He looked around the shrine, but there wasn’t anything suspicious about the place. The shrine was small and made of wood. The place was deserted like it hadn’t been cleaned and maintained for a long time. Well, Zhao Yichen wasn’t surprised at all, but he wondered why this fox woman went to a place like this instead of leaving Qingqiu Mountain with him.

Shen Minyao raised a hand and was about to open the small wooden shrine in front of her, but even before she was able to touch the two doors, a spark of electricity cackled midair before burning her hand.

“Ah! So I see you were also sealed by those wretched shamans!” She pulled her burned hand, clutching it against her chest as she hissed in pain.

Zhao Yichen was stunned by what he had witnessed. He didn’t know how many times he would find himself surprised by the supernatural events that happened today.

Well, it wasn’t really the first time for him to encounter such a supernatural phenomenon, but he had never met a mythical creature such as a nine-tailed fox that had been known in legends for ages.

When he was younger, he could only see a faint figure of spirits roaming around their old house, as well as hear their voices and understand what they were talking about.

For the first time in his life, Zhao Yichen felt that he wasn’t the weird one this time. Other people would have freaked out seeing a dangerous creature like this fox spirit who possessed a human woman, but he wasn’t.

“My lady, is that you? Is that really you?” A feminine voice reached his ears, as well as Shen Minyao’s. Her tone was gentle and sweet to the ears.

“What? Is that really our arrogant mistress? I can’t believe this!” which was followed by a male voice that sounded like a teenager in Zhao Yichen’s opinion.

“Xiao Bai, Yu Yan, it’s really me.” Shen Minyao replied, slightly wincing at the pain on her hand.

The burn was still apparent and hadn’t healed yet. If her power was at peak and if she had her energy orb, an injury like this would only take seconds to heal. Alas, who knew when Zhao Yichen’s body would have a full recovery?

“My lady, please hurry and release us! I don’t want to stay here anymore.” The feminine voice wept and begged Shen Minyao.

“Hurry, you sly fox! Haven’t you left us here for a long time already?” The other one huffed as if he couldn’t wait to see the world outside. “You smell like a human. You managed to find a decent host so soon?”

“Continue talking like that, Xiao Bai, and I would make sure to only take Yu Yan out? Don’t test my patience.” The fox spirit’s tone dropped to a dangerous level, enough to give Zhao Yichen shivers down his spine.

“…” The arrogant male voice belonging to someone called Xiao Bai fell silent.

“Xiao Bai, you stupid! Don’t make milady mad! If she doesn’t let us out tonight, I’ll do my best to kill you!” the female voice complained.

“Who sealed you here?” Shen Minyao asked as she gave her burned hand a good look.

“Who else but those Li shamans.” This time, Xiao Bai’s tone was a little calmer compared to earlier. “When you left us to find the Little Jiu, Yu Yan and I were caught by a trap set by those shamans and sealed us here.”

A sudden sadness flashed on Shen Minyao’s eyes upon the mention of the Little Jiu, but she immediately wore her cold mask back in place, making Zhao Yichen wonder if the sadness was even there in the first place.

“I see,” Shen Minyao replied, “but it seems I’m not able to remove your seals myself.”

“What’s that even supposed to mean?”

“It means that even if milady is able to possess a human body, she couldn’t remove the seals around this shrine,” Xiao Bai explained.

Shen Minyao crossed her arms over her chest and regarded the man standing next to him.

“Contractor, would you mind doing this lady a favor? If you could just remove these annoying ropes around the shrine, we would be able to release the little ones at once.”

Zhao Yichen looked around and noticed the old thick ropes that were indeed surrounding the area. There were also paper seals placed on the poles that kept the ropes in place. Was this the reason why the fox woman burned her hand?

“Ah, I wouldn’t get burned when touching it?” He asked curiously. He was already in pain alright, so why would he allow another injury to be inflicted on him?

“Oh? You are using your head properly now? Why wouldn’t you have done so when I offered the life contract to you?” The fox woman taunted him.

Zhao Yichen gritted his teeth as he held his aching sides. For someone asking him for a favor, this woman surely didn’t know how to say please properly. He should have known better that nine-tailed foxes were mischievous and full of tricks under their sleeves. He didn’t even know her real intention for entering a contract with him.

“Fine, but you have to promise that we will leave this place once we’re done here.” He spat out before forcing his legs to move, intending to rip the paper seal on the first pole and then followed it up with the next one.

The fox woman watched his every move, not surprised that the seals to keep supernatural creatures like her away didn’t have any effect on him since he was a human, but something about this human was suspicious.

Unlike other humans she had encountered in the past who’d seen her real form, aside from the initial shock of seeing her tails, this human didn’t scamper away in fear.. Well, if he did, it would be unfortunate because she would need to get rid of him herself.