Li Xun let out a soft sound of admiration and glanced around the tent. The furnishings were sparse, leaving the space looking empty. Clearly, the owner hadn't moved in yet, and most of the decorations still hadn't been brought over.
But the few pieces that were there were so lavish it was almost unbelievable.
As he looked around, Li Xun seemed to see in his mind's eye a graceful, beautiful young woman, reclining sideways on a couch with her elbow propped up, drifting into dreams amidst the curling fragrance of incense.
His chest warmed. To think he could feel such anticipation for the Heart-Consuming Concubine whom he had never even met.
Still, what mattered most right now was the woman in his arms, the Flayer of Yin Calamity.
Li Xun smiled faintly. He took the incense Shui Die Lan had prepared and placed them into the censer. A pale green smoke rose, thinned quickly, and spread into the tent, seeping into the air with a delicate fragrance.
"Spirit-Killing Incense… it really is Spirit-Killing Incense."
Flayer of Yin murmured in his arms. Her strength was failing, and her words were so slurred that if Li Xun hadn't been sharp-eared, he wouldn't have caught them.
"Spirit-Killing Incense?" Li Xun's heart stirred. He leaned close, lips brushing her soft, round ear, and whispered, "Tell me, is this something rare?"
Perhaps she had suffered too much to think of resisting. Though her voice was weak, she still answered honestly, "It's not rare. But only those who've reached a certain level in the art of Gu, who can command the 'Ten Thousand Living Fires,' are able to refine it…"
"Oh… excellent." Having uncovered another of Shui Die Lan's secrets, Li Xun's mood lifted, and his touch grew much gentler. Smiling at Flayer of Yin, he helped her softly to her feet on the carpet.
But her body was so weak and trembling that she couldn't even stand on her own. With a faint groan, she started to collapse.
Li Xun moved to catch her in his arms, but unexpectedly, she forced up an arm to push him aside. Because of that, she inevitably fell to the ground. The vermilion velvet carpet proved its worth, absorbing the impact in silence.
She lay on her side. She tried to prop herself up on one elbow, only to fall again, the effort draining the last of her strength. Now all she could do was lie there, breathing in shallow gasps. The alluring curves of her body, rising and falling with each labored breath.
Looking down at the scene, Li Xun felt as though fire was ready to burst from deep inside him.
Suddenly, an outer robe drifted into Flayer of Yin's vision. Her whole body trembled. Lifting her head, she saw Li Xun tearing open his underclothes, baring his chest. Her face, flushed red from weakness, turned pale in an instant.
She shrank back slightly, then let out a soft cry. By that moment, her skirt had already been lifted, her long legs pressed apart and raised against his waist. Summoning strength from nowhere, she twisted her body and cried out, "Hundred Ghosts, spare my life!"
Her husky, trembling voice reached Li Xun's ears, but instead of stirring any mercy in him, it made his eyes blaze crimson in an instant.
A smirk spread across Li Xun's face. Then, he tore away the last shred of clothing covering her lower body. She cried out in misery once more, but he remained unmoved. He knew it might all be part of her exquisite seduction techniques, but what did he have to fear?
The arrogance of dominance consumed his mind. Mimicking her tone, he laughed loudly. "Don't worry, this Daoist won't let you die."
No sooner had he spoken than sword struck home.
Once again, Flayer of Yin was thrown down from the surging waves she had just risen upon. Her body trembling uncontrollably, and the trembling gave her fading voice a strange rhythm.
Tears, sweat, and even the blood seeping from her tender torn skin all mingled together, releasing a unique, intoxicating scent.
Under the manipulation of Li Xun's hands, she was shifted into another position, making it clear that the next round of torment was about to begin. With what little strength she had left, she feebly covered the back of his hand with hers. Her eyes, swollen from crying, pleaded desperately with his amused face as she shook her head again and again.
"Master Hundred Ghosts, please spare me! I'll serve you properly in the future, I promise… but today… I truly can't take any more!"
"How could that be?" Li Xun brushed her hand aside with ease and smiled. "Fairy Yin, your lower dantian is still steady, and your cultivation remains intact. I doubt you've lost even the slightest bit. To claim otherwise now, are you taking me for a fool?"
He thrust forward again. A violent shock shot up from Flayer Yin's lower abdomen, and her pale face twisted in despair. Her head was shaking slowly, sweat-soaked strands of hair clinging to her forehead. Only a few loose threads swaying gently.
Reading her expression, Li Xun knew he had finally loosened her lower dantain. With a triumphant laugh, he activated his dual cultivation technique, unleashing a tremendous, crushing suction.
Flayer of Yin's body suddenly went rigid, arching taut like a drawn bowstring. Her slender toes curled inward desperately. Then, from her lips erupted a sharp, needle-like cry.
At this moment, her Yin Gate opened wide, and the precious true breath she had desperately guarded surged out like a flood released from a dam.
Amid her desperate screams, Li Xun felt his injuries healing at an astonishing rate. The Yin fire within him raged like a greedy beast, devouring the heavenly bounty raining down upon it.
This feeling of absolute control, paired with overwhelming pleasure, was utterly intoxicating.
As if he had completely forgotten his promise to spare her life, Li Xun growled lowly and initiated a second, even more voracious drain.
The sharp, piercing cry sank low again, then rose and fell in turns, like a song with shifting notes, hitting just the right spot to stir Li Xun's every nerve.
He burst out in wild laughter, feeling there could be no greater joy in this life.
Suddenly, Flayer of Yin let out a scream louder than any before, shrill like the death cry of a swan, the sound crashing and echoing through the small space within the peach-colored tent.
In that cry, Li Xun too felt a pleasure far stronger than anything he had experienced before. His limbs and bones shook violently, his meridians and qi roaring as if shaken to their core.
The next instant, Flayer of Yin's long legs snapped tight around Li Xun's waist, her arms coiling around his neck like serpents, while her cry leapt suddenly to another pitch, following a specific rhythm.
It was as if both man and woman had reached the very peak of fleshly desire, the hidden qi mechanisms within them resonating at once. Then, in the next moment, Flayer of Yin's voice cut off sharply.
Li Xun's hand chopped lightly at her throat, pinching her windpipe in an instant. The high, trembling sound rebounded into her fragile body, even as he withdrew his strike and turned his hand into an iron grip that clamped firmly around her slender neck.
At last, true fear flashed in Flayer of Yin's bright eyes. Blood welled from the corners of her lips as she tried to speak, but Li Xun's hand stayed locked around her throat, hard as iron, unyielding.
Fear gripped her, yet she still couldn't make sense of it. Wasn't everything going just as planned a moment ago? Hundred Ghost was about to fall neatly into her trap, so how had he suddenly snapped awake?
What Flayer of Yin didn't know was that Li Xun's back was already drenched in a sheen of cold sweat. It wasn't that he hadn't been affected. Rather, the move she had just used struck him like a red-hot steel needle driven straight into his skull.
The Four Divine Tunes of Miaohua. That was what she had played.
There was no way Li Xun could fail to recognize it.
Ever since the day he had leapt from Zuowang Peak, he had devoted half his life to studying the Miaohua Sect, Jade Wanderer, Demon Phoenix, and others like them.
The four great techniques of the Miaohua Sect—Piercing Heart, Shaping Form, Bewildering Spirit, and Profound Mystery—were the only secret techniques recorded in the sect's scriptures. And he focused all his efforts on analyzing and breaking them.
The irony, of course, was that Gu Yin and the others never knew he had overheard every word of their secret plots. They still regarded him as a pawn easily manipulated, tossing him favors now and then over the past sixty years.
In such circumstances, it had been hardly difficult for him to grasp at least the surface layers of the Miaohua Sect's secret technique.
By now, Li Xun's sensitivity to the techniques of the Miaohua Sect was almost no less than to the teachings of the two sects he belonged to himself. He still didn't know why Flayer of Yin was able to wield such a secret technique, or how she had fused it so seamlessly with her charm technique, but at this very moment he truly held her life in his hands.
He still pressed against her, their bodies in the most intimate position, yet her body tensed like a drawn bow from suffocation and fear. You could even hear the crack of her own bones.
Just then, a faint smile appeared on Li Xun's face. With that smile, he spoke softly.
"Bewildering Spirit Song?"
Flayer of Yin's pupils tightened. That reaction alone told him he was right.
Li Xun had already returned to the calm, easy manner he had shown when first stepping into the tent. With a note of appreciation, he said, "The Supreme Bliss Technique paired with the Bewitching Spirit Song… clever. Very clever. But what I can't understand is this: how did the Miaohua Sect's Four Divine Tunes end up as a technique of your Bliss Sect?"
He loosened his grip just enough to let her answer.
By now, the flush of orgasm on her face had completely faded, leaving her pale to the point of translucence. And yet, even in that deathly pallor, there lingered a beauty both fragile and morbid.
Yet she only pressed her lips together in stubborn silence. Looking at her now, who would believe that just moments ago she had been writhing beneath him, moaning and weeping for mercy?
Li Xun studied her vivid expression and laughed again. Still smiling, he lowered himself onto her once more.
Their bodies pressed close. This time, Li Xun had already sent his true breath ahead, sealing one of the most hidden meridians she had used before. Finding that insufficient, his hand roamed across her delicate body, following the same train of thought, until he uncovered another secret meridian.
With two of her sect's concealed meridians now sealed, true despair finally showed on Flayer of Yin's face. And unlike the act she had put on when he had first entered the tent, this time it was all too real.
Li Xun let out a booming laugh. Now, at last, the harvesting and replenishment technique truly took effect. It wasn't the overwhelming flood he had just experienced within her illusory charms, but a steady surge, like a mountain stream flowing into him, pure and inexhaustible.
Flayer of Yin's beautiful eyes rolled back, her snow-pale skin shuddering uncontrollably. For a woman like her, who lived by the art of drawing out a man's yang, the link between her body and the foreign true breath was naturally deepened, so her dependence on it was all the greater.
With every thread of true breath Li Xun would drain away, he'd stripped from her a strand of life itself... until nothing remained, and she met her end.
By now she had no need to feign anything. Her eyes were filled with raw pleading, and though she tried several times to speak, Li Xun's steady rhythm of drawing in and pulling away all but shook her very soul loose, draining her of her three treasures. How could she possibly find the breath to beg for mercy?
Li Xun saw her expression clearly, but he paid it no mind. He was using her yin essence to heal his own wounds, and at such a critical juncture he had no attention to spare.
That relentless draining went on for a full half of an hour. And even though it was carried out in a steady flow, Flayer of Yin still fainted three or four times.
The last time she opened her eyes, she couldn't even lift a single finger.
Looking at her flushed cheeks, Li Xun silently praised the uniqueness of the Bliss Sect's methods. Any ordinary female cultivator would have been drained of all radiance long before, yet Flayer of Yin, under such depletion, only grew more alluring.
At last their eyes met, and she finally seized the chance to speak. As soon as she opened her mouth, tears spilled from the corners of her eyes.
"Daoist master, have mercy… spare me… this humble one, your servant, will repay you with her very life!"
Li Xun chuckled. "Fair words, Fairy Yin. But tell me. What is it that I'm doing right now?"
Her lips trembled. "Whatever Daoist master asks, this servant will hold nothing back."
"Smart! Knowing when to advance and when to retreat, that's naturally the best way. But after being tricked by you a few times, I can't help but think there's still some fluff in those words of yours." Li Xun lightly patted her cheek and chuckled. "Just wait. Let me squeeze that fluff out first."
Before Flayer of Yin could beg for mercy, his hand slipped around her slender neck like a snake. He pressed gently at a certain point on her spine, then released. In the next instant, the color drained from her face, and from her feet upward, an unstoppable trembling began to overtake her body.
"Before you answer my question, take a moment to experience what the consequences might be."
Smiling, Li Xun closed his eyes and focused on mending his own injuries.
When he finally allowed Flayer of Yin to speak again, the moment she opened her mouth she broke down sobbing uncontrollably. At last she understood: the man pressing down on her wasn't human at all, but a demon in human skin. Otherwise, how could he possess such terrifying methods of torment?
Li Xun understood perfectly what she was feeling. Anyone subjected to the "Lotus Eight Secrets" would be reduced to the same state. Perhaps Flayer of Yin should even count herself lucky. The one pressing down on her now was merely Hundred Ghosts, who had only a superficial grasp of the technique, and not the formidable Yin Wanderer, who had once roamed unhindered across the Eight Directions.
As she trembled, her breasts quivering with every sob, Li Xun savored the exquisite pleasure of holding another's heart and will entirely in his grasp.
Just as Flayer of Yin's emotions were about to spill over, Li Xun cut in at the perfect moment, seizing control of her thoughts. "Tell me, how did the Bewildering Spirit Song end up in your hands?"
Forced to choke back her sobs, Flayer of Yin could only keep sniffling. She didn't even dare to delay. The moment she realized she was allowed to speak, she began haltingly.
"The Bewildering Spirit Song isn't mine alone. The sect master used the 'Soul-Draining Essence-Corroding Technique' to trade for it with Gu Yin."
"Trade?" Li Xun let out a sharp laugh. "What, is Gu Yin an idiot? Or is the Heart-Consuming Concubine herself a fool? How could anyone bargain away a sect's secret technique?"
Hearing such scornful words, Flayer of Yin didn't even dare lift her head. In a timid whisper she said, "Master, please see clearly. Normally it would be impossible. But Gu Yin offered terms the sect master couldn't refuse. She gave herself to the sect master for three nights."
"What!" Li Xun blurted, then quickly realized he'd lost composure. He snapped his mouth shut, but a hard swallow slipped out anyway, leaving his voice strangely hoarse. "Explain. Speak clearly."
"That was already before the Forty-Nine Tribulations," Flayer of Yin said, her breathing now much steadier. And since she'd started, she could no longer hold anything back.
"That was fourteen years before the Forty-Nine Tribulations. By then, the sect master had already made all the preparations for crossing the calamity. With nothing left to occupy her days, she spent her time amusing herself with a few of us close sisters. But on the tenth of the eleventh month… yes, I remember clearly. That was the day Tun Yang completed refining the 'Linked Silken Threads.' On that very day, Gu Yin suddenly sent a personal invitation, asking the sect master to meet her at Northland's Milang Lake.
"You should know the sect master's temperament, Daoist master. Back then she had sworn a vow: one day she would pursue supreme bliss together with the most extraordinary female cultivator in the world. And Gu Yin was likely the most fitting candidate.
"For over a hundred years, the sect master had tried to draw near to her, but all without the slightest progress. This time, however, Gu Yin took the initiative and invited her. Naturally, the sect master was overjoyed.
"She said, 'Gu Yin is gentle on the surface but firm within. Her pride is far too high for such a sudden change of heart. She must be facing some desperate trial. And this… this is my chance to fulfill my vow.' So she accepted the invitation and went. She didn't return until the first day of the twelfth month.
"When she came back, her face was glowing, brimming with satisfaction. But when we sisters tried probing her, she only sighed and said: 'It was worth it! Three nights at the lake. There will never be another in this lifetime!'
"And then, almost in the same breath, she summoned the Five Venoms, the Seven Beauties, the Thirteen Heroes, and the rest of us from the Second Tribulation. She told us she had traded away the sect's 'Soul-Draining Essence-Corroding Technique' to the Miaohua Sect. She handed us this 'Bewitching Spirit Song' to study instead. Afterward, she went straight into the Ancestral Hall and drove ten 'Demonic Lust-Piercing Needles' into her own body in penance, to beg the ancestors' forgiveness."
Hearing this, Li Xun was faintly moved.
He had heard of the "Demonic Lust-Piercing Needles." It was said that once they pierced the body, they pinned down the soul itself. Each day the victim's spirit would be refined by the lusts of the Three Realms, their desires swelling without end, never to be fulfilled. In the end, their mind would be drowned in craving, until madness consumed them and they died.
For Heart-Consuming Concubine to make an account before the ancestors, she had driven ten of those needles into herself all at once. Whatever the result, that kind of daring and resolve alone was enough to prove her worthy of being sect master.
Flayer of Yin's face showed a flicker of fear, clearly recalling what she had witnessed back then.
"The sect master spent too much energy refining ten demonic needles. During the Forty-Nine Tribulations, she nearly fell to an invading demon and suffered grievous damage to her vital qi. If not for Sect Master Luomoshi offering her the 'Heart-Locking Seal,' she might not have survived at all.
"And yet, even so, whenever she spoke of Milang Lake, her spirits would soar, her words full of delight. She never once expressed regret. But she never told us servants the details of those three days and nights…"
Li Xun understood perfectly. At Milang Lake, Heart-Consuming Concubine had undoubtedly fulfilled her long-held desire, entwining herself with Gu Yin in a storm that overturned heaven and earth. No wonder she had sighed, "It was worth it."
To be honest, setting aside those cursed needles, if Gu Yin had offered him three nights in exchange for any one of his cultivation techniques, Li Xun thought it might truly be worth considering.
In fact, during those sixty years, the thought had come to him more than once. And each time, he had indulged the fantasy with the vilest curses and the most depraved imaginings, just to satisfy it.
But something this real and this close, it was the first time. Li Xun felt his desire rising again, and the first to sense it was Flayer of Yin beneath him.
Even though this enchantress had already been frightened into submission, she still forced a smile, using every ounce of her seductive arts to soothe Li Xun's hunger. She was no stranger to desire; how could she not understand what had suddenly stirred him?
Twisting her body, she whispered in a syrupy voice, "This servant has seen Gu Yin before. Just from her face, I could tell she was the kind who prided herself above everyone else. Who would have thought she had such a trick hidden away? Three nights of enchantment, music that melts the soul; tell me, who on earth could resist that? And you, Daoist, what about you?"
She let out a tinkling laugh. Her words carried a hint of boldness now, but Li Xun was in no state to care.
She giggled and moaned, biting lightly at his shoulder as his thrusts grew harder. Finally, with a cry, she pressed her lips to his ear and murmured, "What a pity. Even if the daoist master gets his wish, you'll never taste the very first bite. That silken robe, still stained with Gu Yin's blood, and her precious 'Jade Horn Mister,' those are the sect master's most treasured prizes..."
Li Xun's eyes flew open. A rough, hoarse laugh welled up from his throat at the same moment Flayer of Yin let out a sharp cry of release. The two of them collapsed together in a tangled heap, their bodies spent, unable to rise again.
Worth it…
Half-dazed, Li Xun thought he heard the Heart-Consuming Concubine sigh with lingering pleasure. The sound came and went, near and far, tugging at his heart and stirring up restless waves within him.
Yes, he felt deeply unsettled. And yet, from that very unease came a thrill unlike anything he had ever known.
But why was it that, once the climax faded, only wave after wave of cold emptiness remained in his chest?
Gu Yin's delicate, peerless face flickered in and out of his mind. Then suddenly, a flash of light burst through his thoughts, and with it came a chill that cut even deeper.
Of course. With Gu Yin's temperament, what would she trade her chastity for? Just the 'Soul-Draining Essence-Corroding Technique'? No. That's not it! She must have used this technique for something else. Something a hundred times more important than either that technique or even her own purity!
But what could it be?
Flayer of Yin curled in his arms like a cat eager to please its master, murmuring softly, her every gesture dripping with allure. Yet what had just stoked his raging desire now had no effect on him at all. His expression hardened. He pressed his fingers lightly against the side of her neck, a faint surge of energy rising and falling at his fingertips, sharp with killing intent.
Watching her face gradually turn pale, he gave a satisfied smile. "Speak. Why did you come here?"