Her body felt as if she was burning with a high fever. The heat slowly yanked Yu Liang out of her unconscious state. Disoriented, her groggy eyes struggled to open and a blurry stunning face filled her vision. His familiar face was stuck close while his vermilion lips merged with hers.

Yu Liang stiffened, a new source of heat invaded her body. She wasn’t exactly sure how long she remained motionless as the scoundrel took advantage of her before she forced her body into action. At first, her body refused control, but as the blurry world turned clearer, her muscles and limbs regained their senses. Lifting her arms, she placed both of her palms between their bodies, creating a small gap. One of her legs instantly kicked toward his family jewel.

His hand smoothly caught her assaulting leg and encircled around her delicate ankle. Yu Liang face flushed in anger mixed with another unknown emotion, one she didn’t wished to explore too closely.

The corner of his lips hooked into a demonical charming grin, eliciting her heart to pump so rapidly, she was afraid an unknown illness had infected her.

“This lord had saved you out of good will; I did not expect you to be someone who not only reneged on repaying such life-saving grace, but to go so far as to inflict harm on your benefactor.”

His rich velvety voice tickled her consciousness, and something unfamiliar tugged at her heart string. When his words finally registered, she realized this handsome man in red had indeed saved her from drowning. She recalled diving toward the transportation seal before they collided with a koi fish and —

“Yu Tian! Where is Yu Tian!” she shouted frantically.

Yu Liang turned to search for her brother, only to found her body immobilized. She had totally forgotten that he still held the leg she used to attack him, or at least attempted to, securely locked in his hand.

Plagued with a guilty conscience, she gave him an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, I mistaken you for a scoundrel trying to eat my tofu. Thank you for saving me. Don’t worry, I, Yu Liang, will definitely repay your life-saving grace!”

She had expected him to release her, but instead his dark obsidian eyes narrowed dangerously, as if an impending storm awaited behind them. Yu Liang was startled and a shade of fear spread through her.

Did she offended him when she accused him of being a scoundrel trying to take liberties with her? Just as she was trying to rack her brain for some eloquent excuse, his unexpected question threw her off.

“Who is this Yu Tian?” His voice emphasizing every syllable.

She stared at him in astonishment. Don’t tell her he was angry because of this? Someone please tell him his priorities were seriously out-of-order! Yet, she couldn’t control the wave of happiness that washed over her.

Gently clearing her throat, she gave a small cough to cover her awkwardness before replying, “Yu Tian is my younger brother. We got separated from the collision and I’m worried about him. More likely than not, he must be frantically searching for me. With him being only five and surrounded by enemies on all sides, I really need to find him soon.”

The desperation in her voice leaked out with every word she spoke. His clouded eyes cleared and his expression soften at her display of vulnerability. Reluctantly, he released her feet.

Urgently, she walked away and began searching aimlessly, while loudly calling for her brother. In case he was nearby, he would be able to pinpoint her location. Even after her voice turned hoarse, Yu Tian was nowhere to be found. In fact, she appeared to be walking around in circles, like she was caged in some sort of magical spell.

“We’re trapped inside the celestial triangular formation. Follow me.” An arrogant male voice indifferently said.

Yu Liang stiffened. Only then, did she noticed he had been trailing behind her every footstep. His voice had somehow managed to calm down her chaotic heart and his presence gave her renewed hope.

A wise person would never overestimate one’s capabilities and although Yu Liang wouldn’t consider herself to be exactly wise, she was still astute. The devilishly handsome man had offered her assistance, and she would be a fool to not take it. If her assumption was correct, his level of cultivation might be the highest among all the contestants.

They walked in comfortable silence until he surprised her with his question. “Strictly speaking, a person with no inner energy or cultivation will not be able to sense any spiritual essence. How were you able to figure out the secret behind those ambrosial food?”

His question really shocked Yu Liang. For him to be able to tell instantly that she had no cultivation, meant he really was a high level expert. She hesitated for a slight moment, but found no reason to hide the truth from him.

“At first, I didn’t know until I analyzed the behavior of those koi fishes. They appeared to attack indiscriminately, but if you look closely, you will noticed that they only dine on those who were somewhat glowing. Those who stuffed their face with endless ambrosial food, glowed more brightly than the others and were like beacons of fresh meat tempting the predators.”

She divulged the information indifferently, but Huo Wei Hu’s face glowed with pride. His little human girl had manage to figure out the most critical aspect of the second trial without any cultivation or help from others.

Over the hundreds of years he had lived, this was the first time he was impressed by how a mere human outsmarted those much stronger than her. Although ambrosial food were highly beneficial for cultivation, its potency made the user shine with radiance for a few minutes. Within this time frame, spiritual energy flowed around the body, rapidly strengthening the core essence of the user as they directed the energy into their system.

With an abundant of ambrosial nutriments, one could easily achieve a breakthrough to the next cultivation rank. Such temptations were too hard to resist and many claws snatched as much as they could when they walked through the grand kitchen on the way to the hidden pathway. None of them survived; all of them were greedily digested by the koi fishes.

Huo Wei Hu looked at her with a rare amiable smile. He had stood there wordlessly as he watched her enacted the role of a wolf in sheep skin. She had pretended to make amends with the rooster, by gifting over the ambrosial lotus bun, precisely because she figured out the secret.

Such craftiness was a perfect match for him! His elegant brows faintly creased as he inspected her skinny frame. Recalling how humans required real food to survive, unlike demons or deities who could sustain without them, he subconsciously reached into the wide sleeve of his distinctive red hanfu and took out his ambrosial lotus bun.

A bright pair of luminous eyes stared at him in confusion. She was perplexed. Why was he giving her his ambrosial lotus bun? Not to mention, after the event that occurred with those monstrous koi fishes, she was a bit cautious about eating anything provided by the pagoda.

As if he had heard her unspoken thoughts, he gently teased, “Don’t worry, there shouldn’t be any danger in the third trial for eating this, neither is this a bait for you to end up like that rooster girl. For demons like us, we eat only for pleasure, but as a human, you need food before you collapse.”

His rich voice brought a stream of warmth toward her heart. He was easily giving away such a rare cultivation food that no sum of money could buy. This was the first time someone actively took the initiative to care for her well-being and it was even from a demon met by fate. A foreign emotion choked her chest.

Yu Liang tentatively reached for the ambrosial lotus bun, before showering him with a genuine radiant smile that momentarily dazzled Huo Wei Hu, who had never been enthralled by any woman before.