The old male fox looked at Xiaoxiao with some confusion: “You’ve lived here for so long – why do you need to ask me?”

Xiaoxiao “heartily” laughed again, then blinked and flattered: “I’m too young and haven’t cultivated on Lingshan for very long. How could I know as much as someone well-traveled and knowledgeable like you?”

The old male fox felt flattered and became somewhat proud.

He often traveled north and south and indeed knew about the legend of Ghost Stone Cliff’s phoenix. He said: “It’s just a legend. They say a phoenix once refined itself here, built a nest in the back mountains of Ghost Stone Cliff, laid phoenix eggs, and protected them with thorns, but no one knows when they might hatch… However, these are all folk tales passed down for ages. I’ve never seen any phoenix fly out of Ghost Stone Cliff.”

Hearing it was just folklore, Xiaoxiao understood how to respond.

When she approached the young princess again, she maintained the ethereal composure befitting an immortal sect leader, speaking neither humbly nor arrogantly: “Cultivation practitioners should not be tainted by worldly dust. Since this mountain has caught the princess’s fancy and a retreat has been built, we shall take our leave and seek another place for cultivation…”

But Princess Yongning was warm-hearted. Hearing they had always cultivated in the back mountains, how could she drive away mountain immortals?

So she also generously said: “I’m getting married soon and am only here to pass a few days before my wedding. I won’t stay long. How can I make you, cultivation practitioners of the back mountains, homeless? I hear from my servants that the front and back mountains aren’t connected by roads. You can continue cultivating peacefully in the back mountains – I’ll order those craftsmen and guards not to disturb you!”

She then excitedly asked Cui Xiaoxiao to guide her to see if she could visit the back mountains to witness the phoenixes.

Before Xiaoxiao could politely refuse, the guards beside the young princess hurriedly stopped her: “Princess, absolutely not! The back mountains are desolate with many fierce beasts. If the prince knew we let you venture into dangerous territory, we’d face execution of nine generations!”

After speaking, the guards and maids all knelt in a mass.

The young princess seemed accustomed to such tearful kneeling persuasions. She sighed quietly and ordered someone to bring a box of her favorite cakes and preserves as gifts for the Talismonger Sect disciples, repeatedly making Xiaoxiao promise that if phoenixes appeared in the back mountains, she must inform her so she could appreciate them from the front mountain’s phoenix-viewing platform.

After the young princess finally left in her carriage, Xiaoxiao turned to see Yu Ling’er greedily reaching for the cake box and immediately slapped her fox paw: “You dare eat Lord Can’s niece’s food? Aren’t you afraid there are puppet parasites inside?”

Reminded of this, Yu Ling’er shivered and quickly threw the cake box on the ground.

Tang Youshu, knowing Yu Ling’er must be hungry, said to Xiaoxiao: “Grandmaster, please quickly take us to our dwelling in the back mountains to settle down. After being uninhabited for so long, the house must be full of dust. I’ll clean up first, then cook for you all.”

It seemed he had taken his grand-master’s casual words to appease the young princess seriously, truly believing the Talismonger Sect’s headquarters were in the back mountains.

Xiaoxiao had once secretly vowed when Master Tang Youshu died to never lie to anyone, but now she was lying again, deceiving her own dear master.

How could she face admitting this to Master Tang Youshu, let alone bear to see his disappointed expression?

Now with patches upon patches on her torn cassock of lies, she could only steel herself to continue this enormous deception.

As a result, Cui Xiaoxiao led Tang Youshu and the fox clan members, stumbling through layers of dense forest and thorns, finally arriving at the back mountain cave where her master had once taken her to cultivate.

The back mountains were still forbidden territory then, without the stone paths, wooden pavilions, thatched huts, stone tables, and chairs of two hundred years later. The journey was extremely arduous.

Most critically, when they reached the stone cave in the back mountains, Yu Ling’er’s fox eyes widened, and everyone fell into terrible silence.

Yu Ling’er stared in disbelief at this cave covered in vines and spider webs, pitch black inside, for a long moment before picking up a stone to test by throwing it in.

The next moment, countless bats fluttered out on their wings, frightening the timid fox into howling and clinging to Tang Youshu’s neck.

After calming down, Yu Ling’er asked Cui Xiaoxiao with tears in her eyes: “You… inherited the Talismonger Sect’s sacred traditions with your master in this place?”

Cui Xiaoxiao, maintaining her thick-skinned expertise, drawled: “Well… having been away too long, this cave has become somewhat desolate, but with a little cleaning, it would still be quite cozy and livable.”

Yu Ling’er immediately shook her head. Even if she was a fox, she was an ambitious demon! She would never live in such a cold, damp cave, even if beaten to death.

She finally understood why Xiaoxiao was so capable, yet the Talismonger Sect remained unknown and couldn’t recruit disciples.

Without a phoenix tree, you can’t attract golden phoenixes!

With the Talismonger Sect’s foundation worse than even a beggar gang’s, where could they recruit disciples?

Thinking this, Yu Ling’er couldn’t help sighing: “We were too presumptuous earlier. Why bother with invisibility talismans to sneak away? You should have brought all those people who claimed they wanted to become disciples to live in this cave for two nights. Those who could persist in staying would be determined and sincere about discipleship. You must keep such destined disciples!”

Xiaoxiao found Yu Ling’er’s words quite reasonable.

If she had known she would lie her way into spending the night in a back mountain cave, Xiaoxiao would have brought that group of people into the mountains.

At least now, when pulling vines and cutting grass, she wouldn’t lack ready laborers!

Unfortunately, there’s no medicine for regret in this world. After thinking about it, Xiaoxiao was too lazy to pull more grass and said to Tang Youshu and the others, “Let’s go. This place is uninhabitable – let’s go down the mountain.”

But Tang Youshu hesitantly reminded: “But… didn’t you say tomorrow is the exact day to commemorate the Talismonger Sect’s grandmaster? If we go down the mountain to find lodging, we’d need to travel at least several hundred li. With all this back-and-forth, wouldn’t we miss the memorial time?”

Xiaoxiao was stuck again. She couldn’t tell Young Master Tang the truth – that she wanted to commemorate him dying peacefully tomorrow, two hundred years in the future.

Moreover, on Ghost Stone Cliff two hundred years ago, there wasn’t a single grave mound of his anywhere on the mountain.

It was too late to build a grave overnight now. If she waited until tomorrow, what would she have them commemorate?

Master, your teachings were wise – lying truly damages one’s virtue! Your disciple is now patching lies until her mouth is tired and really can’t mend this torn cassock anymore.

That night, they still stayed in the back mountains, lighting a campfire to spend the night roughly, then wait for dawn the next day to commemorate the Talismonger Sect’s Grand-Master!

Without Wei Jie present, dinner was made by Tang Youshu. Xiaoxiao tasted the fish soup and nearly vomited from nausea.

It turned out that Tang Youshu had accidentally broken the fish’s gall bladder while preparing it, making the entire pot of fish soup taste fishy and bitter.

This wonderful and indescribable taste reminded Xiaoxiao of when her master was alive and occasionally cooked for them – it seemed to be just like this.

Truth be told, her master’s culinary skills had truly remained at the same level for two hundred years!

For a moment, everyone missed Wei Jie again – despite Young Master Wei’s usual lazy and casual appearance, he handled almost all three daily meals, whether roasting or stewing, everything was flavorful and delicious.

They wondered if he had reached the Wei family and when he would return to find them…

So the first night of the Talismonger Sect disciples’ return to the mountains for ancestral worship was spent in cold wind and misery with nothing to eat and nowhere to stay.

The ground was too wet, and their bedding was all in the carriage, which they hadn’t brought when they slipped away.

So Xiaoxiao didn’t sleep, only moved some campfire beside her, and quietly read the Talismonger Sect’s secret texts alone.

Yu Ling’er was learning to read with Tang Youshu, and the two were chattering happily.

What Xiaoxiao was cramming now was the section about when her master had come to Ghost Stone Cliff with Wei Jie.

At that time, Wei Jie had lost his mother and was cynical and deeply possessed by demons. However, he seemed to know his problem of not recognizing family when demonic episodes struck, so he would seek uninhabited places during attacks.

When he first arrived at Ghost Stone Cliff, he had once gone into seclusion in the unpopulated back mountains, but he suddenly disappeared mysteriously. Tang Youshu searched everywhere for Wei Jie, and when he finally saw his master again, the master was covered in charcoal, his entire body burned.

Fortunately, he had a female demon bloodline, but it still took a long time of care before all his burns healed…

When Tang Youshu recorded this section, he seemed to hint that his master’s brain was also damaged, because he wrote that after the master returned from tribulation, his nature became gentle and harmonious, he developed an elegant interest in tending flowers and plants, and even raised a bird…

Reading this, Xiaoxiao grinned and looked carefully at what Wei Jie raised… Hmm? A crow?

Why would he raise a crow? Perhaps to fatten it for drinking snacks?

But after smiling, Xiaoxiao couldn’t help shivering – she was now taking Wei Jie’s destiny, truly one big pit after another.

If Wei Jie had another tribulation in the back mountains, wouldn’t she have to face it for him? Other tribulations might be manageable, but this trial by fire burning the entire body… she really couldn’t handle it!

Thinking this, Xiaoxiao became even more determined – time to flee! This Lingshan from two hundred years ago wasn’t very hospitable!

Thinking this, she casually stuffed the secret text into her traveling bundle, then pretended to meditate while squinting to see what others were doing.

Yu Ling’er was always fond of sleep. Tang Youshu had found two small cushions in his basket, giving one to Grand-Master Xiaoxiao and placing the other on a large stone.

Now Ling’er had revealed her true form, curled into a fluffy white ball, sleeping comfortably on the small cushion.

Tang Youshu was also sleeping, leaning against the big stone. The little fox had unconsciously moved her fluffy body beside Young Master Tang’s head. Tang Youshu even comfortably nuzzled the fur, sleeping with such innocent intimacy!

After the other fox clan members had all found places to sleep, Xiaoxiao, who had been steadily meditating, suddenly opened her eyes.

She had long decided to find an opportunity to slip away.

Just right that her enormous lie couldn’t be sustained anymore – if she didn’t slip away now, when would she?

As for the excuse for leaving, she had thought of it too. She would leave Tang Youshu a letter saying she missed her master so much that she couldn’t bear the pain of longing and feared excessive grief during the memorial, so she had to leave early.

Whether Tang Youshu and the others stayed here to wait for Wei Jie or found another place would depend on their thoughts.

Although Xiaoxiao felt ten thousand reluctances toward her master, she knew she had to leave!

Now with dark moon and high wind, it was the perfect time to slip away.

So she left another farewell letter on her meditation cushion, then silently stuck on an invisibility talisman and left the campsite.

This back mountain was a place she often came with fellow disciples before. According to her master, all of Lingshan’s spiritual energy was in these back mountains, with an aura very suitable for cultivation, but he had never clearly explained why.

But now these back mountains were high and densely forested. All the guiding paths and wooden signs from her previous life didn’t exist. So Xiaoxiao, wearing her invisibility talisman, wandered like a lost soul… and got lost in the layered peaks and dense forests of the back mountains!

Now it was dark, the stars above weren’t very clear, and she couldn’t distinguish north from south at all. Xiaoxiao walked in circles for a long time but still couldn’t escape the maze-like thorn bushes.

She hadn’t eaten much for dinner and was now hungry. Finally, she gave up and sat down to wait for dawn and sunshine to find her way out.

Just then, the tree branches above suddenly made subtle sounds. Xiaoxiao looked up and saw a long-tailed pheasant perched above her head.

The pheasant seemed slightly smaller than the pheasants she usually saw, but its tail was extremely long. In the dim night, she couldn’t see the feather colors clearly, only two eyes glowing with eerie light in the faint moonlight, looking quite unsettling…

As long as it wasn’t a man-eating monster, Xiaoxiao was too lazy to care. But in the middle of the night, pheasants were not sleeping – was it because she had disturbed them?

While Xiaoxiao was lost in thought, several more pheasants successively perched on the tree above.

Xiaoxiao hadn’t even seen clearly how they flew to her head – they seemed to appear from thin air, each dragging incredibly exaggerated long tails, standing scattered on tree branches, tilting their heads, silently watching Cui Xiaoxiao.

Their eyes glowed with eerie light, motionlessly flickering in the pitch-black mountain night, truly enough to scare the souls out of timid people.

Xiaoxiao first stared at these five pheasants for a while. Seeing they had no intention of closing their eyes to sleep, she became vigilant.

Although pheasants weren’t fierce beasts, they should fear humans. For them to actively perch above a person’s head and stare at her so eerily – what did they want?

However, since they were the locals of this mountain, Xiaoxiao decided to yield territory and distance herself from these pheasants.

But when she stood up, walked through the thorn bushes for a while, and stopped to rest, her neck suddenly stiffened slightly as she slowly looked up.

On the tall tree not far from her, ten eerie eyes were still flickering…

Those five pheasants had somehow perched above her head again.

This time, Xiaoxiao was certain the five birds had problems. Pheasants weren’t night owls – they were night-blind and couldn’t see clearly after dark.

Unless frightened or threatened, they would never fly easily.

But these five pheasants neither called nor made wing-flapping sounds, just silently following her – this was truly against nature!

Xiaoxiao had to wonder deeply: what exactly were these five things above her head?

With growing vigilance, Xiaoxiao quietly prepared five demon-subduing silver talismans in her hand. If these five chickens attacked, she could strike first.

But these five perched on branches seemed to have no intention of moving, still tilting their heads, motionlessly staring at Xiaoxiao.

Xiaoxiao suddenly understood why Yu Ling’er feared the dark and didn’t dare hunt alone in the forest.

This deep night in the high mountains and dense forests was truly terrifying! If she had known she would encounter these five staring birds, Xiaoxiao might have reconsidered leaving her good disciple-grandson and the others so soon.

Thinking this, Xiaoxiao suddenly got up and ran quickly back – forget it, she should return first. It wouldn’t be too late to sneak away after dawn.

As she ran, moonlight broke through covering clouds, spilling over the earth.

Xiaoxiao saw shadows cast on the ground – shadows of birds in flight with spread wings, but in the moonlight, those shadows appeared incredibly large, clearly several times bigger than her own shadow.

This oppressive feeling of being tracked and pursued was truly unbearable. Xiaoxiao couldn’t stand it and turned to throw the talismans in her hand.

But before she could turn around, her foot stepped on a soft pile of fallen leaves, then gave way as she began falling. In her panic, even her bundle flew out.

There was a narrow valley here! Because it was covered with fallen branches and leaves, it became a natural trap, causing Xiaoxiao’s foot to slip and fall rapidly.

In the critical moment, Yu Tiandou was pulled by Xiaoxiao’s will and quickly unsheathed, supporting Xiaoxiao at the crucial moment so she didn’t crash to the ground.

When Xiaoxiao landed and looked up, she discovered the place where she had stepped through was about a hundred zhang above her!

Because it was too dark around, she gripped Yu Tiandou tightly and lit a fire starter, using the small flame to explore her surroundings.

This narrow valley seemed bottle-shaped – a narrow opening, a wide bottom. The valley floor seemed extremely spacious all around, covered with weeds and some nameless trees. At the valley bottom was also a stream, slowly meandering.

When Xiaoxiao used the fire starter to explore around, that bit of light in her hand seemed to awaken something in the stream. The stream water gradually began glowing and brightening, like a crystal jade belt, illuminating the entire canyon.

The fire starter’s small light became useless, so Xiaoxiao extinguished it. When she came to the stream, she discovered the glow came from transparent noodle-like fish in the water. Their slender bodies emitted amazing light; no wonder they illuminated the entire stream.

Just then, the five pheasants that had been following Xiaoxiao also descended, perching by the bright stream.

They seemed hungry, all pecking at the glowing small fish in the water. After eating one or two, their bodies seemed to change – every feather began becoming crystalline and luminous, and the plumes on their heads gradually spread out.

Xiaoxiao watched these birds vigilantly, but her eyes grew wider and wider because she suddenly realized these pheasants looked… not like pheasants at all, and these five had vastly different colors: red, azure, yellow, purple, and white.

Regardless of color, their forms and that proud, aloof bearing were far too different from commonly seen pheasants!

Just then, Princess Yongning’s words from earlier suddenly flashed in Xiaoxiao’s mind… legend says the back mountains of Ghost Stone Cliff have phoenixes…

The colors of these “pheasants” seemed to correspond exactly to the legendary five phoenixes. When her master was alive, he had read her “Lunheng,” which stated: “All phoenix-like birds have five colors: mostly red is phoenix, mostly azure is luan, mostly yellow is yuanchu, mostly purple is jianzhuo, mostly white is honghu.”

Now these five-colored birds appeared before her, their entire bodies flowing with brilliant light, matching this mountain’s folklore perfectly!

She just didn’t know why these five phoenixes had been following her.

But since these five birds were phoenixes, Xiaoxiao couldn’t rashly stick demon-subduing talismans on them. Since they were divine birds, they must all have proud natures. If they didn’t harm people and she rashly showed hostility, it would certainly damage the divine birds’ proud spirits.

So Xiaoxiao cleared her throat and tried communicating with the divine birds: “Honored immortal birds, I mean no offense. I’m truly lost, so I accidentally entered your territory. Once I find the way out, I’ll leave and definitely won’t disturb your peaceful cultivation…”

After she said this, the divine birds seemed to understand but still unhurriedly preened their feathers, then flew down beside Xiaoxiao. With phoenix feet turning and long tails swaying, they began dancing an elegant and mesmerizing phoenix dance!

Truly worthy of phoenixes – even though much smaller than legendary ones, their graceful bearing was undiminished.

For a moment, Xiaoxiao was mesmerized by their constantly changing forms as they flew up and down, spreading wings in endless variations, becoming entranced amid the brilliant five-colored plumes and wings…

But just then, the long-silent demon pearl suddenly spoke: “Heartless dead girl, wake up! If you want to die, don’t drag me to be buried with you!”

Even after long silence, the demon pearl’s tone remained sharp and bitter, like a huge grudge-bearer.

Xiaoxiao snapped back to awareness, gripping “Yu Tiandou” tighter while silently asking: “What do you mean by that?”

The demon pearl seemed to have seen something terrifying, speaking in a suppressed voice: “Didn’t you recognize them as phoenixes? Why are you still standing here like a wooden post? Be careful, they take you as dessert!”

Xiaoxiao was somewhat puzzled, asking the demon pearl, “I’ve never heard of phoenixes eating people. As long as I don’t provoke them, aren’t they auspicious birds?”

The demon pearl couldn’t get through to Xiaoxiao and seemed angry: “Yes, divine birds don’t eat people… but are you human? Did you forget you’re now half-human, half-demon? And you became demonic through snakes. With my aura on you, this demonic energy is the favorite of the supreme yang birds! In their eyes now, you’re no different from those fish in the stream! You see them excited enough to dance – soon they’ll disembowel you and eat you as a midnight snack! In the middle of the night, insisting on bringing me here to die, you dead girl! I’m truly cursed with bad luck, being attached to you…”

What followed was a long string of the demon pearl’s curses, but it seemed to fear the phoenixes, its aura suppressed and unstable. After cursing a few times, its voice weakened to barely audible.

Legend says phoenixes love eating dragons and snakes!

For instance, the Garuda mentioned in Buddhist scriptures was supposedly a phoenix’s previous incarnation, one of the eight divine beings in the heavenly dragon assembly. When Garuda was undergoing its five-hundred-year nirvana rebirth, it would eat hundreds of giant dragons and venomous snakes daily…

Xiaoxiao’s heart trembled: Right, she always forgot she was already half-possessed by demons. Now her entire arm was covered in snake scales – eating her would probably taste no different from fish…

As if confirming the demon pearl’s words, these phoenixes danced with increasing vigor, their eyes always fixed tightly on Xiaoxiao.

Suddenly, the leading red one let out a short, sharp cry. This call seemed like a command – the other four joined in crying, then, like five-colored lightning, charged swiftly toward Xiaoxiao.