Digesting the Insights

"You..."

Hearing Ye Fei say that, Jiang Mengyun flushed with anger.

Although she had expected it, seeing Ye Fei actually behave this way still left her unable to suppress her irritation.

She had done this to numb Ye Fei's senses. Otherwise, he would never have endured the agony of having those insights forcibly poured into him.

Fortunately, the trick had worked reasonably well. Although Ye Fei stared at her blankly, drooling, he had stopped howling in pain.

The golden thread of light was also growing shorter and shorter, and would soon disappear entirely into the spot between Ye Fei's brows.

This allowed Jiang Mengyun to breathe a slight sigh of relief.

"Hehe, what's this?"

The vacant-eyed Ye Fei suddenly gave a foolish laugh and reached toward Jiang Mengyun's chest.

His movement was so sudden, and they were standing so close, that Jiang Mengyun's momentary lapse allowed him to get his hands on her.

Once Ye Fei had his prize in hand, he gently squeezed and rolled it between his fingers.

"Mmm..."

As a virgin, Jiang Mengyun could hardly bear that squeeze and teasing rub. A soft moan escaped her, and her whole body went weak, nearly collapsing to the floor.

"Ah! You pervert!"

But she quickly came to her senses. Suddenly realizing what had happened, she screamed and instinctively kicked out, striking Ye Fei squarely in the crotch and sending him flying.

Bang!

Like a kite with its string severed, Ye Fei slammed into the tower wall, crashed heavily to the floor, and passed out on the spot.

At that very moment, the golden thread of light disappeared completely into the spot between his brows.

Meanwhile, a staircase leading to the second floor slowly appeared in the center of the first floor.

"I... you..."

Looking at the unconscious Ye Fei, Jiang Mengyun stood rooted to the spot, her face filled with shame and anger.

For a moment, her pretty face burned crimson, and she could not find the words to voice her grievance.

"Ah! You got off easy, brat."

In the end, Jiang Mengyun could only sigh helplessly and cast a resentful glare at Ye Fei.

After putting her undergarments back on, she walked over to Ye Fei and flicked a delicate finger, sending a pill into his mouth.

"Ow! That hurts!"

Within just a few breaths, Ye Fei, who had been unconscious a moment earlier, suddenly clutched his crotch and curled up, crying out in pain.

It looks like that kick really was a little too hard.

Seeing Ye Fei in such pain, Jiang Mengyun immediately felt a pang of guilt.

A trace of worry flashed through her eyes.

But when she remembered that Ye Fei had successfully tempered his body, she breathed a sigh of relief and said with feigned composure:

"Stop pretending. Get up, and hurry to the second floor."

"Ow! Ow!"

Crying out in pain and clutching his crotch, Ye Fei stood up with "difficulty," not daring to raise his head to look at Jiang Mengyun.

In truth, the instant he woke up, he had remembered what had happened.

Although he had been unable to control his mind at the time, he still retained some hazy memories.

He knew he had gotten himself into trouble.

Just as he was wondering how to face Jiang Mengyun, a faint ache happened to come from his crotch.

His eyes shifted, and an idea sprang into his mind, leading to the performance he had just put on.

"A staircase appeared. Hurry up and go."

Seeing that Ye Fei's pain did not seem feigned, Jiang Mengyun ventured this rather uncertainly.

She was not sure whether Ye Fei was truly hurt.

Although Ye Fei had successfully tempered his body, that was a man's most vulnerable spot. Her kick had been far from light, and she really might have injured him there.

"Ow, ow! Martial Aunt, give me a moment. Let me recover."

"Enduring" the pain, Ye Fei forced himself to stand straight.

"Phew!"

He let out a deep breath before gingerly taking a step forward.

"Hiss!"

The moment he took that step, Ye Fei abruptly stopped, grimacing in pain.

Fortunately, his "will was firm." Through repeated "agonizing" attempts, he finally managed to walk.

Ye Fei's performance left Jiang Mengyun, a Nascent Soul Cultivator, following behind him without even daring to breathe too loudly.

She felt guilty.

If her kick had seriously harmed Ye Fei, how could she explain it to Sister Luo Yue?

Only when she saw Ye Fei walking normally did she breathe a sigh of relief.

By then, she had long since cast the earlier incident beyond the ninth heaven.

And so, with Ye Fei in front and Jiang Mengyun behind, the two climbed the stairs to the second floor of the Array God Tower.

The second floor differed from the first. Although it was equally empty, it had a staircase leading to the third floor.

"Can we go straight up?"

Looking at the staircase before him, Ye Fei tried taking a step forward.

To his frustration, a transparent barrier of light covered the stair and blocked his way.

And there was more than one such barrier. Every step had one.

Jiang Mengyun tried as well, with the same result. She could not even break through the first barrier.

Unable to go up, the two turned their attention to the tower walls.

But the walls here were completely bare, even when examined with divine sense.

"This..."

They exchanged a glance, both filled with bewilderment.

"What were those insights poured into you about?"

After another inspection yielded nothing, Jiang Mengyun suddenly had a flash of inspiration and asked.

"I think they were about formations."

Ye Fei sounded uncertain.

Since those insights were not his own, even after being forcibly poured into his body, they merely floated within his Sea of Consciousness in the form of an energy mass.

To master those insights, he could only send his own divine sense into that energy mass and slowly study them.

"These stairs are protected by a formation. With my understanding of formations, I can't break it."

"It must have something to do with those insights you received. Try studying them. Perhaps you'll find an answer."

Jiang Mengyun offered her analysis.

Although her attainments in formations were not poor, this formation was so peculiar that she had never seen it before, let alone knew how to unravel it.

"I'll try."

Ye Fei nodded and sat cross-legged on the floor.

Then his Sea of Consciousness churned, and a strand of divine sense flew into the energy mass floating beside it.

When his divine sense entered, a scroll with no end in sight appeared before his eyes.

The scroll was densely covered in writing.

Whenever Ye Fei's divine sense touched the words, they disappeared from the scroll.

At the same time, those words became clearly imprinted within Ye Fei's Sea of Consciousness.

A day later, Ye Fei opened his eyes.

The energy mass within his Sea of Consciousness had shrunk to half its original size.

"I know what to do now."

The corners of Ye Fei's mouth lifted, and he strode over to the stairs.

Through his study just now, he had learned what kind of formation stood before him.

Facing the barrier of light once more, Ye Fei repeatedly formed seals with two fingers, pointing forward from time to time.

Within just a few breaths, the barrier shattered with a pop.

Once the barrier broke, Ye Fei stepped forward onto the first stair.

This time, he met no resistance and successfully stood on the first step.

Then, repeating the process, he rapidly formed seals with both hands and broke the barrier over the second step.

After breaking ten barriers in succession, Ye Fei reached the staircase landing and sat down on the spot.

Once again, he separated out a strand of divine sense and sent it into the energy mass.

A day later, Ye Fei had completely digested the energy mass, and it vanished.

Ye Fei rose and began unraveling the barriers over the remaining steps.

It took Ye Fei only half a quarter of an hour to break all ten remaining barriers.

"Another word puzzle?"

Upon reaching the third floor, Ye Fei discovered that it was exactly the same as the first, leaving him speechless.

"Ah! Do you have to receive insights again?"

Jiang Mengyun's heart tightened as well. Suddenly remembering what had happened on the first floor, both her cheeks flushed crimson.