Master of Ten Thousand Foxes

Step.

Step.

In the pitch-black passage, Bai Mo walked at the forefront.

Behind him, White Ears and Black Ears each held a torch, illuminating the path for their master.

Behind them, White Moon and Bai Taiyang each carried a pot of purple bellflowers, guarding against pollution for their master.

This passage hadn’t seen visitors for many years; every step kicked up swirling dust.

The foxes were a bit nervous, but following their master, they had no reason to fear.

Thus, the entire exploration team ventured deeper.

"Huh? Are there words here?"

Bai Mo reached back, receiving a torch nimbly passed by a disciple.

The torchlight approached the wall, illuminating the densely packed Sequence Six characters.

[Ahead lies the Heart Inquiry Chamber, featuring ten Heart Inquiry Copper Men, one question per step, which is weightier, you or civilization?]

[If civilization bears more weight, the copper men will naturally make way...]

Bai Mo read on line by line.

[...Both the Profound Black Stone Hall and the Heart Inquiry Copper Men are uniformly crafted by the Celestial Palace, indestructible, and cannot be forcefully breached]

[Once the alarm is triggered, the stone hall will destroy all internal documents...]

Bai Mo pondered for a long time, furrowing his brow slightly, somewhat depressed.

"Which is weightier, me or civilization?

"Did the Ancient Immortal Dynasty really use such methods to discern whether an immortal might fall into corruption?

"Is this really effective?"

Bai Mo had heard that some ruthless individuals could even deceive themselves!

He smirked, leading his disciples around the corner.

The torchlight dimmed slightly... it seemed they had reached the depths of the passage, where oxygen levels were lower.

But the light still revealed ten copper men ahead.

Each copper man held a mirror in both hands.

Their bodies cast long shadows in the torchlight.

As Bai Mo stepped forward, they simultaneously lowered their right hands with a heavy "creak."

Amidst the weighty, rustling sound, they lined up left and right, five on each side, seemingly welcoming Bai Mo, allowing him to pass.

"Let’s go."

Bai Mo beckoned his disciples, then passed through the ten copper men, moving deeper into the passage.

A curious fox disciple glanced at the mirrors held by the copper men.

In the copper man’s left hand, representing oneself, the mirror was empty, reflecting nothing.

While in the copper man’s right hand, representing civilization, was a complete darkness, like the deepest, darkest night.

And within this darkness, vague silhouettes could be seen, some on the street, some in alleys, some in villages, some in buildings, guarding large or small lights.

The guarded lights, whether candles or lamps, phone screens or fireflies, were held in hands, cradled in arms, carefully protected, even if they only illuminated a small fragment of black night, even if they didn’t know when they would extinguish.

White Ears suddenly beamed with joy.

"Howl howl howl!"

In that image, it saw its master!

In the mirror representing civilization, it saw Bai Mo!

In the pitch-dark image, faintly showing the outline of a shabby building, inside a window of the building, a youth sat cross-legged on the floor, slightly lifting his head, holding up the largest and brightest flame!

...

Inside the Celestial Palace stone hall.

The Bright Pearl embedded in the ceiling radiated gentle light.

Sun Jinsong stood beside his master, looking around, seeing no boundaries to the hall, only rows of bookshelves and columns.

And each bookshelf was piled full of silk books.

The Ancient Immortal waved a hand.

"These are the documents concerning Root System Domain knowledge collected by the Celestial Palace.

"All the documents ever accumulated by the Dan Kingdom...

"The research developed by generations of Emperors and Celestial Palaces...

"The offerings from various Holy Lands and Pill Palaces...

"It’s all here!"

Sun Jinsong rubbed his eyes, confirming he wasn’t seeing things.

"Master... this... this would take me a lifetime to learn?"

The Ancient Immortal patted his arm, grinning.

"You fool, you don’t need to learn it all.

"With your master guiding your study, and your bloodline memories steadily awakening, what are you afraid of?

"In less than five years, I guarantee you’ll at least forge a Shame Tripod!

"Come, find a place to sit, I’ll first pick out a few rolls of textbooks for you."

...

Leading his disciples deeper along the passage, they reached a doorway, the way ahead finally brightened, revealing a stone chamber! Bai Mo was about to rejoice when he suddenly stepped back, furrowing his brow.

"What’s that smell, so strong?"

The fox disciples behind him also stopped, crowding behind their master, bobbing their heads, squinting their eyes, sniffing the air.

"Whimper?"

"Howl?"

The foxes furrowed their brows.

There really was a smell!

An old, metallic scent of rust!

Bai Mo took out a mask from his pocket and put it on.

His disciples also retrieved pig-nose masks from the medicine box, wearing them on their faces.

"This smell, it’s like the scent of blood.

"And it’s... it’s the kind that’s lingered over many, many years, dispersing the stench, leaving only the metallic scent of blood."

Bai Mo speculated as he entered the stone chamber ahead with a torch.

Under the glow of the firelight, a stele stood in the center of the stone chamber.

[The Cyan Moon Pill Palace is initially established with no foundation, with almost no research on the Root System Domain, and almost no documentation]

[Today, I will temporarily donate my personal collection to this stone chamber for everyone to study and reference]

[These collections contain root-based Immortal Techniques, which are too bloody, too brutal, and too fierce. You may view and learn them, but you cannot use them]

[If I discover anyone using them, I will personally use the Celestial Law in one hand and the Immortal Sword in the other to execute them]

Bai Mo shook the torch and finished reading these words.

"Not allowed to use?

"Why?

"What’s the meaning?"

Bai Mo’s Divine Sense reached a stack of Copper Plates nearby, only to be shocked to find that these Copper Plates were stained with layer upon layer of blood.

Not just this one Copper Plate, but the entire room was filled with stacks of Copper Plates, most stained with blood, and few clean.

Moreover, these are not ordinary bloodstains; they are high Sequence bloodstains. No wonder even after thousands of years, the smell cannot be entirely dispelled.

Picking up another Copper Plate to see the content.

"This is... [Purple Beech Root Blood Chaos Technique], extracting Prince Bloodline through plant root systems? Damn?"

Coming straight in with such intensity?

Moving to the second stack, picking up one piece.

"This is... [Spirit Communication Root Brain Tree], planting plant roots into the human brain, possibly absorbing human Spiritual Wisdom?"

Bai Mo didn’t continue reading but roughly understood.

The Copper Plates stained with blood in this room are likely all from the hands of Fallen Immortals, belonging to the Fallen Immortal Technique.

All are the spoils Millennium of battling between Marquis Qing Yue and Fallen Immortals!

...

Hoo...

A fierce wind gusted into the grand hall.

Bai Mo held a Copper Plate, furrowing his brows.

"This Fallen Immortal is an expert in researching Immortal Techniques. But in drawing, they’re really awful."

Based on the meaning from the Ancient Immortal, he traced out a sketch on the tablet.

A tree became visible, rooted amidst a pile of human bodies... this pile of humans is a pile formed by human bodies.

The tree’s roots spread, growing, branching out, each rooting into the eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.

"Roots pierce through the seven orifices, stripping bloodlines."

Bai Mo continued drawing, adding leaves to the tree, sketching two fruits on the branches.

"The bloodlines stripped are condensed into these two Bloodline Fruits on the branches.

"Bloodline Fruits contain Prince Bloodline, using these fruits to blend into medicine. Drinking afterward will grant the Prince Bloodline."

Bai Mo scribbled as he marked.

Before long, a clearer drawing than the Fallen Immortal’s appeared on paper.

With clear annotations for understanding.

His two fox apprentices, Small and Big Eyes, and Butterfly Knot, gnawed on green bean tarts while sipping tea, gazing at the master’s drawing. Both foxes frowned.

"Huh?"

"Woo?"

This drawing looks creepy!

After finishing, Bai Mo felt the same.

"It’s indeed a bit creepy.

"But the root system knowledge involved is extremely profound. It’s still worthwhile!"

Bai Mo put down the Copper Plate and picked up the next piece.

With the Copper Plate in hand, he suddenly thought...

"In the Ancient Immortal Dynasty, was it easier than imagined to steal the Prince Bloodline?

"The difficulty in stealing the Prince Bloodline is also much lower than imagined?"

He paused for a moment.

"Before I thought Immortal Thieves were only on the Immortal Martial Path.

"Turns out, even the Alchemy Path has techniques for stealing bloodlines.

"Not just the Alchemy Path, other paths must also have methods to steal Prince Bloodline, right?"

Bai Mo furrowed his brows.

"Cultivating with Prince Bloodline is simpler, faster, plus the availability of Prince Blood Technique... Could it be, not just Immortal Thief Stream, but all Ancient Immortals, or maybe most Ancient Immortals have long had intentions and actions to steal Prince Bloodline for training disciples?

"It’s just the limitation of resources causing slower progress?"

The majority of Ancient Immortals hide in darkness, engaging in unknown deeds.

Stealing Prince Bloodline such actions... Bai Mo pondered for long, and ultimately discovered...

"Such things... there’s no reason Ancient Immortals wouldn’t do this!"

The West State Region is relatively stable, but outside West State, places are still turbulent!

Jiuzhou Region’s situations are stabilized; everyone can at least live peacefully without major turmoil or incidents. But other regions, the people live amidst bizarre tales woven by Ancient Immortals.

In these places, how much blood-stealing dealings are underway?

He summoned the Sharing Stele with a wave, seeing the previously removed names, now left empty.

Probably not long, new names will appear on this stele?

Splish splash...

Splish splash...

The sound of water interrupted Bai Mo’s thoughts.

Looking up, it turns out Small and Big Eyes and Butterfly Knot are outside the grand hall washing these stinky Copper Plates!

"Huh huh huh!"

"Woo woo woo!"

Can’t let these Copper Plates stink up master!

Bai Mo grinned, not really concerned... Why fear stinky Copper Plates? Stinky Copper Plates have clearer inscriptions, sharper Immortal Techniques, more thorough knowledge!

Even the stack he was skimming beside the desk weren’t cleaned yet.

He grabbed a Copper Plate recording the [Blood-Rooting Technique], rubbing the dried blood stains, continuing to read.