At Fire Refining Sect, located just sixty miles from Dragon Prison Mountain, Zhan Tianxiang, who had fled in disgrace the previous night, only returned to his cave abode at the hour of Shen (3 PM to 5 PM).
The night before, he had spent hours chopping wood in the dense forest along the mountain road outside Fuguang City. Without using any magic, he had painstakingly made a sturdy wooden bed by hand, intending to offer it as compensation to Jian Xiaolou. On the way back, he rehearsed a series of excuses. Upon discovering that Jian Xiaolou was not at home, he felt as if he had narrowly escaped a calamity.
However, upon seeing the disorderly and filthy state of the cave, he couldn't help but frown repeatedly. Rolling up his sleeves, he began to tidy up.
In his eyes, Jian Xiaolou's greatest flaw was her extreme laziness. Even if the cave was dirty enough to attract maggots, she wouldn't cast a simple cleansing spell.
This accusation was entirely unfair to Jian Xiaolou.
From her perspective, Zhan Tianxiang was a severe neat freak. No matter how clean she kept the cave, he would always find a plethora of issues to criticize. Since she was bound to be scolded either way, she had long given up trying.
After tidying up, Zhan Tianxiang casually picked some freshly harvested spiritual fruits to feed Xiao Hei.
Xiao Hei perched lazily on the wooden pole, eyes half-closed in a doze. Yet it instinctively opened its beak to snap up the fruit, spitting out the seeds with remarkable accuracy into Zhan Tianxiang's hand. It dared not miss, for if the seeds fell onto the ground, it would surely be reprimanded.
Satisfied after eating, Xiao Hei was about to doze off again when its eyes abruptly snapped open.
It spun around, staring toward the direction of Dragon Prison Mountain.
With a sudden burst, it took off, flapping its wings frantically toward the cave window. The protective barrier around the cave was not so easily bypassed, especially by a mere mundane bird, and it was soon repelled by an invisible force, tumbling head over heels onto the immaculate floor.
Dazed, it rolled a few times before staggering upright, shaking its head and flapping its wings as it circled anxiously around Zhan Tianxiang.
"What's wrong?" Zhan Tianxiang asked, frowning. He had been with Xiao Hei long enough to recognize its unusual agitation.
Xiao Hei's long neck wobbled back and forth as it opened and closed its beak, managing only dry, croaky sounds. Growing increasingly frantic, it flailed its wings and struck Zhan Tianxiang, then flew back to crash into the barrier once more.
An ominous feeling crept into Zhan Tianxiang's heart. Something had probably happened to Jian Xiaolou.
Alarmed, he quickly performed a spell to release the barrier.
Xiao Hei took off in a frenzy, flying desperately toward Dragon Prison Mountain.
From where they stood, they could see the distant, bluish silhouette of the mountain range. Zhan Tianxiang was now certain that Jian Xiaolou must have encountered danger there. His eyes darkened as he prepared to take flight with Xiao Hei. Yet, within the sect's grounds and in his current state of Qi Refinement, he couldn't fly.
He had no choice but to use a Thousand-Mile Sprint Talisman, racing after Xiao Hei.
At Dragon Prison Mountain.
Yuan Feiyu, carrying the still-feigning-unconscious Jian Xiaolou, followed behind Yu Xinrong, heading step by step toward the secret path she had described.
If not for Yu Xinrong's guidance, it would have been nearly impossible to find such a desolate and secluded gorge on the mountain's outskirts.
"See that cave entrance up ahead?" Yu Xinrong stopped at the gorge, pointing to a small cave opening about a meter high on the mountain wall. "That's a tunnel carved through the mountain. Walk straight in, and you'll reach the mountain's interior. But we can't go any further; otherwise, that Tier Three demonic beast will sense our presence. We'll leave Junior Sister Jian here to lure it out, and then we'll circle around the gorge and sneak in from the side."
"Senior Sister Yu," Gao Zhan had been hesitant throughout the journey. "I've heard that Dragon Prison Mountain was where the white dragon from the Crimson Firmament Cataclysm was buried. The mountain is crawling with high-tier demonic beasts. Are we really…"
"What are you afraid of? The strongest beasts around here are just Tier Two and are few in number. Besides, I have a map showing the lairs of all the beasts in the area." Yu Xinrong waved him off impatiently. "Rumors of dragon burial sites like this are a dime a dozen across the Crimson Firmament Continent, and Dragon Prison Mountain was long proven by some powerful figures not to be a dragon vein. Think about it: if it really were the burial site of a dragon, wouldn't there be high-tier beasts everywhere after ten thousand years?"
Gao Zhan was speechless.
Yuan Feiyu, with the beauty in his arms, was far too eager to listen to legends. "Senior Sister Yu, give me a moment."
Yu Xinrong cast him a disdainful glance. "Hurry up."
Back at the ant queen's lair, he had been too eager to deal with Jian Xiaolou on the spot. Unfortunately, a swarm of golden-armored ants, alarmed by the ant queen's distress, had returned in a frenzy, ruining his plans.
Upon reflection, he realized that it wouldn't have been an ideal location anyway. If a fellow disciple had stumbled upon them, it would have caused unnecessary trouble.
Yuan Feiyu selected a nearby cave, leaping up lightly with a body-lightening spell and carrying Jian Xiaolou with him onto a rocky ledge.
Gao Zhan watched him go, his mouth opening as if to speak, but Yu Xinrong interrupted. "Junior Brother Gao, we've come this far already. Harden your heart a bit more. In this world of the Eastern Immortal Three Continents, you won't survive without a cold heart."
Gao Zhan closed his eyes briefly, a sense of powerlessness washing over him.
Inside the cave, Yuan Feiyu placed a restrictive barrier and callously tossed Jian Xiaolou onto the ground. As he began to shed his clothes, a sinister smile spread across his lips. "Junior Sister Jian, I know you're awake. Why not say something to me?"
"What could I possibly say to a beast like you?!" Jian Xiaolou knew she couldn't hide any longer. She opened her eyes, glaring at him with fury. "Yuan Feiyu, if you stop now, I can guarantee you'll live. Otherwise, I swear by the heavens that I will ensure none of you three have a burial place!"
"Has anyone ever told you that you're especially adorable when you're angry?"
Yuan Feiyu paid no mind to her threats. He leaned down slightly, hooking a finger under her chin with a sneer.
Although she appeared unremarkable outwardly, Jian Xiaolou's body was as stiff as iron, with her bones and meridians hardened from her murderous intent. The more intense her desire to kill, the more her body stiffened.
The only thing she could move was her head. In a fit of rage and humiliation, she bit down hard on Yuan Feiyu's hand.
He flinched from the pain but let her bite, growing more aroused as blood dripped from his wound. He didn't believe she could do anything beyond venting her frustration. He had seen Yu Xinrong's palm strike land, and it was already a miracle that Jian Xiaolou hadn't died instantly.
With a slap, he sent her sprawling before pouncing on her again, his large hand yanking at her belt. Like a hunter gripping a snake by its seven-inch mark, he laughed savagely. "You should thank me for letting you experience being a woman before you die!"
"Thank your ancestors!" Jian Xiaolou's fury reached its peak. Desperately, she forced her rigid meridians to surge with spiritual energy, using her hardened body as a weapon to slam into Yuan Feiyu, sending him crashing into the stone wall.
Accelerating the flow of spiritual energy slightly reduced her stiffness. Trembling, she clung to the cave wall, forcing herself to keep opening and closing her qi ocean, even at the risk of spiritual core collapse, to stave off the petrification from her killing intent.
Yuan Feiyu, who was unprotected by spiritual energy and stripped of his robe, was thrown into disarray. At first stunned, he roared, "You damned girl, I underestimated you!"
Even as he said so, he still didn't regard Jian Xiaolou as a threat. Their disparity in cultivation was significant, and he blamed only his own carelessness. Yet as he charged at her again, he felt an odd sensation, as if something foreign had invaded his body.
Perplexed, he probed with his spiritual sense and saw tiny red sparks dancing through his blood vessels.
His blood began to boil—not with excitement, but with mounting terror.
"What poison did you use on me, you bitch?!"
"Poison?" Jian Xiaolou was equally puzzled. She had bitten him out of rage, but she hadn't used any poison. Besides, poisoning a cultivator wasn't that simple.
"What the hell did you do?!" Yuan Feiyu's eyes turned blood-red as he clawed at his skin, writhing on the ground. Dark veins bulged