"You must understand," Lucidity whispered, "that I have been a witness to many awful illusions and am not fully responsible for what might occur when one is placed under my spell. However, I can tell that what you saw, what you went through, was most gruesome." She hesitated again, rubbing her arms nervously. "Which is why I must confess the truth to you, since you have been so generous towards me. My illusions are a mix of possible future events. You could even consider it a premonition of sorts; one you should take heed of."

"No," Li Meirong whispered, goosebumps crawling over her skin. "No, you're lying," she protested vehemently. She refused to believe the pixie's words.

At Li Meirong's response, the pixie's worried eyes turned cold and hard, and she shook her fist at Li Meirong in a manner that suggested she had been offended most grievously.

"Foolish girl!" Lucidity chastised. "Pixies cannot tell lies!"

Unwilling to show how much the pixie's brief outburst had shaken her, Li Meirong simply stared at the little spirit in silence whilst pursing her lips in a show of disbelief. 'As if I can simply take her at her word. I cannot trust a spirit who just bewitched me…'

She had, after all, been lied to repeatedly over the years, and her hard-learned life lessons had made her cautious about believing in others so easily. Yet despite all that, she still managed to put her trust in those who proved their sincerity to her. Those such as her spirit companions, Bao Li… and even Zhu Qingyue, eventually.

The pixie groaned aloud in abject frustration.

"This is the problem with you humans," she complained. "You cannot understand the mindset of other beings, especially those so different from yourselves. Unfortunately for you, I am not deceiving you or trying to trick you. My kind truly cannot tell a lie, even if we want to! We may twist the truth here and there, but we are completely incapable of telling an outright lie."

Li Meirong shook her head dismissively; her long hair, tied up as it was, swayed softly from side to side.

"So if I am to believe your words, that illusion you showed me is a glimpse of the future?" she asked. "My plant spirit will soon die, and my boyfriend will turn into some enormous beast and eat me?"

Instead of responding, the pixie pursed her tiny red lips; she stood up on Li Meirong's palm and started flapping her wings. 

Slowly but surely, she gathered enough strength to lift herself off Li Meirong's palm. With some visible struggle, she elevated herself high enough to look Li Meirong directly in the face.

Lucidity placed her dainty little hands on Li Meirong's cheeks and tilted her face to meet her eyes. Her tiny features were set in a stern expression.

"What is true and what is false is not something I can vouch for," she said firmly. "My only warning to you is that some of what you have seen might not have been merely a figment of your imagination. It might be part of your foreseeable future, but that is not guaranteed. This is all I have to say on the matter. Do with this information what you will."

Li Meirong frowned, confused. How was it that she always ended up encountering the most cryptic type of people bearing cryptic messages foretelling the future?

"But Zhu Qingyue is human, like me. Why would he eat me? How would he change in such a way? Not to mention the fact my plant spirit is unharmed. The illusion makes no sense if I take it as truth," she protested. Lucidity gave a careless shrug.

"How should I know how to interpret it or what meaning might be gained from it? It is your life, not mine."

Before Li Meirong had the chance to ask any further questions, their private conversation was cut short by the return of Senior Wei. The senior was followed by Snowball and the three judges who had been overseeing the tournament. 

Lucidity, upon noticing Snowball's arrival, squealed nervously and fled into Senior Wei's arms with no further explanation. She then fumbled with his sleeves until she had hidden herself well away from sight.

The pixie was not the only one stressed out by the fox spirit's imposing presence. The three judges were huddled together as they approached Li Meirong, casting wary and nervous glances to their sides; specifically, they were glancing fearfully at Snowball.

The judges could clearly remember how the fox spirit had shattered their carefully constructed array, before he had grown to a size comparable to that of a pony. For a spirit beast to achieve such a feat, they had to be at the same calibre as a saint beast. The thought that this little fox might possess such power… it scared them.

How could a disciple who had only lived in the sect for a few short years - and who was not even close to being a nascent soul stage cultivator - manage to acquire a bond with a saint beast? The very thought was beyond the judges' level of comprehension.

As if on cue, Snowball went to sit dutifully by Li Meirong's feet, all while giving the judges what could only be dubbed the 'evil eye'. He sat there, like a lion guardian statue outside a sacred shrine, daring anyone to step closer to his Master at their own peril. 

The judges did not dare risk his ire and kept their distance, pausing two yards away from Li Meirong.

It was no wonder that this young lady had been accepted as a direct disciple by Grandmaster Zhu Zhang, the judges thought. The bestiary division grandmaster possessed an exceptional insight and must have been able to tell exactly how rare a gem this lady truly was. 

It was a pity that they themselves had not noticed sooner...

One judge brought his fist up before his mouth and let out a short, loud cough; as he had intended, it drew everyone's attention to him.

"This battle has been very illuminating," the judge said. He was an elderly man with a gruff voice and stern eyes who carried himself with an air of refinement. "Disciples, you have done very well." The other two judges then shared their own sentiments, praising both contenders.

Li Meirong and Senior We bowed in unison, as was customary. The judge who had spoken first then continued his speech.

"It is very unfortunate that this battle was cut so short." He dared a glance at the fox spirit and went still for several moments. Unbeknownst to the others, that judge cupped his hands together behind his back, concealing the involuntary tremors that shuddered through him. "Unfortunately, in lieu of the rules for the tournament, Junior Li Meirong has been disqualified due to the assistance of an outside s-source during the b-battle…" he trailed off, stammering slightly, as he was interrupted by Snowball. 

The fox stood up on his hind legs, a low growl rumbling forth from deep within his chest. It was a threatening, monstrous sound; it was far louder and deeper than a creature of Snowball's size should be able to produce.

The judge took a large step back immediately upon feeling the full measure of the violent beast's rage directed at him.

Li Meirong, on the other hand, displayed neither joy nor anger on her face at the revelation. She masked herself, as she had learned to do over the years; instead of calming the judges, however, her lack of expression only caused all three to become even more nervous.