The female voice coldly said, “Humph! Who"s a woman? Do you mean me?”
When Han Li heard this, he wryly smiled in response and withdrew his magic swords that were revolving at his side. He then calmly said, “I don’t care if you’re a man or a woman. I just want to hear of your origins.”
The white fox crouched and calmly glanced at Han Li, “My origins? Am I not the artifact spirit of the ancient treasure in your hand?”
Han Li frowned and gloomily replied, “Of course I know you’re an artifact spirit. However, I’ve never heard of an artifact spirit being capable of possession.”
The white fox curled its mouth and casually said, “This merely ill.u.s.trates your ignorance. Have I not already demonstrated that it is possible?”
When Han Li heard this, he grew silent for a moment. After a short moment, he lifted the jade scepter in his hand and began to carefully look it over.
A vigilant expression appeared in the white fox’s eyes and she coldly asked, “What do you plan on doing?”
Han Li sighed and calmly asked, “Nothing in particular. I am merely curious as to how useless this jade scepter is now that you’ve successfully possessed the demon fox. If I were to shatter this, would anything happen to you?”
The white fox’s expression ma.s.sively changed and it fiercely glared at Han Li. But after only a short moment, it thought of something and its imposing att.i.tude soon disappeared. The white fox insipidly said, “You don’t need to test me. It is true that if you shatter the jade scepter, I will disappear as well. After all, artifact spirits are one with the treasures that contain them.”
Afterwards, white light flashed from the fox’s body and a huge pressure began to emit from it.
Han Li’s heart trembled, and his expression immediately became tense.
The white fox glanced at Han Li and said, “There is no need to be worried. I merely find it inconvenient to speak to you in beast form, so I am transforming into a human.”
When Han Li heard this, he felt somewhat surprised but a bit more at ease as well.
At that moment, the white fox glowed with a blinding silver light, causing Han Li to unconsciously take a few steps back.
The white glow faded away to reveal a young woman with an alluring beauty. Apart from her s.h.i.+ning green eyes being replaced with a clear black, the woman’s appearance was exactly the same as before it had been possessed. It seemed a demon beast’s human form was permanent and it was incapable of being changed.
As Han Li pondered to himself, the young woman unconsciously covered her body. She then hesitantly asked, “Does Fellow Daoist have any clothes? I feel... unaccustomed to this.” After that was said, the woman revealed an expression of slight shyness.
Han Li was stunned for a moment, but he soon took out a few reserve clothes from his storage pouch and handed them over.
“Many thanks, Fellow Daoist!” The young woman took the clothes and began to drape them on her body, covering herself.
Han Li’s expression stirred. The woman’s every action excuded an undescribable gracefulness. Even women from n.o.ble households would find it difficult to match her. It was incredulous that she was originally a silver wolf.
Having finished putting on her clothes, the woman turned to Han Li and slowly said, “You may call me Silvermoon. As for my origins, it’s not that I don’t wish to tell you, but I cannot remember them myself. You should know that when a demon’s soul is refined into an artifact spirit, their consciousness will fade away and they become an obedient ent.i.ty for their master to command. But for some unknown reason, I one day regained awareness and recalled a few memories of when I was alive. Although it is a rather small amount, I regained some ability for independent action. I faintly recalled that I was once a member of the Silver Wolves Clan. As such, I’ve named myself Silvermoon Wolf since I do not have any memory of my original name.” As she said this, the young woman elegantly took a few steps as if to slowly get accustomed to her new body.
A pensive expression appeared on Han Li’s face as he stroked his chin. “The Silvermoon Wolves Clan? I have no records of such demon beasts.”
Silvermoon frowned and said, “This merely came from a portion of my shattered memories. Perhaps I remembered incorrectly.”
Han Li pondered for a moment before solemnly asking, “Alright, you’ve lost the memories of your past, but what about the matter of an artifact spirit taking possession of another body? Don’t tell me that all artifact spirits can do this. If this were true, the cultivation world would’ve long ago been thrown into disarray.”
The young woman coldly smiled and countered, “Do you really believe that I can casually possess any flesh body as I wish?”
Han Li narrowed his eyes and stared at the woman, “What do you mean?”
Silvermoon pursed her lips and explained, “The technique that I just used can’t strictly be considered possession. It is merely an innate ability of us Silvermoon Wolves called Soul Devouring. By using our manifested souls, we may directly attack the soul of another. Of course, once we devour their souls, we may temporarily take control of the new body. However, this cannot last for a long period of time, otherwise our souls will merge with the possessed body and we will no longer be able to return to our own. Additionally, this ability is a double-edged sword. Our spiritual sense isn’t particularly stronger than those of other demon clans. If we were to come across an opponent with a stronger spiritual sense, our lives would be thrown away. As a result, none dared to rashly use it. However, to someone without a body like me, it doesn’t particularly matter.”
Having seen Han Li’s astonishment, she guessed what Han Li was about to ask and hurriedly continued, “Please don’t ask me about the specifics of Soul Devouring. It is only something I have an instinctual grasp of. But there is no need to worry, Soul Devouring possesses many restrictions and isn’t something that I can casually use. It would’ve been impossible for me to use it as an artifact spirit if I weren’t originally a Silvermoon Wolf. Had I not been fortunate enough to come across this Four Pupiled Fox, I wouldn’t have used it. I would’ve merely chosen to remain inside the jade scepter instead. According to my memories, the Four Pupiled Foxes were innately vulnerable against Silvermoon Wolves. With its spirit already possessed by the Cadaver Demon and without having to deal with the original body’s master, I was luckily able to succeed in possessing it.”
Han Li closely looked into her eyes and found nothing strange. He couldn’t help but doubtfully ask, “Four Pupiled Fox? Was it not a Snowcloud Fox?”
“Its namesake, the innate devil pupils, only appear after its cultivation has reached the greater success stage. Our Silvermoon Wolves Soul Devouring is a joke in comparison to their devil eyes with their fearsome deadliness. But while their appearance is extremely similar to a common Snowcloud Fox, when it fully used its technique I immediately recognized it.” Silvermoon faintly smiled and unconsciously revealed a captivating beauty.
Han Li pursed his lips and raised his most pressing concern, “The demon fox’s cultivation reached that of a grade seven demon beast. That isn’t considered having reached greater success stage? And how come it is capable of taking human form when it had yet to breakthrough to metamorphosis stage? Moreover, how was the demon fox’s cultivation able to change so suddenly? Don’t tell me that you and the demon fox had been concealing this body’s true cultivation all along.”
“Haha! Fellow Daoist sure has many questions. However, I haven’t spoken to anybody else in countless years so I don’t mind. I truly don’t know why the demon fox was capable of transforming. I reckon that the Cadaver Demon saw that the situation was disadvantageous and decided to use a technique to forcefully graft a portion of its cultivation onto the demon fox. That was how its cultivation was able to reach such heights. The Four Pupiled Fox’s true cultivation is still that of a genuine low grade spirit beast. Also, the Cadaver Demon wasn’t able to stray too far away from its body once it grafted its cultivation onto the demon fox due to the room’s restrictions. As for why I am currently in human form, it is mostly because I am raising my cultivation to the border of a grade eight demon beast by using secret techniques. However, my cultivation will slowly decrease and I will turn back into a demon beast. It will be at least a month before I can use this technique again.”
After that, Han Li didn’t continue his questioning. Instead, he lowered his head in thought. A long while later, he indifferently said, “Although this hasn’t dispelled all of my doubts, I’ve reached a general understanding. However, there is something I wish to ask Fellow Daoist Silvermoon. What do you plan on doing with that body?”
Silvermoon revealed a mysterious smile and chuckled before asking, “Would Fellow Daoist kill me if I told you that I planned on cultivating with it?”