Fellow Daoist Bu Gan is truly useless.

Night gradually fell, and the wind and rain raged on, lingering for a long time.

Yan Huanyue had just rested for a while in her room on the first floor of the inn's backyard, and was about to meditate when she heard footsteps approaching slowly outside the door, accompanied by the sound of rain.

Then came a knock on the door. The person's voice was strained and weary as they said in a low voice, "Sir, there aren't enough candles in the room. I've come to get you two more."

Yan Huanyue walked over and opened the door; raindrops danced obliquely outside the eaves.

The waiter who served them food today stood quietly outside the door, with an unclear, dark sky behind him.

Compared to when he was seen in the afternoon, he did not look well. He was holding an old umbrella with a wide brim, with a narrow wooden box tucked into his waistband, and a small bucket with steam rising from the water at his feet.

"Night is approaching, and it's raining. Let me bring you some hot water first."

Yan Huanyue stepped aside slightly. He closed his umbrella, leaned against the door, carried the bucket into the house, and poured the hot water into the new wooden basin inside.

He then took out a box from his waist, took out two candles from five candles, placed them on the table, and said with a smile, "I still need to deliver them to other guests later. If you don't have enough, I'll keep a few more for you."

Yan Huanyue said, "That's enough, thank you."

He coughed a few times, looked around the room like an ordinary waiter to see if there was anything he hadn't prepared, and then asked with extra politeness, "If you need anything else, just tell me and I'll bring it to you right away."

Yan Huanyue said, "I'm sorry to trouble you, but I don't need anything else for now. Please go ahead and do your work."

The waiter nodded, a welcoming smile on his face, picked up the small bucket and went out, closing the door behind him.

Yan Huanyue locked the door, casually washed herself with hot water, then cast a cleaning spell, sat cross-legged on the bed to meditate, and guided the innate spiritual energy and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to circulate in a balanced manner within her body.

She could feel that the spiritual energy around her was more even and stronger than before.

But she returned to the sect in a hurry after the spring plowing season ended. Not to mention going to the Heavenly Stele Trial to see how many ranks she could advance, she hadn't even met Senior Sister Han before Senior Brother Xianqing took her to the Ghost Market.

The reopening of the ghost market is something that is usually prepared for beforehand; it's not something that is decided on a whim.

Since Fu Yinhuan also has memories of her past life, she might know some things that she doesn't.

In the dead of night, Yan Huanyue dispersed her fingertip magic, set up a barrier by the bed, and took out the small black box.

The chubby little mouse in the box, having eaten its fill, lay in the corner and slept soundly.

Upon hearing her enter, it wagged its tail slightly, as if to welcome this "servant" who brought it food and drink.

Yan Huanyue paced around inside the small black box. She used to think that the space inside the small black box would grow, but at the time the difference was too small to be sure.

But now that she had come in after a long time, it was indeed a small half-step longer to walk from the wall she was standing on to Fu Yinhuan's side.

Fu Yinhuan's blood should have congealed on the talismans carved all over the ground, but the ground remained clean.

Yan Huanyue stood with her hands behind her back, looking down at the person bound by chains on the ground.

He wore a large, old cloak that made him look extremely pale and thin, like a skeleton supporting a sheet of paper.

At first glance, one cannot tell how the black robe beneath the cloak was torn and stained with blood, or how the body was riddled with wounds and ravines.

After she came in, Fu Yinhuan kept her eyes half-closed, like a fake doll made of firewood, and did not react at all.

Yan Huanyue strolled over gently, took out a short knife, pried open his mouth, ignoring the blood streaming down his thin jaw, and threw in a life-saving pill, smiling as she said:

"It's been a long time since I last saw you, fellow Daoist, you've lost quite a bit of weight lately."

Her tone was very calm, and Fu Yinhuan slowly opened her eyes.

Looking at the person before him, with her radiant complexion and abundant vitality, it was as if he had returned to that snowy day when he awoke from the life-stealing bottle and saw her the first thing he saw.

If the method of borrowing life doesn't make people forget what happened in a day, would he have spared her life in his previous life because of this?

Perhaps, but his cultivation was damaged at that time. Even if he didn't treat her as a living soil and didn't kill her, why wouldn't he make good use of this pure spirit body?

But perhaps he would be a little gentler.

Back then, she was still very naive and would feel down because of their indifference.

After rescuing him from the mountain, she always stayed alone.

Yu Zhao and Tan Guiyi chatted around his sickbed. She lingered by his door, wanting to come in and visit him, but she was afraid that she wouldn't have anything to say to them and that it would make the atmosphere even more awkward.

Actually, it's probably not difficult to deceive a girl like that. He might recover slowly by cultivating with her, but he can draw on the cultivation of others to make up for it.

Even if I get tired of her in the future, turning her into medicine is better than the regret of not being able to have her now, which is caused by long-term loneliness.

If she were still as naive as she was in her previous life, he might only want to play with her like a rabbit in the palm of his hand.

But people change, and now she's like a sharp knife.

The more different she became from the past, the more frantically his desire to conquer grew. His resentment, like delicate vines, seeped into his flesh and blood, draining his reason.

Unfortunately, given his temperament in his previous life, he was consumed by resentment and nearly died at the hands of the demon spirit.

He only wanted to find an opportunity to immediately use her to plant spiritual herbs and absorb as much of the innate spiritual energy as possible from her pure spiritual body; he had absolutely no desire to waste any emotion...

"Huanyue..." Fu Yinhuan said softly, "What did you do with my heart's blood?"

As Yan Huanyue wiped the short knife, she said, "I fed you so much poison to see the power of your heart's blood. Now, Senior Brother Yu and Fellow Daoist Tan have both drunk your heart's blood and wrist blood. The three of you are intertwined in a kind of fate."

She lowered her eyes and looked at him calmly, saying, "Now that the Ghost Market has reopened, have you ever heard a single word about it before?"

Fu Yinhuan leaned against the wooden wall, looking up at her. Her gaze fell on her red lips, and she said in a hoarse voice, "Could you feed me some water first? You haven't come to check on me in a long time."

Yan Huanyue sneered, "If you're thirsty, drink your own blood. Isn't that leaving a wound on your wrist?"

Fu Yinhuan chuckled softly, the crisscrossing wounds and newly grown buds beneath her cloak radiating a hint of pain.

The pain was deepest in her heart. When she took his heart's blood, she was hasty and rough, a stark contrast to the tender care she had shown him when she helped him down the mountain path.

Having endured the excruciating pain of being sliced ​​and healed repeatedly for so long, he had become somewhat numb.

Even the greatest pain will eventually become numb over time, just like she did in the cellar back then.

When he made holes in her body to insert the medicine, she stubbornly remained silent, but her tears almost washed their clothes clean.

Later, her body was covered with deformed limbs covered with medicinal herbs, and she was as quiet as a lamb all day long, rarely even shedding tears.

Those deformed limbs and strange eyes were like the fake life she had cultivated for him. During those three years, he guarded this living soil and harvested the spiritual herbs from her body. How come he never thought of having her give birth to a few children for him?

He can raise the children to be his most reliable henchmen, and send them to various places to help him find more elixirs and treasures.

However, this would only create more burdens; being alone is the most carefree.

If things hadn't turned out this way, why would he have any regrets or remorse? Those are just the self-deceptions of the weak...

"say."

Yan Huanyue plunged a knife into his left shoulder, her tone slightly cold, "Fellow Daoist Fu, have you forgotten how to speak human language?"

Fu Yinhuan broke out in a cold sweat instantly, the pain radiating from her shoulder to her back. Her face contorted in agony as she endured the pain and said:

"Although I have been here, I have gained nothing. I heard that someone has dug up the foundation of the Ghost Market this time, but... it has caused the Four Symbols Realm to expand considerably out of thin air."

Fu Yinhuan's words were a mix of truth and falsehood. How could someone like him possibly have gained nothing?

Who are the people behind the reopening of the ghost market this time?

Fu Yinhuan subtly dodged backward, but after being stabbed again, she became completely still, shaking her head weakly, her face deathly pale, and said, "I don't know..."

Yan Huanyue suddenly drew her knife. "Don't know?"

Fu Yinhuan was in so much pain that cold sweat beaded on her forehead. She bit her lower lip tightly, a trembling sound escaping her throat. After a long while, she finally had the strength to say:

"I used to be a rogue cultivator, only concerned with seeking ways to benefit myself, and I really didn't know anything about it."

Yan Huanyue drew her sword and said with some regret, "Fellow Daoist is really useless... In that case, I have to consider how long I can keep you here. How about I wait until my cultivation is high enough that I can use the Soul Searching Technique on you first? Fellow Daoist won't mind, will you?"

Fu Yinhuan's face was as thin as paper. She slumped against the wooden wall, tilting her head back and laughing weakly, but her eyes were filled with pleasure.

“Use it, I’m willing. Do whatever you want to me. Right now, only I know what you’ve been through. No one else knows that you’ve been keeping a man locked up and torturing him every day.”

His face displayed a kind of obsessive madness, and his tone became light and morbid.

"You and I... are the ones who understand each other best, have the fewest secrets, and are the most compatible... You chose Pei Xuanzhi only because of Pei Hanzhou, but you could have secretly chosen me, and no one would have known, right? We can both seize this opportunity in this life..."

Yan Huanyue's face was grim as she lightly grazed his shoulder with the blade, wiping away the blood. She said, with a hint of probing, "You? You don't even know how the Ghost Market's foundation was destroyed. How much value do you think you have?"

Fu Yinhuan moved, causing the chains to rattle. "It's just for the ley lines at the border between the two races, but that's all. However, anyone who dares to disturb the ley lines will be swept away without a trace. Who can really take the ley lines? What's the point of telling you?"

Yan Huanyue wiped the knife clean, took out a poison pill, and pressed it into his wound expressionlessly. She said in a low voice, "Let's try this medicine and see if it can make you last until we meet again."

The excruciating pain of having her skin peeled off and bones pulled out swept over her entire body like lightning. Fu Yinhuan was in so much pain that she curled up into a ball and kept banging her head on the ground to try to relieve the pain.

The wound where the poison pill had been pressed resembled a small fountain, with bloody, viscous liquid gushing out from the cut and silently seeping into the talisman on the ground.

She turned and stepped out of the wooden box, performing a hand seal to cleanse herself of the blood and qi.

The candle on the table was about to burn out. She checked it over and found that it contained some calming ingredients, so she replaced it with a new one.

He recited the scriptures he had brought by candlelight for a while before turning off the light and going to bed.

Pei Xuanzhi sat with his knees drawn up at the kitchen doorway, watching through the rain as the lights in the courtyard went out one by one, gradually turning into dim outlines in the rainy night.

His gaze gradually settled on one of the rooms, and he silently observed it for a long time.

This is the first place you'll inevitably arrive at after entering the Realm of the Four Symbols. You can quickly get a general idea of ​​who has come and who has come in disguise, and make adequate preparations.

He guessed that his father would send Su Xianqing, but he didn't expect her to come along.

Therefore, within the ghost market, he could no longer simply go about his own business...

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Author's Note: Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 2024-05-05 23:14:31 and 2024-05-07 23:39:19!

Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: 不慌不忙25 bottles; 做个小富婆20 bottles; 春风徐来5 bottles; 闲书爱好者2 bottles; 怀瑾握瑜, 周满的剑骨, SeU9, 42293163, 爱用龙图的小少女, and kurosakiiji1 bottle;

Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!