Mountain and River Festival

Chapter 531 Director and Protagonist

As expected, Liu Yan'er chose to find a place to lie in wait, which shows that she hates her aunt to the extreme.

On the surface, it seems like only Lu Xingzhou and Dugu Qingli are there, making it seem like a mantis trying to stop a chariot when dealing with the massive separatist power of Chunshan Pavilion. Previously, Liu Yan'er had even abandoned her, fearing Lu Xingzhou's situation would be unfavorable. No matter how strong the power behind Lu Xingzhou is, it's like trying to quench a thirst with water from afar.

But then Young Master Jiang appeared out of nowhere, and Lu Xingzhou was now operating in the shadows, which gave Liu Yan'er a lot more confidence. This Young Master Jiang also seemed to have a powerful background, which meant that Lu Xingzhou hadn't come alone.

After settling Liu Yan'er in, Lu Xingzhou and his companion dived into the water to continue their observation.

Jiang Yuan was incredibly embarrassed. The tone of "selling magic treasures to redeem Qianqian tomorrow" had already been set, and now any normal person would want to start a night of passion. Did they expect them to chat all night long?
Even the most devoted admirer wouldn't go this far. If she did absolutely nothing, anyone would notice something was wrong with her.

Just as she was sweating with anxiety, she received a telepathic message from Lu Xingzhou: "The wine you just drank probably had some kind of aphrodisiac in it. Your lack of reaction can be interpreted as a sign of your profound cultivation, but you must show that you were aware of it. Then, cultivate the persona of someone who acts cautiously, showing that you were angry when you realized you had been tricked, and that you controlled her."

Director Lu said that Jiang Yuan's spirits lifted, but her expression suddenly changed: "What did you put in your drink!"

Seeing that "sycophantic young master Jiang" had suddenly become furious, Qianqian carefully smiled and said, "Young master, don't be anxious. This is just something to enhance the enjoyment of our pleasure boat. It is by no means aphrodisiac and will have absolutely no harm to your body."

He thought to himself that this cultivation was truly powerful, as he only began to feel it at this point.

"Drug me without my consent!" Jiang Yuan "raged," grabbing Qianqian by the neck in a flash. "Speak! What are your intentions!"

"Really...no..." Qianqian said with difficulty, "I just saw that you were a little shy, so I wanted to liven things up...that's how it is in brothels..."

Are you making fun of me for being a virgin?!

Qianqian: "..."

"Heh..." Jiang Yuan sneered, "I heard you have a sect called the Charming Maidens' Union Sect, which usually bewitches men into having sex and then uses the opportunity to absorb their essence? You wouldn't happen to be a demoness from the Charming Maidens' Union Sect, would you?"

"Absolutely not, I myself am the furnace, young master is free to explore every inch of my cultivation..." Qianqian's neck was bruised from being choked, but she still remained charming and submissive: "You can explore however you like..."

"I will naturally find out the truth!" Jiang Yuan slapped Qianqian unconscious and threw her onto the bed.

He then looked around and sneered, "Drugs can be administered arbitrarily, and there's no doubt they're under surveillance. It's probably a shady operation."

As he spoke, he took out a set of array flags from his ring and painstakingly set up an isolation array, instantly covering the room with a protective shield.

The array flags are of the highest grade, undetectable to anyone below the highest grade. Even if a divine sense of the highest grade were to try to probe them, it would at least be detected, further confirming the persona of "powerful sect background".

Actually, it was food I just got from the Ice Prison Sect...

In the misty rain, the wet water on the windowsill gurgled and floated, falling into the room and transforming into a land-based boat.

Jiang Yuan breathed a sigh of relief, wiped the sweat from her forehead, and asked happily, "How did you do?"

Lu Xingzhou wanted to laugh: "You looked better when you were being alluring and arrogant just now."

"Who asked you that?" Jiang Yuan jumped up and down. "They asked how to handle this situation now!"

"What else can we do but check your body? Isn't this what we've been acting for all this time?" Without saying a word, Lu Xingzhou went to the bedside and pressed his hand against Qianqian's high, firm chest.

Jiang Yuan's gaze shifted to one of disdain: "Do you really need to do this? Don't I know how? You've been waiting for this touch for a long time, haven't you?"

"Can you and I be the same? I am a master alchemist." Lu Xingzhou said confidently.

Jiang Yuan just glanced at him sideways.

For some reason, seeing that big hand rubbing and kneading, I kind of wanted Dugu Qingli to jump in and beat him up right now.

But Dugu Qingli seemed to be keeping watch and didn't come in.

However, Lu Xingzhou's expression did not show any lewdness from someone who had taken advantage of him; instead, it became increasingly serious.

"This person... is very strange..."

"What's wrong? What's wrong?" Jiang Yuan came closer and reached out to touch it as well.

Lu Xingzhou subconsciously turned his head, and his nose almost brushed against her cheek.

It smells good.

Upon seeing her masculine features with thickly drawn sword-like eyebrows, Lu Xingzhou unconsciously made a gurgling sound in his throat and turned his head back.

Good heavens, how could it be more tempting?
Damn it, when I saw Ah Gua in his military armor during his time in the army, I thought he looked even more attractive. Is there something wrong with him?

Jiang Yuan didn't notice any of this; she just felt a little itchy on her face and couldn't help but turn her head to glare at him. Lu Xingzhou had already turned his head back by then, and nothing had happened.

Lu Xingzhou coughed lightly: "What's your assessment?"

Jiang Yuan said, "You're not a pill refiner, but aren't you very skilled?"

Lu Xingzhou said, "I always feel that her cultivation doesn't seem like her own, but rather like it was transplanted into her. But that doesn't make sense... Even if she received initiation or obtained it through cultivation, it wouldn't manifest like this." Jiang Yuan paused, lost in thought.

Lu Xingzhou asked, "You know?"

Jiang Yuan said, "Among our puppetry techniques, there is a forbidden technique that was banned in ancient times. It involves transplanting a person's dantian (energy center) into a steel puppet. It was banned a very long time ago because it violated human ethics, and the branch that used this evil technique has been wiped out."

Lu Xingzhou's heart skipped a beat: "It matches perfectly. If it can be transplanted to puppets, it can naturally be transplanted to living people as well. Hmm... or perhaps the original method for transplanting to puppets has been misinterpreted by modern people, who think it's for transplanting to living people, resulting in this?"

Jiang Yuan hesitated and said, "Those who studied this kind of method in ancient times may have originally planned to use living people for research in the next step. I'm not sure."

No wonder Dugu Qingli sensed death, yet it didn't feel like a corpse puppet... Qianqian wasn't a corpse puppet; she was a living person, just with something of a dead person inside her.

This is not an organ transplant... because the dantian and qi sea are abstract concepts, not specific organs. This operation is very mysterious; even Lu Xingzhou, a self-proclaimed alchemist with a thorough understanding of the human body, couldn't comprehend how it was done.

No wonder they can mass-produce female cultivators here. Sixth-rank female cultivators are already key figures in many small sects; they're not so easy to cultivate. Raising such young, sixth-rank female cultivators and not nurturing them properly, but instead using them as prostitutes… It didn't seem reasonable at first, but now it makes perfect sense. Because this sixth-rank cultivation is transplanted, sixth-rank is sixth-rank; it can never be improved further, and it's only fit to be used as a cultivation vessel.

This aligns with what Liu Yan'er said about "dissecting living people for research".

Fortunately, there was Jiang Yuan, a visitor from the ancient world. People in this world truly lack such knowledge; don't expect to solve the case with that. Now, he had a better understanding. Lu Xingzhou also thought of more things, such as whether the cursed land to the south was related to this.
Jiang Yuan asked, "What should we do now?"

Lu Xingzhou pointed a finger at Qianqian's brow, and Qianqian's face quickly turned red. She began to writhe and moan, her slender hands unconsciously taking off her clothes and touching herself with a two-bamboo hand.

Jiang Yuan: "...What are you doing?"

“I used the Great Joy and Bliss Sutra to infuse her with the illusion of bliss. Now, in her mind, she is going to Wushan with her beloved Young Master Jiang.”

"That's possible?" Jiang Yuan was dumbfounded. "But wouldn't she know her body hadn't been touched when she woke up?"

"You think you know a lot?"

"I'm not an idiot."

Lu Xingzhou patted her shoulder: "You play with wooden figures, so you should have a lot of props. Just use them."

Jiang Yuan said angrily, "Why don't you go and do it yourself? She's still a virgin."

"That won't do. If I touch it, I'll be responsible."

Jiang Yuan looked at the hand that was patting her shoulder.

Lu Xingzhou immediately withdrew it.

Jiang Yuan's lips twitched, wanting to say, "What's the point of you stopping now? Haven't you touched me before? In the Xuan Nu Secret Cave, we were even closer, almost kissing. Why don't you say you'll take responsibility?"

Forget it, I don't want to take responsibility for this kind of jerk.

Just as Lu Xingzhou was about to say something, his ears suddenly twitched: "Qingli sent a message, someone is coming. I'll retreat first. Change your formation so it doesn't block out sound."

Jiang Yuan understood and modified the formation's function; Lu Xingzhou had already disappeared.

Arriving at the tree on the shore where Dugu Qingli was hiding, Lu Xingzhou asked in a low voice, "How is it?"

Dugu Qingli opened her eyes: "Zang Wanchun has arrived in person and is already in the main room of the painted boat."

“It seems that the fat sheep who doesn’t treat 100,000 high-grade spirit stones as money has hit Zang Wanchun’s sore spot.” Lu Xingzhou said, “The problem now is that Jiang Yuan is just wearing makeup, and I’m afraid she can’t hide it from Zang Wanchun’s divine sense.”

Dugu Qingli said, "I've been studying ice illusions these past few days and have made some progress... I can't say how powerful the illusion will be, but I should be able to make Jiang Yuan appear to others as a man. Unless Zang Wanchun investigates closely, it shouldn't be that difficult..."

She paused, glancing sideways at Lu Xingzhou: "You wouldn't let anyone else touch her either."

Lu Xingzhou changed the subject, saying, "Let's use illusion magic first."

Dugu Qingli snorted, her white hair moving on its own, her blue eyes deep and mysterious.

Jiang Yuan, who was on the ship, felt the illusion approaching. Knowing what was going on, she glanced at Qianqian writhing and moaning on the bed, spat inwardly, and her face slowly turned red.

Who says that it has to involve a man and a woman to be considered erotic? This is definitely erotic too.
Jiang Yuan bit her lower lip and took out a piece of wood.

It's not just about watching porn; it's like I'm the lead actor myself.

In the main room of the pleasure boat, Zang Wanchun sat in the main seat, sipping his tea. Qianqian's moans faintly reached his ears. Zang Wanchun revealed a satisfied smile: "They avoid the art of 'the art of the maiden,' but our people don't practice 'replenishing the body' at all. They practice the art of 'furnace and cauldron' and the secret arts of the bedchamber. No matter how you check, there will be no problem. It will only bring him to the blissful state. This Jiang fellow has tasted the pleasure of the furnace and cauldron, and he will never let go."

Not long after, the sounds inside the house stopped, and the battle flags were removed.

Zang Wanchun swept his divine sense across the room and the first thing he saw was Qianqian sleeping soundly with her clothes disheveled, while Jiang Yuan sat by the bedside, draped in a robe, pouring herself a drink.

His divine sense lingered on Jiang Yuan for a moment, as if a chilling aura had passed over him; he was definitely a man.

(End of this chapter)