Liu Changning coughed lightly, another trace of blood seeping from the corner of her mouth. After pondering for a moment, she said: “Legend has it that during the great war between cultivators and demons, the Immortal Emperor used Chaos Stones as a wall to set up a barrier between the demon realm and the spiritual realm. Is the Chaos Stone you mentioned that one? Throughout the entire immortal spirit realm, only Chaos Stones can absorb living people into a Chaos Space devoid of spiritual energy. This is also why the Immortal Emperor used this stone as a barrier wall back then, to prevent demons from crossing the barrier.”

Pei Yuanshao didn’t know whether to affirm or deny. His narrow phoenix eyes narrowed slightly as he stared at the dried blood at the corner of her mouth, frowning as he said: “Have you been secretly mobilizing spiritual energy in this place?”

Liu Changning nodded, their eyes meeting. She could see a trace of barely noticeable worry in his crimson eyes.

Feeling a warmth in her heart, Liu Changning straightened up and reached out to tuck his wet hair behind his ear, saying gently: “Senior doesn’t need to worry. This junior is just experiencing a surge of blood and qi. The white jade ring has many high-grade spiritual replenishing pills. My internal spiritual energy has already recovered most of it.”

Her breath was weak, with dried blood staining the corner of her lips. Her slender legs were shaking, and her words didn’t carry any credibility. For some unknown reason, Elder Pei felt a wave of panic in his heart.

Since waking up, he had already returned to human form.

This place had no spiritual energy. He had woken up a day earlier than Liu Changning and had been searching for a way out in the surroundings. After walking for nearly half a day, he finally found an oasis a hundred li ahead.

The desert seemed calm, but dangers lurked everywhere.

The scorching sun, hunger and thirst – even if these difficulties could be solved, he had personally witnessed a sandstorm howling past when they first arrived.

Fortunately, they were lucky and didn’t directly encounter it. When they fell onto the sand, the sandstorm had already passed.

Otherwise, without spiritual energy to support them, they would have only one road – death.

However, this wasn’t the most worrying thing, because the female cultivator in front of him… she was vomiting blood.

A cultivator’s body had long been refined by spiritual energy and wouldn’t inexplicably surge with blood and qi, vomiting blood. The only explanation was that her dantian was damaged or her spiritual energy was depleted.

Pei Yuanshao had personally witnessed all the scenes of Liu Changning fighting against the Seven Ghost Soul-Devouring Banner beyond her level.

Even at his peak, with all his strength, he was no match for three human-faced ghosts. But she, with the strength of one person at the Nascent Soul stage, had crossed levels to kill ghost-king level spirits.

When she landed her final move, he could feel that she was already struggling to support herself. Dantian damage was secondary; spiritual energy depletion was likely the root cause.

If a cultivator’s spiritual energy was depleted in the spirit realm, it wouldn’t be fatal, because the spirit realm was rich in innate spiritual energy. They would only need to meditate in seclusion for a year or so to recover.

But they weren’t in the spirit realm now. They were in this endless desert, in a Chaos Space without a trace of spiritual energy.

Without spiritual energy to repair her dantian, she might not live for even a day.

Thinking of this, Pei Yuanshao’s expression became grave.

Even though the tattered cloth on his body fluttered in the wind, with the scenery almost completely exposed to a female cultivator’s eyes, he couldn’t care about the shame in his heart.

Forcing himself to calm down, he stepped forward, crouched down with his back to Liu Changning, and turned his head to say to her: “Get on. This Lord has found a water source. It’s not suitable to stay here long. Considering that we’ve been through life and death together, I’ll carry you there.”

Liu Changning was stunned for a moment. The man’s back in front of her was almost completely exposed, without a trace of excess flesh on his waist. Below was a plump buttocks wrapped in tattered cloth, outlining that alluring shape.

Her eyes inadvertently darkened as she climbed onto his back. Her legs, whether intentionally or unintentionally, bumped against his buttocks before quickly moving away.

Pei Yuanshao’s whole body shuddered, nearly losing his balance.

He angrily said: “You stupid thing, clumsy hands and feet. Don’t move around, or this Elder will chop off your legs!”

Liu Changning’s eyes were deep and profound. Her lips hovered near Pei Yuanshao’s ear, her voice hoarse as she breathed hot air: “Mmm, thank you, A-Shao.”

Elder Pei couldn’t resist the teasing. His dark red ears sensitively perked up, and his entire dark skin rapidly turned bright red at lightning speed.

Men were particularly sensitive to women’s aura. Although Pei Yuanshao hadn’t experienced intimacy for several hundred years, in such an ambiguous and intimate posture, her breath lingering by his ear felt like a feather tickling his heartstrings, numb and tingling.

Barely maintaining his almost trembling body, Pei Yuanshao’s face completely darkened.

He gritted his teeth and said: “Shut up!”

A light laugh came from beside his ear. The ill-behaved female cultivator on his back ignored him, but didn’t dare to continue teasing. She said seriously: “Senior must have noticed my spiritual energy depletion. Does A-Shao have a way to dissolve the contract between us? I’m afraid I won’t live long… I can’t implicate Senior.”

The angry expression froze on Pei Yuanshao’s face. He carried her on his back, walking slowly towards the front of the desert. Under the scorching sun, dense, uninterrupted beads of sweat rolled down his long neck.

Liu Changning felt a bit heartbroken, but she cherished this moment of intimacy. Her physical strength indeed couldn’t support her crossing the vast desert to reach the oasis.

At this moment, Pei Yuanshao was the person who could carry her over mountains and seas.

The man beneath her didn’t stop his steps. His walking posture was different from the embarrassed anger and peculiar sarcasm he showed in front of her.

His steps were steady, slow and stable, moving forward as if he wasn’t walking on sand but on flat ground.

At this moment, Liu Changning felt a heaviness in her heart. She had originally intended to drag him along to brave the Avici Hell, to live and die together. Using the contract he had accidentally formed with her, she wanted to firmly bind him by her side. But now, seeing his well-defined profile, her heart finally softened.

There was a faint, bitter smile at the corner of her lips.

Beside her ear came his muffled, urgent reply: “There’s no way at all, so… you can’t die.”

When Pei Yuanshao lied, his earlobes would turn bright red, and his little finger would unconsciously rub against his waistband.

At this moment, his body was covered with tattered cloth strips concealing the main parts, and his little finger could only scrape against the piece of tattered cloth at his waist that was about to fall off.

Liu Changning took in all of his reactions, letting out a low sigh, her eyes rippling with emotion.

She lowered her head, her waterfall-like black hair falling onto Pei Yuanshao’s shoulders, tangling with his red hair into one.

Her fingers entwined with his full head of red hair, tugging it gently as she said in a low voice, “If there’s no way, then what should we do?”

Her lips pressed against his ear, following the tip of his perked-up ear as she breathed like an orchid: “This place has no spiritual energy. My dantian is now depleted of spiritual energy, and I have no way to survive. Be good, A-Shao. If you have a way, while I still have a breath left, quickly…”

Pei Yuanshao suddenly halted his steps. He abruptly turned his head back, his lips stopping three inches from hers, their breaths intertwining.

His hair stood on end as he strongly suppressed the trembling in his heart. He glared at Liu Changning with a gloomy look, his thin lips parting as he said meaningfully, “Do you really want to know the method to dissolve our contract?”

Liu Changning hesitantly nodded.

“Alright, the life-and-death contract of the Phoenix’s… servant… the Black Bird clan, the only way to dissolve it is…”

Pei Yuanshao paused, reaching out his hand to lift Liu Changning’s chin. He suddenly revealed a frivolous smile: “The two people need to unite, huanai, their essence and blood merging, and recite an incantation to dissolve it. And you… you’d better think it through carefully. Do you want to be this Lord’s furnace?”

After saying this, he maliciously looked her up and down, then slowly turned his back, saying disdainfully: “With your weak and useless constitution, you’d probably die on top of this Lord. Do you dare?”

Elder Pei’s small mouth was cursing and insulting, but in reality, his earlobes had already burned to a deep purple color.

Liu Changning licked her dry lips, and after a while, said hoarsely, pretending to be half-pushing and half-consenting: “If I’m going to die anyway, chastity seems of little use. If it can save the Elder’s life, Cang Yun… Cang Yun doesn’t mind suffering a bit.”

In the desert, Elder Pei nearly threw the female cultivator off his back for the third time.