Countless eyes peeked through the crack in the door, staring intently at Lu Fuyue as if she were some delicious delicacy, occasionally sticking out their tongues to lick their dry, cracked lips.

There was not a breath of wind in the air, and the surroundings were completely silent, except for the sound of Lu Fuyue and Jian Xun's footsteps.

Lu Fuyue's eyes narrowed slightly as she pretended to casually glance around, but in reality, she was secretly observing the surrounding situation. The pairs of eyes staring at her were so unsettling that she paused for a moment before returning to normal and continuing to follow behind Jian Xun.

Now she was certain that the person walking in front of her was suspicious, but she didn't know what role they played.

The person walking in front seemed to notice something and turned around, saying, "Sister Lu, why aren't you saying anything?"

Lu Fuyue looked up at the man, her gaze lingering on his face for a few seconds almost imperceptibly before returning to normal. She lowered her eyes and slowly asked, "How old are you this year?"

Jian Xun was taken aback, turned his head forward, and took a step forward. "I thought you were going to ask something else."

"For example, I brought you here because I want to do something."

Lu Fuyue's body stiffened, but she calmed down the next second and did not say anything.

But the person in front suddenly laughed, then stopped and turned around to look at Lu Fuyue with great interest. "Sister Lu, why don't you guess how old I am? If you guess right, perhaps I can tell you how to leave this place without you even having to find the village chief?"

Lu Fuyue also stopped, looked directly at him, then lowered her eyes to think for a moment before shaking her head.

Even if he figures it out, he probably won't let her off easily.

"You don't guess because you don't trust me?"

"But that makes sense, even if I guessed right, you still can't leave this place!"

As that cold voice fell, the sky suddenly darkened, the village disappeared, and all the courtyards vanished as well. Countless malevolent and ghostly auras emerged from all directions, surrounding Lu Fuyue.

The person in front of him, who was originally a thin boy, suddenly became tall and strong, and his appearance became more mature. He changed his previous naivety and shyness, and his gaze was like a sharp sword as he looked at Lu Fuyue.

"You give me a strange feeling. You seem like a human cultivator, but there seems to be something else in your aura that masks your true nature."

"It's like... a secret technique that can conceal one's physical constitution!"

Lu Fuyue's expression suddenly changed slightly. She raised her hand and summoned the Weak Water Harp. She looked warily at the man in front of her whose aura had changed drastically, and said coldly, "And you? If I'm not mistaken, all of this is an illusion you created to deceive me, isn't it?"

Jian Xun raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "No, you're wrong. These aren't illusions. Everything you just saw is real."

"It's just a matter of whether you can see it or not."

After saying that, he glanced at a certain spot and said, "Village Chief, didn't you want to make another soul lamp? This cultivator's soul is just right."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the burly man who had appeared earlier suddenly appeared in front of Jian Xun. At this moment, he had completely abandoned his previous lewd appearance and was now exuding a chilling and fierce aura.

"Her cultivation level is a bit low, but fortunately she's a woman. Judging from her talent, her soul's grade is probably not bad either."

Jian Xun narrowed his eyes and slowly said, "You're wrong about that. She carries the aura of a god. How could a soul lamp made from her divine soul be bad!"

Li Dazhuang's expression changed drastically. "What? Where in this world can you find any trace of the gods?"

Lu Fuyue tensed up at the sight before her. Although she had expected Jian Xun to recognize her, she never imagined he could actually sense the Phoenix Clan aura emanating from her.

Jian Xun smiled, a meaningful look on his face. "Perhaps there really is."

With that, he raised his hand and waved it, and a sharp aura instantly rushed towards Lu Fuyue. A huge abyss rift appeared out of thin air beneath Lu Fuyue's feet. The next second, before she could react, her body fell uncontrollably down. The feeling of weightlessness came over her again, making her heart skip a beat.

Jian Xun walked to the edge of the abyss, looking down at her as her figure grew smaller and smaller as she fell. "You came with me to find a way out, didn't you? In that case, I'll grant your wish. Whether you become the raw material for the Soul Lamp or leave this place alive depends entirely on you."

"Good luck."

Li Dazhuang rushed to the edge of the abyss and lashed out a long whip in an attempt to pull Lu Fuyue up, but in the blink of an eye, she had already fallen in and disappeared.

He stomped his foot and cursed, "You bastard, what are you doing? You know I like to skin cultivators alive, yet you insist on taking her to that place."

Jian Xun gazed intently at the closing abyss rift with deep, dark eyes, and casually said, "Don't you think it would be more fun to throw her into that place and let her suffer countless torments before she dies?"

Li Dazhuang glared at him fiercely, then suddenly raised his hand and lashed out with a whip, slicing through the air and striking Jian Xun's face. Instantly, a bloody and terrifying gash appeared, and drops of blood dripped from his face onto the ground.

But Jian Xun seemed to feel no pain, standing motionless with his head down, letting the blood drip down.

"Everyone says I'm perverted and ruthless, but I think you're even more terrifying than me. Speaking of which, you spent some time with that female cultivator. I thought you would give her a quick death, but it seems I was wrong after all."

"But this is a one-time exception, or don't blame me for throwing you out to be eaten by everyone!"

After saying that, Li Dazhuang turned into a wisp of black smoke and disappeared.

However, as soon as he left, hordes of wild ghosts pounced on him from all directions, tearing at Jian Xun's body, knocking him to the ground, and devouring his cultivation and life force, causing a dense, throbbing pain to spread throughout his body.

However, he closed his eyes and fell to the ground, neither resisting nor struggling, only giving a faint twitch of his lips.

How can a ghost with its heart ripped out have any emotions?

He only spared her life because she had given him a name.

...

Soon, Lu Fuyue woke up in a dimly lit place. She opened her eyes, got up and looked around, only to find a large black spider suddenly crawling up to her, its sharp teeth bared, and it opened its mouth wide to bite her calf.

Lu Fuyue's pupils suddenly contracted, and she quickly scrambled away from the large black spider. However, at that moment, she heard a series of soft, rustling sounds behind her. When she turned around, she saw a pile of black bones scattered on the ground.