Chapter 520 480: After the "Dao Companion" Illusion Shatters

Pei Yuhang suddenly stood up, prompting a confused Ji Xichan to quickly look toward the door.

A cold, aloof figure descended from the sky. Amidst her fluttering robes, Nangong Jin landed gracefully.

Her snow-white skirt swayed gently in the wind, like a blooming snow lotus.

"Greetings, Elder Nangong."

Ji Xichan hurriedly bowed. Her voice still held a lingering shyness from her interaction with Pei Yuhang, and she kept her head low, not daring to let Nangong Jin see her flushed cheeks.

Nangong Jin gave a faint nod, her gaze sweeping between the two. A thoughtful glint flashed in her cold eyes.

"Miss Ji, Brother Pei and I have some matters to discuss. For now, go and focus on mastering that divine body using the method I taught you.

Remember, you are now one of the Dao Sect's most important trump cards for opening the Abyssal Sea Palace. In the short time we have left, you must not neglect your cultivation... and you especially cannot allow yourself to be distracted by others."

"Yes, Elder Nangong..."

Catching the pointed nature of Nangong Jin's words, Ji Xichan replied softly before departing in a flustered hurry.

After Ji Xichan left, Nangong Jin looked at Pei Yuhang and spoke softly.

"Brother Pei, your charm is as potent as ever. That girl is utterly captivated by you."

Hearing Nangong Jin's words, Pei Yuhang rubbed his nose in embarrassment.

If he didn't know that Nangong Jin had reached the Mahayana stage in the Forgetfulness Dao, he would have suspected she was teasing him on purpose.

"Brother Pei, Miss Ji stayed at your mansion for a time, did she not?"

Pei Yuhang nodded as Nangong Jin suddenly brought up the past.

At the same time, he thought to himself, 'Surely Ji Xichan wouldn't have told anyone about our... indiscretions at the Cold Palace Sword Mansion...'

"And Miss Ji's stay at your mansion was right after Ye Liyuan was severely injured by her Celestial Tribulation?"

"Yes."

Pei Yuhang affirmed, then asked with a hint of confusion, "Why do you suddenly bring this up, Junior Sister? Is there a connection?"

"Of course there is. If Ye Liyuan hadn't been severely injured by her Celestial Tribulation, I doubt I would be seeing Miss Ji standing before me completely unharmed."

"What... do you mean?"

"Brother Pei, do you truly know what kind of person your Dao Companion is?"

Nangong Jin watched Pei Yuhang calmly. Her voice was so restrained, so cold, that a knot of apprehension tightened in his gut.

"Perhaps you should be grateful for that Blood Evil Tribulation Thunder, the one that changed both your destiny and Ye Liyuan's. Otherwise, your disciples, Brother Pei, and all the women who have grown close to you this past year...

I'm afraid their fates would have been... unpleasant."

...

「In a hazy mist.」

Ye Liyuan's eyes fluttered open. She touched her forehead, cursing under her breath, "Damn that Nangong Jin! Stealing my Dao Companion and bullying me just because her cultivation is stronger!"

"If Master were still here, I'd have him set things right!"

"Wait... huh? Where am I?"

After letting out her frustrations, Ye Liyuan came to her senses and finally realized she was in a strange space.

'What's with all this mist?'

'Didn't Nangong Jin capture me?'

Curious, Ye Liyuan stood and began to walk through the mist.

But the air here was chillingly cold, and everything was pitch-black.

An inexplicable fear began to well up inside her.

"If only Ah Han were here with me... He'd never let me suffer like this... Ah Han, where are you?"

Ye Liyuan murmured like a small animal searching for comfort, and her eyes began to sting.

As if in answer to her longing, the mist before her began to swirl and coalesce, finally forming a familiar face.

"Is that... Ah Han?"

Ye Liyuan stared in surprise at the Pei Yuhang before her. His aura seemed younger, sharper—far from the steady man he was now.

'This must be... what Ah Han looked like when he was younger. Back then, he was still my Brother Pei.'

Ye Liyuan reached out, longing to touch Pei Yuhang's face, but the image wavered and transformed into that of a woman.

The woman's clothes had been stripped away. She was strung up by a rope like a fish, the bloody welts on her fair skin shockingly stark under the pale Moonlight.

"Who is this..."

As Ye Liyuan spoke, the hanging woman slowly raised her head. A pair of bloodshot eyes peered out from between tangled strands of hair, staring death at her.

Her gaze churned with monstrous resentment, yet it was laced with a bone-deep terror. It was as if Ye Liyuan was her personal nightmare—a creature she wanted to tear to shreds, but from whom she also instinctively yearned to escape.

*Ye Liyuan, you brought me to such a miserable end. How dare you forget me?*

"Xiaoling...?"

Ye Liyuan's pupils contracted violently, her face instantly turning ashen.

Her fingertips trembled uncontrollably. She staggered back a step, only for her back to hit an ice-cold wall that had appeared out of nowhere, leaving her with no escape.

In the next instant, the dense mist roiled, and countless twisted figures emerged from within—

Some were covered in bloody wounds, their flesh split open. Some were withered husks, their eyes lifeless. Others were as savage as demons, their bloody maws gaping wide, eager to swallow her whole!

They all glared at Ye Liyuan, forcing shrill, agonizing shrieks from their throats!

Raging, screaming, cursing—the pitch-black resentment crashed over her like a tidal wave!

*Ye Liyuan, how dare you still cling to Brother Pei!*

*You bitch, Ye Liyuan! Sooner or later, Pei Yuhang will see through to your filthy heart! Keep playing the innocent saint; peel back that skin and you're still black and rotten to the core!*

*Hahahaha~! Half a lifetime of bitter cultivation, all destroyed by a single bolt of tribulation lightning! Your man snatched away by every woman who gets near him! This is your karma! Your just desserts!*