Bai Qingyue turned silent again as he expectantly waited. It was a dreadful kind of silence.

"As for the golden core, yesterday, Her Ladyship travelled to a secluded island at the dead of night and was ambushed by the Bestiary Division's succeeding disciple, whom Her Ladyship often referred to as Lady No Eyebrows. A battle took place and-"

"Where were you?" Bai Qingyue interrupted to ask.

Bai Yu's eyes widened. "Pardon?"

Bai Qingyue's voice grew deeper as he repeated the question. "Where were you at that time?"

"Oh, that's what My Lord meant." Bai Yu nervously laughed. "This Subordinate was not there at the start of the battle, but this Subordinate arrived as soon as he realized Her Ladyship fell into danger!" He quickly explained, defending his position.

Seeing that Bai Qingyue asked no further questions, he continued. "Her Ladyship got struck by lightning before this Subordinate or the Twins that His Lordship had recently dispatched had an opportunity to intervene."

Bai Yu felt his heart creep into his throat as he heard Bai Qingyue suck in a sharp breath.

He hurriedly finished narrating the tale. "That was when Her Ladyship gained her core! She had risen from her injury reborn! And yet, before any of us could end the life of Lady No Eyebrows, one of Her Ladyship's contracted pets had done the deed." He had a puzzled look on his face as he finished the tale. "Then, a tree blossomed from that woman's corpse. A peach tree…"

Once finished, Bai Yu raised his eyes to observe His Lordship. What he saw made him hunker down and take a step back in retreat.

His Lordship's face was becoming extremely thunderous, like the calm before a storm. 'And to think I have yet to tell him the worst part!' Bai Yu thought in panic as he backed further away from Bai Qingyue's reach.

The Sovereign Lord's lips were now set in a thin, straight line. He frowned as he rose from the bed and fixed his narrowed eyes on the former second in command. "Bai Yu, if there is anything you have purposefully chosen not to tell me, know that if I obtain the information from another source, your upcoming punishment shall be ten times worse."

Bai Yu choked on his own spit after hearing those words. Images of tortured prisoners surfaced in his mind and he couldn't help but blurt out, "H-her Ladyship thinks you prefer the companionship of men, Sire!"

The sentence seemed to have shocked the enraged Fox Lord into a sudden stillness.

For a few single moments, the Sovereign Lord and his former Second In Command simply stared at each other in intense horror, each of them suffering an emotional disruption for completely different reasons.

However, what followed next felt to Bai Yu as though time seemed to have passed in fast motion. At one point, he saw His Lordship standing frozen, and at the next moment, he was airborne and nearly choked to death.

A soft grey mist clouded the room as Bai Yu transformed into his human form. His life, unfortunately, was still very much in jeopardy.

The former Second In Command was a bulky man, mostly due to his half-demon parentage. In terms of physical strength, he was one of the best, but he lacked the spiritual energy to defend himself against Bai Qingyue's ferocity, even though he was far older than the Sovereign Lord. The only option left for him was to plead for forgiveness.

"Sire, allow this Subordinate a chance to explain!" He choked out the words as Bai Qingyue continued to literally squeeze the life out of him, crushing his throat relentlessly.

"You have done enough explaining." Bai Qingyue thundered in a venomous tone. A dangerous icy glint flashed through his gaze as he raised up one hand with elongated claws engulfed in foxfire directly above Bai Yu's head in preparation for a great downwards strike.

"Mercy, Sire! What would Her Ladyship think of you if she saw you n-now?" Bai Yu thrashed about in the Sovereign Lord's grip, trying to evade the oncoming deathblow.

His struggles to escape proved fruitless. His words, however, seemed to have caused the ruthless Fox Lord's intention to waver. Bai Qingyue's brows creased in silent contemplation, his lips stretched into a thin line.

Somehow, throughout the whole ordeal, both of the Fox Gods had tumbled onto the bed, with Bai Qingyue landing on top of Bai Yu's slightly larger frame, leaning over him.

Bai Qingyue kept a tight grip on Bai Yu's throat, whose face already turned into a dark purple shade. While maintaining a tight chokehold, his other hand remained in preparation to attack the latter from above.

The door suddenly creaked open and revealed a stunned-looking Li Meirong with a floating, red-eyed turtle hovering right above her shoulder.

"See, I told you." Feng Huang made a disapproving sound. "I know what I'm talking about."