Outside the cave's spirit hall, on the roof across from it, stood a Taoist nun, quietly watching. Her blue and white robe fluttered gently in the moonlight, and her plain headscarf danced lightly, looking like a fairy riding the wind.
She gazed into the spirit hall, as if she could see the two people below. "Such a strong aura of evil. I wonder how many lives have been harmed here... I didn't expect Princess Zhaoyang of South Li to take such risks. Though reckless, her courage is admirable," the nun murmured to herself. "Let's see if she can break through the situation."
Inside the cave, Qin Yi quickly became alert; he smelled the scent of an aphrodisiac. His mind felt a bit hazy, and the warm jade beneath him was incredibly tempting. He could feel the heat of Li Qingjun's cheeks, and—having inhaled the smoke, she must have smelled it too.
Li Qingjun's reaction was to push the man off her, which any woman would instinctively do. Yet, she didn't. Deep down, she felt a bit confused. It was uncomfortable having him on top of her, but somehow she didn't find him unpleasant; in fact, it felt somewhat nice...
For a moment, only their heavy breathing filled the dark cave. They couldn't see each other's faces clearly, which made the atmosphere even more suggestive, leading them to subconsciously think they could do something... After all, it was all a result of the drug, so it seemed reasonable?
Qin Yi bit his lip hard and jumped up. Others might pretend it was reasonable, but he couldn't. He was a sorcerer and a pharmacist, so he knew better. Plus, there was Liu Su watching the whole thing.
Qin Yi quickly reached into his pocket, pulled out a pill, and swallowed it. No matter if it was the right antidote or not, it at least helped clear his mind a bit. He then took another pill and gave it to Li Qingjun.
The nun whispered to herself, "This young man has a clear mind and a strong will. He is indeed a gentleman..."
"You really are a eunuch..." Liu Su, who had been watching for a while, remarked with a completely different tone.
"..." Qin Yi focused on dispelling the remaining effects of the drug, not even in the mood to respond.
Li Qingjun took the pill and half-sat up, her expression complicated as she adjusted her clothes. Qin Yi turned his head away, not wanting to look. Li Qingjun slightly raised her head, staring at him with wide eyes, as if she wanted to scold him but didn't know where to start.
Liu Su continued, "Women who are reasonable tend to have a harder time. So, women should have the right to be unreasonable. At least then they can curse to ease their embarrassment."
Qin Yi suppressed the urge to roll his eyes and pulled Li Qingjun up. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine..." Li Qingjun moved her lips, finally saying, "Martial artists like us won't get hurt from such a height."
Is it really about getting hurt? Qin Yi smartly chose not to take it seriously and replied earnestly, "Well, it's probably only about ten or twenty feet high."
His serious response made Li Qingjun sigh in relief. She then said, "I think I was reckless again?"
Qin Yi replied, "Thanks to your recklessness, or I would have been beaten up by you that day."
Li Qingjun laughed. It was because of her own recklessness that she fell into Qin Yi's trap and ended up hanging upside down. She had felt furious then, but now it became a comforting remark from Qin Yi.
Qin Yi actually... wasn't too bad. Even though he was the one who got her into trouble, he didn't blame her but instead comforted her. And...
He seemed like a true gentleman.
The moment of suggestiveness they had just experienced, even though they pretended to be calm now, Li Qingjun knew her mind was still swirling. She could only rely on her feigned composure and their mutual understanding; otherwise, she didn't know if she should just bang her head against the wall.
Both of them tacitly decided not to talk about it anymore. They turned to look around, and suddenly Li Qingjun shivered, all her chaotic thoughts vanishing.
Qin Yi also pressed his lips together tightly.
Surrounding them were eerie white bones, not haphazardly scattered, but arranged in eight neat positions. Each position had a skeleton, with the bones disassembled and set up like a platform, the skulls placed on top of the skeletal frames. They found themselves in the center, surrounded by eight skulls, their hollow, dark eye sockets staring ominously, their closed jaws seemingly mocking them.
A faint red smoke wafted from the skulls, and just smelling it made their hearts race, making them reluctant to look at each other.
Li Qingjun said with difficulty, "So, this is what happened to the missing people?"
"It seems so," Qin Yi replied softly. "This is a man-made formation. Since we've entered, the one who set it up must have noticed us. Now is not the time to dig deeper; we should leave immediately, or we'll be in danger."
Li Qingjun looked up; the pit they had fallen from was now closed, and there seemed to be no way out. The stone slab above looked difficult to break through.
"How do we get out?" she asked Qin Yi hopefully. "You understand this kind of formation, right?"
While listening to Liu Su's guidance, Qin Yi explained, "This is a gathering spirit formation. Its purpose is to collect spiritual energy for cultivation. It also has a bit of the Eight Gates Golden Lock's trick. As long as we take the right path, the exit mechanism will be there. If we go the wrong way, it could be troublesome."
In reality, Liu Su's thoughts were: "What kind of idiot set up this formation? The gathering spirit for cultivation isn't even working; all the energy is gone, leaving only some useless dead energy. How dare they use the Eight Gates Golden Lock here? The exit is obvious and smells terrible... Don't panic; the one who set it up is a fool. Just go in and knock them out."
Of course, Li Qingjun couldn't hear Liu Su's thoughts. Seeing Qin Yi's confident demeanor made her feel a bit more at ease. But then she saw Qin Yi walk straight toward the skeleton on the east side without even glancing back.
The nun was calculating with her fingers: "This Eight Gates Golden Lock changes with time, with ninety-six transformations, quite exquisite. They probably won't be able to get out. It seems I need to save her..."
"Huh?"
The "huh" came when Qin Yi accurately approached the position of the exit, pressing down on the skull, and the closed hole above opened up.
Li Qingjun was overjoyed, grabbing Qin Yi's hand and leaping out of the pit.
"Turns out this young man is a fellow Taoist. With a double-layered formation and the time wheel golden lock, he broke it with a glance. So effortless, this place is safe now," the nun smiled and suddenly vanished.
In fact, just as she said this, voices began to sound outside the spirit hall. The young lord led a group of people holding torches and swords, surrounding Li Qingjun and Qin Yi.
The nun had seen this commotion but seemed unconcerned, saying "this place is safe." It was unclear whether she had too much faith in Li Qingjun's abilities, trusted the "fellow Taoist," or simply didn't care about conflicts between people.
The young lord, unaware that a fairy had come, surrounded Qin Yi and Li Qingjun, his heart sinking. His stepmother had gone to find Li Qinglin, yet these two had come to the spirit hall... What about Li Qinglin?
He was anxious and quickly sent a servant to check on Li Qinglin's room while sneering at Qin Yi, "My mother kindly took you in as guests, yet you turned out to be thieves?"
Before Qin Yi could respond, Li Qingjun spoke sharply, "Inside the spirit hall, there are hidden traps, and beneath the coffin, piles of bones! Who is the real thief here?"
The young lord sneered, "This is my family's ancestral hall. The bones beneath belong to my ancestors; it has nothing to do with others. Setting traps is precisely to deal with thieves like you!"
Li Qingjun's eyes widened, momentarily speechless.
Qin Yi said calmly, "Is that gathering spirit formation for cultivation also set up by your ancestors?"
The young lord paused, "What formation?"
Qin Yi frowned.
The young lord clearly had no interest in idle talk with them and waved his hand, "Take them down!"
The servants rushed forward, and Li Qingjun raised her spear.
At that moment, a piercing scream suddenly came from the nearby guest room, filled with extreme pain and fear, sending chills down their spines.
It was Lady Zhang's voice, but at that moment, it sounded distorted, like a ghostly wail.
"Not good!" The young lord's expression changed drastically. He no longer cared about the two he was surrounding and hurried toward the guest room, stumbling over the threshold in his panic, clearly frightened.
(End of Chapter)