"She wouldn't dare do anything to me?"
Pei Xianqiao hugged herself tightly, her body trembling.
Back in Dongzelin, she had nearly been split in half by Yao Ranran's Azure Lotus strike!
The reason she survived that day wasn't because Yao Ranran dared not touch her, but because Yao Ranran had never even thought of sparing her a strike in the first place…
Pei Xianqiao's brows knotted, her face full of anguish. "You don't understand. You don't understand—Yao Ranran is no longer the same Yao Ranran!"
Li Luoqi placed his hand lightly on her shoulders in a gesture of reassurance. "This sovereign understands. Be at ease. Everything is within my control."
Pei Xianqiao lifted her head in confusion, staring at how close his body leaned toward hers. In the next instant, she bolted like a startled fawn.
"You must leave here. Wuxiang Sect will never tolerate a demon clan!" She shoved Li Luoqi aside and fled back toward Yiyu Hall without waiting to hear anything more.
Li Luoqi, however, only gazed after her retreating, bashful figure, the corner of his lips curling upward in delight. "So, Yao Ranran's ploy of 'playing hard to get' truly worked!"
When he heard that Shen Yuefu had been injured by Yao Ranran, he had abandoned all affairs of the Eastern Wilderness, rushing here without hesitation.
On the way, he tried repeatedly to reach Yao Ranran through the Demon Marrow, but there was no response at all.
For a moment, he almost thought Yao Ranran had fled in guilt. It wasn't until he saw Pei Xianqiao cast out of Yiyu Hall by Shen Yuefu that he realized Yao Ranran had successfully carried out the mission he had ordered!
As for her silence since then, he naturally assumed she must have been gravely wounded while scheming against Shen Yuefu, and was now hiding somewhere in seclusion to recover.
"This Shen Yuefu is strange indeed. In the past, Yao Ranran did everything to please him, yet he never once looked her way. He even punished her without mercy, sending her to the Eastern Wilderness and scattering her cultivation.
But now, when she turns cold, ignores him, even plots against his very life, he instead clings to her memory. Could it be the man has some sort of masochistic inclination?"
Li Luoqi chuckled under his breath, his lips curving into a wicked smile. With a light tap of his toes, he transformed into a swirl of black mist and slipped into Yiyu Hall.
Inside, Shen Yuefu had left his bed of Cold jade Ice and now stood by the window, holding a bright red mushroom.
He gazed at it silently for a long while before brushing aside the rice paper on the desk. Hidden beneath was a sketch of a girl's delicate profile. Taking up his brush, he carefully traced her features into being. Before long, the porcelain-like face of Yao Ranran appeared vividly on the page.
"Yao… Ran… Ran!" Shen Yuefu pronounced each word, his voice low and trembling with force.
Above, Li Luoqi's black mist drifted to the beams of the hall, where he peered down. In Shen Yuefu's voice, he caught hints of anger, hatred, and bitter unwillingness.
But love? There was none at all.
Just as this thought formed, there came a sharp crack. Shen Yuefu suddenly swept his hand across the table, shattering both desk and painting into fine powder.
"Yao Ranran, I will find you!"
His eyes reflected the snow and ice outside the window, his aura sharp and murderous. The chill in his words was enough to raise gooseflesh across the skin.
Li Luoqi bared his teeth in a grimace.
Was this… his way of showing affection toward Yao Ranran?
It seemed more like he wanted to find her only to kill her.
Still, Shen Yuefu had always been a man of icy heart and cold face. Li Luoqi never expected him to speak tender words. In the end, Yao Ranran's gambit had been the right move. When Shen Yuefu truly fell for her, that would be the moment Li Luoqi claimed Pei Xianqiao as his own.
And he could hardly wait.
…
"Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!"
"Who is thinking of me so much behind my back?"
Yao Ranran rubbed her nose after a string of sneezes. Just then, she spotted a familiar rainbow light streaking through the sky.
"Isn't that Nie Rong's transmission talisman?"
She caught it in her hand. From within came a rough, abrupt voice.
"Yao Ranran, your disciple and Physician Zhou are in my grasp. If you don't want them to die, come to Yunwen Inn at once!"
As the rainbow light faded from her palm, Yao Ranran muttered, "From Central Continent? That talisman must have been flying for a long time already…"
"Could it be… Nie Rong and Physician Zhou have already been killed?!"
Her eyes widened in horror, and she hurried back to Biluo Sect.
Seeing Zhou Lili's soul lamp burning steady, she finally exhaled in relief.
"Good. She's alive. If she's fine, then Nie Rong must be safe as well."
Zhou Shengqian, however, looked tense. "Fairy Ranran, did something happen to Lili in Central Continent?"
Yao Ranran took in his anxious expression and quickly soothed him. "Sect master Zhou, your daughter is safe. She's together with Nie Rong."
At Nie Rong's name, Zhou Shengqian's shoulders eased. With a sigh, he said, "To think that swindler—ah, I mean, Senior Nie—was truly an elder of Wuxiang Sect. With him at Li Li's side, I can rest easy."
Yao Ranran nodded.
She hadn't lied, after all. The two of them had indeed been kidnapped together. The fact that neither had died yet only proved that whether she went to the meeting or not, they would survive for now.
"Sect master Zhou, are you planning to go into seclusion to form your core tonight?"
Zhou Shengqian steadied himself, his expression solemn. "Yes, Fairy Ranran. With the chaos outside, I must take this chance to strengthen myself."
More than that, he worried that Biluo Sect would never keep up with Yao Ranran's rapid rise. If she ascended one day, and Biluo Sect was left without its pillar, how could they possibly hold their ground?
Well… perhaps survival wasn't impossible, but after growing accustomed to basking in glory these days, he had no wish to return to the timid life he once led.
"I've looked at sect master Zhou's talent," Yao Ranran said bluntly. "It doesn't seem very strong. Forming your core might prove difficult."
Zhou Shengqian flushed with embarrassment but nodded. "Fairy need not worry. I have long been preparing for this moment."
Yao Ranran lowered her head and drew out a jade bottle filled with pills. She hesitated, then pulled it back. "Then it seems my preparations are unnecessary. I was concerned that you might attempt core formation without an aiding pill, so I specially refined a few breakthrough pills using phoenix blood. It seems they won't be of use now."
"Thank you for your kind thought, Fairy… wait. Phoenix blood? A breakthrough pill refined with phoenix blood?!"
Zhou Shengqian suddenly cried out.
Startled, Yao Ranran nearly dropped the jade bottle.
"Yes… phoenix blood refined breakthrough pills," she said blankly. "But the fire control wasn't very good…"
The forge's flames were just too weak. If they had been stronger, she could have refined a higher grade of pill, and the success rate would have been far higher than one in ten.
Zhou Shengqian lunged forward, his eyes wild. "Fairy, I want it! I need it! I truly need a breakthrough pill made with phoenix blood!"
Yao Ranran instinctively took a step back in alarm. "Fine, fine, if you want it you can have it. I can always refine more anyway."