The words of Bai Xiaoqi, the Empress of the Demon Clan, left all the cultivators present in awe.
No one doubted Bai Xiaoqi's immense power. She was the darling of the heavens, adorned with countless laws and backed by a formidable demon clan. No one wanted to provoke such an entity.
With Empress Bai Xiaoqi's stance clearly stated, Ye Fan felt a bit relieved.
First Chu Nannan, then Nie Fengyun, both showing signs of defection, had caused him immense worry.
But he knew that among all the great emperors present, the one least likely to defect was undoubtedly the Demon Empress! The enmity between her and the Emperor was too deep, almost irreconcilable.
No matter what the Emperor's past was, there was no way this Demon Empress would defect.
...
Chu Yang had now destroyed his own sword heart, severed an arm, and lost all his power.
Even if he wanted to avenge his parents' blood feud, he was powerless. Now, he had nothing left.
Once, he had at least the wooden sword that accompanied him. Now, even that was gone.
Before, Chu Yang had experienced such profound despair, only to find hope again later.
But now, that hope was shattered once more, turning into nothingness, plunging him into boundless despair.
His heart was dead; there was nothing left to cling to or yearn for.
Chu Yang arrived at the teleportation array leading away from the Heavenly Sword Sect.
Stepping into the array, a mysterious aura enveloped him.
He had no idea where he should go next, so he let the array randomly transport him to a place.
After a long time.
Chu Yang finally stumbled out of the teleportation array.
The cold wind outside was biting, making his cheeks ache.
In the icy snow, Chu Yang, like a walking corpse, kept moving forward aimlessly.
Without his swordsmanship, Chu Yang had fallen back to being an ordinary person.
Due to the severe injuries his body had sustained, his constitution was even weaker than that of an average person of his age.
Snow fell heavily around him, stretching endlessly. He had no idea how long it would take to walk out of this desolate place.
After an indeterminate amount of time, Chu Yang finally collapsed from exhaustion in the snow.
In this deserted place, with no food, insufficient clothing, and his strength depleted, Chu Yang saw no hope of survival.
He let out a helpless, bitter smile.
Finally, he thought, he might find relief.
When he thought about it, dying in this icy snow wasn't something he couldn't accept.
He felt a weariness deep within him.
Images of his parents' faces flashed in his mind. He murmured, "Father, Mother, your son will soon be reunited with you..."
Just as Chu Yang was about to lose consciousness, a small fox suddenly appeared before him.
The little fox was covered in pure white fur, looking incredibly cute. It hopped to Chu Yang's side, its big eyes fixed on him.
After a while, it said, "You look good."
When Chu Yang heard the little fox speak, his lips twitched involuntarily. He was already exhausted, unable even to speak.
The little fox seemed to understand Chu Yang's condition. She bit herself, causing brilliant, radiant blood to flow out.
This blood, filled with divine properties, was fed into Chu Yang's mouth, producing miraculous effects.
Chu Yang, who had been exhausted and in immense pain, felt a surge of strength within him, and the pain diminished significantly.
Chu Yang knew very well that a fox capable of human speech and with such divine blood must be a fox demon.
...
Outside the Heavenly Emperor's Mirror.
The cultivators were at a loss for words about the fox that had appeared out of nowhere.
As a fox, shouldn't its aesthetic sense be that male foxes look good?
This cross-species aesthetic left them utterly baffled.
At the same time, they realized that this fox demon seemed to have considerable cultivation.
Bai Xiaoqi, as the Empress of the Demon Clan, was also a nine-tailed spirit fox. Could there be a connection between this little fox and the Empress?
Bai Xiaoqi noticed the gazes of the cultivators. She proudly swayed her nine tails.
"I am the only nine-tailed spirit fox left in this world. I have never seen this fox demon before. It is absolutely impossible for it to have any connection with me. There are no other fox demons in my demon army." Bai Xiaoqi responded coldly.
Hearing this, Ye Fan breathed a slight sigh of relief.
He had been worried that this fox demon might be another strong figure from the demon clan or one of Bai Xiaoqi's relatives.
It wasn't unreasonable for Ye Fan to worry like this, as every part of the Emperor's past had led to a great emperor defecting to his camp.
If it weren't for the grudge Nie Fengyun held for his sister, he might have already smashed the Primordial Bell at this point.
Since this fox demon had no connection to Bai Xiaoqi, it was fine.
Bai Xiaoqi's eyes flashed with a cold light as she speculated that it was likely this fox demon who had saved the Emperor.
She snorted coldly, "As a member of the demon clan, you saved our clan's enemy. If this little fox hadn't appeared, the Emperor would probably be dead by now."
If the Emperor had died here, the later massacre of the demon clan would not have occurred, and the demon clan would have become even stronger.
At that moment, Bai Xiaoqi was seething with hatred for this little fox.
She silently vowed that if she found out who this fox was, she would personally suppress it!
...
Chu Yang stared coldly at the little fox in front of him and asked, "Why did you save me?"
The demon clan and the human clan had been mortal enemies since ancient times. Whenever the two races met, a battle of epic proportions was inevitable.
It was almost a situation of no quarter given.
To the human clan, demon beasts contained inner cores that embodied their lifetime of cultivation. The stronger the demon, the more coveted their inner core was by human cultivators.
Conversely, the demon clan saw humans as a food source. Human flesh and blood had unparalleled allure for demon beasts.
The little fox shook her head and said, "No reason, I just find you pleasing to the eye and, like me, you're a person with a bitter fate. Consider it empathy."
But Chu Yang didn't believe her words at all.
He knew very well that when he first met Nie Fengyun, the latter had more selfish motives for saving him, wanting to receive his gratitude and live a comfortable life in the mortal world.
If humans could be like that, how much more so a demon?
Chu Yang understood that in this world, aside from close kin, there was no such thing as unprovoked help.
Even Nie Fengyun, even the old sword master, were no exceptions.
The old sword master had taught him swordsmanship to use him to eliminate his enemies and ultimately to strike at Nie Fengyun.
Chu Yang had long experienced the terrifying nature of human behavior.
Therefore, he didn't want to go through such experiences again.