Xun Hua couldn't contain himself and pulled out the large cleaver tucked at his waist, ready to charge forward.

"Splash!"

A gust of wind blew by, and the ginkgo trees outside the hall rustled, scattering golden leaves.

In a daze, Lu Zhaozhao seemed to hear the sound of war drums, echoing Xun Hua's footsteps.

A familiar fragrance filled the air, like the scent of lilies, but fainter, lingering and stirring my thoughts.

Mingming was focused on the movement at Xun Hua's feet, but in the next instant, she suddenly became distracted and her attention shifted.

wrong!

Lu Zhaozhao shook her head. She suddenly realized the problem: her senses seemed to have lost their sharpness. It seemed that after entering this place, she had gradually lost her focus.

Where is the problem? Is it a layout issue?

Lu Zhaozhao quickly scanned her surroundings.

It was magnificent and resplendent, yet there was nothing wrong with it.

What exactly is the reason?

She frowned, her thoughts gradually calming as the faint fragrance wafted through her.

Wait! The aroma!

She immediately leaned out the window, but there wasn't a lily in sight. The smell of rotting wood still lingered, and Lu Zhaozhao suddenly realized what had felt off earlier.

Even if a thousand-year-old nanmu tree begins to wear down with age, it would not have this smell. Legend has it that the process of nanmu wood decaying is accompanied by a pleasant fragrance.

The smell wasn't from the nanmu wood. This dragon palace was exquisitely carved, and its owner would never allow something that could emit a strange odor to appear in his mausoleum.

If that's the case, the owner of this place must have placed this aroma here, so there must be a reason for its existence.

Lu Zhaozhao frowned, and the fresh floral scent entered her nostrils once again. In that instant, she suddenly remembered what the scent was.

Manjusaka, the nunnery where she lived in the illusion of Futu Temple, where Master Jingwen once planted Manjusaka all over the backyard!

She remembered that when she first entered the sea of ​​flowers, she was caught off guard and fainted among the blossoms. It was Abbess Jingwen who noticed she was missing and immediately searched for her, eventually bringing her out of the flower field.

The first thing she learned when she woke up was that the red spider lily is poisonous and hallucinogenic!

So that's why she's been having trouble concentrating since she stepped into this place, and why the air is often filled with the smell of decay—it's all to mask the scent of the red spider lilies hidden within!

So the question is, what is the intention behind this trap?

Although the red spider lily is poisonous, the fragrance in the air here is not strong, at most it can only cause hallucinations. If it is only for hallucination, there must be a follow-up. What will the follow-up be?

Lu Zhaozhao's brows furrowed even more.

Suddenly, she heard a noise behind her. She turned around and saw that Xun Hua had accidentally bumped into a bookshelf on his way forward.

He stood up unsteadily, wanting to continue forward.

"Wait! There's something wrong with the air!" Lu Zhaozhao exclaimed, trying to stop him from moving forward: "Don't go any further! Turn back!"

But Xun Hua seemed not to hear her voice, staring at the stairs and walking in that direction.

Bai Yuanshi also realized something was wrong and immediately held his breath after Lu Zhaozhao spoke.

Fortunately, he was not far from the door and had not inhaled too much of the fragrance, so he remained awake.

He glanced at Xun Hua, then closed his eyes and tilted his head to listen to something.

Suddenly, he opened his eyes, moved instantly to Xun Hua's side, gripped his shoulder tightly, his five fingers digging deep, and then used the force to back away.

The next second, a rain of arrows suddenly fell from where Xun Huayuan was standing, sharp and dense.

Xun Hua, who had been pulled to the door, hadn't even stood still when he saw this scene and his legs immediately went weak.

Clearly, if Bai Yuanshi hadn't been alert and intervened, he would never have been able to escape the rain of arrows, and the power of those arrows would likely have killed him on the spot.

He collapsed to the ground, still shaken, staring at what lay before him in disbelief.

After offering a few words of comfort, Lu Zhaozhao looked at Bai Yuanshi and asked, "How did you know there would be a rain of arrows there?"

Bai Yuanshi pointed to his ears and said, "My hearing is extraordinary; I can hear faint, hidden sounds. Just now, before the rain of arrows was triggered, I heard the sound of a mechanism being pulled."

Lu Zhaozhao nodded knowingly, her wariness towards him increasing. She wondered to herself, could this person have recognized her by her voice?

"So how do we get there now?" Bai Yuanshi didn't want to get entangled here any longer, so he turned to Lu Zhaozhao and asked.

Lu Zhaozhao looked at him in confusion. It was obvious that as long as one ran fast enough and did not inhale the fragrance of flowers to induce hallucinations, one could directly ascend to the second level. She did not believe that Bai Yuanshi could not see such a simple method.

But when her gaze fell on Xun Hua on the ground, she realized that what Bai Yuanshi wanted to ask was how to take him with him.

Lu Zhaozhao was somewhat troubled. Xun Hua was slumped on the ground, looking rather unwell. He probably had just woken up from a hallucination and then saw the rain of arrows, which had frightened him quite a bit.

But simply waiting for him to recover isn't a solution.

Lu Zhaozhao sighed, squatted down to meet his gaze, and asked, "Fellow Daoist Xun, I wonder if you can still go forward?"

"Yes, of course!" Xun Hua replied immediately, though his tone betrayed a hint of uncertainty.

Lu Zhaozhao didn't care what he was thinking. She nodded and said to Bai Yuanshi, "In that case, I'll trouble Senior Brother Bai to lead him forward with me. Senior Brother is sharp-witted and quick-witted, he'll surely lead us away from danger."

Looking down at Lu Zhaozhao, whose eyebrows were curved, Bai Yuanshi seemed to be able to see the corners of her mouth that were smiling but not smiling through the veil. For a moment, he felt as if he had been tricked, but he didn’t know where he had been tricked.

Time waits for no one, so he had no choice but to agree.

Lu Zhaozhao's lips curled up slightly. She stood up and pulled Xun Hua up. Seeing Bai Yuanshi supporting Xun Hua's elbow on one side, she followed suit and supported the other side as well.

"Keep up close, or I won't stop to wait for you," Bai Yuanshi said coldly.

Lu Zhaozhao readily agreed.

The next instant, Bai Yuanshi moved, and Lu Zhaozhao immediately followed.

As Lu Zhaozhao moved through the first-floor hall, countless hidden weapons slid past her without causing her any harm, and she couldn't help but feel admiration.

Given the situation just now, it wasn't that she couldn't think of other ways. The reason she came up with this most foolish method was to test Bai Yuanshi's strength.

Clearly, it was beyond her expectations.

A person can hear unusual sounds and pinpoint their exact location in an instant, and at the same time, their body can react in accordance with their thoughts, and they can maintain a high speed while carrying another person.

He was able to persuade Master Bu Lu to break the rules and accept disciples again, and at a young age, he became the Dean of Wenyuan Academy, and was hailed as the most outstanding young talent in the cultivation world.

Master Bai Yuan is indeed not to be underestimated.