"She was actually able to deceive my perception. What a bizarre ability!" said Lin Zheyu, staring at the alluring woman who had slipped free from his grasp, astonishment filling his heart.

He was certain he had grabbed the woman by the neck just now. Yet she had used some strange ability to deceive his perception, making him release her of his own accord. This ability was unlike a soul secret art, and Lin Zheyu could not discern its underlying principle.

The profundity it involved was beyond what his current realm could comprehend. If not for the fact that his Perception Domain grew more terrifying the closer it was to himself, he might not even have realized how he had let go. He would have simply assumed he had been deceived by her secret art and had only grasped an illusion.

"Hehe, young master. You are quite handsome!" Hu Xuefei's coquettish laughter rang out.

Lin Zheyu narrowed his eyes. His Perception Domain contracted to cover a two-hundred-meter radius around him and was pushed to its limits. In his vision, Hu Xuefei's enchanting figure flickered in and out, shifting unpredictably like a mere phantom.

Lei Yongtao, hovering in the sky, watched the scene with a dark and unpleasant expression. However, he made no further move. In the previous exchange, he had revealed quite a few of his trump cards, yet they had done little harm to Hu Xuefei. Instead, he himself had suffered a considerable loss.

As expected of the Heart-Enchanting Fox Yao Clan. Truly strange, Lei Yongtao thought to himself.

He had no intention of continuing the fight. The probing just now had been enough. Ji Ziyang was testing the geniuses of the barbarian clans, while he had tested the geniuses of the ancient yao. Many such probing battles were unfolding one after another within the demon god barrier.

"A martial artist? He's somewhat unfamiliar. A newly risen expert from the Martial Alliance, perhaps...?" Lei Yongtao mused as he looked down at Lin Zheyu.

Lei Yongtao was not the least bit surprised to see a martial artist here. After reaching the Martial Innate realm of martial cultivation, those who did not convert to the Immortal Dao but instead pursued the path of Immortal Martial Cultivation possessed tremendous advantages in environments like the demon god barrier. Although the aura around Lin Zheyu felt somewhat unusual, it was extremely similar to the aura of martial artists Lei Yongtao was familiar with.

"Martial cultivation is crude. Against a Heart-Enchanting Fox Yao, it will not end well," Lei Yongtao muttered, shaking his head slightly.

The Heart-Enchanting Fox Yao specialized in charm and illusion. Although martial artists who walked the path of Immortal Martial Cultivation were usually strong-willed, facing the innate divine abilities of such a fox yao was not something that could be resisted by sheer willpower alone. He did not leave. Instead, he hovered leisurely in the air, watching Lin Zheyu and Hu Xuefei. After all, Hu Xuefei was an outsider race. If Lin Zheyu fell into danger, Lei Yongtao would not mind stepping in to help.

"Young master, you are far stronger than any martial artist I have seen! You make my heart itch with desire!" Hu Xuefei swayed her alluring body. With a flicker, eight different figures appeared in Lin Zheyu's sight, each distinct. Some were seductive, some pitiful, some pure, and some cold as ice.

Her beautiful eyes sparkled with vitality as she stared at Lin Zheyu as if she wanted to devour him whole. As a Heart-Enchanting Fox Yao, her cultivation method was unique even among ancient yao. They held a strong desire for experts like Lin Zheyu, whose blood qi and physique were overwhelmingly powerful. In Hu Xuefei's perception, the man before her possessed terrifying vitality. Just sensing it made her instinctively press her legs together.

"Ancient yao? Are these all illusions? No... they do not seem like it," Lin Zheyu murmured as he watched the figures before him. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

He was extremely wary. The eight distinct and alluring figures before him did not resemble illusions at all. It was as if each one was real, yet all were false, an incredibly strange phenomenon. Suddenly, he felt a cool, soft touch against his chest. A faint fragrance filled his nose, and a warm breath brushed against his ear.

Hu Xuefei suddenly appeared beside Lin Zheyu, leaning close to his ear as she said in a soft, alluring voice, "Young master, would you like to play with me? It will feel very nice."

The sensation against his body felt utterly real, yet Lin Zheyu knew it was false. All five of his senses had been distorted by some inexplicable force.

Found you!

The corner of Lin Zheyu's lips lifted slightly.

Although that power was strange, Lin Zheyu's Perception Domain was no weak tool. At such close range, he finally sensed the location of Hu Xuefei's true body.

"Alright!" Lin Zheyu said with a smile, while the true origin within his body erupted violently.

A sharp blade flash burst from the darkness, its edge slicing across delicate, snow-white skin as blood sprayed out. A cry of pain filled with shock and disbelief rang out. In an instant, all of Hu Xuefei's illusions vanished, and a streak of pink escape light flashed past, disappearing into the darkness.

"She still got away even like this!" Lin Zheyu said, watching Hu Xuefei's vanishing figure with a hint of regret.

Just now, he had truly been tempted for a brief moment. Unfortunately, Lei Yongtao was still watching closely nearby. Otherwise, if Lin Zheyu had gone all out, there was a good chance he could have kept Hu Xuefei behind. She seemed to be an ancient yao.

Ancient yao were naturally strong in physique, and with her alluring appearance, bringing her back as a bed companion would not have been a bad choice. Because of his overwhelming strength, Lin Zheyu had not visited a brothel in quite some time.

Lei Yongtao snapped out of his surprise, moved forward, and cupped his hands in greeting. "Fellow Daoist, impressive skill! I am Lei Yongtao of the Lei Family. May I know your name?"

Even he had great difficulty seeing through Hu Xuefei's innate divine ability, so most of his powerful techniques struck empty air during their fight, leaving him extremely frustrated. Yet this seemingly crude martial artist before him had pierced through the illusion and struck Hu Xuefei in a single blow. That was no mere luck.

During their first exchange, he had immediately seized Hu Xuefei by the neck, only to be deceived by her innate charm divine ability due to a moment of carelessness. And that last strike had also hit her, nearly killing her outright. That was why Hu Xuefei had fled in panic.

"I am Xiao Yu. Greetings, Fellow Daoist Lei. Are you from the Lei Family? Do you happen to know Miss Lei Yunshu?" Lin Zheyu asked with a smile.

It seemed he truly had some connection with the Lei Family. However, there were only so many cultivation families in the Guanghua Region, and the Lei Family ranked among the top. Encountering them here was not particularly surprising.

"Yunshu is my cousin. Are you a friend of hers?" Lei Yongtao asked, slightly taken aback.

"Previously, Miss Yunshu and I hunted yao and carried out missions together in the demon god barrier outside Wuling City. I had intended to visit your family afterward, but matters delayed me until now," Lin Zheyu said in a familiar tone.

Because of issues with his background, he could only form connections through others. Now that he had encountered Lei Yongtao of the Lei Family, he could use his connection with Lei Yunshu to bridge the gap.

"I see! When Yunshu returned last time, she was severely injured. She said that if not for your help, she might not have made it back. Thank you for helping my cousin," Lei Yongtao said politely. After witnessing Lin Zheyu's strength, he had begun to consider recruiting him.

"You are too polite, Fellow Daoist Lei. It was just a small effort," Lin Zheyu waved it off, then asked curiously, "That woman just now... she was not human, was she?"

While fighting Hu Xuefei, Lin Zheyu had already noticed something unusual. Although she was beautiful and enchanting, her pointed ears and the three snow-white tails swaying behind her were clearly not human traits.

"She belongs to the Heart-Enchanting Fox Yao Clan among the ancient yao. Their innate divine ability, charm, is extremely strange. Among ancient yao, they rank within the top ten powerful species. That you were able to see through her innate divine ability and strike her in one blow shows remarkable perception and insight," Lei Yongtao said with admiration.

Each had their own specialization. Lei Yongtao cultivated lightning spells and practiced both body refinement and techniques. Among his peers, his perception was already considered exceptional. Yet compared to Lin Zheyu, the gap was immense. Only a few powerful secret techniques could normally pierce through the Heart-Enchanting Fox Yao's charm ability, yet Lin Zheyu was a martial artist. Lei Yongtao was deeply curious about how he had achieved it.

Could it be that Fellow Daoist Xiao has successfully opened the spirit divine repository? Lei Yongtao thought in surprise.

He had also studied the three great divine repositories of martial cultivation and knew well how difficult it was to open them. There were even many immortal cultivators who pursued both immortal techniques and martial cultivation, yet most who took that path achieved nothing and faded into obscurity. Martial cultivation was a path entirely different from the Immortal Dao. Unlike the body refinement of the Immortal Dao, martial cultivation tempered the physique itself, pushing it to its absolute limits.

It was a path of uncovering the body's latent potential, surpassing its limits, and achieving evolution and transformation of life itself. In contrast, body refinement in the Immortal Dao relied on secret arts, treating flesh and blood like medicinal pills or dharma artifacts to be refined, much like alchemy or artifact forging. The Immortal Dao focused primarily on the soul. If the world were an endless sea of suffering, then the body was the boat, and the soul was the person within it.

The Immortal Dao treated the person within the boat as fundamental. The vessel itself, as long as conditions allowed, could be discarded at will. Replacing the body had little impact on one's realm or strength. Martial cultivation, however, was entirely different. It treated the body as the foundation. Once the body was destroyed, everything was lost. Because he had studied it, Lei Yongtao deeply understood how terrifying the difficulty of opening the spirit divine repository truly was.

Most martial artists could only open a single divine repository. Those who could open two were already considered extraordinarily talented. Martial artists emphasized intent rather than the soul, and in soul cultivation, they were far inferior to immortal cultivators. Because their souls were not strong enough, among martial artists, those who could open the spirit divine repository were one in ten thousand. And that was among those who had already opened the other two repositories. Even among ten thousand such experts, there might not be a single one.

The sheer difficulty was evident. It required heaven-defying aptitude and comprehension, along with immense fortune and opportunity, for even a slim chance of success. But if one succeeded, they would gain extraordinary and powerful perception.

In Lei Yongtao's view, the Fellow Daoist Xiao before him might well be that one-in-ten-thousand genius martial artist who had opened the spirit divine repository. However, this touched on hidden strengths, so Lei Yongtao could not probe further.

"Innate divine ability, charm... so that is it!" Lin Zheyu said in realization.

He had heard of the Heart-Enchanting Fox Yao before. During his fight with Hu Xuefei, he had already suspected as much, though he had not been certain. Despite their seductive nature, not all of them were as wanton as they appeared. It was said that the Heart-Enchanting Fox Yao Clan had two cultivation paths. One was indulgent and hedonistic, pursuing balance between Yin and Yang and a life of carefree abandon.

The other cultivated pure Yin power and loved only one person in their lifetime. Once truly conquered and fallen in love, they would remain devoted until death. Before being completely conquered, any male ensnared by them would become a furnace for dual cultivation, nothing more than a tool. What Lin Zheyu was curious about was which type Hu Xuefei belonged to.