These matters were considered and thought through thoroughly by Ye Tiancheng. He did not wish for a traitor to appear by his side, as that would cause him great pain and potentially lead to failure, impacting him significantly. He also did not want to constantly face various dangers around him.
He would not allow such crises to befall anyone near him; he intended to nip all these dangers in the bud.
While attending to his work, he recalled the matters concerning the Nuwa Stone and the fragments of the Fuxi Qin he had encountered previously.
He had been collecting fragments of the Fuxi Qin. Finally, after much effort, he reached the Pure Land and obtained the last fragment, bringing the Fuxi Qin into existence. However, before he could even touch it, the Fuxi Qin was directly snatched away by a red-clothed woman, whose origin was unknown and who was likely the source of the dark energy, the master of the dark energy.
Thinking about this matter made Ye Tiancheng very depressed. Moreover, he now discovered that despite his previous arduous efforts and belief that he had collected all the Fuxi Qin fragments, there was still a fragment held by the ghost fox in the mysterious market for over a thousand years. This could only mean that he had never truly gathered all the Fuxi Qin fragments before.
This further worsened Ye Tiancheng's mood. He could only hope that this time he could successfully collect all the fragments, obtain the Fuxi Qin, and accomplish what he had always intended to do.
Regarding the ghost fox, Ye Tiancheng currently had no leads. However, he dared not delay, as he did not know how many fragments he still needed to collect. If it took too long, unforeseen changes might occur.
Furthermore, he could not let Hou Mingzhu continue to be delayed with him. Hou Mingzhu had a family business to attend to outside; unlike him, Ye Tiancheng was, in general, a man of leisure, aside from dealing with these rather dangerous matters.
For now, not too much time had passed, so it was still manageable. However, if Hou Mingzhu were to be trapped here with him for too long, problems would surely arise.
Ye Tiancheng thought to himself that he would definitely obtain the Fuxi Qin fragment from the ghost fox as soon as possible.
As he pondered, Ye Tiancheng couldn't help but think about the dark energy discovered by the Nuwa Stone on the little fox. He himself had not detected it. Now, however, he couldn't help but overthink. After much deliberation, Ye Tiancheng finally put aside the tasks he had nearly finished and left his room.
He wanted to confirm his suspicions as soon as he thought of them. He needed to confirm the situation further before he could figure out what he wanted to do next.
After Ye Tiancheng went out, as he passed the staircase, Hou Mingzhu, who was in the first-floor lobby with Ye Qingcheng, noticed him first and looked up at Ye Tiancheng.
Ye Tiancheng noticed Hou Mingzhu's action and greeted them, "You two continue with your own affairs. I have something to attend to with the little fox and haven't finished yet. I'll cook for you later."
Hou Mingzhu nodded and said nothing more. Ye Qingcheng waved her hand at Ye Tiancheng, also greeting her father.
When Ye Tiancheng reached the study door, he hesitated for a moment before pushing it open. The little fox was inside, poring over books and资料, worried about the ghost fox. Seeing Ye Tiancheng return, he held his books and said to Ye Tiancheng, "Big Brother, why are you back?"
"Is something wrong?" The little fox looked at Ye Tiancheng with confusion, as he felt Ye Tiancheng's gaze was a bit strange, yet he said nothing. This made the little fox feel very uncomfortable.
Ye Tiancheng was actually observing whether the little fox had any dark energy on him, or if it was something he himself couldn't detect, only the Nuwa Stone could sense.
The little fox waited for a long time but received no answer from Ye Tiancheng. He said uncomfortably, "Big Brother, what's wrong? Why are you staring at me without speaking, and your gaze is so strange?"
Ye Tiancheng finally came back to his senses, withdrew his gaze, and after thinking for a moment, brought up another matter. "Oh, there's something I want to do, but I'm very hesitant and haven't decided. Let me think about it again."
The little fox nodded obediently, not understanding. He looked truly innocent, showing no signs of any problems, making it impossible to tell if the Nuwa Stone's suspicion was unfounded or if he was simply good at hiding it.
Logically speaking, Ye Tiancheng was also a cultivator and should be able to see dark energy. However, he couldn't detect any dark energy on the little fox, and he didn't know the reason for it.
Moreover, the Nuwa Stone had said that the dark energy and the little fox were complementary and formed a whole. Was it because of this that he couldn't detect it?
However, Ye Tiancheng didn't dwell on it for too long, lest he arouse the little fox's suspicion. He said to the little fox, "It's like this, little fox. When we were in the mysterious market before, didn't that ghost fox give you a bead that could control his life to gain our trust?"
"There's something I want to do, so could you hand that bead over to me first?"
"After all, it's in your hands or mine, there's no significant difference in essence, is there? I'm not taking this bead to kill the ghost fox, but to research with Little Stone on how to solve the problem of the ghost fox and his skin fusion not working."
Hearing Ye Tiancheng say this, the little fox replied, "Of course, I can give it to Big Brother. It's in my hands or Big Brother's hands, there's no difference. Besides, Big Brother is trying to find a solution."
As the little fox said this, he took out the shimmering purple bead that the ghost fox Azi had given him at the time. "Big Brother, take it."
Ye Tiancheng harbored doubts, but seeing the little fox so readily hand over the purple bead that could control the ghost fox's life made him lean towards the possibility that the little fox was not problematic. However, he still needed to obtain the bead, so Ye Tiancheng only said, "Thank you, little fox."
"Then I'll go research this bead with Little Stone. You continue with your work. If you find any useful information, remember to come find me."
The little fox truly believed that Ye Tiancheng had come for the bead. He also felt that it would be inappropriate for Ye Tiancheng to take the bead directly, as the ghost fox Azi had given it to him, which was why Ye Tiancheng had hesitated earlier, and his attitude had been strange.
Because of this, he didn't overthink or suspect Ye Tiancheng of anything. He nodded, bid farewell to Ye Tiancheng, and watched Ye Tiancheng leave the study.
After returning to his bedroom, Ye Tiancheng did not immediately find the Nuwa Stone to analyze the bead together. Instead, he held the purple bead given to him by the little fox and observed it carefully.
Unfortunately, judging by its appearance alone, the bead was like a large piece of purple crystal carved into a purple bead. Besides looking very beautiful, it felt no different from an ordinary stone bead, showing no unusual characteristics.
Yet, this item was linked to the ghost fox's life. The little fox had only gently squeezed the bead, and the ghost fox had been injured and vomited blood. If the bead were to be crushed, the ghost fox would die on the spot, his soul scattered, vanishing without a trace.
Therefore, judging by this, it could not be an ordinary object; it should not be an ordinary stone bead.
Ye Tiancheng then used his cultivation to carefully examine the bead, and only then did he faintly sense something unusual.
The surface of the stone felt like ordinary stone, and its touch was unremarkable. However, when Ye Tiancheng channeled his cultivation to feel it again, he felt that the stone in his hand had the texture and temperature of warm jade with a smooth luster. A warm current flowed from within the bead, making Ye Tiancheng feel much more comfortable.
"This is truly a peculiar treasure, and it's a bead. Could it be that ghost fox's life bead or inner core..." Ye Tiancheng muttered to himself, holding the bead.
Although Ye Tiancheng knew that whatever he did to this bead would likely be detected by the ghost fox, he had already obtained the bead and was not afraid of the ghost fox knowing, so Ye Tiancheng did not hold back.
Ye Tiancheng then tried to penetrate his cultivation into the interior of the bead and carefully felt its condition. As expected, he found something unusual inside the bead, a kind of unusualness that Ye Tiancheng couldn't quite describe.
Because the feeling, in Ye Tiancheng's opinion, was truly a bit eerie and hard to articulate.
He truly felt the presence of dark energy within this bead. There was even a very vigorous life force, and it might very well be something like the ghost fox's life bead.
He wondered where the ghost fox got the courage, or if he truly had no ill intentions, to hand such a thing over to others. However, thinking of this, Ye Tiancheng couldn't help but hesitate.
Perhaps the ghost fox wasn't too bold, but rather, the ghost fox hadn't expected that the little fox would hand over his bead to Ye Tiancheng.
However, what this bead was, although Ye Tiancheng hadn't figured it out yet, it wasn't the most important thing at the moment.
Ye Tiancheng gave up on exploring the bead alone and instead called out the Nuwa Stone.
"Little Stone, come out for a moment. I need you for something. Take a look at this thing I'm holding. Does it have any problems?"
The Nuwa Stone appeared immediately upon hearing Ye Tiancheng's summons. Although it could sense everything within the illusion, it also respected the privacy of Ye Tiancheng and his companions and did not constantly sense what they were doing, except that it felt the little fox had a problem and had been paying attention to the little fox in that regard.
The Nuwa Stone noticed the bead in Ye Tiancheng's hand when it appeared after being summoned and also detected the dark energy entwined around the bead. "Brother Ye, where did you get this fox inner core? Is this the ghost fox's inner core you mentioned before?"
"Then, that ghost fox's courage is a bit too great, isn't it? How dare he hand over such a thing to others? Isn't that equivalent to handing over his own life?"
Ye Tiancheng then told the Nuwa Stone, "So this is indeed an inner core. This was given by that ghost fox, and it can control the ghost fox's life."
"Because I previously expressed that I couldn't trust the ghost fox, the ghost fox handed this over to gain our trust. However, he gave it to the little fox at the time, stating that if he were to give it, he would only give it to the little fox."
"But I just asked the little fox for it, saying I wanted to research the ghost fox with you, and the little fox gave it without hesitation or further questions."
The Nuwa Stone fell silent for a moment, then said, "You asked the little fox for it? And he gave it?"
Ye Tiancheng nodded, holding the bead, which served as an answer to the Nuwa Stone's question.