"Are you stupid?" Lin Zhao had gone mad. After spitting out the jaundice water, she tried to smash me to death with the iron coffin. Fortunately, Wang the butcher gave her a roasted suckling pig, which calmed her down.

Lin Zhao glared at me, biting into the pig's head with a vengeance. "I'll bite you to death!"

I coughed lightly and said, "Easy there, careful you don't break a tooth!"

"I'm willing!" Lin Zhao pointed at the coffin. "Ninetails isn't dead. Go ask her if you have questions!"

I pressed my ear to the coffin. All I could hear were insects gnawing away inside. It seemed the Soul-Devouring Worms were slowly eating away at Ninetails' soul.

I patted the coffin. "Ninetails, stop playing dead. I know your soul is indestructible. Soul-Devouring Worms can't kill you."

After patting for a while with no response, I stood up and said, "Ye Yang, summon the ghost soldiers and dig a pit several hundred meters deep. We'll bury the coffin."

"Then set up a feng shui array on top so no one can tell someone was buried underneath."

Ye Yang responded and used his Provincial Governor's Seal to summon the ghost soldiers.

The sound of hundreds of ghost soldiers digging echoed around the coffin, but Ninetails inside remained silent.

Ninetails was testing my patience.

If I couldn't resist my curiosity and opened the coffin, she could take the opportunity to escape.

The ghost soldiers dug for a good half hour, but there was still no movement from inside the coffin.

I was starting to get impatient. Could Ninetails really have escaped?

As I got up to walk towards the coffin, Ling pulled me back and mouthed two words to me: "Listen closely."

I strained my ears. The sound of Soul-Devouring Worms gnawing at a soul was still there. Reassured, I sat back down.

The ghost soldiers dug for several hours before reporting, "Lord Li, we've dug down a hundred zhang (approximately 333 meters). Should we dig deeper?"

"That should be enough!" I stood up and said, "Throw the coffin in and fill it back up."

Even as the ghost soldiers lowered the coffin into the pit, there was still no sound from inside.

I waved my hand. "Fill it!"

That's when Ninetails finally panicked, crying out from inside the coffin, "No! I have no grievances with you. Why are you doing this to me?"

I knew it. Ninetails had been faking it all along.

I waved my hand. "Pull the coffin back up."

The ghost soldiers raised the coffin again. I knocked on it and said, "Now, can you talk properly?"

Ninetails asked from inside the coffin, "How did you know my soul was indestructible?"

I coldly responded, "Right now, I'm the one asking the questions, not you."

Ninetails said mournfully, "Ask whatever you want!"

I said sternly, "How did you end up sealed beneath the Misty Rain Pavilion? You better not lie, or I can't guarantee I won't bury you down there."

"How would I know?" Ninetails shouted, near collapse. "Back then, my soul had finally escaped, only to be hunted down by all sorts of immortals and demons."

"If he hadn't arrived in time to protect me, I would have been sealed away long ago."

The "he" Ninetails was referring to must have been King Zhou.

Although King Zhou in *Investiture of the Gods* was a corrupt ruler, his martial prowess was undeniable.

Ninetails said, "In the end, my soul was shattered into three. If that person hadn't compensated me, I would have been completely annihilated."

"My three souls escaped to different places. He protected one of my souls and brought it here."

"The compensation that person gave me was that no matter how little of my remnant soul remained, I could reassemble it. When my soul was complete, I could conjure a nine-tailed body and become the Fox Ancestor again."

"I had originally planned to live in seclusion here, waiting for my physical body to take shape. But unexpectedly, a Daoist priest named Ye Qianyang came and suppressed me without a word."

"Just like that, I was inexplicably locked beneath the Misty Rain Pavilion, boo hoo hoo..."

I looked up at Ye Yang, who spread his hands helplessly, as if to say: I don't know!

I continued, "I heard you can find emperors. Is that true?"

Ninetails replied, "It's true. Emperors have a strange attraction to Ninetails. As long as we want to find one, we can. No matter which generation of emperor, we can find them."

Ling transmitted to me, "What she says is half-true. However, it should be true that she can find emperors."

I frowned. "Should we let her out?"

The biggest problem in the art of divination is finding emperors. Releasing Ninetails would certainly allow us to find one, but letting her out would also be a never-ending source of trouble.

If Ninetails ran away, we'd be in big trouble.

Not only would we not be able to find the emperor, but we'd also incur endless karma.

Ninetails said keenly, "You want to find an emperor? I can help you, really!"

I deliberately stood up and said, "I think I'll pass. If I let you out and you run away, who am I going to reason with? You should just stay put!"

Ninetails said anxiously, "Even if you don't release me, someone else will. No matter where you bury me, she will come looking for me."

"Are you talking about Zhu Zining?" My eyes lit up immediately.

This time, I suffered a great loss in Miao territory. If Zhu Zining was determined to get Ninetails, maybe I could use Ninetails to set a trap and lure Zhu Zining over.