Chapter 38

The Mysterious Woman whisked the three of them away into the sky. Before Liuli’s eyes, everything went black, and she lost consciousness.

Qingmei stepped out from the house. A child who had been hiding in a pile of junk crawled out, shivering. “Sister Qingmei!”

“What is it?” Qingmei’s two thin, sparse eyebrows furrowed together.

“It’s just… it’s just that person, that person in the black cloak, she, she…”

“What about her?” Qingmei stamped her foot impatiently. “Spit it out!”

“Her voice, it sounds like that person!”

Qingmei stiffened, biting her lower lip. “Are you sure?”

“I can’t be wrong!” This child had the sharpest ears among the little beggars. If he said it sounded like her, then it meant…

“But…” Qingmei clenched her fist. “What benefit would she get from doing this?”

Bringing the Ghost Market Auction people to control them, personally selecting targets then informing them—and now she was together with Liuli?

Qingmei glanced back worriedly into the house, where her newly recovered little sister still lay. “Ah Xing is in your care. I’m going out for a bit!”

“Sister Qingmei!”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be back soon!”

…

When Liuli woke up, she found herself lying in a lavishly decorated room in pastel pink tones, very much like the girly-heart-filled room Liuli used to have.

She reached out to touch the blanket covering her. It was soft and smooth against her hand—excellent material.

Liuli sat up, pushed aside the semi-transparent, dreamy-styled canopy hanging over the bed, and climbed down from the large, luxurious bed. An exceptionally ornate garment lay on a low cabinet at the bedside, along with a full set of sparkling jewelry.

Liuli didn’t dare change, still wearing her own clothes. She pulled a hair ribbon from her Storage Ring and retied her long, soft hair.

The room was very large. Liuli crept lightly on her tiptoes, head swiveling left and right, from the bedside to the door.

Just as she gently pushed the door open a crack, a sweet, lilting laugh sounded: “Lady Shishi, do you need anything?”

Peeking through the crack, Liuli saw a beautiful maidservant dressed in jade-green robes. In a hushed voice, she asked, “This… Senior, may I ask where the other two girls who came with me are now?”

“Young lady needn’t be so formal. Just call this servant Bi He.” Bi He covered her mouth and chuckled.

Liuli’s smile was awkward. She had no idea what the Mysterious Woman intended, sending a Golden Core expert to act as a maidservant!

This wasn’t coming as a guest; this was clearly being placed under house arrest!

Liuli said, “Sister Bi He, do you know where my two companions are now?”

“This servant does not know,” Bi He replied. “If the young lady wishes to see them, perhaps she should ask the Master.”

Master… servant… You two really have a flair for drama…

Liuli then asked politely, “And where might Master Sister be now?”

Bi He truly resembled a lotus flower, bowing her head as if swaying gently while laughing. “Young lady, please follow me.”

Liuli pushed the door fully open. As she stepped out of the bedroom, she realized she was inside a magnificent palace. She looked up at the sky and discovered that though it was bright here, the light didn’t come from the sun. The source was a massive gemstone embedded overhead.

There’s a ceiling above. Liuli studied the ceiling and walls thoughtfully. Rough and uneven—it was the interior of a mountain cave.

No matter how anxious Liuli was to see Ye Zhenzhen and Lin Mengxian quickly and confirm their safety, Bi He walked ahead at a deliberately unhurried pace.

Liuli rolled her eyes helplessly at her back. Looking for amusement in her boredom, her gaze followed the long, trailing tassels hanging from the back of Bi He’s head as they swayed left and right.

Gotta say, this Sister Bi He had quite a nice figure, her walk exuding endless allure and charm. Quite pleasing to the eye.

Driven to near madness by Bi He’s leisurely pace, Liuli’s bones practically itched with impatience. After traversing one, two, three long corridors, they finally arrived at the end—in front of a large, slightly ajar door.

Bi He announced sweetly, “We have arrived.”

Away from home, unlike being at home, Liuli constantly reminded herself to be a polite, well-behaved child. “Could I trouble Sister to announce me?”

Bi He, however, sighed softly. “The Master has always disliked being disturbed by servants. The young lady is an honored guest. Please, go in yourself, Miss.”

Since the maid had put it that way, Liuli couldn’t very well make things difficult for her. Mainly because—low cultivation, no rights.

With graceful, lotus-like steps, Bi He pushed the door open and yielded the way to Liuli. Liuli cleared her throat lightly, psyching herself up: You can do this!

The door was light, opening at Liuli’s mere touch. White mist swirled before her eyes, obscuring her vision. Liuli looked down at her feet—cobblestones. It seemed to be a courtyard.

Entering through the door, Liuli craned her neck and called out softly, “Is anyone here?”

No one answered. Only the faint sound of running water could be heard.

White mist coiling around her, Liuli soon felt the heat. The mist was damp, quickly soaking the hem of her skirt. She groped her way forward. A long folding screen appeared before her.

Liuli: “Is… anyone… here…?”

Still, no one answered. Liuli had no choice but to walk around the screen and continue forward.

Then.

With a horrified shriek, Liuli whirled around and clamped her hands over her eyes. “AHH—!!!”

Before her was an enormous hot spring pool! That wasn’t the important part. The important part was—there was a completely, dazzlingly, stark-naked person inside it!!!

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to peek! I’m leaving right now!” Squinting her eyes shut, Liuli bolted for the door. But when she reached it, she found the large door had been silently, mysteriously closed at some point.

She yanked on the door with all her might, but it wouldn’t budge.

Just then, the Mysterious Woman’s voice drawled lazily, “What’s wrong? Afraid I’ll eat you?”

Liuli: “Senior Sister, you’re bathing. So sorry for the intrusion! Please, continue your bath. I’ll go back first, and come again when you’re done!”

The woman chuckled softly. “Since you have something to discuss, why wait? Besides, we’re both women, what’s there to fear?”

Liuli: “…I’m afraid of being impolite.”

“It’s fine. This sister doesn’t mind a little impoliteness from you.”

Liuli hugged the door handle, refusing to let go as if it were her last lifeline. In reality, however, her body was involuntarily sliding backward towards the hot spring pool…

Despairingly, Liuli watched as her ten fingers were pried loose from the air, one by one. Finally, with nothing left to cling to, she slid backwards to the edge of the hot spring pool, stretching out her hand in vain resistance.

The sound of water breaking reached her ears. Splash, splash. Liuli squeezed her eyes tightly shut, clawing at the crevices of the stone tiles beside the pool, crying out heart-rendingly: “Noooo—”

The voice was so utterly tragic, it actually startled the woman.

Watching Liuli’s tightly scrunched features, her face flushed red with misery, one might actually think she was being slaughtered.

The woman couldn’t help but be speechless. “No to what?”

And Liuli felt a damp, soft hand settle on the back of her neck. Warm and hot, it stroked the back of her neck with a light, smooth touch.

Exactly like petting a cat.

Liuli broke out in goosebumps all over, shouting blindly with her eyes shut: “I don’t want to defile my savior!!!”

Woman: “…”

She paused, as if holding back laughter, and said indistinctly, “It’s fine. I don’t mind.”

The next moment, Liuli was pulled into the water by a great force.

Like a frog dropped into a pot of boiling water, Liuli let out another shriek, springing upward as if to leap into the sky, only to be ruthlessly pushed back down by the woman’s palm!

Liuli: “I didn’t take off my shoes!!!”

Woman: “…It’s fine. This sister doesn’t mind.”

“I MIND!!!”

Liuli suddenly began frantically stripping off her outer robe. The woman leaned against the edge of the pool, her elbow propped up, supporting one side of her rosy cheek, watching Liuli with an air of leisure.

Liuli held up her soaking wet outer robe, shook it out with a snap, and threw it over the woman!

A long moment of silence followed.

Half-kneeling, half-sitting in the hot spring, Liuli furtively cracked her eyes open a sliver.

“Woah!”

“What now?” The woman furrowed her beautiful brows. “Sister has covered herself. What is little sister still afraid of?”

Liuli: “Y-you, you!”

“Hmm?”

“You’re so beautiful!”

Liuli swore, counting both her lifetimes, this was the first time she had ever seen such a stunningly, breathtakingly gorgeous person. Dark, elegant brows; cat-like eyes brimming with affection; a high, straight nose bridge; full, alluring lips—a face of dazzling, radiant beauty. Every casual glance or raised brow was pure seduction and charm.

What graceful, alluring Bi He? Before her, she was bland and insipid!

But mere beauty wasn’t all. Those overly striking dark brows and crimson lips, set against skin as white as snow, inexplicably emanated a sinister air. As her blood-red lips curved into a smile, she was both gorgeous and sinister.

The gorgeous woman, hearing this, arranged her upper body into an even more bewitching pose. Draped only in Liuli’s now-soaked, semi-transparent outer robe, she looked like… a seductive ghost freshly emerged from the water, impatient to feed on human essence.

“How beautiful?” The seductive ghost smiled exceptionally enticingly.

Liuli hesitated with “Umm” for a long time before squeezing out a line from Li Bai’s poem: “A single branch of radiant beauty, dew-kissed and fragrant; clouds and rains on Mount Wu, in vain I yearn.”

Seductive Ghost: “…Mount Wu clouds and rain?” (Translator’s note: idiom for lovemaking)

Liuli immediately scrambled to defend her innocence. “That’s not what I meant! I’m not that kind of person, I swear I’m not!!”

The Seductive Ghost let out a soft, hum-like laugh. Her snow-white arms moved from the edge of the pool into the water, giving a gentle tug. Liuli was forced to stumble into her embrace.

So beautiful, and such a great figure… so tall too, and her cultivation is awesome!

Liuli: So jealous.

But right now, Liuli couldn’t afford to be jealous. They were so close, so incredibly close. The slightest movement would accidentally brush against the woman’s exposed, silky skin, or potentially dislodge the garment covering her.

Liuli forced a pained laugh. “Senior Sister, I think… we shouldn’t be this close. It’s hot.”

“But I want to be close, so I can take a good look at little sister.” The woman smiled ambiguously and, true to her word, leaned her face in close.

Seeming to discover Liuli’s weakness for beautiful faces, she brought her own face extremely, extremely close. Liuli truly couldn’t take it anymore. Just as she was about to turn her head and shut her eyes, she suddenly noticed something. In the pupil of the woman’s left eye, veiled as if by black mist, a small black lotus faintly flickered with the shifting ripples of her gaze…

Trembling, Liuli asked, “Senior Sister, you said… if I came back with you as a guest, you’d tell me your name. You… what is your name?”

The woman smiled slightly. An eerie, uncanny feeling instantly seeped through her bewitchingly beautiful face. She softly spoke the answer Liuli least wanted to hear:

“Tang Shikou.”

…

Time rewound to one day earlier.

Within the Cold Pool at Parasol Tree Mountain.

Feng Xiwu abruptly opened her eyes. The eerie blue flame before her had only spiraled out of control for a brief instant, yet it nearly incinerated all the plants growing inside the Cold Pool!

Thankfully, Feng Xiwu reacted in time, regaining control of the flame from its momentary rampage.

Master Yanchen, who had been carefully examining the situation within her head, was startled, clutching his beard which had almost been singed off by the fire. “What happened to you?”

An unusually grave expression appeared on Feng Xiwu’s face. “How much longer until this item is successfully forged?”

The trace of divine sense she had left on Liuli for locating her had vanished!

Knowing Liuli’s personality, going out into the world, she was bound to offend some untouchable expert. But with her identity and the treasures in her possession, she could handle opponents up to the Golden Core stage. Liuli was also smart; she would never foolishly provoke someone truly unprovokable.

Thus, Feng Xiwu had only left a sliver of a mark on her, just in case.

With Feng Xiwu’s cultivation level, not even an ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator could necessarily detect the mark on that hair ribbon. To detect it and decisively eliminate it—this was no ordinary expert!

This time, Liuli might be in…

Master Yanchen said: “Three days.”

Three days. That was the absolute minimum, and perhaps… he’d miscalculated again this time. After all, he was old, and had been working tirelessly without sleep for most of the month.

“I need to leave now.” Feng Xiwu said decisively.

Master Yanchen gave a wry smile, pointing to his hair, which had turned completely white in just a few short days. “If you leave now, I can’t guarantee a perfect result.”

“Is there any way to speed it up?”

“There is one. We can remove the Soul Transfer Possession feature. You know that’s the most difficult part…” Master Yanchen was somewhat reluctant. For an artifact refiner with integrity to change his original intent at the final stage, knowing he was taking a flawless artifact and leaving a flaw—it was too painful.

“Use your Alchemical Fire and Essence Blood to refine it further. However, doing this will make the originally intended one-way function become two-way, and it will surely be bound to you.”

“How much Essence Blood is needed.”

“The more, the faster.”

“Fine. Let’s begin.”

Feng Xiwu didn’t even blink. She flipped her hand, and a small globule of Essence Blood was forced out from her fingertip along her heart meridian.

Essence Blood is exceptionally vital for cultivators. Losing too much could even cause one’s cultivation base to drop! Consuming so much in one go, her face visibly paled. Who knew how long it would take to cultivate it back. Even Master Yanchen felt pained watching that globule of Essence Blood.

As Master Yanchen helped her refine the artifact, he couldn’t help but ask out of curiosity:

“What exactly happened to make you so anxious?”

Feng Xiwu replied, “A disciple under my care has encountered danger.”

“What kind of danger?”

“I don’t know.”

“…That’s it?”

“Mn.”

“…”