The moment he touched the token, a strange squeezing sensation assailed him from all directions.
When Lu Li finally adjusted, he found himself standing atop a high mountain peak. The surrounding white snow made him instinctively want to shiver, but he realized the area was as warm as spring. Even a nearby lake was emitting faint wisps of steam.
“Ah… a teleportation technique.” Lu Li rubbed the token in his hand, then stored it in his storage bracelet and looked around.
“This should be the northern mountain peak. The lake here must be the Hot Spring Lake, because a unique Yin-Yang Circulation Seal is buried beneath it.” He recalled several locations marked on the map. “That thing is only usable at the Golden Core Stage… I’ll leave it alone for now.”
“First, I need to find a suitable place to cast a technique and change back to a man.” Lu Li found a cave. Just as he began to circulate his Dharma Formula, a splash came from the lake, followed by a rough grumble.
“Damn it, why so far away?”
“Damn…” Lu Li inside the secret realm immediately opened his eyes. Without time to cast the reversal technique, he focused his mind, grabbed the Yin Yang Sword, and tried to rush out of the cave as fast as possible.
But the moment he took a few steps, a burly man blocked the cave entrance.
“That scent… you must be Holy Maiden Lu of the Yin Yang Sect, right?” The man immediately raised both hands in front of him, covering his eyes. “Sorry, but you have to be eliminated early.”
“Oh, is that so?” Lu Li held his long sword horizontally and gently tapped the thick stone wall with the pommel, searching his mind for a solution. “You should be… from the Beast Gate?”
“That’s right, thank you, Holy Maiden Lu, for remembering my sect.” The man let out a roar. “But now is not the time for pleasantries.”
“Beast Mimicry Art!”
The moment the words left his mouth, wild True Yuan erupted from all over the man’s body, condensing into thick spikes.
Then, in the most primitive way, he closed his eyes, plugged his ears, and slowly advanced into the cave.
“Tch.” Lu Li struck out with a sword technique, but upon touching the thick spikes, it was slowly absorbed, causing the spikes on the man’s body to grow even larger. “Ordinary moves won’t work.”
“Holy Maiden Lu, please surrender.” The man’s voice carried a bestial growl. “In another place, I might not be able to defeat you at all, but here, you’re doomed.”
“Not necessarily.” Lu Li flipped his wrist, but the spikes on the man’s body were clearly not weapons—they were part of his body—so they couldn’t be controlled. “Do I have to use it here…”
The spikes scraped against the thick rock walls, producing a grating, teeth-clenching sound.
Lu Li let out a long sigh. Watching the man close in, the cherry-pink hue in his eyes became more pronounced.
Yet the spikes continued to advance. As Lu Li swept his Divine Sense over the man, he couldn’t help but be startled by his ruthlessness.
He had stabbed out his own eyes and ears with his hands.
For a Qi Refining Stage cultivator, such injuries weren’t severe, but they would still require medicinal herbs or at least four or five days of rest to recover.
“Troublesome.” Lu Li could only slowly retreat, but soon his back was pressed against the cold stone wall.
The massive clump of spikes before him was almost upon his face.
“…I’ll try the last guess.” Lu Li took a deep breath and fully circulated the Bewitch Heart.
Over these past few days, based on his and Lin Yin’s experiments and deductions, Bewitch Heart might not be a human technique.
Because how could a human technique cause someone to grow nine tails?
Of course, there were techniques that could alter a person’s physical structure.
For example, the Beast Gate’s Beast Mimicry Art.
On one hand, they raised spirit beasts, but tracing back their ancestry, they evolved from the Yao Race.
In the long history of Immortal Cultivation, war had never changed; war had never ceased.
So an enemy a thousand years ago might have been an ally a hundred years ago.
And a past ally could become a present enemy.
Under this peculiar relationship, bloodlines of different races became mixed, and cultivation techniques were mutually learned.
“I’m really not used to this state.” When Lu Li opened his eyes, he felt the strange sensation inherent in this technique flowing through his mind. “But these are special circumstances.”
When he looked again at the man covered in spikes, the worry and unease in his heart actually disappeared.
In its place was a strange sense of superiority.
As if, in the countless years of the past, these things had all been under his command.
“Stop… at this Empress’s command!”
The enchanting yet indomitable voice echoed through the cave.
The moment the words fell, the man stood frozen in place, and the spikes on his body instantly retracted.
“Just as I thought… and this technique can’t be used for long.”
Lu Li looked at his fingers. Because of the technique, his movements carried a strange, seductive charm. If it had been before, he might have found it repulsive.
But while circulating the Bewitch Heart, it instead felt natural.
“Get lost.” As if influenced by the technique, Lu Li squinted at the man, who had curled up his body.
Even though his eyes were temporarily blind and his ears temporarily deaf, the resonance in his soul made him quickly back away and then stand respectfully at the cave entrance.
“Hmph… no…” Lu Li instinctively brushed a stray strand of hair away. Only when he reached the cave entrance did he realize he was still circulating the Bewitch Heart. The longer this technique ran, the deeper the strange sensation permeated.
“I need to speed this up.” He struck out with both palms, sending a blast of wind toward the token at the man’s waist, causing him to disappear from the snow-covered peak.
“Yin-Yang Reversal, open.” Letting out a long breath, Lu Li reactivated the Yin Yang Sect’s signature technique. As cold and hot air alternated, the numbing sensation that had seeped into his marrow gradually dissipated, and his gentle, controlled feeling returned.
“Wow, finally back to being a man.” Lu Li immediately stripped off the long dress and took out his preferred close-fitting outfit from the storage bracelet. “And Master was right—this bracelet adjusts according to my condition.”
As he changed clothes, the cyan-pink bracelet on his left wrist turned a pitch black, making it perfectly suitable for a male wearer.
“Alright, now I can implement the plan.” Lu Li inventoried all the items in his bracelet. “I just don’t know how to contact Jiang Yuebai and Shen Zhaoxue. That could speed things up even more.”
“First step: practice the Imperial Sword Sect’s Ten Thousand Sword Art.” After finishing the inventory, Lu Li sat cross-legged again, this time choosing to sit at the cave entrance. He closed his eyes in contemplation and began to trace ninety-nine spirit points in his Dantian to form long swords.
The mountain wind howled, and snow drifted.
But just like when he had traced the Bewitch Heart as a woman, within a few short hours, Lu Li opened his eyes, a radiant and joyful smile spreading across his face.
“Ten Thousand Swords.”
He formed a sword finger with his right hand and slowly traced an arc before him.
Wherever his finger passed, one azure mini-sword after another materialized in the air.
“Good. Time to prepare the second step.”
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