Moji

Su Wanyin instinctively held her breath, her pupils suddenly shrinking.

"Roar—!!!"

Right at that moment, a deafening roar echoed from deep within the limestone cave.

The Black Fiend Python could finally no longer hold back from striking.

The sickening moans and sounds of struggling inside the cave abruptly ceased.

What followed was the teeth-aching sound of bones shattering, along with the noise of swallowing.

Gulp.

Gulp.

The rain fell even heavier.

As if trying to wash away all the sin and filth in this world.

Gu Yang did not even glance at the object in his hand. With a casual toss, the Black Turtle Shield, still carrying a bit of warmth and the stench of blood, traced a parabola and landed squarely in Su Wanyin's arms.

"Take it. Consider it the rental fee for lending you my clothes just now."

Gu Yang possessed the Desolate Ancient Extreme Yang Body; his physical flesh was the strongest defense. This magical artifact was practically useless to him.

He had no need for it either.

And right now, Su Wanyin happened to need it, so he gave it to her in passing.

Gu Yang's tone was flat, as if what he had thrown over was not a priceless high-grade magical artifact, but a broken stone that could be found anywhere by the roadside.

Su Wanyin scrambled to catch the heavy ancient shield. When her fingertips touched the residual warm blood of the demonic beast on the shield's surface, her heart violently trembled.

A high-grade defensive artifact... the Black Turtle Shield?

She was stunned, her peach-blossom eyes full of disbelief.

This was a life-saving treasure that even Foundation Establishment stage cultivators would fight to the death over! Meanwhile, her own dharma robe, soaked through by the rain and tattered beyond repair, was not even worth a single low-grade spirit stone.

Rental fee?

Where in the world could there be such a wildly disproportionate rental fee?

Su Wanyin subconsciously raised her head and looked at that ordinary figure with his back to her, wiping his fingers. Her originally guarded emotional defenses collapsed with a crash at this moment, and a sour yet warm emotion instantly rushed to her nose.

Her eye sockets turned slightly red.

He had clearly snatched this treasure from the mouth of a second-tier demonic beast specifically to keep me safe, yet he insisted on finding such a lame excuse.

Was he afraid I would feel burdened?

Or was he afraid that my pride as the Holy Maiden of the Demonic Sect would be wounded, causing me to refuse his charity?

Su Wanyin lowered her head, her fingertips gently stroking the heavy patterns on the shield. The shield was neither too big nor too small; if activated, it would perfectly protect her vital heart meridian.

In this perilous jungle, offensive artifacts might kill enemies, but only defensive artifacts could give someone even a shred of security on this rainy night.

He saw my weakness, saw my fear, and even saw that I was already at the end of my rope, unable to muster even a sliver of protective spiritual energy.

That was why he gave this shield to me.

Verbally claiming that those with different paths cannot walk together, and saying he was just passing by, even deliberately pretending to be greedy and aloof.

But in reality, he lured away the most dangerous enemy, fed me the most precious pill, and now left the best defensive artifact for me.

"You..." She opened her mouth.

Right at that moment, a splash rang out.

The pink aphrodisiac poison mist permeating the cave entrance seemed to be drawn by something, rolling back like a whale swallowing water.

The sound of tumbling gravel echoed.

A human figure, stepping to a heart-palpitating rhythm, slowly walked out from the profound darkness.

Su Wanyin instinctively held her breath, her pupils suddenly shrinking.

What emerged was not that hideous giant python, but an enchanting stunner capable of making the world lose its color.

The woman appeared to be in her twenties. She did not wear a single thread of clothing; instead, she was covered in a layer of fine, gem-like black scales. These scales did not completely cover her entire body. Rather, following her breathtaking curves, they traced out a black, skin-tight soft armor resembling a cutout battle suit across her high snowy breasts, willow-thin waist, and the outer sides of her long, firm thighs.

Large expanses of skin like mutton-fat white jade were exposed. Contrasted against the black scales, it was dazzlingly white, dizzyingly white.

She was barefoot. With every step she took, those long legs wrapped in black scales twisted and crossed like a boneless water snake, her swaying waist exuding an exaggerated, primal wildness.

That was not a gait a human could imitate; it was a rhythm carved into her bones, belonging to a cold-blooded predator.

Rainwater fell on her and instantly slid down her smooth skin, pooling in the deep hollows of her collarbones and her undulating cleavage, shimmering with an alluring watery sheen.

Even more fatal was her face.

Enchanting, yet carrying a chilling demonic aura.

A smear of un-wiped crimson blood remained at the corner of her mouth, forming a striking visual contrast with her pale complexion.

In those long, narrow eyes were not human pupils, but a pair of vertical slits emitting a faint golden light.

At this moment, a languid satisfaction of having eaten and drunk one's fill flowed within those vertical pupils, like a cat that had just successfully stolen a treat, exuding an extremely dangerous and seductive charm.

She extended her forked, bright red tongue, gently licking the blood from the corner of her mouth, and let out a satisfied low moan from her throat. The sound was husky, wet, and possessed a hook-like quality, as if it could drill straight into a person's bones.

"This humble servant, Mo Ji, thanks the young master for his life-saving grace."

Mo Ji walked beneath the tree behind Gu Yang. She did not bow like a human, but knelt and prostrated on the ground as softly as a snake.

Her upper body pressed against the wet soil, her waist and hips arched high. At her tailbone, covered in black scales, an illusory snake tail could be faintly seen gently swaying in the air.

She raised her head, her golden vertical pupils looking at Gu Yang's figure with gratitude.

Her golden vertical pupils narrowed slightly, carrying an un-dissipated bloody and wild aura. Her voice was husky and wet, like a fine snake tongue gently scraping against the eardrums:

"Young master may not know, but that Golden-Winged Thunder Eagle has been circling above the clouds for three days. During this shedding of my skin, my source energy was depleted by ninety percent. If it weren't for the young master delivering these three Foundation Establishment cultivator bodies brimming with vitality, this servant would likely have already become a meal in that feathered beast's belly."

When saying the word bodies, she extended the bright red, forked tip of her tongue and licked her lips longingly, as if still savoring the delicious taste of that mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator from just now.

"A life-saving grace is like a second creation. Although this Black Turtle Shield is of high grade, it is but a vulgar item stripped from the dead. Tainted with bad luck, it absolutely cannot offset the karma of this life-saving grace."

Mo Ji's waist, covered in black scales, twisted like a water snake. Her entire body slithered forward a few inches against the cold, wet ground. She raised her head, her gaze devout:

"This servant belongs to the Black Water Black Snake lineage, which values karma above all else. I beg the young master to bestow his name. Once this servant stabilizes her realm and takes human form, I will definitely use this body to repay the young master's great kindness, even if I must weave grass and carry rings."

Up in the treetops, Su Wanyin, wrapped in that loose men's robe filled with the scent of soap locust, stared fixedly at this scene with her peach-blossom eyes.

In the Joyous Union Sect, she had seen countless demonic cultivators begging and wagging their tails to survive, and she had also seen female cultivators selling their bodies for resources.

But she had never seen an untamable second-tier demonic beast show such a near submissive demeanor toward a human cultivator who appeared to only be at the Qi Condensation stage.

Just who exactly was this man?