Although the Beauty Trap is a strategy from the Thirty-Six Stratagems that has never failed, and beauties sent into an enemy’s bedchamber can often become poison fed directly into the enemy’s belly, not every beauty is suited to carrying out such an important mission.
For example, you could send Diao Chan out to work with you from within.
But try doing that with Mu Guiying.
Gu Mang naturally knew what kind of person Mo Xi was, and he knew that matters between men and women were one of Mo Xi’s greatest taboos. Because Mo Xi had personally witnessed his mother having an affair with his uncle when he was young, he had a severe cleanliness obsession when it came to relationships. He could not stand women having improper designs on him, and he hated betrayal between lovers above all else. Thus, in all his thirty years of life, the only person who had ever been able to tease him without being killed by him was Gu Mang.
Awkwardness was one thing, but seeing Mo Xi’s fingers clench into fists and his gritted-teeth expression clearly displayed across his handsome face, countless thoughts flashed through Gu Mang’s mind. In the end, he suddenly raised his head and, in a moment of desperation, shouted, “How is it you?!”
That shout was like a thunderclap. All the demons, including Mo Xi, turned their heads and stared at him.
Wu Yan narrowed her eyes. “…You two know each other?”
Gu Mang immediately dropped to his knees and pretended to be uneasy. “Your Majesty, forgive me. I—I was being disrespectful.”
“I am asking you a question. You two know each other?” Wu Yan glanced at Gu Mang, then at Mo Xi. “…Is he your lover?”
The Fire Bat Clan had originally been born from the union of those licentious fallen feathered people and beasts. Naturally, they had no rule against forcibly taking another person’s husband or wife. Gu Mang thought to himself that if he falsely claimed Mo Xi really was his lover, this queen might find it even more exciting and become even less willing to let him go.
Thus, he immediately put on an expression of deep hatred and looked up at Wu Yan. “How could I be his lover? I can’t stand him as it is. Your Majesty, forgive me. I was simply disgusted for a moment, and that was why I offended Your Majesty…”
Wu Yan’s curiosity was piqued even further. She blinked her glass-colored eyes. “How did he offend you?”
Gu Mang straightened up, pointed at Mo Xi, and, without even blinking or stumbling over a single word, declared with absolute certainty and ringing emphasis:
“He’s impotent!”
Mo Xi: “………………”
Wu Yan: “…”
The atmosphere immediately fell into an extreme silence. Almost all the female demons in the entire waterside pavilion were looking Mo Xi up and down. As they looked, they whispered and exchanged murmurs among themselves. Several of the younger female demons could not hold back and covered their mouths with their sleeves as they burst into laughter. Even several of the male demons who had entered together with Mo Xi glanced sideways at him, their eyes filled with undisguised sympathy.
Wu Yan asked, “How do you know this?”
Ignoring Mo Xi’s gaze, which was practically about to cut him into pieces, Gu Mang casually replied, “Your Majesty, I once dual-cultivated with him. But because he was too unreliable, he caused damage to my spiritual essence. Ah, it really makes me furious. Tell me, with such a huge grudge, how could I possibly forget it?”
Everyone’s looks toward Mo Xi became even stranger.
Big brother, being impotent is one thing, but how did you manage to injure the female demon you were dual-cultivating with too? What kind of technique is that?
Even Wu Yan felt a lingering sense of fear. She had originally planned, because she had not taken the Blood Spirit Pill, to rely on bathing in the blood pool and the Profound Maiden Dual-Cultivation Technique to replenish her vital energy. If she were truly captivated by the beauty of the man before her and chose an unreliable one to attend her, the result would only be counterproductive.
That was close. That was really close.
She immediately turned around and angrily shouted at A-Fang, “I told you to pick people! What kind of people did you pick?!”
A-Fang was so frightened that her face lost all color. She hurriedly kowtowed and apologized, then turned around and sternly shouted at Mo Xi, “Why are you still standing here? Are you trying to make Your Majesty even more unhappy?! Hurry up and get out!!”
“…” Mo Xi was so furious that his entire body trembled, yet he could not vent his anger. In the end, he could only glare hatefully at this group of lunatics, then shoot another look at that foul-mouthed hoodlum who had been spouting nothing but nonsense, before turning and leaving.
Wu Yan rolled her eyes and said to the remaining male demons, “I am weak today. Any of you who are unreliable, get lost now. If you stay behind and I choose you, only to find that you are capable of making me exhaust my spiritual essence, I will make sure you regret it!”
The Fire Bat Clan was naturally skilled in sexual intercourse, so those male demons were all confident. Seeing the queen’s exposed, voluptuous, alluring body, and how her cheeks had flushed red and her eyes had grown lustrous after being angered, they could not help but rush forward to recommend themselves.
“I can do it!”
“Your Majesty, I can!”
“Your Majesty, I’m especially capable!”
Gu Mang: “…”
Fortunately, these demons were dull-witted. If they had been clever members of the Qingqiu Fox Clan, he certainly would not have found it this easy to deal with them.
The queen was probably frightened by Gu Mang’s trick. In the end, she chose a tall, mighty, heavily furred, muscular demon and went into a room with him to rest. A-Fang closed the door behind them, sighed with relief, and turned to the other demons at the agate pool.
“All right, that’s enough for tonight. Everyone disperse. Go cultivate on your own and gather qi for Her Majesty.”
The demons said, “Yes!”
They hurriedly dispersed. Gu Mang noticed that the female demons looked nervous. Several of them rushed over to the male demons who had been left behind by the queen, vying with one another to say something to them. He was rather puzzled.
Why were they in such a hurry?
What did it mean to cultivate on their own and gather qi for the queen?
While muttering to himself about this, he did not want to attract any more attention, so he stayed in a corner and cleaned up the fruit platter before leaving last. But he had not expected that the moment he stepped out of the inner courtyard, all his questions would be answered.
He saw that beside the waterside pavilions, the female bat demons and male guards all looked dazed and disoriented. These demons paired off and gathered together to play around. Even the fat, horizontally fleshy female demon who had previously held a whip and scolded him was searching throughout the waterside pavilion for a male demon to fool around with.
Those who found partners entangled themselves with them and went into the crude thatched huts built along both sides of the waterside pavilion. From several huts with curtains drawn came the strange sounds characteristic of the Bat Clan during moments of pleasure.
Wisps of white smoke gradually rose from the thatched huts where the demons were engaging in intercourse, gathering toward the inner courtyard of the waterside pavilion, where the queen was resting…
So, apart from practicing the Profound Maiden Yin-Yang Way herself, Wu Yan could actually absorb the spiritual qi produced when her fellow clan members dual-cultivated!
Even someone as shameless as Gu Mang could not help but blush slightly at this. Yet he could not help thinking again: the Fire Bat Clan had originally been born from the depravity and promiscuity of the feathered people, and yet they could rely on intercourse to increase and replenish their qi. The myriad things of the Nine Provinces truly were all wondrous in their own ways.
Just as he was thinking this, someone suddenly placed a hand on his shoulder from behind.
Gu Mang was already extremely tense amid this scene of rampant sexual activity, afraid that some blind male demon would come over and entangle himself with him. Thus, when someone suddenly touched him, he immediately whipped around in alarm. But before he could see the other person’s face clearly, he was violently yanked around. His attacker restrained him, covered his mouth, and without saying a word dragged him toward the nearest thatched hut.
Gu Mang instantly panicked. These bats had astonishing strength. He could not conveniently use magic, so he could only struggle with his bare hands. But he was no match for the other party in strength. Not only did he fail to break free from the male demon’s grip, he was held so tightly that he could not make even the slightest sound. He was pushed straight into the thatched hut and roughly thrown onto the pile of straw.
The bamboo curtain dropped against the moonlight, and the narrow thatched hut instantly fell into darkness.
Gu Mang’s scalp went numb—
The Fire Bat Clan had ultimately evolved from the feathered people, and the feathered people were, after all, birds. In the most primitive matters, such as mating, members of this clan would instinctively tend toward their bird-and-beast nature. Thus, there was no bed in these thatched huts where they mated, only nest-like straw mats.
The pungent smell of dry grass, carrying the primitive scent of wild beasts, rushed into his nostrils. The intense odor nearly suffocated Gu Mang.
To fight or not to fight—that was the question.
If he did not fight now, he would probably be tormented here in the dark by a male bat demon. But if he fought, never mind obtaining information about the barrier around Bat Island; once a disturbance broke out, even Yue Chenqing and the others would probably be dragged into trouble by him.
His mind was in turmoil, buzzing loudly. Seeing the tall figure approaching him, Gu Mang could not help screaming, “Big brother! Let’s talk this out! I-I-I’m still just a fledgling! I’m not suitable for dual cultivation! Why don’t you find someone else!”
The other party seemed to have no intention of listening to his rambling. He came over, grabbed him, and pressed him down between the piles of straw.
Gu Mang shouted, “Damn! You! Bastard! Ah! I already said all that and you still won’t stop? You, damn—you—like to use—force—huh?!”
The other party finally spoke.
The moment that magnetic, low voice, laced with sparks of fury, sounded, Gu Mang could not help but shudder all over.
“Keep shouting.”
The man’s voice, forced to the brink, furious, restrained, agitated, and restless, was right beside his ear, rising and falling together with his hot, damp breath.
“I’ll really do it.”
“……”
Gu Mang fell silent.
After a while, the large hand gripping his throat loosened. The other party straightened up, and a ball of flame suddenly lit up, illuminating the cramped little thatched hut.
In the orange-yellow firelight, Mo Xi bit his lip. He held the flame in one hand while glaring fiercely at him. His beautiful phoenix eyes were seven parts ferocity and three parts faint redness. His collar was also slightly disheveled from Gu Mang’s struggles beneath him just now, no longer possessing its usual austere neatness.
“…” Gu Mang rubbed the five red marks around his neck where Mo Xi had squeezed him, gasping for breath as he rolled his eyes. “Cough, cough, cough!! What the hell are you going crazy for? Didn’t I just say in front of that female bat queen that you’re no good?”
Mo Xi gritted his teeth. “Can’t you just shut up?!”
“If I shut up, was I supposed to watch you go up there and fight?!” Gu Mang had been squeezed so badly that he had nearly vomited. His blue eyes were misty with tears as he glared at him. “Looks like I should have said just now that you were an extraordinary man of exceptional ability, short-lived pleasure but guaranteed satisfaction, and let that queen drag you into the side chamber to make you her concubine and ravage you in every possible way!”
Mo Xi’s face flushed red with anger. “You—!”
“What about me?” Gu Mang collapsed onto the straw with a thump, took a deep breath, and muttered, “You really scared me just now. I thought some bat demon was in heat…”
After resting for a while, he sat up.
He looked up at Mo Xi and asked, “Let’s talk business. How are things on Yue Chenqing’s side?”
Mo Xi suppressed his anger and answered, “Nothing unusual.”
Gu Mang rubbed his neck again and coughed dryly a few times. “Good. By the way, extinguish the fireball. This bamboo curtain doesn’t block the light. Bat demons don’t like fire. If they see it, they’ll know there’s something wrong with this hut.”
“I set up a light-blocking barrier.”
“Still, we’d better be cautious. Better safe than sorry.”
Mo Xi was silent for a moment, then snapped his fingers. The firelight suddenly vanished.
Gu Mang sat back down in his original spot and said, “Things should more or less be settled tonight. Be patient a little longer. Once I retrieve the soul-seizing spell I left inside Wu Yan’s body, we’ll know where to go to leave the island.”
“When will you retrieve it?”
Gu Mang closed his eyes and rested for another moment before suddenly opening them.
“Now.”
As he spoke, he began forming hand seals and silently reciting incantations. Slowly, bit by bit, pure white radiance drifted over from the direction of the waterside pavilion, passed through the wall of the thatched hut, and gathered at Gu Mang’s fingertips.
After approximately the time it took to burn a stick of incense, a ball of iridescent, mother-of-pearl-like light gathered in Gu Mang’s palm.
“Look. This is Wu Yan’s spiritual consciousness.” Gu Mang sighed in relief and said to Mo Xi. “Besides extracting her secrets concerning the barrier, I also searched through the causes and consequences behind why she turns people into puppets. After all, Yue Chenqing was afflicted by her gu technique, so I wanted to be prepared for anything.”
As he spoke, he also told Mo Xi about what he had heard beside the agate pool just now.
Mo Xi frowned. “Wu Yan was once betrayed by an immortal?”
“Sounds like it.” Gu Mang said, “And I think there’s a very good chance we’ll see that heartless, faithless immortal in this fragment of spiritual consciousness. Whatever. Let’s look first!”
After Gu Mang finished speaking, he lightly moved his finger. The ball of light slowly rose into the air and floated before Mo Xi and Gu Mang.
“Tell me,” Gu Mang asked it. “Why did you place a gu on the men who came to the island?”
At first, the ball of light was pearl-white. After a while, five-colored radiance began to gather, and hazy images appeared across its surface, accompanied by a vague, illusory voice of spiritual consciousness.
It was Wu Yan’s voice.
“…This matter…” Wu Yan’s voice softly said, “must begin when I was still young…”
As her voice became increasingly clear, the images within the ball of light also began to shift.
“…At that time, a conflict once occurred among the Mengdie Archipelago. Because the demons on a neighboring island had multiplied excessively, there was no longer even a place for them to stand in their original territory. To seize land, they broke their alliance and invaded the Fire Bat Clan’s island, killing the queen of the Fire Bat Clan at that time—my mother—and afterward slaughtering the other bat clansmen on the island.”
The ball of light faintly showed scenes of the myriad demons fighting and killing one another. Its mother-of-pearl radiance dimmed, and the surface of the sphere became stained with blood.
“At that time, I was one of the designated heirs to the throne of the Bat King, so naturally they regarded me as a thorn in their side and made me a target for pursuit. My elder sister used herself as bait to protect me as I escaped the encirclement, but I was still seriously injured… My wings were broken, my muscles and bones were fractured, but I kept using spiritual power to sustain myself. I did not dare stop… Yet I didn’t even know how far I had to fly before I could call it the end…”
Within the ball of light, the vast sea raged, with lightning crisscrossing overhead.
“I fled across the sea for many, many days. Later, a storm arose, and I was physically exhausted. My wounds became infected. I forced myself to fly a little farther, but eventually I fell onto an unfamiliar island.”
In the scene, Wu Yan was still in the form of a young beast, flapping her wings. She struggled several times to fly again, but all her attempts were futile.
“The moment I fell, I could sense that this island was absolutely not an ordinary island. Its spiritual energy was far too strong—there must be an immortal on this island.”
“I was terrified at the time,” Wu Yan said. “Ever since I was little, I had heard that immortals had always loved exterminating demons. So as I lay among the piles of straw, I thought, could it be that although I had not died in the internal conflict of the demon clans, I was now going to die at the hands of an immortal? I wanted to struggle to my feet. I wanted to fly away from this immortal island. But my strength really had reached its limit. My struggle failed to get me airborne again. Instead, it attracted the attention of someone nearby. Someone crossed the sea of flowers and walked toward me…”
The bat, its wings broken, lay dying among the straw. It appeared to have suffered severe injuries. The thin membrane along its wings had been torn open, and blood flowed onto the grass. Its pair of black eyes were moist and open, looking utterly pitiful.
Just when it was completely helpless, a pair of white-soled shoes edged in green appeared within the ball of light and stopped beside Wu Yan. Immediately afterward, a slender, finely boned hand lifted her up, while another hand carefully supported her, holding her in its palm.
Gu Mang said smugly, “See? What did I tell you? That heartless, faithless immortal showed up this quickly.”
The view within the ball of light slowly moved upward, from the plain-colored shoes to the spotless sleeves of the robe…
When the image finally reached the immortal’s face, both Gu Mang and Mo Xi were instantly stunned—
The man wore robes as blue as clouds. His features were handsome and refined, and he possessed a pair of hazy, misty almond-shaped eyes. His bearing was lofty and pure, like pine and bamboo beneath the moonlight.
Gu Mang exclaimed in shock, “Junzi Hui?!”
Mo Xi’s eyes also widened. “Palace Master Shen…”
Neither of them could ever have imagined that the “heartless man” appearing within the ball of light would actually be Junzi Hui, the first Sage of Chonghua a hundred years ago—Shen Tang, Junzi Hui!