Shen Yuwei’s mind felt foggy, as if soaked in strong liquor, unable to tell which way was up.
Despite being a Golden Core cultivator, she was actually being affected by the demonic energy.
Shen Yuwei tried several times to escape, but in the end, she could only reluctantly accept it.
She was truly worried about hurting Xu Ning.
Perhaps.
All she needed to do was endure for a moment, wait, wait until he released it, and then she could…
The moment this thought surfaced, she grew too ashamed to think further.
A dignified Golden Core cultivator, yet her mind was bewitched, sinking into the torment of burning desire, suppressed by a mortal.
But the demonic energy clung to her consciousness, while that vital green spiritual power brushed over her fragile, sensitive Golden Core inch by inch.
Those thoughts she should have suppressed only grew clearer instead.
Until a scorching sensation spread between her thighs.
————[Content Blocked]————
“…Senior Cultivator Shen, knock, knock me out…”
He gritted his teeth and said in a low voice.
Shen Yuwei’s entire body trembled.
At this moment, Xu Ning might not truly be lucid.
He had clearly been dragged into mental confusion by the demonic energy, yet his first words were still asking her to end all of this.
Shen Yuwei hesitated, however.
She only needed to circulate her true essence, even if it meant injuring both their meridians, she could separate them.
Just as she was about to act, the spiritual power within both their bodies began to act up again.
The spiritual power inside Xu Ning swirled around her Golden Core, pulling at her repeatedly.
That spiritual power, which held a strong attraction for her, was even nourishing her Golden Core, staining more green across its surface.
The pain was suppressed, replaced instead by a deeper, softer weakness.
Shen Yuwei didn’t understand whether the demonic energy was affecting her, or whether that spiritual power within Xu Ning’s body had always possessed a fatal allure for her.
Instinct drove her not to stop.
The clarity that had barely risen in her eyes scattered once more in this wave of heat.
“…No need.”
————[Content Blocked]————
The spiritual light within the tent grew brighter.
A strip of thin, soft fabric was stirred by the night breeze, then quickly settled back onto the ground.
The bed curtains swayed gently with the faint movements from the couch.
The shadows on the wall were stretched long by the lamplight, then blurred into a shapeless mass in the wind.
Cold moonlight shone into Medicine Manor.
From the distant cattle shed came a low moo.
Lu Hanyi was meditating when her face suddenly turned pale.
A trace of blood seeped from the corner of her lips, and she raised a hand to wipe it away.
Staring at the bloodstain on her fingertip, Lu Hanyi felt her mind grow restless.
She was only warming her meridians.
She hadn’t even activated her sword essence, so how could this have aggravated her meridian injuries?
Could there be something wrong with her state of mind?
Lu Hanyi pressed her lips together, her expression dark and unreadable.
At the other end of Medicine Manor.
Zhou Huai stood before a row of old clay vats.
The muddy ground beneath his feet soon split open with a crack, revealing a stone staircase leading downward.
Zhou Huai’s Adam’s apple bobbed, and he stepped down.
The crack in the earth silently sealed shut behind him.
At the deepest part of the hidden chamber lay a black pool.
Several half-formed human figures floated beneath the surface.
Their skin had turned gray from soaking in the medicinal solution, their bodies pierced with countless talisman nails, black threads strung between the nails, trembling faintly with the rise and fall of the pool water.
And beside the pool stood a thin, tall Daoist.
He wore an old gray robe, his cheeks gaunt.
“You’re here?”
Zhou Huai lowered his head and said, “Immortal Master.”
The gray-robed Daoist didn’t turn around, only staring at the corpse puppets in the pool.
“Those people who came today—did you look into them?”
Zhou Huai hesitated for a moment.
“I did. Aside from one disciple from the External Affairs Department, the rest are just rogue cultivators sent by the sect.”
The gray-robed Daoist let out a cold laugh.
“I noticed during the day myself—one Foundation Establishment, four Qi Refinement?”
Zhou Huai steeled himself and said, “The one leading them, Xu Ning, is a newly appointed guest elder of Zhaoyue Cliff.”
“I heard he only just achieved Qi Introduction, and originally… originally he was even just a mortal.”
As for who he heard it from, there was no need to guess.
The gray-robed Daoist turned his face in surprise, a slow grin spreading across his lips.
“A mortal?”
“Taiwei Immortal Sect is really going downhill. They’re even sending mortals now?”
Zhou Huai didn’t respond.
The gray-robed Daoist stepped forward twice, the black water in the pool rippling with each step.
“I’ve been hiding here for so many years, and they haven’t found me even once.”
“In the early years, at least they sent Crystal Formation Realm stewards. Later it became Qi Refinement disciples, and now—well, they’re shoving mortals in here.”
“It seems Taiwei Immortal Sect truly has abandoned this place.”
His eyes were full of mockery.
Zhou Huai’s expression turned bitter, but he still didn’t answer.
The gray-robed Daoist glanced at him.
“What are you afraid of?”
Zhou Huai’s Adam’s apple bobbed.
“What the Immortal Master mentioned is probably the Cold Sword Peak true disciple that Luo Zhao spoke of.”
“But from what he said, that person bears an injury, and this time it was only an accidental pass-through. Immortal Master, perhaps you—”
“I know well enough. An injured true disciple is still a true disciple.”
The gray-robed Daoist interrupted him flatly.
“If she came in full strength, I’d naturally avoid her.”
“But now…”
The figures in the pool seemed to pulse, ripples visible on the surface.
The Daoist gazed down at the water, his expression proud.
“These prodigy disciples stand high above, enjoying all the sect’s resources, basking in glory.”
“But now that her talent is damaged and her cultivation is stagnating, the sect will only cast her aside like a worn-out shoe.”
“Rather than let her drag herself around wounded, wasting that bloodline nurtured by spiritual treasures…”
“Better to offer her to this poor Daoist.”
He raised a hand, and one of the corpse puppets in the pool suddenly opened its eyes.
The pupils were murky and lifeless, black lines crawling across the whites.
A surge of bloody stench roiled up, and the hidden chamber quickly filled with the rank smell of gore.
Zhou Huai instinctively stepped back half a pace.
But the gray-robed Daoist wore a satisfied expression.
He traced a line with his finger, and a ring of dark red runes lit up on the talisman array by the pool.
“Just so happens the corpse puppet is at a critical stage of refinement, and I’m short a few cultivators’ blood to awaken its spirit.”
“Those people—no need for them to leave.”
Zhou Huai’s face went ashen, his lips trembling as he said, “But if they die in the manor, Taiwei Immortal Sect is sure to send people to investigate.”
The gray-robed Daoist let out a sneer.
Even the corpse puppets standing in the pool let out hoarse roars along with it.
It frightened Zhou Huai into backing away repeatedly.
Every time he came down here, he felt these three things looked more human than the last time.
“So what?”
The gray-robed Daoist raised his hand, and a black jade token slipped out from his sleeve.
“I’ll clean up the mess for you. Even if the sect’s people come looking, it’ll be useless.”
Seeing Zhou Huai trembling with fear, he revealed a hint of a smile.
“You see—aren’t I easier to get along with than those sanctimonious types? I even think ahead for useless people like you.”
Zhou Huai lowered his head.
“…The Immortal Master is merciful.”
In the pitch-black secret chamber, his face couldn’t be seen clearly, only his tightly clenched fists.