"What..."
"What kind of sorcery is this?"
The branches bound Xiuhe so tightly that even the True Qi inside her seemed to have frozen. Their grip squeezed her chest until she could barely breathe, and terror spread across her face.
Part of it was the instinctive fear of death.
The rest was fear of something bizarre beyond her understanding.
Together, they threw her into a panic she could not shake.
"Sorcery?"
"If you say so..."
Li Yun did not explain. The Five Elements Sovereign Talent was beyond anything she knew, and as the trump card he kept up his sleeve, it was hardly something he should reveal to an outsider.
He walked over with a smile.
Then he took hold of Xiuhe's pretty face.
He had to admit it.
Her skin was soft and smooth.
Xiuhe was only in her early twenties and had already become a Xiantian Martial Artist. She was in the prime of her life, and she was hardly ugly. On a ten-point scale, her looks could earn an eight and a half. She was a pleasure to look at.
More importantly, she was real. Unlike streamers in the age of technology, who turned off their beauty filters and revealed faces that looked either ancient or so grotesque they hurt the eyes.
"Wh-what are you going to do?"
"Let me go! Don't touch me!"
Xiuhe shouted angrily at Li Yun, struggling as she tried to break free of the terrifying, uncanny cage of branches. It was no use.
"Relax. I'm not planning to do anything to you right now."
"As long as you answer a few questions honestly, I'll tell you where Zhuang Haiwen is and let you go."
"But if you won't cooperate... I'm sorry."
"Whatever you're afraid of will happen."
"Understand?"
Xiuhe's face was filled