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Ali was very uneasy...

This unease stemmed from an intuition born of countless deaths!

And it had never predicted wrongly before.

Ever since arriving in this world, she had never escaped from fear. Cruel demons of her kind were everywhere, and so were humans, who harbored an intense wariness of demons. As a fox demon with nearly no ability to fight head-on, she could only rely on her innate talent for seduction.

Before transmigrating, she hadn’t even been in love, okay?

After transmigrating, she didn’t know how many people she had been with...

Every time she succeeded in raising her level, she would be discovered due to some oversight or another, and once her abilities were discovered, it would trigger a frenzied pursuit, without exception, and she never had a sense of security...

Even when she encountered the King of Qin, to be honest, in his team, she probably felt the safest for once.

She remembered clearly, that pleasant noon, she had planned to take a good nap and then go tease Zi Yue in the evening...

But that time, her intuition of danger, which hadn’t surfaced in a hundred years, appeared again!

She thought it was a false alarm, convincing herself she was overthinking, that nothing could go wrong within the Qin Royal Mansion.

As a result... she died more horribly that life than any other.

She didn’t even want to recall the torture she went through before her death, or everything those humans did to her with their overwhelming desires.

And today... the feeling had returned!

Ali paced the room restlessly. She wanted to leave, to leave right now, to run into the crowd and hide in an inconspicuous noble family; maybe she could escape this way.

But, if she left, Shen Qi and the others would never find a second Chen Qing...

So... should she trust her intuition or trust them?

Ali hesitated for a while, but in the end, she felt she should trust herself.

Even the King of Qin hadn’t outdone her intuition, so how much could she expect from her relationship with Shen Qi?

She had already explained everything to Zi Yue; after all the risks she had taken, she had done right by Chen Qing.

But just as she reached the door, she saw an incredibly pale face.

"Chen Ying?"

Ali stepped back, forcing a smile: "How did you come back so soon?"

"If I hadn’t come back now... you would have run away!" Chen Ying said with a sinister tone.

Ali shuddered. Chen Ying never liked her and often bared her teeth at her, but Ali never took her seriously. That girl hadn’t grown into a villain yet, at least didn’t know how to be cruel to others...

But this time was different. The look in Chen Ying’s eyes was one that only a deeply vicious person would possess.

Ali silently took two steps back, allowing Chen Ying to come in. She put on a delighted expression and began pouring tea: "Where are they?"

"Dealing with the trouble behind..." said Chen Ying in a low voice.

"Did it go well?" Ali asked, showing her most concerned issue.

"Barely, I guess..."

"What do you mean barely?" Ali asked with a forced smile.

"We split into four groups to destroy the temples. Just like Elder Shen Qi predicted, the remaining three temples had weak defenses and we succeeded. But... there was indeed a big ambush at the location Elder Shen Qi and General Ah Er went to; the rest have gone to their aid, and as you know, I’m not that strong, so I came back first to inform you. "

"I see..." Ali glanced outside: "It’s almost dawn, the duel will start soon. Since the temples are destroyed, what about Prince Ao Zhen?"

"He hasn’t shown up yet..." Chen Ying whispered: "The two Yaksha generals have sensed his presence and have gone to find him. What you need to do is to stall for time, delay until Ao Zhen completely breaks the seal. Then we will have a chance."

Ali: "...."

Stall for time?

How am I supposed to stall for time with my skills?

Chen Ying in front of her was very likely not the real person, she might be something else, Ali could guess... because she had spent a year with that kind of thing.

Soul-devouring Demon...

The characteristic of a Soul-devouring Demon was that it could only mimic the spirits it had devoured. Chen Ying... was likely already dead!

Ali felt a bone-chilling coldness all over. She never wanted to come to this place at the start because it was predicted to be related to the Ghost Domain, and the Ghost Domain... was the place most capable of affecting reincarnation.

She truly didn’t want to die again; she always felt that if she died again... she truly wouldn’t be herself anymore.

But how could she escape now?

She actually understood what their purpose was...

They could have killed her directly, but they didn’t do so because they needed to kill Chen Qing in full view of the public!

With Chen Qing dying in the duel against the Prince of Nanman, did Jiangnan have any reaction?

Without Chen Qing, the king officially appointed by the Imperial Court, could Jiangnan be rightfully reclaimed?

You see... how simple it is to rightfully take back Jiangnan? She couldn’t understand why the Ziyue Society would risk this.

In this life, must she also perish while imitating others?

Ali naturally didn’t want that...

"If you don’t let me live, I will not face the battle as Chen Qing," she said.

"Oh?" Chen Ying immediately laughed, "What makes you think you can resist?"

Chen Ying wasn’t the least surprised that Ali could see through her.

The Thousand-Faced Fox excelled at imitating others, and no one had more experience in this field than she did.

So, even if the impersonation was spot-on, it wouldn’t fool her.

From the very beginning, she never intended to deceive her.

"Based on the fact that you can’t find a second fake Chen Qing.

.." Ali said earnestly, "Everyone present is from a noble family, many of whom have secretly pledged allegiance to Jiangnan. If the act is too fake, it won’t convince those people.

Your Ghost Temple still needs the nobility to be completely loyal. Am I right?"

"Hahahaha..."

A seductive laugh came from outside, and the person who entered through the door was a face all too familiar to Ali.

Seeing a person she had once killed come back to life and stand before her as an absolute strong figure, even if it was not the same person on the inside, it complicated Ali’s feelings.

"Such a clever little fox... So I don’t understand..." The Empress looked at her with a smile, "Why did you choose to bear a human child?"

"If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have survived..." Ali laughed as she stepped back.

This Empress made her very uneasy... That gaze was familiar, and it made her skin crawl.

"I’m well aware of your trip; you came with the intent to seduce the Emperor and evolve into a Transcendent. Once successful, no one in Great Jin would be your match. Getting pregnant early, was it because you thought you were bound to fail?"

Ali: "...."

"Want me to tell you why?"

"What do you mean?" Ali frowned suddenly.

"You’ve traversed this world for an age, enduring a thirst for blood as the Thousand-Faced Fox.

At first, you could bear it with your past life’s moral baseline.

But as time went on, even for survival, you had to show your fangs.

Theoretically, with time, your heart should become as hard as stone.

How could you soften your heart for an NPC and conceive a child? "

"You..." Ali staggered backward, "You are..."

"Lu Xiaoshuang, right?" The Empress watched her with a smile, "The number one artist in the development team, hmm... I heard the original form of the Thousand-Faced Fox has been drawn, but many people haven’t seen it. Would you grace me with a look at the work of the top artist?"

"Who are you?" Ali clenched her teeth.

"You wouldn’t know me..." The Empress said, "The only reason I know of you is that the powers above have long grasped all information about your group of newcomers!"

Ali fell silent for a moment before asking, "You just said it’s illogical for me to soften my heart for an NPC. So why would I do that? Do you know the reason?"

"I do..." The Empress sighed deeply.

Ali felt a sudden tightness in her heart, and inexplicably, an aching sense of sourness welled up, a feeling she hadn’t experienced in a long time!

"It seems you have some inkling... Are you sure you want to know?" the Empress asked with a faint smile.

"Tell me!" Ali clenched her teeth.

"Make a deal first. Transform into Chen Qing and let yourself be killed in front of everyone, and I’ll tell you the reason!"

"What if you lie?"

"May my spirit be devoured by a myriad of demons!"

Ali took a deep breath, "Then let’s begin..."

The Empress immediately smiled, for the last batch of players were never underestimated.

They were repressed most fiercely because they were deemed too dangerous, knowing the world more than the previous players who had undergone countless cycles.

They had secrets that might overthrow the ruling powers.

Ali was dangerous, one of the most perilous demons from the first version and could not be allowed a chance to grow. Not even once...

That’s why in her last life, she died so tragically, enduring humiliation and torture before her death—to weaken the subconscious memories!

This time, with enough stimulation, she might seal away her memories, perhaps even dispelling the divine abilities of the Thousand-Faced Fox, just like the other suppressed players.

A technique quickly bound the two of them, as the Empress faced Ali’s firm gaze. She revealed a malicious smile and gave an answer that shattered Ali.

"Because... that scholar you consumed... oh, his name was Cui Yan, right? He was an acquaintance of yours!!"

Ali: "!!"