“Great Immortals… please lend me this lamp.” The fox demon seemed to have guessed that everybody knew what the lamp could do. She began to beg, “I… I promise that I will return it in ten days. I beg you!”

　　“Whose Primordial Spirit are you trying to fix with this lamp?” Lonemoon frowned.

　　“I… I…” The fox demon looked up at Lan Hua, hesitated, and then looked around guiltily.

　　Lonemoon was not in the mood to wait for her to come up with a story. He immediately conjured a spell and shot it toward her.

　　“No!” The white fox panicked and tried to stop him, but it was too late.

　　In a moment, the mark of a spell appeared on the snow white fur of the fox. On the mark was written: Xin Han.

　　The white fox immediately became pale.

　　“Xin Han?” Who’s that? Lonemoon turned around and asked, “Who has heard of this name?”

　　Everybody was shocked. One by one, they shook their heads.

　　The white fox on the ground paused and excitement filled her eyes. She seemed to heave a sigh of relief.

　　“Lan Hua, you’re the oldest here. Have you ever heard of this name?” Lonemoon turned to address Lan Hua.

　　The oldest? What the heck did he mean?

　　“It sounds familiar… Xin Han… Xin…” He pondered for a long time and then shook his head. “I forgot!”

　　“…” What use are you? You’re supposed to have been a Celestial Emperor in the past.

　　Lonemoon rolled his eyes and frowned even deeper. This is going to be difficult. They had no choice but to ask the newly-appointed Country Emperor Tao tomorrow.

　　“There’s someone who might know,” Lan Hua suddenly suggested, as if recalling something.

　　“Who?”

　　“Wait for awhile, I’ll call him over.” He flew out as fast as the wind and returned in under two minutes. He was dragging a man in blue robes. With a serious expression, he exclaimed, “Him!”

　　“Exalted Goddess Shen, Fellow… Fellow Immortals, it’s been a long time!” Chu Xuan smiled awkwardly.

　　Lonemoon: “…”

　　Shen Ying: “…”

　　Yi Qing: “…”

　　“Explain yourself!” Lonemoon pursed his lips and let out a sigh. He was trying to hold himself back from throwing a punch at Lan Hua. “Where did this man come from?” Weren’t you locked up by Chen Ge? How did you get here?

　　“He… He appeared just last night.” Lan Hua looked wronged. He came across Chu Xuan when he returned to the room the night before. He just had not had the time to chase him out yet.

　　“Fellow Immortal Lonemoon, you are mistaken,” Chu Xuan immediately begun explaining. “I did not escape. It’s that rascal Chen Ge… Er, he let me go of his own accord. He Chuan paid a price for my release, and agreed never to fight with Feng Cang again. That’s how the issue with the Immortal Execution Array came to a close. We are letting bygones be bygones.” In any case, Celestial Emperor Lan Hua has been found. He would still have opportunities to return his kindness.

　　What’s more, if he wanted to run, he would not have come here. He glanced at Shen Ying, who was picking at the fur on the white fox. Subconsciously, he retreated behind Lan Hua. For some reason, he felt pain in his body all over again.

　　“So…” Lonemoon still looked at him with contempt, then turned to glare at Lan Hua. “What has that got to do with you coming here?” Another rice-eater.

　　Lan Hua looked down to avoid Lonemoon’s gaze. This had nothing to do with him. Chu Xuan came here on his own accord.

　　“I came to find Mas- the Celestial Emperor,” Chu Xuan answered in a low voice. “Back at the Interspatial Arena, I did not have enough time to say everything I wanted to say, so…”

　　“So? How long are you planning to stay here?”

　　“Er… two or three days? Or a few months?” Much depended on the Celestial Emperor.

　　“Get out!” Both of you!

　　Lan Hua: “…”

　　Chu Xuan: “…”

　　Do you take my Invincible Sect as a halfway house? Why was everyone coming here to seek refuge? Was it not enough that they were harbouring two demons? Why were there still Celestial Emperors who were enemies of the continent? If this carried on, they would become an easy target for all refugees.

　　“Ahya, Father Niu, he’s a guest. Let’s not bother with the details!” Shen Ying stood up and smacked Lonemoon’s shoulder. She turned and addressed Chu Xuan, “Did you bring immortal stones with you?”

　　“Huh?” Chu Xuan paused, not understanding what she meant. After awhile, he pulled out several bags of immortal stones from inside his robe and handed them over. “I… I brought a few bags.”

　　Say so earlier!

　　Shen Ying’s eyes twinkled. So many stones! She took hold of them and handed them to Lonemoon.

　　Lonemoon’s expression softened. “Heh… I’ll let you off tonight. You have to go tomorrow!” I’m letting you go on account of your fees.

　　Chu Xuan: “…”

　　Why did he feel like they just tagged team to cheat him?

　　——————

　　“Xin Han!” Chu Xuan looked shocked after listening to the fox demon’s story. “Of course I know her. Wasn’t that the child from Yi Shui?”

　　“Yi Shui Continent?” Lonemoon was shocked as well. “Don’t tell me that Xin Han is the name of the Celestial Emperor of Yi Shui?”

　　“That’s right!” Chu Xuan nodded. “Don’t you know?” Isn’t this common knowledge of the immortal realm?

　　Er…

　　The new sect of the immortal realm made clear that they did not know any of this.

　　“Yi Shui is Xin Han’s territory,” Chu Xuan said as he nodded. He looked down at the fox demon, frowned, and continued, “But the people from there are weird. They’re cold and not easy to make friends with. They’re not known to mix with people of other continents. I myself have only seen them a couple of times. Among the ten Celestial Emperors, only Chen Ge, that man of many faces, has formed any sort of relations with them.”

　　So this fox is the Celestial Emperor’s spirit pet! Lonemoon looked down and glanced at the innocent little animal. No wonder it looks so good.

　　“Since you’re the Celestial Emperor’s spirit pet, why did you still covet the Spirit Convening Lamp?” Lonemoon asked. The fox demon remained curled up in a ball, hellbent on staying silent. “If you don’t say anything, we’ll send you to the Heavens Beyond Heaven and ask Celestial Emperor Xin Han ourselves.”

　　“No…” The white fox began to panic. Suddenly, she got up and pounced at Lonemoon, attempting to break out of the array. However, she was only a little fox demon that did not even know how to transform. How could she possibly break out of Lonemoon’s array? The fox demon bounced back, revealing a patch of fur that was burnt where she made contact with the array. The pure white fox looked a little burnt on one side. She lay down on the floor, unconscious and whining.

　　Lonemoon conjured a coma-inducing spell that caused the fox demon to faint. This was a Celestial Emperor’s spirit pet afterall. Lonemoon could not afford to hurt her too seriously. As for the reason that the fox tried to steal the lamp, Lonemoon would have to ask Xin Han himself to find out.

　　“It seems like we are not going to get an answer from this meeting.” Lonemoon instructed, “Yu Hong, take this fox demon to the array on the rear mountain.”

　　“Yes!”

　　“Find a time to send it back to Yi… Wait!” He stopped mid-sentence, his expression turning dark. “Shen Ying, put the fox down. I said you can’t eat it!”

　　“Chey!”

　　“Chey your ass! Did you come from Guangdong? Wait… You can’t eat the tail either!”

　　“…”

　　Damn it, it looked like he had to send the fox away as soon as he could. Immediately, right now!

　　——————

　　Father Niu and Yi Qing went to the Heavens Beyond Heaven to send the fox over. They were in such a rush because something happened to the fox in the middle of the night. It tried to run away and made contact with the meridian-protecting array on the rear mountain. It became almost entirely burnt. If Radish had not been in the area and fed the fox several immortal herbs, the fox likely would have been dead by then.

　　This fat fox was too tolerant of pain. It insisted on not speaking a single word. To prevent it from killing itself, Lonemoon had no choice but to bring forward the trip to the Heavens beyond Heaven.

　　He was not sure what the Celestial Emperor of Yi Shui was like. To protect himself, he dragged Yi Qing along.

　　Without the parents around, the Invincible Sect let itself go completely. Nobody did any chores or took care of the immortal herbs. Everybody in the sect began to analyse 101 ways to cook for Shen Ying.

　　Shen Ying was just wondering if she should organise a cooking competition when the fox demon that Father Niu took with him suddenly returned.

　　He fell into the rear with a loud crash, breaking through the roof and falling straight into the pot that Chef forbade anyone from touching.

　　Shen Ying: “…”

　　Everyone outside the house: “…”

　　So… does it really want to be used as an ingredient?

　　This was really an ambitious fox!

　　( ̄『̄)

　　Shen Ying pondered if she wanted to grant its wish. Suddenly, the fox crawled out of the pot and used two paws to hang on to her robes. In a female voice, it said, “Sect Master Shen, your disciples have been caught by demon immortals!”

　　“…”

　　Is that a pig demon?

　　“What happened?” Lan Hua was the first to react. He picked the fox demon up. “How did you come back?” And it was alone at that. “Where’s the rest?”

　　“We… We… On the way… We met the demon immortal.” The fox demon was trembling. Panicked, it continued, “They fought and then… got… got brought away. They saw that I was a demon and did not take me. You… Please go and save them!”

　　“Demon immortals!” Chu Xuan frowned. He asked contemptuously, “How does Chen Ge manage Feng Cang Continent? How can demon immortals come and go as they please?”

　　Shen Ying frowned, but did not say anything. The fox demon continued, “I took great efforts to escape and inform you. Those… Those demon immortals were very powerful. You have to be prepared before you go and save them.”

　　“Where did they take them?” Lan Hua asked.

　　“I… I don’t know.” The fox demon shook its head. “I just saw them head south.”

　　“South?” Chu Xuan pondered for a moment. “Then they should be headed for another continent. Shen… Exalted Goddess, demon immortals and immortal cultivators have never gotten along. Seeing that the elders of our sect have been taken away, I don’t think it’s anything good. We’d better hurry, or else…”

　　“No rush.” Shen Ying sat lazily on a chair and lowered her gaze at the fox demon. “You said Father Niu and Chef both got caught – and by demon immortals?”

　　“Yes!” The fox demon nodded. “I saw it with my own eyes. You need to hurry and save them, or you wouldn’t make it in time!”

　　“We need to get things clear first, don’t we?” Shen Ying was extremely calm. “Let me guess – they are both Young Immortals. If these demon immortals could capture them, their cultivation level must be much higher – they’re at least immortal emperors. But… you might not know this, but they are sword immortals! Put Father Niu aside – even the combined forces of 18 Immortal Emperors are not enough to hold Chef down.”

　　When the white fox heard this, it trembled. Its anxious expression suddenly mixed with a slight panic as it looked away.

　　“In other words…” Shen Ying continued, “The people who took them away must have been Celestial Emperors – and there was more than one of them.” She turned to look at Chu Xuan. “Hey! Boss Lan and that comrade of yours, how many demon immortals are there among the Celestial Emperors?”

　　Chu Xuan was taken aback. Why was she calling him “Chicken Oil” ¹ ? Yet, he answered honestly, “Among the ten Celestial Emperors, three are demon immortals. Biao Ting of Qing Feng, Blackbird of Feng Tian and Tian Zhao’s Bai Ti.”

　　“There are only three of them. That makes things easier.” Shen Ying narrowed her eyes and grinned at the fox demon. “I’ll tell you something else. Little Birdie and Little Biao are on very good terms with Father Niu. They could not have been the ones who caught them. That leaves us with one suspect.”

　　The white fox subconsciously curled up.

　　“That last Bai…”

　　“Bai Ti!” Chu Xuan repeated.

　　“Oh, we don’t know this person. We have nothing against him – there’s no reason he would attack us. Those people must have been coming for you.” She lowered her gaze at the fox demon. “A group of people came especially to look for you. Those demon immortals were able to capture both Chef and Father Niu, yet they let you escape. That does not make any sense, unless…” She looked down at the floor, and then suddenly back up at the white fox. “You’re in cahoots with them!”

　　“…”

　　“You did not succeed at stealing what you wanted and even ended up badly injured. You didn’t escape at the crucial moment but came back to report what happened to us. Even Radish can tell that you’re up to no good.”

　　“…”

　　“You even just told us that we have to be well-prepared before we go over and save them. Of course, the more prepared we are, the better. Ordinary immortal weapons would not be good enough. We’d better take a couple of divine artefacts with us – like the Spirit Convening Lamp?”

　　The fox demon was violently trembling by now. Its entire body was now curled up into a ball. It looked like it was going to pounce out of the door and make its escape.

　　Shen Ying squatted down and got dangerously close to the fox. Slowly and deliberately, she said, “Lying little animals like you will be barbequed!”

　　The fox: “…”

　　The people: “…”

　　“Talk – What happened to the two of them?”

　　The fox demon whose plot was exposed did not answer Shen Ying. It suddenly straightened up and turned, intending to escape.

　　Lan Hua, who was next to it, waved his hand. A wave of demonic Qi shot past them and knocked the fox demon over. Its head fell hard onto the ground. It started to struggle for its life. “Let me go… Let me… I did not lie to you. They really got caught. I just wanted that lamp, I just wanted that lamp…”

　　No matter how hard it struggled, it could not free itself of the demonic Qi. Its pure white fur became streaked with wounds. It was only then that it stopped struggling and submit to its face. It whined, “I beg you… Give me the lamp! I will not tell anyone about this. I’ll act like nothing has happened. If you don’t believe me, you can kill me later! I just want to borrow that lamp to save someone. Wu wu wu… I beg you!”

　　“What did we do?” Shen Ying frowned. What was it talking about?

　　“I… I will not tell! I swear, I swear!”

　　“Tell me, what exactly happened?” Just say it!

　　The fox demon raised its head and said meekly, “You… you’re hiding… hiding demons.”

　　Shen Ying: “…”

　　Lan Hua, who was in hiding: “…”

　　Er… Was that the reason why it did not- for the life of it- want to say why it was stealing the lamp? The crux being… None of it made any sense. Shen Ying suddenly understood why Father Niu was so against Lan Hua staying with them.

　　“Forget it, I’m going to look for the two of them.” They can wait until Father Niu returned to discuss everything else.

　　“Good…”

　　“Those who are in hiding should remain here!”

　　Lan Hua: “…”

　　“Com ² … I’m not too familiar with the road to Bai Zhao. Lead the way! And take this little animal with us.”

　　Chu Xuan: “…”

　　It seemed like she was missing a word? Calling him “Chicken Oil” seemed better than calling him “Prostitute ³ “!

　　(ಥ_ಥ)