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Yino hadn't expected Liuli to be so fierce, biting her lip to feed him blood mouth-to-mouth.

As Liuli's bloodied lips pressed against his, Yino kept his mouth tightly shut, terrified of accidentally swallowing any blood.

He struggled in the her embrace.

Liuli pulled back, noticing Yino's rather die-than-submit expression. With only a few drops of blood remaining on his lips, her previously gentle and doting face gradually revealed signs of impatience.

"It seems you prefer to be taken by force?" The she raised an eyebrow slightly, speaking in an emotionally detached tone.

She summoned a vine with her gaze, planning to forcefully pry open Yino's mouth.

Meanwhile, Yino secretly crushed the jade pendant in his right hand. Since she was determined to make him her blood servant, he had no choice but to use his trump card—

[Frost Chant Pierces Ten Thousand Rivers!]

The vision of Yuyan swinging her sword flashed through Yino's mind.

Suddenly, he broke free from Liuli's embrace, raising his hand to control his sword in a sweeping strike. In an instant, a glacier manifested along the sword's arc, freezing the evil cult's Holy Maiden before him into an ice sculpture.

"Holy crap!"

A female's surprised exclamation came from behind Yino.

At the same time, Yino snapped out of Yuyan's sword technique trance.

Looking down, he felt strange that his sword-wielding left arm wasn't sore at all. Given his Core Formation stage cultivation, using Yuyan's sword technique should have temporarily disabled one of his arms.

"Yino, I can't believe you carry such an overpowered weapon around!"

Behind Yino, Jinyue was still in shock.

He turned to look back but found himself meeting the blood-colored peach blossom eyes of the seductive fox girl.

For a moment, Yino felt the scene before him fragment.

When he observed his surroundings again, he saw Liuli—who should have been frozen into an ice sculpture—standing normally in her original spot, though staring ahead with a dazed expression.

The magnificent glacier from his sword strike had vanished, replaced by the jade pendant still intact in Yino's right hand.

"An illusion...?"

Yino discovered the blind spot.

Even more strangely, he wasn't the only one caught in the illusion. The vines controlled by Liuli seemed to be attacking in odd directions.

"Of course it was an illusion! Otherwise, that sword strike might have killed me too!"

Jinyue pulled on Yino's arm, speaking somewhat resentfully.

When she had just arrived, Yino was about to crush the jade pendant. In Jinyue's illusion projection, that sword strike would have definitely frozen her, an innocent passing fox, into ice shards!

Fortunately, Jinyue arrived in time to help Yino save a trump card.

"You...?"

Yino seemed not fully awakened from the illusion, he was slightly dizzy, not understanding why Jinyue appeared here.

"You're not with that evil cult's Holy Maiden?" Yino slowly realized his misunderstanding.

"Of course not! You're doubting me again, aren't you!"

"If you weren't trying to trick me, why did you lie about Ruoning being in danger?"

"I didn't lie!"

"Then where is Ruoning?"

"I don't know either! Why do you always assume the worst about people?"

The foxgirl's tail swayed back and forth, and even her glaring eyes reflected shame, anger, and grievance.

Just as the two were verifying their information discrepancy, the red-robed Holy Maiden caught in the illusion gradually awakened.

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"Jinyue, what tricks are you up to now?"

Liuli's eyes showed irritation because, in her illusory memory, she had already captured Yino.

But just when the blood-feeding ritual was about to succeed, Yino suddenly turned into mist. Shortly after, Liuli also woke from the illusion, realizing everything had been for nothing.

"Jinyue, sometimes I really don't understand what side you're on or what you're fighting for."

Liuli stood in place, and although she spoke calmly, she summoned a blood-colored scythe woven from vines. The killing intent surrounding her was no longer at the level she had used while toying with Yino earlier.

She was truly angered by Jinyue.

Previously, at the Mountain Temple of Wuji Sect, it was Jinyue following Yino who disrupted Liuli's plan to recover the prophesied child.

Now, just as Liuli personally moved to subdue Yino, this damned fox had ruined her plans at the critical moment again!

"I don't fight for anything; is it wrong to just have fun?"

Jinyue stepped out from behind Yino.

Just like when confronting Ruoning before, she still clung to Yino's arm, her enchanting eyes reflecting blood-colored curse marks, her sweet smile carrying undisguised provocative intent.

"Tch..."

Instantly, Liuli's fists clenched.

She gripped the blood scythe and charged forward with lightning speed, swinging it up toward Jinyue's head.

Boom—!

But following a gust of fierce wind, Liuli struck only empty air.

She looked around to find that Jinyue, who should have died under the blood scythe, had transformed into mist along with Yino, reappearing at the opposite corner from Liuli. At this sight, the beautiful face beneath Liuli's hood became even more unsightly.

She knew well how troublesome her opponent was. As long as Jinyue appeared before a spellcaster, no magic could touch even a hair on her head.

"Liuli, you should give up."

"Back at the Witch Tea Party, we agreed you wouldn't move against Yino. Now that I've broken your little tricks, you'd better have a proper talk with my dear benefactor, okay?"

Jinyue giggled, seeming to have long seen through Liuli's predicament.

The latter's lips twitched, and seeing the situation, she could only slowly withdraw the blood scythe in her hand.

If not for Jinyue's interference, Liuli wouldn't have needed to talk to Yino as equals—she could have just captured him and fed him her blood to completely control his mind!

Although this was actually what Jinyue and Liuli had agreed upon, having to give up her physical advantage now still made Liuli feel deeply cheated.

After all, Liuli had never taken Jinyue seriously from the start.

But now, the trap she had designed couldn't even contain Jinyue for five minutes.

This wasn't reasonable!

"How did you break free from my restraints...?"

Now that the situation was deadlocked and couldn't be resolved quickly, Liuli simply put aside her impatience and calmly reassessed.

On the other side, hearing this, Jinyue seemed to think of something.

She glanced at Yino beside her, and Yino also felt strange, seeming to grasp something from Jinyue's eyes.

[Where's Yunjin?]

[She's... still lost in the illusion in the bushes.]

[Oh, then let her stay put quietly; don't let her come make trouble.]

[That was my plan too.]