THE HONEYPOT SCHEME was a time-tested ploy recorded in The Thirty-Six Stratagems. A beauty sent into an enemy's sumptuous tent could become the poison that brought them down—but not every beauty was suited for this kind of work. For instance, you might send out the famed seductress Diaochan to coordinate a plan of attack from within and without. But if you tried to do the same with a legendary female warrior like Mu Guiying?
Gu Mang was intimately familiar with Mo Xi's temper. Mo Xi could weather injury or insult without batting an eye, but romantic liaisons between men and women were intolerable to him. When Mo Xi was young, he had watched his mother and uncle carry on a sordid affair, and as an adult, he compulsively avoided relationships. He couldn't abide women having improper thoughts about him. In all his thirty years, Gu Mang alone had managed to mess around with him without getting killed.
Upon seeing Mo Xi's hands clench into fists, teeth visibly grinding in his handsome jaw, a thousand ideas flashed through Gu Mang's mind. At last, he shouted with a bolt of inspiration, "Why is it you?!"
All the bat demons, Mo Xi included, turned to stare at him.
Wuyan narrowed her eyes. "Hm? You two know each other?"
Gu Mang knelt, faking flustered concern. "Your Majesty, p-please forgive my rudeness."
"This venerable one asked you a question. The two of you know each other?" Wuyan glanced at Gu Mang, then at Mo Xi. "He's…your lover?"
The fire bat tribe were demons that sprang from the union of beasts and depraved members of the feathered tribe. Naturally, they had no taboo against taking others' husbands or wives. If Gu Mang lied and said Mo Xi was his lover, this bat queen might find the prospect more thrilling and be less likely to let him go. So he quickly put on a hateful expression as he looked up to answer Wuyan. "How could I be his lover? I'm not even done loathing him. Your Majesty, forgive me, I was overcome with revulsion, which is why I offended Your Majesty."
Wuyan's curiosity was piqued. She blinked her bright brown eyes. "How did he provoke you?"
Gu Mang rose and pointed an accusing finger at Mo Xi. Without blinking or stammering, he announced, "He can't get it up!"
Both Mo Xi and Wuyan were completely taken aback. A hush fell over the pavilion. The female demons all eyed Mo Xi, whispering among themselves. A few of the younger ones couldn't hold themselves back and tittered loudly behind their sleeves. Meanwhile, some of the male demons who had entered with Mo Xi looked at him with undisguised sympathy.
"How do you know?" asked Wuyan.
Gu Mang ignored Mo Xi's stare, which seemed ready to slice him to ribbons, and blurted, "Your Majesty, I dual cultivated with him before, but he was unreliable and damaged my vital energy! How could I let this go?"
The gazes on Mo Xi became judgmental. It was one thing if he simply wasn't up to the task. But how bad did his technique have to be for him to injure the demon dual cultivating with him? Even Wuyan had her doubts now. She had planned to use the blood pool bath and Xuannü's dual cultivation technique to repair her vital energy because she couldn't take a Xueling Pill. If she was led astray by beauty and chose an unreliable guard to serve her, the results would be the opposite of what she wanted.
She turned at once to rage at A-Fang. "This is the man you picked?!"
Terrified, A-Fang blanched and dropped to her knees. She kowtowed in apology, then spoke sternly to Mo Xi. "What are you still standing here for? You want to anger Her Majesty further?! Get the hell out!"
Mo Xi was so furious he was shaking from head to toe, yet he had nowhere to vent his anger. In the end, he shot a last vicious glare at this crowd of lunatics, then glowered at that lying ruffian before turning to leave.
Wuyan announced to the remaining male demons, "This venerable one is weak today. If any of you are unreliable, get lost. If you remain here and this venerable one picks you and you hurt my vital energy, I promise you can't bear the consequences!"
The fire bat tribe was licentious by nature; those male demons were all too eager. Upon seeing their queen's naked, supple body, and breathing in that incense, their faces flushed and their eyes shone. They clamored to offer their services.
"I can do it!"
"Your Majesty, I can!"
"Your Majesty, I'm great in bed!"
Gu Mang looked on incredulously. Thank goodness these demons were slow-witted. If this were the cleverer Qingqiu fox tribe, the mishap would not have been settled so easily.
It seemed Gu Mang had gotten into the queen's head. In the end, she picked a tall, strapping demon with thick hair and retired to her rooms with him. A-Fang closed the door for them and turned to the other demons at the agate pool. "All right, that's it for tonight. You're dismissed. Go cultivate and gather energy for Her Majesty."
"Yes!" the demons chorused.
The crowd hastily dispersed. Gu Mang saw that some of the female demons looked anxious. They rushed over to the male demons the queen hadn't selected, fighting among themselves to speak with them first.
Gu Mang's suspicions were roused. Why were they in such a rush? What did go cultivate and gather energy for Her Majesty mean? As he muttered to himself in contemplation, he tidied up the fruit plate in a corner and slipped out of the pavilion before he could be noticed. Unexpectedly, his questions were answered the moment he left the inner courtyard.
Just outside, those female bat demons and male guards had already paired off, embracing passionately. Even the wrinkled and pudgy female demon who had struck him with the whip was looking for a male demon to join her. Those who found partners to consort with disappeared into a number of simple thatched huts on either side of the pavilion. Soft thumps and gasps already rose from several huts with their curtains pulled down.
As Gu Mang watched, wisps of white smoke floated up from the huts where the demons were copulating and wound toward the inner courtyard of the pavilion, finally converging above the queen's abode.
So. Not only could Wuyan restore her energies from cultivating the yin and yang path, she could also harvest the spiritual energy created from dual cultivation between her tribe members.
Even Gu Mang, shameless as he was, had to blush at this. Still, he had to marvel: this fire bat tribe was born of the feathered tribe's beastly dalliances, yet they could use sex to increase and mend their energy. The living things of the Nine Provinces were wondrous indeed.
Without warning, a heavy hand came down on his shoulder. Gu Mang was already on edge in this erotic atmosphere, terrified that some hapless male demon would try their luck with him. At this unexpected touch from behind, he jerked his head around—but before he could get a clear look at the newcomer's face, Gu Mang had already been pinned from behind as his assailant's other hand came up to cover his mouth. The demon said not a word as he dragged Gu Mang toward the nearest thatched hut.
Gu Mang panicked. This bat demon was shockingly strong, but using magic would instantly give Gu Mang away; all he could do was squirm. His strength was no match for his assailant's. Not only was Gu Mang unable to struggle free of his grasp, the demon had covered Gu Mang's mouth so tightly he couldn't make a sound. He shoved Gu Mang into the hut and tossed him roughly into a pile of straw. The bamboo curtain tumbled down, blocking the moonlight and plunging the small hut into darkness.
Sunk in that soft heap of straw, Gu Mang's scalp prickled. The fire bat tribe descended, however crookedly, from the feathered tribe, and the feathered tribe were birds. The most primitive areas of their territory—the places where they mated, for example—followed the instinctive habits of demon birds. Thus this sex hut contained no bed, but a nest-like pile of straw. The pungent scent of it assaulted Gu Mang's nostrils, along with a primitive beastly musk, so intense he almost choked.
To fight or not to fight? Do nothing, and this male bat demon would take him by force in the dark. Fight back, and not only would he fail in his mission to crack the barrier around the island, he might also put Yue Chenqing and the others in danger.
His mind buzzed with worry. As that tall figure stalked toward him, Gu Mang shrieked miserably, "Dage! If you have something to say, let's talk! I-I-I'm just a fledgling! I'm not suited for yin and yang dual cultivation! Consider someone else!"
The demon ignored his rambling. He hauled Gu Mang around and pressed him into the straw pile.
"Mother! Fucker!" Gu Mang shouted. "You still won't stop? You —fucking—get off—to this—huh?!"
"Keep shouting." His assailant spoke at last. His voice, low and electrifying, made Gu Mang shudder against his will. That cornered, furious, strained, frustrated voice spoke right in his ear, rising and falling with its owner's damp, scalding breaths. "And I really will fuck you to death."
Gu Mang blinked.
"I've fucking had enough! Don't think I won't do it!" After what seemed like an age, the large hand around Gu Mang's throat finally let go. As the other demon stood up, a fireball ignited in his palm, illuminating the small straw hut. Mo Xi was biting his lip in the orange firelight, staring daggers at Gu Mang as he lifted that handful of flames. Those pretty phoenix eyes contained fury, yet were also tinged a delicate red. In a departure from his usual fastidious propriety, the collars of his robes were in disarray from Gu Mang's struggles beneath him.
Gu Mang rubbed at the five livid fingermarks on his throat and gasped for air. He rolled his eyes. "Are you crazy? All I said was you couldn't get it up!"
Mo Xi clenched his teeth. "You couldn't keep your mouth shut?!"
"Was I supposed to stay quiet and wait for you to start a fight, then?!" Gu Mang nearly retched, heaving for breath. His blue eyes were misty as he looked up at Mo Xi. "Looks like I should have said Yeah, this guy is totally hung, seven rounds a night is no problem; he'll satisfy you so completely you'll wish the night were longer and let the queen yank you like a concubine into her bedroom to disgrace you a hundred times over!"
"You—!"
"You what?" Gu Mang plunked himself down on the pile of straw and took a great lungful of air. "You scared the shit out of me just then; I really thought you were some bat demon in heat…" he mumbled. When he finally recovered his composure, he pulled himself upright and looked up at Mo Xi. "Let's talk business. How's Yue Chenqing?"
Mo Xi tamped down on his anger. "No change to the crystal," he replied.
Gu Mang rubbed his neck again and coughed a few more times. "That's good. Oh yeah, put out that flame. This bamboo curtain doesn't block light, and bat demons don't like fire. If they see it, they'll know something's wrong with this hut."
"I set down a light-concealment barrier."
"It's better to be cautious."
After a pause, Mo Xi snapped his fingers. The fire winked out.
Gu Mang sat and breathed steadily. "We're almost finished here. Try to be patient," he said. "As soon as I pull out the Soul-Recording Spell I left on Wuyan, we'll know where we can leave the island."
With that, Gu Mang began to mouth the incantation. Motes of white light streamed slowly from the pavilion, passing through the walls of the hut and converging at Gu Mang's fingertips. Over the space of an incense time, a pearlescent ball of light coalesced in Gu Mang's palm.
"Look, this is Wuyan's mind." Gu Mang sighed in relief. "I recorded the secrets of the barrier, and also asked it to find the reason she wants to make people into puppets. Seeing as Yue Chenqing fell victim to her gu, I thought it best to know."
He filled Mo Xi in on everything he'd heard by the agate pool. Mo Xi frowned. "Wuyan was betrayed by an immortal?"
"Sounds like it," Gu Mang replied. "There's a good chance we'll catch a glimpse of that heartless and disloyal immortal in this portion of her mind. Hold on a moment."
Mo Xi didn't have much interest in any heartless and disloyal immortal. But upon seeing Gu Mang's earnest expression, he opted to stay quiet.
Gu Mang twitched his fingertips, and the glowing ball rose into the air, floating at eye level. "Tell me," said Gu Mang, "why do you infect the men that come to the island with gu?"
The pearly white ball gradually filled with color as a hazy scene took shape on its surface. The indistinct murmurs of someone's innermost thoughts surrounded them—it was Wuyan's voice.
"This happened back when I was young," she said softly.
At these words, the scene in the glowing ball began to change.