It was at this moment that Lu Yun finally understood what monster spirits were. Compared to the specimen in front of him, the ones in the current world of immortals were all overly domesticated. Even the two scarlet apes of Levitating Island were nothing compared to this snow-white fox the size of a small mountain in front of him.

“Ah, so it’s Senior Tushan. This humble fellow is Jiang Ba and offers my humble respects!” Jiang Ba hastily bowed, dismissing his overweening bearing from moments ago.

“How dare Jiangs of the Yan Tribe enslave a Tushan descendant?! Do you wish to be wiped out to the last??” The enormous white fox wouldn’t let the point go and brought down a wave of sharp killing intent onto Ning Village.

The tiny mountain village swayed as if a skiff in the storm, ready to capsize and break apart into pieces at any time.

“ROAR!!” A furious snarl sounded at this time, and a terrifying presence rose from the south of the village, not too far from where they were. 

An enormous beast with a horn on its head slowly reared up, displaying the body of a panther and tail of a dragon. Golden and jade scales covered its form as it rose to a full three hundred meters tall. It too emanated a dreadful lethal presence; its faintly golden eyes flashed with killing intent as it stared at the white fox in midair.

“Pixiu!” The fox’s expression changed. The presence from the pixiu was too horrifying as it completely dominated its own.

“It’s that pixiu! People say that granduncle has one of those with him…” Jiang Ba’s expression shifted as well. He didn’t even register as an ant when compared to a pixiu or a Tushan fox. Any random piece of fur from them could crush him to death a hundred times over.

“Tushan, what evidence do you have that a Ning resident has enslaved one of your foxes?” Jiang Ba raised his head confidently when he saw that overwhelming reinforcement for his side had arrived.

“My kin saw a pureblood Tushan fox following a young man from your village. If it wasn’t for him enslaving the fox, why would one of my own accompany a human?” Since this matter had to do with its kind, the white fox wasn’t backing down, even though the pixiu had shown itself. A pureblood Tushan fox was at stake!

Though Tushan was the ancestor of all foxes, there were very few purebloods of its kind in the world these days. To think that one of them would appear at the foot of Qingqiu Mountain, but be enslaved by a human youth!

Village chief Jiang Ti looked at Lu Yun. There was indeed a white Tushan fox by the young man’s side, but they didn’t look like spirit pet and master. Rather, they seemed more like two friends fallen on hard times.

A treasure like Bi Fang blood essence was normally tucked out of sight for one’s enjoyment alone. However, Lie Shan shared the precious item with the little fox without the slightest hint of reluctance.

“Yip yip yip!” The little fox burrowed out of Lu Yun’s clothes and yipped at the white fox in midair, seemingly protesting its current interpretation of things.

“Hmm?” The white fox frowned and suddenly gave voice to a howl. Fox bays and howls rose and fell in answer from the mountain forest.

Jiang Ti tensed and the pixiu grew nervous as well. It seemed that the white fox had mobilized every monster spirit under its command and surrounded the village. Those visiting from the Yan Tribe had complexions that resembled ash.

Tushan foxes were a great tribe of the wilderness and the Yan Tribe just a strong clan of the human race. In a world like this, humans were the lowliest link of the food chain. All of humanity wouldn’t be able to provoke Tushan, not to mention a mere Yan Tribe!

……

“Why don’t you go with it? Haven’t you wanted to find them all along?” Lu Yun caressed the little fox’s head and whispered softly to it.

“It also wants to kill you!” answered the little fox’s soft and sweet voice.

Lu Yun blinked. “Wait, so you regained speech a long time ago.”

The little fox rolled her eyes at him and whispered back, “I can go with it, but the white fox is set on killing you.”

Lu Yun rubbed his forehead.

“I’ve gotten the hang of things here. In this era, humans aren’t on equal footing with monster spirits at all. It’s an unconscionable crime if humans dare enslave monster spirits—the tribe will be wiped out for it. The time of human dao that you know of hasn’t arrived yet,” relayed Miao solemnly. “With the pixiu here, the Tushan will probably let Ning Village off the hook. But you’ll have to die today!”

Lu Yun frowned slightly.

“Hand over the Tushan descendent and the young man. Otherwise, we will destroy this human village today even with the pixiu present,” sounded another voice.

A second Tushan fox padded out of the forest. This one was golden in color and its energy even more robust than the white fox before it. The pixiu had entered the village proper and let loose with its own tremendous energy, offsetting the enormous aura from the two Tushan.

“How dare you throw your weight around, Tushan foxes!” snapped out a clear voice. Amid the gaping stares of Lu Yun and the other villagers, Ah Bao walked on thin air from the mountain to the rear of Ning Village.

A haze of light bloomed from her, enveloping the village.

“Ah Bao?!” Lu Yun goggled. He knew Ah Bao as an ordinary girl, but right now, she was releasing tremendous holy strength that was magnitudes greater than what he’d ever sensed from the celestial emperors. She was plainly a peak powerhouse!

“She’s the Ning Village tribute spirit, that mysterious sacrificial spirit!” Jiang Ba shook all over. He knew that the village possessed a guardian spirit, but he’d never met it before. He never thought that the spirit would be Jiang Ti’s granddaughter, the pure and innocent little girl!

She was ridiculously powerful, even more so than the Yan tribal spirit. No wonder a tiny Ning Village could thrive and prosper in Qingqiu monster spirit territory. They had a pixiu for a guard and a tribute spirit holding down the fort. They didn’t have anything to fear even though there were no cultivators among their ranks!

“Ah Bao—” called out the village chief.

“I know what I’m doing, grandpa.” The little girl shook her head and directed her gaze at the foxes. “I won’t stop her from leaving if the little fox wants to go with you, but if you dare harm a single hair on Brother Lieshan’s head, I’ll have you experience the might of the mountain ghosts.”

RUMBLE.

The entire mountain shook as sudden dismay rippled through the Tushan foxes. Mountain ghosts!

They’d never dreamed that a tiny human village would be worshipping a mountain ghost for their tribute spirit!

Mountain ghosts were both mountain gods and an existence that exceeded them. They were the legendary divine kings! If this tribute spirit dared call itself one, then it’d surely reached that realm.

There were mountain ghosts in Qingqiu Mountain, and they’d become a human village’s tribute spirit! This was a tremendous blow to the resident monster spirits.

“I’m willing to go with you!” the little fox jumped out and shouted loudly. “But you can’t touch the human. He saved me and protected me, and he never enslaved me!”

She had no desire for the mountain ghost to smack all of the Tushan foxes out of existence.