Naturally, it’s useful!
The fiendish baleful aura within Earth Fiend Sha was extremely important for a ferocious beast attempting to reconstruct its physical body!
In the quiet cave, the only sounds were the continual ripples of water mingled with their increasingly intimate breaths.
After a long while, when their lips had grown hot and their breathing had become somewhat ragged, the two finally parted slightly.
But this time, Ying did not release his arm from around Yuan Shu. Lowering his eyes, he glanced at her breathtakingly beautiful face before pressing a kiss to the corner of her lips.
After lingering there for a few moments, his kisses trailed down along her cheek to her long, fair swanlike neck.
He nibbled lightly, neither too gently nor too roughly.
“Mmm…”
Yuan Shu let out a soft moan and wrapped an arm around his shoulder, tilting her neck toward him.
A faint gleam appeared in Ying’s slightly lowered eyes.
He lifted his head and saw that Yuan Shu had withdrawn the spiritual energy protecting her body. Her eyes were closed in apparent enjoyment, and the corners of her lips slowly curved upward.
Then his lips and teeth moved to the side of her neck. “Sister, may I do something a little more outrageous?”
A damp sensation spread across her neck. Yuan Shu could feel Ying biting her.
The gentle, unhurried pressure was like lovers whispering to each other, as alluring as a winding stream and a small bridge, tempting one to lose oneself in it.
“There’s something even more outrageous?”
“Of course there is. Sister, may I?” Ying asked softly, his thin lips moving downward along her neck until they reached her exquisite little collarbone.
“Mmm…” Yuan Shu answered. Her body tensed slightly, and the arm around his shoulder tightened.
Ying kissed her twice, then smiled and buried his head against the side of her neck. At the same time, he slipped one hand around her waist and pulled her close.
“Sister, then I’ll… begin.”
His voice was hoarse. The instant the words left his mouth, he parted his lips from an angle Yuan Shu could not see, revealing four sharp fangs.
Then he suddenly lunged toward Yuan Shu’s neck!
At that very moment, Zhuohua’s crimson figure shot out from behind Ying. In the blink of an eye, it wrapped around his neck.
With a sudden jerk, it pulled hard!
Ying was dragged backward by Zhuohua, and his vicious fangs were wrenched away from Yuan Shu’s neck.
Taking advantage of the opening, Yuan Shu retreated a step, spun around smoothly, and drove her foot fiercely into Ying’s chest.
“Bang!”
Ying was forced backward and slammed into the stone wall behind him. He let out a muffled groan of pain.
Zhuohua rapidly tightened around his neck. As suffocation and agony washed over him, his expression twisted in pain.
“Finally lost your patience and decided to make a move?”
Yuan Shu folded her arms and looked at the disheveled man before her with an amused, mocking smile.
Ying’s expression turned cold. His deep green eyes locked onto Yuan Shu. “You knew something was wrong from the beginning?”
“Of course!” Yuan Shu grinned. “There’s a blade hidden above the word ‘lust.’ I understand that much common sense.”
“You!”
Ying reached up and forcefully tore Zhuohua away from his neck, drawing several heavy breaths.
He truly had not expected that his acting had been so convincing, yet Yuan Shu had still seen through him!
Fortunately, Ying had never been the type to accept his fate.
“You think that you and this whip alone can take me down?” Ying sneered. His usual gentleness and youthful innocence vanished, replaced by a dark and icy expression.
Gripping Zhuohua, he hurled it violently to the side!
“Bang!”
Zhuohua’s entire body shuddered as it was sent flying. Seeing this, Yuan Shu hurriedly recalled it into her hand.
“I was able to kill a spirit beast in the Soul Formation realm. Naturally, I can deal with a mere female cultivator in the Nascent Soul realm like you!”
“I simply didn’t want to force the issue before. That would only have made the divine power inside you fear me even more.”
“Since we’ve laid everything out in the open, don’t blame me for showing you no mercy!”
Ying sneered. His deep green eyes filled with bloodlust, and with a single movement, he flashed toward Yuan Shu like lightning.
Just as he reached out to grab her, a sudden stiffness and weakness spread through his body.
Ying’s movements came to an abrupt halt right in front of Yuan Shu’s face. No matter how hard he struggled, he could not advance even an inch!
“What—what’s happening?” Ying cried out in alarm.
Across from him, Yuan Shu remained perfectly calm, looking completely at ease.
“You didn’t actually think that after discovering your ulterior motives, I would make no preparations of my own, did you?”
Yuan Shu chuckled and explained, “There’s a medicine refined from Stiffening Grass. It’s colorless and odorless, and it can lie dormant inside the human body.”
“It’s extremely difficult to refine, and I don’t have much of it. But if it allows me to capture you, then all my efforts will have been worthwhile.”
At her words, Ying’s expression darkened as he stared at Yuan Shu. “When did you drug me?”
Yuan Shu tilted her head and smiled. “A foolproof plan must naturally be prepared from the very beginning.”
From the very beginning?
Ying’s eyes widened. Suddenly, he thought of something. “That cup of tea that night?”
Yuan Shu nodded calmly.
She had known from the start that this man had approached her with ulterior motives. His strength was also formidable, and with her own cultivation, she was certainly no match for him. Naturally, she had to make preparations in advance.
So, from the very first time Ying kissed her, she had already drugged him.
He had assumed that because she had drunk the tea without issue, he had nothing to fear. Naturally, he had let down his guard.
The tea she had transferred through their lips, mixed with the medicine, had slipped into his body with ease and remained dormant.
If Ying had behaved himself and done nothing to her, the medicine would never have taken effect.
But if he did…
The corners of Yuan Shu’s lips curled upward.
Then he had only himself to blame!
Yuan Shu lifted her foot once more and kicked him flying again.
Ying crashed heavily into the stone wall behind him. He gritted his teeth, barely managing to keep a pained groan from escaping and making him look even more pathetic.
Yuan Shu raised her hand, and Zhuohua dropped into her palm.
As she drew closer and closer, Ying’s heart tightened. His expression turned grim. “What are you planning to do? Are you going to kill me?”
“Kill you? Wouldn’t that be letting you off too easily? Since you dared to harbor improper intentions toward me, don’t blame me for taking you captive and torturing you properly!”
As she spoke, Yuan Shu lifted her hand. Zhuohua rose high into the air before lashing down viciously across Ying’s body.
“Crack!”
The whip’s crisp snap rang out. Ying’s body convulsed, and a cry of pain escaped his throat.
A surging fiendish baleful aura suddenly erupted from Ying’s body. Gray-black energy churned wildly throughout the cave.
Inside her sea of consciousness, the startled voice of the Hehuan Divine Tree suddenly rang out.
“Shushu, that’s fiendish baleful aura—the real thing! You actually whipped it out of him!”
Yuan Shu’s eyes widened slightly. As the baleful aura rushed toward her, a faint gleam appeared in her gaze, and she raised her hand to absorb it.
Within her sea of consciousness, the red glow around Xiushe grew brighter and brighter. The scarlet patterns hidden beneath that glow also became increasingly distinct.
They resembled red blood vessels surging and pulsing wildly!
“What powerful fiendish baleful aura! Hurry, Shushu, hit him with another whip!”
Yuan Shu was always willing to take good advice. Upon hearing this, she immediately raised her hand and struck him with another lash.
“Crack!”
The sound of the whip striking him was enough to make one’s teeth ache and bones tingle.
Unexpectedly, when the second lash landed, no stronger burst of fiendish baleful aura emerged from Ying’s body.
Yuan Shu frowned. “It’s gone? There was only that little bit?”
“That… doesn’t seem likely, does it? Could it be that we triggered it the wrong way?”
Inside her sea of consciousness, the Hehuan Divine Tree scratched its head and spoke.
“How about this, Shushu? Try kissing him again?”
