Yan Huanyue, Tingnan Villa, you've gone mad!
From the outside, the vermilion gate of this house appears old and mottled, extremely ordinary. Stepping in through the front gate wall, the next courtyard is also very ordinary, with a screen wall and half-old east and west rooms.
There must be a magic array set up here, so the group landed in one place.
Ning Wuyang gave Yan Huanyue a wooden token and winked at her. Yan Huanyue then held the token in one hand and a horizontal sword in the other, following the shadow of the flower vines along the wall to the first courtyard gate.
She climbed over the courtyard wall to look inside and saw a plain, unremarkable inner courtyard. Two tattered paper lanterns fluttered in the wind, and the courtyard was desolate and overgrown, as if no one lived there.
But the stench of decay only grew stronger.
She leaped into the inner courtyard, and under the bright moonlight, she wielded her knife and passed through every room.
Nothing was found; it was as quiet as any deserted courtyard.
Yan Huanyue found a room and stood under the osmanthus tree in the inner courtyard for a while, quietly looking up at the moonlight.
A short while later, a message came from outside the second gate from Ning Wuyang: "Baoying, how is she?"
Yan Huanyue replied, "It's nothing. Perhaps that person just wanted to lure me to this deserted courtyard. I probably caused all the fellow cultivators to make a wasted trip."
A moment later, the people waiting in the outer courtyard leaped in from outside the gate. Ning Wuyang landed beside her and said, "The person behind the scenes has a profound strategy that is difficult to fathom. Tonight is not the first time we have come up empty-handed. You don't need to blame yourself. Let's go back."
Yan Huanyue looked up at him. Under the bright moonlight, Ning Wuyang's face was clearly visible. She nodded and said, "Yes."
The group left the mansion one after another, and the people from the other mansions also came out onto the street empty-handed.
Ning Wuyang made a gesture, and the crowd arrived like fish diving into water and left like dark tides returning to the abyss.
Yan Huanyue stayed at the Xuntianliao for several days. Several expeditions were organized within the Xuntianliao to search for the person behind the scenes, but all of them were unsuccessful.
When the trial period arrived, she still hadn't found any definite information about the Rejuvenation Pearl, so she gave up and stayed to help Tingnan dig and search for the Corpse Demon.
At the end of the year, around the winter solstice, all the corpse demons were extinct and the matter in Tingnan was settled. She then returned to Tianyan Sect with Ning Wuyang.
Although she failed to become an inner disciple this time, she still accomplished something small. When she returned to the sect, many people encouraged her to try again next year.
On the day Pei Xuanzhi emerged from seclusion, a fierce snowstorm raged, and she accompanied the sect leader to welcome him.
Snowflakes fell gently across the greyish-white sky, making everything in sight white.
The boy, wearing a cloak, emerged from his secluded retreat. His breath was white in the snow when he suddenly sneezed, the tip of his nose quickly turning a thin, pale pink from the cold air.
He only exchanged a glance with her before going to pay his respects to Pei Hanzhou; they did not speak a word to each other along the way.
On their way back to the courtyard alone, Yan Huanyue asked him, "Are you feeling better?"
He exhaled a thin layer of white breath and said, "I feel much better."
He then reached out to take her hand.
Yan Huanyue hesitated for a moment, then said, "There are people on the road."
He looked at her, raised an eyebrow and smiled, exhaling a breath of white air that revealed a faint, cool pink hue beneath her porcelain-like, delicate skin.
Once they reached the courtyard and entered the room, he closed the door, leaned against the doorframe, and looked at her with a smile. "It's just the two of us here, there's no one else. Sister, would you help me take off my coat?"
Yan Huanyue walked up to him, looked at his face, and reached out to help him untie the ties of his cloak.
He gently grasped her hand, his cool eyes softening with tenderness. "Sister, you've been so good to me. There's something I want to tell you." Yan Huanyue stared at him blankly, then asked, "What?"
He hesitated for a long time before speaking, "I have been in seclusion for too long. There is an old friend I have not visited. I want to go see him tomorrow."
Yan Huanyue asked, "What old friend?"
He lowered his eyes, his long eyelashes casting a shadow around his slightly pink eyelids.
He hesitated for a moment, but said with tenderness, "It's a young woman. We've been through a lot together... I visited her before without telling you, but now that we've been married for a long time, I know what kind of person you are, so I'm sure you won't mind her, right?"
Yan Huanyue laughed and said, "Of course I don't mind. Anyway, you know yourself that with your body, you're not capable of doing anything with other people. I won't lose face."
He suddenly looked up at her, his eyes filled with disbelief.
After thinking about it, she remembered that succubi rarely form contracts with anyone. Once a contract is formed, anyone who has any improper relations with others while the contract is still in effect will surely die.
He lowered his eyes again, a hint of melancholy in his voice, and said, "But... before we get married... I want to bring her to the Tianyan Sect. Of course, you will always be my wife."
Yan Huanyue looked at his face with a smile and said, "Okay, let's go pick her up now."
The boy smiled too, a bright and radiant smile. "Really? You're not angry at all, sister?"
Yan Huanyue nodded and said, "Yes, I'm not angry at all. You'll be happy to have someone with you. When you get sick, someone will share the burden with me, so I won't have to keep watching over you and bringing you soup and water all the time."
"I can't let her down, sister. We've broken our vows, but no one will know. We'll still act like husband and wife in public, okay?"
Yan Huanyue nodded without hesitation. "Is that what you think? Then let's do it your way. That's perfect. If you want to marry her, that's fine too. After all, we both know that we're really nothing to each other. I won't restrict you. Do whatever you want."
Upon hearing this, the boy burst into laughter. Perhaps he was too overjoyed, for he couldn't help but put his arm around her shoulder and lower his head to kiss her lips.
Yan Huanyue turned her head slightly to avoid it, but out of the corner of her eye she saw a wisp of light catkins drifting in through the south window, rising and falling in the air, seemingly about to disperse yet remaining.
She withdrew her gaze, walked to the table with a smile, and said, "Then you should rest first."
The boy rushed to her in a few steps, threw his cloak onto the back of the chair, and a shadow enveloped her.
He reached out to put his arm around her waist and whispered, "I'm cold, sister, can you warm me up completely...?"
Yan Huanyue looked at his face with a smile, standing still, the tip of the short knife in her sleeve peeking out from the edge of her sleeve.
As he charged over, Yan Huanyue made a hand seal with one hand and held a short knife in the other, about to remove the illusion from her face first.
She had once killed a phantom in the illusion, but now... since she met him, she had tried several times, and it was still very difficult to attack him with his appearance.
Before she could even make a move, a gentle breeze swept by, and scalding hot blood sprayed onto her face, burning her horribly.
A deep wound was cut into the boy's fair neck, and the veins beneath his skin throbbed violently, gushing out even more blood.
He stared at her blankly, seemingly unaware of what had happened, his expression filled with innocence and bewilderment.
"Xuanzhi!"
Her face was covered in blood. Looking at the wounds on his face and neck, her heart clenched violently, and a hidden, intense pain almost strangled her breath for a moment.
She instinctively hugged him, only to find her palms icy cold. Her hands trembled as she frantically and futilely covered the wound on his neck, her voice unconsciously shrill.
A wisp of white fluff drifted by, and from within it a voice, distant and hollow, spoke in an extremely cold and indifferent tone:
"It's just a little bit of hot blood poured over your head. Is that all the fuss about? I hope you'll open your eyes and see for yourself where that shameless, treacherous, and despicable husband you think he is!"
Yan Huanyue's eyes reddened, and the burning heat of blood throbbed in her palms. She still didn't put down the person in her arms, but slowly looked at the white tuft of cotton with her face covered in blood, and softly called out, "Immortal... when did you arrive?"
The white fluff drifted and swirled, like snow carrying a chill. "Tonight, Xuan descended upon this house. I heard that you were sent ahead to test the magic array. I am a soul, not affected by illusions. It was only at your senior brother's request that I came to help you. If you continue to hold onto this nonsensical corpse, I don't know if you will be willing to leave."
Yan Huanyue lowered her eyes, and the illusion on the face of the person in her arms gradually dissipated, turning into the appearance of Yun Ruoliang. In a short while, the person withered up and turned into a small straw doll the size of a palm, which fell from her fingertips to the hem of her skirt.
She raised her hand to wipe her face, only to find that all the color had disappeared from her face.
White fluff swirled around her skirt, carrying the straw doll far away. The fine fluff strands unfurled, swirling into a wisp of ethereal smoke.
Yan Huanyue could still feel the lingering warmth in her hands as she whispered, "This is a magic array designed to drain a person's life force without their awareness, trapping them here to their death. The illusions are so exquisitely crafted..."
Bai Yan snorted coldly and said in a deep voice, "If it weren't for this, how could you have allowed Madam to immerse herself in it and spend her whole life in it?"
Yan Huanyue didn't intend to explain to him. She simply took out the wooden token from her sleeve, bit her fingertip, and pressed it onto the token. Suddenly, several mysterious shadows flew out of the token and attacked in all directions, causing the surrounding rooms to shake violently.
She looked up at the white smoke in the sky and said, "Immortal, thank you for making this trip. My senior brother gave me the wooden token, and the illusion array is about to break. Let's go out together."
The white smoke drifted slowly, without making a sound, and did not respond to her intentions at all. "Madam, you can go out by yourself. There is no need for you to trouble yourself with such a lowly person as me."
Yan Huanyue jumped up and grabbed it in her hand. With her other hand, she held the wooden token and activated the magic. In the blink of an eye, the room in front of her disappeared. She was still standing in front of the second gate and had not entered the inner courtyard at all.
A wisp of damp, cold mist was held in her hand, then dangled to either side of her, silently falling without uttering a sound.
Yan Huanyue immediately released her grip and said in a low voice, "I'm sorry, please don't take offense."
The white smoke remained silent, rising from her palm and slowly drifting into the night sky, flying in along the courtyard wall.
Yan Huanyue turned around and gestured to the people waiting in the corner. Ning Wuyang instantly flew over and kicked open the courtyard gate.
The solemn and magnificent ebony building unveiled itself to the public, tearing away the veil of illusion.
The five-meter-high black gate was tightly closed, and the four large characters "Tingnan Villa" were inscribed in gold ink on the tall and heavy lintel.
Ning Wuyang squinted at the mansion under the moonlight and said coldly, "So, there's such a hidden mansion in Tingnan. We've chased them out of Tingnan several times, but we were blinded by the clouds, and a cold arrow was right in front of us..."
Then a spell was cast to summon everyone.
Lu Shenchu said with envy, "I'm not good at looking, Fellow Daoist Ning, could you help me take a look? Those door studs on the door are all made of gold, right... Just how wealthy must they be?"
Yan Huanyue leaped onto the gate tower and saw that the sea of clouds inside the courtyard was churning and the dark clouds were swirling, making it impossible to see what was happening inside.
She clenched her fist in mid-air, and a horizontal blade, reflecting the cold moonlight, appeared in her hand. She hovered in the air, mobilized all her spiritual power, and with both hands holding the blade, she slashed down fiercely at the gate tower of the mansion.
With a flash of lightning, the two mythical beasts on the gate tower transformed into enormous black shadows and lunged at her.
Lu Shenchu untied the red rope made of copper coins from his waist and threw it swiftly, binding a beast shadow. Ning Wuyang fought it in mid-air, killing it with several sword strikes.
Yan Huanyue used one hand to form a hand seal and fought for a long time before finally killing another roof beast with several powerful strikes.
She pressed her abdomen, where a lingering pain from straining to channel her spiritual energy flared. Just what was the background of the Yun family? Even their gatekeeper beast was so difficult to deal with...
As the group passed through the gate tower, they saw that the dark clouds had dispersed, and inside, pavilions and palaces were layered upon each other, stream pavilions and waterside terraces shimmered with moonlight, and precious trees and jewels were arranged in a pleasing and orderly manner. It was truly a place of wealth and prosperity.
Lu Shenchu said, "This place is even more noble than the main residence of the Zhou family of Xiling. Not to mention that this is just a villa. Could the main residence of this family be the kind of prestigious sect?"
Yan Huanyue gripped the hilt of her knife tightly and gazed at a tall pavilion in the distance.
A man in black stood on the eaves of a tall pavilion, watching them from afar, his hands forming ever-changing hand seals.
In the blink of an eye, his hand stopped moving. He only slightly raised his hand, and from the shadows and water, countless corpse demons that had been successfully refined for countless years suddenly crawled out, leaping over walls and water, rushing towards the people standing on the gate tower.
Yan Huanyue looked at the pavilion again, but the person's figure had already disappeared.
She wanted to chase after him, but was blocked by dozens of corpse demons leaping into the air.
This corpse demon possesses an almost copper-skinned, iron-boned body, making it extremely difficult to deal with.
When the others who came with them tonight arrived from other empty houses, they had only managed to open a narrow gap, enough to trap most of the corpse demons but not to kill them.
Yan Huanyue led the way, enduring the excruciating pain in her head and nausea, constantly taking pills and gathering spiritual energy to disperse the poisonous nails. Several times she almost fell into the horde of corpses, but she managed to cleave a gap into the first gate.
There are two more palaces and two wide squares in front of the pavilion.
A corpse demon grabbed her leg and yanked her off the longsword.
Yan Huanyue flipped over and hovered in the air, looking at the countless dark blue faces and blood-red eyes of the corpse demons before her, the swirling stench of decay filling her nostrils.
She felt a throbbing headache and dizziness.
A wisp of spiritual energy seemed to wrap around his waist, and Ning Wuyang's voice, accompanied by the roar of the corpse demon, came through, "Are you risking your life for an introductory trial!"
Someone pulled her backward, and she felt a splitting headache, but her hands uncontrollably grabbed the shoulders of a corpse demon and were dragged into the horde of corpses by the group of corpse demons.
Ning Wuyang panicked immediately, his fingers clenching into a magic seal, and he shouted sharply, "Yan Huanyue, are you crazy! Come back here!"
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