The air fell quiet for a moment.
The ability to produce a Dao domain meant that crazy woman was no spirit puppet, but an intelligent "living being."
Yet according to the Saint's remnant soul, ten thousand years before his own era, this Qionghua Sect had already been destroyed for ten thousand years.
Which meant this crazy woman had lived far too long.
Twenty thousand years...
After a brief silence, he glanced sideways at the Saint's remnant soul and asked in a low voice,
"Old Man Luo, do you know what kind of creature can live for over twenty thousand years?"
The Saint's remnant soul seemed to be pondering the same question. Hesitating slightly, he shook his head.
"I am not sure. Aside from aberrant ghosts and demon-ghosts, not even a longevity tortoise could live that long."
Xu Yuan fell silent for a moment, then asked,
"Haven't you lived for over ten thousand years?"
Helplessness crept into the Saint's remnant soul's voice.
"Mine is due to a unique cultivation technique, and I spent most of that time asleep. What is more..."
At this point, the Saint's remnant soul spread his hands. "...I cannot use a Dao domain right now either."
Xu Yuan frowned. "Was that black dome you conjured back in Jingjiang Prefecture not a Dao domain?"
The Saint's remnant soul grinned.
"How could a half-baked soul domain count as a Dao domain? I lack a physical body, unable to even refine or store Source Qi. How could I possibly have a Dao domain?"
Xu Yuan roughly understood.
This so-called Dao domain had to be a kind of domain formed by the interaction between one's Source Qi and intent-soul.
The ghost domain Gui Qi had deployed before dying was likely similar.
With that thought, Xu Yuan reined in his mind.
Further talk was pointless right now; he might as well see it with his own eyes.
The Sky-Peeking Array was an extremely practical composite formation, often inscribed in tandem with mountain- or city-protecting formations. It allowed the user's intent-soul to link with the array, enabling control over other formations.
The "god's-eye view" Xu Yuan had experienced earlier when activating the teleportation array was precisely the effect of the Sky-Peeking Array.
The moment his intent-soul linked with the formation, Xu Yuan instantly re-entered that state of looking down upon all things from above the clouds.
This time, however, was slightly different from before, because every single functional formation within Vault Palace had now been activated!
After a momentary daze, Xu Yuan realized why.
The clash between Tianyan and that crazy woman within the sect grounds had likely triggered the automatic activation of the mountain-protecting grand formation.
Gathering his thoughts, Xu Yuan began searching among the jade halls and ornate pavilions for traces of Tianyan and that crazy woman.
His gaze swept across the palaces and soon locked onto Cherry Leech Lake.
At this moment, Cherry Leech Lake was no longer the tranquil and peaceful place it had been when they left.
The Meishen cherry tree was still there, but the vermilion Soul-Confusing Corridor surrounding it had been severed down the middle, collapsing into the lake waters.
Moreover, the lotus leaves and blossoms that had floated quietly on the water's surface were now gone, replaced by a dense mass of dead leeches.
Looking down from above, the entire lake surface was a dark, suffocating expanse!
In Cangyuan, those leeches had displayed no health bars, but here in reality, the entire lake of leeches had been slaughtered clean.
Scanning around the vault ceiling, he saw only a swath of devastation; Tianyan and that crazy woman were no longer there.
Tracing the trail of craters blasted out by the shockwaves of battle,
Xu Yuan finally spotted the two above a cluster of palaces.
The battle between Tianyan and that crazy woman was still raging. Row upon row of palaces were shaken into rubble one after another by the aftershocks, with smoke and dust enveloping nearly the entire area.
Just as Xu Yuan had anticipated.
The crazy woman was indeed the boss from the sect master's private quarters, appearing much as she did in Cangyuan—clad in red, disheveled hair flowing loose, constantly muttering baffling words like "Kill you," "Impossible," and "All dead."
At the same time, Xu Yuan caught his first glimpse of a so-called Dao domain.
With the aid of the Sky-Peeking Array, Xu Yuan could faintly see ornate jade pavilions shifting like clouds and mist, floating within a hundred paces around the red-clad woman. Celestial music curled through the air, and beautiful women in sheer gossamer moved between them. Decadent, alluring melodies echoed ceaselessly, a garden brimming with intoxicating spring lust...
Even merely observing that misty apparition through the formation made Xu Yuan's mind sway, leaving him blankly staring at the crazy woman's Dao domain beyond his control.
In an instant,
tangled desires began to surge within his heart, and his breathing grew hurried.
Inside the antiquely appointed Wenyuan Pavilion, the spirit puppet woman remained standing in attendance, while Ran Qingmo sat before the array dais, eyes closed in rest.
Xu Yuan walked toward her subconsciously, his gaze locked onto the glistening skin revealed through the tears in the Big Ice Block's clothes. Reaching her side, he bent forward and raised a hand—
"Focus your mind!"
The Saint's remnant soul barked a low warning.
Xu Yuan snapped to his senses instantly.
Ran Qingmo slowly opened her eyes as well, looking with slight confusion at Xu Yuan's hand, which had reached toward her only to freeze midair.
"Xu Yuan... what is it?"
Her voice was as cool as ever.
Xu Yuan stayed silent for a few breaths, then pointed at the tears in her clothes without changing his expression.
"Your clothes are torn. Remember to change later."
Ran Qingmo looked down, then nodded.
"Oh, okay."
With that, she blinked, waiting for whatever he had to say next.
Xu Yuan gave a light cough.
"That's all."
Hearing this, Ran Qingmo closed her eyes and went back to resting.
Xu Yuan took a deep breath, and then heard the Saint's remnant soul chuckling in his mind:
"The Qionghua Sect truly is a direct branch of the Hehuan Sect. This crazy woman's Dao domain is quite something indeed—lapse for just a moment, and your mind sinks into it."
Xu Yuan said coldly, "Did you do that on purpose?"
The Saint's remnant soul replied with a smile:
"Just letting you experience what a Dao domain feels like. Besides, it's bound to happen sooner or later, and didn't I stop you in the end anyway?"
Xu Yuan wanted to curse, but held back, muttering in a low voice:
"Shield my mind in a moment."
The Saint's remnant soul smiled without answering.
Xu Yuan submerged his mind back into the Sky-Peeking Array.
Tianyan and the red-clad crazy woman were still in the same place, and the Dao domain formed of mist remained unchanged.
With the support of the Saint's remnant soul's soul power, however, his mind was no longer affected by it.
Focusing his vision,
Xu Yuan realized that the bustling jade pavilions were mere illusion; murderous intent lurked within them.
Whenever the celestial music played, whenever those women danced with supple grace, waves of shockwaves detonated with deafening roars around the young girl Tianyan!
Fierce winds battered the girl's pale-red palace dress, making it snap violently.
Just as the Saint's remnant soul had said, Tianyan's strength was truly formidable.
Though enveloped within the red-clad woman's Dao domain, Tianyan seemed completely unaffected by the decadent music. With an icy little face, neither dodging nor fleeing, she parted her red lips slightly, and words from the Heaven Character True Words poured continuously from her mouth.
With each word Tianyan uttered, even while inside her own Dao domain, the red-clad woman was forced to flee in disarray.
Meanwhile, the barefoot girl stood firmly in place like an artillery turret.
Seeing this, Xu Yuan felt a flicker of doubt.
Hadn't Ran Qingmo just said Tianyan was no match for this crazy woman?
Looking at the situation below, no matter how one sliced it, Tianyan was suppressing that crazy woman completely.
"Old Man Luo, can you see down there?" Xu Yuan suddenly asked.
"Of course I can." The Saint's remnant soul's voice lacked its earlier amusement.
As Xu Yuan watched the battle from above, he asked,
"What is going on with that crazy woman?"
The Saint's remnant soul sounded somewhat hesitant:
"Something is bizarre."
Xu Yuan frowned.
"Bizarre? What do you mean?"
"She is a soul body, just like me."
"..."
The air fell silent for a moment.
Xu Yuan asked in a heavy voice,
"A soul body?
"Didn't you just say that without a physical body, a soul cannot condense Source Qi and therefore cannot deploy a Dao domain?"
"That is why I said it was bizarre," the Saint's remnant soul replied.
"You don't know the reason?"
"..."
The Saint's remnant soul fell quiet for a moment before speaking faintly:
"Brat Xu, this world is vast. There are plenty of things I do not know."
Xu Yuan was speechless.
The grandpa-brand encyclopedia had failed at this crucial moment.
Yet the old grandpa himself seemed entirely unbothered. Pausing, he asked softly,
"Brat Xu, what do you want to do now?"
"What to do..."
Xu Yuan murmured, frowning in thought.
There were three paths laid out before him.
The first: help that red-clad crazy woman kill Tianyan.
The second: go to the Qionghua Sect master's private quarters. Since the crazy woman had already fled her boss room, it was empty now—an ideal opportunity to slip in and loot all the treasures inside.
The third: run away immediately.
At any rate, he had already obtained the Nine Yuan Calming Technique, fulfilling his purpose for this trip.
Now that he knew Tianyan could not divine his future, she naturally could not locate him through deduction.
She had likely found him earlier simply because his coiled dragon carriage was too conspicuous.
Although this world possessed supernatural powers, the Great Yan Dynasty was an imperial realm after all, and certain feudal rules still applied. Rolling through the streets in a carriage emblazoned with a black-gold coiled dragon was practically equivalent to wandering around in imperial dragon robes; it was difficult not to attract attention.
Of the Great Yan Dynasty's fourteen provinces, even the smallest, Daze Province, spanned tens of thousands of li. In a world where information traveled relatively slowly, not even the Chancellor's Manor could guarantee finding a specific person with precision.
Once he made it out and kept a low profile under a dime-a-dozen alias like Zhou Chen, it would be next to impossible for the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion to track him down again.
After a moment's thought, Xu Yuan said in a low voice:
"I want to kill Tianyan."
The Overseeing Heaven Pavilion was already an enemy; taking this chance to kill their Saintess would sever one of their arms!
"You want to kill that girl?"
The Saint's remnant soul sounded somewhat surprised, but said nothing more, merely asking: "How do you plan to kill her? Using the arrays?"
Xu Yuan shook his head.
"Naturally by helping that red-clad woman. Ran Qingmo and I both have Qionghua Sect identities—"
"Stop dreaming."
The Saint's remnant soul cut him off abruptly, saying in a heavy tone: "If you go over there, that woman will certainly kill you too. She isn't a puppet that only knows how to follow rules."
"..."
Xu Yuan frowned, not replying right away.
In Cangyuan, if players obtained the blessing of the Meishen cherry tree before entering the sect master's private quarters, the crazy woman would not attack proactively as long as they didn't touch the treasures inside, functioning like a pass to enter and exit freely.
That was the foundation upon which Xu Yuan had dared to propose this plan.
After thinking it over, however, he ultimately decided to abandon the idea.
The risk was too great. If they killed Tianyan and the crazy woman went berserk afterward, her first-rank cultivation would ensure that both he and Ran Qingmo died right there.
"In that case, we leave immediately."
The Saint's remnant soul let out a slight breath of relief, his tone returning to a relaxed ease as he consoled him:
"Actually, Brat Xu, you needn't worry too much. Even without our help, that Tianyan probably won't be a match for this crazy woman.
"Heh... though it looks like Tianyan is beating that crazy woman down right now, the crazy woman hasn't actually suffered any real harm."
"..."
Xu Yuan paused in surprise at those words, turning his attention back to the fight below.
The Saint's remnant soul circulated his soul power at full force to assist Xu Yuan's observation.
With the enhancement of Old Man Luo's soul power, Xu Yuan could now clearly discern every detail within the spring-lust Dao domain below.
And just as the Saint's remnant soul had said.
The Heaven Character True Words uttered by the young girl Tianyan—such as "Slash," "Break," "Shield," and "Bind"—inflicted only superficial wounds on the red-clad woman. The lustful spring Dao domain surrounding her remained as stable as ever. In contrast, faint traces of an unnatural flush were beginning to surface on Tianyan's cold little face.
Tianyan was slowly falling under its spell.
Seeing this, Xu Yuan broke into a grin.
His suppressed mood instantly lifted.
*Like following me around, do you?*
*Even if you have trump cards to survive an eightieth-level dungeon this time, next time I'll go straight to a level-ninety-five dungeon to screw you over.*
Pulling his mind back from the Sky-Peeking Array, in the spirit of not letting anything go to waste, Xu Yuan had Ran Qingmo use the Grand Elder's token to pick out a secret art.
Unfortunately, the Qionghua Sect was an evil sect. While someone like Succubus Su might have taken to it like a fish to water, the cultivation manuals and secret arts in Wenyuan Pavilion were rather ill-suited for Ran Qingmo.
After browsing for the time it took to drink a cup of tea, she only picked out the most valuable charm technique, intending to sell it for money once they were outside.
In a quarter of an hour, the Big Ice Block had memorized every bit of the secret art.
Once everything was ready, Xu Yuan brought Ran Qingmo onto the array dais.
Just then,
the woman who had been silently standing by in attendance spoke up:
"Saintess... are you leaving?"
Xu Yuan was surprised to hear this and looked back.
The spirit puppet in the likeness of a young married woman stood below the dais, gazing up at them, her lovely eyes shimmering with a faint light.
After a brief pause, Xu Yuan nodded. "Yes."
The woman parted her lips, but in the end, with smiling eyes, she said softly:
"Farewell."
"..."
Though Xu Yuan was puzzled, he did not pursue it.
Right now, their top priority was getting away.
A flash of white light, and Wenyuan Pavilion fell into silence.
With spiritual light flickering in her eyes, the woman curtsied toward the dais where the two had vanished, then turned silently toward the ancient bookcases to resume the work she had carried on unchanged for ten thousand years...
Vault Mountain, mountainside.
The colossal sect entrance stood tens of zhang tall, made of a material resembling white jade. Carved with dragons and phoenixes amidst swirling mist, it faintly reflected the bustling glory of bygone days when immortals had come and gone.
In Cangyuan, the exit of this dungeon was located at the mountain gate of Vault Palace.
Shaking off the dizziness brought on by the teleportation, Xu Yuan spoke immediately:
"Old Man Luo, there should be a teleportation array here. Activate it so we can leave."
The Saint's remnant soul did not move, merely asking:
"Brat Xu, is the exit you mentioned right here?"
Xu Yuan asked, somewhat puzzled:
"Yes, what's wrong?"
The Saint's remnant soul's voice sounded strange:
"Is there anywhere else we can exit?"
Old Man Luo's words gave Xu Yuan a creeping sense of unease.
"This is the only one."
As he spoke, he asked with slight hesitation, "Are the teleportation array runes damaged?"
The Saint's remnant soul shook his head and said in a low voice:
"They aren't damaged. But the mountain-protecting grand formation inside the sect gate has been activated, and this exit has been sealed.
"Right now, we can't get out."
Chapter 113