Hearing my utter nonsense, Liu Lingxian raised her head blankly, staring at me in disbelief, her mind momentarily blank...

I continued...

"Xian'er, you need to understand that love is originally equal, but think about how you treat the mistress. Doesn't it sound like an elder treating a younger person?"

You want him to grow stronger, right? You want him to improve, right? You want to stand alongside him at the pinnacle of martial arts, right?

Hearing my question, Liu Lingxian thought about it for a moment, and it seemed to make sense. She had always hoped that Tuoba San would get better and better, so she nodded subconsciously...

"Don't you think this kind of expectation is something only elders have? Couples in the Daoist path think about whether the other loves me, how much they love me, and how to make them love me more, right?"

Hearing what I said, Liu Lingxian thought it made perfect sense, so she nodded again, this time without the slightest hesitation…

"What are your father's expectations for you? Does he hope that you will become more and more..."

"Getting better and better, getting stronger and stronger..."

This time, Liu Lingxian took the initiative to continue my sentence, and I nodded in satisfaction, responding with an approving tone.

"That's right..."

Seeing that she was already on the right track, I continued...

"All the support and encouragement your father gave you was..."

"They were all selfless..."

I thought to myself, "Not bad, they're even answering first now..."

"That's right..."

After agreeing with her, I continued...

"Your expectations of the mistress are selfless, so your feelings for him are..."

This time, Liu Lingxian thought for a moment and then said...

"So my support for my third brother is all from the perspective of an elder. I don't love him; I just want to..."

She ran out of words at this point, so I immediately picked up where she left off and said...

"You just want to be his stepmother..."

Liu Lingxian stared at me with wide eyes. She began to brainwash herself, constantly recalling past events...

That's how people are. When there are no steps to take, they feel lost and helpless. But once there are steps, they'll do everything they can to get onto those steps, to prove they were right from the start...

My purpose in getting close to Tuoba San was to become his stepmother; actually, I was in love with Tuoba San's father...

These two sentences began to repeat in her mind, and gradually, without realizing it, Liu Lingxian's emotions began to stabilize...

I grabbed her hand and started spouting cheesy pickup lines. This young lady from the cultivation world had never seen anything like it before, and she was soon laughing heartily, her face flushed red…

Both of them were fully conscious, and their bodies drew closer and closer...

A poem says: "With a single throw, the dragon shatters the heavens and earth; with a lone spear, it strikes nine times, sealing the borders!"

Crater!

When Tuoba San appeared here, he felt as if he had lost something. It was a strange feeling, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was...

He simply ignored the strange feeling and looked at the crater in front of him...

No one was fighting anymore, but the ground was littered with corpses…

These people all died here in the previous struggle for the Bloodstone. It's estimated that their backers will come to investigate soon...

But none of that mattered to him; what he needed to do now was go check out the crater…

Everyone was wary of the Red-Robed Powerhouse's strength, believing the interior of the volcano to be his lair, so no one dared to venture inside…

However, this does not include Tuoba San, who has now thoroughly offended two major forces: the Tai Shi Demon Mountain and the Murong family of the Qingyun Sect…

Given the strength of these two major powers, they will likely discover his existence soon, so he must become stronger before that happens…

He felt he was close to a breakthrough, but something was always missing…

A hundred meters from the crater, Tuoba San stopped. This area had previously been covered by the poison, and for safety's sake, he decided to use the puppet to probe the area first…

He has the courage to face death, but that doesn't mean he's stupid. There's a difference between courting death and suicide...

One by one, low-level puppets took shape in Tuoba San's hands. He had acquired the puppet-making technique of the Holy Puppet Granny, and as long as there were enough materials, even puppets with their own consciousness could be made...

However, materials are limited right now, and these are just puppets used to test whether there is any danger ahead; in other words, they are meant to be sent to their deaths, so there is no need to expend so much effort...

Soon, several puppets appeared in front of Tuoba San, and they lined up in order to walk towards the crater...

The puppets made it to the vicinity of the crater without any trouble; it seemed the toxins had indeed disappeared…

However, the moment the puppet entered the volcano, it lost contact. This caused Tuoba San's eyes to narrow sharply. Although there was no danger outside, it didn't mean there was no danger inside...

After hesitating for a moment, Tuoba San decided to go into the volcano himself...

Where there is danger, there is also opportunity…

Having made up his mind, he didn't hesitate any longer and leaped towards the crater...

A stench of blood wafted from within the volcano, but when he looked down, he could only see a dark opening, seemingly indicating great danger within…

It seems the puppet lost contact after falling into this hole...

Tuoba San stroked his chin, a gesture very similar to mine as a father; it meant he was thinking about what to do next…

A few stones were casually tossed in, and they disappeared the instant they passed the cave entrance, without even a sound of them hitting the ground…

Forbidden!

It seems the powerful figure in red robes left a restriction here, which is perhaps why those so-called prodigies dare not easily set foot here...

But that couldn't stop him; having come this far, he wasn't going to leave empty-handed…

So he jumped down, guessing that the restriction was just a smokescreen...

The moment they passed through the cave entrance, the world turned red, and the puppets, who had just lost contact, regained their connection in that instant…

Looking towards the puppets, he saw that they were badly damaged. If he had come in any later, these puppets probably wouldn't have reacted at all...

The interior of the volcano is vast, like an underground cavern, but instead of vibrant colors, it displays only a blood-red hue…

The entire underground world is a giant pool of blood; no wonder the volcano erupted spewing blood instead of lava…

Could this place also be a place for training blood slaves?

Tuoba San immediately thought of the Blood Slave he had destroyed on the western continent. At that time, he had obtained the Blood Slave's killing intent, which was the basis for his fearlessness of the Holy Might...

If that red-robed powerhouse is also a blood slave, then how strong is this blood slave?

Could the appearance of this blood slave be related to him? Tuoba San frowned, pondering, wanting to grasp everything, but it seemed he was missing some crucial information, unable to connect all the dots…