IS Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Ye Zhuo hadn’t anticipated that Lou Ke, the First Disciple of the Dao Sect from the Upper Purity Mountain, who came to visit with noble intentions, would brazenly poison him within the Territory of the Micro-Snow Palace.

Nor did he expect that his supposedly invulnerable body would react to this poison.

Lou Ke, the Dao Sect’s First Disciple, sneered as he closed in: “Second Palace Master Ye, have you not recalled where we met seven years ago?”

Ye Zhuo narrowed his eyes, looking at the figure before him, but ultimately couldn’t recall anything.

Staring intently at Ye Zhuo’s expression, Lou Ke’s breathing quickened, “Second Palace Master, when I visited Green Mountains today, I was divinely inspired and cast a divination for you. Guess what the reading was?”

“What was it?”

This poison was strange.

The abnormality had spread throughout his body. No need for further probing, it was an extreme aphrodisiac. If not dispelled quickly, his cultivation would be greatly damaged.

The method of dispelling the poison was self-evident: intercourse.

But he had already achieved an invulnerable physique, immune to all poisons. How could he be poisoned?

“The divination shows that Second Palace Master Ye today—the red star of romance is moving, and you will meet the great and wonderful love of your life!”

Ye Zhuo laughed, “Dao friend Lou, you jest.”

Lou Ke wasn’t annoyed. He leaned in close to his ear, intimately saying, “The divination won’t be wrong. There’s no one else around in the Green Mountains right now, but I came—it’s clear that it’s just me, it should be me!”

Ye Zhuo raised his eyes, “Oh?”

“At least, Palace Master Ye needs me to dispel the poison for you.”

Ye Zhuo scoffed, “Are you worthy?”

Lou Ke grinned upon hearing this.

“I knew you wouldn’t take me seriously!” He reached out and tore open Ye Zhuo’s collar, “But this cultivation base, Second Palace Master Ye—surely you wouldn’t want to lose it!”

With a ripping sound, the bright red outer robe fell partially open.

Like the red lotus swaying in the wind on that Ullambana Assembly so long ago.

A beauty like a lotus flower.

“Seven years…”

“That year at the Ullambana Assembly, do you remember how I admired your grace and invited you to the lotus platform to discuss the Dao?”

“But you… ignored me, and in front of everyone, you drew your sword and walked right past me!”

What an utter humiliation!

Lou Ke’s actions suddenly became tender. He reached out to carry Ye Zhuo indoors, muttering indistinctly, “Be my… Daoist Companion…”

Ye Zhuo struck his chest with a palm!

This palm used all his strength. Lou Ke staggered instantly, and Ye Zhuo used the force to retreat rapidly, creating a distance of several feet between them.

At the same time, a clear dragon’s roar resounded.

A jet-black sword was unsheathed with a clang, piercing straight towards Lou Ke’s heart!

Lou Ke was shocked and doubtful. Having been poisoned to this degree, Ye Zhuo still had the power to retaliate.

This sword was a divine object of great fortune, impossible to block. Just as he was about to grit his teeth and take the blow head-on, he saw the sword’s advance suddenly falter.

The next moment, the sword left his hand, and Ye Zhuo’s body lost strength, collapsing downward.

“…”

Ye Zhuo gasped, using his fingers to prop himself up from the ground. The skin under his sleeves was trembling slightly.

Just as he unleashed the sword, the poison in his body was amplified a hundredfold. In an instant, the world blurred, leaving only the buzzing clamor of blood flow and heartbeat.

Smelling a wisp of strange fragrance that seemed to emanate from his own body, Ye Zhuo gasped for breath, struggling to maintain his sanity.

Why was this happening?!

“Eh, this poison…” Lou Ke was also surprised, but then he remembered the divination about the red star of romance moving—could it be that tonight was truly a destined encounter, heaven helping him?

He laughed.

Leaning against the Yulan Magnolia Tree, Ye Zhuo faintly raised his eyes, seeing Lou Ke walking towards him step by step, his body wreathed in turbid black energy.

No wonder he dared to poison him; it turned out he had long ago succumbed to demonic influence.

Calm the mind, focus the spirit, inhale and exhale.

The wind was strong. Ye Zhuo heard the sound of the cold pool water rising and falling in the distance.

He recalled that the cold pool was thousands of feet deep and as cold as black ice. If he could reach there, he might be able to suppress the poison temporarily. But the cold pool was still, and even if there were waves, the sound wouldn’t reach here. Why could he hear it tonight?

Lou Ke drew closer and closer. Ye Zhuo felt uneasy. There seemed to be another strangeness tonight, not on Lou Ke.

His thoughts were chaotic. In a daze, Lou Ke’s figure was already close at hand. A muddled, ambiguous voice sounded in his ear: “Ye Zhuo… you have this day too…”

No, the surrounding aura was different—

Ye Zhuo’s gaze was cold. Suddenly, he raised his eyes!

“Heh.”

The night wind carried a light, amused sneer.

Under the night sky, a huge full moon hung high. Atop the high palace hall stood a figure in black, his robes fluttering in the wind.

There was another person here that he hadn’t noticed before.

Unable to make out the face, Ye Zhuo only knew that, at the moment their gazes met, a murderous intent flashed.

“Who?”

Pfft.

The sound of a sharp weapon entering flesh rang out at close range. A spray of blood mist suddenly burst before Ye Zhuo’s eyes.

Three steps away, Lou Ke made a rapid gasping sound in his throat and fell forward.

The figure in black landed gracefully.

“Micro-Snow Palace, Second Palace Master Ye, Ye Zhuo?” An unfamiliar young man’s voice slowly spoke his name, as if inquiring.

The voice was beautiful. If heard before, it would surely be remembered.

Ye Zhuo was certain he had never heard it.

“It is I. Thank you for the rescue.” Ye Zhuo said, “May I ask for your esteemed name? Please send me to the Misty Green Peak’s Cold Pool first. We can talk later.”

He spoke polite words while suppressing the poison and gathering spiritual energy. Right now, he was at their mercy. Who knew if the newcomer was friend or foe?

“No rush.” The newcomer said leisurely, arms crossed, “So disheveled. I want to take a few more looks.”

Ye Zhuo: “.”

Leaning against the Yulan Magnolia Tree, Ye Zhuo forced himself to suppress his breathing, the sound of his voice hoarse and unfamiliar, “Do I have a grudge against you?”

“Yes.”

“My sword is three steps to your right,” Ye Zhuo said, “Since we have a grudge, take it, and I will fight you.”

The sound of the cold pool’s tide suddenly grew louder.

“…Your sword?” The person’s tone was sinister, his emotions unpredictable.

With a clang, the sword flew into that person’s hand.

He saw that person holding the sword and walking towards him, saying, “Ye Zhuo, it’s true that I came to seek revenge tonight. But unfortunately, the time is not right. You cannot fight, so I must give up.

“When you recover, I will come again, and we will have a fair fight.”

“Remember, my name is Li Yuan.”

Li Yuan?

Never heard of this person.

Ye Zhuo closed his eyes, feeling the strange fragrance swirling around him. Just now, the poison had actually increased again.

The blood in his palm had stained a large area of his sleeve red.

The black figure was getting closer and closer. Ye Zhuo suddenly felt a chill behind him.

“Don’t come any closer!”

He understood. The poison in his body—was suddenly spreading as this person approached, growing more and more intense!

But wasn’t this poison given to him by Lou Ke? How could it be related to this person?

The one called Li Yuan was completely unaware and said unhappily, “What are you afraid of? I won’t take advantage of you in your vulnerable state. Is the Cold Pool where the water sound is coming from? I’ll send you there…. Don’t move! What a strange fragrance. Let me see what poison you’ve been afflicted with.”

In an instant, this person’s breath was close at hand. Ye Zhuo struggled to focus his vision, only seeing a beautiful black hem, the fabric reflecting a deep silver light in the moonlight, revealing strange beast-like patterns.

This was…

He couldn’t think clearly.

“Dragon Scent Guide?” Li Yuan said in an angry voice, “How dare you use this to refine poison? Ye Zhuo, you truly don’t want to live!”

Other people poisoning him—what did it have to do with him?

Ye Zhuo felt anger rising in his heart. He really wanted to draw his sword and kill this person!

After revealing the ingredients of the poison, Li Yuan retreated quickly, as if he had seen a plague god!

But it was to no avail.

Because Ye Zhuo’s fingers had grabbed his arm tightly at some point.

It didn’t seem like a hand that held a sword at all, even the fingertips were tinged with a lustrous red.

A hoarse voice said through gritted teeth, “Take… me… to the Cold Pool…”

The cold pool water was freezing.

With a splash, after immersing himself in the water, the blazing poison in his meridians finally subsided a little, no longer eroding his cultivation.

Ye Zhuo’s mind also finally cleared up by a tenth or two.

Standing up in the water, he saw that the uninvited guest called Li Yuan was also in the water, standing face to face with him.

His vision was a little clearer. What he saw was an unfamiliar young face.

“Thank you.” Ye Zhuo wiped his face. “You didn’t have to come into the water too.”

The strange fragrance drifted.

“Isn’t this all thanks to you?” Li Yuan said with a forced smile, “You had to make me bring you here. Now I’ve unfortunately been poisoned too.”

Ye Zhuo: “…I’m very sorry.”

From just a little close contact, this person was poisoned. What kind of poison did Lou Ke give him?

Li Yuan: “Also, this Cold Pool doesn’t seem to be able to dispel the poison.”

“But it can suppress it.” Only now did Ye Zhuo belatedly realize that the strange fragrance had changed. The original scent was mixed with another, more pure and cold than the aphrodisiac fragrance, but even more difficult to resist, seemingly directly invading the soul.

The water waves were cold to the bone, but in that clear and cold fragrance, his mind became muddled again, and his thoughts were difficult to gather.

“The smell is different.” Ye Zhuo said slowly, “Did you smell it?”

“Of course it’s different! This is my—”

Halfway through, this person actually submerged his entire self in the water in a self-abandoning manner. After a few breaths, he re-emerged. By the moonlight, Ye Zhuo saw that the tips of his ears were tinged with red.

“…This is my signal incense.”

Ye Zhuo didn’t understand what he was saying for a moment.

Li Yuan also wiped his face, his tone extremely cold and bad: “What to do now?”

Ye Zhuo shook his head in confusion.

In this situation, what else could be done?

Today, the Cold Pool was particularly turbulent. In a moment of absentmindedness, he lost his footing. The waves rolled in, and Ye Zhuo staggered forward a few steps, crashing into Li Yuan.

That thing instantly erupted a hundredfold. The sandalwood-like strange fragrance enveloped him in an instant, followed by completely uncontrollable changes.

The poison had been temporarily suppressed, and all that remained was the overwhelming burning desire. Only by approaching the source of this trace of fragrance could he be freed.

Ink-like long hair scattered on Li Yuan’s chest.

“Ye Zhuo?” Li Yuan patted his face, but only received rapid, heaving breaths.

Li Yuan lowered his eyes and picked Ye Zhuo up again, walking towards the shallow water.

Ye Zhuo almost instinctively brought his body closer to him, like approaching the only source of water in a sea of fire.

He was no longer conscious.

Ten years.

In those ten years, Li Yuan had thought many times about what this person would be doing when he saw him again.

He had also thought many times that on the day they met again, he would either announce his identity or stab him with a sword first.

But he never expected such an unspeakable situation as today.

He laid Ye Zhuo flat on the shore.

“Ye Zhuo,” his voice was deep, “Do you really not remember who I am?”

Ye Zhuo barely opened his eyes, but his gaze was always hazy and scattered. Under the moonlight, his narrow eyebrows were furrowed, his skin was coldly pale, but the corners of his eyes were red, as if stained with blood.

Li Yuan: “Ten years ago—”

Ye Zhuo didn’t want to hear what he was saying at all.

Another seven years, another ten years, he had enemies everywhere. If he had to remember the origins of each one, what was the point of practicing the sword?

Ye Zhuo’s lips moved slightly.

Li Yuan leaned down to hear what he wanted to say.

“Enough… with the… nonsense…”