The silver light flashed past, and the three Shenyou Realm experts who had just cornered Yang Kai fell like wheat stalks into a pool of blood. They had no power to resist at all, all three killed in a single, bewildered instant.
The silver light showed no signs of slowing. It surged onward, intent on annihilating Qiu Yimeng and Luo Xiaoman as well.
At the critical juncture between life and death, the earring dangling beneath Qiu Yimeng's delicate earlobe emitted a faint, ghostly glow. The light shot into her mind, instantly snapping her back to clarity.
In a split second, Qiu Yimeng hastily produced her ancient shield and thrust it forward as a barrier.
A sharp clang rang out. Qiu Yimeng vomited blood and was sent hurtling backward, but the silver light was finally deflected.
The woman's brows furrowed. Her slender body trembled uncontrollably, and her crimson lips looked as though they might drip blood. It seemed that channeling even a trace of her True Yuan had made her current state all but unbearable.
She made no further attack. Instead, she grabbed Yang Kai—who was still bound by her silk ribbon—and leaped into the air, departing with an almost impatient urgency.
Luo Xiaoman's face was flushed a deep rosy red. Her beautiful eyes were glazed and unfocused, and from her throat came continuous, suppressed moans of breathless ecstasy. Her shapely legs were pressed tightly together, and waves of boundless pleasure surged through her like electric current, numbing her lower body and sending involuntary shivers through her frame. Moments later, a pool of scalding, pearlescent nectar spilled from between her thighs, soaking her undergarments.
A high-pitched, desperately suppressed cry tore from her lips. Luo Xiaoman's entire body went limp, and she collapsed directly onto her knees. Her cheeks burned red as she gasped for air in great heaving breaths, her heaving chest rising and falling as she wallowed in the lingering aftershocks of her peak.
"Xiaoman… *cough, cough*…" Qiu Yimeng lay crumpled to the side, her voice feeble as she called out.
"Mm…" Luo Xiaoman finally snapped back to awareness. The instant she registered her own disheveled state and the dampness between her legs, the blood drained from her face in horror.
She had no idea what had just happened. That woman in red had spoken a single sentence, and she had plunged into a fantastical, wanton dreamworld. In that vision, she had cast aside all dignity and shame, transforming into a carnal creature insatiable in her desire—demanding, reckless, driven by nothing but raw instinct.
And the object of those desires… had been Yang Kai! The very man the group had chased to this place!
Recalling the vivid scenes from moments ago, Luo Xiaoman's face burned with a mixture of shame and fury. Her beautiful eyes trembled, and soon an abyss of hatred and humiliation flickered through them.
"Xiaoman… come help me up!" Qiu Yimeng's True Yuan was in violent turmoil, her blood and qi flowing in reverse. She was completely immobile. Seeing Luo Xiaoman still standing there in a daze, she couldn't help calling out once more.
"Right…" Luo Xiaoman staggered to her feet. The breeze blew past, and a chilling coolness swept across her lower half. The faint sensation of cold brought with it a lingering tingle of pleasure, making her shiver slightly.
"What's wrong with you?" Qiu Yimeng eyed her with confusion, sensing something was off.
"N-nothing!" Luo Xiaoman answered in a fluster. Blushing furiously, she hurried to Qiu Yimeng's side and, at her instruction, retrieved a bottle of pills from inside her robe, shook one out, and pressed it between her lips.
Staring blankly at the corpses of the three Shenyou Realm experts before her, Luo Xiaoman was seized by a wave of lingering dread.
A long while passed before Qiu Yimeng finally let out a deep, prolonged breath.
"Sister Qiu, who was that woman?" Luo Xiaoman sat hugging her knees on the ground, looking frail and shaken, her voice still trembling.
Qiu Yimeng slowly shook her head. "I don't know. But whoever she is, she's a sorceress. If we ever encounter her again, we must be extremely cautious."
"Oh…" Luo Xiaoman responded meekly, her conscience prickling.
A single sentence from that woman had turned an innocent, untouched girl into a writhing mess of desire. It was obvious the woman practiced some devastatingly powerful charm technique. What sort of decent woman cultivated charm arts?
Before long, the dozen-odd Zhenyuan Realm cultivators scattered across the surroundings finally converged on the scene. They had been drawn by the sounds of combat.
Bai Yunfeng was among them. The fellow had been remarkably lucky—not only had he survived the collapsing Void Corridor, but he had also managed to avoid the battle entirely. He'd managed to scrape his life back by sheer fortune.
Once both sides regrouped and exchanged information about what each had endured, Qiu Yimeng's heart sank like a stone into the depths.
Her side was down to fewer than ten people, and all three Shenyou Realm experts had been killed.
"First, let's determine exactly where we are. Then we'll figure out our next move," Qiu Yimeng commanded with composed poise.
…
In the void, a crimson shadow streaked through the air.
It was the same bewitchingly alluring woman from before. Her strength was indeed formidable—she flew at a speed as swift as a gale. Yang Kai was bound by her pink silk ribbon, completely drained of strength, and could do nothing but dangle passively in her grip.
Having escaped the tiger's den only to fall into the wolf's lair, Yang Kai thought to himself.
The woman had killed those people without so much as batting an eye—striking them down on the spot without bothering to ask a single question. She was clearly not the type one could reason with. So why had she abducted him?
Yang Kai racked his brains but could not figure it out.