“What are you looking at?” Jiang Huai glanced warily at Tang Zhaoxue, feeling that a different expression was rising in her eyes.
Could it be that she really intended to do something to him? Zhu Siyao was still right beside him, after all.
The desire in Tang Zhaoxue’s eyes burned ever fiercer. This man, who had been constantly healing her wounds, each touch in her twisted perception seemed to become an intimate flirtation.
The rage, despair, and negative emotions accumulated from days of battle seemed to have found a dam to break through.
The next moment, she struck like lightning, suddenly pulling Jiang Huai down onto the soft lounge chair.
Her delicate hands carried the irresistible strength of a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator, recklessly tearing at his clothes as her breathing grew rapid and scorching.
“What are you doing? Let him go!” Zhu Siyao shouted in alarm, wanting to rush forward to stop her.
Does she have no shame? This woman is shameless!
But even injured, Tang Zhaoxue’s Nascent Soul power was far beyond Zhu Siyao’s ability to resist. A wave of pressure pinned Zhu Siyao in place, unable to move, forced to helplessly witness this despairing scene.
Powerless Foundation Establishment Period.
Jiang Huai hadn’t expected her to suddenly lose control. He struggled hard.
“Tang Zhaoxue! Calm down!”
“We agreed before—I’m healing you, and you’re not allowed to touch me!”
He was a married man; how could he allow Tang Zhaoxue to force herself on him like this?
But Tang Zhaoxue seemed to ignore him, as if she wanted to vent all the repression and madness brought on by the war.
She pressed Jiang Huai down firmly, her cheek greedily burying itself against his thigh…
Through the fabric, she rubbed forcefully, feeling the general contours with her cheek and the intoxicating masculine aura that stirred her heart. [So this is what it smells like, so this is how it feels…]
Her twisted mind drove her closer and closer. Her slightly parted lips bit down gently through the cloth with her pearly teeth, muttering indistinctly.
“Heh…”
She bit a little.
“You pervert! Let him go!”
“Let him go! He’s not yours!” Zhu Siyao’s face flushed with anger as she helplessly watched this humiliating scene unfold.
She couldn’t say exactly whose ‘his’ this was, but in any case, no outsider should be treated like this!
Mother, what should I do? Mother, what do I do now?
She watched, heart burning, as the other woman shamelessly used her face in such a disgraceful way.
You’re not allowed to touch him!
Jiang Huai grew even more frantic, struggling fiercely, delivering a merciless kick to Tang Zhaoxue’s shoulder and shouting angrily:
“You broke your promise! We clearly agreed on this!”
He lowered his head and looked at Tang Zhaoxue as she rubbed her face wildly against him, so angry that the next moment he wanted to kick her in the face.
Tang Zhaoxue didn’t care. She bit down lightly and mumbled, “When we made the deal, of course it was on the premise of healing.”
“Now whether I even survive to be healed is uncertain. The deal’s off.”
Jiang Huai listened to this sect leader’s words in disbelief, then kicked her again without mercy.
How can a person be so noble yet so lacking in basic manners? She fears no death for the sake of the sect’s future, yet now speaks to him like a scoundrel?
“Don’t you have any shame?”
Tang Zhaoxue stretched out both hands, about to completely tear at him, to taste him for herself.
“I don’t want it anymore.”
Zhu Siyao watched anxiously and blurted out, “If you keep this up, my mother will kill you sooner or later!”
Tang Zhaoxue didn’t care, replying indifferently, “Let your mother come find me at the grave.”
At this moment, she no longer cared about future Great Perfection stages. If she could solve the Xie Tide, being flogged afterward meant nothing.
Zhu Siyao trembled with anger and then heard a ripping sound.
She followed the source of the sound and immediately blushed deeply, noticing the intricate patterns tattooed across the body—Sword Qi Lingxiao.
“Why is there something tattooed on her?” Tang Zhaoxue asked disdainfully.
Shouldn’t a man keep himself clean? It might be acceptable to have a tattoo on his lower abdomen, but what was this for?
Zhu Siyao’s cheeks burned red, watching this woman getting dangerously close.
Tang Zhaoxue leaned in, lips slightly parted, her pink tongue flickering in and out.
Jiang Huai, kicking at her while hurriedly speaking: “Wait, wait a moment.”
“Don’t you want to save your disciple? Your direct disciple who isn’t dead yet!”
Tang Zhaoxue suddenly stopped just inches away, the warm breath brushing against her face causing Jiang Huai to shiver.
She almost poked Tang Zhaoxue’s face.
“Do you have the cultivation to save my disciple?” she asked in surprise, her voice wavering.
This was her successor, gifted and possibly the next sect leader.
No matter what, she hoped her direct disciple would survive.
Jiang Huai quickly stepped back, creating some distance. “How do you know if you don’t try?”
“If I say I can heal her, then I can.”
Tang Zhaoxue eyed him suspiciously. “You’re not lying, are you? Do you understand the consequences if you can’t?”
Jiang Huai sneered, “Consequences? Of course I know the consequences.
“I also know that your Tang Sect Leader’s promises are worthless.”
At this, the madness in Tang Zhaoxue’s eyes lessened slightly, replaced by a flash of complexity and finally a sigh filled with regret.
She reluctantly looked away from the tattooed area.
“If you can save my direct disciple, I won’t touch you anymore.”
“Well then, if it can save the sect’s future, I’ll set aside these personal desires for now.”
“A bit of a pity, though.”
Jiang Huai glanced at Zhu Siyao, who was staring this way. When she caught his gaze, she quickly turned her head, pretending not to be looking.
Didn’t see it, didn’t see a thing.
Jiang Huai quickly tidied his clothes and coldly said to Tang Zhaoxue, “I hope you mean what you say this time. Don’t back out again! Also, since you broke the promise first, no more treatments afterward!”
“Consider yourself warned.”
With that, he took Zhu Siyao and prepared to leave this place of chaos.
Tang Zhaoxue didn’t answer him. She just quietly watched as he led the girl away from the secret chamber.
The secret chamber’s door slowly closed with a heavy sound.
Tang Zhaoxue remained standing there, completely naked, dazed.
She looked down at her body, feeling the lingering chaotic aura and loneliness in the air, sighing long and weakly.
A wave of powerlessness and emptiness washed over her heart.
“If only the Xie Tide didn’t exist, if only there weren’t so many problems.”
“If only… it all didn’t exist.”
“When everything’s gone, life is but emptiness.”
She collapsed back onto the lounge chair, staring vacantly at the cold ceiling.
Sometimes Tang Zhaoxue envied the lives of ordinary people—no need to think so much, just live under the protection of the strong.
The world’s destruction seemed to have little to do with them; life went on.
Inside Cloud Rest Pavilion.
Jiang Huai and Zhu Siyao had just returned to their residence when sounds came from outside the courtyard.
Several female disciples entered solemnly, carrying a stretcher with heavy steps.
Lying on the stretcher was the unconscious, barely breathing direct disciple.
They gently placed the stretcher in the hall and silently withdrew.
Tang Zhaoxue’s figure appeared outside the courtyard gate but did not enter.
She just stood quietly there, seeming to wait, or perhaps to guard.
Jiang Huai cast a cold glance outside and said sternly to the disciples at the door, “During treatment, no one is allowed to disturb, including your sect leader.”
With that, he waved and closed the door, sealing inside and outside.