Remnant soul

The sword's edge sank into flesh, painting a vivid streak of crimson across flawless, jade-like skin.

Lu Caiwei pressed her lips together, the emotions in her eyes growing ever more chaotic. She could only grit her teeth and force out two words.

"Push... harder."

The sword in his hand paused, and then blood stained her white robes.

Feeling the breathing of the woman before him gradually steady, Ye Wuyou considered it for a moment. He probably did not need to go any deeper.

But how much longer could she stay lucid by relying on the pain of self-inflicted wounds?

She was now leaning against the steps, drifting into a half-conscious sleep. Her profile, veiled by disheveled hair, looked quiet and fragile.

Thinking back on everything she had just done, Ye Wuyou could not help remarking.

"What a fucking lunatic."

His muttered comment received a reply.

"You're not wrong. My disciple really is like that."

At some point, Lu Caiwei had sat up. Her disheveled hair hung loosely on either side, and she was now staring unblinkingly at Ye Wuyou, her eyes brimming with interest.

Was this the sixth-realm remnant soul in her ring?

After three days, had she finally been unable to resist showing herself?

[Good, good. Who would have thought this woman was actually the little girl's master? Now master and disciple are both before you, two souls in one body, and she still possesses her primal yin. Your thoughts gradually grow clear as countless ways to play with them emerge...]

Ye Wuyou suddenly understood what it meant to have one's mind eroded by the uncanny.

If a hundred narrators like this kept prattling away inside his head, he would probably go mad too.

But right now...

Although Ye Wuyou had long known about the remnant soul, he put on a frightened expression and quietly backed away a few steps. "Y-you, who are you?"

Xia Anmeng was very pleased with his reaction. Looking at that handsome face, her heart, which had not encountered a man in hundreds of years, began to stir.

She silently extended the tip of one foot. Together with the bloodstained, gauzy dress hanging half off her, it cast a uniquely alluring image in the dim candlelight.

Ye Wuyou froze.

I'm just putting on an act, but this is how you're going to play, senior?

Her toes brushed lightly over him before withdrawing, offering only a fleeting taste. Xia Anmeng, who had done all this, let out a peal of silvery laughter.

"Hahaha, sorry. This is my disciple's body, after all. As her master, it wouldn't be right for me to hand her over to you."

Ye Wuyou sat cross-legged on the floor, inwardly breathing a sigh of relief, though an inexplicable trace of regret flickered through his heart.

"What would you have me do, senior? Surely you didn't come out just to tease me?"

"Lu Caiwei," or rather Xia Anmeng, rose onto her toes and slowly stood up.

Perhaps the movement tugged at her wounds. "Lu Caiwei" knitted her delicate brows, glanced down at the injuries on her body, then looked toward the passage ahead.

"It's been hundreds of years... and there are still so many uncanny things here?"

She sighed and said with a hint of resentment, "I'd hoped the warden would arrive in time. At this rate, the daylilies will have gone cold by the time he gets here."

Ye Wuyou watched her every movement until she walked up to him and crouched down, studying him with her soft, lovely eyes.

"Boy, do you want to live?" she asked with a smile.

Ye Wuyou did not answer. He merely looked at her calmly.

"If you want to live, be good and listen to me." Xia Anmeng smiled and reached out, her fingertip swaying lightly before him before gently touching his chest.

Ye Wuyou suddenly felt a wave of dizziness cloud his vision. He parted his lips as an inexplicable trust in her words welled up in his mind.

It was as though he would agree with her in the very next second.

[Boring, utterly boring. This damned charm technique has no effect on you whatsoever. You look at the fool before you, preening and posing all by herself. All those years she lived truly went to waste. Rather than all this coy wriggling, she might as well get straight to a proper tussle. Then again, how could a thousand-year-old woman whose primal yin remains intact possibly wield a true charm technique?]

The voice echoed through his mind, snapping Ye Wuyou back to clarity.

He lowered his head slightly, neatly concealing the darkness in his eyes.

The narrator's words had revealed a crucial piece of information.

The woman in front of me is a thousand-year-old virg-no, no.

Was she trying to control me just now?

[This bluffing bitch. This erosion targets the soul even more than the flesh. Her soul is already trembling with pain, yet she's still putting on a show. You sneer three times. Wait another incense stick's worth of time, and master and disciple will both be yours to do with as you please.]

Fine beads of sweat appeared on "Lu Caiwei's" forehead. Although she still forced a smile, the faint tremor of pain in her eyes was genuine.

Could even a sixth-realm remnant soul not withstand the erosion?

Or was this remnant soul simply not worth much?

Only after a long while did he speak calmly.

"There's no need to test me, senior. After all, you don't want to dissipate completely here either, do you?"

With her intentions exposed, the smile gradually vanished from "Lu Caiwei's" face. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and spoke in a cool, clear voice.

"Junior, hand your body over to me. I won't promise that you'll survive, but it'll at least be better than sitting here waiting to die."

"Body snatching?" After what had happened earlier, Ye Wuyou simply asked outright.

A strange look flickered through Xia Anmeng's eyes, and then she shook her head.

"I have no interest in a man's body, nor would I stoop to such a thing. It's merely a temporary possession."

Such lofty airs. Was this woman some extraordinary figure when she was alive?

Ye Wuyou was still considering it, but "Lu Caiwei" seemed somewhat anxious.

Although she did not know why, the fact remained that this man was unaffected by this place.

The uncanny erosion bore down harder on the soul than on the flesh. After being out for only this short while, Xia Anmeng could no longer endure it.

Only by possessing Ye Wuyou's body would she have a sliver of hope.

Two people and one soul. Three lives.

The three of them were now like locusts tied to the same rope. One careless move, and their bodies would perish and their paths would end.

She truly had no intention of stealing Ye Wuyou's body, but she wanted to take the lead.

In her eyes, Ye Wuyou, who had not cultivated at all, could not bear the weight of their fates.

To ensure everything remained under her control, she had resorted to a few little tricks she had never touched during her lifetime.

But why aren't they having any effect on him?

Damn it, does he not like women?

Xia Anmeng gritted her teeth and said.

"Everything I've said is true. If I wanted to steal your body, I could have acted earlier."

"If you're worried, I can swear a great oath upon my inner demons," she said urgently.

She's panicking. She's panicking.

[What fucking use is an inner demon? It isn't worth half a hair on a lust demon. This bitch is truly laughable. How dare she covet your body?]

Narrator, did you crawl out of a porn forum?

Ye Wuyou took a deep breath and silently suppressed the noise in his head.

Although this place did not affect him, he could not stand against the dangers of this hellhole.

Meanwhile, the remnant-soul-possessed "Lu Caiwei" before him seemed quite powerful, but she suffered from this place's erosion.

To be honest, Ye Wuyou currently had a rather poor impression of this remnant soul.

He was deeply grateful to Lu Caiwei, but this remnant-soul "master"... well.

Fine. She's a thousand-year... people get like this when they're old.

Besides, she did not seem to be lying.

Tsk...

After a moment's thought, Ye Wuyou finally raised his head and said evenly.

"All right, but I have conditions too. In addition to that, I need two cultivation methods sufficient to cultivate through the middle three realms."

The later stages of the Formless Heart Sutra required other cultivation methods as a foundation.

Conditions?

"My disciple saved your life. At a moment of life and death, you're making demands of me?" Xia Anmeng was so angry that she laughed.

Ye Wuyou nodded, making no attempt to deny it.

"Your disciple did save me. Without her, I'd likely already be a corpse."

He paused briefly, then his tone abruptly hardened.

"If Lu Caiwei asks anything of me, I'll naturally lend her a hand. I owe her that."

"But I owe you nothing. You're merely a sixth-realm remnant soul. Your soul is about to dissipate, yet you're still putting on airs?"

A rare trace of anger appeared on Ye Wuyou's face.

The uncanny presence here truly had not affected his mind.

But... it really was noisy inside his head.

After these past few days of life-and-death peril, he was already restless in body and soul. Add the narrator's intermittent filthy drivel, and claiming his heart was unruffled would have been far too hypocritical.

Then he happened to encounter this remnant soul. It would have been fine if she had simply talked things through with him, but she had teased him the instant she appeared, used a charm technique, and continued acting high and mighty even now.

So Ye Wuyou no longer cared much about exposing anything. He laid her condition bare with a single remark.

In his current state, he could more or less hold on for another few days. Perhaps he could last until the warden came to rescue them.

She, however, could not wait another moment.

Sure enough, upon hearing Ye Wuyou's words, "Lu Caiwei" stiffened where she stood.

Why had he seen through her cultivation realm and her disguise?

This brat hadn't even reached the first realm...

"Fine. I agree."

In the end, she stopped deliberating. Time would not allow her to deliberate anyway.

"Swear the oath," Ye Wuyou reminded her.

[In an instant, you comprehend the great oath of the lust demon and personally teach it to her, making her perform it before you...]

Please, just stop fucking barking!

"You..."

However unwilling Xia Anmeng was, she could only obediently do everything Ye Wuyou demanded.

As a streak of illusory light flew into Ye Wuyou's body, Lu Caiwei collapsed, and he caught her in his arms.

With Xia Anmeng's possession, the aura within Ye Wuyou abruptly surged. Currents of energy flowed unceasingly from his dantian.

She was still of the sixth realm, after all. Even as a remnant soul, the enhancement she brought went far beyond this.

First realm, Hidden Origin. Second realm, Illuminating Insight. Third realm, Jade Radiance...

Blood seeped from the corner of Ye Wuyou's mouth. The vast, ever-rising force within him abruptly stalled, then gradually receded.

Finally, it stabilized at the second realm, Illuminating Insight.

Even so, the blood vessels all over Ye Wuyou's body became clearly visible. The veins bulging along his arms were especially frightening.

"Your foundation is far too poor. How on earth did you get into the Heavenly Prison?" Xia Anmeng's questioning voice sounded inside his head.

Her tone was much more relaxed now. It seemed that possessing him had shielded her from the erosion.

"I got in through the back door."

Having truly grasped power for the first time, Ye Wuyou neither paid attention to the immense force within him nor felt any joy. Instead, he looked at the sleeping woman in his arms, his brows slightly furrowed.

"Then what about her?"