"Can I leave now?"
Hua Nian felt the connection to her storage bag severed, her heart filled with desolation. All her spirit herbs were gone.
"Why such a hurry to leave?" It was clear Wen Chen had no intention of letting Hua Nian go. He wanted all her spirit herbs, and more.
Hua Nian's eyes widened in shock at his words. She quickly took a step back, "What do you want?"
"I've never tasted the flesh of a demon cultivator before. How could I possibly let such a good opportunity pass today?" Wen Chen looked at Hua Nian with a wicked grin. If he wasn't mistaken, she was a flower demon, his favorite kind of fragrant being.
"Dream on." Hua Nian let out a cold scoff. The spiritual energy in her hand instantly transformed into myriad petals, striking towards Wen Chen. Even if she died, she would not surrender.
"Weiwei, this person is so bad."
Feng Ming looked at Wen Chen indignantly. How could someone like him cultivate such powerful spiritual energy? It was infuriating.
"MaoMao, cast an illusion. Let him be lost in whatever he desires." Chu Lingwei stared coldly at Wen Chen, wondering how many innocent female cultivators he had harmed.
"With just you?" Wen Chen burst into laughter. Such a small flower demon dared to fight him? He swung his magic artifact towards Hua Nian's head.
Suddenly, his artifact exploded in mid-air. It was his life-bound artifact. A mouthful of blood gushed out as he suffered a backlash.
"Who?!"
Wen Chen clutched his chest. Someone else was here. Just as he was about to use his artifact to probe, he found himself in a different place, the very brothel he frequented.
Seeing the beauties flocking towards him, Wen Chen knew something was amiss. Yet, as these women approached, his body involuntarily lunged towards them.
He lost control of his movements, and his consciousness began to fade, oblivious to the passage of time.
"Thank you, fellow Daoist, for saving me."
Hua Nian took a step back, watching Wen Chen perform a series of strange actions, his eyes unfocused. She knew he had fallen into an illusion.
"MaoMao, let's go."
Chu Lingwei, still hidden, sent a telepathic message, wanting to leave with the illusion cat.
"Fellow Daoist Chu, I know it's you." Hua Nian called out loudly when the other party remained silent.
"How did you know it was me?" Chu Lingwei approached Hua Nian. With MaoMao's invisibility, even Wen Chen hadn't detected her. How had she known?
It was indeed Chu Lingwei. Hua Nian bowed deeply to Chu Lingwei. "Thank you, fellow Daoist Chu, for saving me."
"Every demon cultivator in our race awakens with a special innate skill. Mine is the ability to sense any aura within space. Any aura I sense, I can recognize at any time."
Chu Lingwei had hidden her aura, but only mostly. A tiny portion had leaked out, which Hua Nian had sensed.
So that's how it was.
"You can retrieve your storage bag now and leave quickly. It's very dangerous here." Chu Lingwei nodded. Demon cultivators and human cultivators did have some differences.
"Fellow Daoist Chu, can we travel together for a while?" Hua Nian stepped forward anxiously as Chu Lingwei prepared to leave.
Chu Lingwei frowned slightly. She hadn't saved her to have her follow her.
"Please rest assured, fellow Daoist Chu, I will definitely not follow you. It's just that it's very dangerous here, and I'm afraid I won't be able to get out..." Hua Nian's voice grew softer. She knew her request was excessive, but she had no choice. "I will only follow you out of here and then leave on my own."
"You said it's dangerous here?" Chu Lingwei looked around. She hadn't sensed any danger in this place.
"Yes, I sensed danger here. But he kept following me, and I didn't want to let him off the hook so easily, so I led him here."
Hua Nian had known long ago that Wen Chen wouldn't let her go. Since she couldn't deal with him, she didn't want him to have an easy time either.
"What danger is here?"
Chu Lingwei quickly released her divine sense to scan, finding nothing unusual.
"I don't know, but my sense of danger is much stronger than others'. I genuinely sensed danger here." Hua Nian spoke with absolute certainty, convinced that it was indeed very dangerous.
"In that case, come up."
Chu Lingwei allowed Hua Nian onto her flying artifact. Just as she turned to leave, a massive wave of spiritual energy surged towards them from behind.
"Not good."
MaoMao cried out and quickly set up a barrier around them.
Chu Lingwei immediately activated her flying artifact, taking Hua Nian and speeding away.
As they left, Chu Lingwei looked back. She saw Wen Chen being seemingly caught in a whirlwind, then disappearing.
"MaoMao, did you see clearly what that was?" Chu Lingwei only sensed the strong spiritual energy within the whirlwind but couldn't identify its source.
"Didn't see clearly." MaoMao shook his head. The whirlwind was too fast; he hadn't seen anything.
"Weiwei, I didn't see it either." Feng Ming's eyes flickered with disappointment, then brightened. "However, its spiritual energy seemed different."
Chu Lingwei looked back at the spot where the whirlwind had vanished. Everything seemed to have returned to calm, as if nothing had happened, not even a trace of spiritual energy.
"Fellow Daoist Hua, did you sense what that thing was?" Chu Lingwei turned her head to look at a terrified Hua Nian.
Hua Nian finally reacted, her fear still lingering. "I don't know. However, its spiritual energy was more powerful than any cultivator or spirit beast in the Spirit Domain."
Chu Lingwei's eyes gleamed. It seemed she had found what she was looking for.
"Fellow Daoist Hua, we shall part ways here." A hundred li away from where the whirlwind had appeared, Chu Lingwei set Hua Nian down.
"Fellow Daoist Chu, are you going in to investigate?" Hua Nian looked at Chu Lingwei in surprise. Her current demeanor suggested she intended to re-enter the area. "Fellow Daoist Chu, it's truly dangerous here. You might lose your life."
Thinking of the whirlwind that had just appeared, if it had been aimed at them then, they would have had no chance to escape.
"Yes, I'll just explore the periphery." Chu Lingwei nodded. She wanted to see what was inside.
Hua Nian looked at Chu Lingwei, unable to comprehend. She didn't believe there were any fortuitous encounters to be found within.
"Alright, I'll be going then. I hope fellow Daoist Chu stays safe." Hua Nian was not one to meddle. She bowed to Chu Lingwei and turned to leave. "If we meet again, Hua Nian will surely repay fellow Daoist Chu's life-saving grace."
"Weiwei, are we really going in there?" Feng Ming watched Hua Nian leave, then turned to Chu Lingwei. "That gust of wind, it's not something we can handle."