3 Ma Dong's restaurant

Forcibly averting his gaze from her bosom, he paused on her sword. It was an immortal-grade artifact, a grade higher than mortal-grade. 

She got that sword during a city contest where the protagonist won the first spot and Xiu Ying beat his fiancée to the second spot.

The result was retaliation from a furious protagonist and his faction, with the aim of claiming such a high-grade sword. Xiu Ying survived but the scars on her left arm were a reminder of the men who paid their lives for her to survive.

Li Chen could recall his expression as he drew that scene and how he only saw things from the protagonist's point of view.

Killing thousands was nothing to him; after all, they were just figments of his imagination, but walking beside them made him unable to justify his past actions.

Since she was burned with the protagonist's heavenly flames, which would forever leave a scar, Xiu Ying drew the tattoo of a phoenix to beautify it.

However for a woman in a culture where women were praised for their skin without blemishes, she was forever marred. 

Leaving the cavern, they appeared in a bamboo forest and the chirping of birds filled the air. The skies were bright, the clouds were white and the sun shone ever so brightly. 

NEIGH—!!!

Horses of different colors neighed and their riders went to their mounts while Xiu Ying approached a carriage. 

Tiger Yi sat at the front and held the reins, which controlled the two brown horses meant to pull the carriage. 

"Come inside." Xiu Ying's pleasant voice rang and Li Chen saw everyone suddenly become envious.

'They can't like that woman, right? Ridiculous!' He spat inwardly. 

Climbing the stairs, he bent his back, entered the carriage, and sat on the comfy chair opposite Xiu Ying.

She crossed her legs and looked out the window. Her peach scent enveloped the enclosed space, but at that moment, his death flashed through his mind.

What was that writing he saw on the ceiling? Did Voodoo actually exist? 

'Did some crazy fan somehow know I was about to kill off Xiu Ying and decided to kill me first? But I haven't told anyone except my editor about it.' 

Suddenly, they both jerked. Li Chen looked out the window and knew they were now moving. 

Looking at Xiu Ying, who silently stared out the window, he accepted that he had appeared in his story.

It was a harsh reality but seeing Xiu Ying conjure fire from nowhere and even fly five meters towards him made Li Chen accept that he was in a world of cultivators.

A world where six elements reign: fire, water, air, earth, wood, and metal. Xiu Ying was a fire cultivator but her fire was a phoenix fire so it was more powerful than other types of flames.

According to his plans, Xiu Ying's slave won't be able to hurt her until he's completely healed and breaks the seal. Until then, he was bound to obey her orders. Should he flee, she could easily track him with the aid of the seal.

"Has your face always been like this?" Xiu Ying asked and he snapped in her direction. Her gorgeous golden eyes were fixed on his face, interest flickering through her eyes.

'Does she want to snatch the mask? Heh!'

[For as long as I can remember.] His words appeared mid-air.

"Remove it." She suddenly ordered firmly.

Li Chen scoffed inwardly but a scorching pain exploded from his heart, causing him to groan loudly and clutch his chest.

His eyes flashed with hatred but Xiu Ying's display of shock at seeing him struggle for breath made Li Chen realize she wasn't the one causing it.

Harkening to a faint instinct, he reached out and tried to remove his mask but a bright white light shone and it was glued back to his face.

[It won't come off.] His deep voice rang and his words appeared mid-air.

"So you don't remember your past; you have no cultivation level and no artifacts. If you were for sale in the slave market, no one would buy you…. Not even if you were handed to them for free." 

He knew this was her character so he shrugged it off. Leaning back, he maintained his gaze into her cold eyes but subconsciously trailed down to her chest.

And she saw it!

'Shit!' Li Chen cursed inwardly. Just as he expected, the air grew hot and she blasted him out of the carriage.

"Tiger Yi. Discipline this lecherous man before he appears before me again." Her furious voice rang and the group snickered at Li Chen's bad luck.

'You're the one who wore such revealing clothes. Why get angry if I stare?!' he grumbled. 

Li Chen got to his feet, ran after the carriage and sat at the front along with Tiger Yi. Tiger Yi had a square face and a muscular body but his eyes gleamed with goodwill. 

Li Chen reminisced, drawing Tiger Yi's character to add a mature fellow to this group of lawless cultivators led by an insane woman.

"Why did you provoke, Miss Ying?" He shook his head, lamenting Li Chen's unfortunate fate because those Xiu Ying disliked had bad endings.

[Perhaps. I just admired what she had. If she was ugly, I will not even turn.]

Tiger Yi choked on his saliva. "Do not let Miss Ying hear that," he whispered.

"By the way, are your words always going to appear when you speak?" He continued, his gaze fixed on the Chinese characters that vanished a second later.

[I don't know.] 

"Forget about it. There are many strange things in this world. Just yesterday, an evil spirit wiped out a village…" 

Tiger Yi kept talking until they arrived at the walls of a bustling city. Several carriages and pedestrians moved on the paved road and the sound of vendors advertising their goods filled the air.

"Tiger Yi, stop at Ma Dong's restaurant." 

"Yes, Miss." Tiger Yi replied.

A while later, the carriage stopped at a two-story restaurant. The strokes on the plaque emitted the energy of an immortal Daoist!

This was the reason no casual fellow dared disturb Ma Dong's business. They feared he had close ties with an immortal Daoist.

Xiu Ying elegantly walked to the second floor and marched toward a group of men who sat at her regular spot.

"Get lost." Her pleasant voice stirred the calm atmosphere.

"You're courting death, woman!"