Furnace

Yan Jue listened in silence, and before she knew it, half her heart had gone cold.

She had known that the heroine’s life as an Immortal Spirit Physique was bound to be extraordinary, but hearing something like this with her own ears still sent a chill through her.

The conversation downstairs fell silent.

Yan Jue did not hesitate. She immediately tiptoed back to the second floor.

Just as her feet touched the corridor, she heard faint footsteps coming from below.

Yan Jue slipped into her room, gently closed the door, then shut the window as well.

The room plunged into darkness.

Yan Jue’s gaze flickered; she had already made up her mind. Taking out the Sheming Xu she had found in the monkey demon’s lair two days ago, she lifted one strand into her palm, spread her hand, and blew lightly.

The Sheming Xu drifted down onto the bed and took the shape of a girl.

The next instant, the lock on her door was pried open.

The door was slowly pushed open a crack; light from the corridor spilled in, turning into a thin slanted line.

Someone slipped in through the doorway.

Yan Jue hid behind the curtain and could vaguely make out a slightly plump black shadow.

The innkeeper.

She watched the innkeeper slowly push the door open, a razor-sharp hook in his hand.

The light was extremely dim, but the tip of that hook faintly gave off a dull glow!

Yan Jue’s pupils shrank.

That wasn’t a hook at all; it was... the innkeeper’s tail!

Its uneven segments linked together one after another, swelling in the darkness until it reached the height of two people. The tip curved into a barb and arched high in the dim light, trembling madly, like a predator’s excitement before the hunt.

The innkeeper narrowed his eyes slightly. When Yan Jue finally saw his face clearly, her legs went weak and she nearly dropped to her knees.

That fat face had six eyes!

Each eye glowed a dull yellow, and beneath them, the corners of his mouth slowly split into a grotesque smile.

The innkeeper stood motionless in the doorway. His six eyes flickered faintly, as if he were checking whether the person on the bed had noticed anything.

Only after seeing that the figure on the bed had not moved at all did he finally relax and walk over. The hooked tip of his tail trembled violently in the air, then viciously stabbed toward the girl on the bed.

Yan Jue had never used the Sheming Xu she had taken from the monkey demon before. Seeing this, her heart nearly leapt out of her throat.

The scorpion tail behind the innkeeper stabbed toward the figure on the bed, only to feel as if it had plunged into cotton.

The girl’s body on the bed caved in hard, yet not a drop of blood could be seen!

The innkeeper froze, then furiously jerked his tail, slicing the girl’s body open and revealing a pile of monkey fur inside.

The innkeeper screamed in panic, horrified and frantic: “Gh-ghost... ghost... ghost!!”

At that instant, Yan Jue activated her incantation and called forth the Ice Summoning Art.

Her cultivation was low; if this inn really was, as the innkeeper and the daoist had said, a massive furnace that could suppress cultivation, then it clearly had not suppressed hers.

Yan Jue’s spiritual power surged outward at once, transforming into a torrential hailstorm. Just as the innkeeper heard the sound and turned back, his back was pierced through by countless tiny ice spikes.

Blood splattered out, but it was a thick green.

Yan Jue summoned more ice spikes and stabbed again toward the scorpion demon.

The scorpion demon slowly turned around and looked at Yan Jue in disbelief.

In the dim light, the girl’s face was white as snow, and those amber phoenix eyes were long and narrow.

When the scorpion demon innkeeper saw that faint golden shimmer seeming to ripple in those amber pupils, he cried out at the top of his lungs: “You are... you are actually—!”

Yan Jue’s eyes turned cold.

The demon race was extremely sensitive to the presence of their own kind. She did not want this scorpion demon shouting out her identity at a time like this, so she instantly drove the ice spikes in front of her forward.

The sharp spikes shot out like unsheathed swords.

The scorpion demon let out a miserable scream, staggered forward two steps, then collapsed to the ground and could not get back up.

Yan Jue paused; a surge of spiritual power rolled through her chest, flooding her limbs and bones. Her body felt lighter than it ever had before.

This feeling... it was as if she could leap straight to the ceiling with a single jump.

Yan Jue did not have time to notice anything strange and simply rushed out the door.

Earlier, she had overheard the innkeeper and the daoist talking. They had said this inn was a so-called "earth-grade furnace" and that it had a suppressive effect on those with high cultivation.

Yan Jue did not know anything else, but one thing was certain: Qi Xianqing seemed to have been targeted by someone, and she was in danger.

Time was tight. Yan Jue quickly reached the door to Qi Xianqing’s room.

She stared at the quiet door and froze a little.

She had expected fighting here, but the door was closed, and it was so quiet.

Yan Jue had no time to think further. She pushed the door open and went in.

The room was pitch-black.

But Yan Jue could still smell the faint fragrance rising in the dark; it was the scent unique to an Immortal Spirit Physique.

It might have been the smell of blood stirring beneath the skin. Others could not smell it, but to the demon race, it was an overwhelming temptation.

Yet at that moment, Yan Jue had no mind to savor any such fragrance. Instead, she hurriedly searched the room.

Where was Qi Xianqing? Had she already been taken away?

Yan Jue’s heart was pounding. In a few steps she reached the bedside.

The bedding was neat and flat, with no sign that anyone had slept there.

Suddenly, faint footsteps sounded behind her.

Yan Jue’s alarm bells blared instantly. Just as she was about to turn around, her mouth was covered.

A warm, fragrant embrace.

Yan Jue’s body nearly went weak. The person pressed tightly over her mouth, not allowing her to make a single sound. One arm wrapped around her from behind, slowly drawing her back to the large gauzy curtain beside the window, then stopping.

Warm breath brushed against her ear, bringing with it a wave of unbearable ticklishness. At this point Yan Jue could be certain the person behind her was Qi Xianqing.

She barely turned her head and met those calm black eyes in the darkness. She was just about to speak when something in her peripheral vision caught her attention, and her legs went completely weak.

If Qi Xianqing had not still been holding her waist from behind, she would have fallen to her knees.

At some point, a pale face had appeared at the window.

It looked like a daoist, with crane-white hair and a childlike complexion, bright eyebrows and beard, dressed in a purple robe, full of immortal bearing. A pair of thin fingers clutched the window frame while a pair of bulging eyes slowly peered inside.

The daoist in purple then took out a small sword from his robes, muttering something under his breath. The sword shot out and firmly nailed itself into the bed.

The sword was extremely sharp, sinking a foot into the mattress. If Qi Xianqing had been sleeping on the bed at this moment, she would likely have had no way to escape.

"Not here..." the daoist muttered.

Then the sword stuck in the bed suddenly lit up; a faint green glow flickered and gathered in one direction.

The night wind blew in through the window, gently lifting the curtains where they were hidden.

Yan Jue looked at that green sword in terror and only then belatedly realized that this might be some kind of tracking magic tool.

There must have been Qi Xianqing’s aura on the bed; once the sword traced it, it would report it to its master.

Then, the daoist standing on the windowsill broke into a sly grin, took something out of the bag at his side, and spread it in his palm. With a light blow, he sent it forth.

A tiny paper figure fell to the floor.

The moment it touched the ground, it transformed into a pale woman!

The woman wore a white sacrificial robe, her brows like distant mountains, a dot of vivid rouge on her lips.

Her deathly white eyes swept around the room once, then she smiled faintly and walked gracefully toward the curtain.

Her nails gleamed in the moonlight, and they were actually a full two inches long.

Yan Jue felt the body behind her stiffen all at once. Though her breathing remained steady, it was growing hotter and hotter, almost scalding.

Suddenly, Yan Jue pressed her hand against Qi Xianqing’s wrist and gently shook her head.

Don’t draw your sword.

Qi Xianqing was startled. Her hand, which had been resting on Zhuying, loosened slightly. Frowning, she watched Yan Jue take something out of her bag—a... hair?

The female ghost swayed closer and closer, and in a blink was right beside the curtain.

Her eyeless stare fixed on it for a long moment, as if she had caught the scent of something that drove her mad.

She excitedly split her mouth into a grin; her lovely face began to crack apart, skin peeling away to reveal a faintly green face underneath, while her normal teeth suddenly lengthened into fangs!

The delicate red-clad woman in an instant became a jade-faced Asura.

"Roooar!!"

She raised her glowing white nails and clawed toward them.

Then, a golden strand of hair shot out.

And in midair, it transformed into... a giant monkey.

The female ghost seemed startled and stopped, her head turning with a creak and a rattle.

The monkey stood tall on two feet, strange and imposing in appearance. It wore golden armor, a purple-gold crown, and held a golden staff in its hand; it glared at her and bellowed.

Female ghost: “?”

Before she could react, the giant monkey in front of her leapt up and brought the staff crashing down.

The female ghost let out a shriek and fell to the ground.

The room instantly fell into dead silence, with only a broken paper figure lying lonely on the floor.

Yan Jue quickly began reciting the spirit-binding incantation. The demon-binding ring around her neck immediately slipped off; dragon roars and tiger howls rang in her ears, and the golden thread shot toward the window like a sword loosed from its string.

Earlier, Yan Jue had eavesdropped on the conversation between the daoist and the innkeeper and learned that the daoist’s identity and status were far from simple, so she had been cautious; only by catching him could she question him properly.

The golden thread shot toward the window, but she only saw the daoist let out a strange laugh, spring into the air, and vanish into the boundless darkness.

Yan Jue turned around and saw Qi Xianqing with tightly furrowed brows, eyes closed as she meditated.

Yan Jue hurried over. “Are you all right?”

Qi Xianqing : “My cultivation is leaking away.”

Then she brought two fingers together in a hooked shape and slammed them hard against her lower abdomen.

The tremendous force struck her dantian. Qi Xianqing frowned and spat out a mouthful of blood.

Yan Jue jumped in alarm. “What are you doing?”

Qi Xianqing : “Sealing my cultivation can last six hours.”

"During these six hours, I’m no different from an ordinary person."

Yan Jue froze. She knew the heroine was ruthless, but she had not expected her to be this cruel to herself either.

Still, that made sense. If Qi Xianqing let her cultivation continue to drain away, she would eventually be exhausted dry in this furnace specially refined for Immortal Spirit Physiques.

Yan Jue frowned. “Cultivation loss can be restored. Why go so far as to torment yourself like this?”

Qi Xianqing said indifferently, “Cultivation is very important to me.”

Yan Jue had nothing left to say.

Everyone had their own values; no matter what, they had to be respected.

Yan Jue told Qi Xianqing everything she had overheard earlier between the daoist and the innkeeper at the stairwell, word for word: “Just now I heard them say this inn is some kind of ‘earth-grade furnace’ and that it suppresses cultivators with high cultivation.”

Of course, Yan Jue left out the matter of the Immortal Spirit Physique.

Even though she and Qi Xianqing were now sharing life and death, knowing that the other was an Immortal Spirit Physique was still far too dangerous.

Yan Jue did not say it, but Qi Xianqing naturally guessed that this time it was mostly because of her Immortal Spirit Physique again.

Qi Xianqing lowered her eyes; her gaze dimmed slightly. “Then when you came to my room just now, was it because you were worried about me?”

Yan Jue choked, her face turning bright red instantly. “No... I just... was afraid they were going to hurt you..."

"Thank you." After a long silence, Qi Xianqing slowly rose to her feet, Zhuying in her hand. "It’s just that I’ve implicated all of you."

Yan Jue : “It’s fine. We’re a team; if something happens, of course we have to solve it together.”

"And... and he didn’t say he was targeting you alone. From what I heard, their cult seems pretty greedy for women’s pure yin essence; all of us are their targets!"

Qi Xianqing looked up and glanced at her.

Yan Jue could not keep making it up, and hurriedly changed the subject. “Should we go see how Duan Luxi and the others are doing?”

After a moment of silence, Qi Xianqing : “All right.”

The hem of her robe suddenly grew heavy. Yan Jue froze, realizing Qi Xianqing had caught hold of her robe.

Qi Xianqing’s voice came from behind her. “It’s too dark around here; I can’t see very well.”

Yan Jue: “Oh.”

She suddenly reacted. “Careful; there are stairs underfoot.”

Before she could finish, Qi Xianqing behind her stumbled and almost fell.

Yan Jue hurriedly turned around. She did not really dare to touch Qi Xianqing, so she only lightly supported the girl’s arm. “Be careful.”

Qi Xianqing said nothing.

If an Immortal Spirit Physique grabbed your robe, what would your reaction be? Right now she was very weak, standing right behind you.

Just thinking about it made Yan Jue’s nose nearly start bleeding. What was she thinking? Even if Qi Xianqing’s cultivation was sealed, she was still a ruthless person, not someone Yan Jue could protect.

-

"BOOM!!"

Yan Jue had not even reached Duan Luxi’s room when a massive explosion rang out from inside.

Duan Luxi clearly had not yet figured out what was going on. She was wearing only a thin under-robe, clothes in disarray, and was fighting the daoist.

This daoist was still crane-haired and child-faced, his complexion ruddy; his cultivation was obviously much higher than the one in Qi Xianqing’s room just now.

With a sweep of the long sword in his hand and a chant under his breath, there was a ripping sound. A long wound split open on Duan Luxi’s shoulder, and she staggered, instantly drenched in blood.

The daoist smiled, raised his long sword, and brought it down again in a vicious chop. It looked as though he was about to sever Duan Luxi’s head.

Yan Jue and Qi Xianqing exchanged a glance and leapt forward. In the blink of an eye they were in front of Duan Luxi. Yan Jue took out the Sheming Xu, spread it in her palm, and blew lightly.

Qi Xianqing took in the scene before her and frowned slightly.

The few strands of hair in Yan Jue’s hand floated down to the floor, and in an instant transformed into five or six lively little monkeys.

One monkey pounced forward to grab the daoist’s leg, another grabbed his hand, while a third little monkey climbed onto the purple-robed daoist’s neck and went for his eyes.

The wind whipped the young woman’s dress wildly. Yan Jue stood among the monkeys, full of energy and high spirits.

Qi Xianqing looked at the scene and inexplicably felt that the words about to burst from Yan Jue’s mouth were, “Little ones, go!”

“..."

After a long moment of stunned silence, Duan Luxi gave Yan Jue a grateful look and seized the chance to invoke her giant sword.

The osmanthus giant sword roared into the air and crashed down from above, instantly piercing through the daoist’s head and smashing the wooden floor to splinters.

The daoist collapsed in a pool of blood and suddenly transformed into... the same broken paper figure as before.

Qi Xianqing walked over, crouched down, and picked up the paper figure from the floor.

It was a very crudely made paper doll, seemingly folded at random from cinnabar paper.

The little monkeys happily bounced around Yan Jue for a bit, then disappeared into thin air.

Qi Xianqing turned to look at Yan Jue and said thoughtfully, “Those monkeys... are your children?”

Yan Jue’s face flushed red instantly. “Pah! Of course not.”

Once the Sheming Xu was blown, it would turn into whatever form the user wanted.

Yan Jue did not know why every time she blew hers, it became little monkeys.

The room fell into a brief silence.

Duan Luxi hurriedly grabbed Yan Jue’s arm. “Yan Jue, what exactly is going on? Why did a paper figure suddenly come to kill me? Could it be an accomplice of that daoist from this afternoon?”

“And why do I feel like my spiritual power is a little scattered... When I saw that person break in just now, I originally wanted to summon Muxi immediately.” Duan Luxi frowned and stroked the giant sword in her arms. “But it actually wouldn’t obey me.”

Yan Jue briefly explained what she had overheard just now. The more Duan Luxi heard, the paler her face became.

Yan Jue asked, “At what cultivation stage can you control an immortal sword?”

Duan Luxi had just opened her mouth when Qi Xianqing said, “At the first level, you can begin learning to control an immortal sword in the early Light-Opening stage.”

Yan Jue : “I have a guess.”

"Just now I heard the daoist say that this inn is a huge furnace with a suppressive effect on cultivators with high cultivation. Could it be that it only targets those above the Light-Opening stage?"

"Like me, with only Foundation Establishment Realm cultivation, I don’t seem to be affected at all."

Everyone fell silent. After all, something like this was far too outrageous; it was hard to believe even after hearing it.

Qi Xianqing walked to the window and looked up at the night sky. "No wonder I felt something strange just now."

Qi Xianqing was already a fourth-level Fusion Realm cultivator, and also the eldest disciple of the Five Dragons Sect’s Thunderflame Sect.

But there was always someone better out there; there were many people in this world more powerful than her, and many magical treasures she had never seen.

Qi Xianqing understood very well that she herself had only just scratched the surface of this world.

Qi Xianqing lowered her brows. "The moon is very large tonight, and there are many stars as well. When the moon is bright, the stars should be sparse. If the moon is full, the starlight ought to be scarce."

When Yan Jue heard that, she also looked up at the sky, only then belatedly realizing that back in the courtyard, Qi Xianqing had been staring at the sky the whole time.

She had thought the other woman was simply in the mood to admire the moon; who knew she had already noticed something was off there.

This woman was terrifyingly perceptive.

Perhaps from the moment they entered this inn, everything around them had already been carefully arranged into an illusion.

Qi Xianqing : “I have a guess; let’s get moving first and talk later.”

Duan Luxi went to the neighboring room to wake Chu Fu.

The hundred-step carriage had long since returned on its own. It must have already completed its task. Chu Fu still had not fully figured out what was going on, but seeing the serious expressions on the others’ faces, he vaguely sensed that something was wrong and quickly summoned the carriage so everyone could get on.

The hundred-step carriage left Mingyan Inn under cover of night.

Only after boarding it did Duan Luxi briefly explain the situation to Chu Fu.

She spoke very slowly. Under normal circumstances, at the carriage’s speed they should already have left the purple bamboo grove by now.

But they had not.

The hundred-step carriage had circled through the bamboo forest over and over again.

The moonlight was beautiful; the bamboo shadows slanted gently.

No matter which direction the carriage traveled in, it would ultimately loop back to the front of the inn.

"As expected," Qi Xianqing said. "We’re trapped in an illusion."

As soon as she spoke, everyone around her shivered with dread.

Qi Xianqing took a small compass from her Qiankun ring. The compass needle wavered left and right.

Qi Xianqing frowned and muttered, "Du, Jing; paired with Kan, Gen."

Yan Jue did not quite understand, but she knew Qi Xianqing was trying to break the array.

A strip of fish-belly white appeared in the distant night sky. It was already dawn.

The hundred-step carriage had stopped outside the inn for who knew how many times.

Qi Xianqing raised a hand. "Go back into the inn."

In the pale morning light, everyone walked into the inn and found a table to sit at.

Not long after, someone came walking over from that side.

Yan Jue froze all at once.

The scorpion demon innkeeper whom she had killed in the room yesterday came out from the kitchen, his face full of forced smiles as he handed them a menu. "What would the customers like to order?"

Yan Jue stared at him blankly. In an instant, it was as if she had fallen into an ice cave. Then she looked up and saw Qi Xianqing’s probing gaze, and slowly told her everything that had happened in the room the night before.

Qi Xianqing’s gaze lingered in the distance for a moment. "Ignore him for now."

"Find the array gate."

Any illusion in the world could be broken; the key was finding the gate of the formation.

The so-called array gate was the weakest point in the entire illusion.

Earlier, Qi Xianqing had roughly calculated the formation’s layout outside the inn.

The weakest key point in this formation should be here.

Yan Jue nodded and stood up with Duan Luxi to search everywhere.

Chu Fu’s expression was equally dark. He stood and joined the search with them.

Duan Luxi took a few steps, her face suddenly paling. She abruptly reached out to brace herself against the table.

"Senior Sister..."

Qi Xianqing stood and walked to her side, her expression solemn. "What is it?"

Duan Luxi bit her lip. "I can’t walk anymore. Everything in front of me is blurry, and I can’t see clearly."

After a moment of silence, Qi Xianqing said, "Sit back down first."

Yan Jue was still searching when she suddenly heard the crisp sound of bells from afar.

A daoist leading five camels slowly approached the inn, exchanged a few intimate words with the innkeeper, then walked out again.

It was the daoist from yesterday.

Everything seemed to be a monotonous repetition of yesterday.