Watching Su Lingxi collapse on the ground, desperately clawing at her throat yet unable to throw anything up, Shen Qi let out a cold snort.
"Since you love slipping people aphrodisiacs so much, just stay here and enjoy it!"
With that, Shen Qi casually cast an unbreakable barrier around her, then turned and left the cave.
Su Lingxi's eyes widened in terror. She scrambled up and ran to the edge of the barrier, slapping it frantically, but to no avail.
How could a barrier set by Shen Qi be broken so easily?
Soon, the drug took effect.
Su Lingxi's body burned as if she were in a melting pot, waves of unspeakable throbbing radiating from within.
It made her body, already affected by the Withered Wood Plundering Art, even more restless and unbearable.
She curled up in a corner, violently slamming her body against the wall behind her, trying to ease the sensation of ten thousand bugs gnawing at her heart.
But how could the aphrodisiac used by the Joyous Union Sect to bind human cauldrons be so easily cured?
The pain did not bring her relief; instead, it made her bodily sensations even sharper.
She hugged herself tightly in agony, unable to suppress the whimpers escaping her lips.
The torment was too intense. Despite her repeated attempts to endure it, she quickly lost her reason.
She began tearing at her clothes, panting heavily.
...
A crippled brown ape limped past the cave entrance looking for water, and happened to see the teapot that had been thrown out.
Opening the lid, it found that the high-quality teapot, which hadn't broken when thrown, still contained tea.
Its low intelligence made it completely unable to tell if there was anything wrong with the water. Grabbing the teapot with both paws, it gulped the liquid down.
Only after drinking its fill did it let out a satisfied burp.
Soon, the brown ape realized something was wrong.
Its body was very hot.
With its low intelligence, it had no idea what was happening.
But the instinct to reproduce made it irritably beat its muscular chest, letting out continuous, roaring ape cries.
However, it was the weakest in its troop, completely disregarded, and no female brown ape liked it.
It roared a few times, but the surroundings remained quiet, without any movement.
Irritated, it stood up, planning to go out and try its luck, hoping to find a female ape as crippled and slow as itself for a hearty, forced mating.
Then, it heard a charming whimper coming from the cave behind it.
That coquettish voice, seemingly woven into the very vocal cords, drifted intermittently into its ears. Even this low-level, dim-witted brown ape couldn't help but tense its body.
Panting heavily, it limped toward the cave entrance.
...
Su Lingxi was somewhat delirious. Looking up, she seemed to see a tall, hairy man walking toward her.
He looked a bit abnormal, limping slightly.
But she could clearly see what was hanging there.
"Save... save me, save me..."
She felt like she was going to die.
At this moment, no matter who it was, they would be her savior!
...
"Ah!"
A gasp escaped the now-awake Su Lingxi's lips.
Her eyes widened, her expression filled with terror as she stared at the furry brown ape in front of her, her entire body trembling.
But she forgot the situation she was in.
This sudden gasp startled the brown ape, making it shrink back and stumble away.
Su Lingxi stared wide-eyed, her arms wrapped tightly around her naked body, her expression so horrified she couldn't breathe.
Not... not a human? A brown ape demonic beast?
What... what had she done?
For a long time, she couldn't process what had happened.
Until the lingering effects of the drug, not yet fully dispelled, surged through her body again.
Trembling, she gritted her teeth fiercely and shrank back.
Yet she could not resist the drug's influence, and she was in agonizing pain.
Conflict, agony, and shame flooded her heart all at once, tearing at her crumbling sanity.
Her gaze fell on the terrified brown ape opposite her, and she couldn't help but swallow hard.
Just now, they had already...
What was the difference between once and twice?
She was so uncomfortable, so miserable!
Damn it, why was the Joyous Union Sect's drug so potent!
Damn it!
While cursing in her heart, Su Lingxi tremblingly reached her hand out toward the brown ape. "Come... come here..."
The brown ape swallowed, somewhat hesitant.
After all, it was a very timid demonic beast, and the person across from it seemed extremely powerful. It was afraid.
"Come here!"
A sharp attack landed right in front of the brown ape, terrifying it so much that it scurried wildly toward Su Lingxi.
Su Lingxi grabbed it and pulled it into her embrace.
...
It had to be said that the Joyous Union Sect's aphrodisiac recipe was absolutely top-tier among such drugs.
Su Lingxi had only drunk a few extra cups, yet by the time the drug's effects were completely gone, the brown ape had collapsed to the side in exhaustion.
Su Lingxi's mind was completely clear, but as she thought about what had just happened, her expression turned incredibly ugly.
She grabbed the brown ape by the neck, slowly tightening her grip.
The brown ape was startled by the feeling of suffocation and struggled to pull away, but it couldn't break free.
It didn't understand. They were just the closest of companions a moment ago, so why did she want to kill it now?
Were humans all this temperamental?
But fortunately, Su Lingxi didn't actually kill it.
Because she remembered something.
The first dual-cultivation partner of the Withered Wood Plundering Art acted like an antidote; they had to be used once every month.
Otherwise, the Withered Wood Plundering Art could not continue to plunder, and she would suffer a backlash from the love poison!
This brown ape couldn't die. Not only could it not die, but she also had to feed and provide for it well.
Until she cultivated enough to break through the love poison's backlash, once a month, she could not avoid it!
At this moment, Su Lingxi's expression looked as awful as if she had eaten shit.
Was she really bound to this demonic beast?
A low-level demonic beast without even a shred of sentience?
Anger and resentment filled her chest.
She hated Yuan Shu, hated her for stealing the affection of her senior brothers, causing her cultivation to stagnate.
She hated her master; why did he abandon her just because her immortal aura was gone?
She hated Shen Qi; why did he feed her the aphrodisiac and leave her in this damn cave?
She hated this brown ape; why did it have to enter the cave at this exact moment!
If the others in the sect found out that she practiced the Joyous Union Sect's techniques and used a brown ape demonic beast as a cauldron, what kind of expressions would they make?
Su Lingxi's face was extremely dark, her silver teeth clenched tight.
After sitting in place for a long time, Su Lingxi finally took a deep breath and stood up from the ground.
What's done was done; there was no use dwelling on it.
She couldn't let the brown ape leave, so she could only form a contract with it as her spirit beast.
Coincidentally, her contracted spirit beast, the Spirit Fluff Beast, had gone missing recently, so this contract slot was just sitting there anyway.
What a bargain for this low-level brown ape!
Su Lingxi gritted her teeth in hatred.
However, this brown ape was severely injured and its strength was too low. She would have to feed it some natural earthly treasures to raise its level before she could form the contract.
Su Lingxi took a deep breath, forcefully suppressing the anger in her chest so she wouldn't die of pure rage.
She grabbed the rope tied to the brown ape.
"Beast, let's go!"
