Becoming a fox fairy from Liaozhai

Chapter 849 Hidden Dragon in Purple Clouds
The lithe blue horse bared its fangs and claws, its body stretching ever longer. Suddenly, a clap of thunder sounded, the clouds gathered, and two dragons, carrying the clouds, pulled the cloud chariot and soared into the sky.

Gong Mengbi inside the carriage had already reverted to his original form. The carriage curtain seemed to be a strange portal connecting two worlds; when he lifted the curtain and stepped out, he would become "Sister Shen," and when he returned and crawled back in from outside the curtain, he would already be Gong Mengbi.

Although Chun Jing Shu followed Gong Meng Bi back and forth in the carriage, she never knew when he made the change. She seemed to have seen it, but she was completely unaware of it; everything seemed natural.

Although Gong Mengbi was a first-rate illusion master, it could not shake Chun Jingshu's mind in the slightest, because at this moment all her attention was focused on lingering fear and horror.

"What did you do?" Chun Jing Shu's teeth chattered. Only at this moment did she finally come to her senses, barely managing to pull herself out of the panic. Her eyes were filled with confusion and fear of the unknown as she looked at Gong Meng Bi.

Gong Mengbi slightly raised his eyes to look at her, and she trembled inwardly, beginning to reflect on whether her tone had been inappropriately harsh. She quickly added, "What I mean is, why did the envoy act in this way? The Qin family worships the Celestial Master's tablet and can use the Celestial Master's talismans to perform magic, which shows that they are indeed relatives of the Celestial Master. Isn't the envoy offending the Celestial Master Chang by doing this?"

"Are you afraid of Master Chang?" Gong Mengbi asked.

"That's a Celestial Master!"

Gong Mengbi laughed and said, "I received an imperial edict from the Heavenly Palace, not a talisman from Master Chang. That Qin family member has only himself to blame for abusing Taoist magic. I have already saved face for him, so how can you say I offended him?"

"You know what I'm talking about!" Chun Jingshu said in a low voice, "That Qin family member is a descendant of the Celestial Master. You only need to let her go, or even give her a minor punishment as a warning, to do Celestial Master Chang a good thing. Why do you have to make things so serious that she dies?"

"Of course I know what you're talking about. Giving Tianfu Zhenjun face will give him some leverage if he needs anything in the future. But there's only one downside. I hold this position as the Demon Examiner, and the Demon Examiner is my duty. Going against my principles is not just about saving face."

A mischievous glint appeared in Gong Mengbi's eyes: "Besides, isn't this exactly what all my colleagues at Juxia Division are happy to see? What, you don't know?"

A chill ran through Chun Jing Shu's heart.

In this matter, Chun Jingshu only had a slight sense of it. She was just a pawn on the board and did not know if there were any hidden plans or traps, nor did she know if she would be drawn into it.

Chun Jingshu felt a sense of bewilderment and uncertainty about the future.

"If what Gong Mingfu said is true, and this was a plan specifically targeting him, then why did he still fall into this trap? Did those uncles and aunts know that this scoundrel was so audacious as to dare to kill his relatives right in front of Master Chang?"

Chun Jing Shu's head was spinning, and she dared not say anything more. She could only force a smile and say, "Your Excellency is overthinking this. We are all colleagues in the Juxia Division. We share the same fate, and we share the same fate. Please don't take it to heart."

"One prospers, all prosper; one suffers, all suffer." Gong Mengbi seemed to be pondering these words. He said in a barely audible voice, "I only hope they truly understand what it means to prosper together and suffer together."

"What?" Chun Jing Shu didn't hear clearly.

Gong Mengbi simply smiled and said, "Let's go find Zhang Daoren again."

The golden book records the names of three cultivators who will undergo demonic trials. The judgment on Qin Shi has already been issued; she brought this upon herself, her foundation shattered, and her life is nearing its end. According to the order of their fates, it's Zhang Daoren's turn next.

Gong Mengbi once ordered Su Zhenzhen to investigate Zhang Daoren's background, but Su Zhenzhen found nothing.

Chun Jing Shu's mind was in turmoil, hoping that Zhang Daoren wasn't someone with a powerful background. She couldn't help but resent Su Zhenzhen for not revealing any information to her.

Following the golden book's guidance, the dragon chariot traversed mountains and rivers, finally landing in the Purple Cloud Mountain. The sun shone brightly, casting a purple glow upon the mountain peaks, while ancient pines, thousands of years old, peeked out from the clouds, displaying a unique and ethereal beauty.

Gong Mengbi said, "It seems that this Taoist priest Zhang has chosen to live a secluded life in the countryside."

Chun Jing Shu's mind was in turmoil, but having witnessed Gong Meng Bi's audacity, she dared not give him a hard time. She glanced out the car window and said, "It does have some spiritual energy; it can barely be considered a place for quiet cultivation."

“Master Zhang cultivates here, far from the world. Ziyun Mountain isn’t exactly a famous mountain or river, no wonder Zhenzhen couldn’t find anything.” Chun Jingshu muttered to herself, as if she were talking to Gong Mengbi, or as if she were talking to herself.

"Let's go and meet this Taoist Zhang," Gong Mengbi instructed, and the dragon-drawn chariot slowly began to move through Ziyun Mountain. The terrain in the mountain was complex, but the dragon-drawn chariot moved as if it were flat ground.

From the bright sunshine to the setting sun, the sky in the mountains had long since darkened, and the last rays of light fell on the sinking clouds, turning into a magnificent crimson hue.

"stop."

At Gong Mengbi's command, the carriage stopped in front of the valley.

The coachman asked, "What are your orders, sir?"

Gong Mengbi said, "We've gone around three times already, and you still haven't noticed?"

Only after Gong Mengbi pointed it out did the coachman seem to break through a barrier of perception and realize that this was indeed the third time they had passed through the valley.

"This... please forgive us, Your Excellency." The two coachmen knelt outside the carriage curtain, begging for forgiveness.

"Get up, this is none of your business," Gong Mengbi said, looking at Chun Jingshu: "Do you have any clues?"

Chun Jing Shu looked at the glowing names on the golden book, her expression changing slightly: "The golden book is guiding us to this place, but we've been going around in circles. There must be a protective formation here."

Her heart pounded. She was a sixth-rank fox fairy, not weak at all, but this display of power had even fooled her, which was enough to prove that this Taoist priest surnamed Zhang was no ordinary cultivator.

A sixth-rank demonic examiner will not receive targets higher than sixth rank. It makes no sense to send a sixth-rank demonic examiner to test cultivators of fifth rank or higher.

Since Chun Jing Shu came to the Demon Examination Institute, the institute has always been responsible for examining those at the seventh rank, and there are no exceptions, not even those at the sixth rank. The transition from the seventh rank to the sixth rank is from the lower three ranks to the middle three ranks, and it is a threshold for any kind of cultivation.

Qin Shi is a seventh-rank official, so logically, this Taoist priest should also be a seventh-rank official. The difference between the seventh and sixth ranks lies in spiritual power, which, to some extent, represents a change in the way one perceives the world.

Even if Zhang Daoren set up an array, it was quite unusual that he could keep Chun Jing Shu in the dark, and that she wouldn't have been discovered unless Gong Mengbi pointed it out.

Chun Jing Shu looked up at Gong Meng Bi and asked, "Envoy, shall we break the formation?"

Gong Mengbi's gaze followed the valley, across it, and then spread to the mountain peaks on both sides before finally withdrawing his gaze. He said, "Why break the formation? I'm here to put on a demonic test, not to kill an enemy."

Gong Mengbi instructed the coachman: "Go to the mountain peak to the east."

The dragon-shaped vehicle drove towards the mountain peak on the east side of the valley and landed on the mountaintop, where one could see the changing terrain of the valley.

Gong Mengbi climbed to a high vantage point, riding the mountain breeze, and saw the bright moon hanging high, like a pearl. The valley resembled a hidden dragon, seemingly swallowing and spitting out the pearl. This interplay of spiritual energy gave birth to pure Yin energy. If it were daytime, the hidden dragon would swallow and spit out a fiery pearl, giving birth to Yang energy.

These two energies, Yin and Yang, were ultimately gathered by the West Peak Stone Cliff Cave.

This formation might fool others, but how could it possibly fool Gong Mengbi, who cultivated the Heavenly Connection Technique? Not only were the Yin and Yang energies within the formation revealed to him, but even the stone cliff cave hidden by the formation was now exposed. Despite this, the formation was still an extremely ingenious arrangement, so ingenious that it could even evade the demonic test.