He thought he could seduce her with his good looks, make her reveal the identity of the “expert” behind her, and then effortlessly torture her to death amid sweet nothings?

She understood his logic, but who gave him such confidence?

Then again, Meng Xilou did possess the qualities of a domineering CEO. His status alone would intimidate most, likely leaving many young ladies unable to resist.

Unfortunately for him, Xiang Haikui had already witnessed her master and her boss in action, and just yesterday, she had confronted two high officials from the Underworld.

This broken stone from the Upper Realm?

Her boss had a cartload of those in his little black sphere.

To speak boldly, except for the Emperor from the Upper Realm or the King of the Underworld appearing before her, there were truly few in this cultivation world who could intimidate her anymore.

No wonder people say daughters should be raised with abundance, so they won’t be easily deceived by scoundrels.

She really should thank her boss.

No, wait—that made her boss sound like her father.

“Senior Brother, I’ve finished eating,” she said, abruptly standing up before Meng Xilou could straighten himself, deliberately slamming her head into his chin with full force, then immediately letting out an “ouch.”

After whispering in her ear, Meng Xilou had maintained a “devilishly charming” smile, with his chin line perfectly taut. Her head-butt nearly knocked his teeth out.

His facial nerves twitched for quite a while before he managed to compose himself. Though he knew she did it on purpose, he had no choice but to endure: “Little Junior Sister, you should correct that reckless temperament of yours.”

Xiang Haikui didn’t bother engaging with him further—it would just waste time. She directly took off the chain, tossed it onto the table, and said, “I don’t have a habit of throwing away other people’s things either. Find a maid to dispose of it for me.”

“Senior Brother, I’m going back to rest now.”

Without waiting for Meng Xilou’s acknowledgment, she deactivated the door ward and walked out of the pavilion.

She couldn’t be bothered to play-act with him.

As she walked into the garden, she thought to herself: this stinking idiot probably hadn’t faced rejection in this area before. With her showing such defiance, would he now say something like, “Woman, you’ve successfully caught my attention”?

Ugh~

Xiang Haikui stopped thinking about it—disgusting.

Why not just start fighting, capture her, interrogate her under torture to find out about the “expert,” and then kill her cruelly? Wouldn’t that be simpler?

What was the point of being so roundabout?

She truly couldn’t understand what these “clever people” were thinking all day.

In the room, Meng Xilou put away the soul stone, his lips curling into a cold smile. He felt no sense of defeat—this was exactly what he had anticipated.

He was merely testing her, and now he was certain: she was indeed a naive young woman.

Her joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness were all written on her face, unable to hide even a fraction of her emotions.

He had considered taking direct action—interrogation, torture, murder.

But such a pure-hearted young woman would be easy to make a captive. Once she fell in love, she would lose her bearings and obey his every word.

Meng Xilou needed to know who the “expert” behind her was. Perhaps he could even use her to eliminate this “expert.”

Otherwise, killing one Xiang Haikui might lead to a second Xiang Haikui appearing on his sister’s path to merit.

As for capturing a mortal girl, what difficulty was there in that?

Right now, she was merely filled with thoughts against him, instilled by that “expert.”

He would slowly uproot those ideas.

…

Xiang Haikui slept through the night, hugging her sword, with maids standing guard.

When she awoke, the maids had already prepared fragrant bathwater. The spiritual energy dispersing from the spirit spring water tempted one to action, not to mention the unidentifiable flower petals floating on the surface.

“Second Young Miss, this can clear your meridians and benefit your cultivation. It was prepared by Master Meng…”

“That’s enough.” Xiang Haikui knew it was prepared by Meng Xilou. The methods men used to pursue women truly hadn’t changed throughout the ages.

She narrowed her eyes and first dipped Tian Kuang into the water, like testing for poison with a silver needle.

Only after confirming there was no problem did she begin to undress.

Maids stood in every corner of the room. She feared those little monsters might enter, so she couldn’t send the maids away, but she felt uncomfortable disrobing in front of so many people, so she bathed in her undergarments.

“Second Young Miss, Master Meng also prepared…”

“Master Meng…”

“Master Meng…”

Amid the chattering about “Master Meng,” Xiang Haikui fell back asleep.

Tian Kuang hovered above her head, giving her peace of mind.

But in her hazy state, she realized something wasn’t quite right. Her soul seemed to be slowly separating from her consciousness.

She forced herself to wake up and sit upright.

Everything around her seemed frozen, all people motionless.

She reached out to grab Tian Kuang but caught nothing.

Was this a dream?

Just as she wondered, she heard a faint rustling sound.

Was it coming from above?

As she tilted her head up, suddenly a thick hanging rope descended from above and caught her neck!

She was pulled out of the water by the rope, her legs kicking wildly in the air.

Tian Kuang was within reach, yet she couldn’t touch it, no matter how hard she tried!

This feeling of suffocation, though different from drowning, was no better.

This wasn’t a dream! This wasn’t a dream!

Xiang Haikui remembered that her master had once taught about this evil technique that could create a dreamscape and strangle the victim’s soul within it.

It was extremely difficult to master, and nearly amounted to exchanging one life for another.

The killer would die in the dream of the victim.

As for breaking the spell…

Her master had taught that as well. One needed to find the overlap between dream and reality, then break it.

Finding the overlap wasn’t difficult; she had already spotted it—a vase on the table with smoke continuously billowing from its mouth like a chimney.

“Little Junior Sister is indeed extraordinary. You even know about this dream invasion technique and how to break it?”

It sounded like Second Senior Brother Ye Qianzhi’s voice.

Xiang Haikui was puzzled. Could it be that Father’s second disciple was also from the Upper Realm?

Had they come as a group?

Ye Qianzhi sighed softly: “But you’ve been hanged. How will you break that vase?”

What difficulty was there in that?

Master had taught this, too.

The other person had entered her dream, and within the dream, except for the rope which was his killing tool, everything else was under her consciousness.

In her mental world, like a controllable sandbox, what couldn’t she do?

Xiang Haikui commanded the vase: “Fall!”

The vase, as if growing legs, jumped off the table and shattered.

Bang!

The dream shattered!

Xiang Haikui awoke from the dream, immediately sitting up and grasping the Tian Kuang sword tightly.

The bathtub burst, water splashing everywhere, frightening the maids into backing away.

With one hand holding Tian Kuang and the other grabbing a robe to cover herself, she rushed to Ye Qianzhi’s room!

Ye Qianzhi had already opened the door ward.

Xiang Haikui entered with a grim face. As soon as he locked the door, her sword flashed, cutting a bloody line across his cheek, marring his appearance.

Ye Qianzhi’s face was pale, with blood at the corner of his lips, clearly suffering internal injuries from the magical backlash, and quite severe ones at that.

“Second Senior Brother, are you also from the Upper Realm? Meng Xilou’s lackey?” Xiang Haikui sneered. “Such loyalty! To deal with a mere girl like me, you were willing to exchange your life for mine?”

“If I were his man, I would have waited four more days to act,” Ye Qianzhi wiped the blood from his lips and smiled bitterly. “And if I had eliminated you in the dream, you would have died silently. Master wouldn’t have sensed it and wouldn’t have had his concentration disturbed.”

Xiang Haikui frowned: “Then do I have a grudge with you? Why kill me?”

Ye Qianzhi shook his head, lifted his robe slightly, and knelt.

Xiang Haikui withdrew her sword and stepped back: “What are you doing?”

Ye Qianzhi heaved a long sigh: “I’m sorry, Little Junior Sister.”

After apologizing, he coughed up a mouthful of blood. “I am truly just a mortal, a practitioner of evil arts. Years ago, Master saved me when I had gone astray and gave me a chance at rebirth. Not long ago, using certain demonic techniques, I discovered Senior Brother’s identity and what he plans to do…”

So that was it. Xiang Haikui began to understand: “So you wanted to kill me before they could, before my father enters the second grand heavenly cycle?”

Ye Qianzhi remained kneeling: “Little Junior Sister, our opponents are far too powerful. We cannot possibly contend with them, even with your fortuitous encounters—it would be like eggs against stones. To protect Master and the Yin Sha that Master has guarded with such effort, I had no choice but to resort to this desperate measure.”

“A desperate measure indeed.” Xiang Haikui cursed inwardly, You’ve practiced evil arts until you’ve become mentally ill!

She was furious and truly wanted to run him through with her sword.

But in this brutal situation, he was also genuinely loyal to her father. If chaos erupted later, he would be an ally.

She sheathed her sword and walked out, coldly commanding, “Tend to your wounds and pretend you know nothing. Stop dragging Wu Mian into your schemes. You can’t kill me, neither can Wu Mian, and Meng Xilou certainly cannot!”

Fuming, she returned to the courtyard only to see Meng Xilou wearing a dark green mandarin-collared robe, greeting her with that standard CEO-like restrained expression: “Little Junior Sister, you’re improperly dressed. Where have you been?”

Xiang Haikui ignored him, returning to her room to put on her blue gauze clothes, tying her hair in a bun, and affixing feathers to her temples.

Meng Xilou spoke from outside: “An unknown monster has appeared beyond the border. Have you encountered it before?”

“Yes, it ate Lu Xiqiao’s camel beast, and earlier almost dragged Third Senior Brother away.” Hearing something serious, Xiang Haikui opened the window. “Is Senior Brother going to kill that monster?”

“Indeed. Some tribes beyond the border have written for help. The monster seems to evolve, not eating humans, but roaming around devouring camel beasts. The tribes are now in an uproar,” Meng Xilou stood with his hands behind his back, slightly curling his lips. “Since you’ve encountered it before, would you be willing to accompany me?”

Xiang Haikui was genuinely curious about what kind of monster it was, constantly moving beneath the sand layer. What if it disturbed her father’s secluded meditation area?

As the thought of going appeared in her mind, Tian Kuang began to tremble.

She hesitated no longer: “Let’s go then.”

At the city gate, she saw only one camel beast, expecting her to ride together with him.

And looking around, it seemed he wasn’t bringing any attendants. Was this about catching a monster or having a romantic outing?

Xiang Haikui refused. She turned to tell the guard at the gate, “Bring another mount.”

“Second Young Miss, this…” The guard looked toward Meng Xilou, clearly hesitant.

“That monster evolves by devouring camel beasts. Taking camel beasts beyond the border now is like delivering spiritual energy to the monster,” Meng Xilou mounted the camel beast and extended his well-proportioned hand to her. “Be sensible, don’t make a fuss.”

If there hadn’t been so many people at the city gate, Xiang Haikui would have drawn her sword.

“Senior Brother, if that’s the case, why ride camel beasts at all?” Xiang Haikui made a gesture inviting him to dismount. “Come, let’s walk beyond the border together.”

Let you roast to death!

Sweat until you stink, and see how you keep up your pretense then!