This woman was completely subdued!

Lin Yuan toyed with a Jade Slip wreathed in lightning at his fingertips; this was a trophy from a Thunder Cultivator he had killed not long ago.

Behind him, Xue Linglong approached silently, her jade feet bare.

She wore nothing but Lin Yuan's oversized outer robe, beneath which her graceful curves were faintly visible, and her falling dark hair brushed against her cheeks, presenting an appearance of ultimate docility.

Yet, deep within her lowered eyes, there was a coldness as if tempered with poison.

"Once he lowers his guard, there will be plenty of ways to ensure he dies without a burial place... Borrowing a knife to kill, or luring him into a dead zone—as long as he dies, my backlash will be resolved!"

Xue Linglong plotted thousands of ways to kill Lin Yuan in her heart, but on the surface, she spoke softly: "Husband, what are you looking at?"

Lin Yuan did not turn his head, but a cruel arc curled at the corner of his mouth, as if he were admiring a piece of art that had just been completed and satisfied him immensely.

"A new toy I prepared for you."

He flicked his finger, and the Jade Slip containing the 《Purple Heaven Divine Thunder》 transformed into a stream of light, hovering precisely in front of Xue Linglong.

Xue Linglong took it hesitantly and probed it with her Divine Sense.

The domineering, sweeping characters at the beginning made her heart sink violently.

《Purple Heaven Divine Thunder》!

Following that, names like Shocking Thunder Talisman, evil warding divine thunder pill, and Running Thunder Spear... each one transformed into invisible heavy hammers, smashing fiercely onto her Divine Soul!

Every single one of these things was specifically designed to counter Demonic Technique and ghost arts; this was no Cultivation Technique, it was clearly a death warrant tailored specifically for her!

The color drained from her face in an instant, turning as pale as paper.

"Where... did this come from?" Her voice trembled uncontrollably.

"A few days ago, I killed an eye-blind Thunder Cultivator Disciple from the Misty Immortal Sect while I was at it." Lin Yuan said it with breezy indifference.

He rose unhurriedly and looked down at her from above, his gaze carrying undisguised aggression.

"I know what you are thinking, but I advise you to put away those thoughts you shouldn't have, otherwise, I wouldn't mind making you disappear from this world entirely."

Before the words even faded, his cold fingertips had already pinched Xue Linglong's smooth chin, forcing her to lift her head and look directly into his indifferent eyes, which contained not a trace of emotion.

"Now, tell me, what... should you do?"

Xue Linglong's body trembled uncontrollably.

This man... is a devil!

How could he possibly understand the human heart to such an extent!

"Was my disguise not enough? No... he must be bluffing!"

But when she met those eyes, all her hopes were instantly crushed to dust.

After a long while, she finally lowered her eyes in humiliation, her voice barely audible: "From now on... Exquisite will listen to everything Husband says."

"Very good." Lin Yuan smiled with satisfaction and let go of her hand, "Demon Falling Valley is filled with crises; if you follow obediently, I will ensure your safety. When this matter is over, if I am in a good mood, it would not be impossible to help you refine that so-called supreme detachment pill."

"Really?" A startling brightness instantly erupted in Xue Linglong's eyes, the longing of a drowning person clutching a piece of driftwood.

"Naturally." Lin Yuan's smile was meaningful, "However... during this time, you might have to work a bit harder."

"What do you mean?" A sense of foreboding rose in the depths of Xue Linglong's heart.

"You will know soon enough."

...

Several days later, aboard the speeding senluo bone boat.

Xue Linglong finally understood the meaning of the "hard work" Lin Yuan had spoken of.

This man was simply an untiring monster when it came to "face-to-face hard Cultivation"!

From the initial shame and desire to die, to the numbness in the middle, and now... the look in her eyes when she gazed at Lin Yuan held only deep resentment and a trace of bone-deep fear that she herself had not even noticed.

"Are... are you even human?" She curled up in the corner of the Flying Boat, her voice hoarse and laced with tears, like a cat that had been completely broken.

Lin Yuan sat cross-legged, opened his eyes slowly upon hearing this, swept his gaze over her, and spoke in a flat tone: "It seems you have recovered well; we can continue."

"No! No more!" Xue Linglong was so frightened that she curled into a ball, waving her hands repeatedly. That overly terrified appearance finally caused a genuine smile to curl the corners of Lin Yuan's mouth.

On the morning of the sixth day, the steadily flying senluo bone boat came to a slow stop, accompanied by a slight vibration.

A resonant voice spread throughout the bone boat: "Fellow Disciples, we have arrived at Demon Falling Valley! We will return from here in one month; I wish you all a bountiful harvest!"

Lin Yuan, already fully dressed, took Xue Linglong—who had also changed into a black robe and covered her peerless face with a hood—onto the deck.

Below lay a rift valley stretching for ten thousand miles across the earth, bottomless. Inside the valley, yellow-green poisonous miasma churned endlessly, like a giant mouth leading to the netherworld, ready to devour anyone.

Thousands of Yin Corpse Sect Disciples turned into dense black dots, like a swarm of locusts passing through, scrambling to plunge into that yellow-green curtain of death.

In the Chaos, two Disciples got too close, their figures suddenly stiffened, and were immediately sliced into pieces by an invisible spatial rift; before they could even scream, their remains were swallowed by the poisonous miasma below.

"Follow me closely." Lin Yuan summoned the light feather boat, his tone brooking no argument.

Xue Linglong felt a shiver in her heart; she nodded silently and followed closely behind.

Inside Demon Falling Valley, there was not only poisonous miasma and ubiquitous spatial rifts, but also the prying eyes of nearly ten thousand Cultivators from the six great sects of the Eastern Region. Coupled with countless Loose Cultivators and Family Disciples, for this month, this place would be a bloody hunting ground gathering tens of thousands of people.

Killing people and seizing goods was the only theme here.

Moreover, because spatial rifts were extremely sensitive to spiritual power fluctuations, everyone had to suppress their Cultivation below Foundation Establishment, otherwise, it would trigger a spatial collapse, leading to mutual destruction.

The light feather boat flashed with spiritual light, transforming into a cyan Escape Light, and precisely dived into the massive yellow-green poisonous miasma below.

Hum— It felt as if they had passed through a layer of viscous water, and the surrounding world instantly became dim and eerie.

As far as the eye could see, there was only chaotic yellow and green, with visibility dropping to less than ten feet. Her Divine Sense was suppressed even more severely; the range that could originally cover fifty or sixty feet was now forcibly weakened by more than half.

The air was filled with a nauseating, fishy-sweet scent of rotting soil mixed with decaying vegetation.

Xue Linglong took out a Low Grade anti-miasma pill and swallowed it.

Lin Yuan simply took out a supreme grade anti-miasma pill, overflowing with pill fragrance, and swallowed it, making the corners of Xue Linglong's mouth twitch slightly.

This spendthrift—this was only the outer perimeter of Demon Falling Valley, why be so extravagant.

Lin Yuan, however, did not care; in his view, any investment beneficial to his own life could not be considered a waste.

Under his control, the light feather boat landed precisely at the starting position of the route map given by Qing Tan.

According to the markings on the map, one only needed to travel a short distance in this direction to reach the first target point.

There, the core main ingredient for refining the foundation establishment pill—the dragon blood vine—grew.

To refine a foundation establishment pill, the herb's age must reach at least thirty years. And this secret place would almost always nurture a new batch of dragon blood vine every thirty years.