The Master

The moment Su Yao's fingertips touched Ye Chuan's calf, she flinched violently as if she had touched a red-hot branding iron.

Born as the apple of the eye of the Wutong Holy Land, let alone massaging someone's legs, she had barely even grazed the hem of another person's clothes.

Now, kneeling before her enemy and performing what she considered to be the most degrading of tasks, her fingertips trembled uncontrollably.

"What's wrong? Are the hands of Her Highness the Holy Maiden so stiff with pride that they cannot bend?" Ye Chuan sneered, deliberately poking at her sore spot. "If you can't even massage my legs, what use do I have for a maid like you? I might as well throw you back into the cage tomorrow; at least you could earn me some spirit stones."

"You!" Su Yao's head snapped up, her phoenix eyes instantly igniting with rage. But meeting Ye Chuan's nonchalant yet malicious gaze, all the fire was instantly snuffed out in her throat.

Clenching her fists tightly, she had no choice but to lower her head again, clumsily adjusting her strength as she pounded Ye Chuan's legs stroke by stroke.

A sense of humiliation washed over her like a tidal wave, drowning her wave after wave.

She was a Tribulation Transcendence Realm expert, the Holy Maiden of the Wutong Holy Land, an existence looked up to by countless cultivators on the Tianxuan Continent. Yet now, she was kneeling on the ground massaging her enemy's legs like the lowliest of slaves.

Living was worse than death.

As soon as this thought emerged, Su Yao's heart jolted fiercely.

Yes, if she died, she wouldn't have to suffer this humiliation anymore.

Gritting her teeth so hard they nearly shattered, she gathered the last sliver of spiritual energy left in her body and slammed it fiercely toward her heart meridian—

As long as her heart meridian was completely shattered and her soul left her body, even Ye Chuan wouldn't be able to stop her from seeking death!

However, right at the moment her spiritual energy was about to strike her heart meridian, the wisp of the Chaos Mark within her dantian suddenly erupted!

Pitch-black chaotic power coiled around her spiritual meridians like a venomous snake in an instant. A heart-tearing, lung-splitting agony violently swept through her entire body, as if countless steel needles were simultaneously piercing her meridians, her dantian, and even her very soul!

"Argh—!"

Su Yao let out a short, miserable scream. She curled up on the ground, drenched in cold sweat, her body trembling like a leaf. Let alone committing suicide, she couldn't even move a single finger.

The intense pain seeped deep into her bones, yet it deliberately kept her from passing out, forcing her to consciously endure every ounce of the torture.

Ye Chuan looked down at her, picked up the tea on the table, and took a sip. His tone was as flat as if he were discussing something entirely trivial:

"I forgot to tell you. The Chaos Mark on your body doesn't just drain your spiritual energy; your life and death are also entirely at my whim."

"You can only die if I let you die. If I don't permit it, you can't do it even if you want your soul to be utterly extinguished."

"Want to kill yourself? Sure, just ask my mark if it agrees first."

Su Yao sprawled on the ground, her vision going dark from the pain as tears streamed down to mix with her cold sweat.

She finally understood.

In front of this man, she didn't even have the right to seek death.

Her life, her soul, her everything—they were all firmly grasped in this man's hands.

It took a full half an incense stick's worth of time before the torture of the Chaos Mark slowly faded.

In the gaze Su Yao directed at Ye Chuan, besides bitter resentment, there was finally a trace of unconcealable fear.

Ye Chuan lifted his chin, gesturing for her to come back and continue massaging his legs.

Not daring to make another reckless move, Su Yao could only drag her exhausted body back to kneel before the soft couch, trembling as she resumed massaging Ye Chuan's calves.

This time, her movements were much more obedient. No matter how unwilling or humiliated she felt, she dared not show the slightest bit of defiance.

"By the way, there's another rule I forgot to tell you," Ye Chuan suddenly spoke up. His tone was lazy, yet it carried an unquestionable tone of command.

"From now on, in my presence, you are not to address me by my name. You must call me Master."

"What?!"

Su Yao's head snapped up. Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, she bristled instantly.

"Huang Haotian! Don't push your luck! I am the Holy Maiden of the Wutong Holy Land! You want me to call you Master?! Keep dreaming!"

Even if she had been reduced to a prisoner, even if she had suffered every humiliation, she would never call a fiend who destroyed her sect, killed her elders, and insulted her dignity, Master!

This was her final bottom line, her last shred of pride!

"Oh? Unwilling?" Ye Chuan raised an eyebrow. With a light flick of his finger, a wisp of chaotic power instantly began to churn within Su Yao's dantian.

Su Yao let out a muffled groan, her face turning deathly pale in an instant. Her barely recovered body was once again engulfed in agonizing pain, only to hear Ye Chuan's voice ring out again, cold and wicked:

"It's simple if you're unwilling. Tomorrow morning, I'll strip you naked and tie you to the front of the shop. I'll set up a sign that says 'Holy Maiden of the Wutong Holy Land, ten high-grade spirit stones per time, look and touch as you please.'"

"I imagine the cultivators of Xuanjing City would be more than happy to deliver these spirit stones to me."

Su Yao panicked instantly. "I'll say it! I'll say it! I beg you... don't do that to me..."

She could die, she could be tortured, she could be imprisoned, but she absolutely could not endure that kind of humiliation.

That would not only destroy herself but also destroy the face of the entire Wutong Holy Land!

Ye Chuan looked at her with a half-smile, saying nothing, simply waiting.

Su Yao bit her lip so hard it became a bloody mess. Every word took all the strength she had in her life, squeezed out from between her teeth in a humiliated and lowly manner:

"Mas... Master..."

The voice was as quiet as a mosquito, yet it entered Ye Chuan's ears clearly.

Ye Chuan smiled in satisfaction. With a movement of his fingertip, he withdrew the chaotic power from her dantian. "If you had been this obedient earlier, you wouldn't have had to suffer, right?"

Su Yao kept her head bowed, the hatred and humiliation in her heart nearly swallowing her whole.

"Alright, stop pulling a long face here." Ye Chuan waved his hand as if swatting away a fly.

"Go, brew me a cup of tea."

Su Yao clenched her fists, but ultimately gave a low sound of compliance. She stood up and stumbled toward the tea table in the outer room.

Arriving at the unoccupied tea table, with her back to Ye Chuan, she looked at the boiling spiritual spring, and a crazy thought suddenly popped into her head—

Poison him!

As long as she could spike the tea with a rare poison that sealed away spiritual energy, even if she couldn't kill Ye Chuan, she could temporarily subdue him, giving her a chance to escape!

Once this thought arose, she could no longer suppress it.

She subconsciously reached for her waist, wanting to dig out a secretly crafted poison from her storage bag, but her fingertips only touched a patch of empty fabric.

She suddenly snapped back to reality—

Her storage artifact, all her magical treasures, and poisons had long been confiscated by Ye Chuan. He hadn't left a single thing for her.

And even if she had them, what difference would it make?

Su Yao's movements instantly stiffened, the sliver of madness in her heart extinguished by a bucket of cold water.

Elder Xuanfeng's Ten Thousand Poison Banner, the Wutong Holy Land's most tyrannical Soul-Eroding Poison, and even Su Yao's own Wutong Holy Fire couldn't harm Ye Chuan in the slightest. He could even devour the Dao principle attacks of an Ascension Realm patriarch. What difference was there between her meager poisoning methods and a child playing house in front of him?

It would just be bringing contempt upon herself.

She finished brewing the tea, carried the teacup back to the bedroom, and respectfully presented it to Ye Chuan, her voice husky:

"Master, your tea."

Ye Chuan took the teacup and took a casual sip. Finding no fault with it at all, he cast a glance at her and actually gave a rare word of praise:

"At least you are of some use."

Su Yao kept her head down and remained silent, but inwardly, she was gritting her teeth.

Do not get too smug.

The Ascension Realm patriarch of my Wutong Holy Land is still in deep seclusion.

Once the patriarch emerges and discovers the humiliation I have been subjected to, he will spare no cost to personally step in and grind your bones to dust!

When that time comes, I will return every ounce of indignity you have forced upon me today a thousand times over!

I, Su Yao, will absolutely not be your maid for the rest of my life!