Chapter 94: Precious Heaven Pavilion

Night had fallen.

In the western part of Thousand Leaf City, within a quiet palace on a secluded mountain peak.

On a wide bed, the blankets churned, and the faint sound of a man and woman's breathing could be heard. The bed frame swayed gently with the rhythm, candlelight flickering, casting the shadows of two entangled figures.

"Senior Sister, this junior brother truly adores you."

From the bed came the voice of the Taoist-robed man surnamed You from earlier that day, tinged with obsession.

"Now that Master is dead, and we've both been sent here to Thousand Leaf City by our superiors with no one to oversee us. Why don't we become cultivation partners and enjoy the pleasures of union together? Wouldn't that be wonderful?"

As he spoke, the bed swayed more violently, and the woman's soft moans gradually grew louder.

"Junior Brother, slower... alright, Senior Sister agrees. Ah...!"

From within the bedding, the woman surnamed Lin's voice was gentle as water, coquettishly delivered, carrying a hint of reluctant acceptance.

The bed swayed even harder.

...(10,086 characters omitted)

Two and a half hours later.

The swaying on the bed finally subsided.

"Five sticks of incense this time. Junior Brother is truly impressive, half an hour longer than last time."

After finishing, the woman surnamed Lin slowly sat up from the bed, extending a jade-like hand to grab the blanket and cover the expanse of snowy white before her. Her eyes, filled with autumn waters, gazed at the man surnamed You who had already donned his Taoist robe, her look brimming with tenderness.

Having resolved the matter on his mind, the man surnamed You's thoughts had completely settled. He casually brushed off the woman with a perfunctory reply, but his eyes immediately dimmed again, his voice full of anxiety.

"Speaking of which, Senior Sister, that person we encountered on the street today... is he really a Nascent Soul cultivator? Could it be that he merely cultivated some powerful Divine Sense technique, which caused the spirit-detecting pendant to glow?"

The woman surnamed Lin's eyes shifted subtly, naturally understanding the man surnamed You's concern, and immediately comforted him in a soft voice.

"Who knows? Maybe he really did cultivate some Divine Sense technique. Perhaps that person is just like us, merely a Golden Core Cultivator.

Even if he truly is an old monster at the Nascent Soul stage, he shouldn't bother with us over such trivial matters. We didn't provoke him, nor do we possess anything that would tempt his interests.

Besides, behind us stands a colossus like Blood Soul Sect. He can't just come knocking on our door to kill us because you muttered a complaint, right? No Nascent Soul senior would be so bored or so lacking in magnanimity."

To be fair, this woman knew exactly how to hit the key points. In just a few words, she precisely struck at the heart of the man's concerns.

After hearing this, the man surnamed You gradually felt at ease. Changing the subject, he retrieved a cyan jade slip from his Storage Pouch.

"Oh, right, Senior Sister. This is an invitation jade slip to the VIP room for the auction two years from now at Precious Heaven Pavilion's Thousand Leaf City branch. I went through a great deal of trouble to acquire it. I originally planned to give it to Master after he returned. According to what I've heard, the item he needs might appear at this auction."

The woman surnamed Lin was somewhat surprised and let out a soft "Oh."

"Precious Heaven Pavilion? That's the largest treasure-trading association in our Dayong. They say that among the three Mid-Nascent Soul seniors in Thousand Leaf City, one comes from this association. I didn't expect you to be able to get a VIP room invitation jade slip, Junior Brother. That's truly impressive..."

Before she could finish.

The woman surnamed Lin's voice abruptly stopped.

The man surnamed You was still facing away from the bed, examining the jade slip in his hand with great interest, privately basking in his senior sister's praise. When he heard her voice suddenly cut off, confusion arose in his heart.

Before he could turn his head, he felt a fierce gust of wind strike the back of his neck.

The next instant, the world spun.

He didn't even have time to react. He only vaguely caught a glimpse of a young man's face appearing and disappearing within a flash of cyan light. After that, he knew nothing more.

Jiuyou withdrew his palm, his gaze falling upon the dark cyan spiritual power flowing slowly in his hand, his brow furrowing slightly.

Within his spiritual power, a trace of black energy had unexpectedly taken root, parasitic and lingering, refusing to disperse.

He raised his hand and beckoned, sweeping both of their Storage Pouches into his sleeve before swiftly leaving the place.

As for the two corpses, he naturally took those along as well. If any accidents occurred in the future, they could serve as supplementary materials for refining Essence Blood Stones. Nothing wasted.

A moment later, Jiuyou had silently returned to the cave dwelling he had rented.

At this moment, his expression was extremely grim. Seated cross-legged on a prayer mat, he activated the layers of Prohibition Marks arranged around the cave dwelling, then immediately began circulating the Nether Capital Art.

The moment spiritual power flowed, wave after wave of black energy surged out from all around him, coiling and lingering like gossamer threads, refusing to disperse.

This was barrier force.

It was the resentment and baleful aura Jiuyou had accumulated over years of countless killings, soul refinement, and spirit devouring. The unwilling resentment of the countless cultivators who had died at his hands and been devoured by him, combined with the baleful aura he had absorbed from practicing Demonic Path techniques for so many years, converged to form this insidious poison.

If it were merely ordinary killing, it wouldn't matter. But the Nether Capital Art Jiuyou cultivated was fundamentally a technique that devoured others' souls for his own use. Among such rapidly improving Demonic Path techniques, which one didn't possess fatal flaws?

When he activated the Nether Capital Gate to devour souls, he naturally also ingested the resentment produced by those cultivators at the moment of their deaths.

This was an unavoidable price.

In the past, those Jiuyou killed were merely ants at the Golden Core or foundation-establishing stage. Their resentment was negligible, hardly worth mentioning.

But ever since he obtained the Little Green Bottle, especially over these past decades, no fewer than ten Nascent Soul cultivators of the same rank had died at his hands and been devoured by him.

These people had all been mighty figures in their lifetimes. The weight of their baleful aura and resentment naturally couldn't be compared to those ants.

Through such accumulation, the black barrier force now coiling around Jiuyou had formed, like a bone-attaching parasite, trying to drag him into the abyss.

However, in Jiuyou's view, all of this was merely a matter of insufficient strength.

If he were at Late Nascent Soul, or even one of those legendary Spirit Transformation cultivators, these so-called resentments and baleful auras would be nothing but nonsense. By then, he could devour as many Nascent Souls of Nascent Soul cultivators as he pleased. Why would he worry about backlash?

Still, it was fortunate he discovered this early. If such a fatal weakness suddenly appeared during combat, he might be struck down by his opponent in an instant.

Or if he had discovered it even later, allowing this barrier force to accumulate to a certain point and erupt completely, suppressing it would be impossible, let alone refining it. Those with weaker wills might even be invaded by inner demons and fall into irredeemable ruin.

But Jiuyou wasn't particularly concerned about this.

When he had formed his Nascent Soul back then, he never felt that inner demons were as troublesome as others described.

Inner demons, that thing, seemed to know his Dao heart was steadfast, and merely came to go through the motions. It even tried disguising itself as his family to deceive him. Ridiculous. Jiuyou had lived two lifetimes, and in both his past and present lives, he was an orphan. What family ties could there be?

For now, as long as he thoroughly refined this barrier force, not only would his spiritual power circulation become smoother and more pure with its disappearance, but he could even take this opportunity to advance his cultivation a step further.

Jiuyou closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and the spiritual power within his body surged like tidal waves.

The black energy churned around him, intertwining and tearing at the dark cyan spiritual power, emitting faint sizzling sounds.

His expression was calm, neither hurried nor flustered, as he peeled away and refined each strand of black energy one by one.