A moment later, Yang Jieyuan returned, and spiritual dishes were served to the table one after another.

"Fellow Daoist Wang, allow me to offer a toast!"

Su Miaomiao raised her jade cup, pressing her yielding body intimately against him.

The intoxicating fragrance wafting from her flesh nearly caused Xu Changshou's Dao heart to waver.

Across the table, Li Linhao sat with an upright posture, but Yang Jieyuan's face darkened, cold light occasionally flashing in his eyes as he glared at Xu Changshou.

Acting as if she noticed nothing, Su Miaomiao continued to fawn over Xu Changshou, showering him with flirtatious glances.

Xu Changshou was no fool. After a brief moment of contemplation, the hidden currents of the situation became clear to him.

Li Linhao and Yang Jieyuan were allied from the start. Su Miaomiao had joined their ranks later.

Realizing the deep bond between the two men after forming the party, she inevitably feared they might plot against her life.

Thus, she insisted on recruiting a fourth member.

This led to Xu Changshou's inclusion. By deliberately closing the distance between them, she intended to drag him into her camp to counterbalance Li Linhao's faction.

With Xu Changshou serving as her shield,

she could combine forces with him to suppress the other two the instant a lethal conflict erupted.

Naturally, Su Miaomiao remained oblivious to the fact that Xu Changshou also hailed from the Green Immortal Sect. Had she known, she would have sooner courted death than form a party with them.

After dissecting this web of interests, Xu Changshou felt a throbbing headache. None who walked the bloody path of Cultivation were simple-minded; every cultivator harbored a thousand treacherous schemes in their heart.

Consequently, he met Su Miaomiao's overtures with vague ambiguity. He accepted her closeness but carefully avoided neglecting Li Linhao, utterly unwilling to provoke the latter over a demonic temptress.

By the end of the meal, realizing her honeyed traps found no purchase on Xu Changshou, Su Miaomiao covertly ground her teeth in sheer frustration.

"We shall rest at the waystation today. Tomorrow morning, a flying boat bound for Wanxian Market will depart. We shall embark together."

"Agreed. We will speak on the morrow. Fellow Daoist Li, rest your spirit early."

Li Linhao and the other two promptly rented chambers flanking Xu Changshou's room.

The curtain of night descended.

A lithe silhouette cloaked in emerald slipped into Xu Changshou's room like a prowling wildcat.

"Fellow Daoist Su, what is the meaning of this?"

"Shh—"

Su Miaomiao pressed a slender finger to her lips, swiftly laying down a sound-isolating Formation across the chamber.

Her gaze turning as alluring as woven silk, she stretched her body with languid grace, fully displaying her breathtaking curves.

Xu Changshou's eyes locked onto the sight, his throat unconsciously bobbing as he swallowed heavily.

"Fellow Daoist Wang, my Dao companion recently perished. If you do not find me repulsive, why don't we share a night of fleeting dew... what say you?"

"..."

His mouth turned parched. At this exact moment, Su Miaomiao radiated an indescribable, fatal temptation.

His pupils gradually lost their focus. The surrounding walls dissolved into mist, leaving nothing in his vision but the demonic temptress writhing seductively before him.

Soon after, Su Miaomiao reached for the sash of her robes.

Under his transfixed gaze, her garments slipped off piece by piece, exposing her pristine flesh.

Wrong! This is a demonic Charm Technique!

Xu Changshou's expression underwent a violent shift. With a flick of his wrist, he crushed an Illusion-Breaking Talisman in his palm, shattering the phantasmal domain instantly.

Reality snapped back into place. Su Miaomiao stood fully clothed, staring at him intently without having loosened a single thread.

"Fellow Daoist Su, for what reason do you seek this poor Daoist in the dead of night?"

Xu Changshou's voice was now saturated with bone-piercing frost.

"You!"

Su Miaomiao's face drained of color. She never anticipated that a cultivator a full minor realm beneath her could so effortlessly shatter her illusion.

The Charm Techniques of the Joyous Union Sect were renowned across the vast realms. When invoked by a higher-realm female disciple against a weaker male target, failure was virtually unheard of.

"Fellow Daoist Su, these left-handed demonic arts merely invite ridicule!" Xu Changshou spat flatly.

Her facade utterly destroyed, Su Miaomiao immediately pivoted, adopting a pitiful, fragile demeanor: "Fellow Daoist Wang, I resorted to this only out of sheer desperation. I seek only to survive. Li Linhao and Yang Jieyuan both hail from the Green Immortal Sect. Terrified they might plot my demise... I only wished to secure your alliance."

Xu Changshou's expression remained immutable like a frozen lake. He spoke evenly, "Since you fear their killing intent, why did you insist on joining their party?"

Su Miaomiao's smile twisted with profound bitterness: "The journey to Wanxian Market spans tens of thousands of li. If I were to traverse the wasteland alone, wouldn't a weak woman like myself court a far swifter death?"

Xu Changshou shook his head faintly: "Forgive this poor Daoist's incompetence, but I cannot assist you."

He possessed absolutely no desire to shackle himself to her chariot. In truth, if swords were drawn between her and Li Linhao, he would ruthlessly strike her down to aid his martial brother.

He clearly understood the weight of karmic ties. After all, he and Li Linhao had shared three years of camaraderie atop Chuxiu Peak.

"Very well."

Su Miaomiao's face crumpled in defeat, her voice trailing off into silence.

"Fellow Daoist Su, as far as I am aware, the disciples of your Joyous Union Sect invariably move in bonded pairs. Why are you...?"

"My Dao companion fell in battle."

"My apologies!"

Xu Changshou felt a ripple of surprise: So her earlier words held truth. I assumed she was spewing mere lies.

"Fellow Daoist Wang!"

Su Miaomiao violently tugged the collar of her robes, baring her snow-white, fragrant shoulder to the biting air: "If Fellow Daoist Wang swears a blood oath of alliance with me, I will yield my Primordial Yin to you this very instant."

"No, cease this instantly!"

Xu Changshou frantically waved his hands in refusal. These demonic cultivators of the Joyous Union Sect were Expert practitioners of dual cultivation and cauldron-plucking arts. He held zero desire for carnal intimacy with her, deeply terrified she would drain his True Essence dry.

"This lowly woman was too presumptuous. I pray Fellow Daoist takes no offense!"

"It is of no consequence."

"Fellow Daoist Wang, do you possess spiritual tea? My throat is parched."

"I do!"

Xu Changshou retrieved a jade teapot, and the two shared spiritual tea in absolute silence. A full hour bled away before Su Miaomiao finally rose to depart.

Watching her retreating silhouette, Xu Changshou could not repress a bitter smile: The ants at the bottom of the Cultivation world will truly resort to any depravity merely to survive another day.

She had maliciously lingered in his chambers to orchestrate an illusion for Li Linhao and Yang Jieyuan.

An unmarried man and a widow sealed in a chamber together for an entire hour in the dead of night—what else could they possibly be doing?

Xu Changshou had still stumbled directly into her trap. It was an overt, inescapable scheme. From the exact moment Su Miaomiao crossed his threshold, he had already lost the initiative.

Even though they hadn't touched a single hair on each other's heads.

The next morning.

The four cultivators rendezvoused in the courtyard. Exactly as expected, Su Miaomiao practically draped herself over Xu Changshou, radiating intimate affection.

Li Linhao appeared to dismiss the display entirely, his expression tranquil. Yang Jieyuan, however, was a different matter entirely. He glared at Xu Changshou and Su Miaomiao with undisguised revulsion, the words "adulterous dogs" practically carved into his forehead.

Observing this, Xu Changshou mentally elevated his wariness of Li Linhao. His former martial brother possessed terrifyingly deep restraint and cunning.

Later that morning.

A gilded flying boat tore through the firmament, descending with earth-shattering weight into the long-distance docks.

The vessel was not obscenely massive, merely spanning twice the length of the Green Immortal Sect's standard public transport arrays.

In terms of profound craftsmanship, however, the disparity was akin to heaven and earth. Its hull was forged with materials ten times harder than anything utilized by the Sect's standard vessels.

As for its velocity, the two could simply not be mentioned in the same breath.

The long-distance construct was deeply embedded with advanced propulsion Formations, granting it the terrifying capacity to traverse five thousand li in a single cycle of the sun—vastly outpacing even high-tier Sword Riding.

The distance from Pingyang Market to Wanxian Market spanned a harrowing thirty thousand li. A straight flight would consume six full days.

By the time it arrived, nearly a hundred Rogue Cultivators were densely packed across the docks, universally bound for Wanxian Market.

The instant the vessel's spiritual anchors locked into place, the crowd surged up the ramp. Each passenger forfeited one Spirit Stone to the toll-masters, subsequently settling in to await departure.

The supreme entity commanding the helm was a withered old monster exuding tremendous spiritual pressure—a Foundation Establishment Grand Cultivator.

Bound by their fragile alliance, the four members boarded the grand vessel alongside the surging mob.

They claimed a space, sitting in opposition. Li Linhao and Yang Jieyuan occupied one side, while Su Miaomiao pressed closely against Xu Changshou on the other, starkly outlining the fractures within their small faction.

Sweeping his Divine Sense across the deck, Xu Changshou noted countless similar, precarious alliances taking root upon the flying boat.