"Aaaah..." Lila Vane's shriek echoed through the air as they plummeted downward.
Then—bang! All three of them crashed hard onto a thick slab of ice.
"Ugh... that hurts!" Lila Vane groaned, clutching her nearly-broken waist, then glared furiously at the culprit who dragged her down. "You jerk!"
For Shen Bingxin, whose inner strength was deep, this kind of pain was easy to endure. But Adrian Night, who’d been ambushed, wasn’t nearly so optimistic.
"Adrian!" Shen Bingxin called out in worry.
"I'm fine! Seriously!" Adrian Night's face didn’t look as bad as she’d feared.
"Sure, you’re fine now, but just wait until the poison starts seeping into your heart and lungs—let’s see if you can keep acting tough then!" Lila clearly couldn’t stand these two guys’ mushy bromance. Sure, same-sex couples were normal in Soaring Phoenix, but seeing it up close still grossed her out. Watching one of them about to die? That was oddly satisfying.
Seeing this, Shen Bingxin quickly stood up, grabbed Lila’s hand, and snapped coldly, "Hand over the antidote—now! Or I’ll kill you!"
"Kill me? If you do, you’ll never get out of here. Besides, I don’t have the antidote, and he’s definitely dying today!" Lila was certain they wouldn’t kill her so easily. She knew this lot would keep her alive to settle scores with Song Zhijue, and escaping this place required her help—otherwise, even with wings, they couldn’t fly out.
"Where’s the antidote?" Shen Bingxin’s grip on Lila’s hand tightened, making her yelp in pain. "I told you, there is no antidote!"
"Xin’er... I’m really fine," Adrian Night said quickly to the visibly riled-up Shen Bingxin. But inside, his heart was practically melting—wait, was she actually worried about him?!
"No antidote?!" Shen Bingxin’s eyes narrowed, staring straight at Lila.
"Nope..." Lila Vane replied, suddenly a little timid for no reason. "I told you, there’s no antidote. He’s dead for sure, so you’d better save your strength. Wouldn’t want you to be too tired to keep up with me later." Lila licked her lips with a lecherous grin.
"What’s that supposed to mean?" Shen Bingxin felt a bad premonition creeping in from Lila’s words.
"Do you even know where we are? Or what this underground ice is called? Let me tell you, this ice is seriously weird—thick as heck, totally unbreakable. No matter how strong your inner power or martial arts, you can’t crack it. I’ll be honest: the only way out of this bottomless pit is under this ice. Break through and swim out with the current, and you’re free." Lila arched her brow, then yanked her hand free.
"And?" Shen Bingxin had a bad feeling she wasn’t done yet.
Lila snorted. "And? And you’d better stop being so fierce with me, or when you’re begging for mercy later, I’ll make you lick my toes! Hahaha!" Her triumphant cackle made both Shen Bingxin and Adrian Night frown in disgust.
"Shameless!" Adrian Night really wanted to get up and slap her, but his body felt so heavy that he just couldn’t muster the strength.
Seeing this, Shen Bingxin frowned. "So what you’re saying is, the only way to break through this ice is if..."
"Unless some steamy, romantic juices from a man and woman’s passionate fun drip onto the ice, the mechanism won’t open. Otherwise, you could hammer away all day and still not break it!" Lila laughed even harder, practically gloating. Just wait—you’ll be crawling over to lick my toes in no time!
"Disgusting!" Shen Bingxin was absolutely furious after hearing that, and Adrian Night was shaking with rage too. How could this woman be so shameless?!
"Shameless? If I wasn’t shameless, I’d be dead at the hands of people like you! If I hadn’t come down here, you’d never have figured out the secret of this ice. Martial arts are worthless here—this ice is impossible to break. And if the setup wasn’t so clever, why do you think there’s a mountain of bones back there?" Lila grinned wickedly, pointing behind them at a literal pile of white bones.
At this point, Shen Bingxin had to admit Lila’s methods were impressive. Anyone who fell in here would be desperate to escape, probably yelling and panicking, but in this sealed space—who’d actually think of doing *that* to survive?!
"This is some kind of monster magic!" Adrian Night said coldly. He’d never even heard of ice like this—what kind of ice needs... that?!
He refused to believe it! If this wasn’t monster magic, then what was it?!
"Monster magic? Hah! Actually, it’s not ice—it’s a weird stone from the Luyu Kingdom. Looks like ice, feels freezing cold, but here’s the truth: this giant stone used to be the Luyu king and his wife’s bedrock for, uh, bedroom acrobatics. Decades of their, um, love juices soaked in, so now it’s super responsive to that sort of thing."
Adrian Night frowned. Luyu Kingdom was a super mysterious place, barely interacted with outsiders, and—get this—the locals spent pretty much all their time, aside from eating and sleeping, doing *that*. No wonder everyone avoided them, thinking they were total pervs.
But seriously, how did she even get her hands on such a bizarre stone from Luyu?!
"Don’t look so shocked! It’s easy to get stuff like this. All I had to do was offer a crate of pills that let the king go for five hours straight, every day, no sweat!" Lila boasted, looking ridiculously smug.
Hearing that, one word popped into Shen Bingxin’s mind: Viagra?!
"Ugh..." Just then, Adrian Night’s brows furrowed—he looked seriously uncomfortable.
Seeing this, Shen Bingxin immediately knew the poison was kicking in. She grabbed Lila’s wrist again and demanded, "I’ll ask one last time—do you have the antidote or not?!"
"No!" Lila shot back arrogantly, not even bothering to think.
"Fine. Perfect!" With that, Shen Bingxin yanked Lila over toward Adrian Night.
"Ow! What are you doing?!" Lila yelped, writhing in pain from being dragged.
Shen Bingxin shot her a cold smile. "What am I doing? You’ll see soon enough." Then, without warning, she whipped out a dagger and, to Lila’s utter shock, sliced open her arm. Blood immediately began to flow from the wound.
"Adrian, drink it!" She held Lila’s arm so the blood dripped right into Adrian Night’s mouth.
"Ow, let go already!" Lila tried desperately to yank her arm back, but Shen Bingxin’s grip was way too strong—no matter how she struggled, she couldn’t break free.
Once Adrian had swallowed the blood, Shen Bingxin finally let go, and the exhausted Lila collapsed onto the ice.
"You..."
"You what? I asked for the antidote, you refused—so now your blood’s the antidote!" If she remembered right, Lila’s blood had saved her once before. Back at the cliff bottom, Lila had said that their blood could neutralize most poisons.
Hissing, Lila quickly bit off a piece of her skirt and wrapped it around the wound. "How’d you know...?"
"Don’t assume everyone’s an idiot!" Shen Bingxin retorted, tossing the words at the stunned Lila. Then she supported Adrian Night. "Adrian, how are you feeling?"
"Much better," Adrian Night replied, closing his eyes and starting to channel his inner energy.
After a while, his complexion turned rosy again—clearly, Lila’s blood was a rare antidote.
Seeing this, Lila shouted angrily, "Yeah, enjoy it while you can! Let’s see how long you two can keep it up—don’t come crawling to me for help later!"
"Don’t worry, your little fantasy is never happening!" Shen Bingxin shot back.
"Oh really? I forgot to mention—right as we fell, I tossed some powder from my pocket. It’s harmless unless it meets water. Once it does, it evaporates, and in less than half an hour, all your desires will be triggered." She eyed Shen Bingxin nervously as she approached. "Don’t even think about using my blood as an antidote. This aphrodisiac has no cure—unless you, y’know, do the deed. Otherwise, just wait to suffer!"
"There’s water under the ice?" Adrian Night frowned.
"Exactly. It’s all water down there, so the ice absorbs it, totally normal." Lila grinned. "This powder isn’t that strong for someone as, um, experienced as me. But for newbies, or anyone with only a couple tries, it’s a hundred times more potent. Judging by you two, you’re total fledglings! So, you want to take turns, or go together?" With that, Lila shamelessly tugged down her neckline, exposing her pale chest.
Seeing this, Adrian Night quickly turned away, refusing to look at the scene.
"Hahaha, what a cute expression!" Lila was delighted by Adrian’s reaction. Clearly, she’d guessed right—maybe this guy really was a total virgin!
"Sorry to disappoint you, but neither of us are coming to you!"
"Oh? Not coming to me? Or maybe you two big strong men want to..." She trailed off, covering her mouth with a giggle. So these two were a couple after all? Well, whatever—if both sides didn’t hit the big O, the mechanism wouldn’t trigger. She didn’t believe for a second that two guys could really get the job done!
Besides, this stone was forged by the Luyu king and queen after years of, uh, practice. No way two dudes could make it work!
"We’re this far in—aren’t you going to tell us your real connection to the Empress?"
Lila just sneered. "I’d rather die than tell you."
Actually, Lila was plotting in her head. Soon, they’d be begging her for help. Just thinking about everything Shen Bingxin had done made her eyes blaze with anger. Once that aphrodisiac hit, she’d make sure this guy killed the effeminate one—she’d finally get her revenge!
"So cold..." Suddenly, Adrian Night got up and started pacing, the chill from the ice below seeping up through the floor.
Lila got up too, clearly feeling the cold as well. "Hey, if you kill that sissy, I’ll let you out," she said quickly. She could feel something strange stirring inside her—a familiar urge telling her she needed some passionate action, and she needed it now.
"Keep dreaming!" Adrian Night scoffed at Lila’s offer, totally unimpressed.
"Dream on? Let’s see how long you last!" Lila shot back, hugging herself and pacing around the cramped space. Her body was heating up, but the room was freezing, so she kept fidgeting to stay warm.
"Adrian, are you okay?" Shen Bingxin rushed over, checking on him. He didn’t look nearly as bad as Lila had claimed.
"I’m fine, Xin’er, don’t worry. There’s got to be another way out." Adrian didn’t want to use Lila’s method, so he started searching for another escape.
But surprisingly, Shen Bingxin’s powerful inner energy was burning even more fiercely than Adrian’s—ten times worse, in fact. What was going on?!
"Xin’er!" Seeing Shen Bingxin suddenly sit down, Adrian hurried back and held her tight.
"So cold... no, wait, so hot..." Shen Bingxin’s body was burning up inside, but the outside was freezing cold. The clash of ice and fire was almost unbearable.
"Hahaha, looks like your aphrodisiac is finally kicking in, sissy!" Lila gloated, shooting the pair a smug look. Let’s see how the two guys handle this!
*****