No Gaps

The forest at dawn.

Faint white mist drifted like smoke, and the damp air was filled with the fresh scent of grass and trees.

A group of people from the Su and He Families watched a hollow ancient tree in the forest, each with a different expression.

"That tree isn't very thick, and there's not much room inside. Wouldn't it be cramped for two people?"

Su Meng looked utterly innocent and naive, keeping up her sweet, girlish act as she quietly asked her father, "What do you think?"

Su Yuntian gave a soft cough and glared at her reproachfully. "Mind your own business!"

Not far away.

He Rong leaned against a tree, his eyes fixed on the hollow ahead, his expression grave.

The hollow was clearly a secluded hiding place, but it was obviously not spacious. The thought of the two inside being pressed together naturally put He Rong in a foul mood. After all, He Ziren was his nephew.

The marriage arrangement between He Ziren and Ning Yao had been the result of deliberations by both families. In his eyes, even though Ning Yao and his nephew had not married, they still shared a close bond.

If the two wanted to talk, they could have gone farther away and chosen some secluded, open place. There was no need to squeeze into a tiny tree hollow.

"Ziren is dead, and he and that Ning girl never married. Don't read too much into it."

Su Yuntian saw his displeasure and advised him helplessly, "Besides, Brother Yuanshan also died at the hands of the Dark Ghost."

"The Dark Ghost appeared in the Cenji Mountains. It's bound to target those of us from the Seven Great Families. All I can say is that Ziren was unlucky."

"Now, we need to think carefully about how we're going to survive."

After learning of the Dark Ghost's existence, Su Yuntian had already begun to worry about how dangerous this expedition would be, since his daughter, Su Meng, was with them too.

His cultivation talent was quite ordinary.

Even if he worked hard all his life, at most he could advance one more realm and reach the Xisui Realm. Like his father, he would have to remain in the Su Family's territory in the Fourth Realm, with no chance of ever living in the Upper Realm.

Su Meng was different.

After people from the Blazing Sun Sect in the Third Realm carefully tested Su Meng's talent, they confirmed that she had extraordinary cultivation potential.

As it turned out, they were right. Despite her young age, Su Meng had already reached the Pulse-Opening Realm, just like him.

The Blazing Sun Sect had made their intentions clear. When Su Meng was close to entering the Xisui Realm, someone from the sect would bring her up and help her temper her bones and cleanse her marrow.

After that, Su Meng would become an official disciple of the Blazing Sun Sect.

Su Yuntian had only brought her to explore the Cenji Mountains this time because he couldn't withstand her pleading.

Who could have guessed that the Dark Ghost would also come after hearing the news, and would hunt down members of the Seven Great Families throughout the mountain range's many dangerous places?

"Wait, something's not right! That Ning girl seemed to know he was in the tree hollow. She was the one who told us to stop here and rest. On the way, when we passed the Grey Eagle's corpse, she also gave it several extra glances."

He Rong, who had always been cautious and observant, spoke in a low voice, his face dark. "I suspect that Grey Eagle was hers!"

Su Yuntian's expression shifted. He thought it over carefully and also found it suspicious.

The place where they had ended up resting just happened to be where Pang Jian had appeared. That was far too much of a coincidence.

"You and I both know the Ning Family isn't skilled at taming spirit pets. I've never heard that she had an eagle, either,"

Su Yuntian said quietly.

He Rong frowned. "Whatever the case, something's off about her."

Inside the tree hollow.

Pang Jian drew a deep breath. In the cramped space, he could feel the outline of the girl's chest pressed against him.

He had never been so close to a girl his own age before. Seeing her apologize so sincerely, he froze for a moment.

What was he thinking...? After surviving that ordeal and escaping Hong Tai's attack, why had this woman's nature suddenly changed so much?

He studied the girl's spirited features and her utterly sincere expression, then frowned and fell silent.

He didn't know why her attitude had changed so drastically, but he thought of the dangers of Blackwater Pool and the two places he had to visit next. They wouldn't be any safer than Blackwater Pool.

His future was uncertain, and the Dark Ghost was hunting people everywhere. Going alone with only his own strength would be fraught with danger.

If the woman before him, along with the Su and He Families, traveled with him, it would greatly reduce his risk of dying.

Pang Jian had disliked the idea of traveling in a large group, since it would be troublesome and make cultivation inconvenient. But when he thought of what lay ahead, he began to hesitate.

Luo Hongyan narrowed her eyes slightly, smiling as she said, "Whenever you take a deep breath, you keep bumping into me. Were you doing that on purpose?"

Pang Jian exhaled and pressed his back against the tree wall. "It's too cramped in here. You should go outside."

Luo Hongyan lowered her head with a soft laugh. Her bright eyes settled on the raised object on Pang Jian's chest.

It was the Bronze Gate-shaped plate. It had first absorbed a drop of Phoenix Marrow, then swallowed the Blood-Colored Phoenix Bird formed from the Heavenly Phoenix Divine Guard's life's blood.

The plate was beneath Pang Jian's clothes. She had felt it clearly just now, but detected nothing else unusual.

When their bodies had touched earlier, the plate had emitted no fluctuations of spiritual power, nor had any divine sense surrounded it.

"A strange artifact."

With her goal clear, she had followed Pang Jian into the tree hollow and deliberately moved so close to him in order to touch the mysterious Bronze Plate as if by accident. She wanted to understand its secrets and origins.

Her first attempt had yielded nothing, which left her somewhat dejected.

As she pondered, she heard Pang Jian's breathing grow slightly labored. She shifted her gaze from his chest and lifted her head a little to look at him.

Pang Jian was awkwardly suppressing the urge to breathe deeply, his entire body stiff and strangely tense.

She couldn't help but be stunned.

Beneath Blackwater Pool, this snake-riding youth had slaughtered every one of her scouts. When he struck, he had been ruthless and merciless, leaving no room for escape.

Jin Yang and two Dark Ghost experts in the Pulse-Opening Realm had all been killed one by one by the young man before her. Not a single one had survived.

So why was he acting like this now?

Her clever thoughts turned, and she pretended to regret it as she said, "At the bottom of the pool, I was trapped by that Silver Net. When I saw you suddenly appear and come running toward me, you can't imagine how hopeful and happy I felt."

"I thought you'd come to save me. I remember thinking that if you saved my life, I would be willing to give myself to you..."

She left the words "give myself to you" unspoken, cutting herself off at just the right moment.

She lowered her head. The pale skin at the nape of her neck, behind her ear, flushed red, making her look utterly bashful.

She said softly, "Pang Jian, please let me invite you again to be my guide in the Cenji Mountains. This time, I promise I'll treat you well."

After speaking, she took out the cloth bag Pang Jian had abandoned and set it beside the tree hollow before quietly leaving.

With her cheeks flushed, she left Pang Jian plenty of time and space to think it over for himself.

In the distance, Su Yuntian, Su Meng, He Rong, and the servants loyal to both families watched the usually aloof eldest young lady of the Ning Family emerge from the tree hollow with a sudden, shy look on her face. They had no idea what she had said to the young hunter.

"Ziren's body hasn't even gone cold! She—she—"

He Rong stamped his foot and scolded her in a low voice.

Su Yuntian and his daughter were equally stunned.

"I heard Sister Ning always opposed her marriage to Brother Ziren. Could her true love actually be that young man named Pang Jian?"

Su Meng's mind filled with love stories about noble young ladies falling for commoners. Her eyes shone with longing and admiration.

"This is what love is supposed to look like! When I grow up, I'll be just like Sister Ning and refuse to be shackled by a marriage arranged by my family!"

She clenched her fist, raised her hand, and slashed it forcefully downward as if making a passionate oath.

"Knock, knock!"

Su Yuntian rapped her on the head. When she cried out in pain, he snapped, "Read fewer silly books!"

"Since it isn't your body, do you have to deliberately mistreat it?"

Ning Yao, confined in her own sea of consciousness, glared at the stunning crimson figure in the shadowy void and said angrily, "If you want that Bronze Plate, why not just wrench it off and take it with you?"

In the empty sea of consciousness, Luo Hongyan wore a luxurious crimson dress that swayed and rippled, sending waves through space.

In this void where a spiritual body could reveal its mysteries without restraint, she was so breathtakingly beautiful that no one could compare. Every frown and smile of hers seemed capable of intoxicating the male gods.

Unfortunately, only Ning Yao could see her.

She gave a derisive laugh and said with captivating charm, "Little girl, what the hell do you know?"

Ning Yao fell silent.

"You think I'm mistreating your body?"

Luo Hongyan pursed her lips. Her red lips were like flames as she smiled and said, "Then you don't know what real mistreatment looks like."

"If I thought it necessary, I'd strip off every stitch and press my naked body against him. As long as it helped me uncover the secret of that Bronze Plate."

"Besides, this isn't my body. What do I have to care about?"

She laughed recklessly in the void.

"Why don't you just possess me, then!"

Ning Yao cried out in despair.

She could tell that this Demoness who had seized control of her body was truly capable of doing something like that.

Just imagining the scene the Demoness had described made Ning Yao feel worse than if she had been killed.

"Possess you?"

Luo Hongyan shook her head disdainfully. "You think you're worthy of being possessed by me?"

"Do you know the difference between inhabiting someone's body and possessing them? To inhabit you, I only need to leave your soul intact. Then I can act through your body. But to possess you, I'd need to refine your soul and take in all your memories and experiences."

"Possession means I would truly own your body and move through the world in your form."

"Little girl, you think far too highly of yourself. With your cultivation talent, why would I even look twice at you?"

"You're not worthy of being my target for possession. I wouldn't pay such a high price for you."

After mocking Ning Yao until she was crushed into the dirt, Luo Hongyan saw that her spirit had sunk into despair and finally said with satisfaction, "I'll let you watch. You'll see how I, Luo Hongyan, use your body, Ning Yao, to get everything I want."

At that moment.

Pang Jian suddenly stepped out of the tree hollow and raised the cloth bag filled with broken silver toward her. "I accept this bag of silver."

Luo Hongyan's face lit up with delight. Looking as if she were overwhelmed by the unexpected favor, she cheered, "Really? That's wonderful!"

In the void of the sea of consciousness.

Luo Hongyan, whose beauty could bring ruin to a kingdom, looked toward the place of utter darkness, where Ning Yao's soul lingered like a faint wisp of smoke, and said:

"Next, I'll let you watch as I earn his trust, step by step, until he opens his heart to me and is even willing to go through fire and water for me."

Ning Yao's soul asked in boundless sorrow, "Are you going to use my body to earn his trust?"

"If it really becomes necessary, I won't hesitate." Luo Hongyan nodded lightly, then continued to torment her with a smile. "To me, your body is just a tool. If I can use it to earn his trust, of course I'll give it to him."

Ning Yao's soul trembled violently.