"Does it even matter who you ride with? Why do you have so many requests?" Gui Longcan remarked with a frown. "Don't forget that you are our captive now!"
"Your captive, and also a frail lady," Honey reminded. "You need to stop raising your voice with me, or I might be too afraid to walk…"
"Are you really a lady?" Gui Longcan felt the corner of his lips twitch.
"Oh?" Honey shot him a seductive glance. "Would you like to check?"
Gui Longcan: "…"
It was not just him either.
All members of the party had no idea how to deal with this shameless woman!
"Junior Martial Brother Zhao, do you mind?" Mo Mian asked in a slightly embarrassed manner.
Since Zhao Yunxiao was only joining them for the first time, Mo Mian felt a little bad about making him deal with their troublesome captive.
But at the same time, it would only be for a day, not to mention the fact that everyone was already tired of dealing with her antics.
"...Yeah, it's fine," Zhao Yunxiao agreed reluctantly.
While it was a pain, he shared the same thoughts as Mo Mian.
All he had to do was just tolerate this woman's antics for a day, and it would all be over once they returned to Purple Plum Mountain!
"I knew you would agree!" Honey quickly got in her seat and tapped the spirit horse beside her. "Come! Sit next to me!"
"It's been hard on you, Junior Martial Brother Zhao," Pu Feixiang returned Zhao Yunxiao's earlier words to him.
Huu-!
Zhao Yunxiao looked up at the sky and let out a loud sigh.
He could only blame himself for talking too much earlier, triggering such a response from Honey.
Under Honey's expectant gaze, Zhao Yunxiao got on the spirit horse, while the rest of the party got on theirs.
"Let's go!" Mo Mian said.
With that, the party left Mountainhorn Town behind as they rode off towards Purple Plum Mountain.
The journey back was largely uneventful, as the group simply rested whenever the spirit horses needed a break.
Even as they rested at night, they made sure that two people were awake at any point in time, responsible for watching Honey and making sure she did not try anything funny.
***
"Hey..." Honey whispered as the spirit horses continued galloping towards their destination the next day.
Zhao Yunxiao: "..."
He kept his gaze focused on the road and completely ignored her whisper, pretending as though he could not hear her.
"Hey... I'm talking to you," Honey said again. "Stop acting, I know that you could hear me all along."
Indeed, this was not the first time that she had tried to talk to Zhao Yunxiao.
It was just that in all her previous attempts, she had simply accepted it when Zhao Yunxiao straight up ignored her.
This time, however, it seemed that she was not intending to let that slide.
"What is it?" Zhao Yunxiao answered coldly without looking at her.
While Honey kept her voice low enough for only Zhao Yunxiao to hear, Zhao Yunxiao chose not to control his volume.
"Not so loud!" Honey chided him. "And why aren't you looking at me? I thought you orthodox cultivators emphasised respect and honour? Isn't it basic respect to look at others when talking to them?"
"What is it?" Zhao Yunxiao took a deep breath before turning to ask her.
However, he still did not lower his volume.
So while the rest of the party could not hear Honey, they could all hear Zhao Yunxiao's responses.
"Isn't that better? Aren't I attractive? I'm sure you feel better looking at me instead of the road too, right?" Honey shot him a coquettish look.
Zhao Yunxiao: "..."
"All right, all right," Honey leaned in closer and whispered even more softly. "What do you say you help me escape?"
"Dream on. Why would I ever do something like that?" Zhao Yunxiao rolled his eyes in response.
"Of course I will make it worth your while if you do so, and your sect doesn't have to know either," Honey smirked. "For example, you can have plenty of riches that the Scarlet Leaf Sect has accumulated over the years. Or if that's not enough, perhaps you can have your way with me as well..."
As she said that, Honey slowly pulled down her robe slightly from the neck, all the way down to reveal her collarbone.
"Not interested," Zhao Yunxiao, however, was not tempted at all.
That said, Honey was indeed attractive.
And she had even added a charming technique to her voice, though it was greatly muted due to her meridians being sealed.
On top of that, most young men around Zhao Yunxiao's age were full of vigour and curiosity.
Though they might not have readily accepted her proposal, most of them would have at least felt slightly moved upon hearing such words from her.
That was all she needed as well, as it would serve as a stepping stone to continue charming her target.
Unfortunately for her, Zhao Yunxiao had always been an extremely disciplined individual, perhaps a little too much in that regard, so such tricks would never work on him.
As if that was not enough, he had also been exposed to someone who was even more attractive than Honey over the past month, so that further helped to build his resistance against pretty girls.
To put it bluntly, she was simply targeting the wrong person this time.
Hearing Zhao Yunxiao's curt reply caused Honey to finally furrow her brows.
She had not thought that things would go so easily either, but she had imagined some sort of response from Zhao Yunxiao at least.
Who knew that the latter would end up shutting her down so firmly?
"All right, enough joking around," Honey said. "I'm actually serious when I say that you need to let me go now. Otherwise, the consequences are not something that you can even imagine."
"Keep trying," Zhao Yunxiao was unfazed by the threats. "What can you possibly do to us in your current state?"
"I might not be able to do anything, but the Scarlet Leaf Sect will not take this lying down," Honey's tone finally turned serious. "When that happens, even your Black Tortoise Sect will not be able to escape unscathed."
"Our Black Tortoise Sect has never feared any unorthodox cultivators," Zhao Yunxiao said proudly. "If the Scarlet Leaf Sect wishes to try going against us, then you are welcome to try."
The one thing that Zhao Yunxiao was proudest of about himself was the fact that he was a member of the Black Tortoise Sect.
And as one of the Four Great Symbol Sects, as well as the strongest faction in the northern regions of the Duyuan Empire, the Black Tortoise Sect truly deserved his pride.
That said, how could Zhao Yunxiao allow Honey to insult the integrity of his sect?
"You don't understand. The current Black Tortoise Sect is only a shadow of its past. If the Scarlet Leaf Sect truly wishes for it, your Black Tortoise Sect will not stand a chance," Honey shook her head. "On top of that, the Scarlet Leaf Sect has already set our grand plan in motion. If it is discovered that I have been brought to the Black Tortoise Sect for interrogation, it will only make your Black Tortoise Sect the first target to be eliminated."
"You speak as though your Scarlet Leaf Sect is all that," Zhao Yunxiao narrowed his eyes. "From what I understand, your members are scattered throughout the world without even knowing where the headquarters are. How can such a faction ever hope to take down our Black Tortoise Sect?"
"What is it?" Mo Mian asked with a frown. "What is she saying?"
Mo Mian had not intended to engage in any further conversation with Honey during the rest of the journey, especially since they were just about to reach Purple Plum Mountain.
After all, for this kind of troublesome character, it was best to leave her to the sect administrators, who were adept at interrogations.
They were experienced with such things, and would surely have their own ways of dealing with her.
However, the contents of Zhao Yunxiao's replies had escalated to a point where he could no longer comfortably ignore the conversation.
"You have no clue about what is going on. The Scarlet Leaf Sect's plan is so profound that people like us don't even deserve to be named as chess pieces, and the world will tremble soon enough when it is revealed," Honey raised her voice for the first time to let everyone hear her. "This is my final warning. The Scarlet Leaf Sect will not allow any complications to the plan. So if you were to insist on bringing me back with you, I assure you that we will all be finished."
"And I am guessing you are aware of these plans?" Zhao Yunxiao tried to probe. "Why don't you share a bit of it with us, so that we can at least gauge whether you are speaking the truth?"
"You might be loyal to the Black Tortoise Sect, but I am loyal to the Scarlet Leaf Sect as well," Honey answered. "And even if I wanted to, we will all be dead once the sect finds out that I revealed any part of the plan to you. If you let me go now, we can all live that much longer."
"Forget it, Junior Martial Brother Zhao," Chu Han said. "We are almost back by now. We can just let the sect administrators deal with her."
"That won't be happening," Honey scoffed.
"And why woul-?" Chu Han was speaking halfway when he suddenly frowned. "She's undoing the seal on her meridians!"
Clang-!
With a flick of his wrist, Zhao Yunxiao drew his halberd and rested the blade directly against Honey's neck.
"Stop it, or I will not hesitate to cut you down!" Zhao Yunxiao cautioned.
"Does it matter?" Honey smiled wryly. "It is either dying by your blade, dying to your sect administrators, or dying to the Scarlet Leaf Sect. Since that is the case, I might as well give it a shot here. At least I have the best chances when dealing with you bunch!"
"Don't even think about it!" Zhao Yunxiao quickly rotated his halberd to strike her with the blunt end, but Honey reacted fast enough to leap off her seat.
Since she had yet to fully unseal her meridians, suddenly jumping off the seat while the horse was galloping resulted in her hitting the ground hard, rolling for a good few metres from the sheer impact.
"Get her!" Mo Mian ordered.
All five of them instantly turned their spirit horses around, quickly surrounding Honey who was now lying face down on the dirt road.
But as their horses rushed at the motionless female cultivator, the party felt a sudden surge of power coming from Honey.
It came in pulses that were so distinct they were audible, almost as though they were listening to the heartbeat of a giant beast.
At the same time, these pulses of energy carried along an ominous aura – one that resembled the aura of death.
"This is...?" Pu Feixiang frowned.
"What is this?" Gui Longcan did the same, unsure of what was happening.
Mo Mian and Chu Han remained silent, but they were wondering about the same thing.
Zhao Yunxiao, however, opened his eyes wide in horror.
"She is detonating her dantian!" Zhao Yunxiao shouted in shock. "Get away!"
As its name suggested, detonating one's dantian was the same as blowing up all essence energy stored within one's body, converting this energy into a pure explosive force.
Because of the purity of the energy in the dantian, the resulting explosion often far exceeded what one could display through common techniques. However, the downside was that this explosion was completely uncontrollable, aimed at taking down everyone and everything in the vicinity.
A cultivator's dantian represented the absolute cumulation of their cultivation.
By detonating it, it was equivalent to not just sacrificing all past cultivation progress, but even the cultivator's life itself.
Therefore, no one would ever do so unless they had been brought to the very brink of desperation, where they saw absolutely no way out of their current situation.
This was the first time that Zhao Yunxiao had personally witnessed someone doing so, but he had read about it in scrolls, allowing him to identify the move.
Even though he was not absolutely certain, it was better to be safe than sorry.
After all, the resulting explosion from the detonation of one's dantian was not to be trifled with!
"Get away!" Mo Mian immediately echoed Zhao Yunxiao's words the moment he heard them.
Unlike Zhao Yunxiao, Mo Mian had only heard about this before, not knowing how to actually identify the move.
But after the past ten days together, Mo Mian had grown to trust Zhao Yunxiao's words without question.
If Zhao Yunxiao said that Honey was detonating her dantian, then she was detonating her dantian.
"Shit! That crazy bitch!" Pu Feixiang cursed as he immediately turned his spirit horse around.
The rest of the party did the same as well, scattering in five different directions.
It resulted in quite a strange sight, as the five of them were hurriedly escaping from a motionless opponent.
In a way, this would be quite the blunder if their assumption was wrong, as it would give Honey a golden opportunity to escape.
But when they looked back, they did not see any escape attempts from Honey. Instead, she slowly got to her feet and simply stood there staring at them.
Or rather, she was only staring at one person.
Right now, parts of the beautiful face on Honey had come off like a shredded piece of paper, revealing a wrinkled complexion beneath.
With that disfigured look, Honey glared directly at Zhao Yunxiao with eyes filled with anger.
It was rage that this person, who was the most junior in the party, someone whom she had thought she could take advantage of, had spoiled even her final attempt at helping to move the grand plan of the Scarlet Leaf Sect to completion.
Unfortunately, once the detonation of one's dantian had been initiated, it could no longer be stopped.
"You want to get information from me? Dream on!" Honey shouted with the same sweet voice that no longer fitted her current ugly complexion. "Watch and see, you clueless buffoons! The sect's grand plan cannot be stopped! It will not take long before the Black Tortoise Sect that you are so proud of is razed under our feet!"
Boom-!
A final pulse of power resulted in essence energy taking on a tangible form as it erupted from within Honey's body, creating a huge explosion that instantly ripped her body into shreds.
The party might have successfully created some distance between them, but it was still not enough to escape the full range of the explosion.
The initial shockwave alone knocked everyone off their spirit horses while dark ominous flames followed, threatening to turn them to ashes.
These flames often represented the cultivator's cultivation so far.
For it to be this dark and ominous, who knew just what kind of dark arts had she been practising?
Regardless, it was obvious that these were no ordinary flames.
"On guard!" Chu Han shouted.
All five of them stood their ground and drove their dantians to the limit, channelling their essence energy to guard themselves.
And with that, the ominous flames mercilessly swept over all five of them.