"Miss, can you be honest with me?"
Suddenly,
"I have already been very honest with you, young master."
The fox spirit shifted back into Ali's form, her voice once again gentle, the powerful aura she had earlier completely gone.
"You might as well have stayed like before. Looking at you like this, I actually feel like you're deceiving me," Chu Feng said.
"I would never. If there is something young master wishes to know, please ask directly. I will tell you the truth," the fox spirit said.
"In that case, I'll ask."
"I want to know who the true master of this place is, and what your relationship with that master truly is."
Chu Feng asked.
"I… I don't remember."
Ali said.
"You don't remember?"
Chu Feng was surprised.
"I'm truly not deceiving you, young master. I genuinely don't remember."
"All I know is that my master ordered me to remain here."
"It was also my master who locked me here."
"I don't know why he locked me here."
"I can't even remember what my master looked like."
"All I know is that whoever enters this place can free me from it."
"All I know is that whoever enters this place should challenge this bead."
"This must be my mission, but what meaning it holds, I have absolutely no idea."
As she spoke, the fox spirit gazed at the bead in her hand.
And as she said these words, a look of bewilderment surfaced on her face.
"Other than that, my memories are extremely fragmented. I can occasionally recall bits and pieces, but then I forget everything again."
At these words, her expression tightened — not just with confusion, but with pain.
Looking at the fox spirit like this, Chu Feng felt that what she had just said was genuine.
The fox spirit had not lied to him.
Because Chu Feng had already encountered beings from the ancient era.
Yet they all seemed to share the same experience.
None of them retained their memories of the ancient era.
None of them knew what had truly happened back then.
"Miss, you did lie to me."
Suddenly, Chu Feng said with a solemn expression.
"Young master, I truly did not deceive you."
The fox spirit looked at Chu Feng with a wronged expression.
This time, the hurt in her eyes did not seem feigned. She was genuinely aggrieved.
This only proved that what she had said moments ago was the truth.
"It wasn't what you just said that deceived me."
"It was something else."
"I believe that you don't remember the ancient era."
"But you must still remember the memories after the ancient era," Chu Feng said.
"I don't understand what young master means."
The fox spirit blinked her large eyes at Chu Feng.
"Since so many people have entered this place before."
"I refuse to believe that all of them were immune to your bewitchment."
"I refuse to believe that none of them ever obtained this key, and that none of them ever tried to unlock the chain on you."
Chu Feng held the Sacred Key in his hand and cast a meaningful glance at the pendant around the fox spirit's neck.
"What does young master mean? I don't understand," the fox spirit asked.
"Miss, has someone already tried to use this key to undo that lock on you?"
"But the result was that they all died???"
Chu Feng said.
"Heh…"
Hearing this, the fox spirit laughed again.
Her laughter was eerily strange, yet also oddly candid — as though she were acknowledging something.