also destroy the relative peace and throw the cultivation world into chaos.

But Yu Zhao told her firmly: “I have thought it through.”

Yu Zhao had once sworn before the Longevity Tree that she would rebuild the Heavenly Ladder, even if it cost her life.

She had never forgotten that oath.

Nine-Tails stared straight at her, as if she wanted to pierce through Yu Zhao’s eyes and see into her heart.

Yu Zhao calmly accepted her scrutiny.

Bai Ling also spoke up for Yu Zhao, saying: “Yu Zhao is not a frivolous or arrogant person. Her words can be trusted.”

In order to learn the truth, Yu Zhao had even produced a beast egg with an Azure Dragon bloodline, a phoenix feather, and the favor Nine-Tails had promised her. That was enough to show her sincerity.

Bai Ling often regretted that the one with the Azure Dragon bloodline was not Yu Zhao. If it had been her, he would not have had to struggle or hesitate. He could have put all his effort into her alone.

Even if things failed in the end, he believed Yu Zhao would still do her best.

He would be able to die without regret.

What a pity…

Hearing the sigh from beside her, Nine-Tails finally made up her mind.

She used demon qi to seal off the surroundings and then had Yu Zhao swear that she would never tell anyone what Nine-Tails was about to say today.

After Yu Zhao swore according to her demands, Nine-Tails finally revealed the secret she had buried in her heart for hundreds of years.

“Before the Red Tail Ancestor was about to ascend to the upper realm, she used a Fox Clan secret art to send the chieftain a scene…” she said.

Nine-Tails’ brows knitted without her noticing.

“Behind the Heavenly Ladder, there was a mystic thread with no visible end. The line was extremely thin. One end was connected to the cultivation world, while the other end could not be traced. But in that image, you could clearly see that thin thread sucking away the cultivation world’s spiritual energy.”

Although Yu Zhao and Bai Ling had both guessed that the Red Tail Ancestor might have seen something incredible during her Ascension, after hearing Nine-Tails’ account, their minds still went blank.

They were so shocked that they could not speak.

Sucking away the spiritual energy of the entire cultivation world?

It sounded like something from a wild fantasy.

In this cultivation world, where the peak of cultivation was the Divine Transformation Stage, Yu Zhao found it hard to imagine what kind of existence could feed on the spiritual energy of an entire world.

A cultivator?

Or… an immortal?

“Nine-Tails, do you think it is possible your clan’s ancestor saw it wrong…” Bai Ling asked.

Bai Ling still could not accept it.

“My clan’s ancestor could not have seen it wrong. Besides, if no one is secretly absorbing the cultivation world’s spiritual energy, how do you explain how the spiritual energy has become thinner and thinner in recent years?” Nine-Tails said.

Bai Ling fell silent.

Yu Zhao came back to herself and asked calmly: “Was the vision the Red Tail Ancestor sent back preserved? Can outsiders see it?”

She had also doubted the truth of what Nine-Tails said, but she did not want to start assuming things without seeing evidence. She preferred to confirm first, then reason.

Nine-Tails shook her head and said: “The scene at that time was sent directly by the Red Tail Ancestor into the chieftain’s sea of consciousness. Later, when the chieftain tried to pass that memory to the next chieftain, she found she could not extract those scenes at all. They could only be passed down by word of mouth.”

“Did the Red Tail Ancestor notice any sign that the Heavenly Ladder itself was broken?” Yu Zhao asked.

“No.” After Nine-Tails answered, she suddenly realized the deeper meaning in Yu Zhao’s words, and her voice rose: “You mean the Heavenly Ladder that leads to the upper realm has problems too?”

Yu Zhao looked at Bai Ling, her eyes clearly saying: “You never told Clan Leader Nine-Tails about this?”

Bai Ling let out a small sound, looking even more innocent than Yu Zhao: “Ah, I thought I had. Did I not say it?”

Yu Zhao: “…”

“What kind of secret code are you two playing at over there?” Nine-Tails snapped.

Watching Yu Zhao and Bai Ling “speak with their eyes” right in front of her, Nine-Tails was very annoyed.

Bai Ling had finally gotten what he wanted, so of course he did not dare hide anything. He quickly told Nine-Tails everything he knew.

A storm instantly rose in Nine-Tails’ heart.

When she had first met Yu Zhao, Yu Zhao had already asked about the Heavenly Ladder. Back then, Nine-Tails thought Yu Zhao had mistaken the mystic thread that was sucking spiritual energy for a crack in the Heavenly Ladder, so she had not taken it to heart.

So the Heavenly Ladder really had problems as well.

No wonder no one had been able to summon it for so many years.

Whether the Heavenly Ladder even still existed had already become an unknown riddle.

Did the cultivation world still have a future?

Nine-Tails fell into deep confusion and despair.

Bai Ling wanted to comfort her, but no matter how he racked his brain, he could not think of any words that would ease Nine-Tails’ heart. All he could do was clumsily pat her shoulder, his movements gentle.

Yu Zhao had no mind to pay attention to their interaction. Her head was filled with what Nine-Tails had just said.

If the Red Tail Ancestor really had not seen wrongly, and there truly was a mystic thread drawing away the cultivation world’s spirit power, then the master of that mystic thread was surely using it to strengthen themselves.

This made Yu Zhao think of the malevolent spirit living on Ye Cong Xin. It also helped Ye Cong Xin increase her cultivation level by drawing away other people’s fortune.

The two seemed different, yet they worked in almost the same way.

Was that mysterious mystic thread really only taking away the cultivation world’s spiritual energy?

Did it have any connection with the malevolent spirit on Ye Cong Xin at all?

Her original goal had been to get more clues from Nine-Tails, but instead she had created new mysteries.

Rebuilding the Heavenly Ladder was a long and difficult road.

She still had far too few clues in her hands…

At that moment, something suddenly came to Yu Zhao’s mind, and her eyes lit up.

She had thought to visit the Nine-Tailed Fox, so how had she not thought to consult the seniors of the One Sect, Two Schools, Four Clans?

As the pillars of the cultivation world, there was no way they knew nothing about the Heavenly Ladder.

Maybe, just like Bai Ling and Nine-Tails, they had already noticed something wrong long ago but had sealed off the news for all kinds of reasons, leaving the outside world in the dark.

The more Yu Zhao thought about it, the more reasonable her guess seemed. She immediately decided to leave Qingqiu Mountain and head to Hundred Flowers Valley, the closest of those powers.