86: Chapter 86: A Secret Plan Unfolds, Flames Erupt Within the Enchanting Fragrance Garden

Meixiang Court lived up to its reputation.

Upon entering the gate, a thick, sweet fragrance enveloped him like a physical substance. Unlike the natural scent of plants outside, the aroma here was a mix of aphrodisiac warm incense, cloying powder, and an imperceptible scent of spiritual plants that caused one's spirit to relax slightly.

The courtyard layout was exquisitely charming, with most exotic flowers and herbs being vibrant in color. Winding corridors and dancing light veils hinted at warm jade-paved floors and embroidered couches inside—a scene of decadent luxury in a "gentle land."

Su Mei held Xu Ruyu's arm, almost pressing against him as they walked into the main hall.

The furnishings inside the hall were even more magnificent: South Sea Shark Silk served as curtains, and Thousand-Year Warm Jade as tables. Flecks of spiritual light floated in the air, illuminating ambiguous murals and decorations on the four walls.

"Sit down quickly, Junior Brother. Once you're here with Senior Sister, don't be so formal~"

Su Mei giggled as she pressed Xu Ruyu down onto a jade couch covered with thick, soft cushions, then sat down beside him, so close they could feel each other's body heat.

She clapped her hands, and immediately two beautiful maids dressed only in light veils entered gracefully, offering spiritual fruits and nectar.

The fruit was the rare "Vermilion Countenance Fruit," said to have a slight effect on nourishing one's appearance. The wine was the "drunken immortal brew" she had mentioned earlier; the liquid was amber, and as it was poured into luminous cups, Spiritual Qi clouded around it, and a strange fragrance filled the air, clearly indicating its high value.

"Come, Junior Brother, try this drunken immortal brew. It's Senior Sister's private collection, rarely brought out for guests."

Su Mei personally poured a full cup and held it to Xu Ruyu's lips. Her eyes rippled with a seductive charm that seemed almost liquid.

Her fingertip "accidentally" brushed against Xu Ruyu's lower lip, bringing a slight tingling sensation.

Xu Ruyu's internal alertness reached its peak, but on the surface, he appropriately showed a mix of being flattered and slightly ill at ease. He took the wine cup, his fingers "trembling slightly": "Th-thank you for your kindness, Senior Sister."

He took a small sip. The wine entered his throat and turned into a warm current that spread out. Simultaneously, an extremely fine, teasingly strange qi sensation attempted to burrow into his Meridians and stir his mind.

Taixu True Qi circulated spontaneously, silently dissolving and absorbing that strange thread of qi.

'As expected, it's spiked,' Xu Ruyu thought to himself. However, a faint blush appeared on his face in coordination, his eyes seemingly becoming a bit blurred as he whispered a compliment: "Good wine..."

Seeing this, Su Mei felt triumphant. It seemed the drunken immortal brew, with the added "Passion-Inducing Powder," was beginning to take effect.

She took a sip herself, put down the cup, and leaned her entire body almost into Xu Ruyu's embrace, her breath like orchids: "I'm glad you like it, Junior Brother~ You must have been bored to death in the Hall of Power Transmission lately, right? Those Formations and Talismans are so cold; how can they be as interesting as the pleasures of life?"

Her hand began to move restlessly on Xu Ruyu's arm, her fingertips carrying weak, provocative fluctuations of spiritual power.

Xu Ruyu could feel his blood slightly surging, and his heartbeat seemed to quicken.

This wasn't just the effect of the wine and drugs. The Cultivation Technique Su Mei practiced, her every smile, and every movement seemed to carry a natural magnetic field of charm, constantly trying to dismantle his will.

Fortunately, his cultivation had improved significantly recently, especially his nightly "clashes" with Xiao Nianyin at a higher level, which had invisibly strengthened his mental resilience and resistance to charm. Coupled with the balanced and peaceful nature of Taixu True Qi, he was still able to remain clear-headed.

He deliberately made his breathing slightly hurried and his body somewhat stiff, as if he wanted to pull away but didn't dare. He looked at Su Mei with dodging eyes, his voice slightly hoarse: "Senior Sister... don't... I..."

This green and resistant appearance only further piqued Su Mei's desire for conquest.

She laughed foolishly, and instead of holding back, she became even more aggressive. Her jade arm wrapped around Xu Ruyu's neck, her red lips almost touching his earlobe as she breathed like orchids: "What are you afraid of, Junior Brother? Senior Sister won't really eat you~ I just saw how hard you've been cultivating and wanted to let you relax... Look, you're so tense here, and here..."

Her soft fingers, through his clothes, accurately pointed near several of Xu Ruyu's Acupoints where tension tended to accumulate, carrying both provocation and investigation.

Xu Ruyu sneered in his heart. While continuing to play the role of the "reluctant yet yielding" and "distracted" prey, allowing Su Mei to do as she pleased and even letting out a few muffled groans in cooperation.

On the other hand, his Divine Sense was highly concentrated, calmly observing the surroundings. Meanwhile, Taixu True Qi quietly seeped from his fingertips and soles in an extremely subtle and slow manner.

Among the Materials he had exchanged earlier, there happened to be ground "Heart-Confusing Stone Powder" and refined "Dream-Illusion Vine Sap."

These two were core auxiliary Materials for the simplified version of the Blazing Fire Illusion Array, capable of slightly distorting local Spiritual Qi and enhancing the capture and amplification of mental fluctuations.

Using the posture of moving his body due to "nervousness," Xu Ruyu seemingly unintentionally used his toes to apply a trace of "Heart-Confusing Stone Powder," which had been hidden under his fingernails, into the fine cracks of the warm jade floor.

While his fingers pretended to hold onto the jade table to steady himself, he silently pressed a thread of spiritual power tainted with "Dream-Illusion Vine Sap" beneath the table surface.

His movements were extremely minute, and the spiritual power fluctuations were kept to a minimum, almost merging with the background Spiritual Qi noise of the environment.

More importantly, most of Su Mei's mind was currently immersed in the excitement of being about to "harvest" a high-quality Cauldron and the amusement of playing with his "green reactions." She didn't notice his minuscule movements as a Qi Refinement Stage Cultivator at all.

To her, Xu Ruyu was like a small insect caught in a spiderweb; all his struggles only added to the fun and would ultimately only wrap him tighter.

"Junior Brother's Foundation seems even more solid than when we last met..."

While teasing him with words and actions, Su Mei was also secretly investigating Xu Ruyu's physical condition. The more she investigated, the more pleasantly surprised she became.

The True Qi in Xu Ruyu's body was pure and condensed far beyond his peers, and there even seemed to be a heart-palpitating, high-quality warm current (the remnant of the Sacred Realm Fragment) lurking in his Dantian. This was simply an excellent target for harvesting!

If she could successfully seize it, it might even help her break through the Bottleneck of the Foundation Establishment Late Stage in one go!

At this thought, Su Mei's gaze became even more fiery, and her actions grew bolder. Her dress loosened, her fragrant shoulders were slightly exposed, and her whole being was like a ripe peach, exuding a fragrance that tempted one into corruption.

She began to softly chant a certain decadent tune. Her voice blended into the fragrance and Spiritual Qi permeating the air, as if possessing magic that could draw out the most primal desires from the bottom of one's heart.

Xu Ruyu felt the pressure surge, and the setup of the illusion array also reached a critical stage.

He needed to outline a "Heart-Fire Primer" within this hall, using limited Materials and his own spiritual power, targeting the characteristics of Su Mei's mind.

This didn't require a complete Formation diagram; it was more like a preset "trigger trap."

Taking advantage of the moment when he was "infatuated" by Su Mei's teasing and leaned back, he quietly injected the last thread of Taixu True Qi, which contained a specific frequency of Divine Sense fluctuation, into the several "points" he had just set up, forming a weak Spiritual Qi cycle.

The core of this cycle was cleverly "anchored" to the frequency of Su Mei's current emotional fluctuations of "desire for conquest" and "craving for harvesting."

After completing all this, fine beads of sweat had broken out on Xu Ruyu's forehead—half from acting and half from the indeed significant consumption.

He appeared even more blurred, and his breathing was heavy, as if he had completely immersed himself in the gentle trap Su Mei had woven. His hand also "involuntarily" rested on Su Mei's waist.

Feeling Xu Ruyu's "initiative," the last trace of caution in Su Mei's heart vanished, replaced by total certainty of victory and the ecstasy of the impending harvest.

Her eyes were like silk, and her red lips curled into a successful arc. Her voice was cloyingly sweet: "Junior Brother~ It seems you can't wait either... Let Senior Sister 'help you' properly..."

She slowly leaned over, preparing for the final and most direct harvesting step. The pink seductive spiritual light around her began to activate, forming a force field targeted at Xu Ruyu.

However, at this very moment, when her mind was most agitated, her defenses were at their lowest, and all her attention was focused on how to seize Xu Ruyu's Essence of Primal Yang—

Deep in Xu Ruyu's lowered eyes, a cold, sharp light flashed past like a meteor in the dark night.

That "Heart-Fire Primer" Formation, so weak it was almost non-existent, was silently triggered the moment it captured Su Mei's surging "Heart-Fire of Desire."

There was no earth-shattering sound, no dazzling light.

Only within the main hall of Meixiang Court, the already thick fragrance, Spiritual Qi, and ambiguous atmosphere seemed to warp and ripple extremely minutely, as if an invisible stone had been thrown into a calm lake.

Su Mei's leaning movement paused for an imperceptible moment.

She might not have noticed it immediately herself, but the seductive spiritual light directed at Xu Ruyu showed an extremely fine disturbance.

The edges of Xu Ruyu's face, which had been clear in her eyes, seemed to blur for a moment, and an abrupt, anxious image of a craving for power that could not be obtained flashed in her mind.

Xu Ruyu still maintained that "aroused" appearance, his arms even tightening around Su Mei's waist as if he were impatient.

But in his heart, a calm voice spoke:

'The Formation is complete. Senior Sister Su, has your "heart-fire" started to burn?'

Inside the hall, the warm fragrance remained, and the charm was as before.

A feast where the prey was seemingly about to be consumed had, in reality, quietly swapped the roles of hunter and prey in a corner known to no one.

That invisible fire that stirred the mind had already been lit, only waiting for the wind to rise so it could become a prairie fire.