"Wu Yu!"

Qin Fuyao's entire body was splattered with blood, an expression of agony written all over her face.

Wu Yu's staff had smashed down upon her lithe and fragile body with devastating impact. She did not have Li Kuhai's remarkable endurance, so she could only grind her teeth in response to the excruciating pain.

As she tried to stand up, Wu Yu's Yan Huang Heaven Raising Staff descended directly upon her chest and forced her back down to the ground. The immense weight of the Heaven Raising Staff made it difficult for Qin Fuyao to even breathe. Perhaps she could feel Wu Yu's killing intent as she started to panic inside, though she managed to hide it well on the surface. Putting on a tender and flattering expression, she pleaded with him gently. "Wu Yu, don't go any further. I know I was wrong and that I was too greedy. You're such a strong and chivalrous man, don't take a little pitiful girl like me to task anymore, alright? This blow from your staff is enough punishment already."

She begged for his forgiveness in a coy and tantalizing tone.

Wu Yu indeed needed to consider seriously whether he wanted to kill her on the spot. After all, his impression of Qin Fuyao had always been very good from the start, although he had no idea why she seemed to have transformed into a totally different person ever since they entered this place.

At this moment, Luo Pin was focusing her energy on healing her wounds with the aid of the Precursor Dragon Scale.

"If I kill her now, it might be complicated to explain Qin Fuyao's absence when we leave the Heaven Devouring Evil Residence since we don't know if the City Lord will be outside. She's still a member of Yan Huang Imperial City after all.

"Yet, if I show her mercy... I can't just leave this grudge unresolved. She nearly caused Luo Pin and I to die in this place!"

Wu Yu had always believed in an eye for an eye. Towards those who wished to take his life, he wouldn't hold back either. Back when he was naive and confused, he had killed the Ninth Spirit even though she held a special place in his heart. It was a strange and thrilling relationship, yet never once did he regret his actions.

Even though Qin Fuyao held a more prestigious status, was more seductive and more desirable, in Wu Yu's eyes, she was still a far cry from the Ninth Spirit in terms of her significance in his heart. He would definitely not hesitate to kill her just because she was pretty and alluring.

As Qin Fuyao pleaded with him coquettishly, his killing intent actually started to increase. This was because given her deceitful and scheming personality and ability to hide her true character, if he did not end her today, she would undoubtedly cause problems in the future due to their present grudge.

Hence, his gaze turned cold. Even if Qin Fuyao begged with everything she had, he still didn't intend to show mercy!

"Don't! Wu Yu, I'll return you the key immediately, I'll let you do anything you want to me; I won't ever dare to oppose you in the future. Wu Yu, my good little brother..." Qin Fuyao's tear-streaked face was heart-wrenching to behold.

True enough, she reached out her hand and felt around in her Sumeru Pouch.

Wu Yu thus decided to wait till he had the key in hand, before proceeding to end her life.

Suddenly!

"Go to hell!"

Qin Fuyao's expression changed in an instant, twisting into an evil snarl dripping with venom and animosity. The item she had withdrawn from her Sumeru Pouch was not the key, but a piece of talisman paper instead! She had activated the talisman immediately upon retrieval. In just a brief moment, a stream of thick black smoke had already surrounded Wu Yu!

"Engulfing Wraith Soul Shackling Talisman. Wu Yu, this time you're dead for sure!" After activating the talisman, Qin Fuyao laughed ominously as she crawled upright. Seeing that Wu Yu was fully occupied by the talisman's power, she turned and cast a glance at Luo Pin only to see her completely enveloped in a peculiar bluish glow. Qin Fuyao knew that it would be nigh impossible to kill Luo Pin at this stage, and decided to escape instead. In the blink of an eye, she had sped into the front hall and left from the other exit of the front hall.

Even though she was severely injured, escaping wasn't a problem for her.

"What a disgusting couple! They just refuse to die! They even dare to stand against me and snatch my dao treasure! In that case, I'll let the two of you live forever harmoniously in this Heaven Devouring Evil Residence and see how long you can survive!"

She indeed had reason to be so arrogant.

Wu Yu had truly underestimated the ability of women after all, especially devious and pretty girls such as Qin Fuyao. Just as he was about to obtain the key, he would never have expected that Qin Fuyao would dare to act so daringly even under those circumstances!

The key point was, she had even utilized a talisman used exclusively by ghostly cultivators!

Martial cultivators were prohibited from using ghostly cultivation talismans. Ghostly cultivation talismans seldom fell into the hands of martial cultivators, especially those such as the Engulfing Wraith Soul Shackling Talisman.

To Wu Yu, the moment that talisman was activated, he could feel an engulfing wraith instantly trying to barge into his body.

This was the Engulfing Wraith Soul Shackles!

This wasn't just a simple vengeful spirit. In fact, these engulfing wraiths were created by ghostly cultivators employing brutal techniques to massacre tens of thousands of people, extracting their spirits, and sealing them in a domain. Thereafter, these spirits would slaughter each other until only one remained, which would consequently absorb the vengeful essence of the other tens of thousands of spirits before morphing into a fearsome engulfing wraith. The engulfing wraith's powers of possession were daunting indeed.

Basically, anyone at a centurion's level of cultivation would be inevitably doomed when faced with the engulfing wraith soul shackles, hence this talisman was worth a small fortune even amongst the realm of ghostly cultivators.

"Visualizing the Inner Ape!"

Wu Yu's spirit felt a piercing pain as the engulfing wraith fought to consume his soul. However, his fast reaction enabled him to visualize the inner ape in just a split second, taking both his consciousness and the engulfing wraith into the world of the inner ape.

Hu!

In the raging inferno, the Unparalleled Monkey King blazed with scorching intensity, asserting his dominance over all!

All it took was one look by the engulfing wraith after arriving in this world. Shrieks and wails of anguish lingered on, and it was incinerated in a flash!

This talisman might have been of great use against other beings, but it barely had any effect on Wu Yu at all.

With the demise of the engulfing wraith, Wu Yu was left with just a mild needle-like sensation in his head. He quickly cleared his mind and sprang into action as he saw Qin Fuyao make her escape. There was no time for anything else but to give chase!

"Played by a woman again!" Wu Yu was so furious that he was on the verge of trembling. This was his first time getting caught unaware twice in a row by the same woman, first getting pushed by her into the back hall and now having her slip through his grasp.

By the time he rushed through the front hall, Qin Fuyao had already activated the key and sunk into the ground. As he emerged from the front hall and stepped out of the Heaven Devouring Evil Residence, he suddenly saw golden lights sparkling up ahead! Qin Fuyao was standing within these golden lights, and they had already begun to dim.

He was still quite a distance away from her location!

"Wu Yu, you're just helpless against me. Behave yourself and have a good time enjoying this nightmarish existence." Qin Fuyao chuckled gleefully and vanished soon after.

"Oh, and by the way, my real name is Yu Fuyao of the Heavenly Seas."

Wu Yu arrived right as she finished her sentence. Unfortunately, the golden lights were already fading into nothingness. He was barely a moment too late. The key's function had ceased to work just as he entered its effective radius of teleportation. The Heaven Devouring Evil Residence was plunged into darkness once more.

"Yu Fuyao of the Heavenly Seas?" Wu Yu was stunned momentarily. What in the world, she actually had another name?

He had actually allowed her to escape with the key.

Thinking about it, there was a huge problem now. Not only could he not take revenge, they were also securely locked within this Heaven Devouring Evil Residence. It was highly likely that both he and Luo Pin would be trapped here forever till they perished.

Nevertheless, Wu Yu managed to calm himself down.

Standing before the Heaven Devouring Evil Residence, he thought, "Although we have lost the key, there might still be a chance for us to leave this place given Luo Pin's capabilities once she has sufficiently recovered. After all, she did mention that her previous plan before she obtained the key was to break in forcefully, although that would create a ruckus. Since we're leaving, the noise shouldn't really matter anymore.

"As for Qin Fuyao, I'll settle scores with her when we're out!"

To Wu Yu, this grudge was far from over.

"Why would she reveal that her real name is Yu Fuyao of the Heavenly Seas though?"

A puzzled Wu Yu returned to the main hall. At this time, Luo Pin looked as though she was bathing in a tranquil sea. Her complexion seemed a lot healthier and she looked to have successfully fought her way back from the brink of death. It should only be a matter of time before she could restore her cultivation to its peak condition.

"She managed to escape?" Luo Pin asked gently.

Wu Yu nodded, replying, "Yeah."

Luo Pin reassured him, "Don't worry. Once I've recovered for a period of time, I should be able to break out of here. We won't be trapped for too long."

Hearing this, Wu Yu felt immensely relieved.

He pondered for a while before deciding to air his doubts. "Why would she tell me that her real name is Yu Fuyao of the Heavenly Seas?"

Luo Pin's eyes remained close. Her willowy figure amidst the beautiful ocean had an almost dream-like quality to it, making it impossible for him to tear his gaze from her. She replied, "You haven't figured it out? That is indeed her real name. She is a ghostly cultivator originating from Emperor Yan's Hall, planted within Yan Huang Imperial City as a spy."

"What?" Wu Yu was flabbergasted.

However, Luo Pin didn't seem to be making things up. After all, Qin Fuyao did seem to behave strangely after entering this place, and she had indeed used a ghostly cultivation talisman earlier.

The baffling thing was, her cultivation method was clearly derived from the orthodox path. Besides the ghostly cultivation talisman, she possessed nothing else related to ghostly cultivation.

However, it made sense upon further thought. If she had practiced ghostly cultivation, how could she possibly slip into the Yan Huang Imperial City unnoticed?

Wu Yu understood now.

Finally enlightened, he exclaimed, "So that's it. It is said that her previous sect was wiped out by the ghostly cultivators, thereby leading to her subsequent adoption by General Qin. In fact, she was probably left there as a child by the ghostly cultivators after concluding the massacre; after all, General Qin and the rest wouldn't know how the real daughter of the Wind God Sect leader looked like, so it would be easy for her to claim that she was the sole survivor. Little did they know they'd be bringing back a spy of the ghostly cultivators, groomed from a young age! In order to play her role convincingly, she even cultivated the orthodox way from childhood!"

Thinking back on Qin Fuyao's background, it was indeed probable. It was too easy for the ghostly cultivators to construct such a scenario after all. With the complete destruction of the Wind God Sect, who would know that Qin Fuyao's identity wasn't real?

"When we went to Yunxi City, she was the first to volunteer for the mission. In fact, that was just an opportunity for her to meet her contacts amongst the ghostly cultivators. However, because you finished off your opponent too quickly and ran over to help her, she allowed you to kill her contact in order to hide her true identity. Don't you remember? At that time, I already felt that something strange was going on!"

Wu Yu was shocked.

Luo Pin was right. When Wu Yu recalled the details of their mission at Yunxi City. The demons they were initially supposed to face turned out to be ghostly cultivators. In all likelihood, this was arranged by the ghostly cultivators to facilitate contact between Qin Fuyao and themselves. After all, this was her only chance to communicate with them given that she did not dare to use message talismans to initiate contact while in Yan Huang Imperial City.

After being raised from childhood in Yan Huang Imperial City, even becoming known as a supreme genius within the ranks of the Immortal Army, who would have thought that she was actually a spy from Emperor Yan's Hall in the Eastern Seas! How horrifying!

No wonder Qin Fuyao looked slightly different compared to other girls from the Divine Continent. She had hints of exotic charm originating from the Four Islands of the East Sun!

Nonetheless, she had managed to conceal herself so well that even the Yan Huang City Lord was unable to discern her true identity.

If she hadn't revealed that her name was Yu Fuyao of the Heavenly Seas, Wu Yu would never have believed that any of this was true.

This was the name of a ghostly cultivator.

Now he finally understood!

Unfortunately, she had still managed to escape.

"I'll finish her off when we get out," Wu Yu said before asking, "How long do you think it will take before we can leave?"

Luo Pin replied after some hesitation, "I'm not entirely sure myself, I've been wounded too badly. Perhaps it might take two years or so..."

Two years!

Wu Yu began to feel slightly anxious. There was a possibility that he might miss the crucial date of the duel at Shushan with Beishan Mo.