One of the three ancient and unmoving pillars of the righteous path, a sect whose foundations were built upon the very essence of fire magic. Their sacred artifact, the Xuanhuojian, was legendary and feared throughout the world, even in its long-rumored absence. Now, that ancient artifact hung around the neck of a small, golden, supremely arrogant pig.
Upon departing from the general vicinity of the fox spirits, Lord Pig set his sights directly on this formidable fortress.
Utilizing the power of the Five Elements Divine Escape, a technique that allowed him to flow through the earth, air, and rock as easily as water through a sieve, he bypassed all outer defenses, spiritual barriers, and watchful patrols of the renowned valley with humiliating ease.
To him, sneaking into the inner sanctum of the righteous path felt less like an infiltration and more like a casual stroll through a slightly congested park.
"Honestly, such mediocre defenses," Lord Pig muttered to himself, emerging from a hidden spring behind a massive stone carving. "No challenge whatsoever. Perhaps they spend too much time polishing their fire staffs and not enough time checking their wards."
After a few minutes of leisurely exploration and utilizing his divine sense, he soon pinpointed the epicenter of the valley's spiritual power: the Xuanhuo Altar.
The Altar was an architectural marvel, terrifying and beautiful in equal measure. It stood as a colossal, circular structure, its vast base seemingly suspended in the air, defying gravity.
Thirteen massive pillars of pure white jade—twelve forming a symmetrical ring around the edge, and one overwhelmingly thick central pillar—were the only support, anchoring the entire edifice to the heavens.
The peripheral pillars were so thick that two adult men could barely embrace one; the central pillar, however, would require at least five or six people linking arms to encircle it.
Above the towering white jade foundation, the Altar's main structures—the stairs, railings, and numerous enclosed halls—were all meticulously constructed from a strange, deep red stone. In the blazing sunlight, the entire structure looked like a gigantic, incandescent orb of burning fire, its red silhouette piercing the clouds and dominating the landscape.
Crowning the Altar, at its very center, was a majestic three-tiered hall, shaped like an ancient pagoda. Each subsequent floor was slightly smaller than the one below it, but each section reached an incredible ten feet in height, lending the structure a terrifying sense of dizzying verticality.
Lord Pig stood at the base of this monument, looking up. Next to the immense pillars, he was reduced to the size of a mere ant, a tiny speck of gold at the foot of an immovable religious mountain.
"Hmm? There's a guardian present. That familiar, grumpy spiritual signature…"
He sensed a powerful presence deep inside the main hall of the Altar. It was unmistakably Shangguan Ce, one of Fenxiang Valley's most potent elders and the very man responsible for inflicting the crippling Nine Cold Ice Thorn poison on the six-tailed fox, Xiaoliu, three centuries ago.
Lord Pig was not afraid of the old man—in fact, he entertained the passing thought of simply bursting in and lecturing him on proper monster-management etiquette—but he preferred efficiency. Public appearances had to be managed, and a frontal assault against Fenxiang Valley at its full strength was inefficient, even for him.
"A surprise gift is in order, I think!"
WHOOSH!
Lord Pig vanished, reappearing outside the Altar's detection range. He took the Xuanhuojian from his neck, his latest prize, and poured a significant portion of his divine power into it.
RROOOOAARRR!
Suddenly, the sky was violently torn open by a colossal, roaring entity of pure flame. A magnificent, terrifying Fire Dragon—a manifestation of the Eight Desolate Fire—coiled and screamed into the air, visible for a hundred miles around. It did not strike the Altar, but rather the largest, most visually impressive, and conveniently uninhabited valley adjacent to it.
BOOM! CRACKLE!
The air was instantly superheated. The chosen valley was utterly decimated, swallowed by a storm of divine fire. The shockwave rattled every window in the main valley compound, and the towering flames became a beacon of absolute chaos.
"The Xuanhuojian's aura!"
Immediately, the entire Fenxiang Valley erupted into motion. Elder Shangguan Ce, recognizing the signature of his sect's lost sacred artifact combined with such destructive power, shot out of the Xuanhuo Altar main hall like a bolt of lightning, rushing toward the blazing inferno. Countless disciples and elders followed, their magical treasures shining as they flew to contain the catastrophic blaze.
"The distraction is perfect!"
In the wake of the exodus, Lord Pig used the Five Elements Divine Escape to return instantly to the now-unguarded entrance of the Xuanhuo Altar. He paused to examine the massive structure with newfound interest.
The exterior of the tower was a solid, seamless expanse of red stone, entirely devoid of windows. The only way in was a single, enormous doorway on the ground floor, standing ten feet high and six feet wide.
He walked up to it. Though painted the same ritualistic red as the surrounding walls, the door was constructed of ancient, heavily reinforced wood. Lord Pig gave it a gentle push. It opened with a slow, ominous groan, a sound that seemed to chew up the surrounding silence.
Creak… Clunk.
He stepped inside. With a final, heavy thud, the wooden door sealed itself behind him, plunging him into the mysterious heart of the Altar.
The interior was a massive, circular hall, easily fifty feet high. The walls were unadorned, made of the same monolithic red rock as the outside. There were no carvings, no decorations—just vast, empty space. Yet, this sheer, unembellished scale imbued the hall with an indescribable, humbling sense of ancient majesty.
In the precise center of the floor, a mysterious area pulsed with dazzling, concentrated light. Standing guard over this source of power were eight monstrous figures, stone gods carved with ferocious, terrifying faces, each emanating a palpable, aggressive aura.
"Ah, the Eight Evil Mysterious Fire Formation," Lord Pig observed, already bored. "Fenxiang Valley's pride and joy. Rather tacky, if you ask Lord Pig."
The next moment, the eight stone gods came to terrifying life. They began to glow intensely, condensing into eight terrifying Fire God totems that swirled in the air.
In the very center of these elemental formations, an even more monstrous Fire Beast coalesced, its form shifting and churning, radiating waves of scorching, earth-destroying heat that crashed toward the tiny golden invader.
Lord Pig was prepared. With a casual flick of his paw, he took the Xuanhuojian from his neck and directed its crimson face toward the elemental titan.
Sizzzzzle.
The furious Fire Beast immediately stalled, its roaring essence shrinking back. The flames surrounding the eight gods dimmed, then sputtered out. The Fire Beast looked down at the Xuanhuojian—the source of its own creation—and slowly, resignedly, dissolved into nothingness.
The Eight Evil Mysterious Fire Formation fell silent. A circular hatch above the center of the room, previously concealed, opened to reveal a shaft of faint red light: the passage to the second level.
"See? Loyalty is everything," Lord Pig muttered, shaking his head at the now-docile formation. He flapped his wings and soared directly up the shaft.
The second level of the Altar was a wide, circular space, almost completely dark save for the faint red glow spilling up from the shaft he had just ascended. In the deepest gloom, however, a soft, ethereal light beckoned.
Lord Pig flew toward it.
The source was a stone platform, cylindrical and about half the height of a man. This rock was strikingly different from the Altar's red stone; it radiated a faint coolness that opposed the building's fiery core.
The surface of the stone pillar pulsed with soft, mesmerizing colors—sometimes a pale red, then a mysterious purple, shifting to a gentle goose yellow, and finally a cool emerald green.
On its flat top surface was a circular indentation, perfectly sized to hold the relic he carried. Engraved next to it were the three tell-tale words: Xuan Huo Jian.
Lord Pig placed the Xuanhuojian into the dent.
KA-THUNK.
A deep, grinding sound resonated from directly above. The stone ceiling of the second floor retracted with a slow, grinding whisper, revealing a wide, jagged opening—the path to the final level.
Almost simultaneously, the ambient temperature dropped with horrifying rapidity. The scorching heat of the Fire Altar vanished, replaced by a sudden, intense freezing cold.
Lord Pig reclaimed the Xuanhuojian, placing it back around his neck, and flew into the final, highest level.
The air here was utterly frigid. The heat from the volcanic crater far below seemed to be nullified entirely, for when Lord Pig's paws touched the floor of the third level, he found a thick sheet of ancient ice beneath his feet.
There was no visible light source, yet the space was not pitch-black; a faint, persistent blue luminescence emanated from the ice itself, whispering secrets of unimaginable cold.
He walked slowly, his tiny footsteps echoing with a surprisingly loud crunch on the ice, shattering the seemingly eternal silence.
Suddenly, a voice, low, distinctly feminine, and imbued with deep, profound desolation, broke the quiet.
"You… you are not Shangguan Ce?"
"Of course not. Is Shangguan Ce as unbelievably majestic and handsome as Lord Pig?" he asked, sticking his nose in the air.
The voice was silent for a prolonged moment. Then, it suddenly sharpened with a jolt of recognition. "You… you are a demon!"
"My, what a rude generalization. Lord Pig is simply a different sort of dazzling firework, thank you very much!" he complained, genuinely annoyed.
The blue light from the ice flickered rapidly, and the woman's voice fell silent once more. After a pause that felt thick with centuries of sorrow, two points of dim, deep light flickered to life in the deepest, most profound darkness, fixing their gaze on Lord Pig.
"You are… also locked up?" the voice asked, this time with a hint of surprised empathy.
"Hmm? The Xuanhuojian!"
Suddenly, the voice turned into a long, sharp, echoing wail, high-pitched and filled with a horrifying mixture of pain, surprise, desperate sadness, and a crushing sense of despair.
"Why—why is the Mysterious Fire Mirror on you?! Where is Xiaoliu? Where is my son, Xiaoliu?!"
She screamed, her voice bordering on complete, unhinged madness. In response to her frantic distress, the blue light of the third level exploded, and countless shadows danced erratically under the pale, eerie glow. A colossal, monstrous shadow seemed to peel itself from the darkness, twirling and shifting, filling the vast space.
From the deepest, darkest corner, a huge figure slowly, tragically emerged.
"So large, so pristine, and so fluffy!" Lord Pig exclaimed, his annoyance forgotten, replaced by genuine, childlike awe.
It was a white fox. A truly colossal white fox, standing easily as tall as two men, with nine enormous, pure white, ethereal tails swaying behind it like a nightmare made of snow and silk.
Even in the dim, chilling light, the fox's fur was breathtakingly beautiful, smooth and pristine, like the finest, rarest silk in the Central Plains. This was an animal that commanded instant admiration.
But at this moment, the magnificent fox was in a state of utter, frantic excitement. Its silent, eternal prison was suddenly filled with heart-wrenching wails and mournful howls. The pair of deep, dark eyes set in its pale face were now burning with pure, desperate madness.
"That vixen was struck by Shangguan Ce's Nine Cold Ice Thorn and was on the brink of death," Lord Pig narrated calmly, enjoying the dramatic effect. "But then she, thankfully, stumbled upon Lord Pig!"
WHOOSH!
A gigantic shadow enveloped Lord Pig. The Nine-tailed Fox leaned down, its immense, dark eyes fixed directly on the pig, and its voice, though still tinged with madness, was sharp with focus. "And then?"
"And then, naturally, Lord Pig saved his life! He's likely off having a marvelous time with that three-tailed fox right now," Lord Pig finished with a cheerful boast.
A flood of profound relief washed over the magnificent fox's face, chasing away the madness. "Xiao Liu is alive… he's safe… then I can rest easy knowing he has found his own path." The tenderness in her eyes was palpable.
She blinked, collecting herself. "How did you bypass the guards? Is Shangguan Ce finally dead?" She asked, doubt entering her voice.
"Not dead, just currently preoccupied with putting out a rather large, pig-induced fire outside!"
Lord Pig stared up at the vast, gorgeous, pure white nine-tailed fox. He knew exactly what he wanted. He spoke slowly, laying out his enticing offer.
"Listen. You've been suffering under the Black Fire Chain here day and night. Do you wish to leave this freezing, depressing prison?"
"Are you… truly willing to save me?" Genuine, fragile joy blossomed in the eyes of the Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox.
"Of course, but you know as well as Lord Pig does that there is no such thing as a free lunch in this wretched world," he declared, adopting a serious tone.
"I saved that little fox and took his Xuanhuojian. If you want me to save you, the payment must be commensurate with your status. Here's the deal: You shall follow me, and allow Lord Pig to ride upon your majestic, nine-tailed back!"
Lord Pig's eyes shone with fiery desire. Imagine the spectacle! A tiny golden pig riding a behemoth nine-tailed fox! Such prestige!
The massive fox stared at the tiny creature. She let out a soft, feminine huff, sounding exasperated. "You wretched little fiend. You appear before me, and your first demand is to ride me? Could you not have attempted to be slightly more tactful with your proposition?"
She rolled her deep eyes, a truly ancient and expressive gesture, conveying centuries of accumulated resentment at the impudence. A mother fox, shackled for centuries, only to have a pig immediately request to use her as transportation!
"So… you agree to the terms?" Lord Pig asked eagerly, his ears twitching with barely contained excitement. He knew he had just secured the most magnificent and fastest steed in the entire realm.
…And with that, the stage was set for the grandest escape the Fenxiang Valley had ever seen.