Cultivation through Skin Making

"Song Yan, hand over what you stole." The Grandmother Fox didn't pounce immediately but said, "Return it to me, and we'll call it quits. You and I have no deep-seated hatred."

She spread her hands, spat out the finger she had been chewing, and transformed into a pitiful beauty. She raised her sleeve to cover her face and said miserably, "You've seen my state now. I've become so pitiable. Even if I wanted to deal with you, I don't have the strength."

"Besides, you're capable of so many things. Your power surely isn't weak. I'm just focused on escaping now and conserving my strength. How could I risk dealing with you?"

With that, the beauty's head quickly morphed back into a fierce fox head. The fox's head looked menacingly at Song Yan and said viciously, "But if you remain stubborn and don't give it back to me, I'll drag you to hell with me!!"

The ruthless gaze was locked on Song Yan.

Song Yan said, "What kind of essence blood is that thing?"

The Grandmother Fox said, "That's not your concern...

You little thief, the less you know, the better you live.

I'm not telling you for your own good.

Because if you knew, I'd have to kill you.

See how sincere I am?"

The light words were as crisp and enticing as a lark, yet they ended with a harsh threat.

"But keeping it will only invite endless disaster! Why bother? Why go through the trouble?"

The Grandmother Fox vacillated between sweet talk and threats, then suddenly stepped forward and sternly said, "Quickly give it to me!!"

Song Yan said, "Grandmother, clarify what kind of disaster?"

The Grandmother Fox said coldly, "I've said enough. Don't push me...

If you're not assured, I'll let you leave three miles first. You can place the thing three miles away and then escape immediately.

You little thief are extremely cunning. If you want to escape three miles away, you can hide your presence and disappear where no one knows.

If I get entangled with you, it'll only delay my own escape.

You and I are alike now; both the Puppet Sect and the Nanwu Sword Sect are looking for you, and you have to escape.

We shouldn't waste each other's time, alright?"

Song Yan lowered his gaze slightly.

He indeed knew that both the Puppet Sect and the Nanwu Sword Sect were looking for him, which was why he needed to lay low for a while.

But what was the Grandmother Fox escaping from?

He didn't think the Grandmother Fox was also avoiding these two sects.

Because normally, as a member of the Multi-tailed Fox family in the Mountain and Sea Demon Country, if she suffered a setback in the Three Kingdoms' territory, she surely would've gone back to rally help.

Since the Grandmother Fox not only didn't call for help but fled in the opposite direction, it could only mean... the Grandmother Fox had, for some reason, betrayed the Multi-tailed Fox family, or at least couldn't return.

So, he thought for a moment and asked, "Then... Grandmother, where do you plan to escape to in the south? As far as I know, south of Southern Wu is a vast swamp filled with miasma. I happen not to know where to go; Grandmother, why not give me some pointers?"

The Grandmother Fox coldly stared at him and suddenly said, "Little thief, are you really not handing it over?"

Song Yan scratched his head and grinned sheepishly, "I will, I will! Is it not that I want to gather more information? After all, I don't have Grandmother's vast powers, and even if I flee, I don't know where to go."

The Grandmother Fox said patiently, "There are some hidden ancient teleportation arrays in this world, and I happen to have a map of one of those places.

After you return the item to me, I'm willing to take you with me.

After all... you and I are now wanderers of the world, helping each other is reasonable.

What's more, I don't know the situation at the ancient teleportation array, an extra human might not be a bad thing."

Song Yan nodded slightly.

So that's how it is...

It was his first time encountering the concept of an "ancient teleportation array."

The Grandmother Fox said, "Boy, quickly give it to me."

Song Yan's fingers moved slightly, bringing out various Demon Beast Abnormal Soul Shadow Puppets from his storage space...

Blood Blade Deer, Earth Walking Corpse Crab, Earth Escape Lizard, Bodiless Phantom Crow, Spiked Armored Blue Wolf, Nine-eyed Qina Python, Single-tailed Demonic Fox...

Most of these shadow puppets were obtained from the Shadow Puppet Pavilion of the Puppet Sect.

The Grandmother Fox glanced at his fingers and said coldly, "Boy, do you not trust me?"

Song Yan silently muttered "only an idiot would trust you" in his heart. Meanwhile, he rapidly activated the shadow puppets while chatting nonsense to buy time to get through the "casting animation" and gain an advantage.

"Believe you? How could I not? I'm showing my sincerity to Grandmother.

I want to show Grandmother my cards so... we can enhance our mutual trust. In our human world, there's a saying called mutual honesty. Grandmother, do you trust my sincerity?"

"Grandmother, look, these are shadow puppets."

"Though they may seem rustic, I made them all by myself."

With that, Song Yan also took out some talismans and started frantically sticking them on himself.

As for the previous "Sealing Talisman," he had secretly removed it long ago.

"Here, these are talismans."

"Look at this talisman; isn't it beautifully painted?"

The Grandmother Fox: ...

She was dumbfounded by the shameless actions of this little thief.

The Grandmother Fox laughed angrily and harshly said, "You sly little thief... I don't believe you at all!! You still need to die!!!"

Bam!!

The Grandmother Fox struck the ground with a long sword.

The sword's sheath instantly cracked, revealing the blade.

Song Yan stopped talking, his keen and vigilant eyes locked on that sword.

An indescribable fear suddenly rose in his heart...

The sword radiated with a glaring brilliance, thick with moonlight, but almost instantly, the moonlight was shrouded by darkness, from the towering shadows rising up.

The Grandmother Fox grew taller, her features blurred, and flames burst around her with a "boom."

She instantly transformed from a short figure to a giant more than ten feet tall, the sword in her hand growing from several feet to several yards.

The sword vanished, leaving only flames!

Boom!!

With terrifying power and an overwhelming demon shadow, accompanied by blazing flames, a crimson arch of moonlight was drawn across the night sky, aiming to slash directly at Song Yan's head.

But immediately, the Grandmother Fox's fox eyes contracted fiercely. Disbelievingly, she saw that the little thief on the ground was also starting to grow taller, transforming into an over a dozen feet tall figure.

The little thief inhaled deeply, opened his mouth wide, and the dozens of shadow puppets he had taken out and activated were all sucked into his mouth. His body began to undergo a more bizarre transformation than hers.

He grew horns, armor covered his body, snake heads grew from his shoulders, pincers grew from his ribs, and black wings spread open from his back, while a gray fox tail extended from behind...

A variety of features, indescribably grotesque.

Like a monstrous demon, so bizarre that it couldn't appear in even the worst nightmares, suddenly manifesting on the earth.

Moreover, a circle of attribute-enhancing talismans was pasted around the waist of that demon.

The fire sword slashed down.

The demon's face was grave, and it swiftly raised its arm to block.

Boom!!

The tremendous sound spread, shaking the surrounding trees until they snapped, and sand and stones flew.

Granny Fox continued her slashes.

Each strike seemed like a fire tornado falling from the sky.

Song Yan swung his arms fiercely, dispersing the fire tornadoes one by one.

Nearby rivers were stirred into waves, fish and shrimp respectfully shrank to the bottom, insects burrowed into the ground in silence, the wild forest flattened into plain land in an instant.

Boom!

Boom!

Another fierce confrontation.

Granny Fox and Song Yan were both slammed apart, gazing at each other from afar.

"You little thief, Crimson Palace Realm, the Stone Seat Elder was truly deceived by you."

"Can't compare to Granny."

After a brief dialogue, Granny Fox seemed to have made a decision, bit her lip, and a thread of blood seeped from her mouth.

In the black and red world, a pair of cold fox eyes stared directly at Song Yan.

Even though Song Yan had transformed into the form of the Hundred Forms Demon Body, his heart still skipped a beat, a sudden chill spreading quickly through his limbs and bones.

And Granny Fox's demon shadow abruptly rose again, growing from over ten yards to dozens of yards.

Song Yan, who was originally not a tall figure, appeared instantly as a small ant that could be crushed by a foot compared to that demon shadow.

At this moment, Song Yan suddenly made a strange move.

He seemed to understand something, reaching into his storage bag once more, he pulled out over a dozen Slaughter Talismans.

Song Yan's grasp emptied the storage bag of these talismans completely!

Pa pa pa pa pa pa!

In the next moment, the Slaughter Talismans quickly adhered to his body, and Song Yan felt all fear in his heart dissolve.

"Little thief, die!!"

Granny Fox disregarded her opponent, swiftly wielding the sword; that crescent red arc formed a cascading tsunami across the sky, fiercely covering and spanning the heavens, even the crescent moon above appeared as a tiny boat rocking amidst the furious tides within the sword's red light!

Yet, in her eyes, the strange demon the little thief transformed into had blood-red eyes full of overwhelming anger and boundless killing intent...

Granny Fox's heart suddenly conceived a strange feeling.

This feeling expanded rapidly as she swung her sword.

Growing larger and larger...

And seemingly responding to this feeling, Granny Fox's height quickly shrank, and the demon shadow covering the sky rapidly diminished.

When the sword dropped a yard above Song Yan's head, Granny Fox had turned from a dozens-yard-tall demon shadow to merely a yard-tall demon shadow.

And the sword had shrunk from over ten yards back to mere feet.

The shortened sword naturally couldn't strike Song Yan anymore.

This slash broke without attack!!

Granny Fox was stunned, hastily raised her hand, only to see that strange demon looking toward her, grinning sinisterly.

The strange demon stamped the ground, causing cracks.

Spider webs exploded into yellow mud.

Gas roots lifted off, breaking apart...

With a thunderous sound, amid the smoke and dust of the exploding deep pit, the strange demon crossed dozens of yards in an instant, the ground behind him thumping upward as though a ground dragon had awakened, clinging closely.

The demon appeared before Granny Fox.

With a grimace, he revealed a mouth of already mutated fangs and snorted: "Please, Ancestor, meet your end!"

Granny Fox paused...

Those words...

She remembered.

That boy from the Cao Family named Cao Shiyin, and later the Empress named Fu Shirong, seemed to have said similar words...

The little thief saying these words now was no different from telling those humans who died trying to kill her: "I've avenged them, may they rest in peace."

As this thought flashed by, two demon hands filled with thorny scales and phantasmal patterns fiercely gripped her neck.

At this moment, Granny Fox had lost her final "height," reverting back to a small size.

Boom!

The demon hands grasped her neck and violently smashed downward, even the air boiled.

Granny Fox felt the intense pain and looming death, her eyes suddenly sharp, and in a flash, she glared fiercely at the demon close at hand.

'Drag you to burial!'

'Cunning little thief, die with me!!'

Granny Fox's brow suddenly brightened, her liquid Primordial Spirit recklessly surged out, at close range transforming into an invisible sharp arrow shooting toward Song Yan's brow.

It's a "both jade and stone will burn" tactic of Crimson Palace Realm masters when they are strong enough and close to their enemy.

When the liquid Primordial Spirit breaches into the opponent's Primordial Spirit, it results in both parties suffering divine soul damage instantly, regardless of their physical state.

Of course, the attacker almost certainly dies.

The attacked at least suffers divine soul injuries, making recovery extremely difficult.

If luck is slightly worse, being rendered senseless is quite normal.

Granny Fox thought herself far stronger than Song Yan, if this attack succeeded, Song Yan would at least become a dullard.

However, when her divine soul breached Song Yan's brow, she witnessed an unbelievable scene: one sinister ghost after another was standing guard at the entrance, while numerous dark patterns suddenly shot out from that divine soul world.

Whoosh!

Swish!

A pattern swiftly locked Granny Fox's divine soul's wrist.

Granny Fox's divine soul paused for a moment, turned to flee, only to be tightly entangled by the following pattern, then... hung upside down.

Before this, no matter what happened, even if that little thief figured out the weakness of her 'Long Bo Blood,' she hadn't panicked.

But at this moment, she truly panicked.

Fear all but dissipated her soul as bitter thoughts flashed across her mind.

'Little thief, how... how could you have digested the Changwang Tiger Essence Blood?!!'