The Little Fox's Immortal Cultivation Encyclopedia

Chapter 118 Turtle Mansion

The moonlight reflected on the water's surface, and the turtle spirit rode the waves at breakneck speed, the ripples it created shattering the clear radiance.

A moon-colored silk ribbon was wrapped around its neck, the other end of which was tied to a delicate little carriage. Two fox cubs were crammed inside the carriage, their ears pressed against their heads by the wind, and the fur on their foreheads askew.

A slender, long white fox obediently squatted down, its right paw resting on the car, looking tense.

The black-footed red fox draped one of its red tails over the armrest, while its other tail was tucked in tightly, yet it still squeezed towards the white fox, making it appear as if it had become the white fox's tail.

The two foxes were wrapped in felt, their fur touching, with only their tails and heads showing.

Hu Nianshuang was somewhat flustered, while the fox was overjoyed, shaking the plain moon silk and pretending to drive the carriage.

The Seven Fragrances Cart floats on the water by itself; rather than the turtle spirit pulling the cart, it's more accurate to say the cart pushes the turtle spirit along.

"We're almost there."

A thin mist shrouded the river ahead, and the backwater was right before them. The river was wide, and the water was dark and murky. The fox put away the Seven Fragrances Carriage, and when he turned around, Hu Nianshuang had somehow returned to human form and was holding the alligator dragon's inner core in her mouth.

The fox took a deep breath, used its breath-locking and water-avoidance technique, and submerged into the water. A thin membrane separated the river water, and the fox curiously used its tail as a paddle to swim around twice, savoring this novel sensation, before looking down.

Even with the fox's keen eyesight, it could only vaguely see the rift valley below, which was pitch black and its depths unknown.

The turtle spirit led the way, followed by the fox and the woman, who concealed themselves with illusions.

Gradually, the light above disappeared. The turtle spirit swam through the rift valley, twisting and turning, for a while, until its vision finally brightened a little.

The valley floor had been reached, and the cliff walls were covered with golden moss, like fireflies gathered in one place. Scattered on the ground were many sunken ships, covered with debris, their age unknown.

At the narrowest point, there was a crack, inside which stood a stone door, embedded in the rock wall. The turtle spirit swam over, rummaged through the water plants in front of the door for a while, and pulled out only shrimp soldiers covered in shells with long whiskers.

The turtle demon stretched out its claws and slapped the shrimp, then grabbed its whiskers and yanked it.

The shrimp soldier suddenly opened its eyes and exhaled bubbles: "Glug glug!"

The turtle spirit also began to call out, its gurgling sounds never ceasing. The fox silently floated beside them, ready to intervene should any sudden change occur.

After calling for a while, the shrimp soldier took out a conch shell from his waist, put it to his mouth and gurgled a few times. After a few breaths, a gurgling sound came from the conch shell, followed by a heavy thud, and the stone door opened.

The fox's gaze lingered on the conch shell for a moment before it slipped through the stone door.

Behind the stone gate is a passageway that can only accommodate two people at a time. The further you go in, the higher the ceiling becomes. When you reach the end, the view suddenly opens up.

This was a huge stone chamber, probably three zhang high, with stone pillars hanging from the ceiling, dripping water. In the center of the chamber hung a stone pillar carved into the shape of a turtle's claw, directly below which was a stone platform covered with the hide of an unknown animal, hairless, probably some kind of aquatic beast.

Inside the stone chamber lay several turtle and shrimp soldiers, which extended all the way to a cave to the side. The fox glanced inside; it seemed to be the monsters' armory, with some strangely shaped weapons on display.

The fox seemed to be deep in thought. These weapons were clearly not stolen from humans, but were specially made for these monsters.

Several women were busy inside the cave, doing some tidying and cleaning. They moved very quietly, their eyes blank.

The fox scanned the area but did not see Yu Niang.

"Where are the newly arrested people?"

The turtle spirit pointed to a cave deeper inside and gurgled, "Water prison—"

"What's wrong with the water dungeon?" a strange voice suddenly rang out.

The fox felt a chill run down its spine, pulled Hu Nianshuang over, and looked her up and down, finding her somewhat familiar.

It turned out to be a man, who looked like an accountant, standing in front of the turtle spirit, looking down at it.

"Where's the picture?"

The turtle spirit was startled and stammered.

"What did I tell you before?"

"Gurgle gurgle".

"If you don't recognize them, just bring them all back!"

"Gurgle gurgle".

"You better remember this well, the picture shows a forest of warships, banners obscuring the sun, and two armies facing off—" The man stopped mid-sentence, noticing the turtle spirit's confused look, and cursed, "Useless! You're just a demon that was forced to be born, you can't even handle this simple thing."

"If I weren't unable to leave the manor, would I need you?" The man's expression turned cold. "When the King returns, you'll be punished."

The judge turned and left, still cursing, but now his rant was directed at all the demon soldiers, calling them stupid and dirty, his tone full of resentment.

The turtle spirit squatted there, not daring to move for a long time. Only when the judge's footsteps faded into the distance did it exhale a long breath and collapse to the ground.

The fox suddenly remembered seeing this face somewhere before. It looked exactly like a judge in the City God Temple, except that compared to the clay statue, his expression was more vivid, and he had lost all his divine power, making him look like a mortal, which is why the fox couldn't remember him for a moment.

No wonder the turtle spirit went to the City God Temple to look for something, and knew that the City God had the Lanjiang Battle Map; it turns out he was a traitor within the family.

No, the fox remembered the City God's dream. Perhaps this judge was following the City God's orders?

The fox thought about it more and more and it seemed reasonable. The City God was clearly in cahoots with this monster. Perhaps because the Double Ninth Festival was approaching, the City God sent his judges to contact the monster and discuss the capture of people's souls, which allowed the judges to escape this calamity.

So he took the initiative to find a way, or perhaps through some means of the Taishan Prefecture, to wash away his divine power and hide in the monster's lair, not daring to go out, for fear of being found and taken away by the underworld.

"elder brother?"

"It's nothing, the fox just found the fish it wanted to catch." The fox smiled, offered no explanation, and followed the turtle spirit toward the water prison.

The guards in front of the water dungeon didn't sleep; they diligently checked everything, but unfortunately, they found nothing and let the fox in.

The place was divided into many rooms, and in each room several women were squatting. The heavy footsteps of the turtle spirit could be heard, but they didn't even look up. Some of the women who did look up had blank expressions and lifeless eyes.

Hu Nianshuang noticed something amiss: "Brother, these women are different from those busy women."

"Those outside may have blank stares, but they have strength in their hands and feet and are doing things. They are only feeling desperate because they are trapped."

"But these things here seem to have lost their minds, like bodies without souls. But aren't they souls? Have they been under some kind of spell, or fed some kind of drug?"

The voice slowly rang out: "Using Yin energy as a medium, lock away their intelligence, fix their spirit, make them unaware and ignorant, and obey their every command; this is the method of bewitching the soul."

The fox was startled. It had seen this kind of magic, which used Yin energy to target the soul, more than once.

Without making a sound, it walked to the last room and looked inside. In the corner, a woman in theatrical costume was huddled. She heard footsteps and looked over with a frightened expression.

The fox revealed itself and said in a deep voice, "Don't be afraid—"

"Cough cough cough cough cough."

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