Miss Fairy, Please Hear Me Out

After staring at each other for two seconds, Xu Yuan suddenly let out a scoff.

True geniuses from great sects were always like this. Because of their talent, everyone around them treated them with utmost respect. They did not have to work, did not have to manage anything, and only needed to bury their heads in cultivation under the protection of their sect elders. Whenever they went out to gain experience, they always carried an air of being untouched by the dust of the world.

Ran Qingmo was like that. And now, it seemed Tian Yan was not much different. She had some experience, but not enough to form the kind of shrewdness needed to deal with everything under heaven.

Out in the world, these geniuses relied on their overwhelming strength, and almost no one dared show them the slightest disrespect. But now, trapped in this illusion with her cultivation plummeting, a little teasing and a few barbed words were enough to expose the flaws in her temperament.

She was not even as good as the little ice chunk at the start. At least the little ice chunk would not fly into a rage from embarrassment.

Xu Yuan pressed down the questions in his heart for the time being and left Tian Yan, who had her eyes closed as she adjusted her breathing. He turned and walked toward the formation platform in the inner sanctum of the technique transmission hall.

With a casual tug of his source qi, he pulled over a cushion, bent down, and sat beside Tian Yan. Then he smiled as he stared at the young girl’s flushed little face. “Little sister.”

“I’m older than you.” Tian Yan clearly disliked the address.

Xu Yuan stared at her without the slightest attempt to hide it. “Oh? Then turn into a big sister for me and let me see.”

Tian Yan noticed the way he was looking at her. She fell silent for a second, then said in a cool voice, “Vulgar.”

Her expression was icy, carrying a trace of the little ice chunk’s earlier demeanor. Unfortunately, the alluring blush across her face made her look less like she was rejecting him and more like she was coyly inviting him closer.

Xu Yuan laughed at the sight. “Vulgar? Don’t be so quick to say that. Maybe in a little while, once you can’t suppress it anymore, you’ll have to beg me.”

The young girl froze for an instant, and the blush on her face deepened. “You can only get away with running your mouth at me in this illusion.”

Xu Yuan looked at Tian Yan’s constantly rising and falling washboard chest and chuckled. “Little sister, your self-control doesn’t seem very impressive. And here I thought you were a second rank expert.”

“Shut up.”

“Heh.” Xu Yuan smiled and was about to keep provoking Tian Yan. “You followed me for so many days. Every single moment, I was worried you’d casually kill me in the next second. Now that we’re inside an illusion, you won’t even let me say a few words? Isn’t that a bit too overbearing?”

“Xu Changtian.” Tian Yan took a deep breath and called his name softly, cutting him off.

Xu Yuan frowned slightly.

Tian Yan narrowed her beautiful eyes and stared at him, enunciating each word. “You keep disturbing my breathing exercise. What exactly are you trying to do?”

Xu Yuan’s eyes narrowed faintly, but he soon shrugged and smiled with blunt honesty. “So you already noticed. Then why ask me?”

A hint of mockery entered Tian Yan’s golden eyes. “That body of yours is at least at the cultivation of a third rank Grandmaster, and yet you’re afraid of me, a mere fourth rank Body Integration cultivator?”

Xu Yuan shrugged, completely shameless. “No helping it. You’re too strong. The methods of the Heaven Deriving Art are far too strange. I have to guard against them.”

Though the two of them were currently grasshoppers tied to the same rope, the Tian Yan that Xu Yuan wanted to see was still a half-dead Tian Yan.

Earlier, he had used the Blood Phoenix Drill to pierce her left shoulder and collect a little interest precisely because he had noticed that Tian Yan now needed both hands to form seals when using the Heaven mantras. So he had crippled one of her hands first, just to buy himself some insurance in advance.

But judging from their conversation just now, Tian Yan had actually been fighting him while enduring both the Beguiling Sakura Flower and the effects of the mad woman’s Dao Field. Looking at it that way, she was even more terrifying.

Xu Yuan had always had a very clear understanding of himself. He was not some peerless genius like Xu Changge or the story’s protagonist. Back when he was seventh rank, he had not even been invincible among his peers, let alone now, with this body’s third rank cultivation.

Although this body inside the illusion only had the cultivation of a third rank Grandmaster, because he could not circulate his cultivation art, and because he was not used to the sudden surge in cultivation, being able to bring out thirty to forty percent of this body’s strength was already the limit.

Tian Yan, on the other hand, might only be fourth rank now, but she had once been at the second rank. And as a woman who, while still at second rank, could directly clash with a first rank Transcendent, no matter how he looked at it, she was a peerless genius on the same level as Xu Changge and Qin Mo.

Xu Yuan was genuinely afraid that once Tian Yan recovered completely, she might leap across realms and chop him down. Thinking of that, he suddenly felt rather pathetic. A dignified transmigrator. Forget being unable to fight above his rank, he was actually worried that someone else would fight above theirs and kill him instead.

After several breaths of silence, Tian Yan’s beautiful eyes suddenly narrowed. She panted softly a couple of times, her breath sweet and fragrant. “I think... you can have a little more confidence in yourself.”

Because of the aphrodisiac, that look of hers carried a faint trace of Su Jinxuan’s charm. Unfortunately, she was more than a size too small.

Xu Yuan shook his head without hesitation. “I don’t need what you think. I need what I think. This matter is not up for discussion.”

Tian Yan stared at Xu Yuan for several breaths, then took a deep breath. She refused to back down either. “Xu Changtian, if you still want to get out of here, I must first purge the Beguiling Sakura Flower and the effects of that mad woman’s Dao Field from my body. We are cooperating. I am not your subordinate.”

“So there’s nothing to talk about?” Xu Yuan narrowed his eyes.

“This is my bottom line.” Tian Yan stared right back at him.

They looked at each other for several breaths.

Then Xu Yuan suddenly nodded. “Fine.”

The moment he finished speaking, he stood up without the slightest hesitation. His intent soul surged out and locked onto Tian Yan. He raised his hand toward her head and began condensing the Blood Phoenix Drill.

At the same time, crimson flames instantly rose from all around the cushion where Tian Yan sat cross-legged, sealing off every path of retreat.

Xu Yuan stared at Tian Yan, the spiral blood-colored bone spike hovering in his palm almost pressing against her forehead.

For one breath, all was quiet. Xu Yuan enunciated each word. “I’ll ask you one more time. Is this matter negotiable?”

Tian Yan said nothing.

The vast technique transmission hall was so quiet that only their breathing remained.

Xu Yuan’s gaze was very calm.

Tian Yan stared back at him, her red lips parting slightly. “I cannot possibly agree to that demand of yours...”

“Hah...” Xu Yuan let out a sigh.

Then, before Tian Yan could finish speaking, the spiral bone spike in Xu Yuan’s palm shot out in an instant. The sharp, blood-colored spiral spike pierced straight into the young girl’s forehead, burst out through the back of her skull, and finally buried itself deep into the white jade floor.

The air fell still for one second. Xu Yuan was just about to sigh.

“Wah...” A frail little cough of blood came from a hundred meters behind him.

Xu Yuan turned to look. There, a golden-eyed girl in a red dress had appeared a hundred meters behind him. She was half-kneeling on the ground, blood staining the corner of her lips, with a bright crimson puddle left in front of her.

Not dead? Xu Yuan frowned, then glanced back in front of him.

The corpse of the girl whose head had been pierced was slowly fading, until it vanished without a trace.

Seeing this, Xu Yuan’s expression turned a little strange. Just now, his soul intent had already confirmed that the figure was a solid body, not an afterimage. The sensation of the bone spike piercing through her skull had also been perfectly real.

The Heaven Deriving Art could actually be this bizarre?

No wonder Tian Yan had remained so calm earlier, even while trapped inside the mad woman’s Dao Field. With a trump card like this, of course she had confidence.

Still, judging from Tian Yan’s current state, this kind of substitute-death skill seemed to come at a pretty steep price. Of course, none of that mattered now.

Xu Yuan beckoned with his hand. The blood-colored spiral bone spike that had been embedded in the jade floor immediately flew back into his palm. He aimed it once more at the young girl a hundred meters away and asked again.

“Last time. Is it negotiable?”

There was not the slightest hint that he was joking.

To leave this illusion, he needed the information Tian Yan possessed. But she did not need him. Once she completely purged her status effects and recovered to her peak state, if she suddenly launched a sneak attack, there was a good chance he would not be able to guard against it.

Though this place was an illusion, judging from how wary Tian Yan was of death here, dying in this place would most likely mean his soul would be destroyed in the outside world as well. This concerned his life. There was absolutely no room for compromise.

The blush on Tian Yan’s beautiful face had already spread outward. Her golden eyes even carried a faint trace of haze now, and each breath she took was laced with soft, unsteady gasps.

Clearly, the substitute-death art just now had caused her a severe backlash. Her source qi was in chaos, and she was nearly unable to suppress the aphrodisiac effect inside her body.

“X-Xu Changtian, you... nghh... are you really not... afraid of being trapped here until you die?”

Xu Yuan said in a low voice, “I am. But I’m even more afraid of you ambushing me and killing me here outright. If I’m trapped here, my father can still think of a way to save me. But if I die here, then most likely, I’m really dead.”

Tian Yan stared at Xu Yuan, her voice carrying faint, breathy gasps. She sounded a little anxious. “I... I never hurt you from beginning to end!”

Xu Yuan gave a low laugh. “But I heard that when Heavenwatch Pavilion deals with people who cannot be predicted, there are only two options. One is to kill them. The other is to add you people into the equation.”

Tian Yan fell silent. She thought of that Sage’s remnant soul from before, the one who could use a Heaven mantra. He was a traitor.

Seeing that Tian Yan had stopped speaking, Xu Yuan raised the Blood Phoenix Drill in his palm and smiled. “The Heaven Deriving Art truly is profound, worthy of being the inherited cultivation art of Heavenwatch Pavilion’s sect master. I just wonder, how many more times can you use that move from just now?”

Tian Yan remained silent.

Xu Yuan smiled and said softly, “I’ll give you ten seconds to think it over.”

“N-no need... ngghh.” The young girl gritted her teeth and stood up, her long, straight jade legs pressed tightly together. “I... I agree.”

Hearing this, Xu Yuan casually clenched his hand and dispersed the Blood Phoenix Drill. Then he took a step forward and flew right up to Tian Yan, smiling cheerfully at her. “Wouldn’t it have been better if you’d been like this from the start? Now, tell me your plan.”

Tian Yan did not speak at once. After several breaths of silence, she suddenly said, “I... can’t hold it down much longer.”

“Huh?”

“The Beguiling Sakura Flower and the aphrodisiac!”

“Oh. See? I told you earlier you might end up begging me in a bit.”

Tian Yan panted a few times. “Stop... stop talking nonsense. Help me.”

The air suddenly went quiet.

After a long pause, Xu Yuan’s voice carried a trace of hesitation. “How exactly are you planning to have me help?”

Tian Yan bit the corner of her lip and glared at him with eyes that were already soft and misty. “Don’t be so vulgar! Use... use source qi. Help me... help me clear my meridians. The source qi inside me is too chaotic, and I can’t circulate my cultivation art. Help me suppress it.”

Xu Yuan immediately understood, and he did not refuse. With a casual pull of source qi, he brought over a cushion and gestured for Tian Yan to sit.

Tian Yan’s little face was red as she silently sat down.

Xu Yuan sat down cross-legged on the jade floor behind her and raised one hand, gently pressing it against the young girl’s back. Feeling the scorching heat of her body, he was just about to circulate his qi. Then, he heard a faint moaning.

“Ahh....”

Xu Yuan was speechless.