Chapter 201: Xiao Jiu, that's Mount Cangwu!

I never imagined bringing Tang Xun's soul to the Nether Realm would reveal such a grand scene.

I thought we would face numerous obstacles and struggle to bring her in.

Whether we could bring her back completely intact remained unknown.

But the other side had already paved the way for us.

Or put another way, this secluded paradise was originally under his jurisdiction, everything under his control.

Without the Soul-guiding Lamp and without a negotiation with Liu Junyan, the other side would have used the Ghost King Butterfly to bring Tang Xun's soul in.

But once the Ghost King Butterfly and the remnant soul left Tang Xun's body together, she truly died.

The remnant soul comes, but does not return.

But now, everything is just right.

Although I don't understand why Tang Xun's soul body can be filled by these butterflies.

I also don't understand why there are so many butterflies here.

But... these don't matter.

What matters is that Tang Xun's soul body has "come alive."

What matters is that so far everything has gone smoothly.

But just as I was relaxing and beginning to admire the scenery, the Profound Cat suddenly cried out.

It had been perched on Liu Junyan's shoulder; now its back arched, its black fur stood on end, its dark-green eyes flashed with a strange light, and its whole body went on alert!

The next moment it leapt down, bouncing among the flowers on the valley slope, and ran toward the west.

There's movement over there!

Liu Junyan and I exchanged a glance; she said, "Tang Xun's soul is about to solidify, Xiao Jiu, you stay behind to collect the soul, I'll go check."

I nodded and warned, "Be careful."

Liu Junyan chased the Profound Cat westward; the terrain there rose then fell, and their figures quickly vanished from sight.

I felt somewhat uneasy.

After all, this is the Nether Realm; though a remote corner, it is still under Tang Xun's aunt's control, but accidents are inevitable.

And even a minor mishap in the Nether Realm could cause us great trouble.

No matter what, I must first protect Tang Xun's soul body; with Liu Junyan and the Profound Cat to the west, nothing major should happen soon.

Fortunately, soon the butterflies in the mountain hollow no longer clung to Tang Xun's soul body, their numbers reduced by two-thirds.

Tang Xun stood in place for half a minute, then suddenly lifted her gaze toward me.

Her eyes were first bewildered, then cleared; she strode over to me: "Xiao Jiu."

That cry of "Xiao Jiu" made my heart suddenly loosen.

Tang Xun's remnant soul had actually been replenished through the butterflies' sacrifice.

It's too miraculous.

"Aunt Tang." I stepped forward and said, "This place is not for lingering; I'll first put you into the Soul-guiding Lamp, then return to the mortal realm."

Tang Xun stood beside me, looking around, wondering what to think.

Then she nodded and said, "Thanks for the trouble, Xiao Jiu."

I again broke my fingertip, dripped blood, and collected the soul.

After Tang Xun's soul was sealed in the Soul-guiding Lamp, I took the lamp and pursued westward.

As I just reached the valley's highest point, I heard a mournful bird cry and the sounds of battle.

My steps halted instinctively; I drew the Soul-guiding Lamp into my arms, narrowed my eyes, and looked downward.

First I saw a vast flock of crows besieging Liu Junyan and the Profound Cat.

But by now, most of the crow flock had already been wiped out.

Yet that earlier bird cry had come from another direction.

Hearing that sound, Liu Junyan handed the remaining crows to the Profound Cat and flew toward that direction.

Standing high, my view widened; I instantly locked onto the direction from which the bird cry came.

At that glance, my blood seemed to freeze in an instant.

I saw an old acquaintance… Feng Lishu.

Last time we clashed, Feng Lishu had one hand locked by Liu Junyan's copper-coin red thread and fled in panic.

I never expected to meet her again in the Nether Realm.

Nor did I expect her to become what she is now.

Her condition is strange; the hand injured by Liu Junyan last time has its skin completely ulcerated and blackened, spreading upward; now Feng Lishu's arm up to half her neck looks as if it had been branded by a searing hot iron.

Her skin oozes blood in places, rotting and blackening in others; she looks especially ferocious.

Before, whenever she appeared before me, she almost always wore a red-black archery outfit, her hair tied in a high ponytail, neat and attractive.

Such deliberate attire was likely meant to imitate my past self to confuse the senses.

But now, although she has changed into a flowing fairy-like dress, she…

When I saw her, she was pressing down on a girl, desperately tearing at her.

Like a beast that has not yet been civilized, drinking blood and eating fur!

She seemed to sense my gaze.

Even though Liu Junyan was already closing in on her, she suddenly lifted her head to look at me.

Is this her unparalleled strong sensitivity to me?

Her face was covered in blood, her eyes revealing greed and madness.

At the moment our eyes met, she flung the girl on the ground aside and lunged at me without hesitation.

Unfortunately, before she could even accelerate, Liu Junyan fiercely struck her shoulder with a palm from midair, coming from the side.

Fengli Shu's whole body was flung away by Liu Junyan's palm wind, heavily slamming into a distant mountain peak; I only heard a muffled groan and the sound of her spitting blood.

I only felt astonished—Fengli Shu's strength……should not be like this!

First of all, her perceptiveness seems to have deteriorated a lot.

If it were the past, when we had just appeared in the neighboring mountain valley, she should have noticed it.

What has happened to her these days?

I watched her fall heavily, struggling a few times but unable to get up, and I felt shocked in my heart.

Could it be that earlier she gave me so much trouble because she knew her body was about to undergo these changes?

I unconsciously touched my right cheek; after Liu Junyan offered me a Buddha Lamp at the Great Dharma Flower Temple, the 'slave' character here has become increasingly faint.

Has Fengli Shu repeatedly tried to cause me trouble but failed, missing the best opportunity to replace me, thus becoming like this?

This……could it be a backlash of the Companion Curse?

Companion Curse……does it have a backlash?

According to Gu Yan's words, the Companion Curse is Fengli Shu's one-sided exploitation of me; for such a curse, wanting it to achieve a backlash effect is not easy, right?

Perhaps in my previous life, I once paid a great price for it to obtain the opportunity for a desperate counterattack's backlash, which is also not impossible.

Just as I and Liu Junyan rushed toward Fengli Shu together, intending to seize the opportunity to kill her, a pair of black wings spanning two or three meters appeared out of thin air.

The wings closed together, firmly protecting Fengli Shu, and the next moment they vanished into thin air.

Liu Junyan turned her head to look toward the southwest, her vertical pupils constricted, as if deep in thought.

I walked up to Liu Junyan, following their gaze, I saw in the distance a faint shadow of a mountain range, indistinct.

Liu Junyan embraced me with one hand and pointed at the mountain range's shadow with the other, asking: 'Xiao Jiu, did you see that mountain range? What did you think of?'

I was puzzled and shook my head.

Liu Junyan let out a helpless sigh: 'Xiao Jiu, that is Darkgreen Paulownia Mountain……'