Senior Ling Long felt a sudden vertigo as a hot current roamed through her body. She shook her head, trying to steady herself, but wave after wave of heat battered her consciousness. She bit her lower lip, her knuckles whitening; [she wanted nothing more than to give that meddlesome Ancestor Sui Bian a few lashes and beat him half to death.]

After Ancestor Sui Bian toppled to the ground, he tried several times to push himself up with both hands, only to learn what it meant to be powerless. His gaze went unfocused and an unnatural flush climbed his cheeks.

Yu Zhao had been absorbed in observing the Peach Blossom Grove when a commotion sounded beside her; she turned and was startled. She reacted at once, realizing that Ancestor Sui Bian and Senior Ling Long had been struck by Peach Blossom Miasma. Peach Blossom Miasma was an overbearing miasma that stirred desire and robbed people of self-control. Understanding this, Yu Zhao sent her Divine Sense inward to examine herself; aside from her Spiritual Power circulating slightly faster than usual, nothing was amiss. The miasma seemed to have no effect on her. She understood that this was likely because she cultivated the Ruthless Dao, which shielded her; Ancestor Sui Bian and Senior Ling Long clearly could not do the same. The harder they tried to suppress it with Spiritual Power, the faster the toxin spread.

Yu Zhao’s mind raced. Just then Ancestor Sui Bian and Senior Ling Long lifted their heads, their gazes colliding. A powerful surge of mutual repulsion rose up, even suppressing the urge that had been driving them. Senior Ling Long turned her eyes away in open distaste; Ancestor Sui Bian’s gaze cleared a little. Pinching his own thigh, he forced out a plea to Yu Zhao: “Yu Zhao, quick, think of a way. I can’t hold on…”

Yu Zhao frowned, her eyes sweeping the surroundings. Her glance landed on the carpet of fallen peach petals; a spark flashed in her mind—she had an idea.

A few hours later, a faint ripple stirred above Peach Blossom Island. A man and a woman stepped out of the void and descended into the Peach Blossom Grove. The man was tall and handsome; the woman’s figure was willowy and her features striking. Their every gesture carried an air of raffish elegance, but a lurking viciousness between their brows spoiled the cultivated façade.

The woman gave a cold snort and spoke with open disdain: “I don’t know what the Palace Master was thinking, sending us to deal with something this trivial.”

The man frowned and urged: “Enough talk. Let’s finish and report back. I don’t want to linger here.”

Speaking thus, they walked toward the grove’s center, soon spotting Ancestor Sui Bian, Senior Ling Long, and Yu Zhao lying on the ground. The woman arched a brow, surprised: “Huh? They were hit by the miasma, yet instead of coupling on the spot they just fainted?”

“Don’t worry about it. Tie them up first to avoid complications,” said the man.

At the instant they moved to act, the “unconscious” Ancestor Sui Bian and Senior Ling Long suddenly opened their eyes. Their figures flickered; in a heartbeat they stood behind the pair, their Spiritual Power forming a cage that locked the man and woman inside.

“You weren’t affected by the miasma!” the woman cried, her voice warping with shock.

Ancestor Sui Bian’s flush had long faded, replaced by sheer disgust as he said: “My mind remains clear. Did you really think mere Peach Blossom Miasma could shatter my Dao heart? You underestimate me.”

Senior Ling Long was colder still, demanding: “Speak. Who sent you, and why?”

They had originally suspected that the ones luring them here were cultivators from the underground black market, but seeing these two gave Senior Ling Long pause. She had not seen them in either of the previous clashes, and they had just mentioned a Palace Master who had nothing to do with the black market. She suspected a different purpose altogether.

The man’s face darkened. He had never expected to capsize on Peach Blossom Island; nothing like this had ever happened to him before. He tried to flee, only to find his body completely sealed, unable to mobilize any Spiritual Power.

The woman’s eyes turned venomous as she hissed: “You think you can catch me that easily? Dream on.”

Before her words had even fallen, thick pink smoke gushed from her body—so dense it was nearly tangible—instantly blurring her outline. The man’s expression twisted in panic as he stammered: “N-no, don’t!”

She ignored him, glaring at the others with hatred. Senior Ling Long’s Spiritual Power cage blocked the smoke from spreading outward, so it rapidly wrapped around the man inside instead. His face warped; he opened his mouth as if to scream, but not a sound escaped. An instant later he exploded within the smoke, scattering into a rain of blood and flesh that splattered the Spiritual Power cage.

It happened so fast that even Senior Ling Long and Ancestor Sui Bian failed to react in time. The cage shuddered violently under the blast and then shattered.

The woman laughed wildly and, wrapped in the pink smoke, darted to flee.

“Trying to run, are you,” Ancestor Sui Bian snapped. Having nearly disgraced himself under the Peach Blossom Miasma before his own junior, he was seething; there was no way he would let her escape. With a cold snort he pulled a gourd from his robe and tossed it into the air. The stopper popped free on its own, and a powerful suction roared forth, swallowing the pink smoke to the last wisp.

With the smoke gone, the woman’s figure reappeared. Her face shifted and she burst into even greater speed—but the gourd suddenly swelled severalfold and smashed down at her head. She dodged in a panic, yet the gourd seemed to have grown eyes; no matter how she sidestepped, it pursued unerringly. She even slipped into the void, and the gourd still hounded her without pause. She formed hand seals and sent attacks surging out; the gourd merely uncorked itself and gulped every strike into its belly.

At last, with several dull thuds, the gourd hammered her skull. Stars burst before her eyes; she reeled, dazed.

“Keep smashing!” Ancestor Sui Bian barked, still not satisfied, and directed the gourd to pound down again and again.

Her head swimming, the woman could not resist; the gourd finally drove her straight into the ground until only her head was left sticking out.

Only then did Ancestor Sui Bian give a satisfied hum: “With just that little ability you dare play tricks in front of me? You really don’t know life from death.”

“Ancestor, mighty as ever,” Yu Zhao said at just the right moment, and her well-placed flattery made Ancestor Sui Bian feel light as air.

Senior Ling Long stepped forward, looking down at the half-buried woman as she asked: “Speak. Who are you, really?”

Disheveled and humiliated, the woman still stared back with defiance and snarled: “I won’t say a thing. If you’ve got the guts, kill me.”