Suddenly stopped, and with his judgment flatly rejected, Fu Que wore a cold glare beneath drawn brows. He glanced at the Red-Clad Woman again, reminding her that Dong Liangyu was already on the verge of cultivation deviation. If they did not save her now, it might soon be too late.
He did not know who Li Hongjiu was. Though he had encountered him several times in the Library Pavilion, he knew only that the man was acquainted with the Red-Clad Woman.
The Red-Clad Woman raised a hand slightly, gesturing for him to remain calm.
As Li Hongjiu's voice rose in what sounded like a recitation, Dong Liangyu's reaction grew noticeably stronger. Her entire body even began to tremble faintly.
"With intent, a living form; without intent, a corpse. With constancy, a body; without a body, no constancy. With intent or without, Borrowing the Way of Heaven and Earth..."
As the repeated recitation continued, fine beads of sweat gradually seeped from Dong Liangyu's forehead.
Again and again, each utterance hammered the words deeper until they were branded into her heart. Like someone caught in a nightmare with her eyes closed, she actually began to recite along. "With intent, a living form; without intent, a corpse. With constancy, a body; without a body, no constancy. With intent or without, Borrowing the Way of Heaven and Earth..."
But her recitation lacked the crystalline clarity of Li Hongjiu's. Instead, it carried the sense of someone searching desperately through torment.
One hand still pressed down on the book, while the other held the Flower-Pinching Finger beneath the desk. Her whole frame trembled.
After observing this scene for a while, the cold severity in Fu Que's eyes gradually faded. More of his attention shifted to Li Hongjiu. He looked him up and down from time to