“Has anyone ever told you that you’re like a bewitching little demon?”
After their kiss ended, Mo Yi lightly kissed the corner of Yuan Shu’s lips, slowly savoring away the fragrance of pear blossoms clinging to them.
He did not stop Yuan Shu’s wandering hand, allowing it to slide down from his chest to his abdominal muscles, where it pressed and kneaded him with just the right amount of force.
His body was burning hot, and dark tides surged in his eyes, yet he forcibly restrained himself with reason.
“So, Peak Master Mo, have I bewitched you?”
Yuan Shu smiled as she looked at Mo Yi from such close range. Her hand had gotten what it wanted, and she was in an excellent mood.
When he leaned down to kiss her gently, she kissed him back as well.
This time, it was only a brief taste.
“When everything is over, if I get the chance, I’ll come find you.”
Mo Yi did not answer Yuan Shu’s question, but the dark tides in his eyes were impossible to ignore and said enough.
His body simply could not reject her closeness.
Yuan Shu curved her lips, neither agreeing nor denying it.
Mo Yi reached out and caught her wandering hand. He pulled it from inside his collar and kissed it at the fingertips.
His gaze was deep and intense.
……
There were many forks in the underground passage. Yuan Shu and Mo Yi parted at a junction and entered the paths they had chosen.
Yuan Shu selected the cave entrance to the front left. The farther she went, the darker the cavern became.
She took a glowing stone from the Hehuan Divine Tree’s space and held it up to illuminate the cave, carefully sensing the fluctuations of spiritual power within.
She walked for a long time, until—
“Shushu, did you get lost again? Why do I feel like we’ve been here before?”
The Hehuan Divine Tree’s voice rang out in her mind, making Yuan Shu pause slightly. She narrowed her eyes and examined both sides of the passage.
The stone walls were blue-gray and uneven, with occasional sharp rocks jutting out a long way.
But after taking a closer look, this place really did seem somewhat familiar.
“Ah, Shushu, look at the ground. Aren’t those your footprints?”
Yuan Shu followed the Hehuan Divine Tree’s indication and looked over. Sure enough, she saw a cluster of footprints in the muddy dust.
They were neither large nor small, and the patterns matched the soles of her shoes exactly.
“You’re lost, Shushu!” the Hehuan Divine Tree cried out in alarm.
Yuan Shu: “……”
Was getting lost really something worth celebrating? Why did it sound so excited?
“Ahem. It’s rare to see Shushu come up short, so let me laugh a little. I promise I’ll keep my voice down. Hahahaha……”
Yuan Shu: “……”
Unwilling to believe it, Yuan Shu chose another cave entrance and went in. Yet a quarter of an hour later, she once again returned to the original cavern entrance.
She frowned.
Had she really gotten lost?
Strangely enough, Yuan Shu had always had a fairly good sense of direction on land. But inside these caves, she inexplicably seemed to lose all sense of orientation.
The farther she walked, the more wrong things felt.
“Hehuan, choose a direction.”
“Ahem, Shushu, the direction I chose last time was wrong. You’re asking me to choose again?” The Hehuan Divine Tree scratched its head.
Yuan Shu shrugged indifferently. “We’re trying to find the Earth Demon Fiend, aren’t we? How can we find it if we don’t choose a direction? Maybe you’ll get lucky and stumble upon it by accident……”
“This way!” Before Yuan Shu could finish, the Hehuan Divine Tree pointed toward a completely different path.
“Fine.”
Yuan Shu nodded and walked straight in without hesitation.
About a quarter of an hour later, Yuan Shu stared at the familiar footprint on the ground and fell silent.
The Hehuan Divine Tree scratched its head and let out an awkward little chuckle.
It was directionally challenged too.
“Forget it. You’re no help.” Yuan Shu dismissed it with a disdainful remark.
Just then, an extremely faint sound drifted over.
“Hiss, hiss……”
Yuan Shu stopped and listened carefully. “It sounds like it’s coming from behind the stone wall.”
She touched the stone wall beside her.
After frowning and thinking for a moment, she suddenly raised her hand. Spiritual power gathered in her palm, and she slammed it against the wall.
“Boom!”
The stone wall shattered, revealing a cave entrance.
Whoosh!
A white Frost Mole Beast suddenly darted out from beside her feet and burrowed through the opening in the broken wall.
Yuan Shu raised a brow, then moved after it.
She had just reached a bend when the Frost Mole Beast’s shrill cries of agony came from ahead.
?
Yuan Shu raised a brow again and walked around the bend. The cavern beyond suddenly opened up before her.
It was a cave that had been partially carved out by hand. The walls were smooth, and here and there, clusters of green moss had grown in the dampness.
At the very center of the cave, four thick chains of meteoric iron bound a person.
He was tall and slender. No one knew how long he had been imprisoned there. His four limbs were firmly shackled by the heavy meteoric-iron chains.
Yet from his build, it was clear that he was a young man.
His long hair looked as though it had not been washed in ages. Tangled and filthy, it obscured his face.
His clothes were smeared with mud and dust, but one could vaguely make out the glint of golden thread woven along the edges.
At that moment, he was crouched on all fours, tearing at something.
The Frost Mole Beast’s miserable cries rang out. A moment later, a small stream of bright red blood began flowing from beside the man’s feet.
It followed a groove in the ground, slowly trickling toward a lower spot.
As if he had heard Yuan Shu’s footsteps behind him, the man suddenly stopped tearing at the beast. Then, with a sharp motion, he turned around.
Yuan Shu was startled and instinctively took two steps back. At the same time, she was stunned by the sight before her.
Long, filthy strands of hair covered most of his face. Through the gaps, however, she could see a pair of emerald-green eyes.
It was a green that sank deep into the eyes—dark, profound, and silent.
At that moment, they were fixed on Yuan Shu, filled with the vigilance and ferocity of a wild beast.
At the corner of his lowered mouth, he was biting into a piece of fresh Frost Mole Beast meat, chewing noisily.
Bright red blood trickled from the corner of his lips and dripped onto the ground, spreading into a crimson stain.
Was this……really a person?
Yuan Shu hesitated.
In both of her lifetimes, this was the first time she had seen someone display eyes and habits so much like a wild beast.
Vigilant. Fierce. As though he were instinctively guarding his food.
He ate raw meat, surviving like a beast.
Even his every movement was animalistic. He kept his body low, his fingers clawing at the ground, long nails digging into the stone, as though he might spring forward like a tiger at any moment.
A normal person should not have been like this.
And yet he had the build and face of an ordinary human—he was merely a little unkempt.
“Roar! Roar!”
He bared his teeth at Yuan Shu and growled.
His hands curled into claws as he swiped them in Yuan Shu’s direction, his expression savage, as though he intended to seize her, tear her apart, and crush her to pieces.
When his gaze swept over the Frost Mole Beast meat beside him, he warily dragged it to his chest and stared fixedly at Yuan Shu.
He seemed terrified that she might try to take it.
Yuan Shu was speechless for a moment.
The Frost Mole Beast was only a low-level earth-element demonic beast. No matter how it was cooked, it would not taste good, and she had no intention of eating it.
As for eating it raw……
Ever since she had fought stray dogs for food all those years ago, she had never eaten raw meat again after embarking on the path of cultivation.
What eye of his had told him that she wanted to steal his food?
Yuan Shu tried taking two steps backward.
The man’s wary gaze followed her retreating footsteps.
After watching her for a while and seeing that she truly had no intention of coming forward to take his food, he finally grabbed the Frost Mole Beast again and resumed tearing into the raw meat, chewing loudly.
