"…Oh?" His gaze sharpened."…A fox."
His pupils contracted as he backed away suddenly as if he electrocuted.
"No …Why is a descendant of that evil fox here?"
He trembled and instinctively closed his spiritual eyes but snapped it open after a few minutes.
"No, something's wrong…" His eyes narrowed as he extended his spiritual sense.
His eyes lit up. "The aura is similar but she's not definitely not a descendant."
His hesistant voice rang out. "He won't mind if I eat her right?"
It had been so long.
So long since anyone had entered this palace.
So long since he had tasted a living soul.
After that cunning old fox had captured him and imprisoned him in this palace.
He was forced to sustain the formation.
He had waited for centuries.
And lost count.
Drifting in half-sleep, half-stasis, feeding only on ambient spiritual residue and faint soul imprints left behind by time.
But now…
Something fresh had arrived.
Something alive.
Something strong.
"Such a strong soul." His breath hitched slightly. "…Delicious."
He licked his lips — or rather, the idea of lips, since his form was little more than a translucent silhouette of light.
"And she's already stepped into the core."
His excitement surged while his form flickered. "Bold little thing." He narrowed his eyes. "Let's see how long you last."
With a wave of his hand, countless formation nodes throughout the palace activated. He muttered in vengeful delight. "Hmph, I wonder how that cunning fox's face would be like if he knew I used the formation he forced onto me to deal with his clan members."
Spiritual light pulsed and illusion layers unfolded. Spatial distortions rippled outward like waves across still water.
In the place where Fox Bai Shuo stood, the air suddenly thickened. Her ears twitched sharply and her eyes glazed over. The scene in front of her changed.
Somewhere deep within the palace, the Formation Spirit watched with glee. He waited for a long time with bated breath before he saw the myriad of expressions crossing Fox Bai Shuo's face.
He wasn't sure what she saw in the illusion but the expressions on her face were quite vivid.
One moment, she was as cold as ice. And the next, her furs bristled with anger and then indifference. Smugness.
Contemptuous. Disdain and then…
Formation Spirit."???"
His brows furrowed in confusion. In fact he couldn't describe the last emotion as Fox Bai Shuo's whole body was flushed red. The ignorant Formation Spirit didn't understand it but that didn't hinder his excitement at all.
His eyes gleamed. "This one's soul is strong, stronger than most I've seen."
He licked his lips again."But even strong soul break."
He folded his arms, watching as Bai Shuo's consciousness began to sink deeper into the illusion.
He watched as she clenched her paws and her expression grew more dazed and he couldn't stop his lips from curling slightly.
"Hmph, even with such a strong soul you were still entranced." He snorted smugly. "In the end, you're no different from the others."
He shifted slightly, already preparing to feed on Bai Shuo's soul but froze as if he remembered something. "What if she's as cunning as that old fox and is just pretending?"
The Spirit gritted his teeth and separated his form into smaller sizes . His expression was very cautious as he sent out smaller spirit fragments to begin feeding on her soul.
He watched the slight expression of pain on her face when a fragment of her soul was devoured yet she's was still trapped in the illusion.
His whole body shivered from excitement from the feedback of the soul essence.
"Ah.." He moaned in pleasure. " So delicious!"
Whoosh.
His figure disappeared and appeared before Bai Shuo.
He remained a distance away and after seeing that she showed no sign of waking up dived in.
Suddenly–
Bai Shuo's lips curled into a smile and her fox eyes snapped open.
The Formation Spirit trembled as a bad feeling overwhelmed him but it was too late. He was caught completely beneath Bai Shuo's paws.
"You…you decieved me." He was so infuriated that he nearly vomited blood.
"Heh…" Bai Shuo sneered coldly. "Serves you right."
"Was it fun messing with me?" She asked angrily as her paws squeezed him underneath her paws. "How dare you rip my soul."
"You cunning fox! Your soul belongs to me! To me!" The Spirit yelled hysterically.
"To you, you say," Bai Shuo chuckled coldly. "Let's see whose soul belongs to whom."
"AHHH…. "The Formation Spirit shouted in disbelief. "What did you do to me?"
Her lips curled into a smirk as she released him.
The Formation Spirit reeled backward, his translucent form unraveling at the edges like smoke caught in a gale.
"You—!" His voice cracked. "What did you put on my soul?!"
Bai Shuo stood calmly amidst the collapsing formations, dust and spiritual light swirling around her.
"Nothing," she said. "Just… returned what you gave me."
She lifted one paw and the air ripplled slightly.
A shrill, piercing scream tore through the palace.
"AAAAHHHH—!"
The Formation Spirit convulsed violently in midair as arcs of silver-white lightning erupted directly from within his form — not physical lightning, but soul lightning, ripping through his consciousness.
His figure distorted, stretched, then compressed, his scream echoing through countless chambers.
"I'll kill you! I'll devour your soul—AHHH—Stop! Stop it! I'm begging you!"
Bai Shuo clicked her tongue.
"Tch. Weren't you confident just now?"
She watched him calmly as his form twisted and writhed, his arrogance shattering into terror.
"You dared touch my soul," she continued coldly. "Do you really think I'd let you walk away intact?"
The Formation Spirit's screams rose in pitch, his voice cracking as fragments of his form flickered and dissolved under the lightning's assault.
Then—
"…Enough! Enough!" he shrieked hoarsely. "Please! I surrender! I surrender!"
His figure collapsed inward, shrinking into a trembling silhouette of flickering light, hovering pitifully before her.
Bai Shuo tilted her head slightly."…Oh?"
She stepped closer.
The Spirit flinched violently, his form shrinking further as if trying to retreat into nothingness.
"I'm sorry! I was wrong! Please spare me!" he cried. "I swear I won't touch your soul again!"
His voice was thick with terror.
In his eyes, Bai Shuo was no longer a small fox. She had been replaced by a certain colossal ten-tailed fox.
The Formation Spirit nearly shattered on the spot.
"Please…" he whimpered. "I don't want to die…"
Bai Shuo's gaze narrowed.
"Die?" she repeated softly. "That depends on your next answer."
His whole body stiffened.
"…Y-Yes?"
She raised one paw slightly.
"Behave," she said. "Or I erase you."
Her paw twitched.
The soul lightning flared faintly.
"I-I will behave! I swear!" he shouted hurriedly. "I'll listen! I'll obey! Just—just stop the lightning!"
Bai Shuo lowered her paw and the lightning vanished instantly.
The Spirit sagged midair, gasping as if he had lungs, his form dim and unstable.
*Good," she said flatly.
He looked at her warily, trembling.
"Y-You… what kind of cultivator are you?" he muttered hoarsely. "How do you even know soul lightning spells? That's human cultivation art — and a forbidden one at that!"
Bai Shuo's lips curved slightly."Curious?" she asked.
He stiffened.
Then shook his head violently. "N-No! Not curious at all!"
Her smile widened a bit."Hm."
She turned and gestured toward the shattered formation nodes ahead.
"I want you to lead me to the formation core," she said. "Crack every layer and don't dare play any tricks."
The Spirit swallowed hard.
"…Of course. Of course." He hesitated, then asked weakly, "C-Can I ask you something?"
Her gaze sharpened.
His voice nearly cracked. "H-How did you break through the illusion formation? I could feel it, you were clearly entranced."
Bai Shuo's eyes chilled instantly.
"Do you want to die?" she asked calmly.
His words froze.
"…No."
He immediately turned and began floating ahead and she followed.
As they moved deeper into the palace, Bai Shuo's gaze drifted slightly, her thoughts slipping inward.
"How did she break through the Illusion Formation?
Indeed, this ancient formation was very tricky, a combination of a very powerful Illusion Array and a Maze Formation.
The strongest she had ever encountered.
She was pretty confident of cracking it but unfortunately she failed at the first step. Her soul was strong, even stronger than her peers at the same level but even she felt helpless in the face of such illusion.
It was just like the illusion in the Sacred Ground. Irresistible and unfathomable.
In fact, if her guess was correct, this palace belonged to the Ancestral Fox Prince because the illusion array was very similar to what she had encountered in the Sacred Ground.
Meaning, that the ten-tailed fox she saw in the Sacred Ground was the current Ancestral Fox Prince and the incomplete inheritance she received belonged to him– the owner of the palace.
Speaking about inheritance, Bai Shuo still felt a cold shiver down her spine when she thought about how close she was to being exterminated.
Elder Su had said . "With your cultivation level, you would be obliterated within seconds."
However, she hadn't taken it seriously because she was confident in her strong soul and her formation skills but she hadn't expected to be really close to being annihilated.
If not for the timely intervention of the incomplete glyph within her soul, she wouldn't have noticed the sneaky formation spirit.
Just like the Illusion in the Sacred Ground, she could maintain self awareness because of her strong soul but couldn't withdraw from it. The probing move of the formation spirit had saved him but also allowed her to withdraw from the restraints of the illusion.
To be specific, at that particular point when he invaded her sea if consciousness, the glyph stirred and she could feel it's irresistible desire to gobble up the formation spirit's soul fragment but she suppressed it instead as she wanted to trap him.
She wouldn't want the formation spirit to escape or trigger a self defense mechanism.
Sure enough, she was right.
Aside from the terrifying illusion array arranged by the Fox Prince, the Maze Formation itself was even harder and beyond her capabilities. It turned out that she overestimated her own abilities.
Bai Shuo's expression was very bitter when she thought of this. She broke out in cold sweats when she thought of her arrogant declaration to her master.
" What's so hard about it? I can also defeat any of the Ancestral Prince if they were at my realm."
Now–
She nearly laughed bitterly.
"Defeat him?" she murmured under her breath. "I can't even survive his shadow."
Even the Dao and Law masters she had encountered in her previous life didn't feel this oppressive.
The Dao and Law realm was clearly not a single stage — but a ladder of terrifying depth, with worlds of difference between its upper and lower tiers.
And the Ancestral Fox Prince stood somewhere she could not yet see.
" But not for long." she murmured quietly.
"We're here!"
Bai Shuo lifted head head.
Before them lay a massive stone slate carved with countless formation diagrams layered atop one another.
The Formation Spirit gestured nervously. "This… this is the formation core."
Bai Shuo's eyes narrowed slightly.
His body stiffened instantly.
"I'm not lying! I swear!" he cried hurriedly. "This is really it!"
Bai Shuo ordered coldly."Then crack it."
"Of course….of course." The spirit replied and waved his hands as a noticeable ripple came out of the particular spot.
Bai Shuo heaved a sigh of relief inwardly. She was a formation master so she could tell that the formation has been cracked but then her expression changed suddenly as her senses tingled with danger . Then…
Bang…
She turned in time to see the formation spirit's gloating smile.