Chapter 436: The Function of the Fox Tail Relics (2)

Tang San's eyes flashed with divine light, and a layer of spiritual energy shielded him and Red One, isolating the aura of the Fox Tail Relics from the outside. This allowed the other Crimson Fox girls to return to normal to some extent. However, it was evident that they felt more or less the same as Red One; their faces were flushed, and some even started to remove their outer garments.

"Don't take them off," Tang San quickly said. He hadn't anticipated this situation. His light command helped the Crimson Fox girls unaffected by the Fox Tail Relics to regain their composure quickly, though they were showing some pretty confused expressions.

However, at this moment, Red One let out a soft moan and unexpectedly lunged toward Tang San.

Tang San's brain almost stopped. He raised his left hand, placing his forefinger on Red One's forehead to stop her and keep her steady.

"Gather your spirit, calm your mind!" Tang San said in a deep voice, adding a hint of Lion-Tiger aura to his words for intimidation. This brought Red One to her senses, though the blush on her face became even more pronounced.

Tang San returned the three Fox Tail Relics to his storage ring with a flash of light. Red One's delicate body trembled slightly, and a faint heat seemed to emanate from her as she swayed as if she were drunk.

Tang San kept his forefinger on her forehead, silently sensing her physical state. He discovered that Red One's condition was something he had yet to see. Her blood seemed to boil, and all her pores were open, eagerly absorbing the rich life energy in the air.

Fortunately, they were in Golden Valley, where life energy was abundant for her to absorb. If they had been outside, it wouldn't have been possible for her to absorb life energy like this.

Tang San silently calculated. If the absorption of life energy was insufficient, her bloodline's boiling and burning could result in bloodline purification but a decline in vitality. He hadn't expected the Fox Tail Relics to have such a massive effect. Weren’t they supposed to stabilize the mind, eliminate inner demons, and prevent bloodline backlash? Could it be that the effects differed for those of the same clan?

He had guessed correctly. A Fox Tail Relic's effects were indeed most powerful for members of the fox race. The claims of preventing inner demons and avoiding bloodline backlash only applied to outsiders. For fox demons, it had the effect of refining the bloodline.

However, during the refining process, the side effect was a significant consumption of vitality, making it a double-edged sword. Generally, such an item was only used when one had reached a bottleneck in cultivation that was impossible to break through. Moreover, the higher the cultivation level of the user, the lesser the effect.

On the opposite side, the Crimson Fox girls weren't even genuine members of the Crimson Fox clan, much less high-order ones! Their bloodline was thin, and they relied entirely on the rich life force in Golden Valley to gradually evolve and cultivate, reaching their current level.

The Fox Tail Relic was simply too powerful a treasure for them to bear, not to mention there were three of them at once. Thus, their bloodlines immediately started to boil when they sensed the relics’ aura. Fortunately, there was ample life energy here, especially after the Golden Tree merged with the Golden Essence, releasing an even more significant amount of life energy. This prevented any dangerous situation.

Although Tang San hadn't anticipated this situation, sensing Red One's physical state and seeing her absorb a large amount of life energy to replenish herself, he quickly understood what was happening and was overjoyed.

In any other place, using this relic to refine the bloodline would likely require many rare treasures to compensate for the loss of vitality from the blood-boiling and refining process. But here, the last thing they lacked was life energy!

In fact, this was one of the reasons behind the Crimson Fox clan putting up their treasures, the Crimson Fox Tail Relics, for sale.

A Fox Tail Relic was the most precious treasure for any fox clan, an absolute clan-protecting relic. However, this was only under the condition of having enough resources to support its use.

As Tang San had judged, using the Fox Tail Relic to refine bloodlines required preparing many rare treasures. Where did these treasures come from? Naturally, they had to be exchanged for resources or bought with money!

The Crimson Fox clan was not particularly wealthy and ranked relatively low among the fox clans. Whenever a clan member's cultivation reached a certain level and hit a bottleneck, they would use the Fox Tail Relic to aid their breakthrough. This had become a tradition. Clan members would voluntarily apply for it during such times, but this naturally meant using the clan's resources. Moreover, the higher the level of advancement, the more rare treasures were needed.

Initially, the Crimson Fox clan could still be self-sufficient. By selling human vassals and having some of the exquisite Crimson Fox girls marry into powerful clans as concubines, they could exchange for resources sufficient to sustain the clan. However, a significant problem arose a few hundred years ago.

Due to the protection of powerful clans, the Crimson Fox clan's living conditions were very comfortable, luxurious even, leading to an increasing reproduction rate. As the number of clan members grew and upper echelons became corrupt, without strict rules for using the Fox Tail Relic, resources were massively depleted, and the clan became poorer instead.

Which high-ranked members of a clan wouldn't want their offspring to take shortcuts for advancement? But taking these shortcuts came at a price—having to buy many rare treasures, for one. Consequently, the clan started losing money at a ridiculous rate. In fact, right now, they were in a deficit, and it didn’t show any signs of improvement.

The upper echelons of the Crimson Fox clan had also tried to establish rules prohibiting the use of the Fox Tail Relic, but could this be stopped just by some rules written on paper? The upper echelons themselves often secretly used it. Ultimately, when there was no other choice, they decided to take it to the grand auction for sale.

The secret of the Fox Tail Relic was known only within the fox clans. The Crimson Fox clan initially thought another fox clan would surely buy the relics. This way, they could get a large sum of money to solve their urgent needs, and then make do for a while without the relics, during which time they could also accumulate more wealth. After getting through the most challenging times, they could repurchase the relic. After all, the Fox Tail Relics of the Crimson Fox clan had the best effect on Crimson Foxes; for other fox clans, it was a sacred object, but it couldn’t be used optimally.

But to their great surprise, an outsider had ultimately obtained the relic. Due to the appearance of the emperors on the first day, the Celestial Fox Demon Emperor had ordered all emperors not to participate in the rare item auction, allowing the three Fox Tail Relics to fall into Tang San's hands. Otherwise, with the Celestial Fox Demon Emperor's status as the ruler of the fox race, he would have undoubtedly helped the Crimson Fox clan temporarily hold these three relics.

Upon learning that the one who had obtained the relics was not a fox demon, the Crimson Fox clan intended to communicate with the auction winner to see how to handle the matter. However, number 338 had already chosen to leave after the rare item auction ended, making it difficult to find him for discussion.

Now, these three Fox Tail Relics seemed a considerable gain, providing even more benefits to the Crimson Fox girls than imagined.

As Tang San pondered, Red One finally began to wake up.

"Master, I'm so hot and thirsty!" she murmured.

Tang San said, "You can drink some water. I'm helping you refine your bloodline. After the refinement, your cultivation should be twice as effective with half the effort. Follow me."

He stood up and helped Red One to her feet as he spoke.

Red One now felt an overwhelming heat throughout her body, a restlessness she couldn't describe. Right now, Tang San appeared even more handsome than usual. Without her remaining sense of reason, she would have thrown herself into his arms.

This was a side effect of bloodline refinement. On the one hand, it stimulated the inherent allure of the Crimson Fox bloodline, but on the other hand, it also stimulated desire.