The Hehuan Sect cultivates alchemy; my senior sister helps me refine alchemy throughout the world.

Beneath the red veil was a face, but not the faceless one he had seen in the Blood Soul Cave. The Demon of Passion's face had taken the form of Luo Qinghe.

"Young master, do you like this face?" The Demon of Passion tilted her head, a bewitching smile appearing on Luo Qinghe's usually icy face. "I found this face in your memories. You both love and hate, respect and fear the owner of this face. How interesting."

Shen Yifei's hand holding the Listening Tide Sword was trembling.

"Change your face."

"Don't you like it?" The Demon of Love reached out and wiped his face, his features flowing like melted wax before solidifying back into another face.

Su Wuwang's face.

"What about this one? Young Master was making love with the owner of this face last night, he should like it, right?"

"Change it."

The Demon of Love wiped his face again. His features shifted once more, this time transforming into Sun Yiran's appearance.

"This one? Your senior sister, she's deeply in love with you."

"I said, change it."

The Demon of Love's face rapidly switched between Qin Wan, Liu'er, and Su Yao, finally settling on a face that Shen Yifei had never seen before.

It was an extremely beautiful face, a kind of beauty that was hard to describe. Just one look at it made your heart itch, as if a little hand was gently scratching inside your chest.

"Who is this?"

"Young master, you don't recognize me?" The Demon of Passion reached out and touched her face. "This face is mine. Three hundred years ago, before I was imprisoned in the Blood Soul Cave, this is what I looked like."

Shen Yifei stared at that face for two seconds.

"You ran away from the Blood Soul Cave and chased me for three thousand miles, just so I could see your face?"

"Of course not." The Demon of Passion took a step forward. "I've come to ask you for something, young master."

"What is it?"

"My lord's heart." The Demon of Passion reached out, her icy fingers pressing against Shen Yifei's chest. "Last time, you shattered my heart, and I barely managed to recover. But the newly grown heart is unstable and could shatter again at any moment. I need a vessel, a vessel that can hold my love."

Her fingers were exploring Shen Yifei's chest, but Shen Yifei was helpless; his dantian was in excruciating pain whenever he exerted force.

"Young Master's heart is the most suitable vessel. Young Master is bound to love, so many love threads. The Holy Maiden of Qingyun Sect, the Sect Master of Hehuan Sect, Young Master's Senior Sister, the Sect Master of Blood Soul Sect, and that little thing living in the cauldron. The affections of these women for Young Master have woven a net in his heart. If I could live in Young Master's heart, it would never break again."

Shen Yifei looked down at the hand pressed against his chest.

"You want to live in my heart?"

"right."

"Then you'll have to wait in line." Shen Yifei grinned. "I have plenty of women lining up in my backyard wanting to live in my heart. What right do you, a newcomer, have to cut in line?"

The smile on the Demon of Love's face froze for a moment.

"Young master, I am not discussing this with you." Her fingers turned into claws, and five blood-red nails pierced his skin.

A sharp pain shot through her chest. Shen Yifei looked down and saw that her five fingernails had pierced half an inch into her skin. Blood seeped out, staining her fingertips red.

But her nail couldn't pierce any further.

The dark golden spiritual energy within Shen Yifei's body automatically surged to his chest, enveloping the five fingernails. The spiritual energy contained the essence of the snake demon and pure yin energy. The moment it touched the fingernails of the Demon of Love, it sizzled like boiling water being poured onto ice.

The demon of passion screamed and jerked her hand back. Her five fingernails were smoldering, and the tips were charred black, as if they had been burned.

"What's inside your spiritual energy?"

"The essence of the serpent demon's soul, the pure Yin energy of the Blood Demon Technique, and the extreme cold true energy of the Taiyin Su Nu Scripture. Three highly nourishing ingredients mixed together—do you like it?"

The Demon of Love looked down at his charred fingers, his face turning grim.

She switched back to Luo Qinghe's face, then to Su Wuwang's face, and finally back to her own extremely beautiful face.

"Young master, I underestimated you."

"You underestimate me in many ways." Shen Yifei thrust the Tingchao Sword forward, its tip pressed against her throat. "I'll ask you a few questions. Answer them well, and I'll let you go. Answer them poorly, and I'll burn away the last traces of your affection."

The demon of passion didn't dodge; with his throat pressed against the sword tip, the corners of his mouth actually curled up.

"Young master asked."

"First, how did you get out of the Blood Soul Cave?"

"The restrictions on the Blood Soul Cave have loosened," the Demon of Passion said casually. "In the Blood Soul Cave, the young master devoured the wolf demon, shattered my heart, and then killed the snake demon. The souls of the three great demons dissipated one after another, and the restrictions on the Blood Soul Cave couldn't hold. I was the first to escape, and several others followed suit."

Shen Yifei's heart sank.

The Blood Soul Cave contained twenty-seven powerful demon souls. He killed three, leaving twenty-four. If the seal were to break, those twenty-four demon souls would escape and wreak havoc on countless places.

"Secondly, how did you find me?"

"The scent of the young master." The Demon of Love licked her lips with the tip of her tongue. "Last time in the Blood Soul Cave, I remembered the scent of the young master. The scent of the young master is different from other men, sweet, like herbs soaked in honey. I followed the scent all the way south and found the young master."

Shen Yifei cursed inwardly. The medicinal scent on his body had gotten him into trouble again.

"Third, is the innkeeper one of your people?"

"No," the Demon of Passion shook her head. "I just arrived today. That fat shopkeeper is a mountain demon in disguise. His cultivation is not high. When I entered the shop, he didn't even dare to raise his head. Young master, you don't need to worry about him. He's just a little demon in the early stage of the Golden Core realm. He can't cause any trouble."

Shen Yifei's sword moved forward slightly, the tip piercing the skin on her throat, and a trickle of bright red blood flowed down.

"One last question. Have you ever heard of the Nine Heavens Mystic Lotus?"

The Demon of Love's eyes lit up.

"Nine Heavens Mystic Lotus? Young Master is looking for the Nine Heavens Mystic Lotus?"

I asked if you'd heard of it, not anything else.

"I've heard of it." The Demon of Passion extended a finger, carefully removing the sword tip from his throat. "The Nine Heavens Mystic Lotus grows in the icy pool deep within the Ten Thousand Mountains; that's no secret. But young master, do you know whose Nine Heavens Mystic Lotus it is?"

"Nine-tailed fox demon."

"Yes, and not entirely." The Demon of Passion wiped the blood from his neck. "The Nine Heavens Mystic Lotus is indeed the property of the Nine-Tailed Fox Demon, but she guarded it for three hundred years, not for her own use, but to save people."

Shen Yifei frowned.

"Who should we save?"

"Her man! The Nine Heavens Mystic Lotus is the only thing that can revive him, but the Nine Heavens Mystic Lotus only blooms once every three hundred years, and the blooming period is only the time it takes for an incense stick to burn. The nine-tailed fox demon has waited for a full three hundred years. Counting the days, the blooming period is within the next ten days to half a month."

Shen Yifei fell silent.

A demon king at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage guarded a spiritual herb for three hundred years, all to save a man. This story sounds so familiar.

"Who is that man?"

"I don't know." The Demon of Love shook her head. "I heard it from other demons. Some say that man was the Daoist partner of the Nine-Tailed Fox Demon, some say that man was a righteous cultivator she abducted, and some say that the man didn't exist at all and was made up by the Nine-Tailed Fox Demon to deceive people. There are many versions of the story, and none of them are reliable."

Shen Yifei sheathed the Listening Tide Sword.

"Alright, you've answered all your questions. Let's go."

The Demon of Love stood still.

"Young master, I have another question."

"explain."

"Is the young master's golden core cracked?"

Shen Yifei's eyes turned cold.

How did you know?

"I could smell it." The Demon of Love pointed to her nose. "The medicinal scent on you is much fainter than last time, and the spiritual energy in your dantian is leaking out. I am the Demon of Love, and I am most sensitive to scents. Every time you breathe, a trace of spiritual energy leaks out of your dantian. That's a symptom of a ruptured golden core."

Shen Yifei did not respond.

"Young Master, you went to find the Nine Heavens Mystic Lotus to repair your Golden Core, right?"

"So what if it is?"

"This servant can help you, young master."