What snake meat?

Song Yuan Yuan and Chang Fei instinctively looked down at the dishes on the table, only to see that the previously fragrant stir-fried meat and vegetables had in that instant transformed into numerous thin snakes, blue and red mingled together, opening their mouths with attacking hisses.

“Damn it, I knew this was a black shop!”

Chang Fei could no longer hold back. He stood up, drew his sword, and slashed.

Dozens of thin snakes on the table lunged to attack them. At the same time, the waiter transformed again into a snake demon with a roar, but this time they weren’t expelled from the illusion.

The waiter’s human body remained standing in place, but his flying head was connected to a long snake body. Green scales glittered, and on the snake’s head was a pair of red eyes, coldly surveying everyone in the room.

“Don’t you humans love to eat this sort of thing?” The snake demon’s mouth opened and closed, coldly mocking them. “Today, I’ll let you eat your fill!”

Chang Fei shouted: “Brothers, attack!”

He was the first to slash at the snake demon.

His sword energy surged as he cut open the paper door of the private room. A waitress passing by the door with a tray of dishes was wounded by this stroke and fell to the ground. In an instant, black mist filled the room, and Chang Fei was once again transported out of the illusion to the gate.

Chang Fei: “…”

He went crazy: “Why?!”

“You hurt someone,” Xu Shen, sharp-eyed, immediately made a judgment. “Although we must eliminate demons, we can’t harm ordinary people.”

“Then why can we fight when we provoke him to reveal his true form in the restaurant?” Song Yuan Yuan asked, puzzled.

Ling Luo explained: “Because the restaurant belongs to the snake demon. We can only battle on his territory. That’s the rule set by the Heaven-Devouring Tower.”

Chang Fei turned back to look at Ling Luo: “How did you know those plates were full of snakes?”

Ling Luo replied without changing her expression: “Use your brain. What do you think a snake demon’s restaurant would serve you?”

Chang Fei: “…”

He covered his mouth, heartbroken.

Are you saying I didn’t use my brain?!

Song Yuan Yuan scratched his head and said: “Snakes eat moles and frogs. Shouldn’t those be on the plates?”

Ling Luo mocked: “Are you stupid? You’re not its kind, but a cultivator with a sword coming to eliminate demons. It would be foolish to give you what it truly considers food. You want to eat it, but it won’t let you.”

Song Yuan Yuan and Chang Fei held their heads and cried.

This was just another day of being mocked by their genius junior sister.

Xu Shen once again pushed open the gate and, after entering the illusion, said: “Now we can confirm that we can only fight in the restaurant and must not harm ordinary people.”

“Then let’s fight in the private room upstairs,” Song Yuan Yuan said, looking at the crowded first floor. “It’s not good to fight down here.”

So when the waiter led them up to the private room on the second floor and just closed the door, the waiter turned around and asked: “Would the guests like to order first—”

“Die, you bastard!” Chang Fei drew his sword and slashed at him.

Black mist passed by.

Chang Fei, who had been transported out of the illusion again, was so angry that he slashed his sword at the gate, only to be stopped by Xu Shen. He listened as Chang Fei went crazy: “Why this time?!”

Ling Luo said expressionlessly: “It hadn’t revealed its true form yet.”

Chang Fei went berserk: “Ah!”

“Calm down, don’t be so hasty!” Xu Shen said.

Song Yuan Yuan hung his head and said: “As expected of the Heaven-Devouring Tower, with these messy settings. No wonder those powerful senior brothers and sisters have only hovered around the six-hundredth floor for so many years.”

He tilted his head to look at Yue Liang Ze beside him and suspiciously asked: “Little Daddy, you’re not falling asleep, are you?”

Yue Liang Ze reached out to rub his eyes. “No.”

Song Yuan Yuan was speechless.

I saw it!

You had your eyes closed just now!

Ling Luo pushed open the gate again and said: “This time, everyone stays calm. Don’t be so impulsive. Now that we know the rules, it should be easy to fight.”

Chang Fei followed with his head drooping.

First attempts are vigorous, second attempts weaken, and third attempts exhaust. He had been tormented to the point of losing his temper.

Once again in the private room of the restaurant, the waiter smiled: “First, let me bring each guest a cup of tea to warm up!”

Chang Fei said weakly: “Black shop.”

The waiter became furious and revealed his true form: “Don’t call my shop black!”

Chang Fei stood guard at the door with his sword and said: “This time I’ll block here and absolutely won’t let other people get hurt.”

But the snake demon wouldn’t obediently stay in the room to be beaten. Its snake body arbitrarily elongated and twisted, sweeping across the room’s structure and charging outward. Chang Fei blocked it with his sword.

Although Xu Shen practiced sword dao, he was more skilled in incantations, so he set up a formation to trap the snake demon and prevent it from going outside to harm people.

The snake demon, seeing that he was setting up the formation, turned to mainly attack Xu Shen but was blocked by Ling Luo.

After several moves, the snake demon was quite battered, so it angrily shouted: “Do you think this is all?”

As it raised its head and roared, a second, third, and fourth snake demon grew from the waiter’s neck—they were of different colors, blue, yellow, and green all mixed, but they all had the same crimson eyes, their bodies full of demonic malevolence.

“Nine? That many? You’re cheating! Shameless! Despicable! Shameless!” Chang Fei raged. “There are only five of us in total!”

The snake demons laughed eerily: “Scared?”

“If you’re scared, then hurry up and leave!”

“Don’t go, all of you stay, let me have a good feast!”

“How can such a beautiful young girl fight alongside these stinking boys? Little girl, come here, I promise not to kill you.”

“Pah! Your voice is so old it stinks, yet you still have such delusions!” Chang Fei said with disgust, wielding his sword to fight.

The sudden appearance of nine snake heads gave the snake demon the upper hand.

The snake demon said: “That fan is so beautiful, let me take it!”

“Come and take it then.” Ling Luo smiled, infusing spiritual power into Yingxi.

Five snake heads immediately flew toward Ling Luo, mocking: “You don’t know your limits!”

The blood-red fan’s face opened, and falling firefly light flew to the fan’s face. As they fell, they made the rich blood color fade away, revealing an exquisitely beautiful West Sea cherry blossom picture.

The five approaching snakeheads were blocked by the suddenly appearing cherry tree, and at the same time, brown branches sprouted on their bodies and in the corners of the room.

Song Yuan Yuan was surprised to see three to five cherry blossoms sprouting from his palm.

Within the range covered by Yingxi’s sea of flowers, it would absorb the life force of things in the area and sprout flower branches, using this power for itself.

This move was called Planting the Spirit.

Although Yun Shou Xi had not yet taught her, Ling Luo was already proficient in it.

The cherry tree budding, sprouting branches, growing leaves, and blossoming all happened in an instant.

Ling Luo inverted the fan face of Yingxi in her hand, turning to the falling flowers side. With the crisp sound of a bell, flower branches throughout the room withered and fell.

The swirling petals represented thousands upon thousands of spiritual power gathering, entangling the snake heads, scraping out bloody marks on the snake scales. The snake bodies were restrained, making them howl in fury, turning their bodies upside down and crashing about.

The flower forest on Yingxi’s fan face was still withering, with flying petals pink and white like snow, nearly submerging the entire room.

Chang Fei and Song Yuan Yuan both hid behind Ling Luo.

“How much powerful spiritual energy would this require!” Song Yuan Yuan exclaimed. “Is this how Yingxi is supposed to be used?”

“Before we only saw her swing the fan a couple of times and people were defeated. There was no chance to trigger Yingxi’s spiritual nature,” Chang Fei sighed. “Looking at it now, it’s truly worthy of being a high-grade weapon.”

Xu Shen, who had already set up the formation to prevent Yingxi and the snake heads from going out of control and hurting others, raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead and said in a deep voice: “Although Yingxi is said to be a high-grade weapon, it was the last weapon forged by Master Zhan Qiong of Taichu in the Western Sea. It’s rumored that its power can compare with divine weapons.”

But no one had ever seen it.

Because when Yingxi was forged, it was delivered to San Xi Zhen Jun of Tianji on the Eastern Island. After Master Zhan Qiong ascended to immortality, no one in the world had seen what Yingxi’s fan dance looked like again.

No one had seen Yun Shou Xi use Yingxi either.

It was only when Ling Luo received Yingxi that people like Mu Ya felt that Yun Shou Xi truly doted on his little disciple.

While those around him were discussing the terrifying aspects of Yingxi, Yue Liang Ze remembered how Ling Luo had used Yingxi to peel chestnuts and cook plain porridge the other day. His gaze became complex, finding it difficult to feel reverence.

Countless cherry blossom petals in the sky transformed into spiritual power, completely slaughtering the snakeheads. Blood sprayed wildly, dyeing the pink-white cherry blossoms red, and also staining the surrounding walls of the room.

The snake demon’s wailing still echoed in their ears, but the surging tide of flowers had already dispersed in an instant, leaving only blood-stained petals falling on Yingxi’s fan, gradually dyeing the flower forest red, making the fan’s face return to a blood-red color.

Ling Luo closed her fan and turned back to look at everyone, frowning: “Why are you all hiding behind me? Why didn’t you join the fight just now?”

Xu Shen said calmly: “I was setting up the formation.”

Chang Fei’s temple twitched slightly: “Wasn’t it because we were afraid of rashly going up and disturbing you?”

“Besides, who knows if Yingxi’s flowers would have cut us too?” Song Yuan Yuan muttered.

Ling Luo said irritably: “Even Yingxi itself wouldn’t think that way.”

Song Yuan Yuan said resentfully: “Then you hold my Little Daddy, and let me eliminate the demons! I just learned the sect’s advanced sword technique two days ago!”

“Fine.” Ling Luo took Yue Liang Ze’s hand and tilted her head toward the gate that appeared in front. “Then this level is yours.”

Song Yuan Yuan, full of energy, went forward to open the door: “Watch me, Little Daddy!”

Yue Liang Ze yawned, wanting to go back.

Another layer of illusion.

The same ten-mile-long street, endless night. They stood by the city river, only to see a white-clothed woman beside them leap into the river with a splash.

Chang Fei was dumbfounded: “What’s going on?”

“Do we save her?” Song Yuan Yuan was also confused. The incident was sudden, and everyone was caught off guard.

Xu Shen said: “Save her!”

He was the first to jump into the river.

Ling Luo held Yue Liang Ze’s hand and glanced at him sideways. Seeing his slightly furrowed brow and somewhat pale face, she asked: “Haven’t your spiritual powers increased?”

Yue Liang Ze said: “They have, a bit.”

“Really?” Ling Luo was suspicious. “But why do you look unwell?”

Yue Liang Ze looked at her, his gaze calm: “Hungry.”

Ling Luo: “…”

I’ve been eliminating demons with all my effort and I’m not even hungry yet! You’ve been carried along the whole way, how are you hungry first!

“After we pass this level, we’ll go out to eat. By my calculation, it should be about evening now,” Song Yuan Yuan said. “As expected of levels beyond the hundredth floor, in just that one level, my Little Daddy’s spiritual power has increased quite a bit.”

Chang Fei nodded and said: “Mine has also increased more than before. No wonder senior brothers say the Heaven-Devouring Tower is one of the shortcuts for cultivation.”

A splashing sound came from the river’s surface. Xu Shen, dripping wet, came up from the water, rescuing the white-clothed woman who had jumped into the river.

Song Yuan Yuan and Chang Fei went to help, pulling the two out of the river.

The woman was covering her face and crying: “Why bother… I, I was seeking death with all my heart, why did you have to…”

Her crying voice was soft, filled with sorrow and resentment.

Xu Shen went to the side to shake off the water without paying attention to her. Chang Fei, being warm-hearted, said: “Miss, if you have any troubles, you can tell us. We’ll help you solve them. You must never take your life like this.”

“Really?” The white-clothed woman lowered the hands covering her face. As she raised her head, the teardrops hanging on her long black eyelashes silently fell, tracing a tear mark on her fair and delicate face, evoking pity.

Faced with this pitiful beauty before him, Chang Fei couldn’t help but be stunned. The young man’s face reddened slightly, and he stammered: “R-r-really!”

Ling Luo rolled her eyes watching from the side.

Yue Liang Ze was already repeatedly testing the edge of sleepiness.

Only Song Yuan Yuan stepped forward with a smile, asking in a kind voice: “May I ask how we should address you, miss?”

“I, you can call me A Chu.” Having just been pulled out of the river water, and it being deep in the night, the night wind made A Chu shiver with cold. “Today’s action… I was also desperate…”

Seeing A Chu shivering, Chang Fei elbowed Song Yuan Yuan beside him. “Give her something to wear!”

“I only have this one sect uniform! If I give it to her, what if she doesn’t return it at the next level?” Song Yuan Yuan replied in a lowered voice. “If you want to give, you give!”

Chang Fei widened his eyes: “I only have this one too!”

They looked at Xu Shen, who glanced back sideways: I’m soaking wet all over, what are you thinking?

So they looked back at Ling Luo and Yue Liang Ze.

Ling Luo said with a half-smile: “Your Little Daddy’s spiritual power is weak, and he’s cold himself. What are you trying to do?”

“Nothing, nothing.” Song Yuan Yuan shook his head repeatedly.

Chang Fei didn’t dare to ask Ling Luo either, since she was also a girl.

So Chang Fei said: “Let’s make a fire seal for her.”

Song Yuan Yuan tried to make one but couldn’t get it right. He hadn’t practiced this seal well yet. Instead, Ling Luo came over and made a fire seal, drying A Chu’s soaked clothes and hair, restoring them to dryness.

Xu Shen, holding his wet clothes: “…”

After Ling Luo helped dry him as well, she asked A Chu: “Why did you jump into the river?”

A Chu’s eyes were filled with tears as she choked out: “Yuan Lang and I were childhood sweethearts, growing up together. We were even engaged, but unexpectedly, one day he went up the mountain to view the scenery and was unfortunately seduced by mountain spirits and monsters!”

“All our past together meant nothing. I watched helplessly as he married a mountain demon, enjoying pleasure with her before my eyes every day. I couldn’t accept it!”

“A mountain demon?” Xu Shen raised an eyebrow. “How do you know?”

A Chu said painfully: “That demon once revealed her true form before my eyes, sowing discord, making Yuan Lang believe I was talking nonsense, breaking with me!”

“This time it’s not a fox demon, is it?” Chang Fei muttered. “They love this kind of romantic entanglement.”

“Do you have some prejudice against fox demons? Mountain demons are just demons, many like to absorb men’s essence to cultivate, and fox demons are always the ones who aren’t loved!” Song Yuan Yuan spoke up for fox demons. “I think this time it can’t possibly be a fox demon!”