[???]

Elijah’s eyes widen in surprise when he saw the three question marks appear in his vision. Unconsciously, he slowly came to a halt as he stared at Lady Snow’s back in disbelief. Frowning, Elijah felt his blood and energy surge to his eyes as he intensely stared at her back in attempt to pierce through whatever veil was blocking him.

Elijah couldn’t see anything. He couldn’t see Lady Snow’s race, level, her stats, the energy that was shielding her, or her physical movements. Alarm bells immediately went off in Elijah’s head.

Suddenly, Elijah felt the urge to look back and what he saw made him tense up. Several foxes were arrayed in a loose semicircle blocking all of his escape paths. Elijah’s body heated up and he began to perspire as his right hand reached for his storage bag without any conscious thought.

“Is there something wrong?”

Elijah snapped his head forward and saw Lady Snow looking at him with a smile on her face. Her beautiful smile made Elijah more self-conscious, and he realized that he was about to reach for his weapon. Elijah looked down and took a deep breath. When he looked back up, Elijah was able to behave and communicate in a much more composed manner.

“Sorry, I was a little startled.” Elijah forced a smile onto his face. “Just to clarify, based on what you just said, you should be an expert at the second or third tier.”

“Haha, is that what has you so worked up? Well, you can relax. My ability to take human form is because I had a few unique experiences. Truthfully, I’m only level fifty.”

“Oh, is that so.” Elijah stared at Lady Snow with a disbelieving expression on his face. Elijah was confident in seeing through most, if not all people below the first tier. Therefore, it was hard for him to believe that this mysterious woman, correction, mysterious fox was only at level fifty.

“Yes, so you can relax. I’m not a danger to you or your people.”

Liar!

Elijah’s eyes widened and his body tensed up as alarm bells went off in his head. Although his Supreme Eyes talent didn’t work on Lady Snow, his instincts did, and they told him she was lying. Elijah trusted his instincts.

“She’s definitely lying to me, but I’m not exactly sure what she’s lying about,” Elijah thought to himself. Elijah’s eyes flashed as his mind tried to quickly process Lady Snow’s words. “She’s probably lying about being dangerous, but just because she’s dangerous doesn’t mean she has the desire or a plan to attack. Wait, I don’t think this is the first time I felt my instincts tried to warn me. Did she lie to me before? When was it? How many times did it happen? What did she say?”

“Oh, is there something wrong?” Lady Snow maintained her smile, but her eyes slightly narrowed when she noticed Elijah tense up.

“What, uh, no, no, I’m all good.” Elijah was trying to quickly recall what Lady Snow previously said when he was abruptly dragged from his thoughts by her voice.

“Good, then let’s continue moving forward.” Lady Snow turned away, but Elijah quickly spoke up before she could continue moving.

“Actually, there is something I want to ask you.” Elijah wore a serious expression, and his body was tense as he prepared himself for the worst answer. “I wanted to ask when you plan on taking me to see my people? I’m enjoying the conversation were having, but the main reason I’m here is to make sure they all return home safely.”

“Oh, is that all. Don’t worry I never had any intentions of keeping you and your people here. In fact, if everything goes well, then I should be peacefully returning to your territory with you and your people.”

Lady Snow was telling the truth. Elijah was surprised and relieved that his instincts didn’t react to her words. Although Elijah didn’t completely lower his guard, his mind and body started to relax as he thought about Lady Snow’s reply. It helped that Lady Snow’s voice was very soothing, and her words conveyed a friendly message.

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“That sounds great. I would be more than happy to have you and your people as members of my village.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself. I’ll only make a decision after we’ve had our conversation. Now, let's continue walking, and you can stop worrying about your people as well. I can personally assure you that they are all in perfect health.”

Liar! Elijah immediately became tense again and he placed his hand on his storage bag. His instincts warned him that Lady Snow’s last sentence contained a lie. Elijah activated his Supreme Astral Sense and monitored his surrounding as he prepared to fight or flee.

“You’re lying. What’s wrong with my people? What have you done to them?”

Naturally, Lady Snow was stunned by Elijah’s abrupt outburst, but she quickly adjusted after a brief moment. “Oh, so you have the ability to detect when someone’s lying, and you’ve unlocked the astral sense talent before the first tier. My, my, you definitely can be considered a potential cultivation genius.”

Elijah frowned. “Looks like I messed up,” Elijah thought to himself. “Whatever, what’s important right now is to make sure the villagers are okay and figure out what’s going on. I should take out my spear to show them I mean business. No, I probably won’t win in a head on fight.”

“Answer my question,” Elijah demanded. “What did you do to my people?”

“Relax,” Lady Snow calmly replied with a friendly smile on her face. “I’ll admit that I did lie. However, that’s because the truth is a little hard to explain. Just know that while your people aren’t in perfect health, they aren’t at risk of dying or in extreme pain. As a matter of fact, many of your villagers will discover that they have benefitted from being captured by us.”

Elijah hesitated before he spoke again because it didn’t seem like her words were a lie. “Talk is cheap. I want to see my people and make sure they’re okay. Both the humans and the goblins.”

“Goblins? Well, the goblins are doing a lot better than the humans. I’m surprised to hear that your concerned about them.”

“Although the goblins are slaves, they are still people under my rule, and I am responsible for their safety. So, are you going to take me to them, or not?”

“Sure,” Lady Snow answered with a bright smile on her face. Elijah was surprised and relieved when he heard her response. Elijah brought his hand away from his storage bag while his body and face began to relax.

“But first, let’s sit down and have a quick chat,” Lady Snow continued. Elijah frowned in response.

Lady Snow quickly but gracefully held up her hand with a serious expression on her face. “Before you refuse, I would like to remind you that this is my home. I’ll admit that it's my fault you’re here, but I still deserve to be shown a certain amount of respect. Especially if you expect for me and my people to accept you as our ruler. Nobody, neither cultivator or mortal, want to serve under someone who can barge into their home and do whatever they like.” Elijah held his tongue.

Seeing Elijah’s silence, Lady Snow smiled and continued speaking. “Of course, if you still insist on seeing your people then I won’t stand in your way. However, I will have to ask you to immediately leave my home. If you wish to be compensated, then I can offer you a few items or astral stones.”

“The main reason I came here was to rescue the villagers,” Elijah thought to himself. “But I want these foxes to join the village as well. I guess I can wait till after our conversation to see the villagers, but if I do that, it will feel like I’m dancing to her tune.” Looking past Lady Snow, Elijah focused on the wall of vines that she was leading him to. “Also, why is she insisting on having a conversation at that place?”

“Well, what’s your decision? Don’t tell me the great supreme ruler is scared to have a brief conversation with a harmless fox like myself?” Lady Snow’s words were a blatant and somewhat childish attempt at egging Elijah. It worked like a charm.

“Fine, let’s go,” Elijah immediately agreed.

“Hmph, so what if the is fox lady has some mysterious mental skills,” Elijah thought to himself. “I still have my Supreme Will talent to protect myself. Also, I haven’t started using my Supreme Speech skill yet. Leaving now would be equivalent to giving up without a fight.”

Following Lady Snow, Elijah quickly arrived at the wall of vines. Without pausing, Snow continued walking forward and the vines automatically parted for her, revealing a passageway illuminated by a few glowing vines. The moment Elijah followed her through the vines, it closed behind him leaving the foxes outside.

Curious about the strange vines, Elijah decided to take a look at their information. He didn’t learn much, but Elijah discovered that the vines were at the first tier, and they had some psychic properties. The psychic discovery made Elijah frown, but another screen suddenly appeared in front of his face, causing him to stop moving, before he could say anything.

Item: Dream Vine

Tier: 1

Description: A vine with psychic properties. It can emit a fragrance that can calm the mind, promotes better meditation and sleep, and improves the cultivation of the mind. When a cultivator meditates or sleeps nearby the dream vine, the vine can absorb some of their mental energy. Consuming these vines can have beneficial effects on the mind.

“The absorption part is a bit concerning,” Elijah thought to himself. “But I don’t plan on meditating or sleeping here so I should be fine. Oh, maybe she's planning on drugging me while my guard is down.”

“I noticed you were interested in the dream vines. As you can see, the vines currently are incapable of harming you. Therefore, I hope you can be at ease and disregard the uniqueness of the vines around you. There isn’t any danger here.”

Elijah narrowed his eyes.