Chapter 36: Picking a Concubine

Defying the heavens!

These two words exploded in Qin Qingyue’s mind like a thunderclap.

It wasn’t for her own possible advancement, but for the disaster this news itself represented.

Jade Liquid Qi Refining was already one in ten thousand, and Innate Primordial Qi was even more of a distant legend.

To be able to directly raise another person’s foundation to that legendary realm? If this news ever leaked…

Countless images flashed instantly before Qin Qingyue’s eyes—faces of greedy, crazed, and ruthless female cultivators.

Covetous gazes from every major sect, the Dragon Race, and even reclusive old monsters.

Schemes and traps filling the sky… All their blades and arrows would be aimed at the man sitting beside her right now.

He would become a peerless treasure, a “Lu Ding” capable of changing the cultivation world’s very order, fought over, imprisoned, and drained by countless people.

For those like Qi Yuyong and Bai Lei, whose talent was mediocre and who had neither Jade Liquid Qi Refining nor Purple Mansion Foundation, as long as they dual cultivated with Jiang Huai, their foundations could be transformed and their strength increased.

An invisible yet utterly terrifying pressure suddenly descended.

Su Yingman felt as if she’d fallen into an ice cave, every bone in her body groaning under unbearable strain.

“Dragon Lord, regarding your husband’s constitution, I swear I will not leak a single word!”

“Since I’m willing to tell you, Dragon Lord, it shows my sincerity!”

“I will not speak of today’s matter to anyone! I am willing to swear a Heaven Dao Oath!” Su Yingman hurriedly raised her fingers and swore.

She was caught between a rock and a hard place—information about the Yin-Yang Body was not known to just the Huanhuan Sect.

If she didn’t tell Qin Qingyue about the Yin-Yang Body, then once Qin Qingyue found out later, she would definitely pursue the matter.

She might even suspect Su Yingman had already discovered Jiang Huai’s constitution.

But if she explained the constitution, it would be like today.

Qin Qingyue said coldly, “Only the dead won’t spread word, and only the dead can be trusted.”

“Killing a cultivator at the Combined Body stage would make me feel safer.”

Her slender finger lifted slightly, just as she had erased that Foundation Establishment female cultivator before, intending to wipe out the woman before her.

Any threat to Jiang Huai’s safety must die!

“Qin Qingyue!”

Jiang Huai grabbed Qin Qingyue’s raised wrist.

His palm was warm, his grip unyielding: “No!”

Murderous intent surged in Qin Qingyue’s dragon eyes as she stared at Jiang Huai’s hand holding her, her gaze complicated:

“Jiang Huai, I can’t let her roam free.”

“She knows what she shouldn’t. For your sake, she must die.”

For Jiang Huai, what did killing a Combined Body stage cultivator matter? Hadn’t she killed enough at that stage already?

Unreasonable? This wasn’t her first time being unreasonable.

As long as Jiang Huai was safe, that was all that mattered.

“Qin Qingyue, I don’t want you to kill like this.”

“We pressed her for answers, and now she’d die for it.”

“She clearly knew the consequences of speaking out, yet she still did, without hiding anything.”

“Let her swear a binding oath and set restrictions—that will suffice.” Jiang Huai urged.

If it meant killing someone like this, he couldn’t accept it—nor did he want to.

The Great Ascension Dragon Lord’s pressure left Su Yingman’s face as pale as paper, her very breath stilled, the shadow of death completely enveloping her.

Though the murderous intent in Qin Qingyue’s eyes did not completely fade, Jiang Huai’s words were like a bucket of cold water, quenching the flame of her worry.

She fell silent, her dragon tail restlessly thumping the floor, producing a low, muffled sound.

Seeing her relent a little, Jiang Huai immediately turned to Su Yingman, his tone gentle and reassuring:

“Sect Master Su, I trust you.”

“I hope you won’t leak this matter. Both Qingyue and I are deeply grateful.”

Su Yingman felt as if she’d been granted amnesty, bowing her head to the floor:

“Thank you, Young Master! Thank you, Dragon Lord, for sparing my life! I will keep this secret to the grave; if I break my word, may my soul be destroyed and never find peace for eternity!”

A faint glow of the Heaven Dao Oath shimmered at her fingertips.

Qin Qingyue’s cold gaze was like a tangible probe, once again stabbing at the kneeling Su Yingman.

This time, her eyes no longer held pure killing intent, but a trace of scrutiny and some kind of assessment.

Her dragon eyes narrowed slightly, as if she had discovered an interesting prey.

“Turn around and stick your butt up.” Qin Qingyue commanded.

Su Yingman froze, then quickly turned her back to Qin Qingyue and Jiang Huai, kneeling and raising her hips high.

Her long skirt wrapped around ambiguous, rounded curves, highlighting a woman’s allure.

“What are you doing?” Jiang Huai asked in confusion.

Qin Qingyue did not answer. With a casual wave of her hand, there was a ripping sound, as if fabric had been torn apart, and fragments of the skirt fluttered through the air.

Su Yingman buried her head even lower, her ears flushed red, her cheeks burning with shame—humiliated, but utterly helpless.

As the sect master, the ruler of this territory, to be treated in such a way—kneeling, hips raised, waiting to be chosen.

“What are you doing?!” Jiang Huai was shocked, asking again.

Who does this to someone? Shouldn’t they be leaving quickly?

“Just take a look. If you’re satisfied, we’ll bring her with us.”

Qin Qingyue strode proudly over to Su Yingman, her dragon tail snapping against the ground with a loud crack, causing ripples and making Su Yingman stifle a moan, her head pressed even lower.

And her hips raised even higher.

A sect master—she was the master of a great sect!

“Bred quite well, almost as good as those red dragons in the South Sea Dragon Palace.” Qin Qingyue commented with a smile.

“You haven’t lain with any other man, have you?”

Su Yingman replied, voice trembling: “Never… I haven’t found a suitable man.”

The first time was especially important. Naturally, she wanted to find a man with a compatible constitution, to reap the greatest benefit, and ideally break through to Great Ascension in one go.

But she had never found a satisfactory candidate, so she’d delayed until today.

“Now you’ve found one. I remember you’re a Xuanyin Body, right?”

“Yes…” Su Yingman admitted.

At this moment, it might be her only lifeline.

Jiang Huai needed both yin and yang to break through, and her Xuanyin Body could provide the yin.

Qin Qingyue’s gaze swept between Jiang Huai and Su Yingman, the corners of her lips curling with a possessive and imperious arc unique to the Dragon Race:

“Since I can’t kill you, and you know what you shouldn’t… then stay.”

She pointed at the kneeling, raised Su Yingman, her tone flat:

“From today, you are Jiang Huai’s concubine.”

All color drained from Su Yingman’s face.

The dignified Huanhuan Sect Master, a Combined Body stage powerhouse, with the potential to reach Great Ascension and ascend to the Immortal Realm in the future.

Now, she was so lightly given as a concubine to a mere Qi Refining cultivator.

For a woman to become a man’s concubine was already utterly shameful.

This was a humiliation beyond words! Yet faced with Qin Qingyue’s unquestionable gaze and the power to erase her at any moment, all her anger and shame could only be swallowed, turned to bitter resignation.

“Wag your butt, and I’ll take that as your agreement.” Qin Qingyue said with wicked amusement.

Jiang Huai’s scalp tingled, and he hurriedly protested:

“Qingyue! How can this be? I…”

He wasn’t a prude, but he didn’t want to force anyone like this.

“Shut up!”

“Killing isn’t an option, and letting her go isn’t safe.”

Qin Qingyue shot him a glare, her dragon tail curling tightly around his waist in warning:

“Her constitution is useful to you. Keeping her by your side for whenever you need her is better than searching for someone when the time comes.”

“That’s settled!”

She gave Jiang Huai no chance to refute, making the decision final.

In her view, this was the best way to deal with Su Yingman as a “hidden threat” while making maximum use of her value.

“No, I can’t accept this.” Jiang Huai shook his head.

Just as the atmosphere in the pavilion grew incredibly strange and awkward because of this sudden “taking of a concubine”…

A deafening boom exploded without warning.

The Shan Huzhen of Huanhuan Sect, shrouded in rosy light, was torn open like fragile glass by a peerlessly overwhelming and tyrannical force, leaving a massive breach.

“Qin Qingyue! Hand her over to me!!!”

A voice like thunder from the Ninth Heaven, filled with boundless fury and violent pressure, echoed across the world.

Wu Zhaohua had come storming in.