Trading and Making Moves

Because of the year-round erosion by the cold poison, her skin was so white it was almost transparent, with the blue veins clearly visible.

And at this moment, driven by shame and absolute resolve, a breathtaking crimson flushed across that pallor.

The candlelight in the room flickered, bursting into a small spark.

The dim light danced across Lin Qingwan's flawless, delicate body, tracing every inch of her trembling form with a breathtaking allure.

She simply knelt there, her hair hanging messily by the sides of her face. In those eyes that once belonged to an aloof, unreachable young lady, there was now only a desperate resolve and profound humility.

"The Lin family is gone..."

She murmured softly, her voice carrying a hint of a broken sob, yet she forced herself not to collapse.

"I am the host of the Blood Demon Fetus. Even though the demon fetus has been removed, in the eyes of others, this body of mine is still a top-tier cultivation furnace. Without Benefactor's protection, Qingwan... will not survive past tomorrow."

She was very smart.

For the past eighteen years, she had lived in a greenhouse woven from lies.

Her father's affection was fake; it was merely the care a breeder had for livestock.

Her brother's doting was fake; it was the drooling of a diner over a meal.

In the entire Crimson Flame City, everyone coveted her beauty, coveted her status as the eldest young miss of the Lin family.

And now, that layer of false protection had been torn to shreds.

She plummeted from the lofty clouds straight into a quagmire of malice.

She knew her situation all too well.

To those immortal cultivators, she was now nothing more than a beautiful, masterless, top-quality human furnace.

As soon as she stepped out of this door, what awaited her was endless imprisonment and plundering, until she was drained into a dried corpse.

The man before her might be cold, and he might kill without blinking an eye.

But in his eyes, there was no greed, no lust, only a heart-palpitating calmness.

The warmth of his single finger had given her a second life.

In this man-eating cultivation world, his overbearing strength was her only source of security.

It was also her only path to survival.

"Benefactor..."

Lin Qingwan's voice trembled, carrying a trace of desperate resolve.

Her hands, resting on the floor, slowly tightened. Her nails scratched against the floorboards, making a faint sound.

She inched forward little by little until her knees touched the tip of Gu Yang's boots.

The cold touch of the leather made her whole body shudder.

But she did not retreat.

Her body was beautiful, as beautiful as a fragile piece of porcelain.

"Qingwan is... clean."

She lifted her face. That once proud and aloof face was now covered in the blush of shame. Teardrops hung at the corners of her eyes, and her eyelashes fluttered lightly, like a butterfly shivering in a rainstorm.

"Other than Benefactor, no one has ever touched Qingwan."

"Although Qingwan is dull-witted, I also know... there is no free life-saving grace in this world."

She reached out a trembling hand and gently covered Gu Yang's large hand resting on his knee.

That hand was rough and warm; it was a hand that killed, but also the hand that had given her the only real warmth she had felt that night.

She pressed her cheek against the back of that hand and rubbed gently, like a stray cat begging a master to take it in.

"I beg Benefactor... to take me."

"Whether as a cultivation furnace or as a slave."

"As long as I can stay by Benefactor's side... Qingwan is willing to do anything."

Her voice grew lower and lower, ultimately turning into an extremely suppressed whimper.

This was her final bargaining chip.

It was also the only lifeline she could grasp.

She gambled all her dignity, stripping herself completely bare, just to exchange for a moment of this man's attention.

Gu Yang lowered his eyes, quietly looking at the woman at his feet.

He had to admit, Lin Qingwan was beautiful.

Especially at this moment, that sense of brokenness and submission radiating from her very bones was enough to arouse any man's desire to destroy and possess.

Of course, Gu Yang valued more than just these things.

Yin and Yang harmony.

Absorbing the leftover essence of the Blood Demon Fetus.

50 Destiny Points.

This was a transaction.

Very fair.

She sought protection, and he claimed his reward.

Gu Yang gently grasped Lin Qingwan's wrist.

...

The shadows on the wall heaved violently.

"Benefactor..."

A feeling of being completely controlled made Lin Qingwan feel an unprecedented sense of security.

...

[Ding, successfully intercepted the purple fortuitous encounter—leftover essence of the Blood Demon Fetus.]

[Reward: 50 Destiny Points.]

[Current Destiny Points: 90.]

Gu Yang let out a long breath.

Not only had he obtained the crucial Destiny Points, but his cultivation had also advanced by a large margin.

He turned his head and glanced deep into the bed.

Lin Qingwan was curled up under the brocade quilt, sleeping soundly.

At this time, she had long lost her previous sickly pallor.

Moistened by that surge of extreme Yang energy, her skin displayed a healthy, rosy luster. Her originally blocked meridians had been forcibly broken through and widened by Gu Yang's overbearing Great Sun True Fire.

A blessing in disguise.

Now, she possessed a Flawless Spirit Body that had been tempered by the fire of extreme Yang.

Her cultivation talent had not dropped, but rather increased.

The person was saved, and the benefits were reaped.

But he certainly could not bring this woman along with him.

She needed to be properly settled.

Gu Yang had actually thought of a settlement plan long ago.

His eyes narrowed slightly, and his gaze pierced through the tightly shut door, landing on the figure outside who had been standing in the shadows for the entire night.

"Come in." The voice was not loud; it was hoarse and cold, yet it carried an unquestionable penetrating power.

...

Outside the door.

In the shadows at the end of the corridor.

Ji Shuanghua had been standing there stiffly for a full three hours.

She just stood there rigidly, her back pressed tightly against the cold wall, her hands digging fiercely into the flesh of her palms.

Those once proud and cold eyes were now bloodshot, her pupils in a dilated state following extreme excitement.

These three hours, to her, were a lingering execution, yet also an ultimate feast.

As a true disciple of the Supreme Sword Sect, her five senses were far sharper than those of ordinary people.

Even though an isolation array had been activated in the room, those faint fluctuations of spiritual energy, the occasional leak of movement, the slight creaking sounds...

All acted like red-hot steel needles, accurately piercing her eardrums and stabbing into her brain.

"He is using her..."

"Using her unscrupulously, like an object..."

In Ji Shuanghua's mind, scenes of the room's interior were drawn uncontrollably.

That man who had thrown her into a mud pit in the Blue Heavens Secret Realm was currently devouring another woman with that cold, disdainful, yet incomparably overbearing posture.

Would that woman cry?

She definitely would.

That feeling of being absolutely controlled by a powerhouse, of being stripped of all dignity, of only being able to submit to his whims like a puddle of mud...

"Haa..."

A broken pant squeezed out of Ji Shuanghua's throat, used to relieve the waves of aching numbness deep within her body.

Was she jealous?

Yes, jealous to the point of madness.

Jealous of that woman named Lin Qingwan.

But more than that, it was a sick sense of substitution.

She imagined herself as that woman.

With every fluctuation of the array, she would tremble along with it, as if it were Gu Yang's hand ruthlessly choking her neck, forcing her to submit.

...