"This is an aphrodisiac. It also goes by another name, 'love potion.'"
Song Changsheng felt his mind explode. "Love potion?!"
"A third-tier love potion? Are you freaking kidding me?!" He stared at the pill, which emitted a clear aura of spiritual energy, feeling like he'd just been trolled by the heavens.
A dignified third-tier alchemist... making love potions? That was beyond absurd. Song couldn't wrap his head around it. It was absurdity itself showing up at absurdity's house and making itself comfortable. No matter how he looked at it, this outcome made no sense.
"Uh... are you sure?" Song tried to make one last effort to deny reality.
"What, you don't believe me?" Xia Wanyun brought the pill to her nose and gave it a sniff. Her fair cheeks flushed a delicate pink, and Song could even faintly hear... sounds that made one's blood boil.
"More importantly, why would you even recognize something like a love potion?" Song was still struggling to accept that what he'd looted were two highly refined aphrodisiacs.
Xia Wanyun batted her eyes flirtatiously and said in a soft, coquettish voice, "Because that old bastard prepared them for me. How could I not recognize them?"
"For you..." Song looked her up and down, even more doubtful. Did someone need something like that to get to her?
"Of course, it's not your average love potion," she explained. "During the union of yin and yang, whoever takes this pill becomes the other's furnace vessel. Because of my special constitution, that old coot captured me for exactly this reason."
"Would you like to try it, my lord?" she added with a sultry smile, one hand subtly sliding to her waist.
Hearing that, Song finally understood. He had always found it odd that a demonic cultivator would risk everything to abduct an auctioneer. Sure, she had a face that could topple kingdoms, but cultivators at the Purple Mansion stage were known for their ironclad will, unlikely to fall for mere beauty.
But if it was due to a special constitution, then it all made sense. In this world, beyond spirit roots, some cultivators were born with rare physiques. While the odds were low, such gifts did exist.
The song even suspected that Song Qingxi might have a special constitution after all, every spiritual plant she tended grew exceptionally well. Even that plum tree she cared for was close to becoming a ranked spiritual fruit tree.
Don't be fooled by the difference of one word between unranked and ranked; their value was worlds apart.
If Qingxi truly had a rare physique, then their clan might've just struck gold.
Unfortunately, the Song clan lacked the artifacts necessary to test for such things, so Song Changsheng had never been able to confirm his suspicions.
Now that his doubts were cleared, the fact that he'd accidentally looted two love potions didn't seem quite so unbearable.
Choosing to ignore the last part of Xia Wanyun's words, Song calmly explained their current situation. At the end, he added, "Sister Xia, this maze formation is a bit tricky. It'll take some time to break. If you have any means of contacting your elders, now would be a good time to try."
Part of that was to ask for reinforcements. But more importantly, it was to put her at ease.
Though he ignored her flirtatious suggestion, that didn't mean he didn't understand it. She was testing whether he had impure intentions just as she had likely tested Xu Yunhe before.
If he had taken the bait, she might have already made her move and left him suffering.
Song understood where she was coming from. A stunning beauty with a body and face to enchant even Purple Mansion cultivators, coupled with a rare physique, and now severely weakened, of course, she'd feel unsafe being alone with two young men brimming with vitality.
Everything she'd done since waking, her seductive attitude and suggestive words were not out of lust, but to test or manipulate them.
And Song had a strong feeling she had a hidden trump card, maybe not enough to threaten a Purple Mansion expert, but certainly enough to deal with people like him and Xu Yunhe.
That's why he chose this approach to reassure her.
Sure enough, after hearing his words, the tension in Xia Wanyun's body eased slightly. She tossed the pill back to Song, lay gracefully on the stone slab with her legs crossed, adjusted her hair, and said, "I do have a message jade slip. I just don't know if it can pass through this formation."
"Only one way to find out," Song said. "Unless a Purple Mansion expert comes to help, I can't say when I'll be able to break this formation."
Xia Wanyun took out a jade slip, applied some pressure, and crushed it. A wisp of violet light burst forth, shooting southward.
But just as it was about to leave the dense forest, it hit an invisible barrier and bounced back. A thick mist rose around it, and the purple glow began to ricochet chaotically within the bamboo forest before finally dissipating as its energy ran dry.
"So even communication is blocked?" Song frowned. Outside help was off the table, but at least now they knew that the southern direction pointed toward Luoxia City. That was somewhat good news.
At that moment, the sword energy swirling around Xu Yunhe faded away.
He opened his eyes and looked at Xia Wanyun's position. Seeing that she hadn't made any rash moves, he then turned to Song and asked, "Brother Song, have you made any progress?"
"You're awake, Brother Yiqun. Gained any insight?" Song gave him a very meaningful wink.
Xu Yunhe blinked for a second at the name slip-up, then caught the hidden message and immediately smiled. "Yes, I've made some progress."
"Now that Sister Xia is awake, come with me to look around. Maybe we'll find a breakthrough point."
"Gladly," Xu Yunhe replied. He was more than happy to get away; he didn't want to be alone with her any longer.
After the two had walked some distance, Xu Yunhe recounted what had happened after Xia Wanyun woke up. It was almost the same as what Song Changsheng had experienced, which further confirmed his suspicions.
"Brother Song, why did you have me use Fellow Daoist Zhu's name?"
Song Changsheng smiled and pointed at himself. "Not just you, I also used the name of my nephew, Song Qingxing."
Seeing Xu Yunhe's confusion, Song lowered his voice and explained, "That woman is deeply scheming. We have to stay cautious. Zhu's current whereabouts are unknown, so borrowing his name means no one will be able to track us easily. And my nephew? He's so obscure that even within our clan, hardly anyone knows his name, using it poses no risk."
"I see," Xu Yunhe nodded in realization, but then asked with some doubt, "But you weren't even there earlier. How can you be sure she didn't already know my real name?"
Song laughed heartily. "If it were anyone else, you might've told them. But with her? Not a chance. Otherwise, you wouldn't have gone out of your way to claim you'd had some 'insight' just to dodge her."
He understood Xu Yunhe's behavior well, which is why he acted accordingly.
"Brother Song, your foresight is incredible. I honestly have no desire to deal with a woman like her," Xu Yunhe said, clearly uncomfortable.
Song chuckled, then leaned in and whispered, "You've misjudged her this time. Don't be fooled by her seductive behavior, like she'd sleep with any man who asks. That was just her way of testing us. She's not simple at all. Best we keep our distance. Once we escort her back, we'll have nothing more to do with her."
Night fell. The stars twinkled, and the moon drifted in and out of thin clouds. Under the night sky, the Ten Thousand Mountains, which should have been peaceful, began to stir with unrest. Roars of beasts echoed through the air, wave after wave, without end.
Tonight was different from usual; there were now many "outsiders" roaming the forest. Some of them inadvertently trespassed into beast territories, triggering fierce battles.
Unlike the often territorial and divided native beasts, these outsiders had a sense of shared purpose. They moved in groups, sweeping through the outer regions and wiping out large numbers of the native spirit beasts.
However, some powerful beast leaders had begun to sense the threat and were rallying their underlings to hunt down these intruding human cultivators.
Conflict erupted all across the forest. This night in the Ten Thousand Mountains would be a sleepless one.
Elsewhere, a living puppet that had been hiding for a long time was finally discovered, but not by bounty hunters from the human clans. Instead, it was found by a highly territorial twin-tailed scorpion.
Though it managed to kill the scorpion, it drew the attention of even more beasts. After a relentless chase, it finally escaped, but not without paying a heavy price. It fled into a bamboo forest...
The next morning, Song Changsheng, who had remained sleepless through the night, sat cross-legged atop a large stone in the bamboo forest. His divine sense was extended, surveying every inch of the land around him. He remained motionless, focused.
Xu Yunhe stood nearby, keeping watch to prevent any wild beasts from disturbing him.
Suddenly, Song opened his eyes and declared loudly, "I've figured it out!"
"You have a solution?" Xu Yunhe asked excitedly. He didn't want to be stuck here forever.
"I was overcomplicating things," Song said, excitement in his voice. "This naturally-formed formation may be perfectly integrated with the surrounding terrain, but it only uses simple formation patterns, no formation flags, and no formation base.
"Its continued operation depends entirely on a ley line beneath us that's constantly supplying it with spiritual energy. If we cut off that ley line, the maze will collapse on its own!"
"Tell me what to do, I'll help however I can," Xu Yunhe responded quickly.
"It's not difficult. I've already narrowed down the ley line's location. Once I pinpoint it, we'll strike together. Let's go"
Before he could finish his sentence, Song's expression changed. He looked off into the distance.
He had "sensed" a familiar aura coming from the direction where Xia Wanyun had been left.
"This is bad. That living puppet just appeared. Sister Xia is in danger!"
"What? It was hiding here all along?" Xu Yunhe was shocked.
"Probably not. Otherwise, we would've noticed it yesterday. It must've stumbled in by accident just like we did."
"We need to get back there now!"
...
"Who… are you?"
Within the bamboo grove, countless stalks had been snapped and flattened.
Amid the devastation, Xia Wanyun leaned weakly against a large stone. Blood trickled from the corner of her lips, dripping onto the ground. Her clothing was in disarray, and she looked utterly disheveled. But even though she had always prided herself on her appearance, she no longer had the strength to wipe the blood away. She could only watch helplessly as the one-armed puppet drew closer step by step.
She had been meditating to dissolve the restriction that Dong Tianxie had planted within her body, and she was just about to succeed when this one-armed puppet suddenly appeared and seriously injured her.
What shocked her wasn't the ambush itself, but the puppet. She knew it all too well. It was the very one she had personally auctioned off, yet here it was, appearing in front of her again.
With her experience, it wasn't hard to tell that this puppet possessed intelligence. What baffled her was how it had slipped through the strict inspections of the auction house, which included Purple Mansion-level cultivators. How had it hidden this from them?
Of course, the puppet wasn't going to give her any answers. Each of its approaching steps was like the tolling of a death knell.
Xia Wanyun closed her eyes in despair. The hidden trump cards she had were useless against this puppet. At this moment, she had no strength to resist.
"Is this where I die…"
Swish!
Just then, a sword flew in from the distance, trailing powerful sword qi, and slammed into the puppet's fist with the sound of clashing metal.
Xia Wanyun's lashes trembled as she slowly opened her eyes. What she saw was a figure dressed in white, radiant as snow, his entire body wreathed in sword light, locked in fierce combat with the puppet.
Moments later, "Song Qingxing" arrived, wielding a long spear, and joined the fray…
After that, she couldn't see anything. Her consciousness began to blur, and finally slipped into utter darkness…
"Brother Song, restrain it for me!"
Xu Yunhe withdrew gracefully from the battle, raised his sword, and shouted.
Song Changsheng understood immediately. He used Floating Light and Gliding Shadow to dodge the puppet's assault, and summoned his yin and yang spiritual energy, which formed into two chains that shot toward the puppet, attempting to bind it.
But despite its serious injuries, the puppet's strength remained formidable. In an instant, it shattered the yin-yang chains and even had enough power left to counterattack.
With no other choice, Song Changsheng was forced to rejoin the fight. But the puppet's body was so tough and rigid that his attacks barely left a scratch. After exchanging dozens of blows, all he had managed was a few surface cuts.
In contrast, though the puppet fought unarmed, each of its strikes was overwhelming. Song could barely hold on, clearly disadvantaged by his lower cultivation level.
"Brother Yunhe, its puppet body is incredibly tough. Regular attacks won't work; we need to target its soul. Create an opening for me!"
While struggling to hold off the puppet's relentless assault, Song Changsheng secretly sent a voice transmission to Xu Yunhe.
Although Xu Yunhe had yet to rejoin the battle, the sword in his hand had already gathered an immense amount of energy, his strongest technique, equivalent to the full-force strike of a late Foundation Establishment cultivator!
After receiving the transmission, he seized the brief window when the puppet was fully focused on attacking Song Changsheng and struck.
In that instant, it was as if the world itself was swallowed in sword light. The dense bamboo forest around them was instantly leveled.
Sensing mortal danger, the puppet immediately abandoned Song Changsheng and threw all its strength into defense.
And in that very moment, the sword light clashed with the puppet
"Gourd, sever the soul!"
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