Xian Yuan was stunned.
If not for the mask she wore, the expression on her face would have had absolutely nothing to do with the words “proper lady.”
After pondering for a moment, she decided the glamorous beauty before her was just messing with her.
“Do you think I’ve been poisoned by snake venom?” Xian Yuan said, her mouth twitching. “If sucking it out with my mouth would work, I would’ve done it myself ages ago…”
“Don’t joke around. Sure, your chest might be on the smaller side, but there’s no way you could lick your own belly, right? And I’m way more flexible than most—I still can’t reach!”
The Little Snake Demon shook her head as she spoke.
“…That’s because your chest is huge.”
Xian Yuan couldn’t help but shoot back.
She wasn’t the type to enjoy chatting about such things, but with this woman’s expression, tone, and mannerisms, anyone would feel compelled to say something snarky…
“When I said using my mouth, I had good reason,” Yin Luan said, steering the conversation back on track. “I have a special talent in certain areas that’s far superior to ordinary people. I don’t know what you mean by ‘self-isolation,’ but if I’m prepared, energy like this won’t invade me so easily.”
Little Snake had an extraordinarily high level of control over her own body—abnormally so.
If she willed it, she could sense and even manipulate the tiniest changes in every part of her body… Was this perhaps an extra ability gained from her demon transformation?
“Still not gonna work,” Xian Yuan said, shaking her head. “Even if you can resist the energy’s effects, your mouth alone can’t suck it out.”
She pulled her clothes up a bit higher, giving the Little Snake Demon a clear view of the wound. The black energy writhed ceaselessly, enough to make anyone shudder—let alone put their lips to it.
“If it won’t come out, you’re just not sucking hard enough,” Yin Luan replied. “Put some real force into it, and you’ll get at least a little out!”
“…”
Xian Yuan was grateful for the mask right then; she had no idea what expression she’d make otherwise while facing this beauty.
Call her a rogue, and her eyes seemed perfectly innocent. Call her innocent, and her words would sound downright indecent to any normal person…
After wrestling with it for a good while, Xian Yuan spoke uncertainly.
“If you’re truly confident you can keep yourself safe, then go ahead and try… Things can’t really get much worse than they are now. But can you actually bring yourself to do it?”
“For a friend,” the Little Snake Demon declared with steely determination, “I have to!”
“…”
Fine. They would give it a try.
Xian Yuan carefully exposed the full wound for the Little Snake Demon to see. It was about the length of a palm, marring her otherwise white, slender, and exquisitely beautiful waist—a true shame.
The Little Snake Demon took several deep breaths to steel herself mentally. She tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear, pursed her lips, and leaned down, bending at the waist to bring her head close.
Xian Yuan tilted her head up slightly, holding her breath as her body grew tense.
Serious, pure, and undertaken for the noblest of reasons though it was, this still counted as skin-to-skin contact.
For someone like her—who rarely even shook hands—the last such contact probably dated back to when she was a little child…
“I’m ready,” she said. “Go ahead.”
The words had barely left her mouth when a chilling sensation shot from her abdomen straight into her mind. Xian Yuan hadn’t even had a chance to brace herself before she shuddered involuntarily, a muffled “Mm” escaping her lips.
This woman’s mouth was cold?
“Hiss—”
With her head buried in Xian Yuan’s waist, the Little Snake Demon made slurping sounds, her body twisting now and then.
Xian Yuan gazed at the glossy black cascade of her long hair, the slim snake-like waist that could be encircled with one hand, and the round, firm peach-like curves of her backside. Amid the chill on her abdomen, another warm surge welled up.
To be honest, her figure was the envy of anyone—born with stunning natural beauty, the very picture of it.
Once the cold and warmth had passed, an itch bloomed in her abdomen, like ants crawling over her skin or teasing fingers dancing across it—impossible to ignore.
Pain, Xian Yuan could endure. But this kind of itch? That was another story.
Before long, beads of sweat dotted her neck. Her hands clenched the yellow soil beneath her, teeth gritted, brows furrowed as she fought to stay silent.
“Hiss—hiss—”
Yin Luan kept at it doggedly, head down. Xian Yuan shifted her position slightly to make it easier for her.
“You light-dodging sneak, now that it’s dark, is there anything I need to watch out for tonight? I was thinking… uh, what are… you two… doing?”
The earnest treatment had reached a crucial point when Black Peach approached, probably to ask something. But upon seeing their posture, her mouth twitched and her face froze.
From her vantage point, Su Paopao could only see Yin Luan with her head buried in Xian Yuan’s clothes—one sitting on the ground with her hands spread wide, the other wiggling her rear end back and forth…
“…You two are going a bit too far,” she said, a touch of dissatisfaction in her voice. “I’m not against you doing stuff like this, but at least read the room? Back in a room, you can play however you want. But this is the Barbarous Frontier—can’t you hold out for a few days?”
“Um, Senior, I’ve heard that the more tense and dangerous the environment, the more it stirs up people’s desires…”
Su Paopao poked half her head out from behind the rock, chiming in agreement.
“You… all… don’t get the wrong idea,” Xian Yuan said, forcing down her discomfort as she explained. “This is serious business… Hiss!”
A chill shot through her waist again, followed by a sharp stab of pain.
“Pah—”
Yin Luan suddenly jerked her head up and spat a glob of black blood to the side. She took out some water to rinse her mouth and asked, “Feeling better now? This is my first time, so my oral technique might not be up to snuff…”
“…”
Xian Yuan glanced down at the wound. Most of that black energy lingered, but the pressure on the injury seemed to have eased a bit.
She had really sucked out some of the curse energy? What kind of mouth magic was this?
“Mm, much better.”
Xian Yuan wasted no more words. She bandaged the wound, slipped her clothes back on, and gave the Little Snake Demon a nod.
“Thanks.”
“No big deal. Too bad my skills aren’t better—I could’ve drawn out more…”
Seeing the looks of utter misunderstanding on Black Peach and Su Paopao’s faces, Xian Yuan desperately wished the Little Snake Demon in front of her would just shut that adorable little mouth…
~~~
The night in the Barbaric Wastes brimmed with unease.
A glance around revealed nothing but endless darkness, as if countless eyes lurked within, watching their every move. The primal sense of peril made one’s skin crawl.
Never let the darkness swallow you—that was the first rule of surviving the Barbaric Wastes.
Xian Yuan had everyone build the campfire bigger, bathing their rest area in light. The flames weren’t for warmth; they were to ward off those “unclean” things.
“I’ve got a question,” Yin Luan said as she roasted some jerky over the fire. “Our Ancient God Continent is carved up into chunks by the Barbaric Wastes, making travel between regions a real hassle… Has it always been this way, or did it happen partway through?”
Yin Luan knew this world wasn’t right. It had its “unreasonable” quirks.
Take the Barbaric Wastes, for instance.
From what Xian Yuan had shared earlier, their distribution made no sense—scattered randomly across the continent. Some sprawled vast and wide, while others sliced through like boundary lines, forcibly splitting habitable lands apart.
It turned the already sparse human settlements into an even bigger mess.
Big hubs thrived with more development, boasting plenty of Innate Realm experts and Voidtreading Experts. Smaller spots fell behind, their overall power weak.
“No clue,” Xian Yuan admitted. She had no answer for that one. “As far as the histories record, the Barbaric Wastes have always been there. Unknown. Dangerous. Don’t step in lightly—that’s the hard-earned wisdom.”
Xian Yuan’s homeland outpaced the Great Zhou Kingdom in development, with far more complete records.
Even in the Eastern Wastelands, digging back a few centuries was a challenge.
“The Barbaric Wastes, huh,” Su Paopao sighed. “I’ll probably never tangle with them in my life. The Eastern Wastelands are just right—big enough to live in, but not overwhelmingly so.”
“Yeah, I bet most folks think the same as you.”
After they finished eating and chatting, the group settled down by the fire for the night.
Likely thanks to the Immortal Mark doing its work, that watched feeling never quite faded, but no attacks came.
Dawn broke, and the four pressed on. Even the Little Snake Demon quit griping. They reached the base of Clear Seclusion Mountain before the sun dipped low.
This peak dwarfed the hills where the Immortals dwelled.
“The Divine Stele is at the summit,” Xian Yuan said. “Watch out for poisonous bugs and plants on the Barbaric Wastes’ paths. Stay sharp on the trail.”
Same as always: Xian Yuan and Black Peach took point, the two younger ones trailing behind. Up the mountain they went.
Clear Seclusion Mountain bore little resemblance to ordinary peaks. The path’s edges lay barren, and the occasional spring trickling from rock fissures ran black.
The acrid, scorched stench in the air hung thicker here than below, stinging their eyes.
“This is killer,” Su Paopao said, wiping at the tears the irritation had brought on. “It’s no volcano—why’s the air so damn filthy?”
“For humans, this environment is terrible,” Xian Yuan said gravely, gripping her Spiritual Longsword. “But for Evil Spirits, it’s perfect.”
Squeak!
As everyone coughed and wiped away tears, a Black Shadow suddenly burst from a crack beside the road, lunging straight at the weakest member of their group, Su Paopao.
“Ah!”
Su Paopao yelped in fright and instinctively threw up her hand to shield her face.
Sizzle!
The “Jing” character on the back of her hand blazed brightly. The Black Shadow slammed into the light barrier with a sound like searing flesh. Moments later, it thudded to the ground, dissolving into black smoke and vanishing.
“Those are Evil Shadows, the most common Evil Spirits in the Barbaric Wastes,” Xian Yuan said, eyeing the black smoke on the ground. “They’re not very strong, and you’ll find them everywhere. Handle them with your own power whenever you can. Things like this aren’t worth expending your seal on.”
Evil Shadows lacked real power, but they could squeeze through the tiniest crevices for sudden ambushes, leaving people hard-pressed to defend.
In the next few hundred zhang, the group faced at least a dozen such attacks, most of them aimed at Su Paopao and Yin Luan.
“Am I just cursed or something?” Su Paopao wailed, her face twisting in misery. “Why do the Evil Shadows keep singling me out? My seal has triggered three times already!”
“You probably lack Innate Qi for protection,” Xian Yuan replied. “Stick right behind me.”
An Evil Shadow’s speed might overwhelm Su Paopao, but for Xian Yuan, it was nothing more than a single sword stroke.
Black Peach dealt with her share of the assaults too, but they posed no real danger.
Halfway up the slope, a swarm of colorful insects burst into view ahead—beetles, centipedes, crickets, and all manner of creepy crawlies.
“Careful!” Xian Yuan shouted. “They’re all packed with deadly venom!”
The insects were tiny and lightning-fast, impossible to clear with ordinary methods. The group was forced to fall back repeatedly.
“Hmm—hmm hmm—”
Black Peach drew a steady breath and began humming a strange, rhythmic tune.
The venomous bugs slowed to a crawl at once. Moments later, they simply collapsed motionless on the ground.
She waved the others forward.
“Insect Calling Technique,” Xian Yuan murmured. “To think the Eastern Wastelands preserve such a heritage…”
With Black Peach’s cover, they slipped through the insect horde without a hitch.
“These venomous bugs are clever enough—they homed right in on our scent,” Black Peach huffed. “Is everything in the Barbaric Wastes some kind of monster like this?”
Clear Seclusion Mountain’s perils had sharpened their caution. They pressed on, eyes scanning every shadow, until they reached the mountainside.
Looking up, everything from there to the peak was shrouded in darkness.
“What’s that black water?”
The blackness stemmed from rivers of dark liquid snaking across the ground. There had been some at the base, but nothing like this deluge.
Black Peach shook a Black Spirit Insect from her sleeve and dropped it into the black water.
The insect convulsed wildly. A few breaths later, it flipped belly-up, lifeless.
“My Black Spirit Insects have dozens of times the vitality of normal bugs,” she said, her face taut. “This black water… it’s lethally toxic, far worse than those insects.”
The poison blanketed the entire hillside.
Yin Luan and the others felt gooseflesh prickle their scalps.
“Senior, got any treasure that can wrap a person head to toe?” Su Paopao asked Xian Yuan. “Or even a Water-Avoiding Pearl or something…”
“Water-Avoiding Pearls are pure folktale fiction—they don’t exist,” Xian Yuan replied gravely. “Innate Treasures for ongoing protection cost a fortune. I don’t have one. We’ll just have to move carefully and take the mountain slow.”
Toxic water was still just water. As long as it didn’t touch them, it shouldn’t pose much issue.
The four lined up single-file, stepping delicately into the black water and inching toward the summit.
“Oof!” “Ah!”
Yin Luan’s foot slipped out from under her. She tumbled backward, crashing into Su Paopao right behind. Both were moments from splashing into the black water when Xian Yuan reacted in time, yanking them up one in each hand.
“Better to go single file from now on. Wouldn’t want one slip to doom the whole team…”
Supporting one another, Yin Luan and the rest slowly crested the mountaintop.
The black water up here had thickened to a viscous sludge. When they lifted a foot, sticky strands clung like pulled taffy—an indescribably revolting sensation.
“Look,” Su Paopao said, pointing higher up the slope, her voice quivering. “What is that?”
Following her gaze, they spotted a massive black “mound,” tall as several people, steadily oozing black liquid.
It seemed this mound was the source, from which all the mountain’s black water flowed.
They exchanged glances.
“Shall we check it out?”
“Let’s do it!”
They had already laid eyes on Immortals. What was a mere toxic dirt pile to fear?
Yin Luan and the others mustered their courage and pressed onward, finally making out the source of the poisonous water.
This was no dirt mound at all, but a headless corpse of colossal proportions, like that of a giant. All the Black Water pouring from it was its blood!
“This is……”
Sensing the intense pressure radiating from the corpse, Yin Luan and Su Paopao gaped in shock.
“If I’m not mistaken,” Xian Yuan replied in a hoarse voice, clearly stunned herself, “it’s…… the corpse of another Immortal!”
