"My mother is the chief of our Azure Fox Tribe, but she's been rather unwell of late, so she's been recovering in seclusion, and she won't be able to welcome the two of you. Please allow me to apologize on her behalf," Ye Susu said in an apologetic manner.
"That's fine. We are the visitors here, so we should be the ones to go to the owner of this place. Seeing as she's in seclusion, we don't go to interrupt her. Would I be able to trouble you to take us on a tour of the city, Fellow Daoist Ye?" Han Li asked.
"Of course!" Ye Susu replied in an eager manner, then dismissed Ye Ping and the others as she led Han Li and Weeping Soul deeper into the city.
Azure Fox City was several thousand kilometers in size, and even though its terrain was generally quite flat, there were several rivers and some short mountains in the city. On top of that, the entire city was rife with lush greenery, making for some fine scenery.
Before long, dusk had arrived, and Ye Susu led Han Li and Weeping Soul to the center of the city, where a cluster of tall palaces was situated.
The cluster of palaces took up an area of roughly two hundred to three hundred acres, and they were all constructed from wood as well.
In front of the main palace was a giant azure fox statue that was roaring up to the heavens. The statue was several thousand feet tall and nine tails, and it appeared to have been carved out of some type of green jade.
"This place is called the Heavenly Fox Palace, and it's where the chief of our Azure Fox Tribe resides," Ye Susu introduced.
"The Heavenly Fox Palace? Why is it not called the Azure Fox Palace?" Han Li asked.
"The name was decided by my ancestors, and I'm not sure about the reasons behind the decision," Ye Susu replied with a shake of her head.
Han Li simply nodded in response and didn't dwell on the subject.
"There are several peaceful courtyards beside the Heavenly Fox Palace reserved for the esteemed guests of our tribe. It's already quite late, so you can rest there for the night, and I'll return tomorrow," Ye Susu said as she led the two of them to a neaby courtyard.
After that, Ye Susu called over two Azure Fox Tribe servants before instructing them to station themselves outside the courtyard, and only then did she depart.
Han Li watched her departing figure for a moment, then entered the courtyard with Weeping Soul.
There was a small, brick path in the courtyard, to the left of which was a floral garden, while on the right was a miniature bamboo forest. The flowers and bamboo trees were swaying gently in the night breeze, giving off a faint, pleasant fragrance.
Han Li gave a pleased nod before sitting down in the main hall, and he was joined by Weeping Soul, who asked, "Are you planning to go into seclusion here in Azure Fox City, Master?"
"Why would you think that?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
A mischievous grin appeared on Weeping Soul's face as she replied, "Given how you normally like to do things, if you had no intention of staying in Azure Fox City for a long period of time, then you would've stopped at saving Ye Susu.
“Instead, you expended some of your energy to aid her in her cultivation, and you agreed to come here with her. On top of that, you instructed her to lead us on a tour of the city just now so that we can gain a better understanding of the city of the city, isn't that right?"
Han Li gave a nod of approval as he replied, "The Azure Fox Tribe is an unremarkable tribe in the Golden Origin Mountain Range, and their settlement is quite secluded, making this a very good hiding place. On top of that, I detected no potential hazards during the tour of the city."
"That's all well and good, but the problem is that the Azure Fox Tribe seems to be quite wary of humans. Of course, if you display some of your power, they'll have no choice but to let us stay, but that would be far from an ideal solution," Weeping Soul said with slightly furrowed brows.
During their tour of the city, they had noticed that the Azure Fox beings that they had passed by had all been observing them with enmity in their eyes, and they would've most likely already been attacked had they not been accompanied by Ye Susu.
It didn't take long for Ye Susu to reach the bottom of the staircase, where she arrived in a large stone chamber, embedded into the ceiling of which were several fist-sized white jewels that basked the entire place in a gentle, white glow.
There were specks of starlight flashing on the surrounding walls, clearly indicating the presence of some type of restriction.
Inside the stone chamber was a white jade bed with an azure-robed young woman laying on it, and her lower body was encased within a miniature blue mountain of ice that was several dozen feet tall.
The mountain of ice was giving off bone-chilling glacial qi, and the temperatures in the stone chamber were extremely low, with frost clinging to all of the walls, the floor, and the ceiling.
The woman's complexion was deathly pale, and her teeth were tightly gritted, while veins were bulging on her forehead, indicating that she was enduring immense agony.
Large droplets of sweat were flowing down from her forehead, only to be instantly frozen solid as soon as they dripped down into the air.
A woman in a white dress was standing at the head of the bed with her hands pressed into the azure-robed woman's shoulders, injecting bright azure into her body.
The aura of the woman in white indicated that she was at the early-Golden Immortal Stage, and upon hearing the sound of Ye Susu's approaching footsteps, she looked up with a surprised expression ,then stopped what she was doing as she greeted, "Welcome back, Young Mistress."
The azure-robed woman on the bed also opened her eyes to look at Ye Susu, and she forced a smile onto her own face as she said in a gentle voice, "Come here, Susu."
"Mother!" Ye Susu hurried over to the bed before clasping onto the azure-robed woman's hand, and tears immediately began welling up in her eyes.
"Don't cry, Susu, I'm fine. Too much glacial qi has entered my body recently, but I can ward it off with Elder Qiu's help. Where did you go? You were away for so long. Did you encounter any danger?" the azure-robed woman asked in a gentle voice.
"I paid a visit to Golden Rhinoceros City to exchange for some things. On the way back, I encountered a few Golden Horse Sect cultivator's, and I was in a little bit of danger, but thankfully, I was saved by a pair of seniors who just so happened to be passing by..."
With that, she delivered a brief recount of her outing.
"What?! You invited a human cultivator into our Azure Fox City? How could you, Young Mistress? You should be well aware that those detestable human cultivators are ones that did this to our chief!" Elder Qiu scolded in a cold voice after hearing Ye Susu's story.
A hint of resentment appeared in Ye Susu's eyes upon hearing this, but she immediately suppressed it as she replied, "It's true that humans did this to my mother, but we can't condemn all human cultivators because of that.
“Right now, the Golden Origin Immortal Region is ruled over by humans, and if our Azure Fox Tribe wants to develop, then we'll have to interact with humans. As the leaders of our Azure Fox Tribe, we should set aside our personal emotions to do what's best for our tribe."
At this moment, Han Li was standing in a dark shadow outside the hall, and a hint of approval flashed through his eyes upon hearing this.
Elder Qiu's brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and she was just about to say something else, but the azure-robed woman raised a hand to stop her.
"I agree with Susu on this matter. Seeing as those two fellow daoists are both at the Golden Immortal Stage, if we can establish good relations with them, then that would be immensely beneficial to the future development of our Azure Fox Tribe."
Elder Qiu was silent for a moment, then acquiesced, "In that case, we'll do as you say, Chief."
"Thank you, Mother!" Ye Susu said with an elated expression.