Encounter (Seeking Follow-up Reads)

Long Ying's purple skirt trailed across the ground as her dark hair danced in the breeze. Her jade-white feet, fair as congealed fat, left blooming lotuses in their wake wherever they touched.

Petals unfurled layer by layer, transitioning from bud to full bloom in a mere breath, only to dissolve into drifting motes of light that scattered into the distance.

Houses, lanterns, and banners—everything began to sprout lotuses, as if they had stepped into a world made entirely of flowers.

Shen Yue's brows furrowed slightly.

Among Chehou Yan, Black Longyu, and Long Ying, the one he found most inscrutable was Long Ying.

This Lotus Space was bizarre to the extreme; it seemed as though every petal, and even every intricate pattern, concealed a terrifying secret.

Long Ying stepped lightly, sending ripples of lotus-shaped halos radiating outward from beneath her feet.

The purple garment on her body slowly slid downward, revealing a slender shoulder blade that bore, unexpectedly, a lotus-shaped mark.

"Master Shen," she tilted her head, her gaze shifting with a near-pathological innocence, "do you think I am beautiful?"

Shen Yue was taken aback, replying, "A face that could grace a golden age."

"Is that so?" Long Ying lowered her head, and the entire Lotus Space dimmed.

"But why does everyone say I am ugly?"

"My mother said I have the appearance of a withered bird, born sickly and harboring ill omens."

"My sister said I am weak-willed, and that my bright eyes and white teeth do not fit the temperament of Black Soil Fortress at all."

"My father dotes on me on the surface, but in truth, he despises my snow-white skin, claiming I am not his own flesh and blood..."

Her voice grew softer and softer, and the lotus world began to wither in a display of grievance from top to bottom.

Those houses, buildings, and even the remnants of spiritual artifacts left behind by the battles of other cultivators all withered and shattered along with it.

"Is it truly impossible to be beautiful without freckles and buckteeth?"

Long Ying's eyes reddened, her pupils reflecting the decaying world.

"They are lying to you."

Shen Yue gazed at her pitiful appearance, then looked at the decay spreading toward him, feeling a chill run down his spine.

"You are very beautiful; you could be described as one who makes fish sink and geese fall, one who puts the moon to shame and makes flowers blush."

The people in this world were truly abnormal; they could even invert the concepts of beauty and ugliness.

Long Ying's eyes lit up, and the spreading decay halted.

"Really?" A flush rose to her cheeks, and she said shyly, "Then, Master Shen, could you prove it for me?"

"How should I prove it?"

"Naturally, it is by..."

The purple skirt slid down a significant portion further.

Lotuses bloomed, fragrance overflowed, and the air grew thick with the scent of spring.

Long Ying became even more bashful.

Boom! Boom!

Above, a flash of blood-red light suddenly shattered the Lotus Space.

Li Wuyou of the Blood Fiend Sect stood holding a blood-colored halberd, stepping upon a cloud of gore as he looked down from above.

The allure on Long Ying's face faded like a receding tide, and her eyes gradually cleared.

"I was casting the Heaven-Earth Fate Peering Technique to glimpse Brother Shen's destiny... how did I end up here?"

Looking up at the sky, her expression changed instantly.

Li Wuyou of the Blood Fiend Sect, at the eighth level of Qi Refinement!

"Demonic scum! Die!" Shen Yue roared as he surged upward.

The Five-Colored Pearl and the Tide Rising Pearl flew out simultaneously, carrying astonishing spiritual pressure as they struck toward Li Wuyou.

"A mere sixth-level Qi Refinement cultivator dares to spout such nonsense?"

Li Wuyou sneered, waving a hand as his blood-colored halberd, the Soul-Devouring Halberd, swept out ferociously.

The sky exploded with streaks of blood-red light, and hundreds of blood-serpents bared their fangs.

The Five-Colored Pearl bloomed with five-colored radiance, forming layers of light shields, while the Tide Rising Pearl whipped up a torrential wave, scattering the approaching blood-serpents.

However, the blood-serpents grew denser, surging forward in layer upon layer like the tide.

The light of the two pearls was suppressed until it grew dim.

"A sixth-level Qi Refinement cultivator dares to wield two high-grade spiritual artifacts?" Li Wuyou laughed, his eyes gleaming, "Hand them over!"

He clawed the air with five fingers, and a terrifying suction force erupted from his palm.

Shen Yue did not panic in the slightest; his tattered outer robe, woven from withered grass, instantly flew up, transforming into a sky full of grass leaves.

"Withered Grass Treasure Robe?"

Long Ying was slightly taken aback.

This garment was Granny Withered Grass's life-bound treasure, a top-tier protective spiritual artifact refined with her very heart's blood. How could it be in Brother Shen's hands?

Could it be that Granny Withered Grass had been killed by Brother Shen?

Li Wuyou's expression shifted, then he burst into loud laughter.

"Hahaha! Heaven helps me! That old hag's treasure is actually in your hands!"

"Fallen Leaf Valley is truly my blessed land! This time, I shall ascend to the ninth and tenth levels with invincible momentum and forge my Dao Foundation!"

However, no sooner had he finished speaking than two more spiritual artifacts flew out from Shen Yue.

The Feather Cloak blocked the suction force, while the Golden Light Rosy Crown summoned golden-armored divine generals one after another.

"Two more top-tier spiritual artifacts?!"

Li Wuyou's expression changed again.

As a prodigy of the Blood Fiend Sect at the ninth level of Qi Refinement, he only possessed one top-tier spiritual artifact: the Soul-Devouring Halberd.

This brat actually held four!

"Kid, I'm willing to call you a gift-bearing boy."

Li Wuyou licked his lips. "If you've got the guts, bring out another one."

"I don't have one more," Shen Yue said with a calm expression. "I have ten."

In the next instant.

Dharma rings... spiritual bricks... teacups... exactly ten spiritual artifacts flew out.

Li Wuyou stared in a daze, then erupted into earth-shaking laughter.

"Kid, I admit you're wealthy! But you brought out a pile of low-tier spiritual artifacts, and they're just cups and pots—what, are you planning to serve me tea?"

Even Long Ying frowned at the sight.

Li Wuyou was at the eighth level of Qi Refinement; those four top-tier artifacts still held combat power, but these low-tier ones... they would likely be destroyed with a wave of his hand.

"Brother Shen, I'll help you!"

She gave a low shout, and the Lotus Space instantly revived from its withered state!

Countless lotus flowers surged from the ground and walls.

Thousands of petals transformed into a pink-white tornado and swept forward!

"Where did this ugly woman come from, daring to approach my husband!"

Two fat-headed, big-eared women suddenly emerged from behind Li Wuyou.

They hung off him on either side like two mounds of blubber.

"Unlike us, who only know how to cherish our husband."

"Isn't that right, Husband?"

Li Wuyou laughed heartily, reaching out to pinch the fat cheeks of both women. "My wives are beautiful and charming; handle her for me!"

Hearing this, Long Ying felt a pang of shame.

She truly was no match for those two mounds of flesh.

The two fat women laughed until they shook, their mouths stretching wide to their ears.

"I'll eat them!"

Those petals were instantly sucked into their abyssal maws.

"Kid, see that?" Li Wuyou patted the two mounds of flesh, mocking, "When looking for a woman, you need to find ones like my wives—plenty of meat, a face of fortune, and they bring prosperity to their husband!"

"The likes of her, just like your bottles and jars, are nothing but vases."

Li Wuyou waved his hand, and the Soul-Devouring Halberd descended with the momentum to destroy the world!

This strike threatened to sink this entire realm.

Shen Yue did not respond, his hands moving rapidly to form seals.

The ten low-tier spiritual artifacts erupted with spiritual light, and intricate patterns emerged on their surfaces.

Array patterns, resonance!

The ten low-tier spiritual artifacts instantly combined into an array, with the Five-Colored and Tide-Rising pearls acting as the core, and a golden water dragon roared out.

"Petty tricks, daring to show off before an expert."

Li Wuyou laughed, the Soul-Devouring Halberd cleaving down with crushing force.

The next moment.

"I invite you to have some tea," Shen Yue shouted in a low voice.

Li Wuyou's laughter came to an abrupt halt.

"No! Ancestor... ugh... save me!"

The water dragon pierced through the Soul-Devouring Halberd, surging directly into Li Wuyou's mouth.

At the same time, the sky exploded.

A black cloud churned high above the firmament, and from the depths of the clouds, a colossal face emerged, its terrifying pressure instantly shrouding the entire valley.

A Foundation Establishment grand cultivator, the Blood Butcher True Person!

Long Ying's expression shifted violently.

The Blood Butcher True Person was an old devil of the Foundation Establishment realm, famous for centuries and ruthless as a butcher. He had once single-handedly wiped out three market towns, refining hundreds of thousands of cultivators into his Blood Banner.

"Little thief, die!"

A blood-red hand reached out from the black clouds, blotting out the sun and sky.

The ground of Fallen Leaf Valley cracked, boulders shattered and flew, and the river water began to flow in reverse.