After walking out of the manor lord's study, Xue Yi was filled with complex emotions.
"Damn it..."
"Just what is the deal with this Xiao Qingruo?"
"And what's the deal with the manor lord?"
"What have I gotten myself into?!"
He felt very vexed.
Things would have been better if he hadn't met Xiao Qingruo. Even if he was just an ordinary guard, with the Imperial Five Spirit Formula in hand, he could have risen in power eventually.
But now, caught between the young miss and the manor lord, he felt like he was treading on thin ice. One wrong step would lead to utter ruin.
Now a problem stood before him:
- Should he tell Xiao Qingruo the truth when he returned?
If he did, and she really had the power to contend with the manor lord, then Xue Yi would be finished. Death would be the inevitable outcome.
If he didn't tell her, then he would be relatively safe for the time being. At the very least, he could make a run for it and get far away from Xiao Qingruo and Holy Might Manor.
This was a very difficult decision.
The key still lied in Xiao Qingruo's level of strength.
"When I get back, I'll test her again," Xue Yi thought.
Compared to running away, he actually hoped to stay at Holy Might Manor for a while longer.
After all, he wasn't very powerful yet. It would be dangerous for him to try to make it on his own out there. Holy Might Manor had abundant medicinal ingredients, light work, and he could have ample time to cultivate. Biding his time there would be more comfortable for his development.
But how should he test her?
When considering the worst possibilities, if Xiao Qingruo really was powerful, it would be quite difficult to probe her background without getting killed by her.
"The way I took liberties with her last night, and she didn't resist at all, means she probably isn't that powerful," Xue Yi thought.
If so, then...try it again like that!
Soon, Xue Yi returned to Azure Garden.
He went straight to Xiao Qingruo's room, knocked on the door, then entered.
"You were gone for so long. What did the manor lord want with you?" Xiao Qingruo was still reading her book, a bit surprised that he would knock on the door. She glanced up at him.
Xue Yi considered for a moment.
First he thought about the possibility that the manor lord had followed him here.
But he soon dismissed that notion.
The manor lord's cultivation level wasn't much higher than the level Xiao Qingruo was pretending to have. Logically, if the manor lord was eavesdropping from afar, Xiao Qingruo would have been able to detect it.
Therefore, to avoid awkwardness, the manor lord wouldn't do that.
In other words, inside Xiao Qingruo's Azure Garden, they could basically say anything without fear of being overheard.
Xue Yi replied, "He asked about my background and tested my loyalty."
"Oh? So are you loyal?" Xiao Qingruo asked with interest.
"Loyal," Xue Yi replied.
He set down the sword without bothering to examine how good it was. He closed the door and walked directly over, stopping less than half a meter from Xiao Qingruo.
"Why are you standing so close?" Xiao Qingruo's expression changed slightly. She felt something was off and recoiled from his actions. She immediately stood up and changed seats.
Xue Yi's heart was beating fast now. He was very afraid that the next moment, the young miss would slap him to death with a palm strike.
But...he didn't die last night when he went even further, so he probably wouldn't die now!
Gritting his teeth, he sat down in the spot Xiao Qingruo had just vacated. Reaching out with his big hand, he grabbed her slender waist and forcibly pulled her over.
"Xue Yi, what are you doing?!" Xiao Qingruo realized his actions were very strange. She immediately scolded him in a low voice, and tried to stand up to get away.
Xue Yi held her firmly under control. Next to her ear, he whispered, "To demonstrate my loyalty to you, the manor lord nearly beat me to death just now. Let me hold you for a bit to soothe my wounded heart."
At the same time, his palm rested on her lower abdomen, right over her dantian point, subtly sensing the fluctuations of her inner energy.
The result...he didn't detect anything!
At such close range, with direct body contact, even if she was at the Long Life realm, it would be impossible to completely conceal the subtle inner energy fluctuations that Xue Yi could sense.
But in reality, there was nothing!
Clearly, she really was just an ordinary person without the slightest bit of cultivation!
"Scoundrel! You've gone too far!"
Slap!
A slap landed on Xue Yi's face.
Taking advantage of his brief distraction, Xiao Qingruo instantly broke free and ran to the other side of the table.
She glared at Xue Yi, her hands clenched into fists. Gnashing her teeth, she said, "You really think that just because I'm useless, you can take liberties with me however you want? Who do you take me for?!"
"Young miss, I..."
Xue Yi thought to himself that this was bad, she was really angry now.
What he had said just now was no longer frivolous teasing, but outright humiliation of her. Not just Xiao Qingruo as a young miss, even an ordinary woman would find his actions unacceptable.
"I thought you were only superficially indecent, but actually quite reliable. I didn't expect...I misjudged you."
Xiao Qingruo looked completely disappointed and furious. Seeing the sword Xue Yi had brought back, she reached out to grab it, wanting to use it to defend herself.
But...she couldn't lift it.
The sword, still in its scabbard, weighed a full fifty or sixty pounds. Without any martial ability, there was no way she could wield it.
Unable to pick up the sword, Xiao Qingruo felt frustrated. She simply tore out the hair ornament from her head and pointed the sharp end at her own neck, saying, "Don't you dare violate me! I'd rather die!"
"No, no, no, I'm joking, joking!"
Xue Yi quickly explained, truly afraid that in her agitated state, she might leave a permanent scar on that beautiful neck.
"Joking?" Xiao Qingruo glared, her anger not diminished at all, but burning even more fiercely.
"Explain yourself clearly!" She gnashed her teeth, her gaze seeming capable of killing someone.
Xue Yi hesitated for a moment.
Shortly after, he said in a deep voice, "I'll tell you everything. Let's continue cooperating. Just pretend I never said those words earlier. I really didn't mean it that way. I only wanted to probe your strength up close."
His tone was very sincere.
Hearing this, Xiao Qingruo's anger lessened slightly.
But she was still very unhappy. She slapped the hair ornament onto the table, directly breaking it. Her tone was vicious as she said, "Tell me every word, exactly what did the manor lord summon you for?!"
"It went like this..."
Xue Yi told her the whole story.
After listening, Xiao Qingruo's expression became much uglier. She held the broken ornament and gnashed her teeth, "I knew Xu Conglong wouldn't be so easily fooled. So he was just waiting for me here..."
Xue Yi immediately asked, "Young miss, you and the manor lord...really exchanged blows before?"
Xiao Qingruo looked at him. Their eyes met for a long while, before she finally nodded.
e school belle recognized by the whole school, a genius girl from the kendo club. She also has a hidden identity, the youngest legendary demon hunter. Chen Shuo just transmigrated and found himself turned into a weak, helpless little vampire. He was caught by Su Xiyen and taken home at the very beginning. Since then, Chen Shuo's life creed only had two items. "First, classmate Su Xiyen is always right." "Second, if classmate Su Xiyen is wrong, please refer back to item one." Many years later, Chen Shuo, who had turned back into a human, led a pair of twins to appear in front of all the vampires to share the secret of how he turned back into a human. "It's simple, I tricked a female demon hunter into becoming my wife!"
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
young master of the Shen family—a figure of immense power and wealth beyond measure—and awakened the "Destined Ultimate Villain System"! His starting scenario? Running into his icy fiancée who shows up with a mountain-descending divine doctor to break off their engagement. The divine doctor arrogantly taunts: "What does your Shen family have besides a bit of stinking money? You're not even worthy of tying Qingxue's shoelaces!" Shen Fei just smiled. He completely defied the usual script: "Fine, I agree to break off the engagement. Also, notify the finance department to withdraw all investments from the Su family." Minutes later, with its capital chain severed, the Su Group teetered on the brink of bankruptcy! The once aloof and proud ice queen CEO was thrown into utter panic. That very night, she went to Shen Fei's villa, casting aside all dignity to beg and plead desperately... From then on, in this world teeming with Sons of Destiny, Shen Fei embarked on a path of extreme dimensional suppression! A mountain-descending divine doctor? Peerless medical skills? Shen Fei: "Reporting you for practicing medicine without a license! I'll gladly take your ancient medicinal cauldron and twin sister assassins." The Crooked-Smiling Dragon King? Commanding a hundred thousand soldiers with a single order? Shen Fei: "Illegal assembly and suspected treason! Let a fleet of attack helicopters sanitize the area and teach you what the state apparatus really means!" A reborn tycoon? Knows all the golden opportunities of the next decade? Shen Fei: "A trillion in capital to reverse and pump the stock market, making you blow your margin and jump on the very first day of your rebirth!" What Chosen Ones? What bearers of Heavenly Fortune? In Shen Fei's eyes, they're all just chives (i.e., suckers/marks) waiting to be harvested! Shen Fei: "Sorry, but as the Destined Ultimate Villain, I don't play by the rules of honor. I only play the game of dimensional suppression."
ap a wealthy young lady? Or else I'll be eliminated by the system? Ye Feng, who awakened the Kidnapper System, originally wanted to live a peaceful life but never imagined he would become a kidnapper of young women. However, after some time, he discovered that all the girls the system ordered him to kidnap were far from ordinary. "Big brother Ye Feng~ You've kidnapped my heart, and now you're not allowed to leave me ever again~" "Ye Feng~ You kidnapped me back then, now it's my turn to capture you♡" "Little Feng, you're mine! You can only be mine!" "Ye Feng, none of them deserve you. Only I love you the most♡" ... This is madness, they've all gone mad! Wait, what? Why are all the girls I kidnapped yanderes?!
