Without looking back, Xiao Jin swung his sword, its sword qi shearing off the stalactites at the cave roof to block the path behind them.
Only after confirming they had shaken off their pursuers did the two stop at a fork in the tunnel.
Xie Lin’s legs were so weak he couldn’t stand, and he was pinned against the wall by Xiao Jin, who was kissing him.
“Did you calculate this from the start?”
Xie Lin glared at him: “What kind of dual cultivation…”
Xiao Jin licked away the blood stain at the corner of his lips: “If we didn’t do that, how else could we break the first seal of the heart-devouring lotus?”
Xie Lin suddenly remembered that indistinct sentence from the illusion, a nameless, stabbing pain piercing his heart: “What on earth were we in our past lives…”
Before he could finish, a scream from Lin Miaomiao echoed from deep within the tunnel!
Exchanging glances, the two sprinted toward the sound.
At the corner, Lin Miaomiao was being besieged by three Netherworld Palace assassins, her cuffs already soaked through with blood.
“Eldest Senior Brother, watch out!”
Her eyes lit up when she saw Xiao Jin, then turned instantly terrified as she looked behind Xie Lin: “Xie Senior Brother, look out!”
Instinctively, Xie Lin sidestepped as a streak of black light grazed past his cheek—
It was Xie Qingyu, who should have died back in the tunnel!
Half his body had transformed into heart-devouring lotus vines, and he viciously lunged toward Xie Lin’s heart.
“Your life-lotus… give it to me!”
Xiao Jin’s sword was faster than his voice.
The Frost Flower Sword pierced straight through Xie Qingyu’s glabella, only to see him smile bizarrely as he turned into a black mist that violently drilled straight into Lin Miaomiao’s seven apertures!
“Ah, ah!”
Kneeling on the ground and convulsing, Lin Miaomiao raised her head again, her left eye already turned to the bloody red of the heart-devouring lotus.
“What a pity~”
Xie Qingyu’s voice emerged from her mouth: “I was almost able to eat the young master…”
Xiao Jin’s sword tip pointed straight at Lin Miaomiao’s throat: “Get out.”
Manipulating Lin Miaomiao, Xie Qingyu tilted his head with a smile: “Kill me, and you won’t save this little girl either~”
“Besides, you’ve got troubles of your own listen.”
From afar came the sound of tidal footsteps, mixed with shouts of “Capture the demon alive.”
Xie Lin’s expression changed drastically: There was more than one wave of pursuers!
“Let’s make a deal.”
Xie Qingyu held up three fingers: “I’ll help you escape, and the young master gives me three drops of his heart’s blood.”
Xiao Jin sneered: “Why should I trust you?”
“Just because…”
Lin Miaomiao’s body suddenly convulsed, and her right eye began to flush red as well.
“This girl won’t last ten breaths.”
Gritting his teeth, Xie Lin slashed open his chest, a bead of blood hovering in his palm: “Save her first.”
The moment the blood drop flew into Lin Miaomiao’s left eye, the tunnel suddenly shook violently.
Countless vines burst through the walls, sealing the pursuers outside.
Satisfied, Xie Qingyu licked the blood from the corner of his lips and suddenly leaned close to Xie Lin’s ear to whisper:
“Be careful of the person beside you… he’s the one who killed you once before, you know~”
Black mist surged from Lin Miaomiao’s seven apertures, and before collapsing, the young girl looked at Xiao Jin in terror: “Eldest Senior Brother… there is demonic energy in you…”
Before she could finish her sentence, she fainted dead away.
Frowning, Xiao Jin checked her pulse and suddenly looked up: “Someone’s coming.”
Just as Xie Lin was about to inquire about the meaning behind Xie Qingyu’s words, familiar sword light lit up at the other end of the tunnel.
The Master of Xuan Tian Sect had arrived in person!
Xie Lin’s fingertips still retained the warmth of Lin Miaomiao’s neck.
Her pulse was chaotic, and her spiritual platform in chaos; clearly, Xie Qingyu’s remnant soul was still lurking within her.
“Take her away.”
Xiao Jin abruptly shoved the unconscious Lin Miaomiao into Xie Lin’s arms.
The Frost Flower Sword blocked horizontally in front: “Xuan Tian Sect’s ‘Seven Stars Demon-Locking Array’ requires seven Nascent Soul cultivators to set up. With the Sect Master leading the team in person, it means they’ll stop at nothing for your life.”
At the end of the tunnel, the sword light poured down like a galaxy, reflecting the stern and unsmiling face of Xuan Tian Sect Master Xiao Yuheng.
The six elders behind him each held magical artifacts, stepping on the positions of the Big Dipper, their spiritual powers intertwining into an inescapable net.
Holding Lin Miaomiao tighter, Xie Lin felt the heart-devouring lotus burning inside his chest: “You can’t block this.”
“No need to block.”
Backhand-slashing to cut open his palm, Xiao Jin let his blood drip onto the blade of the Frost Flower Sword:
“Remember the door at the bottom of the lake? It connects to the spiritual veins of the heart-devouring lotus.”
As the blood bead seeped into the sword body, the Frost Flower Sword suddenly emitted a dragon-like tremor.
The spiritual power around Xiao Jin surged violently, breaking through to the late Nascent Soul stage in an instant!
Xie Lin’s pupils shrank.
This was completely not Xuan Tian Sect’s orthodox heart technique, but rather…
“Demonic cultivation forbidden technique?!”
Xiao Yuheng’s furious roar shook the stone walls into a shower of dust: “Xiao Jin! You’ve actually fallen into the demonic path!”
Turning a deaf ear, Xiao Jin’s sword edge swept out a bloody arc of light.
Wherever the sword qi passed, the roof of the tunnel collapsed with a loud crash!
“Let’s go!”
Grabbing Xie Lin, he leaped into the gaps among the falling rocks.
From behind came Xiao Yuheng’s exasperated mandate: “Activate the great array! Dead or alive, no exceptions!”
The golden light of the Seven Stars Demon-Locking Array struck like a giant wave, causing pain in Xie Lin’s back as the heart-devouring lotus automatically deployed a bloody barrier.
The shockwave of the two colliding forces blasted the three of them away, sending them tumbling heavily into an underground river.
Amidst the roaring torrent, Xie Lin grabbed tightly onto Lin Miaomiao, several times narrowly avoiding collisions with reef rocks.
Suddenly, a powerful arm wrapped around his waist, and Xiao Jin brought them rushing out of the water curtain, crashing into a natural karst cave.
“Cough… cough cough!”
Jolted awake abruptly, Lin Miaomiao collapsed onto the ground and vomited violently, the dark blood mixed with a few tiny lotus seeds.
Propping himself up, Xie Lin found Xiao Jin’s face as pale as paper, the meridians on his right arm bulging with an eerie purple-black hue.
It was the backlash of the forbidden technique!
“Are you insane?”
He violently tore open Xiao Jin’s collar, the forbidden technique runes spreading from his collarbone toward his heart.
“The Blood-Shattering Spirit-Burning Art will burn through your lifespan!”
Closing his eyes to regulate his breath, Xiao Jin said, “I won’t die.”
“Bullshit!”
Xie Lin directly ripped open the front of his clothes, pressing his palm onto the Shanzhong acupoint.
The red light of the heart-devouring lotus surged along the meridians, forcibly devouring those rampaging malevolent energies.
With a muffled groan, Xiao Jin grabbed his wrist: “Have you got a death wish? The malevolent energy will trigger your…”
Staring fiercely at him, Xie Lin snapped: “Shut up!”
“Weren’t you quite capable just now?”
Lin Miaomiao’s weak voice suddenly interrupted: “Eldest Senior Brother… there is a demon in your Dantian…”
The two turned their heads simultaneously, only to find the young girl had fainted once again.
Frowning as he probed her pulse, Xie Lin discovered a miniature phantom of a heart-devouring lotus deep within her spiritual platform!
“Xie Qingyu left a seed inside her.”
He said in a deep voice: “Once the lotus seeds bloom, she will become the next vessel.”
Tying up his robes, Xiao Jin suddenly pointed the Frost Flower Sword at Xie Lin’s throat: “You knew all along.”
It wasn’t a question, but a statement.
The sword blade was ice-cold, yet Xie Lin burst out laughing: “You’re only doubting me now?”
He intentionally leaned forward, letting the blade slice through his skin.
“Do you want to cut it open and see if I have the Netherworld Palace’s secret orders carved onto my heart?”
A bead of blood slipped down his neck into his collar.
Xiao Jin’s gaze darkened as he suddenly withdrew his sword and pinched his chin: “The blood you gave her is problematic.”
The taste of rust permeated their lips and teeth, and only then did Xie Lin notice Xiao Jin pressing his thumb against his canine teeth.
There was a nearly invisible fine scar there.
“The host of the heart-devouring fairy lotus secretes hallucinogenic toxins from their teeth.”
Xiao Jin’s voice was as cold as ice: “You deliberately let Xie Qingyu parasitize her. Why?”
Dead silence fell over the karst cave.
Licking the blood from the corner of his lips, Xie Lin suddenly smiled: “Because she was lying.”
He pointed to the sachet at Lin Miaomiao’s waist: “Look at that sachet.”
Xiao Jin flipped open the sachet embroidered with orchid grass, out of which rolled a few crimson pills.
Xuan Tian Sect’s specially made “Thousand-Mile Soul-Chasing Incense.”
“Ever since we rescued her, every single step of our whereabouts has been mastered by Xuan Tian Sect.”
Xie Lin sneered: “Guess who leaked the information?”