Chapter 578: The Name of the 9-Tailed Fox God

If they offended the Nine-tailed Fox, they would surely die. But they never imagined they would run into the famed creature before even reaching the mining area. And judging by the looks of it, this was no simple encounter.

Indeed, he could already see how extraordinary this group was. Besides the two Nine-tailed Foxes whose brilliance was too dazzling to gaze upon—the One-tailed and the main body—there was also Ah Xiong, a being at the Perfect Transformation Realm. Crucially, his aura was far more powerful than the Ancestor’s own. The only weak one was the Squirrel Demon, who clearly wasn’t part of their group but was merely a guide.

But most astonishing of all was Jiang Qiu, who rode on Ah Xiong’s back while cradling both Nine-tailed Foxes. His identity was a complete enigma. Anyone who could behave so intimately and freely with two Nine-tailed Foxes was clearly no ordinary existence. The wolves even began to wonder if a Celestial Spirit had descended from the High Heaven. Perhaps the recent Thunder Tribulation was different from what they had imagined—an act of a Celestial Spirit that never should have appeared in the First Celestial Realm to begin with.

After all, a Thunder Tribulation of that magnitude should never appear in the First Celestial Realm under normal circumstances. Such a tribulation was only possible in the High Heaven. It was obvious that the beings of the First Celestial Realm could not possibly withstand it; a single stray bolt of Thunder had been enough to grievously injure a supreme expert like the Celestial Wolf Ancestor. Had he not achieved a breakthrough at the critical moment, he would have surely died.

Given this, very few beings in the First Celestial Realm could possibly survive such a Thunder Tribulation. Yet, the Nine-tailed Fox had withstood countless thousands of strikes. And while the Celestial Wolf Ancestor had only borne the peripheral Thunder, the Nine-tailed Fox had endured the very heart of the storm. The power of those bolts was unimaginable, and yet, the Nine-tailed Fox had survived!

Calling it a god would be no exaggeration, even in Chaos Main City. Unfortunately, the wolves could no longer behold the deity’s true form. The two Nine-tailed Foxes they saw now were merely in their Transformation bodies. For Jiang Qiu to summon the divine being they held in their hearts, it would come at a great cost to him as well.

But none of that mattered. Jiang Qiu couldn’t care less about such things. Seeing their respectful attitude, he decided to overlook the previous conflict at the mining area and not pursue the matter further. He simply chose to have them lead the way to Celestial Wolf City.

At Jiang Qiu’s request, the Great Demons of the Celestial Wolf Race didn’t dare refuse and immediately began the journey back. As for the mining area, they simply dispatched a few subordinates to handle it while the Ancestor personally led the way back to Celestial Wolf City.

With an Ancestor from a branch of Celestial Wolf City’s Wolf Race guiding them, the journey was much more direct. Jiang Qiu felt they took far fewer detours, and before long, the group arrived at Celestial Wolf City.

However, the Celestial Wolf City before them was not quite what they had imagined. The massive walls, originally hundreds of feet high, had been blasted into rubble. A vast field of wreckage lay in a complete mess, the ground covered in scorched earth. There was barely a clean patch of land, and the devastation stretched as far as the eye could see.

To put it simply, what should have been a great, sprawling city had been razed by the Thunder Tribulation. Countless fragments of wreckage were scattered across the ground, which looked as if it had been tilled by a giant plow.

Even Jiang Qiu was somewhat surprised by the sight. He hadn’t perceived the full range of the Thunder Tribulation, as he had been completely focused on helping the Nine-tailed Fox overcome it, paying no mind to the outside world.

Who would have thought the Thunder Tribulation’s reach could extend all the way to Celestial Wolf City and flatten it—a city that had even developed a rudimentary defensive Array. At least several hundred thousand members of the Demon Race must have died!

And these weren’t ordinary members of the Demon Race. From Jiang Qiu’s observation, the survivors were all at least at the Spirit Control Realm—that is, Dominator Level. For the Celestial Wolf Race, the Dominator Level was actually a relatively low threshold, which meant that among the hundreds of thousands who had perished, there must have been a massive number of Dominators.

This scale of death was truly no less than slaughtering every Dominator in the Golden Eagle Ancestor’s outer territories, with an unknown number of Great Dominators perishing alongside them.

Of course, even those figures were an understatement. Celestial Wolf City was a Middle Rank demon city, a Settlement with a population in the millions. And the quality of these million demons was exceptionally high; nearly all of them belonged to a bloodline lineage with inherent Talents.

In other words, at the same Realm, a demon from Celestial Wolf City was far stronger than those from the periphery. It was common for them to have skills like Array formation, for instance.

Realizing just how destructive the Thunder Tribulation had been, Jiang Qiu felt a flicker of unease. ‘I never expected something like this to happen.’ So, he continued to ask more questions about the event along the way.

The branch Ancestor of the Celestial Wolf Race leading them held nothing back, answering every question to the fullest extent of his knowledge. He told Jiang Qiu everything he knew, including most of the details of what had transpired in Celestial Wolf City during the Thunder Tribulation.

Of course, as they recounted these events, the wolves became visibly excited. They were beginning to truly perceive the greatness of the Nine-tailed Fox. The two in Jiang Qiu’s arms seemed to radiate an even more intense, sacred heat. The heartfelt reverence this inspired was something that would be etched into their souls for a lifetime.

Jiang Qiu naturally sensed their emotions but remained noncommittal, offering no opinion. In truth, back when his third clone had declared, “I am the Nine-tailed Fox,” he too had felt a powerful resonance, as if he could become a god in that single instant.

But that held little meaning for him. For Jiang Qiu, the most important thing was to get to Tai Lake, secure enough resources, reach the absolute limit of the First Celestial Realm, and ascend to the Second Celestial Realm. From there, he would explore the Dragon Emperor’s Inheritance in its entirety, leave the Dragon Emperor Inheritance Secret Realm as soon as possible, and travel to the Dusk Holy Ruins to kill Venerable Zuo Xuan.

Therefore, Jiang Qiu had no intention of becoming a temporary god in the First Celestial Realm. He wanted to return to where he started and save the one who needed saving: Liu Zili.

And so, he remained silent for the rest of the way. The number of surviving demons gathering to watch grew steadily. They didn’t dare approach, but drawn by the Nine-tailed Fox’s aura, they came to kneel in worship.

The number of survivors was quite large, and they were all disciples of the city’s major clans—demons who once held great status in Celestial Wolf City. On any other day, the Squirrel Demon would have had to take a wide detour to avoid them. But today, because she was by Jiang Qiu’s side, they were kneeling in her direction, and a peculiar feeling bloomed in her heart.

It was a flattering, yet enjoyable sensation. ‘After all, who wouldn’t want the very clans they used to fear to be kneeling before them?’ Of course, she knew full well that while they were kneeling in her direction, they weren’t kneeling *to her*. She was merely basking in reflected glory.

Even so, for the Squirrel Demon, this was a moment of pure bliss. She was overjoyed that she had made the right choice. She had successfully stood out from tens of thousands of miners, volunteering to tell Lord One-tailed about the culture of Celestial Wolf City. In exchange, she had saved her own life and was now enjoying this temporary prestige.

In truth, this prestige wasn’t necessarily temporary. To the other demons, anyone who could follow beside great figures like Jiang Qiu and the Nine-tailed Fox was no longer an ordinary character. From now on, she would forever be linked to the Nine-tailed Fox—for example, as the handmaiden the great being had happened to pick up.

Her story might even be passed down in song.

Most importantly, the Celestial Wolf Race would never dare mistreat the handmaiden of the Nine-tailed Fox, who was now revered as a god. Out of respect for the Nine-tailed Fox, they would surely find an excellent house for the Squirrel Demon, perhaps even make her a lord of some territory or put her in charge of a few city streets.

Such was the power of the Nine-tailed Fox God’s name!