Ji Tongzhou lay at her feet, his breathing erratic and weak at times. Li Fei sat beside him, carefully examining his injuries. The superficial wounds had already healed, but the remaining deep and long gashes were mending very slowly.
She immediately employed the Jade Snow Technique, gently channeling spiritual energy into his wounds. Compared to Lei Xiuyuan, this prince’s body was in much better condition—no old injuries, robust meridians, and jade-like bones. Truly befitting a noble of his status.
Under the Jade Snow Technique, the deep wounds rapidly closed. Only when Ji Tongzhou’s breathing steadied did Li Fei withdraw the technique, sitting back to allow her body to slowly replenish its spiritual energy.
She had no idea how much time had passed when suddenly, a series of thunderous booms echoed across the horizon. Li Fei instantly tensed, casting the Invisibility Spell to conceal both their forms and spiritual energy. Peering cautiously outward, she saw four enormous stone gates—each towering between heaven and earth—had appeared in the distance. With each deafening rumble, the gates slowly creaked open.
From the gaps between the doors, a flood of figures surged forth like a tide. At a glance, they were all flying—cultivators?!
Li Fei’s heart pounded in shock. She didn’t dare move, barely daring to breathe. The cultivators swarmed in, an uncountable mass—thousands, perhaps tens of thousands. Some cheered, some shrieked, others roared in fury. The clamor was deafening as they all rushed toward the mountains of gold and jewels. Each carried numerous sacks, greedily stuffing them full of treasures.
More and more people arrived. The towering hills of gold and gems were visibly emptied at an alarming rate. As the treasures dwindled, disputes erupted. Everyone believed others had taken more or stolen their share. Tempers flared, and some resorted to magical combat at the slightest provocation.
Li Fei watched in growing horror. The combatants varied in cultivation level, and she could clearly see their robes—disciples and even elders from various Immortal Sects. Had all of them been devoured by the Gluttonous Beast?
By now, the mountains of jewels and gold had been stripped bare. To her terror, Li Fei noticed many turning toward the silver mountain where she hid. She shrank back, gripping Ji Tongzhou’s collar to silently flee—when suddenly, his hand shot up, seizing her arm and yanking her down. His other hand clamped over her mouth.
"Don’t move," he whispered against her ear, his voice barely audible as he held her tightly from behind. "No one will care about silver here."
He was awake?! Li Fei froze completely, not even daring to breathe too loudly. Many cultivators paused briefly before the silver mountain but, as predicted, scorned the ingots. Instead, they flew toward the remaining treasure-laden peaks, reigniting chaotic battles over the spoils.
Then, a young disciple landed on the silver mountain. His spiritual energy fluctuation was weak—likely having only recently broken through his first bottleneck. Clearly unwilling to challenge stronger cultivators, he began stuffing his sack with silver.
Li Fei recoiled in horror. His appearance was ghastly—not just his corpse-pale skin and emaciated frame, but his bloodshot eyes, brimming with maddened greed, devoid of any human light.He was enveloped in thick black mist that leaped and burned like black fire. Within the mist seemed to hide countless murmurs, moans, and screams. The man appeared utterly mad—while stuffing silver into his pockets, he wildly waved his arms as if battling invisible foes, all the while growling, "Mine! It's all mine!"
Occasionally, he would halt all movement, as if suddenly regaining awareness, and stare blankly into the distance while muttering incomprehensibly. A fleeting struggle would appear in his bloodshot eyes, only to be swiftly devoured by ravenous desire as he resumed grabbing fistfuls of silver.
Ji Tongzhou, gripping Li Fei tightly, silently slid down the silver mountain and took flight by sword. The invisibility spell shattered instantly, yet none in the treasure vault looked up—everyone remained fixated on plundering the riches. As they sped through, each person they passed was shrouded in black mist, emaciated to the bone, their eyes devoid of human reason, gleaming only with insane greed.
Ji Tongzhou's sword shot out through the vault's entrance, revealing a vast, boundless wasteland. In the distance, faint silhouettes of trees outlined the horizon beneath a sky stained blood-red, oppressive and deeply unsettling.
Li Fei felt her bones might snap from Ji Tongzhou's crushing grip. After struggling fiercely several times, he gradually loosened the hand covering her mouth. She immediately spat out, "Let go!"
Ji Tongzhou looked down at the crown of her head. In the sudden chaos earlier, her hair had come undone, now cascading messily past her ears—those snow-white ears, that snow-white neck, the same delicate, graceful body from his illusions. The difference was, this body no longer yielded softly to him. Every inch of her skin, every pore radiated intense rejection.
His pride forbade him from begging her humbly, yet his vulnerability wouldn't allow him to release her. Why had he suddenly embraced her? Was it because they'd coincidentally been sucked into the sky by the Gluttonous Beast together? Or simply because he'd wanted to hold her tight?
For so long, he'd thought endlessly—regret and frustration dominating most reflections. He'd never failed to obtain what he desired. Now facing something he couldn't have, he didn't know how to fight for it. People had always clung to him, fawned over him. He didn't understand how to accommodate her, and throwing tantrums like a child to torment her disgusted even himself.
In the end, Ji Tongzhou slowly released his grip. As if fleeing something, he turned and soared skyward, stopping at a high vantage point with his back to her, silent.
Li Fei watched his retreating figure. Though she considered speaking, she ultimately chose silence.
She needed to find Lei Xiuyuan quickly—this place must be inside the Gluttonous Beast's belly. Those cultivators earlier were undoubtedly victims swallowed long ago, each shrouded in black mist, skeletal figures tormented by insatiable desires, no longer human nor ghost, their minds shattered into tools for the beast's consumption.
Summoning her little white cloud, Li Fei sped forward. Soon, she sensed Ji Tongzhou following at a measured distance behind. Glancing back, she gradually slowed to a stop—he did the same, maintaining that space between them, neither approaching nor falling behind.She had no choice but to turn and continue flying, her heart a turmoil of emotions. This willful prince—the woman who drove him to madness was merely an illusion. Why cling to such a fantasy? How pitiful to be unable to distinguish reality from dreams.
"Ji Tongzhou." Li Fei suddenly stopped again and called out to him. He halted mid-air as well, silently gazing at her.
There was so much she wanted to say to him. They had been friends for seven years, growing up together since childhood. Did he truly want their relationship to become worse than that of strangers? How long would this awkwardness last? Or was it that seven years of friendship could be discarded so easily?
Though he was willful, arrogant, and never considerate of others, he wasn’t a bad person. She genuinely considered him a friend. With this straightforward and candid young prince around, their days at the Academy had been filled with countless amusing memories. Even after parting ways to join different sects, his cheerful nature had always made everyone feel at ease.
Why had he suddenly become a different person? Heaven knew how much she missed the old Ji Tongzhou. This gloomy, reticent young man wasn’t him. The one who publicly humiliated her and acted so outrageously—that wasn’t him either.
"I..." Li Fei managed only a single word before Ji Tongzhou abruptly cut her off. "Don’t."
"...What?"
"I said don’t speak."
"What do you think I was going to say?"
Ji Tongzhou suddenly smiled, his expression full of mockery. "I know. You’ve already made up your mind about me, haven’t you? Jiang Li Fei, how much do you really understand about me? The Ji Tongzhou you wish for is nothing but a figment of your imagination. That person never truly existed."
Li Fei was momentarily at a loss for words. He claimed she didn’t understand him—perhaps he was right. From the moment they met and became friends, she had never once considered what Ji Tongzhou truly thought. He was always so forthright, wearing his emotions on his sleeve, leaving no need for guesswork. Yet, ironically, this seemingly carefree person was the one most deeply ensnared by illusions. She truly hadn’t understood the Ji Tongzhou hidden in his deepest depths.
"Let’s go." Ji Tongzhou averted his gaze, his voice indifferent. "Aren’t we looking for Lei Xiuyuan?"
Li Fei remained silent for a moment before suddenly speaking softly, "Don’t follow me."
Ji Tongzhou’s eyes snapped up to stare at her, that same inscrutable, heart-wrenching look crossing his face once more.
Steeling herself, she added quietly, "Don’t follow me. The one I like isn’t you. I’m sorry, but you’re just in the way."
With that, she swiftly turned and flew away without looking back at his expression. She didn’t want to see it—not at all.
She flew for what felt like an eternity, and indeed, no one followed. Li Fei raced aimlessly across the desolate plains until, suddenly, a massive city loomed ahead, occupying a vast stretch of the wasteland. She jerked to a halt, her heart pounding with alarm. Black smoke coiled over the city as if the entire place were engulfed in Black Fire—a sight so horrifying it defied description.
Instinct warned her to stay away. Carefully, she maneuvered her cloud to skirt the smoke-shrouded city. But the moment she drew near, countless murmurs and moans seemed to whisper in her ears—some ecstatic, some seductive, some filled with temptation, others with laughter. Li Fei’s mind buzzed chaotically, her body no longer under her control as a soft, irresistible pull dragged her straight toward the city.Li Fei landed on the spacious jade-white streets as the black smoke instantly dissipated. Raising her head in bewilderment, she saw a city adorned with vibrant flowers and shaded by lush trees. Exquisitely crafted houses were arranged in neat, spacious rows, while countless people filled the streets—some drunkenly slumped against walls, others singing and laughing merrily. Each person was enveloped in thick black mist, yet their attire unmistakably identified them as cultivation disciples or elders.
A group of people staggered toward her as if intoxicated, chatting and laughing indistinctly. To her shock, Li Fei spotted several female disciples wearing Fire Lotus Sect robes among them—the same group she had seen at the inn just days earlier during their trial mission. She hastily grabbed one of the female disciples and exclaimed, "Why are you all here too?"
The disciple's face bore the blissful grin of a drunkard. When she opened her mouth, a strong alcoholic breath wafted over Li Fei's face. Giggling, the disciple slurred, "This place has everything—it's wonderful! It must be the legendary Supreme Bliss Divine Realm!"
Before Li Fei could ask further, the disciple shook off her grip and staggered away, laughing uncontrollably.
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