I was completely stunned when I saw her do this.

Xiaolian suddenly pressed her lips to my ear, her breath sweet but tinged with tears.

"I'm sorry, sir... No matter what you see later, please don't open your eyes!"

Before I could react, her warm skin pressed against my chest without my guard.

The bell outside the door suddenly rang more urgently, accompanied by heavy footsteps.

Xiao Lian suddenly rolled over and pinned me down. The sandalwood scent from her hair mixed with a hint of blood wafted towards me.

She buried her head in the crook of my neck, trembling, her deliberately softened voice carrying a seductive undertone.

"You rascal, you've been thinking about this for so long..."

Before he could finish speaking, the door was slammed shut with a loud bang, causing dust to fall from the roof beams.

I was tense all over, and I could clearly feel her chest heaving violently and her body burning hot.

Xiaolian's fingers gripped the hem of my clothes tightly, and she whispered urgently in my ear, "Cooperate with me... Please..."

As she spoke, she suddenly bit me, her movements clumsy yet carrying a desperate, all-or-nothing intensity.

The sound of the bells outside the door suddenly became chaotic, as if something was circling around the house.

Then, I felt something stick to the door.

Xiaolian trembled, but hugged me even tighter.

I kept my eyes tightly shut, and I could feel a chilling aura sweeping over my head.

Xiaolian's body trembled violently above me, but suddenly she let out a silvery laugh: "Sister, don't be angry~ After he's done, I'll go apologize to you..."

A heavy thud came from above, and the chilling aura lingered by the bed for a long time before finally fading away with a cold snort and the sound of bells.

Xiaolian's tense body suddenly relaxed, and she slumped against me.

Her tears dripped onto my neck, her voice choked with the sobs of someone who had just escaped death: "Thank... thank you..."

I slowly opened my eyes. Moonlight streamed in through the torn window paper, illuminating her pale face and the faintly glowing birthmark on her wrist.

In the distance, the sound of bells rang again, but it gradually faded away towards the other end of the alley.

I lowered my voice and asked, "That thing outside the door just now..."

Xiaolian hurriedly sat up, frantically straightening her clothes, her ear tips turning so red they looked like they were about to bleed.

"Yes, she's the eldest sister of 'Nine-Tailed Fairy'..."

She clutched her tattered sleeve: "The foxes here are divided into different classes. The eldest sister and the others specialize in sucking souls, while we 'soul guides'..."

I asked, "What about the other two?"

Xiaolian whispered, "My elder sister and the others are 'Soul-Stealing Foxes,' who specialize in absorbing essences to refine Yin Elixirs; there are also 'Transforming Foxes,' who can use bewitching incense to lure people into dreams and steal their bones and organs; and then there are 'Soul-Guiding Maidens' like me..."

She suddenly fell silent, a soft sob escaping her throat. "They are the lowest-grade soul vessels, responsible for nurturing their offspring with yang energy."

As we were talking, a buzzing sound suddenly came from my ear.

I took out my compass, and the needle vibrated violently at the "Kun" position, faintly revealing a black aura.

Seeing this, Xiaolian suddenly grabbed my wrist: "Don't use this thing! They can track us by following spiritual energy!"

Her fingertips were icy cold and smelled of damp earth: "Last month, a knowledgeable feng shui master had his hand torn off as soon as he took out his compass."

Suddenly, the sound of porcelain shattering came from outside, mixed with a man's strange laughter.

Xiaolian shuddered and buried her head in her knees: "Did you hear that? That's a 'transformed fox' gnawing on finger bones... They love to collect men's left ring fingers, saying they're imbued with the spiritual energy of 'love roots'."

She lifted her skirt, revealing fine teeth marks on her calves: "These are from when I was bitten by the 'babies' last year. When they were first born, they looked like tufts of white fur and they sucked the blood of living souls..."

As she spoke, she subconsciously reached for the silver hairpin in her hair.

This silver hairpin features a unique carving style characteristic of old silver shops in Suzhou and Hangzhou. I saw the same style three years ago in Panjiayuan, made by a family member of an official during the Republic of China era.

The hairpin's plum blossom stamen is inlaid with half a piece of jade.

According to the "Records of Customs and Things in the Land of the Rising Sun", this "sky-blue" jadeite is only produced in the old mine of the Uru River in northern Myanmar. In the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China, it only appeared in the crowns and ornaments of the clan chief's lineage, which was meant to "offer a jade tablet to the East" to protect the clan.

"Is the silver hairpin yours?" I asked.

A flicker of panic crossed Xiaolian's eyes: "No...no, it was a gift from someone!"

I sneered: "Xiao Lian, you're not being honest. The color of this jade is exactly the same as the fragment of the incense burner base from the local temple. The county annals say that the clan chief's wife's dowry included a pair of 'twin lotus hairpins,' and the one on the left was inlaid with this color of jade."

"How...how did you know?" Xiaolian was taken aback.

I held out my hand: "Can I take a look?"

Xiaolian hesitated for a moment, then handed me the silver hairpin.

I turned the silver hairpin in the moonlight, and dark red seeped from the stamen of the plum blossom on the hairpin tip.

That's not blood stains, but soul rust formed over many years by being nourished by the blood of living souls.

According to the Taoist text "Yinwu Kao", if such personal spiritual artifacts are touched by low-level spirits, the jade will quickly lose its color and shatter.

Only the yang energy of the clan leader's bloodline can keep it warm and moist.

The pale blue fox-shaped birthmark on her wrist suddenly glowed, creating a strange resonance with the silver hairpin and jade.

This is precisely the sign of the "spiritual lineage" in the "Illustrated Manual".

"If I'm not mistaken, you are the chieftain's daughter?"

Xiaolian trembled, tears falling onto her knees: "This...this is what my mother left me..."

She suddenly bit her lip, her nails digging into the cracks in the wall: "But they say I'm an orphan girl they found, and can only be a 'soul guide'..."

"By the way, you said earlier that the 'transformed foxes' were gnawing on finger bones... They love to collect men's left ring fingers, but those people's fingers look perfectly fine to me?"

Xiaolian suddenly grabbed my wrist, her nails almost digging into my flesh.

"After smelling the 'Intoxicating Fragrance,' thirty percent of their seven souls dissipated!"

She pointed out the window, where Li Jinrong's lewd laughter drifted from the alleyway, mixed with the sound of porcelain shattering.

The laughter was hollow, like a broken gong; with each ring, a new layer of ice would form on the ice in the corner of the room.

"That programmer from last month, after sobering up, thought he was in a five-star hotel, only to find out he was missing three fingers from his left hand when he went to the hospital!"

I remembered the white hair that suddenly sprouted from the back of Dazhu's neck, and my stomach churned.

The water droplets condensing on the cup wall were slowly gathering into the shape of a fox's eye, and the ice patterns spread along the rim of the cup, even leaving half a paw print on the table.

"Those antiques that were given away as gifts..."

"They're all pickled with living souls!"

Xiao Lian opened the hidden compartment.

The smell of decaying leaves wafted from the tunnel, mixed with a strong stench of blood.

She took out half a piece of charred talisman paper and stuffed it into my palm; half a fingernail was still embedded in the ashes.

"The blue and white porcelain vase that the coal mine owner took away last year had his own birth date and time engraved on the bottom, not the year!"

Suddenly, black blood seeped from the roof beams overhead, winding along the wood grain into a pattern of a fox swallowing the moon.

"Hurry! The 'kids' will be searching the house after they've finished devouring the essence!"

The sound of claws scraping against the door came from outside, accompanied by the ringing of three long and two short bells.

Xiao Lian suddenly blew out the candle.

In the darkness, I heard the rustling sound of her untying her braids: "Follow the current, and when you see a stone carved with a fox's eye, turn left..."