Chapter 1508: Jiang Fan's Eighty-One Cooking Methods

Huaxin smiled, then burst into hearty laughter. This was met by a surge of murderous intent from the white-robed skeleton. "Is this amusing?" it growled.

Huaxin was so terrified that tears nearly streamed down her face, yet she clutched her stomach, still laughing uncontrollably. "I want to cry," she wailed, "but I can't!" Her words dissolved into a strange mixture of sobs and laughter: "Wuwuwu hahahaha..."

The white-robed skeleton snorted, shattering the 'Ever-Smiling' law that had affected Huaxin. Huaxin finally regained control. She rubbed her cheeks, sore from laughing, and managed a smile that looked more like a pained grimace.

"Senior, as you can see, Jiang Fan only cares about his treasures, not me," she pleaded. "How could I possibly be the wife of that little scoundrel? Please don't mistakenly kill an innocent person!"

"Heh," the white-robed skeleton sneered menacingly. "If you're not," it stated, "then you're useless!" It added, "Besides, I find your aura quite irritating! I believe we've had a past conflict."

Huaxin froze. A thought clicked in her mind, and she instantly understood: if she were Jiang Fan's wife, she could be held hostage, luring him back to rescue her. Otherwise, she was worthless. Her eyes darted, and she quickly interjected, "Wait!" She stammered, "I... I actually *am* Jiang Fan's wife." Despite feeling incredibly awkward, she had to pretend for the sake of her life.

The white-robed skeleton sneered, "First you are, then you aren't. Are you trying to fool me?"

Huaxin trembled and quickly insisted, "I... I really am! What's more, I'm the woman Jiang Fan cares for most, and the one who has been with him the longest. You could say we're inseparable. He has several other women, but he only sees them occasionally. I'm the only one he keeps by his side, inseparable!"

The white-robed skeleton grunted and pointed a finger. A white, sacred feather floated before Huaxin.

"Swear upon this feather! If you lie, it will turn black and rot."

Huaxin didn't hesitate, saying to the feather, "Every word I just spoke is true; I have not lied!"

The feather flickered, and instead of decaying, it became even more radiant.

The white-robed skeleton looked doubtful. "You truly are the woman he's constantly with!" It found it puzzling that Jiang Fan would abandon such an important woman instead of saving her. Did he know he couldn't rescue her, and thus opted to take the lotus leaf instead? If that were the case, it would make sense.

After staring at Huaxin for a long moment, it coldly scoffed, "You'd better pray he comes back to save you." With that, it soared back to the top of the stone monument and sat down cross-legged.

Huaxin secretly sighed in relief. She was safe! She felt a surge of triumph. "I've been with that little scoundrel for so long, even if I haven't learned his shamelessness, I can at least master a little wordplay, can't I?" Her oath merely stated that she was the woman Jiang Fan "focused on caring for" and "constantly spent time with." It did not explicitly state she was his wife. Since she had been confined within the Ghost Soul Crystal, hadn't she indeed been "constantly with" Jiang Fan? That was why the white feather hadn't turned black.

Immediately, Huaxin grew furious again. "That little punk! Using me as bait, are we? Alright, alright! Just you wait!" she fumed. "If I get out of here alive, I'll chop you into eighty-one pieces! Then I'll deep-fry, stew, stir-fry, and barbecue you, and finally feed every last bit to the dogs!" She truly detested Jiang Fan now. He had imprisoned her for so long, only to abandon her here! The nerve!

But as a mere remnant soul, how could she escape the white-robed skeleton's clutches if Jiang Fan didn't rescue her? Even someone as cunning as Jiang Fan had to use every trick in his arsenal just to barely escape.

Suddenly, Huaxin noticed numerous angelic corpses beneath the stone monument. One eight-winged angel's body gave her a distinct sense of déjà vu. Following this, fragmented memories within her soul began to slowly reassemble, as if summoned, growing increasingly clear. Her gaze shifted from blankness to shock, then disbelief, before finally settling into calmness. A sigh of sudden understanding escaped her: "So that's it..."

***

Meanwhile, having successfully escaped, Jiang Fan decisively activated the spatial teleportation array to flee. When he reappeared, he was already inside the teleportation hall of Moonwashing Lake.

He leaned against a wall, panting heavily, large beads of sweat dripping from his forehead, his heart pounding uncontrollably. "I almost lost my life in the Myriad Calamity Sacred Temple!" Recalling everything that had just transpired, Jiang Fan was filled with lingering dread. If he had to do it again, he wasn't sure he could escape a second time. The white-robed skeleton was unfathomable, its methods mysterious and unpredictable. He had no doubt that besides the *Six Heavenly Thunder* techniques and the Thunder Vortex, the adversary possessed countless ways to seize him from a distance. Fortunately, he had managed to escape.

"I'm never going back to the Myriad Calamity Sacred Temple in this lifetime," he vowed. "As for Huaxin... she's not someone to be trifled with; she might not come to harm!" He had been troubled about how to deal with Huaxin's remnant soul. Releasing her risked her becoming a menace, but keeping her nearby also posed a risk. Now, leaving her in the Thunder God's Heavenly Palace seemed perfectly appropriate. Let Huaxin and that old monster fight it out.

"Not only did I fully charge the Heaven Abyss Heart this time, but I also acquired a nine-colored crystal capable of threatening Sage realm cultivators!" Jiang Fan surveyed his spoils of war, a wide smile spreading across his face. Although dangerous, the rewards were exceptionally vast. This meant that when he encountered hostile Sage realm cultivators, he would no longer be passively waiting for death. He now possessed a degree of deterrent power!

"The only pity is that the Sage's inscription from the Grand Wine Sacrifice of the Myriad Monster Continent has been used up." Jiang Fan looked at the lotus leaf in his hand; the inscription of 'Ever-Smiling' had vanished. It was a one-time inscription, designed to disappear after use. He had originally planned to use it against the formidable Giant King, but unfortunately, he had to expend it to save his own life.

Just as disappointment set in, his peripheral vision caught something unusual. At the spot where the inscription had vanished, a faint scratch remained! "That shouldn't be right," Jiang Fan murmured, a puzzled expression on his face. "Inscriptions are supposed to vanish completely after use. Why is there a residual mark?"

Soon, to his surprise, the faint scratch deepened slightly. His mind reeled slightly as he instantly grasped a possibility. He whispered, "Could it be that the lotus leaf's own law is causing 'Ever-Smiling' to regenerate?"

He thought carefully about the characteristics of lotuses. If a single lotus seed is dropped into a pond, the entire pond will often be covered with lotus leaves after several years. Lotuses inherently symbolize proliferation and rebirth. This could explain why the vanished law was re-forming.

Understanding this, Jiang Fan's heart began to pound. "Doesn't this mean that in the future, any Sage law inscribed on this lotus leaf can be used infinitely? The Black Lotus of Deliverance truly is a treasure from head to toe," he mused. "Its lotus seeds are extraordinary, but this lotus leaf is even more incredible!"

Jiang Fan's face lit up with surprise, and he carefully sealed the leaf within a jade box. In a few days, the 'Ever-Smiling' inscription would regenerate on it. At that point, it could be activated once more!

*Whoosh!* Suddenly, the spatial power emanating from the nearby teleportation array intensified. Jiang Fan startled. Had the white-robed skeleton pursued him?