"Bang bang bang bang..."

Flames wildly dispersed, covering the entire canyon with a deafeningly intense explosion. The storm was blown apart, and a terrifyingly violent aura shot into the sky.

"Thud..." Li Lin's body was violently thrown dozens of meters, crashing hard onto the ground. His blood surged wildly within, and he immediately lost consciousness. Only at the end did Li Lin realize that his opponent was a triple-element martial artist. The final technique she used was clearly a wind-element martial skill, and it was of a very high level.

"Thump thump..."

The stunningly beautiful girl staggered backwards several steps, blood trickling from her mouth, her face pale.

"Miss," the delicate maid had been watching from afar, knowing she couldn't help. Seeing her mistress injured, she hurried over anxiously.

"I'm fine, check if that thief is dead," the beautiful girl said.

"Miss, he's not dead, just unconscious," the delicate maid reported after checking Li Lin.

"This thief dared to hurt me; I won't let him die so easily. Lock his true qi and wait for him to wake up. Then we'll deal with this thief properly," the beautiful girl said angrily. Even with her face full of rage, she looked captivating.

"Miss, isn't this too cruel? Shouldn't we just kill him?" the maid suggested, recalling the methods her mistress used to torture others in their sect, which were unbearable to witness.

"Hmph, I won't let him off so easily. He peeped at me and even cursed at me. We'll settle the score when he wakes up," the beautiful girl said indignantly.

"Alright," the maid sympathetically glanced at the unconscious Li Lin, then placed several finger seals on him.

After an unknown amount of time, Li Lin groggily regained consciousness, his true qi solidified, with only a trace remaining in his dantian. His injuries were also extremely severe.

Opening his eyes, he found himself in a cave, surprisingly in the same canyon cave where he had been staying. He had been thrown into a corner of the cave, his true qi sealed and his hands and feet tightly bound with vines.

As night fell, the cave was dimly lit. Li Lin saw two figures in front of him, the stunningly beautiful girl and her maid. The beautiful girl was also meditating.

"This is bad," Li Lin thought, feeling a deep sense of trouble. Falling into this girl's hands probably meant no good outcome. With his true qi locked and severely injured, he felt doomed. He hadn't expected his all-out effort with the Vermilion Bird Art to be insufficient against the beautiful girl. Her strength was terrifying, a triple-element martial artist, and her background was unknown.

Seeing that the two girls hadn't noticed him, Li Lin quickly closed his eyes, sensing that his meridians and acupoints were locked with extreme true qi. He then started using the Yin Yang Spiritual Martial Technique to break through the sealed true qi. With the technique, this seal couldn't stop him.

However, severely injured, he had no strength to escape and could only focus on recuperating.

Suppressing the chaotic true qi within, Li Lin began to meditate slowly, thinking of various ways to escape. But at the moment, there seemed to be no chance of escape.

Time slowly passed, and Li Lin secretly recuperated within. After a night, he regained some true qi, but his injuries hadn't improved much. Meanwhile, he felt the beautiful girl exhale a long breath, signaling the end of her cultivation.

Li Lin didn't dare to be careless and stopped his meditation, continuing to feign unconsciousness.

"Miss, how is your injury?" Li Lin heard the delicate maid speaking.

"It's mostly better now. Dong Mei, check if that little thief has woken up," Li Lin listened and learned that the maid's name was Dong Mei. He wondered what the name of the stunningly beautiful girl, who kept calling him 'little thief', was.

"Miss, he's still unconscious. What if his injuries are too severe and he doesn't wake up?" Dong Mei checked Li Lin and didn't realize he had already woken up.

"If he doesn't wake up, that's too easy for him. Like this, even if he's dead, it won't be easy for him. Dig out his eyeballs and cut off his tongue to feed to the beasts," the beautiful girl said.

"Miss, isn't that too cruel?" Dong Mei asked.

"Cruel? That's not enough to quench my anger. I'll do it myself."

"Alright, give me a quick death. I didn't expect such a beautiful woman to have a heart like a venomous scorpion," Li Lin finally couldn't hold back and opened his eyes to curse. All the beautiful women he had met in the Misty Mountain Range were so ruthless. The saying 'the most venomous woman's heart' was indeed true.

"So, you've decided to wake up. I knew you were feigning death," the beautiful girl snorted coldly. This anger didn't detract from her beauty; instead, it added a cute touch.

"If you want to kill me, go ahead. If I die, I won't let you off even as a ghost," Li Lin said. He wasn't in the mood to admire her beauty. He was already in a dire situation and chose to curse vehemently.

"You can't do anything to me while alive; you think you can after death? Tell me, who are you?" the beautiful girl stared at Li Lin and asked.

"Who I am is none of your business," Li Lin snorted coldly, thinking that most women liked a man because they couldn't figure him out. Maybe this woman would be curious and not kill him, giving him a chance to escape.

"I've seen stubbornness, but let's see if you're really that tough," the beautiful girl said lightly.

"I'm even tougher in some places. You want to try? But even if you want to, I'm not willing," Li Lin cursed, finding it quite relieving.

"Ah..."

But as soon as he finished speaking, Li Lin let out a scream. The beautiful girl had taken a green needle and pricked his face with it, causing a numbing sensation as if millions of ants were gnawing on it. The needle was poisoned.

"This is the Thousand Ants Heart-Piercing Needle, the weakest poison I have. Do you want to reconsider telling me who you are now?" the beautiful girl said with a slight smile.

"You venomous woman, I think you're the failed contraceptive product of your mother. You have hormonal imbalance, premature menopause. If I don't die, I'll sell you to a brothel," Li Lin cursed. The pain on his face was unbearable, and the right half of his face was swelling like a balloon.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

The beautiful girl didn't understand the first part of Li Lin's curse, but she clearly understood the last part about the brothel, and her face turned angry: "I'll make you curse."

As she spoke, Li Lin's left face also began to numb as the beautiful girl pricked him with another needle. The pain, like millions of ants gnawing, was unbearable for ordinary people.

"I won't let you off, you venomous woman. Damn, my face," Li Lin raged, but he was powerless against her. Although his true qi was unsealed, his hands and feet were tied, and he couldn't move.

"Let's see how you won't let me off. I've changed my mind. I won't kill you but torture you every day until you die," the beautiful girl snorted coldly, not caring about Li Lin's threats. She stretched out her wrist, then pinched Li Lin's mouth, causing excruciating pain on his tongue.

"Ah..."

Li Lin screamed in agony. The tongue is one of the softest and most sensitive parts of the human body. Under the effect of the Thousand Ants Heart-Piercing Needle, Li Lin's tongue immediately went numb, becoming as hard as stone, rendering him unable to speak.

"Hmph, that will teach you to curse and peep at me. Go on, keep cursing. Why have you stopped? I have countless ways to torture you. Just don't die too soon," the beautiful girl snorted coldly.

Li Lin wanted to curse, but his swollen tongue filled his mouth, making it impossible to speak. He could only glare at her, silently cursing in his mind, thinking of every curse he knew against the beautiful girl, but this did nothing to ease the pain in his face and mouth.

At this moment, Li Lin's face was swollen and his mouth puffed up, resembling a grotesque caricature. If Li Lin had seen himself in a mirror, he might have been scared to death.

"Miss, we can't kill him. How will we take him with us? Shouldn't we be heading back?" Dong Mei asked.

"Let him walk on his own. When the time comes, we'll untie his legs. There's no fear of him running away. Once my injury is healed, we'll set off," the beautiful girl said softly, then smugly put away her silver needle, patted her hands, glanced indifferently at the screaming Li Lin, and continued to sit cross-legged, resuming her meditation.

Dong Mei also glanced at Li Lin with sympathy but could only feel sorry for him as she too sat down to cultivate.

After a while of miserable wailing, Li Lin's body gradually went numb, making it somewhat better. He glared helplessly at the venomous beauty, realizing he was no match for her as her strength was far greater than his.

Seeing the two women meditating, Li Lin also continued to meditate covertly, knowing that he could only escape if his injuries healed. Otherwise, there was no chance.

Deep in the dense forests of the Misty Mountain Range, hundreds of figures were searching for something. At the front were three figures, two elderly men in robes and a middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man was none other than Wang Mingyue, the city lord of Wudu City and an external elder of the Yunyang Sect.

"Elder Mingyue, hurry, we must find the young miss quickly. If anything happens to her, all three of us will be in trouble," said one of the robed elders anxiously. His long hair draped over his shoulders, and his aura subtly fluctuated, indicating his extraordinary strength.

"Elder Wu, everyone is searching carefully. I've already sent all the available forces from Wudu City to find the young miss," Wang Mingyue said anxiously. If the only beloved daughter of the sect master of Yunyang Sect were to be lost under his jurisdiction, he would be in big trouble.

"A few days ago, we found our Yunyang Sect's mark. It must have been left by Dong Mei. The young miss should be nearby. We can't let anything happen to her. If only we knew, we wouldn't have brought her out this time," Elder Wu sighed.

"We don't need to worry too much. The young miss is playful, but her strength is not weak. She also has some trump cards. Even if we encounter her, we won't get any advantage. I'm just afraid that if she goes deep into the Misty Mountain Range, it'll be troublesome. There are many strong figures there. If she's just around the outskirts, her strength should be enough to keep her safe," another middle-aged man said.

"That's right. Let's hope the young miss doesn't go too deep into the Misty Mountain Range. There are many strong people there. If she stays around the outskirts, there shouldn't be too much danger with her strength," Wang Mingyue added.

In the canyon, Li Lin's true qi was slowly recovering, but his injuries were too severe, and his energy was almost depleted, making recovery a long process.

The true qi he had absorbed and then expended in the Vermilion Bird Art was not his own cultivated true qi. After spending it, it was impossible to recover.

Li Lin continued to meditate slowly and secretly, not letting the others notice. His recovery was very slow due to his injuries and the need for secrecy.

A day later, Li Lin felt that his injuries had recovered by less than twenty percent, while the young miss with the venomous beauty had already recovered by about ninety percent.

Li Lin felt that the injuries on his face and tongue had improved significantly, suggesting that the poison was not particularly severe and not lethal.

"Sigh..."

The stunningly beautiful girl exhaled a breath of turbid air, indicating her injury was mostly healed. She opened her beautiful eyes, a flash of sharpness passing through them, then turned her gaze towards Li Lin, showing a hint of puzzlement.

"Little thief, you do have some ability. People struck by my Thousand Ants Heart-Piercing Needle usually don't recover for ten days or half a month, but you recovered in just one day. That's really surprising," the beautiful girl said.

Li Lin was taken aback, thinking he was not heavily poisoned. He speculated that maybe the previous detoxification by the little dragon had given him some resistance to poison.

"What do you want to do today? I, this young master, am waiting," Li Lin said, implying that a man like him wouldn't bow down to a woman.

"Why aren't you cursing today? I'm still waiting for you to do so," the beautiful girl said lightly, giving Li Lin a slight glare, her eyes showing a playful smile.

"Do you really want me to curse you? That's a bit of a twisted desire," Li Lin said, trying not to provoke her intentionally, knowing she was even more poisonous than Lan Ling.

"You…" The beautiful girl glared at Li Lin, then said, "I'm tired of your nonsense. Tell me, who are you exactly?"

The beautiful girl was greatly interested in the martial technique Li Lin had used. He was only a seventh-level martial artist but managed to injure her, which she found incredible.

"I am me. Your question is pretty silly," Li Lin retorted coldly.

"What's your name, and which sect are you from?" The beautiful girl was about to get angry, but then Dong Mei, the maid, stepped forward to ask.

Li Lin glanced at the beautiful girl and then said, "I'm not afraid to tell you. I, Li Lin, have never changed my name or identity. I am a disciple of the Yunyang Sect. You'd better let me go, or the Yunyang Sect won't let you off."

"You're a disciple of the Yunyang Sect?" The beautiful girl looked at Li Lin in surprise, and Dong Mei also looked at him doubtfully.

"Whose disciple are you in the Yunyang Sect?" The beautiful girl asked again, still somewhat astonished.

Observing their reactions, Li Lin thought that perhaps these two women had some connection with the Yunyang Sect and might let him go. Although he was a disciple of the Yunyang Sect, he had never even entered the sect's main gate.

"I am a disciple of Elder Bai Mei," Li Lin replied, borrowing the name of a known elder of the Yunyang Sect.

"You dare to lie to me," the beautiful girl teased with a smile, and suddenly a flash of white light appeared in her hand. The Thousand Ants Heart-Piercing Needle then struck Li Lin's thigh.

"Ah..."

Li Lin let out a scream as his thigh instantly swelled up. The sensation of thousands of ants biting his leg was unbearable.

"You venomous wench, this young master isn't finished with you," Li Lin cursed vehemently.

"Keep cursing," the stunningly beautiful girl said as a flash of white light passed through her hand again, causing Li Lin's other thigh to experience the same excruciating pain as if thousands of ants were burrowing into it.

"Miss, this guy isn't telling the truth. Let's ask him again later. For now, let's go find something to eat," Dong Mei suggested after glancing at Li Lin.

"Sounds good, I'm hungry. Let's go out and find some food. We'll deal with this little thief later," the beautiful girl said. They left the cave, not worried about Li Lin escaping since his true qi was sealed and he couldn't get away.

After the two women left the cave, Li Lin peeked outside. Seeing that they had really gone far, he knew it was now or never to escape.

His true qi trembled as he activated the Furious Flame Fist. His fists radiated intense heat, burning through the vines that bound his hands.

"Venomous woman, you didn't expect me to have already broken through the qi lock," Li Lin muttered as he quickly untied the vines around his legs. His legs were numb and painful, and he limped as he moved, cursing the beautiful woman and her ancestors in his mind.

After scouting the cave entrance, Li Lin bore the pain in his legs and limped out of the cave. He was familiar with the canyon and knew how to hide and make a quick escape.

Li Lin didn't dare to stop and hurriedly fled. He estimated that the two women would return soon, and being caught by them again would be disastrous.

Shortly after Li Lin left, hundreds of unexpected visitors appeared outside the canyon, led by Wang Mingyue and others.

"Our Yunyang Sect's mark, the young miss must be around here," Elder Wu said, looking at a star-shaped mark on a tall tree near the dense forest outside the canyon.

"Everyone, search quickly," Wang Mingyue ordered. Hundreds of people rushed into the dense forest and soon discovered the canyon inside.