You don't want your secret to be revealed by others, right?

"""

Once it burrowed back into the cave, it definitely wouldn't come out again, but would slowly dig and escape from elsewhere. At that point, it would be impossible to catch it again. If it weren't for Lin Yue's mastery of the Fire Spreading Killing Skill, he wouldn't have been confident about capturing the White-striped Silver Fox.

It was unknown how much time passed—

Amidst the chirping of insects at night, accompanied by a slight unusual movement, the patch of grass finally stirred. In the moonlight, a fox with fur that shimmered a light silver color slowly emerged from the cave. Its body was adorned with cloud-like white patterns, and it had large, cloud-like fluffy tails.

Lin Yue faintly sensed that the bloodline of this White-striped Silver Fox might be unusual, possibly belonging to a powerful mutant beast, but it was suppressed to a mortal level in the North Garden Mountains. However, for him at this moment, exchanging it for big money was of more use. Mutant beast pets and the like did not interest him unless they had potential to be cultivated up to the Holy Beast Level.

"Wait a little longer, let it come out more."

Lin Yue patiently waited, his eyes constantly fixed on the White-striped Silver Fox, always prepared to burst forth at top speed. Suddenly—

"Now!" Lin Yue suddenly kicked the ground, and as the dirt erupted into the air, his entire being, powered by the Flame Spirit Realm and his strength channeling, transformed into a blur as he dashed toward the White-striped Silver Fox.

The White-striped Silver Fox was instantly startled, quickly fleeing to the side. As Lin Yue chased after it, the fox displayed its incredible agility by swiftly turning, leaping over a large tree, and making a sharp turn back toward the cave it came from.

"What a cunning fox!" Lin Yue's heart stirred, but he didn't hesitate any longer, once again unleashing the incredible speed of Fire Spreading to forcefully change direction.

With Fire Spreading's astonishing speed, he easily caught up with the sly fox, an aura of a swirling vortex extending from his single hand as he grasped it firmly and swiftly put it into a tough leather bag.

"Got it." Lin Yue revealed a slight smile. Just then—

"Whoosh!"

The sound of an arrow piercing the air suddenly came from behind his right side. Lin Yue's pupils contracted instantly, but it was too late to use Fire Spreading to dodge. He could only barely evade, while using the Martial Arts Divine Skill to control his body and avoid his vital areas.

"Thud!" A sharp arrow immediately pierced into Lin Yue's left shoulder from behind, and a burst of pain ensued.

Lin Yue's eyes were cold, seeming not to feel the pain at all. His figure moved immediately, without turning back, and he reached behind to pull out two flying knives, throwing them toward the direction the arrow came from.

"Clang!"

The sound of metal clashing echoed; apparently, his flying knives had been deflected. Lin Yue then once more burst out into the speed of Fire Spreading, hiding behind a large tree before turning to look at the ambusher.

In the dense forest not far away stood a bald middle-aged man holding an Iron Embryo Bow. His skin was dark, his body muscular, and his monk robe looked somewhat tattered. A faint golden '卍' symbol could be seen at the center of his forehead, with a hideous scar on his temple.

"So it's him?"

Lin Yue immediately recognized who it was, and a murderous intent erupted from him, "Ascetic!"

Throughout the North Garden Mountains, there were hundreds of foreign cultivators. Over the past six months, he'd had conflicts with many of them, mostly over opportunities, and they didn't know he was the Seventeenth Prince, so nobody tried to kill him. In the past half-year, he had only killed eight people, all of whom were from the faction of the Twelfth Prince, if not directly under him.

Naturally, when it came to people from the Twelfth Prince, he showed no mercy.

And this Ascetic was a powerful retainer under the Twelfth Prince! The Twelfth Prince also highly valued him.

The Ascetic was a Great Cultivator, with his Cultivation at the Perfect level of a Great Cultivator, just a step away from grasping the proto-concept of the Dao. His Martial Arts Realm was extremely high, and his Body Refining Method was also extremely strong. His Vajra Body was perfected within the Buddhist Sect. In the Tianxia Building, he had made it to the Sixth Layer, and while he hadn't won consecutively, he was already very strong.

Baili Fengzhi, with his Perfect Fire Phoenix Divine Body and also at the Perfect level of a Great Cultivator, had only achieved five consecutive victories in the Sixth Layer of the Tianxia Building. Even though Great Cultivators in Jingzhou couldn't use Heaven and Earth Law, Ascetic could still demonstrate the strength of the Fifth Layer of the Tianxia Building, far stronger than him. More importantly, Ascetic had an exceptionally strong Dao Heart!

Legend has it that on the Sacred Heart Road, established through the combined efforts of various factions from Di Hong City, anyone who could traverse 999 zhang would have a Dao Heart capable of bearing the Dao within their heart.

Ascetic had traversed 990 zhang!

Clearly, his Dao Heart was very close to the level of Harmonization. It could be said that with a little more honing, he would soon succeed.

Even the Great Powers of the Buddhist Sect had once commented on Ascetic, saying that if he hadn't betrayed the Buddhist Sect, he would eventually become the next Bodhisattva of the Buddhist Sect! In the Buddhist Sect, a Bodhisattva was equivalent to a Human World Immortal in the Daoist sect, existing at the Saint level.

Therefore—

The Twelfth Prince's regard for the Ascetic was understandable.

"Ascetic... if only I could kill him, it would be like breaking one arm of the Twelfth Prince's future support. Unfortunately..."

Lin Yue sighed inwardly.

He knew clearly with his current strength and state, he couldn't possibly kill the Ascetic.

Even though the Ascetic had become a mortal, his Martial Arts Realm was already Perfect. His understanding of the Heaven and Earth Law was to the extreme, making him fundamentally different; his mental realm was higher, and the repercussions from using Killing Skills were surely much less.

Given the Ascetic's realm and the fact that he was still able to ambush him, it was no wonder Lin Yue didn't sense his presence.

"""