176: Chapter 176 Demons in the Southern Wilderness, Beneath the Nine Hills

By the window, in the third-floor private box where the people from Kunlun were seated.

Ao Qin's hand holding the teacup stiffened slightly. His gaze landed on that fire-red figure, his pupils suddenly constricting, and he almost blurted out: "Is it her?"

Mu Qingxue was standing right beside him. Hearing this low exclamation, she turned her head to look at him: "You know her?"

Ao Qin did not answer immediately. His gaze remained fixed on that figure, his expression noticeably more serious than before, carrying a hint of surprise.

At the same time, Lu Jinghan's gaze also landed on the young girl surrounded by nine Yao Race women, and he whispered two words that almost coincided with Ao Qin's: "Qingli."

Ao Qin turned his head abruptly to look at Lu Jinghan, his eyes full of surprise: "Senior Brother, you know her too?"

His voice dropped even lower. "The Nine Hills Fox Clan has not appeared in the Southern Wilderness for nearly ten thousand years. If not for that one encounter five years ago, I wouldn't recognize her either. Senior Brother, how do you..."

Lu Jinghan did not answer immediately. He simply watched the figure outside the window, his gaze distant, as if piercing through time, seeing certain scenes that had not yet occurred but had already left traces in his memory.

A moment later, he withdrew his gaze and said indifferently: "I have heard a little."

He did not explain further, turning to Ao Qin: "Continue."

Seeing that he would not say more, Ao Qin did not press the issue. He simply looked back out the window, his tone becoming a bit more solemn: "There are Yao in the Southern Wilderness, beneath the Nine Hills. You all should have heard this saying, right?"

Zhou Tianchen raised an eyebrow: "The Nine Hills Fox Clan?"

Ao Qin nodded: "Exactly. The Nine Hills Fox Clan is one of the oldest Yao Race factions in the Southern Wilderness, and in its prime, it was also a major titan in the Southern Wilderness."

"But for the past ten thousand years, they have remained in seclusion, almost completely vanishing from the sight of Cultivators in the Southern Wilderness. The reason I recognize her is that five years ago, the current Clan Chief of the Nine Hills Fox Clan secretly traveled to the East Sea to request an audience with my father."

Mu Qingxue's eyes narrowed slightly: "Request an audience with the Dragon King? For what?"

"My father did not go into specific details, only saying that they wanted to seek help from our Dragon Clan, but my father refused at the time." Ao Qin shook his head.

"Since then, there has been no news from the Nine Hills Fox Clan. I originally thought they had completely sealed off their mountains and remained in seclusion; I did not expect to see her at the Cloud Sea Grand Ceremony today."

As he said this, his tone sank a little further: "Qingli is the only daughter of the Nine Hills Fox Clan Chief and has been groomed as the next Clan Chief since childhood. Her appearance here is likely not as simple as just attending the Cloud Sea Grand Ceremony."

As Ao Qin's voice fell, Lu Jinghan's gaze remained fixed on the figure walking gracefully toward the center of the square, the emotions swirling in his eyes deeper than before.

He did not respond to Ao Qin, but several images surfaced in his mind.

In his previous life, the Nine Hills Fox Clan emerged a thousand years later.

That emergence was accompanied by a calamity that swept through the Southern Wilderness—seven cities fell, hundreds of thousands of Cultivators perished, and only by joining forces were the Seven Great Factions able to barely quell the calamity.

And Qingli was one of the central figures of that calamity.

At that time, Lu Jinghan had already left the Southern Wilderness and was far away in the Central Plains; all the information he had were fragments heard from others later on.

Some said the Nine Hills Fox Clan was forced to emerge, while others said they started the war themselves; opinions varied, and no one could agree.

But one thing was certain: that calamity left the Southern Wilderness severely injured, and it failed to recover for several hundred years.

He did not expect that in this life, the Nine Hills Fox Clan would appear before the world a full thousand years early.

Just like Venerable Lingyun emerging early, many things had already deviated from the timeline of his previous life, and he could not determine if this change was good or bad.

Lu Jinghan's gaze fell back onto Qingli. The young girl's face appeared bright and lively in the sunlight, having no connection to any calamity.

He was silent for a moment, then spoke slowly, his voice as calm as usual: "Let's first see what they intend to do."

The few people by the window exchanged glances and did not ask further.

However, they all caught a hint of something different from the usual in Lu Jinghan's brief silence—as if he had foreseen something but was unwilling to reveal it at this moment.

Baili Qingfeng stood by the window, his gaze following Qingli's figure, the folding fan in his hand having stopped moving without him realizing it.

He was from the Tianji Pavilion and had studied the art of deduction from a young age; he had an instinctive desire to investigate anything that defied common sense.

The Nine Hills Fox Clan had been in seclusion for nearly ten thousand years, and their sudden appearance at the Cloud Sea Grand Ceremony was, in itself, a matter worth deep investigation.

He withdrew his gaze and sat down on a chair by the window. Without greeting anyone, he closed his eyes directly.

Baili Qingfeng's mind had already sunk into his Sea of Consciousness. Deep within his Sea of Consciousness, a Bagua rune slowly emerged.

Black and white lights swirled and intertwined within it, and countless patterns spread in all directions like a galaxy.

His Divine Sense spread along those patterns, attempting to capture the threads of Karma related to the Nine Hills Fox Clan and deduce the reason and purpose for their emergence.

At first, everything went very smoothly. The fine patterns, guided by his Divine Sense, extended, intertwined, and converged in an orderly fashion, gradually outlining some blurred contours.

He could feel that those contours pointed toward a gray, hazy fog, as if the traces had been deliberately concealed by some power, but if he went just a little deeper, perhaps he could clear away that layer of fog.

His Divine Sense continued to extend forward, passing through the gray, hazy fog, and touched something even deeper.

That thing was like an invisible membrane, thin yet tough, separating his Divine Sense from the unknown truth.

Baili Qingfeng cautiously extended a wisp of his Divine Sense, attempting to pierce through that membrane.

The next instant, his Sea of Consciousness shook violently, as if it had been fiercely gripped by an invisible giant hand and then suddenly released.

His tightly closed eyes suddenly snapped open. A trace of lingering horror remained in his pupils, and a layer of fine cold sweat had already seeped out on his forehead.

His body leaned back slightly, the back of the chair creaking softly. His chest heaved violently a few times before he barely managed to calm down.

"Qingfeng?" Ao Qin was the first to notice his abnormality and walked quickly to his side. "What happened?"

Baili Qingfeng did not speak. He looked down at his slightly trembling hands and remained silent for a good while before slowly raising his head.

His complexion was still somewhat pale, and his voice was a bit hoarse: "I tried to deduce the reason for the Nine Hills Fox Clan's emergence."

"What did you see?" Mu Qingxue also walked over, her cold, clear gaze falling on his face, carrying a hint of concern as well as a hint of solemnity.

Baili Qingfeng shook his head: "I didn't see anything."

Then he added, "Just as I was about to touch the edge of the truth, it directly repelled my Divine Sense."

"The level of that power is far higher than mine; it is simply not something I can deduce."

He took a deep breath, his voice dropping a few notches: "Although I did not deduce the specific situation of the Nine Hills Fox Clan, on the edge of that fog, I sensed the aura of calamity."

"It is very faint, but very clear, like the suffocating dullness before a rainstorm arrives."

Lu Jinghan had walked to Baili Qingfeng's side at some unknown point. With his hands behind his back, he looked at his face, which had not yet fully regained its color, and spoke slowly: "Sometimes, curiosity can kill."

Baili Qingfeng raised his head and met Lu Jinghan's gaze, seeing that there was no blame in those deep eyes, only a sense of understanding that he could not quite see through for the moment.

He did not ask why Lu Jinghan knew so much; he just gave a bitter smile and whispered: "Senior Brother is right, I was reckless."