Next time—next time, he would prove himself. He would make her see just how formidable he truly was!
Liye’s eyes were bloodshot. His fierce competitive streak filled him with humiliation and rage.
The dry grass clenched in his hand slowly crumbled into powder beneath the force of his grip, sifting through his fingers onto the ground.
Yet Yuan Shu’s calm, indifferent gaze as she left remained impossible to banish from his mind.
The more he thought about it, the more stifled and miserable Liye felt, as though insects were crawling across his heart.
He gritted his teeth and drew great, ragged breaths, placing the source of all his anger squarely on Yuan Shu.
If she hadn’t entangled herself with him, if she hadn’t provoked him, how could he have made such a fool of himself?
Liye hated her so much his teeth itched.
After a long while, an enraged roar suddenly erupted from within the cave.
“Yuan... Shu!”
Outside the cave, the subordinate sent to deliver a message heard the sound. Though uneasy, he still gathered his courage and called out his report.
“Third Prince, there is news from the Demon King...”
Liye’s embarrassed fury froze. He sat in the cave for a moment before walking out again, his expression restored to normal.
Only the chill between his brows had deepened.
...
After leaving the cave, Yuan Shu did not return to the group under Li Xie’s command.
If Black One could sneak someone into the cave where she lived once, then he could do so a second time.
Li Xie’s people were not safe, either.
Besides, since the demon clan had already sent people ahead, they must have made some discovery.
Yuan Shu guessed they had found the location of the underground palace’s core.
It was time to go and take a look.
Before that, however, she needed to deal with her body’s needs.
A woman born with a bewitching physique naturally required more yin-yang union than ordinary people. What was more, in the illusion, she had been the one to take the initiative in teasing another.
The power of union within her flowed and surged. Drawn by her constitution, the union energy drifting through the underground palace was continuously burrowing into her body.
She was in a very uncomfortable state.
Had she known Liye would be so useless, she never would have teased him in the first place. It would have been better if he had truly been nothing more than a phantom within the illusion.
At least then she could simply have looked at him to satisfy her cravings.
Yuan Shu took a deep breath and suppressed the thoughts stirring in her mind. Turning down a passageway, she headed toward one of its side paths.
...
Deep within the silent underground palace, towering layers of natural rock formed a stone wall that blocked off one side of a cavern.
Beyond the wall lay a faintly whitish spiritual pool, giving off a subtle medicinal fragrance.
Yuan Shu removed her clothes and stepped straight into the water, submerging half her body.
Fine strands of medicinal energy seeped through her skin, gradually neutralizing the restless power of union within her.
Only when her body slowly returned to normal did Yuan Shu let out a soft sigh of relief.
“Shushu, it seems the underground palace’s formation has kept everyone from the Hehuan Sect outside the formation. We’ve been inside for so long, yet we haven’t seen a single familiar face.”
The Hehuan Divine Tree swayed its branches within Yuan Shu’s sea of consciousness. Seeing that she was bored while soaking, it idly chatted with her.
“Mm, most likely,” Yuan Shu replied with a nod.
“After all, it is an ancient formation capable of connecting two realms. It may possess other abilities as well.”
Even Yuan Shu had only read about the Grand Primordial Heavenly Gate Formation in books. This was the first time she had seen the real thing.
The Earthfiend Clan’s foundations truly ran unfathomably deep.
No wonder even an undying, indestructible being like the Earth Fiend could be hunted down by it time and again!
“Shushu, do you... do you want to go back?” The Hehuan Divine Tree paused, asking hesitantly.
Yuan Shu’s eyelids flickered. She understood what the Hehuan Divine Tree meant.
She had once believed this world was merely one from a book, and that her arrival here had been nothing more than an accident.
But she had never expected the two worlds to be connected—that both of them were real!
Back then, after struggling so hard to claim the position of Sect Master of the Hehuan Sect, she had been betrayed by her half-sister and her Dao companion.
She would certainly have her revenge for that!
In those days, Sheng Yang had merely been a distant relative lodging at the Yuan residence. He had grown up alongside her and Yuan Zhi as their childhood companion.
Later, when Yuan Shu and Yuan Zhi entered the Hehuan Sect, she found an opportunity to bring Sheng Yang in as well.
The three of them cultivated together and grew up together.
Yuan Shu possessed outstanding talent for cultivation. By chance, she also gained the recognition of the Hehuan Sect’s sacred treasure, the Hehuan Divine Tree, and became one of the sect’s most highly nurtured prodigies.
When she took Sheng Yang as her Dao companion, Yuan Shu had personally asked him, “Are you willing?”
At the time, he had lowered his eyes slightly. After a moment, he looked up and told her, seriously and firmly, “I am willing.” She had thought he truly meant it.
Yet who would have imagined...
Sheng Yang had not been willing at all!
The one he loved was Yuan Zhi—the delicate young woman whom others in the Hehuan Sect always teasingly called “the Prodigy’s Little Sister.”
It was only before her death that Yuan Shu learned that, because Yuan Zhi’s talent was mediocre, she had been mocked and bullied. She and Sheng Yang had licked each other’s wounds, and feelings had gradually blossomed between them.
Sheng Yang had only agreed to become Yuan Shu’s Dao companion because he wanted the Hehuan Divine Tree in her possession.
By the time Yuan Shu learned the truth, she had already been poisoned by the lethal toxin they had administered. Her days were numbered.
If he did not like her, why hadn’t he said so sooner?
It was not as if she could not live without him!
After becoming her Dao companion, Sheng Yang had been allowed to cultivate in the Hehuan Sect’s secret realm and gained access to far more cultivation resources.
She had only wanted to show him a little kindness—to help him out, that was all.
And Yuan Zhi... Though they had different mothers, after the Yuan family fell, the two of them had depended on one another and wandered from place to place.
Out of consideration for their blood ties, when Yuan Shu’s talent caught the attention of the Hehuan Sect Master and she was accepted as a disciple, she had specifically asked her master to take Yuan Zhi along as well, despite her ordinary talent.
After entering the sect, whenever Yuan Shu received magical artifacts or medicinal pills, she would always find an identical share for Yuan Zhi. If she could not, she would give her something of equal value instead.
More than once, when her master sent her to cultivation secret realms, she had secretly let Yuan Zhi go in her place.
And yet, in the end, all she received was betrayal from Yuan Zhi and Sheng Yang.
Yuan Shu had never possessed much ambition.
The first reason she became Sect Master of the Hehuan Sect was because her master had wanted her to take the position.
The second was because she wanted to use her own strength to protect those around her.
“Shushu?”
The Hehuan Divine Tree’s soft call suddenly sounded in her mind. Yuan Shu blinked her dry eyes and came back to herself.
“If I get the chance,” she replied blandly.
If she had the opportunity, she would definitely return. She wanted to see whether those two were dead yet.
If they were not, she would give them another stab.
After all, when she had self-destructed while poisoned to the core, Yuan Zhi had also driven a blade straight into her heart.
That stab had hurt quite a bit.
The Hehuan Divine Tree opened its mouth, then hesitated. “Did I say something wrong? Should I not have brought it up?”
Yuan Shu let out a soft laugh. “Just because you don’t mention it, does that mean it doesn’t exist? Since it exists either way, what difference does it make whether we talk about it?”
“Besides, aren’t I living just fine right now?”
Yuan Shu relaxed her body, letting her shoulders sink beneath the water. She slowly closed her eyes and spoke in a calm voice.
“Besides, I’m not going back solely because of them.”
“After all, in that world, I have both enemies and family.”
The Hehuan Divine Tree seemed to realize something. Its eyes flew open, and it nodded vigorously.
“That’s right, that’s right! Shushu, you still have your other dao companions. They definitely won’t be deep and calculating like Sheng Yang!”
“They must still be waiting for you to return!”
