165. Unintentional Exchange Brought Intentional Affection

"Core? You mean the talisman," said the Snake Beauty.

She flicked her white snake, which automatically elongated and lunged to bite the puppets. True to her expectation, it snapped off the heads of those puppets, and inside each head was hidden a talisman. This talisman was clearly different from ordinary ones; it looked more like a centipede, connecting all the various apertures within the puppet's brain.

"Xie Wuji, it's up to you!" cried the Snake Beauty.

Xie Wuji waved his hand, and instantly five tiny fireballs ignited on his fingertips. The fireballs hurled straight toward those talismans.

Sure enough, once the talismans were burned away, the puppets simply collapsed into a pile of useless wood.

Xie Wuji assisted the Snake Beauty, and she seemed to know of this ability of his. Therefore, whenever she smashed open a puppet's head, she let Xie Wuji help burn the talisman.

After a few rounds, all the talismans had been thoroughly burned away, leaving nothing at the scene but a pile of useless timber.

"It is truly ironic. With so much combat strength, all these puppets possess such a fatal weakness," remarked the Fairy Snake.

Song Zhong said, "Speaking of which, we are also rather lucky. If we hadn't known about the puppet's core, I'm afraid we would have been in for a bitter battle. Wuji... how did you know about it?"

"Uh, isn't this just a magnified version of a toy? As long as it's a toy, it must have a motor and a battery," Xie Wuji replied.

"What?" Everyone stared at Xie Wuji.

Realizing his slip of the tongue, Xie Wuji silently thought it was bad, knowing they wouldn't understand his theory. He quickly corrected himself, "I mean the source of power. You see, the source of human power is the Dantian, the place where spiritual energy is stored, and spiritual energy relies on internal spirit stones. By extension, I deduced that these puppets must also have their own core!"

Hearing Xie Wuji put it this way, everyone nodded in agreement, as what he said sounded quite reasonable.

The first floor of the Dragon-Imprisoning Pavilion housed such formidable puppets. It was hard to imagine what sort of things might be contained within the remaining floors, given that there were six in total.

However, their time was running out. Song Zhong said, "Let's move on. There might be some stray disciples outside who escaped our net, and we don't have much time left. We must find a way out as quickly as possible."

"Right, let's keep going."

Finding the stairs, they ascended to the second floor, only for Xie Wuji to discover that the second level was a dense labyrinth. The maze had eight entrances in total, all of which looked thoroughly bizarre.

"Damn it, to think there's a maze like this. Isn't this purely a waste of our time?" Fat Dragon complained.

"Let's draw lots. I'll take a path alone, and the rest of you go in pairs. Each of you must hold a dagger. The moment an entrance turns out to be wrong or leads to a dead end, retreat promptly and draw a cross on the door with your dagger," instructed the Snake Beauty. With a flip of her hand, fourteen drawing sticks had already appeared in her grasp.

Seeing these sticks, everyone felt a sense of trepidation. Meanwhile, Song Xiaoyu picked up a stick, chanting silently in her heart: *I must be with Big Brother Xie, I must be with Big Brother Xie!*

However, her nervous expression was entirely observed by the Snake Beauty from the side. The Snake Beauty smiled faintly and nodded at her daughter—a very subtle detail that went completely unnoticed by anyone else.

Xie Wuji unfolded his drawing slip. "This has no color at all."

"What a coincidence, mine has no color either," giggled the Fairy Snake charmingly.

Song Xiaoyu at the side said angrily, "How could this be? Why is mine black!"

Paired up according to the colors of the sticks, they each chose their paths and entered the labyrinth.

"Wuji, you're walking too fast. Could you slow down a bit?" the Fairy Snake asked softly.

"I can't, we have to move quickly. After all, the Immortal Heaven Sword Artifact is only a legend; whether we can actually obtain it remains uncertain," Xie Wuji replied.

"Oh my..." With a coquettish whine, the Fairy Snake suddenly collapsed straight into Xie Wuji's arms.

Xie Wuji was slightly stunned. As he held her, the Fairy Snake raised her head, looking utterly enchanting and exquisite beyond description.

Her flirtatious appearance was enough to make anyone's mouth go dry. The Fairy Snake writhed her body slightly, wrapping her arms around Xie Wuji. "Wuji, I've sprained my ankle. Oh dear..."

Just as Xie Wuji reached out to support her, the Fairy Snake suddenly blew a breath right toward his face. Xie Wuji's brow tightened, but at this moment he was completely unprepared.

However, the moment this breath entered Xie Wuji's nose, the demonic spirit of the Phoenix suddenly opened its eyes. It jerked its head up and spewed flames from its mouth, incinerating the gaseous mist completely.

Not a shred of that energy entered Xie Wuji's body. Yet beside him, the Fairy Snake covered her mouth and chuckled softly. This breath was a form of the Snake Island's seduction arts; once inhaled, Xie Wuji would be entirely at her mercy. Though it would only last for a certain period of time, once they became intimate, everything would naturally fall into place.

Perhaps Xie Wuji did not know, but the Fairy Snake was well aware that he possessed the Immortal Heaven Sword Formation, which carried immense significance. If she did not seize the opportunity to get close to him, and he eventually found another partner, she would have no foothold left.

Yet Xie Wuji was no fool. Knowing that the Fairy Snake excelled in seductive arts, he slammed one hand against the wall, pinning her in a *kabedon*.

The Fairy Snake was a novice and knew little about such matters. Pinned against the wall like this by Xie Wuji, her heart fluttered with excitement.

"I am, you know, a normal man... and recently I've encountered many things that have left me quite frustrated," Xie Wuji said.

Hearing this, the Fairy Snake's pretty face tightened. After all, someone controlled by the seduction arts would certainly not be able to speak; they would act like a mere puppet at her beck and call.

Yet Xie Wuji clearly had not succumbed to her charm, which threw her into a panic.

She had never even held a man's hand before. With Xie Wuji leaning in so close, anxiety washed over her.

Although she knew how to cast the seduction technique, she had only ever heard rumors about matters between men and women; she had never practiced them in reality. With Xie Wuji acting like this, her heart began to beat like a frightened rabbit.

"If you are testing my dignity as a man, then I must congratulate you—you have succeeded. Now, with no village ahead and no store behind us in a place like this, you should know that if I were to do anything to you right now, no one would hear your cries, nor could anyone save you. You are like a little white lamb, ready to be slowly peeled apart and devoured by me piece by piece!" Xie Wuji said with a smile.

This frightened the Fairy Snake, and she stammered, "W-what are you trying to do?"

"Whatever you want me to do, I will do." Turning his head, Xie Wuji instantly gripped the Fairy Snake's chin and planted a fierce kiss on her lips.

For a long time, Xie Wuji had been suppressing his emotions. Now, with a million chaotic thoughts tangling together and further provoked by the Fairy Snake, he was losing control.

Filled with terror at this moment, the Fairy Snake was entirely incapable of making a timely reaction. Her mouth was immediately sealed by Xie Wuji, and her first kiss was ruthlessly stolen away.

The Fairy Snake struggled with all her might to resist, but Xie Wuji's kiss only deepened. Using his firm tongue, he forced open her tightly clenched teeth.

The Fairy Snake let out a muffled groan, only to find that her own little tongue had already been trapped by Xie Wuji. Unable to struggle free, a strange emotion welled up deep within her. She wanted to push him away, but her entire body had gone limp.

Lost in passion, Xie Wuji exerted strength in his hand and tore the Fairy Snake's upper garment right open. Startled by this, the Fairy Snake let out a cry and burst into tears.

Just as Xie Wuji was about to press his kiss further, a tear from the Fairy Snake fell onto the back of his hand. The chilling coolness of that tear abruptly snapped Xie Wuji back to his senses.

Looking at the tear-stained maiden in his arms, his heart trembled. He immediately released the Fairy Snake and muttered, "What on earth am I doing?"

In that fleeting instant, he had truly mistaken the Fairy Snake for Zhu Feifei, intending to unleash all his love and all his hatred for Zhu Feifei in one go.

Leaning back against the corner of the wall, Xie Wuji clutched his head and said, "You are the Fairy Snake... I, I..."

With only her upper garments torn and having suffered no further harm, the Fairy Snake choked out, "Wuji... you were terrifying just now..."