Xiao Li’s hand had already wrapped around her waist of its own accord.
Beneath the thin fabric was a slender waist, so delicate it could be clasped in one hand, pressed tightly against his chest.
Between their lips, a nimble softness slipped in while he wasn’t paying attention.
Entwining, dancing lightly.
The heart that had been tense only moments ago relaxed at once. Xiao Li tightened his arms around Yuan Shu and surrendered to the kiss.
When their lips had grown hot and flushed, Yuan Shu’s movements slowed, and she tried to pull away.
Suddenly, Xiao Li’s arm tightened around her waist. He hooked a leg behind hers and scooped her entirely into his arms.
“Miss Yuan, you said you’d only believe me if I kissed you—but not just once.”
He cupped the side of Yuan Shu’s face and pressed his forehead against hers. His voice was so husky it hardly sounded like him.
The moment he finished speaking, he kissed her again, unable to restrain himself.
That unique, scorching fragrance once more filled his nose and mouth, stirring the desire buried deep within his body.
The long, elegant hands on her back had already begun to caress her up and down, and the atmosphere grew fiery and feverish.
Yuan Shu had originally only meant to tease Xiao Li. But as she continued, the desire between them was aroused as well.
The kisses moved from her lips to her cheek, then followed the curve of her face down to her neck, brushing over her warm skin bit by bit.
Yuan Shu’s lashes trembled. She raised her arms and embraced his head, allowing Xiao Li’s kisses to descend to her collarbone.
Just as the Hehuan Divine Tree had said, Xiao Li possessed an exceptionally strong affinity for beast taming. During dual cultivation, that affinity could also be transformed into spiritual power.
He would not be inferior to other male cultivators in the Nascent Soul stage.
Taking him in… would not be unacceptable.
From the first time she saw Xiao Li—when he had fought with others over spirit stones, his eyes stubborn and unwilling to yield—Yuan Shu had known that this man possessed ambition!
The second time they met, he had worn a smile on his face, yet had quietly dealt with the person who had humiliated him behind the scenes. That decisiveness had surprised her just as much.
She was curious to see how far a man like this, who had clawed his way up from the bottom and possessed such ambition, could go.
What kind of abilities did he truly possess?
Yuan Shu had always admired those with genuine skill. What was more, Xiao Li’s restored face was undeniably handsome.
Inside the room, the atmosphere was burning hot.
Xiao Li’s tongue trembled faintly. The fragrance of pear blossoms from Yuan Shu filled his lips and teeth, and his entire body was taut as a drawn bowstring.
He kissed her with both nervousness and excitement.
Feeling the softness of her waist beneath his palm, he was exhilarated beyond measure.
Miss Yuan was not resisting or refusing him. She liked him!
At the thought of what might happen soon, his emotions surged. His lips and teeth traveled down along her collarbone, and he caught the edge of her clothing with his teeth, pulling it down.
Her full bandeau shifted to one side, revealing the vague outline of her breathtaking curves.
Xiao Li’s eyes widened slightly. Just as he was about to do something, an intense pain suddenly slammed into his sea of consciousness!
The pain came too swiftly and too violently. In an instant, it struck him like lightning, leaving his entire body rigid and his mind blank for a moment.
Yuan Shu keenly sensed the person in front of her stiffen.
She lowered her head and saw that the man whose cheeks had been flushed moments earlier now wore an expression of agony. His lips trembled as he clutched his head, clearly suffering terribly.
“Xiao Li?”
Yuan Shu frowned and reached out to grasp his arm. “What’s wrong?”
Xiao Li opened his mouth, wanting to explain, but the piercing pain was so intense that he could not utter a single word.
…
At the same time, deep within the ancient cavern of the Beast-Taming Garden, a masked squad dressed in black had spread out around the cavern.
Dark-red energy surrounded each of them. With their hands forming seals, they channeled spiritual power toward the black-clad figure standing in the center.
That central figure then poured the powerful, terrifying spiritual energy into the middle of the circular stone-cell prison at the heart of the ancient cavern.
Upon closer inspection, a patch of white could be seen faintly within the prison, along with four thick chains of dark iron.
After the dark-red energy flowed in, the white figure shifted. It suddenly threw back its head and let out a howl of agony.
“Roar!”
The white creature finally revealed its appearance.
Its form was majestic and handsome. Its entire body was covered in soft, lustrous white fur, while its four limbs were strong and slender, and its bearing was elegant and dignified.
It possessed the sacred, distant aura of an ancient auspicious beast, radiating an air of divinity.
A pair of exquisite horns grew from its head, their patterns smooth and gleaming with a faint light. Its round, clear eyes were white and blue, with traces of spiritual resonance occasionally flowing through its pupils.
It was, astonishingly, a beautiful ancient divine beast—the Bai Ze.
Yet at that moment, iron chains had pierced through its tendons and bones, binding its enormous body tightly.
Large patches of its snow-white fur were stained with blood. Its flesh was torn open, its divine power scattered and unable to gather, and its demonic energy suppressed layer upon layer by the restrictions of the prison. Its body was covered in wounds.
Meanwhile, a group of despicable intruders was attacking its spiritual soul with blasts of spiritual power!
The pain spread from its very soul.
Such a powerful attack on the soul would have overwhelmed an ordinary spirit beast long ago, causing its consciousness to collapse and killing it on the spot.
Only the Bai Ze, a divine beast as renowned as the ancient ferocious beasts, could withstand such tremendous force.
Even so, the agony caused by the damage to its spiritual soul was enough to drive it to the brink of losing its sanity.
It rose from the jagged stones and frantically shook its head and lashed its tail, attempting to break free of the chains around it.
The chains struck the stone walls and ground with a resounding clang, but they remained as hard as steel.
No matter how violently it struggled, they did not move in the slightest.
In fact, when its pain reached its peak and its frenzied strength intensified, the chains emitted a faint golden light, strengthening their suppression!
“Hand over the thing, and you’ll be spared further suffering!”
The leader of the black-clad group spoke coldly. His voice was not loud, but he made certain that the Bai Ze could hear every word.
“Roar… roar…”
The Bai Ze let out a pained growl, refusing to beg for mercy—let alone hand over the item.
The black-clad leader frowned and increased the assault on its soul.
The Bai Ze jerked its head up in pain.
“Roar!”
After letting out an enormous bellow, it suddenly slammed into the rock beside it.
A special wave of spiritual-soul resonance spread from the Bai Ze, rippling outward in layers toward the distant horizon.
The expression of the black-clad leader changed.
“It’s the resonance of the Bai Ze’s spiritual essence! That beast has already transferred the item out of the ancient cavern!”
Then, as though he had thought of something, he sneered.
“Heh. Beasts really are stupid. If the Bai Ze’s spiritual essence had remained inside its body, it would have been difficult for us to obtain it without its willing cooperation. Who would have thought it would actually take it out itself?”
“Finding a Bai Ze’s spiritual essence that has left its original body will be far easier than extracting it from the Bai Ze itself!”
“Spread out and search the mountain!”
…
In the Beast-Taming Garden, in Xiao Li’s courtyard.
Yuan Shu had already helped the suffering Xiao Li to the bed in his room and sat him down. She reached out to feel his pulse.
His pulse was terribly chaotic, and the spiritual energy within his body was in disarray as well. Yuan Shu did not dare recklessly use her spiritual power to investigate.
But judging from his condition, there were no external injuries. It was obvious that his spiritual soul had been affected.
Yuan Shu could not understand it. Xiao Li had been with her the entire time and nothing unusual had happened. So how had his spiritual soul been injured?
Even so, she gave him two pills to nourish the spiritual soul.
