Li Lanshou looked up directly into the huge, blood-red eyes. An overwhelming sense of oppression filled his entire body, and he couldn't speak.
The huge blood-red eyes gradually lowered, cold, soft tentacles floated around Li Lanshou's body, and a chilling demonic aura washed over his face. A ghostly hand extended from the fog, seizing his neck. The blood-red eyes leaned forward, and the hard, smooth scales on its lips pressed against Li Lanshou's body. "Do you think I dare not kill you?"
Li Lanshou tried to cough but couldn't. The two clear, wet eyes behind his mask were dark.
The blood-red eyes stared too closely at his eyes. Li Lanshou's body was damp from his bath, and his scent was pleasant. The long tentacles unconsciously slid over his body.
Li Lanshou felt itchy and tried to pry the ghostly hand off his neck, struggling to regain his breath.
The tentacles slid from his wet hair to his ankles, and the owner of the blood-red eyes sniffed him from head to toe. The blood-red eyes' dark, vertical pupils suddenly contracted, as if they had just realized what they had done.
The low voice sounded again, "Do as I say, or the next time we meet will be the moment of your death."
As soon as the words fell, the blood-red eyes and the ghostly hand disappeared simultaneously, and the surrounding illusion shattered. Li Lanshou stood in the hot spring room. The lights were on, as if nothing had happened.
He touched his neck and took a deep breath. The fear of being stared at by a great demon gradually faded from him.
"Bai Ying..."
He murmured softly. Thankfully, he had already broken off the engagement. The farther away this great demon was from him, the better. Even if this woman was as beautiful as a celestial being, he couldn't afford to enjoy her.
He would leave such a harem to Chu Yue.
In a secret realm of Conundrum Sect, as night fell, a white dragon descended from the sky like a falling galaxy. Their scales shimmered with a cold light in the darkness.
Their beauty was unparalleled among dragons, with snow-white hair like silver fluttering softly in the wind, and two majestic dragon horns arching tall.
As they landed in front of a white-clothed girl, the bustling forest fell silent, and even the insects dared not chirp.
"Did you see Li Lanshou, Bai Zhenchuan?" Su Shiyan asked, frowning.
Bai Ying disliked the sect's disputes and rarely left their cave unless it was necessary. "Didn't you want to break off the engagement?" The white dragon coiled their body and carefully groomed their whiskers. "I created an illusion for him."
Su Shiyan sighed. "Did he agree?"
Bai Ying narrowed their eyes, a strange light in their pupils. "He's very bold."
Su Shiyan was surprised and puzzled. The Li Lanshou she knew was very timid. Bai Ying's illusion should have terrified Li Lanshou.
Bai Ying stroked their tentacles and said coldly, "He's determined to marry you."
Su Shiyan nodded, also looking helpless. "He's used to bullying others. I'm afraid he'll continue to torment Chu Yue."
Bai Ying's blood-red eyes blinked slowly, and they lazily uttered, "He's truly...disgusting." The word "disgusting" was bitten off lightly, seeming to hold a somewhat ambiguous meaning.
Su Shiyan hesitated before speaking up for Li Lanshou. "We grew up together. He wasn't a bad person when he was young. It was only after he burned his face and started wearing a ghost mask that his personality became worse."
"Oh?" Bai Ying was puzzled.
A trace of pity flashed in Su Shiyan's eyes. "If you see him again, please don't mention his face."
Bai Ying's eyes flickered, seemingly lost in thought.
Suddenly, it leaned closer to Su Shiyan. Every time she was face-to-face with those blood-red eyes, Su Shiyan felt an instinctive fear. She forced a smile.
"But if Chu Yue finds out that you broke off the engagement for him, won't he be smitten with you?" Bai Ying suddenly changed the subject.
Su Shiyan's face flushed. "I only met him once. Breaking off the engagement has nothing to do with him. I just hope Li Lanshou will let him go, and I don't want innocent people to be implicated because of me."
"Oh? Really?" Bai Ying looked down at her, scrutinizing her.
Su Shiyan took a deep breath and said very seriously, "My heart is only set on the Dao. Romantic entanglements will only delay my cultivation."
She paused, then suddenly asked, "Bai Zhenchuan, what about you? Do you prefer men or women?"
Dragons are born from nature and have no distinct gender. Since Bai Ying always appeared in the form of a dragon and had never transformed into a human, she asked this question.
Ten days after Chu Yue joined the sect, he faced his first outer sect disciple assessment.
The assessment took place in the plaza in front of the main hall. Early in the morning, a giant black stone was brought out. The stone's surface was smooth as silk, and it emitted a faint glow, as if there was a river flowing within.
One by one, the disciples stepped forward to touch the stone, channeling their spiritual energy into it. The stone could sense the amount of spiritual energy in the disciples' dantians, thus judging their cultivation progress.
A cultivation teacher and the outer sect elders sat in the hall to oversee the assessment. The teacher was very plain, while the elders were dressed in fine robes and followed by a group of attendants, looking very imposing.
As soon as Chu Yue appeared on the plaza, a small commotion arose among the crowd. Several pairs of bright eyes looked at him, and faint giggles could be heard.
Gu Yunzi and Yuan-shixiong came with him. They were both young men, but when they walked beside Chu Yue, none of the girls looked at them.
Gu Yunzi tsked, his eyes fixed on Chu Yue with envy. "Since you joined the outer sect, Chu-shixiong, I've realized that there’s quite a lot of female cultivators in the outer sect."
It was so unfair. The same wide-sleeved robes looked ordinary on them, but on Chu Yue, they made him look handsome and clean, with an air of aloofness. With a few black bandages wrapped around his neck, he gave off a slightly cold and restrained vibe.
Chu Yue stared intently at the black stone, completely ignoring the flirtatious glances. He seemed oblivious to the female attention.
Zhou Shao saw this and became even more annoyed. Zhou Shao's cultivation was top-notch among the outer sect disciples, and he had an uncle in the inner sect. Countless male disciples fawned over him, but no female cultivator had ever shown any interest in him. The female cultivators avoided him like the plague.
Zhou Shao clenched his fists, his face turning red with anger. He grabbed his attendant and asked, "Did you investigate his background as I asked?"
"Yes, I did. This guy seems to have been recommended to the sect, but I don't know which peak recommended him..." the attendant replied cautiously. Zhou Shao loosened his grip, his expression resentful but helpless. He only picked on weak targets.
Most of the people in the plaza had dispersed. Finally, it was Chu Yue's turn to be tested. Over the past ten days, he had been cultivating diligently day and night, and he could feel the abundant spiritual energy surging in his dantian.
The attendant called him up in a low voice. The outer sect elder lifted his eyes and glanced at him, a subtle smile playing on his lips.
Chu Yue bowed to the teacher on the platform. He raised his hand and pressed his palm against the black stone that had been touched by countless people that day.
He took a deep breath and infused the stone with his spiritual energy. Immediately, the stone was stirred by a turbulent wave, which grew higher and higher with a whooshing sound, before stopping just short of a certain line.
The elder's smile froze on his face. He suddenly sat up straight, his expression as if he had seen a ghost.
The teacher remained calm and casually asked, "Ninth level of Qi Refinement, almost ready to build a foundation. I haven't seen you before. How long have you been cultivating?"
"Ten... ten days!" the elder said in a trembling voice. He rushed forward and grabbed Chu Yue's hand, carefully examining his palm, finding no signs of cheating.
The crowd was in an uproar.
Jiang Jiusi, the most talented disciple in the sect, with an extremely rare celestial root, as the son of the Jiang family, had unlimited access to high-grade pills. It took him three years to go from Qi Refinement to Foundation Establishment.
And Chu Yue had reached the ninth level of Qi Refinement in just ten days. What did that mean?
It meant that it would probably take Chu Yue less than a month to go from Qi Refinement to Foundation Establishment.
This speed of cultivation was terrifying, beyond everyone's imagination.
The disciples below whispered among themselves. Zhou Shao's eyes were so red they were about to bleed. If Chu Yue was merely favored by the female cultivators, he could still tolerate it, but Chu Yue's extraordinary talent made him incredibly jealous.
"Impossible..." The teacher muttered, unable to hide the shock on his face.
The elder stared at Chu Yue, completely baffled. How could a boy who showed no signs of cultivation ten days ago reach the ninth level of Qi Refinement today?
Unless—Chu Yue had cultivated before, but he hadn't noticed it at the time.
With his keen eye, there was no reason he wouldn't be able to see the signs of cultivation. Li Lanshou must have interfered, setting a trap for him, and they worked together to make him look foolish.
How cunning Li Lanshou was, such a vicious scheme!
The elder felt a sense of relief and let go of Chu Yue's hand with a cold smile. His eyes might make mistakes, but the black stone wouldn't. If the next test showed that Chu Yue was still at the ninth level of Qi Refinement, how would Li Lanshou explain this?
As for the other possibility, he didn't consider it at all. If there were truly people in the world who could reach the ninth level of Qi Refinement in ten days, they would be a shockingly talented genius with an immeasurable future, a true honor for the sect.
Would Li Lanshou encounter such a person? Elder Bai didn't believe Li Lanshou was capable of that.
Chu Yue pressed his lips together slightly. He believed he was no ordinary person, but he hadn't expected to cause such a stir.
Li Lanshou had demanded that he reach the Foundation Establishment stage within a month, or he would lose his life. Now it seemed he wouldn't need a month.
Would Li Lanshou be annoyed that he couldn't use this to take his life?
Zhou Shao grabbed his attendant's collar and growled, "I don't care who he is, I'm going to find a reason to beat him up!"
The attendant was terrified. "No, no, we can't provoke him!"
"What are you afraid of?" Zhou Shao snapped, poking the attendant's head. "My uncle works for Young Master Li. We can beat him up now, and if anything happens, Young Master Li will take the blame."
"But... we need a reason to beat him up," the attendant said fearfully.
Zhou Shao looked at Chu Yue and his gaze fell on the black bandages wrapped around his neck. His eyes lit up. "What's he hiding under those bandages? Some kind of secret?"
The attendant understood his meaning and said thoughtfully, "It must be a mark from a lover."
Zhou Shao nodded in agreement and looked at Chu Yue with a cold smile. "He's been showing off so much today. I'm going to make him look like a fool!"
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