Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Several sword lights tore through the night. With a shrill, pain-filled beastly cry, the galloping giant rhinoceros suddenly halted, blood splattered, and the creature instantly collapsed to the ground.

Its eyes looked pleadingly at the person behind, filled with fear.

Several figures quickly caught up. Lu Sisi removed the token hanging from the giant rhinoceros's horn, and the phantom of the Black Flood Dragon behind her slowly dissipated. She pouted, looking displeased.

Tong Lanyi wiped the bloodstains from her face, frowning in irritation. She glanced at Lu Sisi. "Has that trash still not replied to your message? What's she throwing a tantrum for? We didn't do anything to her—why is she being so dramatic?!"

The others also looked displeased. Lu Yuanyin really had gone too far this time.

Tong Lanyi lifted her sword and, as if venting her anger, fiercely stabbed it into the collapsed giant rhinoceros at her feet. The creature let out a weak whimper as hot blood spilled all over the ground.

Tong Lanyi imagined the rhinoceros as Lu Yuanyin, and listening to its cries, a faint sense of pleasure welled up in her heart. She gritted her teeth and said viciously, "Since she's so ungrateful, she won't get a single bit of what we've obtained this time, and she can forget about the Jieyun Platform!"

"I'll make her regret it!"

Lu Sisi took a moment to check her jade token; there was still no response from Lu Yuanyin, and her parents hadn't been able to find her either.

Lu Sisi felt anxious. In her storage pouch, she had at most half a bottle of spiritual pills left, and Tong Lanyi and the others couldn't even scrape together a full bottle. If Lu Yuanyin didn't come back soon, at their current rate of consumption, they wouldn't even last until tomorrow.

Lu Sisi picked at her fingertips in grievance. She couldn't understand when Lu Yuanyin had become so petty. Tong Lanyi had only said a few words to her, yet she had left in a huff, cut off contact, and left them in such danger!

Lu Sisi sighed quietly. She had participated in this competition only because Gu Lingqiu was also here.

She hadn't seen him in months, and she really missed him...

She knew that Brother Gu was already betrothed to Lu Yuanyin. If she kept interacting with him, it would harm both their reputations. She knew that what she was doing now might be wrong and unacceptable to the world.

But she couldn't control the longing in her heart. She dared not ask for much; from beginning to end, she only wanted to have more contact with Gu Lingqiu, to see him, even if just for a moment.

But she hadn't expected that because of Lu Yuanyin's sudden tantrum, Brother Gu had been so angered that he left without staying even a moment.

And now she was desperately trying to gather more tokens, just to get closer to Brother Gu...

She wanted to impress Brother Gu and her master!

Every troublesome matter these past few days had left her feeling indescribably sad. Lu Sisi lifted her head slightly and stared fixedly at the starry sky above, a hint of hatred flashing in her eyes.

Hearing Tong Lanyi's complaints, Lu Sisi bit her lip but said softly, "Alright, stop talking about A Yin. She might have her own troubles. Let's focus on gathering tokens for now."

The others sighed in resignation and followed Lu Sisi into the forest.

The leaves swayed, and a few dewdrops slid down, splashing onto her fair cheek, bringing a slight chill.

The jade token in her sleeve kept flashing incessantly, even growing more intense. Lu Yuanyin rested her chin on her hand and casually flipped through the Compendium of Herbs, in a fairly good mood.

This was nothing yet. When she returned, she would make Lu Sisi and the others spit out every bit of what they had taken from her.

That group from the Lu family was selfish and greedy, but they had a fatal flaw—they would rather suffer than lose face.

They cared too much about how others saw them, to a degree that Lu Yuanyin couldn't understand.

After a moment, Lu Yuanyin raised an eyebrow in surprise. Her gaze lingered on one particular spiritual herb... Huanrong Grass.

Shaped like a water lily, with fine fuzz on the leaves, light yellow in color, slightly toxic, can cause temporary asphyxiation.

Lu Yuanyin distractedly plucked at the leaves beside her, reading the description next to Huanrong Grass, lost in thought.

Lu Yuanyin didn't dare to rest in this forest, so she simply sat in the tree for most of the night reading the Compendium of Herbs, until she became dizzy, her eyes glazed over.

Lu Yuanyin wasn't a patient person; she usually had a short-lived passion for things and lost interest after a few days. But alchemy was the exception—she had persisted for nearly ten years without ever giving up.

The disciples in the distance gradually quieted down as well. Two of them were assigned to keep watch, while the others sat upright by the bonfire, meditating with their eyes closed to recover their strength.

The forest was deathly silent except for the crackling of the bonfire and the occasional faint chirping of insects. Lu Yuanyin wearily rubbed her aching forehead, took out her jade token, and couldn't help feeling surprised.

The rankings of Lu Sisi and the others were rising at an almost terrifying speed. Almost every time she blinked, their ranking updated. In just one night, they had shot straight into the top three.

Lu Sisi and the others had been following behind her, nearly a day behind the other disciples, and now they had caught up so quickly in a single night...

Lu Yuanyin tugged at her falling hair, thoughtful. After a moment, she put away the Compendium of Herbs, gently rubbed the corners of her eyes, and felt the cool night breeze brush softly against her face. She looked up, somewhat dazedly, at the bright moon in the void.

A few birds quietly landed beside her, secretly pecking at the spiritual pills she hadn't yet put away, their beady little eyes cautiously watching her.

Lu Yuanyin pretended not to notice their little actions. She curled her fingers and gently smoothed the folds of her skirt.

But those little birds seemed to sense something. They suddenly lifted their heads, their feathers puffing up instantly, turning into several dandelion puffs. They quickly grabbed the pills in their beaks and fled into the distance.

Lu Yuanyin was startled.

The branch beside her dipped slightly, leaves shaking violently.

A familiar, gloomy aura silently settled behind her, like a beast lurking in the shadows, ready to pounce and devour her.

Lu Yuanyin's spine went cold. She spun around, reaching for the sword at her side, but felt her head grow heavy, her eyelids drooping uncontrollably, and she became drowsy!

Lu Yuanyin anxiously dug her nails into her palm, letting them sink deep into the soft flesh as a faint scent of blood filled her nose. She tried to use the pain to wake herself, but the scene before her grew ever blurrier.

The distant bonfire flickered violently, burning her eyes until they ached, and she felt drowsy. She vaguely seemed to see a strand of snow-white hair tangled messily with her black hair between her fingers, carrying a strange, decadent allure.

The scene before her kept changing. Countless familiar faces and past events rushed into her mind like a torrent. She was like an outsider, groggily watching those memories over and over.

This scene was just too much like a life flashing before one's eyes before death...

Lu Yuanyin thought she should be afraid, but when she saw those familiar figures, she could only stare blankly, even forgetting fear.

The scene before her was too real. She could barely tell if it was a dream, or just a hallucination from the poison. She stared blankly at the spirited couple and the little girl in the man's arms, almost unwilling to blink.

This was a scene from her childhood...

Those scenes she had deliberately forgotten replayed before her eyes. Lu Yuanyin's eyes widened, and she opened her mouth, but before she could speak, her throat was already so choked up that she could barely utter a word.

The scene suddenly changed, and she found herself in a dim cave again, with water droplets pattering onto the stone bed beside her. Lu Yuanyin looked around in surprise—this seemed to be the cave where she had found Huo Wuyan.

She looked around dazedly, then froze. Subconsciously, she tried to back away, but immediately heard the clear clinking of chains around her.

Unlike before, this time she was the one whose hands were chained.

Her expression was blank, and she was completely dazed.

Lu Yuanyin stared blankly toward the entrance of the cave, where a tall figure silently approached the stone bed. Dim daylight fell behind him. Lu Yuanyin raised her head slightly, only seeing half of his face hidden in the shadows—gloomy, cold, like an exquisite, empty puppet. The coiled horns in his hair emitted a jade-like luster.

Under her bewildered gaze, Huo Wuyan leaned down slightly. Only then did Lu Yuanyin see that his right ear was adorned with a shoulder-length crimson tassel.

As he moved, the tassel gently swayed against his neck. Lu Yuanyin's eyes involuntarily followed the tassel for a moment, only to see Huo Wuyan lower his gaze, extend his large hand, and directly cover her mouth and nose.

Lu Yuanyin vaguely felt this scene was familiar. Her eyes darted, and a layer of glistening moisture quickly formed in them. She looked helplessly at the tall male cultivator before her, let out two soft whimpers, trying to appear pitiful.

But the person before her said in a low voice, "Quiet."

Lu Yuanyin was startled. She vaguely recalled that she seemed to have said those words herself. She looked at the familiar scene, but before she could react, it shifted rapidly again. The chaotic images from her memory slowly merged with the present, and the one bound by chains became Huo Wuyan once more.

The scene instantly became unspeakable.

Black robes were scattered messily on the ground. Scalding sweat dripped onto her slender shoulders and neck, burning her so intensely that she trembled involuntarily, the scene oozing with impropriety.

Lu Yuanyin was in so much pain she almost cried out loud, but upon hearing her sobs, he grew even fiercer and more unrestrained in his movements...

His hot breath blasted against her snow-white ear. The iron chains around her wrists clinked with every movement. In the end, Lu Yuanyin could no longer tell whether this was her memory or another nightmare conjured by the illusion.

...

The later memories became increasingly blurry. Just as she felt she was about to die on that stone bed, the scene before her abruptly dissolved.

Lu Yuanyin's eyes snapped open. The cool night breeze brushed past her face, bringing a slight chill. Only then did she realize that her back was already drenched with cold sweat.

Still shaken, Lu Yuanyin looked down at her perfectly intact clothes, her mind a complete blank. She stared blankly at the group of disciples in the distance until a couple more birds landed beside her, and only then did she snap out of her daze.

A torn spiritual talisman lay quietly under the tree.

Lu Yuanyin jumped down from the giant tree. She carefully unfolded the talisman, and after seeing the words on it, her expression flickered.

The Ten Thousand Layers Realm...

A legendary killing formation in the cultivation world, one that even someone like Lu Yuanyin, who knew nothing of spiritual formations, had heard of. This realm could make those trapped within experience their deepest fears countless times until their minds gave out.

Such a terrifying and mystical illusion was usually only used to trap and kill extremely powerful experts. Lu Yuanyin never imagined that one day she would also experience such a formidable illusion.

Lu Yuanyin tore the torn talisman completely apart.

With Huo Wuyan's cultivation level, he could have appeared without a sound and simply snapped her neck.

But he deliberately made noise instead, coldly watching her panic-stricken resistance, and from time to time used these bizarre methods to slowly drive her to the edge of collapse.

Lu Yuanyin was silent for a moment. It seemed she had truly angered that madman...