Warmth

"Seventh Sister, help!"

Dongfang Minghui's scream was so piercing that almost the instant she cried for help, Situ Hao instinctively grabbed her legs. Dongfang Wanyu seized his ankle, linking the three of them together as they were dragged a considerable distance.

Dongfang Minghui felt two icy things coil around her hands, dragging her forward with all their might. The cave floor was uneven, and she felt as though all her internal organs had been knocked out of place. The pain left her without even the strength to speak.

"I can't hold on!"

Situ Hao had grabbed her legs, only to discover that what he was actually holding were her boots. He was pulling them off little by little, and they were about to slip free.

"If you let go, I'll slaughter you."

Holding his ankle with one hand, Dongfang Wanyu lashed out with the whip at her waist with the other. Its far end sailed past Situ Hao and hooked firmly onto Dongfang Minghui's belt.

Situ Hao broke into a cold sweat. If that hook had caught his head, wouldn't he have been done for on the spot? Her boots soon slipped out of his grasp, however, and he lunged forward to seize her ankles tightly.

Whatever was dragging them moved incredibly fast. The three of them slammed into things all along the way, striking their heads one moment and their waists the next. Dongfang Minghui suddenly felt her belt being tugged downward, inch by inch.

"Seventh Sister, let go! At this rate, everyone will get dragged in." Dongfang Minghui wanted to die. Her clothes were on the verge of falling open.

Dongfang Wanyu refused without hesitation. "No."

"Ah, Seventh Sister, my belt's been pulled loose!"

Dongfang Wanyu froze for a moment before realizing what she meant. She viciously pinched Situ Hao with the hand holding his ankle and warned, "Close your eyes. If you dare sneak a peek, I'll gouge them out."

"A slope!"

The three of them veered sharply downward and suddenly hurtled forward.

Splash!

Splash!

Splash!

After a sharp turn, all three fell into the pool below. The water was icy, with cold vapor rising from it.

Dongfang Minghui swallowed a mouthful of icy water. When she surfaced, the other two were just emerging as well. She immediately covered her chest, mortified.

She had lost her shoes just now, and apparently her belt too. Her clothes had fallen completely open, and even her inner garments had been worn through in several places by the ground.

She could hardly have looked more bedraggled.

Dongfang Wanyu swam over to her, took off her own outer garment, and draped it over her.

"You're all right now."

With his back turned to them, Situ Hao didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Spotting a raised stone platform in the middle of the pool, he called to them, "This water's a little cold. Let's go rest up there for a while."

The three climbed onto the stone platform. Dongfang Minghui's hands and feet were covered in wounds, their skin scraped raw from being dragged over the ground for so long. The injuries weren't serious, but they looked pitiful.

Dongfang Wanyu took a set of clothes out of her storage space and handed it to her. "Just put these on."

Dongfang Minghui nodded, removed the outer garment, then pulled the clothes directly over herself and fastened them.

"Your belt."

When her belt had come loose, Dongfang Wanyu's Water-Thunder Whip had hooked it away.

Seeing the wounds all over her hands, Dongfang Wanyu simply lowered herself onto one knee and helped fasten her belt. "There."

The clasp was a little loose, probably damaged by her whip. Dongfang Wanyu decided to pick out a better, sturdier one for her when they returned to Snow Capital.

"Thank you, Seventh Sister."

"Don't you find this strange? The entrance was so small, but there's a whole other world inside." Situ Hao noticed ice flowers hanging all over the cave ceiling. They were exquisite, and an opening overhead allowed a shaft of sunlight to shine in.

Dongfang Wanyu had naturally noticed as well. She fed Dongfang Minghui an antidote pill, then crushed another pill and used it to dress her wounds, her movements exceptionally gentle.

"Minghui, did you see what dragged you in just now?"

Dongfang Minghui shook her head. "But I'm certain it wasn't a plant."

Whatever it was had been icy cold. The instant it seized her hands, a shudder ran through her entire body. It had been hundreds, even thousands of times colder than this pool.

"When we were dragged in, the ground was wet. I felt plenty of water, so whatever dragged Ninth Sister here was probably something from the pool," Dongfang Wanyu concluded.

All three immediately grew wary.

With her shoes gone, Dongfang Minghui's small, pale feet were exposed, now red from the cold. Dongfang Wanyu frowned at the sight and took a pair of shoes from her storage ring. "Put these on."

To avoid any impropriety, Situ Hao had kept his back turned. Glancing sideways, he spotted numerous tunnels inside the cavern. "Look, there are so many passages here!"

A careful count revealed fifteen passages hidden within the cavern. If each led somewhere different, that meant there were fifteen routes.

Dongfang Wanyu and Dongfang Minghui saw them too.

"Let's take a look."

The three decided to split into two groups to investigate the passages.

Unexpectedly, the moment they stood up, the stone platform began shaking violently.

Ripples rose in the water. Two silver tails swept out of the pool, wrapped around Dongfang Minghui's ankles again, and immediately dragged her away.

Caught off guard, Dongfang Minghui was hoisted upside down. From up there, she could see everything clearly.

"Ah, this isn't a stone platform! It's the monster's back! Seventh Sister, save me!" Why the hell was she the one getting hurt every time? Dongfang Minghui began wondering whether she came equipped with a bad-luck skill.

Dongfang Wanyu had also noticed something amiss. This was clearly a water monster, and an ice-element one at that. "Situ Hao, hold it off for a moment."

Dongfang Wanyu lashed out with her whip, channeling lightning into it. She sent its other end striking the monster coiled around Dongfang Minghui's ankles.

Lightning met water with a burst of crackling. The long tails shot back beneath the surface, and the pool below surged and churned like boiling water. Soon, a pointed head emerged, followed by a second...

"Get back! It's coming out!" Situ Hao shouted and rapidly retreated.

Fuck me, Dongfang Minghui thought. The heroine's Thunder Element spiritual power was so strong. The shock she had just received had been quite the tingling experience; even now, her whole body felt limp.

Dongfang Wanyu caught her and carried her straight to a passage on the other side. "Stay here and don't move. Let me kill this monster first."

Dongfang Minghui wanted to leave through the tunnel they had come in by, but on second thought, that wasn't right. After suffering so much, wouldn't leaving so easily mean she had endured it all for nothing?

Whether by coincidence or not, Dongfang Wanyu had set her down at the entrance to a passage from which she seemed to sense a great deal of lively spiritual energy.

Little Lecher waved its vines in her soul sea, signaling for her to go inside.

Having fallen for Little Lecher's tricks several times already, Dongfang Minghui firmly refused. "No. If I run into danger again, are you going to protect me?"

Little Lecher flew into a rage in her soul sea, its vines thrashing wildly through the air.

Dongfang Minghui sniffed. The fragrance wafting from the medicinal plants inside was rather pleasant. After inhaling it, her gaze grew unfocused, and she wandered in as though in a daze.

"Ninth Sister!"

Although Dongfang Wanyu was fighting the Water Beast, she still kept part of her attention on Dongfang Minghui. Seeing her walk into the passage, she shouted anxiously.

Yet Dongfang Minghui continued straight ahead as though she hadn't heard.

Situ Hao saw it too and couldn't help calling out, "Is she possessed? Look, she can't even hear you calling her."

Dongfang Wanyu's attacks grew fiercer. "Let's deal with this thing first."

The monster that leaped out of the water had two enormous snakelike heads and two slender tails, yet only a single bulky body.

Despite all the books they had read, neither of them had ever seen such a strange creature.

They attacked its two heads from above and below, left and right, but still struggled somewhat. The pool was its territory. Whenever it wanted the water to become ice, it instantly froze into sharp formations. Icicles rained down from the cave walls at tremendous speed. Unable to dodge them all, they suffered numerous punctures on their arms.

Dongfang Wanyu was growing anxious. "Situ, let's attack its body."

The monster had two heads and two tails, but they shared one body. It was enormous, and lying flat on the water's surface allowed it to escape their notice. Otherwise, they would never have mistaken its back for a stone platform earlier.

Meanwhile, Dongfang Minghui caught a strangely familiar scent and walked deeper into the passage, step by step. Medicinal plants grew everywhere inside, all of considerable quality.

Yet she didn't even glance at them, simply walking around them and continuing onward.

After following a long stretch of path, she saw a shaft of sunlight and raised a hand to shield her eyes. The next moment, she saw Dongfang Wanyu.

"Seventh Sister."

Dongfang Wanyu seemed not to hear her. She brought over a stool, sat opposite her, and stared at her coldly, as though looking at a dead thing.

Dongfang Minghui looked around as well. The place was crude, enclosed by three walls and a set of bars on the remaining side. It looked very much like a prison.

Rows of torture implements stood behind the heroine, further confirming her suspicion.

But why was she in a prison? Dongfang Minghui tried to move and discovered that she was bound, unable to budge.

"Qian Wanyu, that man of yours tasted quite nice." Dongfang Minghui laughed loudly. The blood at the corner of her mouth did nothing to diminish her nauseating smile.

Inside, Dongfang Minghui was falling apart. Those absolutely weren't words she wanted to say, so why couldn't she control her own mouth?

With an icy expression, Dongfang Wanyu planted one foot on the stool and slapped her face viciously. After only a few blows, Dongfang Minghui was certain her face had swollen. "Since you love men so much, I'll have them attend to you properly in a moment. You'll be thoroughly satisfied."

"Bring her a hundred of the filthiest, most disgusting beggars." Disgust showed on Dongfang Wanyu's face as she wiped the fingers that had touched her with a handkerchief.

Dongfang Minghui's eyes widened as she watched them force a pill into her mouth. Within moments, sweat beaded on her nose, and her body began heating up.

"Mmph-" Dongfang Minghui clenched her mouth shut, unable to voice her anguish. She wasn't Dongfang Minghui. She wasn't. She shouldn't have to suffer this.

She watched Dongfang Wanyu sneer and signal to the people beside her to throw in a hundred beggars. Every one of them leered obscenely at the sight of her.

"Aah-!"

Dongfang Minghui felt those nauseating touches with horrifying clarity. Goose bumps rose all over her body. She bit down hard on her tongue, forcing herself to regain clarity, telling herself over and over, This is a dream. A dream.

She hadn't offended the heroine. She hadn't offended Seventh Sister. It wouldn't end like this.

When Dongfang Minghui opened her eyes again, she found herself bound to a pillar. Dongfang Wanyu held her whip, striking her over and over.

A sharp hook tipped the whip. Every time it struck her, it tore away a piece of flesh.

Dongfang Minghui felt utterly weak. She smiled at Dongfang Wanyu. "What, I only ruined one man of yours, and you're already this heartbroken?"

Dongfang Minghui wanted to cover that mouth. This absolutely wasn't her. It wasn't her. Nothing good came of provoking the heroine. Look, the heroine's expression had grown even colder.

The long-haired Wanyu lashed her even more viciously, almost every stroke carrying a flicker of lightning that shocked away more of her strength.

"Hahahaha."

Eventually, even Dongfang Wanyu grew tired of whipping her. "Have someone come bleed her. Cut the flesh from her body, slice by slice. Call me after three thousand cuts."

Dongfang Minghui looked as though she had nothing left to live for. Being flayed alive-what a wonderfully fucking delightful sensation.

"Ninth Sister, what's wrong? Wake up!" Dongfang Wanyu and Situ Hao had joined forces to leave the water monster half-crippled. When they came inside, they found Dongfang Minghui slumped against the cave wall, her head hanging low, blood dripping from her hand.

Dongfang Wanyu called to her for a long time, but she showed no sign of waking.

"She's injured." Dongfang Wanyu lifted her hand, then discovered that it wasn't only her hand-her clothes were soaked through with blood.

Surprised to see her breathing steadily yet refusing to wake, Situ Hao said, "Could it be an illusion?"

"An illusion?"

Dongfang Wanyu cradled her head. Her eyes were closed, her brows knitted. The healthy color they had worked so hard to restore to her face had vanished, leaving it ashen, and her expression was one of terrible pain.

"Injuries suffered in an illusion can manifest in reality too. If she can't wake from it, she'll be in considerable danger."

"She must have encountered something extremely dangerous. How can I wake her, or bring her out of the illusion?" Dongfang Wanyu asked anxiously.

Situ Hao studied the cave curiously and sniffed lightly. "Qian Wanyu, do you smell something?"

Dongfang Wanyu sniffed as well. "There seems to be a faint fragrance."

"Aaaaaah-!" Dongfang Minghui watched the blade scrape across her body. The pain was beyond description. Her blood dripped onto the ground, where a little grass had begun to sprout. What the hell was this?

No, that wasn't right. She was Dongfang Minghui, yet she wasn't Dongfang Minghui. Who was she, again?

Dongfang Minghui kept feeling that she had forgotten something terribly important.

While enduring the excruciating pain, she racked her brains.

"Qian Wanyu!" Dongfang Minghui shouted, then felt that the name sounded far too unfamiliar. She ought to call her, "Seventh Sister?"

Seventh Sister, Seventh Sister. Her Seventh Sister.

Dongfang Minghui tilted her head. Why couldn't she remember? She had to remember.

A round ball rolled out of Dongfang Minghui's arms, tumbling back and forth on the ground as though seeking affection.

Dongfang Minghui stared at it blankly. Since when had she been carrying such a huge egg? And why did it look a little familiar?

She tilted her head and stared at the giant egg. It continued romping about on the grass, and soon the white egg became a blood-red egg, its shell covered in her blood.

"Mother!"

Dongfang Minghui was so startled that her jaw nearly hit the ground. "Who are you calling Mother?"

She was only sixteen and hadn't even found a boyfriend yet.

"Mother, Mother, wake up! If you don't wake up soon, the Love Flower seed will get away!"

Little question marks popped up in Dongfang Minghui's mind. What was this egg talking about? "Love Flower seed?"

"Mother, Mother."

Fragmented images flashed through Dongfang Minghui's mind. She tried to catch them but couldn't. She concentrated, thinking about this egg, thinking about the Love Flower seed.

"Shit, what a fucking scam! I remember now!" Dongfang Minghui abruptly opened her eyes.

The scene changed, returning her to the cave. She tried to stand, only to discover that losing so much blood in the illusion had left her head spinning.

An egg rolled out of her storage space, still smeared with her blood. It really had become a fiery-red egg.

A little shaken, Dongfang Minghui picked up the giant egg and kissed it. "Thank goodness for you." Otherwise, her little life would have ended right here.

"Mother, Mother."

The giant egg rolled once in her arms, and Dongfang Minghui nearly lost her grip. "So you really can talk now."

Having suddenly acquired an egg daughter, Dongfang Minghui felt that life was full of alarming surprises.

She returned her egg daughter to her storage ring and hauled herself up against the wall. To her surprise, the heroine and Situ Hao were each leaning against the wall not far away.

"Situ Hao."

"Seventh Sister, Seventh Sister."

No matter how she called, the two seemed asleep and wouldn't wake.

Dongfang Minghui couldn't help wondering whether they had fallen into an illusion too. But since she had already escaped, surely they would wake from theirs soon as well.

With that thought, Dongfang Minghui approached the patch of medicinal plants she had previously walked around and crouched down. "I'm your friend. I don't want to take you away or destroy you. Can you tell me which of you is the Love Flower?"

Perhaps sensing the aura of wood-element affinity emanating from her, the medicinal plants swayed their stems one after another, pointing toward the plant in the very center.

Dongfang Minghui was surprised. The medicinal plant in the middle looked just as ordinary as the others, nothing like the description of the Love Flower Seed in the books.

"Don't tell me you disguised yourself?"

Plants didn't lie. She thought of what was perhaps the most unlikely possibility: an intelligent medicinal plant disguising itself as an ordinary one to evade human pursuit.

Dongfang Minghui held out her hand. "Actually, I'm trying to save someone. My friend's older brother had his legs poisoned, and your seed is the only ingredient missing from his medicine. Could you give me one? Whatever you ask for, I'll do my best to help you achieve it."

"Liar. You humans are all liars." The Love Flower trembled, then immediately returned to its original form. Its blood-red bloom was dazzling, but although the plant itself was small, its flower was enormous, making it look rather comical.

Dongfang Minghui pouted. "Everyone's different. How do you know I'm lying? You created that illusion just now, didn't you? I nearly died in there. By that reckoning, aren't you worse than humans?"

"I did create the illusion, but it reflects the thing you fear most deep inside. If you can overcome it, it may well benefit your future cultivation," the Love Flower explained haughtily.

Dongfang Minghui was furious. She had truly never encountered such an unreasonable medicinal plant. "So according to you, even though I nearly died in there, I should thank you?"

"You're welcome."

Dongfang Minghui: "..."

"Hey, actually, I think you're a good kid. Why don't you come back to the academy with me? There's a Golden Thorn Tree and some Beauty Bamboo in my courtyard. Their goal is to take human form one day. If you became friends with them, they'd surely be happy too."

The Love Flower was unusually sensitive. It touched Dongfang Minghui's hand with a leaf, and once it sensed that she had never harmed any plants, it immediately withdrew the leaf.

Dongfang Minghui had no idea it had just been testing her. She thought it had taken her words to heart.

"It's fine if you don't want to leave. Tell me your terms. I really urgently need one of your Love Flower Seeds. We could make a trade. What do you think?"

The Love Flower saw no sign of deception in her expression. More importantly, Dongfang Minghui's earlier mention of taking human form had caught its attention. It had stayed here for many years and seen all kinds of people.

Only this person before it had offered to negotiate a trade.

"I can leave with you, but you must enter into a contract with me and help me take human form." The Love Flower had been deceived many times, but once a contract was formed, it could sense the other party's joys and sorrows.

Dongfang Minghui was dumbfounded. She couldn't help pressing a hand to her forehead. "I probably can't agree to that condition. I've already formed a Blood Contract with a demonic plant."

"What!" The Love Flower grew very agitated and shook its leaves. "Call it out. I want to have a proper talk with it."

Dongfang Minghui had only one thought. Fuck me. How was this a talk? This was clearly the prelude to a fight! D-d-did plants start fighting over a single disagreement too?

"Ahem, it can't come out right now. Death Aura corroded it and damaged its foundations, so it needs to focus on cultivating." She couldn't imagine Little Lecher being beaten down by the Love Flower until it couldn't lift its head. The picture was too beautiful—she didn't dare imagine it.

"Form a contract with me. I can resist the invasion of Death Aura." The Love Flower looked so smug its tail might as well have been sticking up into the sky. Its implied meaning was that it was stronger than Little Lecher.

Little Lecher was so furious that it began wildly flailing its vines in her soul sea again. If it weren't currently unable to take human form, Dongfang Minghui was certain it would have run out and given the Love Flower a whipping.

Dongfang Minghui looked stunned, then slapped her forehead. "Oh, right!"

If the Love Flower couldn't resist Death Aura, how could it possibly be living so comfortably in Death Valley? Her brain was working far too slowly.

Even so, Dongfang Minghui mercilessly refused. "Love Flower, I'm truly sorry. Apart from the fact that a Blood Contract can't be dissolved, even if it could, I wouldn't abandon Little Lecher."

The Love Flower froze. It had never encountered anyone who could resist its charm and even refuse a contract with it.

Little Lecher smugly raised its vines.

"Although my little companion is a bit haughty and has such an appetite that I think feeding it will bankrupt me, overall, its good points outnumber its faults. Whenever there's danger, it always does everything it can. It's saved me many times. Its tongue may be sharp, but everything it does is for my sake, whether it's pushing me to cultivate or scolding me. How could I possibly abandon a companion like that? Love Flower, wouldn't you agree?"

The Love Flower silently nodded. Why could she make a demonic plant's faults sound so appealing? Suddenly, it felt a little envious of the demonic plant she had contracted with.

Seeing it looking so listless, Dongfang Minghui felt dazed. This mission was probably going to fall through.

Yet the Love Flower suddenly perked up again. "I can go back with you, but you mustn't hand me over to anyone else. I'll only follow you. If you deceive me, I'll kill you."

"I promise."

Without Dongfang Minghui having to do anything, the Love Flower suddenly uprooted itself, struggled free of the soil, and jumped into her palm.

Dongfang Minghui immediately cupped it in both hands. "Love Flower, why don't you enter my storage space? You're far too conspicuous like this."

She suspected that if she swaggered back to the Royal Academy like this, she would have to survive another brush with death.

"Your two friends are still in their illusions. We can't leave until they wake up."

Dongfang Minghui nodded.

"Come with me. I'll find you some good things."

Dongfang Minghui scratched her head, looking utterly bewildered. "Good things?"

The Love Flower didn't explain. It simply hopped from this cave into another, and she followed it all the way.

"Careful. There are traps here."

Dongfang Minghui stared in surprise and patted her chest. Thank goodness she hadn't barged around recklessly, and thank goodness the Love Flower was there to guide her. Otherwise, she would have been in trouble again.

"We're here."

After walking for a little under an hour, the Love Flower led her deep into a cave. A great heap of medicinal pills lay scattered over the ground, enough to form a small mountain.

There were many white bones nearby, giving Dongfang Minghui a fright. She guessed people had killed each other over the treasures.

Dongfang Minghui casually picked up a porcelain bottle, opened it, and sniffed. The pills inside still gave off a rich medicinal fragrance. They had been preserved very well.

"Why aren't you taking them?" the Love Flower asked in confusion. It had previously seen many people rush to snatch these things like mad, even fighting and killing one another over them.

"Oh, all right."

She selected some high-grade pills and tossed them all into her storage ring. Soon, she felt that more than half her available space had disappeared.

When the Love Flower saw that she had stopped taking things, it led her to another cave.

This time was even better. The cave was filled with all kinds of scrolls, some containing earth-grade and yellow-grade skills. Dongfang Minghui naturally knew these were valuable, so she simply took more than half the high-grade skill scrolls too.

When the Love Flower brought her to the third cave entrance, she sensed it brimming with death energy. The energy seemed to have been sealed away, with only thin strands leaking out.

Dongfang Minghui stopped. This place should contain Death Aura, and was most likely related to dark spiritual energy.

"Love Flower, I can't enter this place. Look, the death energy is already leaking out. You can resist it, but I can't," Dongfang Minghui told it frankly. "The treasures here will have to wait for someone suited to them, someone destined to claim them."

She didn't know whether the Love Flower understood, but when she headed outside, it followed her out.

"Love Flower, thank you for today." Dongfang Minghui returned to the first cave entrance. Her Lady Protagonist and Situ Hao were still trapped in their illusions, so she found a random spot and sat down.

The Love Flower settled beside her. "Why didn't you take everything just now? Many people wanted to clear those places out before, but they triggered the traps, and everyone died."

This was the first time the Love Flower had seen someone so free of greed. It was very curious, and grew even more determined to follow her. It could sense human emotions and desires, such as greed, which was most people's first reaction upon seeing it.

Dongfang Minghui secretly patted her chest. In truth, she had simply run out of storage space. Otherwise, she would definitely have cleared those things out too.

So clearing everything out would trigger the traps too. This place was truly terrifying.

"You have to leave something for others." Dongfang Minghui was actually worried that once Situ Hao woke up, they would surely explore the caves. If she left them nothing, it would be a little hard to justify.

"Put me inside your storage space. Rest a little longer, and they'll wake up."

Uh, did it not want to see Situ Hao and Seventh Sister?

Dongfang Minghui placed it in her palm and silently willed it inside. Then she saw the Love Flower appear in her storage space. Unlike before, the space was now crammed with pills and skills, making it rather crowded.

There was also an enormous red egg.

She saw the red egg roll over as soon as the Love Flower appeared, squeezing against it. She couldn't help finding it funny. A plant and an animal were clearly different species-were they really going to fight over territory?

The red egg squeezed the Love Flower, which initially kept giving way until it had retreated into a corner. Seeing it in the corner, the red egg still thought this was fun and rolled over again. This time, it thoroughly infuriated the Love Flower.

A leaf slapped straight toward it. Dongfang Minghui thought the leaf was too small and probably lacked the strength to send the red egg flying.

But the next second, she was dumbstruck.

With a light flick of its tiny leaf, it sent the red egg tumbling dozens of times before it stopped. Naturally, the bottles and jars in her storage space were knocked into a scattered mess. The red egg rocked back and forth, finally managed to steady itself, then simply lay motionless and played dead.

"Hahahaha!" Dongfang Minghui burst into heartless laughter.

This was the first time she had laughed so freely and joyfully. It was too funny. Suddenly, she felt her future days might be just like today, with chickens flying and dogs jumping in utter chaos.

Dongfang Wanyu had intended to enter Dongfang Minghui's illusion and bring her out. Unexpectedly, the moment she smelled that fragrance, she fell into an illusion herself.

In the illusion, she became a great demon whom everyone clamored to kill. Everyone knew she had awakened Dark-Type Spiritual Power and cultivated the Undead Law. Wherever she went, people hunted her down, whether she was saving people or doing anything else.

They unanimously decided that anyone with the dark element was surely a reserve member of the Death Legion and had to be killed. Thus, she lived like a rat scurrying across the street under everyone's blows-even worse than a street rat.

She saw Ninth Sister among those hunting her, the girl who had once called her Seventh Sister over and over.

When Dongfang Wanyu fell into the illusion, she had clearly been an observer. Yet at some point, she began to feel that this life was worse than death. She wanted retaliation, wanted revenge, wanted to slaughter everyone who had branded her unjustly.

Kill! Kill! Kill!

A voice deep in her heart told her, Wake up, quickly. If you don't wake up, you'll suffer cultivation deviation in this illusion. If you don't wake up, the others will be in danger. Yet another voice told her, Kill. Cut down everyone beneath the heavens. Slay everyone who refuses to submit. She would stand at the pinnacle of this continent. She would control her own destiny, and the destinies of others.

Dongfang Wanyu's illusion was awash with blood, but all of it belonged to others. After indulging in slaughter to the very end, she suddenly felt that life held no interest. Her life shouldn't be like this.

Dongfang Wanyu looked at the blood on her hands and the expanse of darkness behind her. Everyone who had wanted to hunt her down had been devoured by her, leaving only white skeletons.

Wherever she went, plants withered and human footprints grew scarce. Apart from death, nothing remained.

Dongfang Wanyu didn't want this. She wanted new life.

The illusion abruptly shattered. She opened her eyes and found herself amid flowers and grass again. Closing her eyes, she savored that delicate fragrance. How wonderful. Perhaps because the first illusion had given her boundless despair and emptiness, she loved the sunlight so much, loved every living thing here.

"Seventh Sister, do I look pretty?"

Dongfang Wanyu sat up straight. She saw the girl dancing among the flowers in the dress she had given her, flitting through the blossoms like a sprite.

"Pretty."

Dongfang Wanyu smiled without realizing it, watching her play as mischievously as a fairy, giving off that scent she loved. "Ninth Sister, come here."

Dongfang Minghui ran over playfully, knelt before her, and looked at her with smiling eyes. "Seventh Sister."

Dongfang Wanyu closed her eyes and leaned toward her neck to sniff. "Ninth Sister, why do you smell so lovely? What did you use?"

"Seventh Sister, I didn't use anything."

Dongfang Wanyu gently drew her into her arms. A voice inside her told her, This was how it should be.

"Seventh Sister, what's wrong?"

Seeing her anxious expression warmed Dongfang Wanyu's heart. In all her years, it had been so long since anyone had cared about her. She liked the way the girl looked at her with wholehearted attention, liked being treated this way.

"Seventh Sister, what exactly is wrong?"

Watching those rosy, cherry-like lips open and close, Dongfang Wanyu couldn't resist leaning over and lightly licking them. They tasted even better than their scent.

Dongfang Minghui froze.

Seeing that she didn't resist, Dongfang Wanyu leaned over and licked her again. The taste was sweet and delicious, better than anything she had ever tasted. She couldn't help gently sucking the tip of her tongue. That slight contact gave her a pleasure that tingled all the way to the crown of her head. She felt as though five-colored radiance had burst inside her mind, a realm she had never touched before.

"Ninth Sister, I like you like this. Don't reject me."

Situ Hao woke first. When he saw that he was in the cave, he silently breathed a sigh of relief. In the illusion, he had seen himself swallowed by a vast expanse of darkness. Not only him, but many Light Element Spirit Masters too. Together, they had resisted the Death Aura of the Undead Legion, but in the end, they seemed to have suffered a crushing defeat. It had been a terrifying nightmare.

Situ Hao panted for a long time before calming himself. He told himself that this was only an illusion, that none of it existed yet.

Seeing him wake, Dongfang Minghui couldn't help asking, "Situ Hao, are you all right?"

It really seemed to be as the Love Flower had said: the illusions reflected what each person feared most, what they dreaded happening. What she had seen in her illusion was even more terrifying, all right?

It was the account of her death recorded in the original novel, and she had experienced it firsthand for a while. Even now, her hair still stood on end. If that egg she had picked up on the cheap hadn't run into the illusion, she probably would have died inside it.

So when she saw Situ Hao's bewildered expression, she couldn't help showing some concern.

Seeing her safe and sound finally put Situ Hao's heart at ease. But when he saw Qian Wanyu opposite them, he gestured toward her with his lips. "Your Seventh Sister doesn't seem to have woken from the illusion yet."

Dongfang Minghui was worried too, but worrying was useless. They had to overcome their own fears within the illusion before they could escape. She then said, "Once Seventh Sister wakes up, we can leave Death Valley."

Situ Hao mulled over her words for quite some time before reacting. His face filled with disbelief. "You mean you found a Love Flower seed?"

"Yes."

"Quick, take it out and let me see. I've only ever seen pictures of it in books." Situ Hao was rather excited too. The old man had been right. Anyone else who came would most likely return with their feathers clipped in defeat.

Dongfang Minghui gave a dry laugh. "Situ Hao, I'm really sorry, but that Love Flower doesn't particularly want to see you two."

Situ Hao was baffled. "Do you mean what I think you mean?"

"Ahem, probably."

Situ Hao was dumbfounded. He knew that some medicinal plants that had developed intelligence were indeed a little haughty, but what was going on with this Love Flower? It didn't want to see them?

"Could it be that we look too fierce and menacing? That can't be right. Plenty of girls chase after me everywhere. Or do plants have different standards of beauty from humans?"

Dongfang Minghui silently slipped aside and sighed as she kept watch over her Lady Protagonist.