Yuan Shu reached out and slowly ran her hand over the dark blue-black stone bricks. Looking closely, she could see fine formation patterns etched across their surfaces.
The entire forbidden ground was enveloped by a massive spatial formation.
At its very center—the position of the yin-yang fish, which served as the formation core—stood the tombs of the successive sect masters of the Hehuan Sect.
Surrounding it was a labyrinth derived from the Eight Trigrams. Within the labyrinth were all kinds of smaller formations, designed to attack, trap, or create illusions.
The palaces housing magical treasures and spiritual artifacts were hidden within those formations.
However, because of the spatial formation, the routes and smaller formations inside changed randomly.
Even Yuan Shu, who was very familiar with this place, could not guarantee where the path ahead would lead.
Unless she found the formation spirit within the spatial formation!
After identifying her current position, Yuan Shu followed the path ahead and continued deeper into the underground palace.
Whenever she encountered a treasure she could conveniently take with her, she tossed it into the divine tree’s space.
These treasures did not all belong to the Hehuan Sect.
After inheriting her master’s legacy and taking control of the forbidden ground, Yuan Shu had come here several times.
Each time, the treasures in the underground palace had changed to some extent.
For example, today there might be a Riftwind Whip placed inside a certain palace. When she returned the next day, the whip would have moved somewhere else, while a Scarlet Flame Awl would have appeared in its place.
It was as if this place were connected to another space. At some unknown moment, the spaces would overlap, and the objects within them would be exchanged.
Only the items in the central underground palace never changed.
These objects also seemed to affect the balance of spiritual energy within the underground palace. If no new items were exchanged for a long period of time, the Hehuan Sect had to replenish them itself.
Yuan Shu had found it puzzling at the time, but since every sect master throughout the generations had done the same, she had followed suit without giving it much thought.
After all, the treasures in the outer underground palace were not particularly valuable.
The only things that truly required attention were the items in the central palace. As long as nothing happened to them, everything else was manageable.
Yuan Shu slightly furrowed her brows and glanced at the dim passage ahead. If she remembered correctly, there should be a small offensive formation over there.
Though the formation was small, its power was formidable!
She was still considering how to avoid it when an unusual breeze suddenly blew from ahead.
Whoosh!
A black shadow shot through the air. It collided with the soft whip in Yuan Shu’s hand, producing a crisp crack.
The soft whip had a wide range of attack. After knocking aside the incoming strike, it lashed out and struck its opponent.
The figure staggered and fell out of the dark corner.
Yuan Shu was just about to deliver a lethal blow when the familiar face caught the corner of her eye.
“Peak Master Shi?”
When she saw that handsome, cold, and aloof face clearly, Yuan Shu froze for a moment.
She hurriedly withdrew the whip in her hand and stepped forward to support one of his arms.
At that moment, Shi Shuchen was in a sorry state. His exquisitely tailored cyan robe was stained with dust and dirt, making him look as though he had only just escaped from a perilous situation.
The hand gripping the formation disk was tense with bulging veins, as if he were desperately enduring something, yet his body continued to tremble.
Hearing Yuan Shu’s voice, he slowly turned his head.
The light had been too dim just moments ago. Yuan Shu had only noticed his familiar features and had not paid attention to his complexion.
Now that she looked carefully, she realized that something was wrong with Shi Shuchen.
His handsome, fair, and usually cold face was flushed with an unnatural red.
His eyes, fixed on Yuan Shu, were shimmering with moisture and seemed to hold an indistinct longing.
It was almost as if… as if he had been drugged with an aphrodisiac.
Yuan Shu paused slightly. “Peak Master Shi, what happened to you…?”
She was about to ask whether he had touched something he should not have.
After all, the Hehuan Sect’s forbidden ground contained quite a few Hehuan love flowers. Even the various ornaments and decorations placed throughout the grounds might be related to the harmony of yin and yang.
If someone touched them carelessly, they could easily be affected.
But before she could finish speaking, Shi Shuchen suddenly opened his arms and pulled her into an embrace.
His handsome, aloof features were now filled with discomfort. His brows were faintly knitted as he kept nuzzling against Yuan Shu’s neck.
Yuan Shu frowned and grabbed both his arms, pushing him back. “Peak Master Shi, calm down. Let go of me!”
But Shi Shuchen held her tightly. The moment his nose brushed against the pear-blossom fragrance on Yuan Shu, he seemed to tighten his embrace even more.
“Pear blossoms… They smell nice…”
He murmured in a low voice. His eyes were half-closed, and none of their usual coldness or intelligence remained. At that moment, he looked like a youth who had temporarily lost his senses.
Yuan Shu tried pushing him away several times without success. Then her fingertips brushed against a thorn lodged in one of his fingers.
She lifted his hand for a closer look and saw that several flower thorns had pierced the little finger of his right hand.
The poisonous thorns of a Hehuan love flower?
Yuan Shu raised her brows in understanding.
This plant was one of the spiritual herbs used by the Hehuan Sect to refine medicine. It had little effect on one’s cultivation or physical strength.
However, it possessed bewildering and hallucinatory properties, especially against powerful male cultivators who had been injured and were bleeding.
Its effects would manifest faster—and far more violently—in such cases.
Shi Shuchen had no idea where he had wandered into. There were two savage cuts across his arm, and blood had already soaked through his clothing.
Judging from his condition, he had been poisoned.
The antidote was simple as well: let the blood flow.
They had once entered a formation together and fought side by side. Yuan Shu could not very well abandon him.
She helped him to the corner of the wall, took out a sharp dagger, and sliced open the fingertip of the little finger pierced by the poisonous thorns.
“Hiss…”
Shi Shuchen inhaled sharply in pain beside her, and then his shoulder suddenly grew heavy.
Yuan Shu turned her head and saw that Shi Shuchen had obediently rested his head against her shoulder. His handsome sword brows were slightly furrowed, his eyes tightly shut, and he allowed her to drain the blood without complaint.
Yuan Shu had never expected that the stern and rigid Shi Shuchen from the Azure Radiance Formation would become so docile under the influence of the Hehuan love flower.
Unable to resist, she curved her lips into a smile.
The dagger in her hand also grew gentler.
However, the flower’s effects could cause the blood to clot, so the bleeding had to continue for some time. Yuan Shu could not remove the dagger from the wound in his finger.
“Bear with it a little longer,” Yuan Shu said softly, trying to comfort him.
Shi Shuchen’s brows drew together. His tightly closed eyes trembled faintly, but he did not dare open them.
“Mm…”
His voice was as faint as the buzzing of a mosquito.
Yuan Shu felt him lean closer against her. He pressed his entire face against her neck.
His warm breath brushed over her skin, ticklish and tingling.
Yuan Shu drew her neck back and shifted slightly to the side, but he noticed and moved after her, pressing against her again.
“Ahem, Shi Shuchen, don’t touch me. That tickles…”
The person resting on her shoulder suddenly went still. He no longer tried to forcefully burrow against her neck.
Yuan Shu quietly let out a breath of relief and turned her attention back to the fingertip pierced by the thorns.
The thorns of the Hehuan love flower were fine and tiny, making them difficult to remove once they entered the skin. Thus, while she drained the blood, she needed to infuse her spiritual energy into the wound and carefully draw each thorn out.
Yuan Shu was completely focused on treating his injury and failed to notice that the man beside her had slowly opened his half-lidded eyes.
When he saw the snow-white curve of her swanlike neck before him, his entire body suddenly stiffened.
Threads of the elegant pear-blossom fragrance drifted into his nose. The heart that had just begun to relax suddenly tensed again.
Yuan Shu?
She… why was she here?
And what had he been doing just now?
How could he have…?
