Ji Tongzhou stared in shock as she threw herself into his arms. He had been secretly following to protect her all along. When he saw her being dragged into the city shrouded in black smoke, he didn't hesitate to follow. The city was filled with mad people and mad scenes. He searched for a long time before finding her here—everywhere were people indulging in gluttony and reckless behavior, only she was flying around wildly like a headless fly.
He summoned Heavenly Fire to disperse the black smoke, never expecting she would rush toward him like this.
"...What did you call me?" He grabbed Li Fei's shoulders in disbelief and pushed her away, only then noticing she too was enveloped in faint black smoke. This terrifying smoke seemed reflected in her eyes as she gazed at him with wild joy and deep attachment. Her compliant body showed not the slightest resistance, desperately trying to close the distance between them.
Li Fei wrapped her arms around his neck, still trembling with excitement. "Finally I see you! Xiu Yuan!"
She actually called him Lei Xiuyuan?
Fury surged in Ji Tongzhou's heart as he shoved her away again, but she immediately clung to him like ivy. After several repetitions, she burst into tears. Hearing her sobs, he felt like the sea of fire around them was burning inside his body and mind. When she threw herself at him again, he didn't push her away this time, pressing his lips together as his hands hung limply at his sides, staring blankly at the surrounding flames.
The youth in her arms was stiff as a log, not even touching her. Li Fei looked up at him and whispered, "Xiu Yuan? Hold me, hold me."
He smiled bitterly. "Let's not talk about that now. We need to leave this place."
Ji Tongzhou picked her up and flew away on his sword at full speed. This bizarre city—every time they reached its edge, they would be flung back. Frowning deeply, he suddenly shouted and sent Heavenly Fire crashing into the city. Instantly, screams and shrieks erupted again as the massive city was engulfed in flames.
Spotting a gap in the black smoke on the horizon, he dashed toward it and finally broke free from the city's constraints, leaving behind countless wails and moans in the smoke.
The blood-red sky stretched over an endless crimson wasteland. No matter how long Ji Tongzhou flew, the scenery remained unchanged. This place was too vast—even his all-encompassing Heavenly Fire seemed insignificant here, unable to break anything. He stopped on a sand dune to survey their surroundings, feeling a hint of despair. After being here so long, he still hadn't encountered Master or the others who were also sucked into the Gluttonous Beast's belly. Were they the only ones trapped, or were Master and the others also here?
The girl in his arms clung to him tenderly, her face buried against his chest without moving. Ji Tongzhou looked down at her for a long moment before speaking quietly, "Do you recognize who I am now?"
Li Fei raised her arms to hook around his neck, her voice sweet and charming. "Xiu Yuan, hold me."
Ji Tongzhou almost laughed. He set her down as the tormenting flames buried deepest in his heart began to erupt violently.He raised his hand, wanting to slap her hard across the face, just as he had done to those who defied him since childhood. She was truly a heartless and cruel woman, treating him in ways unheard of. His palm swung down fiercely, yet he couldn't bring himself to strike her innocent face. She wasn't at fault—she simply didn't like him.
What drove him mad was precisely this lack of affection.
If only she could soberly call his name correctly just once, even if this place were a mountain of blades or a sea of blood, he would stay without hesitation to protect her.
But she, bewitched by the Gluttonous Beast, called him Lei Xiuyuan.
Ji Tongzhou’s hand slowly lowered again, brushing against her cheek. She didn’t resist in the slightest, leaning against him as if in a dream, needing him. That woman who had once obeyed his every whim was a lie—he knew it. And because he knew, it was all the more despairing.
When he realized the one he loved was Jiang Li Fei, this first flicker of emotion had already been ruthlessly crushed. He couldn’t even compete with Lei Xiuyuan for her. Jiang Li Fei’s heart and eyes held only Lei Xiuyuan—he had arrived far too late.
Ji Tongzhou clenched his fist, then loosened it, repeating the motion several times. His heart burned with fire, his voice scorched hoarse:
"...You still haven’t recognized me?"
Li Fei’s voice was almost coquettish: "You’re still joking like this! Xiu Yuan! I’m really going to get angry!"
The jeweled hair accessory at her ear finally fell, landing softly against his face. He caught the pink hibiscus in his palm and crushed it bit by bit.
How he wished he could crush her the same way, inch by inch.
The intoxicating fragrance was right before him. Ji Tongzhou pressed the back of her head down, about to kiss her, when he heard her murmur: "Xiu Yuan..."
The flames raging in his chest—whether they had been extinguished or fanned even fiercer—he couldn’t tell. Ji Tongzhou lifted his head to gaze at her. He couldn’t even say whether he loved or hated her. In her utterly submissive, spring-like eyes, his reflection was clear, yet the one she saw was undeniably someone else.
Ji Tongzhou couldn’t help but laugh. Aside from laughing, he truly didn’t know what else to do. Was he forever doomed to embrace this woman only in illusions? In his dreams, or hers? As a substitute for another, or her as one for him?
His feelings for her had somehow become so pitiful, even so despicable.
He couldn’t accept this wretched version of himself, nor could he believe he was indulging in stolen pleasures, drowning in drunken dreams.
Ji Tongzhou shoved her soft restraint away fiercely, lightly gripping her throat. With a surge of spiritual energy, she immediately fainted.
Let Jiang Li Fei believe this was all just a dream.
Her fingers still clung tightly to his sleeve. One by one, he pried them loose, resolute and unyielding, then rose and soared high into the sky on his sword.
How much time had passed? Li Fei felt the entire ground trembling violently. She jolted awake abruptly, only to find herself lying on a sand dune. What was going on? Just moments ago, hadn’t she been inside that city? When had she left?
Dazed, she looked around. The vast, endless crimson wasteland was shaking so violently she could barely sit upright. Li Fei scrambled onto her little white cloud and took flight. Below, countless grains of sand on the dunes leaped and rolled as if boiling, growing more and more frenzied.
Suddenly, the aged voice of Cuixuan Xianren rang out, resounding through the heavens as if from the edge of the sky:
"Useless juniors! Even a single Gluttonous Beast requires us old folks to step in? Tsk! How can we ever entrust the sect to your hands in the future?"No sooner had the words been spoken than a massive rift suddenly tore open across the sky, splitting the blood-red heavens apart. From within the fissure poured forth a radiance so brilliant it was unbearable to behold. Li Fei shielded her face, turning away from the blinding light, when suddenly she heard the rush of wind overhead. In the next instant, she was caught in a tight embrace. Forcing her eyes open against the glare, she saw only Lei Xiuyuan's eyes gazing down at her—filled with both frantic worry and wild joy.
"Xiu Yuan!" She threw her arms around him, struck by a strange sense of déjà vu—hadn't this exact moment happened before? Her memory felt hazy.
Without hesitation, he swept her up in his arms and flew toward the rift at breakneck speed. The blood-red wasteland around them dissolved into nothingness, transforming into endless rolling clouds of Black Fire-like mist. Within the fog, countless voices laughed, wept, lamented, and groaned, while innumerable shadowy hands reached out to clutch at them.
Golden light surged from Lei Xiuyuan's palm, illuminating their surroundings in an instant and shattering the dark hands into nothingness. Drawing White Tiger Tail, his golden light sword expanded several zhang in length. With a meteoric sweep, he carved a massive arc through the dense Black Fire mist, then followed with a rapid series of slashes that thinned the darkness considerably.
The radiant rift now loomed directly before them. As Lei Xiuyuan shot through the opening, Cuixuan Xianren's voice boomed across the skies once more: "You two little disciples stay put inside! We'll deal with the Gluttonous Beast!"
The rift snapped shut behind them. Li Fei looked around urgently and found herself on what appeared to be a modest mountain peak. Strangely, another peak hung inverted above them, its every tree and blade of grass mirroring the one beneath their feet—as if reflected in some colossal mirror.
An intensely familiar and comforting aura emanated from the upside-down mountain, making the hairs on Li Fei's arms stand on end. She knew—this had to be Cuixuan Xianren's Lesser World, and the Outlander Tomb was here!
Without thinking, she wriggled free from Lei Xiuyuan's embrace and took two steps forward.
An arm suddenly caught hers. Li Fei turned blankly, only for Lei Xiuyuan to pull her back into his arms. His heartbeat pounded against her ear like war drums.
"Sorry," he murmured, voice low. "I couldn't reach you in time."
The Outlander Tomb's pull on her senses gradually faded as awareness returned to her body. She hugged him back tightly, throat aching as she recalled the helplessness inside the Gluttonous Beast's belly. Forcing a smile, she said, "I'm fine. Everything's okay."
She remembered flying through that enormous city, then encountering a group of disciples, watching them descend into madness... but after that, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't recall what happened next. She didn't even know how she'd fallen asleep, only to wake up seeing Cuixuan Xianren opening his Lesser World.
"Xiu Yuan, where were you before this?"
He looked down at her—her collar was askew, the Scarlet Hibiscus that had adorned her hair nowhere to be seen.
Gently straightening her collar, he said, "The Gluttonous Beast didn't swallow me. I used White Tiger Tail to anchor myself to the mountainside and stayed outside. Only after Cuixuan, Shouzhong, and Master tore open the beast's belly could I enter to search for you."
No wonder she hadn't been able to find him. Li Fei gave him a relieved smile. "Then you were really lucky. The inside of that Gluttonous Beast was absolutely terrible."She chattered away about the terrifying and bizarre events that had occurred inside the Gluttonous Beast's belly. After talking for a long while, she noticed he seemed distracted. Li Fei gradually quieted down and asked softly, "What's wrong? Are you tired?"
He must have been extremely anxious staying outside alone, likely exhausting his spiritual energy again trying to break open the Gluttonous Beast's belly. Li Fei took hold of his wrist and slowly channeled Wood Elemental Spiritual Energy into him. Sure enough, his spiritual energy wasn't at full capacity—he had expended much of it.
Lei Xiuyuan suddenly gripped her arm tightly, then gently released it.
"Sorry," he murmured once more.
Li Fei lowered her head with a light laugh. "What are you apologizing for? It's good you didn't go in—otherwise, I'd have been worried sick."
Lei Xiuyuan closed his eyes, then slowly opened them again. Taking her hand, he said quietly, "Since we've come all this way to a Celestial's Lesser World, would you like to look around?"
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