Missing

"There is a legend circulating among the fox clan..."

Chu Li rested her chin on her hand, listening to Nan Yi's slow narration with a smile in her eyes.

Her legs dangled in the air, swaying gently, all of which indicated her good mood.

Nan Yi sat beside her, telling her what he knew while looking at her.

Beneath their feet were tens of meters above the ground, and they were surrounded by dense foliage that completely concealed their figures.

This is the tallest tree in the fox clan, and it used to be Nan Yi's favorite place, so this time he brought his senior sister with him.

"Are all these legends true?"

"I've already said it's just a legend, so I guess it's half true and half false."

As Nan Yi spoke, his hand restlessly wrapped around Chu Li's waist.

"Shall we...go back tomorrow?"

Chu Li asked.

They had been staying in the fox clan for several days, and Nan Yi had taken her to most of the worthwhile places in the fox clan.

This ancient tree can be considered the last remaining scenic spot.

After staying for a few days, Chu Li had come to understand Nan Yi's situation. In the fox clan, he was easily ostracized by his peers. He didn't know if it was because he wasn't born into the fox clan, or because he was too outstanding and aroused jealousy.

The slightly older foxes, however, looked at Nan Yi with a cautious gaze.

Chu Li disliked those gazes. They seemed to be wavering, not seeing Nan Yi as a true fox among the fox clan, but as an outsider. They wanted to assess whether this outsider was qualified to stay in the fox clan.

Even someone as emotionally sensitive as her could so clearly sense the foxes' feelings for Nan Yi. How much more sensitive must Nan Yi be to them?

No wonder he had almost never mentioned the fox clan before, nor had he ever thought of going back.

It was only this time, when he happened to have something to do, that he thought of coming back.

Nan Yi neither confirmed nor denied Chu Li's speculations, but still mentioned that he wasn't pitiful enough to warrant such a comment.

After all, he knew his value after being taken back to the fox clan, and the fox clan was willing to spend a lot of effort to cultivate him because of that value.

During his time with the fox clan, he helped them a lot. He also gave them many rare and precious materials that he brought back from his travels, as a form of resource exchange.

Because he knew the truth from the beginning, he was indifferent to the other foxes' attitudes towards him.

Over the years, he has tried his best to clarify his entanglement with the fox clan, so that one day when he can no longer stay in the fox clan, he can smoothly break free from it without having to bear too much debt of gratitude.

The two sat silently on the thick branches.

"Leaving tomorrow? So soon?"

Nan Yi felt a pang of disappointment. He had been having a great time in the Fox Clan these past few days. Perhaps because it was a rare occasion for him to return to the Fox Clan, Chu Li, the cultivation fanatic, had surprisingly not cultivated for several days in a row, instead spending time wandering around with him.

Of course, he didn't know whether she secretly cultivated at night, since Chu Li insisted on sleeping separately from him. Even when he revealed his true fox form and swore that he could sleep in his original form for one night, she still didn't budge.

If we go back... my senior sister might have to go into seclusion again.

Chu Li was about to say something, but her expression quickly hardened.

Nan Yi's expression changed immediately. With a flick of his finger, he gently brushed his spiritual energy across the dense foliage, parting the layers to reveal the scene beneath.

The noise suddenly became clearer; someone... a fox was running rapidly toward them!

Chu Li listened carefully and heard several howls, mixed with cries of "cub" and "disappeared".

Nan Yi couldn't sit still any longer. He whispered to Chu Li, "I'll go down and take a look."

Chu Li shook his head helplessly. He disliked the fox clan on the surface, but when faced with such a situation, he was the one who immediately stepped forward to help.

However, if Nan Yi heard these words, he would definitely be stubborn again: "I don't like the fox clan, but what does that have to do with the cubs?"

She moved swiftly; it was time for her to go and take a look.

As soon as she arrived, she saw a young and beautiful fox tightly gripping Nan Yi's hand, her face full of grief: "Please, sir, save them! They are so young, how... how could they suddenly disappear?"

As she spoke, her body went limp, and she almost fell to the ground, but a pair of hands caught her slightly.

The fox, tears streaming down its face, looked up and was momentarily stunned when it saw the newcomer.

Taking advantage of her moment when she had regained some composure, the fox beside her whispered, "Sister, even the master is powerless now. You've forgotten his cultivation level..."

Even though he spoke softly, the group was close enough that every word reached Chu Li and Nan Yi's ears.

Nan Yi took a deep breath: "Why don't you tell us the specifics of the situation? That way, we can help you too."

As the woman recounted her story in a somewhat disjointed manner, and with the man's additions, Chu Li and Nan Yi finally understood what had happened in the past few days.

About two or three days ago, several families had their fox cubs go out to play, but none of them returned home by nightfall.

At first, everyone thought it was just the cubs being playful. After all, the fox clan was very safe, and foxes guarded all the entrances and exits, so it was impossible for a few cubs to sneak out.

But by the second day, none of the cubs had returned, and that's when the foxes started to panic.

The strange things started from that day. In the following day or two, cubs kept going missing. If they weren't watched for even a moment, the cubs would disappear immediately, and no matter how hard their families searched, they couldn't find them.

So these past few days, foxes with cubs have been constantly watching over their children. But even so, there are always times when they can't take care of them. Like the one in front of us, who accidentally dozed off and when she woke up, her cubs had already disappeared.

This is indeed strange. Chu Li and Nan Yi exchanged a glance. With such a large number of disappearances, and in such a short period of time, it is hard not to suspect that the cubs were directly and systematically abducted.

"What enemies does your fox clan have? Or have you recently offended...?"

The man shook his head, looking bewildered.

But when the woman heard those words, she suddenly looked up, her long, disheveled hair cascading down her back, and her words, combined with the chill that followed, sent a shiver down her spine.

"It must be a curse, there's no mistake!"

"A curse, a curse! How could I not have thought of that? But hasn't it already harmed us foxes enough? Why does it have to continue harming the next generation? And on what grounds?!"

Seeing the woman who was already somewhat deranged, Chu Li subconsciously shifted her questioning gaze to Nan Yi.

What exactly is this curse?

She had been here for several days, but Nan Yi hadn't mentioned it.

Nan Yi gave an awkward smile. He didn't really want to bring up the so-called curse, but since things had come to this point, he had no choice but to give a brief description.

"The curse is that the fox clan will never produce a nine-tailed fox. I don't know when this curse started circulating, but it has existed since I came to the fox clan."

Even the reason he came to the fox clan was related to a curse.

Nine tails... Chu Li pondered for a moment and quickly figured out the key point. Nan Yi had mentioned before that their cultivation level was closely related to the number of tails, and nine tails was the ultimate for foxes. That meant that nine tails corresponded to the Tribulation Transcending stage.

If the Nine-Tailed Fox can't emerge... doesn't that mean the Fox Clan will never produce a Tribulation Transcending cultivator?

That's a truly terrifying curse—as everyone knows, many forces in the cultivation world actually establish their position by relying on their top-tier combat power.

The demise of many forces is due to the departure or disappearance of their top combatants.

"So, what about you now?" Chu Li asked in a low voice.

Nan Yi sighed, "There are only two Tribulation Transcending stage cultivators left, but their lifespans are almost up." As if seeing the doubt in Chu Li's eyes, he added, "Those two should have already reached the Tribulation Transcending stage before the curse appeared."

Therefore, the fox clan is in dire need of foxes with the potential to grow into the Tribulation Transcending stage, and unfortunately, Nan Yi is that "lucky one".

He was inexplicably found by the fox clan and taken back to them. No one knows what method the fox clan used to determine this, but they insisted that he would eventually possess nine tails.

So later, a lot of resources were poured into him, and he lived up to expectations. In just a few hundred years, he rushed all the way to the Nascent Soul stage, and he was already the fox with the best chance of breaking through to the Tribulation stage in recent years - if he hadn't been injured.

Nan Yi sometimes wondered why it had to be him. Was it because the curse only cursed foxes born into the fox clan? Did it exclude wild foxes like him?

"Could the curse... be real?"

Curses are similar to so-called legends, and many are spread by hearsay.

Nan Yi nodded almost imperceptibly. From his observation, at least most of it was true. There were several foxes in the clan who had clearly reached the peak of the Nascent Soul stage and had great talent for cultivation, but they just couldn't grow that ninth tail.

Their strength was comparable to that of a pseudo-Tribulation Transcending Stage cultivator, but because of their tails, the "pseudo" could never become "real," including their clan leader.

But strangely enough, the chieftain always insisted that there was no such curse, and forbade any fox from discussing the topic.

But how can such a topic, which is inherently mysterious, be prohibited?

He heard about it on his very first day in the fox clan.

And naturally, all the foxes around his age had heard of this curse. Even with the curse, they were all starting from the same point. But suddenly, a fox appeared who was considered by the clan to have the potential to reach the nine-tailed level, and he wasn't even born into the fox clan—

They made their rejection crystal clear.

Nan Yi hesitated for a moment, but ultimately did not reveal that he was chosen from the wild by the fox clan because he was predicted to reach the Nine-Tailed Fox realm.

Otherwise, he would still be living freely in the wild.