Simultaneous traversal: All Abyss difficulty.

Chapter 607 The New NPC of the Central Continent Team
At Lanruo Temple, the members of the Zhongzhou team settled down.

Since Zhan Lan, being a zombie, did not need to sleep, she volunteered to take on the task of keeping watch at night.

She sat cross-legged outside Ning Caichen's room, her pale fingertips lightly tapping the ground, her spiritual energy spreading like a spider web as she alerted to any movement around her.

Zheng Zha and the other newcomers were lying haphazardly at Ning Caichen's doorway, some leaning against the wall, others lying directly on the ground. Although the environment was simple, they were already used to it after watching many horror movies.

"Hey you guys, don't sleep too soundly," Zhan Lan whispered, her gaze sweeping over everyone. "Grandma has a lot of tricks up her sleeve; be careful not to get your souls stolen by a female ghost."

Zheng Zha yawned and waved his hand, saying, "Don't worry, with your mental warning, how could we be ambushed?"

Seppi chuckled: "Exactly. Besides, if a female ghost really comes to seduce me, I'd like to see what she looks like."

Zhan Lan rolled her eyes: "Heh, I hope you don't get drained of your life force and turn into a dried-up corpse."

The crowd chuckled softly, but quickly fell silent again. After all, this was Lanruo Temple, a place teeming with ghosts and monsters, and no one dared to let their guard down.

Strong individuals like Fang Yu, Zhao Yingkong, and Li Yingqi naturally wouldn't bother crowding at the entrance.

They each found a relatively clean room to rest.

Fang Yu pushed open a creaking wooden door, and dust rushed out of the room. He frowned, then casually waved his hand, sending a gust of wind that dispersed all the dust.

"Tsk, this place is quite charming." He muttered, then lay down on the bed without even taking off his clothes and fell asleep immediately.

Zhao Yingkong stood at the door and gave him a cold glance: "You're quite carefree, aren't you afraid of being dragged away by a female ghost in the middle of the night?"

Fang Yu closed his eyes, a lazy smile playing on his lips: "What's there to be afraid of? I know Grandma's routine all too well. First, she sends a female ghost to seduce someone, then she drains their life force. If a female ghost really comes, I can just stretch my muscles."

Li Yingqi stood by the window, a talismanic flame igniting at his fingertips, illuminating the dim room.

She said calmly, "Don't be careless. The yin energy here is stronger than you think. There are probably many demons and monsters here."

Fang Yu turned over, his back to them, and said lazily, "Fine, fine, you can keep watch if you want, I'm going to sleep now."

Zhao Yingkong snorted coldly, grabbed Li Yingqi's hand, and walked towards the room opposite.

The Lanruo Temple was shrouded in an eerie silence in the dead of night, with only the occasional sound of wind passing through the dilapidated windows, making a whistling sound.

Moonlight filtered through the dilapidated roof, dappling the room where Fang Yu was.

Fang Yu lay on his back on the simple wooden bed, breathing evenly, seemingly fast asleep.

However, his consciousness was in a state between dreaming and waking.

Suddenly, he felt a slight itch on the soles of his feet, as if someone were gently brushing against them with a feather.

The sensation made him frown slightly, but strangely, his Observation Haki didn't give any warning.

Fang Yu's eyes remained closed, but all the muscles in his body had subtly tensed, ready to deal with any potential danger.

However, the approaching aura did not have any obvious malice; instead, it carried a faint, elusive fragrance.

He slowly opened his eyes and, by the faint moonlight, saw a slender figure standing at the foot of the bed.

It was a woman, dressed in white, with long hair like a waterfall, and her face looked exceptionally beautiful and refined in the moonlight.

Her eyes, like water, held a mixture of sorrow and curiosity as she gazed at him quietly.

Fang Yu already knew in his heart that the woman in front of him was Nie Xiaoqian, the female protagonist of "A Chinese Ghost Story".

"Young master," Xiaoqian spoke softly, her voice as melodious as a clear spring, yet ethereal, "I am passing by late at night, please forgive me if I have disturbed you."

Fang Yu sat up lazily, crossed his legs, and looked at Nie Xiaoqian with a half-smile.

"Girl, it's the middle of the night, in a dilapidated old temple. You could say you were just passing by, but you came in and started touching my feet." He deliberately dragged out his words, "It would be strange if you were a decent person! You're probably a prostitute!"

Upon hearing this, Xiaoqian's face turned deathly pale, and her slender fingers unconsciously tightened around her sleeves.

A flicker of panic and shame flashed in her clear, watery eyes; she had clearly been touched on a sore spot.

"How could you, young master, smear my reputation like this!" Her voice trembled slightly, but she forced herself to maintain that pitiful appearance.

Fang Yu chuckled, then suddenly changed the subject: "However," he stretched, his eyes suddenly becoming deep, "I have no intention of looking down on this industry."

Xiaoqian froze, even her feigned gesture of wiping away tears froze in mid-air. "In this world," Fang Yu said, counting on his fingers, "there are many people who sell themselves out: corrupt officials who take bribes and bend the law, corrupt officials who beat and abuse the people, child thieves, swindlers, and unfaithful partners."

He suddenly looked directly into Xiaoqian's eyes and said, "Women in brothels only sell their bodies, unlike others who sell their souls!"

These words struck Xiaoqian's heart like a heavy hammer.

She staggered back half a step and grabbed the mottled wall for support.

For three hundred years, no one has ever said such a thing to her.

Those scholars who were seduced by her were either blinded by lust or hypocritically denounced her as shameless.

However, no matter what, in the end, they all cannot escape the fate of being controlled by the small head and eventually turn into withered bones.

Moonlight streamed through the broken window, casting dappled shadows on Fang Yu's face.

He casually picked at his ear: "So, you don't need to pretend to be a virtuous woman in front of me. If you want to seduce me, do it openly and honestly. I hate hypocrisy the most."

Xiaoqian's fingertips dug deeply into her palms. She was supposed to follow her grandmother's instructions and use her charm to bewitch this man, but at this moment, she couldn't muster the will to harm him.

This carefree, irresponsible man in front of her actually made her more attracted to him than those scholars who spouted platitudes about morality and righteousness.
"Young master is indeed different from others." She murmured softly, and as if possessed, she withdrew the alluring and bewitching aura surrounding her.

Her plain white dress fluttered gently in the night breeze, making her look like an ordinary woman who had lost her way.

Fang Yu grinned and suddenly pulled a modern stainless steel kettle from his pocket: "Want a drink?"

After saying that, he tilted his head back and took a sip, as if to indicate that the stuff wasn't drugged.

Xiaoqian stared blankly at his Adam's apple bobbing as he tilted his head back to drink, and suddenly felt that this dilapidated and melancholy room in Lanruo Temple was more like the human world than her grandmother's magnificent brothel.

"Here, have a sip. You've never tasted anything like this before."

Xiaoqian took the "wine pot" from Fang Yu. Her fair fingers gleamed in the moonlight. She hesitated for a moment, then wiped the mouth of the pot with her sleeve and drank it down.

"puff--"

As soon as it entered her mouth, Xiaoqian suddenly spat it out, and a patch of orange-yellow water immediately seeped onto her snow-white sleeve.

Her eyebrows furrowed, and her finger trembled as she pointed at the wine pot: "What kind of wine is this?!"

Fang Yu was taken aback when he saw Xiaoqian's expression after drinking the liquor, then he slapped the bed and burst into laughter: "Hahahaha! This is Jingye!"

"Jingye?" Xiaoqian repeated subconsciously, then suddenly realized what she meant. Her pale ghost face instantly turned as black as the bottom of a pot, and the white silk from her sleeve "whooshed" around Fang Yu's neck: "How dare you tease me!"

Fang Yu let the white silk cord tighten around his neck, laughing so hard he coughed: "Cough cough. Look at you, woman, you don't understand at all. The sweet drink endorsed by the male lead of 'Wolf Warrior' is abbreviated as 'Jingye'."

He reached out and poked Xiaoqian's puffed-up cheek. "Looking at how angry you are, anyone who didn't know better would think you'd drunk urine."

"You!" Xiaoqian trembled with anger. The white silk wrapped around Fang Yu's neck suddenly froze, and frost spread down his collar.

Fang Yu suddenly dropped his playful grin. "Is that all you've got? Look how scared you are. You're already doing this kind of work, don't you have any professional ethics? Look at how the other girls serve customers. Whether they want money or their hearts when they pay, how can you treat customers like this? Let alone sweet water, even if it were really that thing, understand?"

Xiaoqian staggered backward, her back hitting the mottled wall.

She had never met anyone like this before.

He was saying the most outrageous things, yet his eyes were frighteningly clear.

Those scholars whose life force she drained would all show expressions of fascination or fear before they died, but this man before her...
"Hey." Fang Yu suddenly shoved the stainless steel kettle back into her hand. "Want to try some more?"

Xiaoqian took another sip as if possessed.

This time she didn't vomit, but her face was scrunched up like tree bark struck by lightning: "It was sickeningly sweet, and it even smelled like spoiled steamed buns."

"That's right~ It should be sweet, as for the stale bread taste."

Xiaoqian tilted her head curiously, "What is it?"

Fang Yu grinned and pointed to his surroundings, "I didn't brush my teeth last night, that's what I said."

(End of this chapter)