Chapter Seventy-Seven: The Fragrance of Pink Grapes

A mysterious little pagoda had actually fallen onto the delicate white thigh, and the young woman cried out in shock. Her face drained of color, and with a startled leap she tried to fling the little tower away.

But the pagoda merely spun once in midair and slipped behind her. Its tiny hand rose and struck her round, uplifted rear with a sharp slap. The sound rang crisp and clear, and at once a red handprint bloomed upon the pale, jade-like flesh.

The pain made her shudder and gasp. She nearly collapsed to the ground, barely holding herself up. In all her life, no one had ever dared touch such a private place, yet today she had been violated by a strange little tower.

Though it hurt, an odd numb tingling stirred within her. The hidden place beneath had even grown damp. Sensing the change in her own body, she burned with shame and wished desperately to find a crack in the earth and hide inside it.

Afraid of another ambush from the pagoda, she hurriedly crouched down.

The pagoda swayed in the air and drifted before her again. It clicked its tongue and laughed. “Such a big girl, and you still run around naked. Aren’t you ashamed?”

Spinning its tower body, the little treasure came to rest in front of her and grinned. “At this rate, how can you ever accomplish anything great? Looks like I’ll have to find you a man to take your virginity. Otherwise, if some man tempts you one day, you’ll end up under his control.”

“Who are you, exactly? Why am I here? And my clothes—was it you who...” Her voice trembled with embarrassment and anger, yet she had no way to do anything about it. She could hardly walk around naked.

“Enough, Little Treasure. Stop fooling around.”

An aged voice restrained the pagoda’s teasing. Then, with calm gravity, it said, “Child, do not be afraid. Your coming here was arranged by me.”

“Then who are you? Why did you bring me here and... and strip me...” The dignified chief of the Azure Peak Mountain, a great master of the玄 realm, was so wronged that tears spilled from her eyes.

“Honestly, such a small blow and you can’t take it? Besides, you haven’t lost anything. On the contrary, you’ve gained a tremendous fortune. Stop crying. It’s annoying.”

At the pagoda’s bark, she actually stopped sobbing. Looking up with tearful eyes, she pouted and said, “Even if it’s a blessing, there was no need to strip me naked.”

The pagoda chuckled. “In truth, your clothes were not removed by me. They were dissolved away the moment you entered this space by the dense elemental energy. Otherwise, I would never bother looking at that body of yours that makes men envy its proud fullness and graceful curves.”

“You still say such things...” Though it was only a little tower, such verbal teasing was more than a virgin like her could calmly bear.

Outwardly, she had always appeared alluring and seductive before others, but that was merely a mask she had deliberately worn. In truth, she was a gentle and quiet woman at heart. It was only because of her position and environment that she had no choice but to conceal her true self.

“Child, Little Treasure is just mischievous. Do not blame it. It is a divine artifact, the Seven Treasures Exquisite Pagoda, once my personal treasure in life. But now it belongs to you. From this day forth, you are its master. Little Treasure, why do you not greet your new master?”

The aged voice carried a trace of sternness as it ordered the little pagoda to pay respects.

“All right, all right. Hello, snot-nosed master. From now on, Little Treasure will help you cultivate, and when you fight others, I’ll even help you scheme and sneak attack them.” The pagoda floated before her face, its tone reluctant.

“Wait. I feel as if there’s suddenly a great deal more in my mind.”

Her expression turned solemn. Furrowing her brows, she began sorting through the vast amount of new information surging in her thoughts.

Then she gasped.

When she understood what the information represented, she covered her mouth in shock. She could hardly believe the value of what had been bestowed upon her. Without a hand to conceal it, the jade-like fullness at her chest rose and fell with her breathing.

“Tsk, tsk. It really is not small.”

The pagoda glanced at the trembling white softness on her chest and exclaimed in admiration, though inwardly it kept muttering, “Big chest, no brains. Big chest, no brains...”

“Yes. This is the inheritance technique I am giving you. From today on, no matter what your origin may be, you will become my successor. In the present greater world, I do not believe any power exists that can compare with my inheritance. So when your cultivation reaches the point where you may roam freely through the world, you must leave your sect and carry my legacy forward. Or else, you may simply transform your sect into a branch of my inheritance. Can you do that?”

She fell silent.

Seeing her lost in thought, the aged voice did not press her further. It merely waited quietly for her final choice.

After a while, she rose, her expression grave, then knelt and bowed toward the void.

“Master above, your disciple, Lan Yudie, is willing to abandon her own sect for the sake of your inheritance.”

“Good, good...” The repeated praise revealed the ancient master’s joy and satisfaction.

“But this disciple has one more request.”

Her face remained very serious, and one could imagine how enormous a decision she had made.

“You need not say it. I know already. You want to wait until your own cultivation is strong enough to ignore the pressure from your sect before striking out on your own. Is that not so?”

“Master is indeed wise. Your disciple does think that way. I beg Master to approve my choice.”

“Very well. I permit it. After you return, you must cultivate my profound techniques and abandon the low-grade methods of your sect. You are not to practice them again.”

“Your disciple will obey Master’s instruction.”

“However... before that, you must pay a price. You surely already know what it is. Since you are a woman and wish to cultivate my divine-level art, you must first lose your virginity. Are you prepared?”

A hint of authority entered the voice, and her slender body trembled.

She bit her red lip and whispered, “Yes. Your disciple is prepared.”

“Good. I looked into your memories earlier and found that you have feelings, even affection, for a man named Leng Tian. Then I shall use this opportunity to fulfill your wish.”

“Master...” At the thought that her virginity would be given to Leng Tian, her heart filled with embarrassment, yet there was also a conflicting trace of longing.

“Men and women are drawn to each other; the joy of union is the law of nature. You must be more open. If you wish to accomplish great things, you must become accustomed to sacrifice. I shall send you to him now. There is one thing you must remember: you may not fall in love with him, and under no circumstances may you bear his child.”

Lan Yudie only felt darkness surge before her eyes, and then she lost consciousness.

With a thunderous blast, the green cocoon burst apart. All the vines shattered into fine debris. Three-colored light flashed around Leng Tian as he shot out. Lifting his head, he looked at the towering thorned flower before him, and his expression darkened.

Could this be the Flower King?

Dragged here all the way by the vines, he had been attacked on arrival by dozens of thorned flowers with gaping mouths. He was not afraid of being bitten, but the sticky fluids were truly disgusting. That was why he had broken the vines apart with his true energy and escaped.

A flash of white light appeared, and Blood Mark was in his hand. As the dozens of thorned flowers closed in again, he surged forward with a burst of true energy. A chain of saber light flashed past, and with several soft slicing sounds and a blur of motion, he returned to his original place.

Dozens of thorned flowers were all cut cleanly at the waist. Their massive blossoms thudded to the ground, spilling dark green mucus everywhere. The air filled with a nauseating stench.

Rustling sounds rose all around as yet more thorned flowers moved in. Even the hard earth seemed to soften beneath their advance, becoming loose as sand, offering them no resistance at all.

The severed remains of the flowers on the ground were devoured by those that came after. After feeding on their companions, the dozens of thorned flowers again encircled Leng Tian.

Just as he was about to move, he felt a sudden heaviness beneath his feet. Looking down, he saw the ground collapsing beneath him as well. Several vines as thick as arms burst from the earth and wrapped around his ankles, and a surge of force dragged him downward.

A pulse of true energy exploded from his feet, shattering the vines. He lifted his right foot and stepped forward, instantly flashing to the front of a thorned flower. His saber fell. The flower was cut in two at the waist, yet it opened its gaping mouth and bit downward from above toward his head.

He was about to vanish to avoid it when vines coiled around both his feet. His eyes narrowed. True energy surged violently out from his body, and Blood Mark in his hand rose high, slicing straight through the center of the flower’s mouth. True energy roared under his feet and shattered the vines as he flickered away.

Though he avoided the flower, several streaks of mucus still splattered onto his body. The moment he steadied himself, countless vines erupted from the ground, lashing and twisting toward him.

Sweeping his gaze around, he saw the thorned flowers on all sides closing in with dense ranks.

“So this is meant to trap me completely. I refuse to believe that even after I kill you all, you can still do anything to me.”

His form flashed outward. With extreme speed, he became a blur. Saber light overlapped and glittered as true energy flashed and roared beneath his feet, blasting whole masses of vines into powder. The sea of blades and the sea of flowers collided in an instant.

For a time, figures shifted and crossed; blade light layered over blade light, flashing as it swept by. One thorned flower after another was flung into the air with its fanged mouth wide open. Dark green fluid sprayed like a fountain, staining half the sky.

The slaughter continued. Under Leng Tian’s lightning speed, the number of thorned flowers kept falling. In the blink of an eye, nearly a thousand of them had become victims of his blade.

After clearing a patch of open ground, Leng Tian stopped the bloody purge. He stood amid a field of shattered flower corpses. Sticky green fluid had already flooded past his feet, but fortunately his protecting true energy kept it at bay; otherwise, he would have ended up caked in it.

The pungent stench made him frown.

Just as he was about to instruct Youda to transform into empty space and carry him upward, a woman’s cry of alarm suddenly came from above.

Leng Tian was startled and looked up. A fair, nude body was falling from the sky, wrapped in shimmering multicolored light, descending at tremendous speed. It was aimed straight at him.

Seeing that it was a naked woman, he wanted to dodge, but hesitated. From such a height, if she fell, she would likely be grievously injured even if not killed. After a brief moment’s thought, he decisively withdrew his protective true energy and spread his arms to catch her.

The instant he finished, the woman’s pale body reached him. What met his eyes was a pair of flawless jade peaks, with even the pink buds at their tips clearly visible.

Leng Tian went completely dumbfounded. His mouth hung open, and his arms naturally gathered the woman into his embrace. One supple breast bounced and directly landed in his open mouth.

“So fragrant...” His tongue brushed something soft and rounded, and under the tingling of his nerves he instinctively sucked once. “So fragrant, and so springy.”

He only felt softness and fullness filling his arms, and in his mouth was a tender pink bud. He sucked hard several times, savoring the rich, milky fragrance. His body also reacted, pressing right against the woman’s hidden softness and making her slender body tremble continuously, with soft, breathy moans spilling from her lips.