Chapter Sixty-Eight: Jiu'er

After leaving the auction house, Huangfu Xiu bade farewell to Zhou Qi, saying she needed to return and consolidate her cultivation after being out for so long. She left Zhou Qi a communication jade talisman, assuring him he could contact her directly if needed; he would be absolutely safe in Suiye City. Unfortunately, her invitation for Zhou Qi to visit the Huangfu clan was declined.

Once Huangfu Xiu departed, only Zhou Qi and the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox remained. Since Suiye City was safe, Zhou Qi wasn't in a hurry to leave; he knew that outside the city, cultivators would be watching him closely. His impressive display at the auction had caught everyone's eye, and surely many were already plotting against him.

Zhou Qi rented a cultivation cave and settled in, planning to refine the Grand Illusion Array. However, with the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox beside him, he couldn't work freely, nor could he simply toss her into the Medicine Immortal Sanctuary. Using Soul Capture Art on such a lovely, innocent girl would be inhumane.

"True Lord, what should I do?" Zhou Qi asked.

"Are you really not going to keep her? She’s a direct descendant of the Nine-Tailed Fox lineage, with over ninety percent pure blood—her future growth is immense. She’d make a fine companion," replied True Lord Tianxuan with a chuckle.

"Let’s not joke, True Lord. I still need to eliminate the eight holders of your soul fragments, avenge you and the Medicine Immortal, and contend with the Heavenly Dao Sect's pursuit. Aren’t you afraid I’ll lose myself in pleasure and neglect my purpose?"

"You have a point. Handle it as you see fit—I won’t interfere," said True Lord Tianxuan.

"Is there any way for you to return to your clan?" Zhou Qi pondered for a long time before deciding to have a proper conversation with the Nine-Tailed Fox.

The girl shook her head, her eyes brimming with tears as she looked at him. "Master, I was captured and brought here. I don’t know where my home is."

"What’s your cultivation level? Do you have any means to protect yourself?" Zhou Qi asked again.

"By your human standards, I’m a second-tier beast—equivalent to the early Foundation Establishment stage. Master, are you going to drive me away? If I leave, I’ll only be captured again. In the human world, where can I go?" Her tearful gaze tugged at Zhou Qi’s heart.

"It’s not that I want to drive you away," he explained, "but staying with me is dangerous. I’m only at the first layer of Foundation Establishment; I may not be able to protect you."

"I don’t mind. Even if I die following you, it’s my fate. If you don’t trust me, you can use the Soul Capture Art," she declared resolutely.

Zhou Qi shook his head, caught in a dilemma. Sending her away felt wrong, but keeping her posed hidden risks.

Seeing Zhou Qi’s hesitation, the girl suddenly seemed to make up her mind. A faint red glow enveloped her, and a translucent white fox spirit separated from her body. Afterward, she was visibly weakened.

Zhou Qi was startled—what was she doing?

"Master, this is my clan’s secret art: I deposit a strand of my soul in your soul sea. This strand has no consciousness; if it perishes, so do I. Beyond this, it has no other effect. I entrust my life and death to you. Will this put your mind at ease? If not, just kill me," she said with unwavering eyes, knowing that leaving him would only lead to greater misery.

"This is real—the Nine-Tailed Fox clan’s secret art, entrusting one's life to another. It’s also a form of self-protection. Moreover, this technique has another benefit: it promotes mutual growth in cultivation. If you become stronger, so does she, and vice versa—like two people cultivating together. Don’t refuse; most would beg for such an opportunity, and you didn’t force her," True Lord Tianxuan advised.

With that, Zhou Qi relented, insisting only that she stop calling him 'master' and use his name or 'brother' instead. The girl agreed, confessing she had no name and asking him to give her one.

Nine-Tailed... Zhou Qi pondered. "How about calling you Ninelama?"

True Lord Tianxuan was speechless; the girl adamantly refused. "Then let’s try Nine'er, Little White, Little Nine, or Awei?"

In the end, she chose Nine'er, which sounded better than the odd names Zhou Qi might have invented next.

The white fox spirit darted into Zhou Qi’s soul sea in an instant, transforming into a tiny white fox and curling up beside the Medicine Immortal Sanctuary, falling asleep. Zhou Qi felt that Nine'er's life and death were now tied to his will. The soul sea was getting crowded—if this continued, he’d truly become a landlord.

With Nine'er’s issue resolved, Zhou Qi no longer hid anything from her and patiently set about refining the Grand Illusion Array. Having already crafted such arrays at the Divine Transformation stage, and with ample succubus blood this time, his work proceeded smoothly.

Twenty days later, fifty delicate array disks lay before Zhou Qi. He handed ten of them to Nine'er, along with two Groundbreaker Talismans, instructing her in their use. Then, he sent his spiritual sense into the Medicine Immortal Sanctuary to check on the three laborers' progress with pill refining.

Little Hui, Little Qi, and Little Ti worked day and night. At present, only over ten thousand pills of each type had been produced; the time was too short, and the last batch had just been delivered. If he pushed them further, they'd work themselves to death. Zhou Qi, feeling helpless, joined the pill refining himself.

Outside Suiye City, several groups of cultivators were patiently waiting. Acting within the city was too risky; ambushing outside avoided the Huangfu clan’s gaze. Zhou Qi’s gains at the auction had stirred envy—if they could rob him, they’d save decades of effort.

Among them were the old woman and old man from that day, seeking demon cores and magic cores, others targeting Nine'er, and some with no real aim, simply after Zhou Qi’s wealth.

They waited for over twenty days, but Zhou Qi didn’t appear. Still, their patience held—surely he wouldn’t stay shut away forever. They doubted a Foundation Establishment cultivator could remain in seclusion for hundreds of years.

Months passed, and the cultivators grew bored. They dared not attack each other—numbers and strength were similar, so a fight could go either way, and opportunists might profit from their losses. So, many began targeting lone cultivators instead.

The old man who had previously robbed Zhou Qi, after weeks of recuperation, finally restored his depleted vital essence, but his spiritual weapon had been broken by Zhou Qi. He went to Suiye City to buy a new lower-grade spiritual weapon.

Cautiously approaching the city, ever vigilant as a robbery expert, he sensed something amiss as he drew near.

"Fellow Daoist, please wait!" came a mocking greeting. Without hesitation, the old man activated his movement technique and fled in another direction.

Unexpectedly, there were even more cultivators there. One remarked, "Fellow Daoist, your storage ring looks identical to the one I lost. Let me see it."

The old man was in despair, spat out a mouthful of vital essence, and dashed off again, only to run into another group of ambushers. He was hopeless—his movement technique could only be used twice more; he had no strength to escape. Was this a den of bandits?

He never expected that the hunter would become the hunted. In the end, he left Suiye City empty-handed, robbed of everything, though fortunately not killed—just thoroughly cleaned out.