Chapter 438: Apprehension

At those words, the Blood Spring Holy Lord said nothing. He simply looked at the jade fang clutched in the large black cat's paw, then glanced at Ah Xiu and the others, his expression difficult to read.

Ah Xiu, the Fifth Elder, and the others, however, had their attention entirely fixed on the jade fang itself, with no thought to spare for the Blood Spring Holy Lord.

Just then, one of the clan members beside the Fifth Elder suddenly let out a startled gasp, his pupils contracting sharply, "Look, that thing is glowing."

Ah Xiu and the Fifth Elder, who had been watching the White Tiger Fang the whole time, naturally witnessed this as well.

Moments after the large black cat had batted at the White Tiger Fang with its paw a few times, the fang had suddenly come to life.

It erupted with a dazzling, jade-white radiance so bright that the large black cat beside it couldn't keep its eyes open, forced to shield its face with a paw and turn its head away.

But once the White Tiger Fang left the large black cat's paw, the light it emanated dimmed away almost instantly, and the guesthouse's main hall returned to normal.

Following this turn of events, the large black cat, far from being startled, was overjoyed, immediately letting out delighted meows. It wasn't foolish. It had naturally guessed that the jade fang before it was a genuine treasure of some kind.

And besides, it seemed to share some inexplicable connection with this treasure. It had sensed the treasure hidden on the Blood Spring Holy Lord from a considerable distance away, which only confirmed that this treasure and itself were truly fated for each other.

With that thought, the large black cat's round green eyes narrowed into excited slits, and the resentment it had been carrying from being shaved bald by the Rakshasa Holy Lord dissipated considerably.

It quickly scooped the White Tiger Fang off the ground and, under the openly intense gazes of the Blood Spring Holy Lord and Ah Xiu, casually tucked it beneath its own belly.

But the fang, once hidden beneath the cat's belly, once again began radiating its dazzling white light, a glow that even the cat's own belly couldn't contain.

In an instant, the once bald-patched large black cat transformed into a glowing cat, the light pouring out of it from every angle, turning it into a walking light source with every step it took.

Cao Gaoshan, watching this from nearby, immediately showed an expression of genuine astonishment, while the large black cat looked down at its own radiant glow with some exasperation and reluctantly pulled the White Tiger Fang back out from beneath its belly.

After considering for a moment, it glanced toward the Blood Spring Holy Lord, the treasure's original owner, then picked the White Tiger Fang back up in its mouth and, under the watchful eyes of Ah Xiu and the others, leaped up and headed toward the second floor of the guesthouse.

Watching the large black cat carry off the White Tiger Fang, Cao Gaoshan, though somewhat curious about the item himself, continued to turn a blind eye and let it go.

The Blood Spring Holy Lord wanted to stop it, but having lost his martial cultivation, there was nothing he could do.

"What exactly is that item? This old man recalls it originally belonged to Chuan'er. Why has it now ended up in your possession?"

At this point, the blood-covered Rakshasa Holy Lord walked over to the Blood Spring Holy Lord, a clear flicker of suspicion in his eyes.

At those words, the Blood Spring Holy Lord withdrew his gaze from the departing large black cat, looked at the Rakshasa Holy Lord, and shook his head, "I don't know the origin of that item myself. But it must be no ordinary thing, for some to risk digging a hidden tunnel into the Yellow Spring Tribe just to attempt stealing it."

With that, the Blood Spring Holy Lord shifted his gaze and turned to look at Ah Xiu, the Fifth Elder, and the others in the hall.

Ah Xiu and the others exchanged a glance. By now they no longer paid the three Yellow Spring Holy Lords before them any particular regard.

After all, with their martial cultivation gone, the three of them couldn't even win against a single cat, let alone stand against them. Had it not been for Li Musheng's involvement, they would have already moved to eliminate all three of them.

At this point, what Ah Xiu and the Fifth Elder cared about most was naturally the White Tiger Fang that the large black cat had taken away, since it was of immense importance to their clan's plans.

The Fifth Elder's expression shifted slightly as he watched the large black cat's departing figure, and he was about to chase after it.

But in the next instant, Ah Xiu raised a hand to stop him, transmitting quietly, "Fifth Uncle, please don't act rashly. That cat belongs to that great demon lord. We don't want to lose our lives over the White Tiger Fang without even managing to get it back."

The Fifth Elder had no idea about the relationship between the large black cat and Li Musheng, and upon hearing Ah Xiu's words, he froze in place at once and immediately stopped in his tracks.

His mind couldn't help but flash back to the scene of Li Musheng suppressing all three Yellow Spring Holy Lords with a single move, and a chill ran down his spine. He dared make no further move.

At the same time, Ah Xiu, having stopped the Fifth Elder from acting, furrowed her brow deeply. Their group had originally been determined to secure the White Tiger Fang at any cost.

But now that it had fallen into the large black cat's possession, she found herself genuinely torn over whether to find some way to retrieve it.

If they tried to take the White Tiger Fang, they would very likely offend Li Musheng, which was a hundred times more dangerous than infiltrating the Yellow Spring Tribe had been.

But if they simply gave up on the White Tiger Fang, it would be a severe blow to their clan's plans, possibly even causing their entire mission of revival to fail at the final hurdle.

This choice was undeniably an agonizing one for Ah Xiu. But just as she was caught in indecision, the bald-patched large black cat suddenly came back down, leading Li Musheng down the stairs into the guesthouse's main hall.

At this moment, Li Musheng was dressed in plain robes, his features fine and handsome, with not the slightest trace of martial pressure or demonic aura visible about him. Yet the moment he appeared, the entire atmosphere of the guesthouse's main hall tensed instantly.

Ah Xiu, the Rakshasa Holy Lord, and the others all instinctively turned their eyes toward Li Musheng, every one of them feeling an irrepressible wave of fear rise within them without exception.

Ah Xiu in particular fixed her dark eyes hard on Li Musheng. Beyond the fear that came from facing a terrifyingly powerful demon lord, her heart was filled with deeply complicated feelings.

Back at the small town, nearly every powerful figure in the town had died overnight outside the inn she ran, which had led her to suspect that Li Musheng concealed terrifying abilities that even she found unsettling, capable of killing without a trace.

Because of that suspicion, she had taken the initiative to volunteer as Li Musheng's guide, specifically to give herself an additional layer of security when it came time to retrieve the White Tiger Fang from the Yellow Spring Market.

Originally, Ah Xiu hadn't held particularly high hopes for this plan, having simply acted on a casual whim. But what she hadn't expected was that this offhand decision had, at this critical moment, directly saved their entire group's lives.

Even so, what Ah Xiu still found difficult to fully accept was that Li Musheng, who had spent these past several days traveling alongside her, had turned out to be a hidden great demon lord all along, something she had never once suspected throughout their time together.

Though Li Musheng outwardly appeared to be nothing more than a young, handsome gentleman, and had never harmed her in any way, the mere thought of it still sent lingering chills through her.