Song Yao's mind was in a mess. She only wanted to dispel his notion as quickly as possible. Shuffling backward to put some distance between them, she said, “Fourth Junior Brother, what... what happened before was indeed my fault. I shouldn't have dug up your parents' graves just for fun. How about this? I'll find some time to personally apologize to them and kowtow to them twice. What do you think?”
Feeling that her sincerity might not be enough, she added, “Or if there's anything else you want, I'll do my best to make it up to you so we're even.”
Xie Zhou stared intently at her, bracing one hand beside her again. “I've already told you what I want.”
Song Yao wanted to cry but had no tears.
Why was he so unreasonable?
Knitting her brows, she said, “...You—you've already kissed me and bitten me just now. Isn't that enough?”
Xie Zhou's gaze fell upon her swollen, broken lips. His breathing grew a fraction heavier, and his hoarse voice carried a hint of mockery. “You aren't even afraid of death, yet you're afraid of this?”
Song Yao coughed lightly. “...How can those two things be compared? This... this is different...”
“Fine.”
Xie Zhou placed his palm over her slender, pale neck, his fingertips resting against the pulse throbbing beneath her skin. Lowering his eyelashes, his dark eyes looked damp as if he were seriously considering a perfectly logical solution. “Then how about I kill you first, and then we do it? Since you don't care about your life anyway, what do you think?”
Song Yao: “???”
She was utterly shocked.
Wait.
How could he be so bluntly insane?
The skin he touched instantly burned hot, but a shiver of cold ran down her spine.
In her desperation, she grabbed his wrist and suddenly became incredibly firm and serious. “Uh, Fourth Junior Brother, I was just joking with you earlier. I'm not going to die yet, and I'm not giving you my life. Is that okay?”
“No.”
Xie Zhou curled his lips slightly, his palm gently brushing past her cheek. “Song Yao, I don't believe a single word you say.”
Song Yao: “...”
How did her credibility get this bad?
She pouted, at a loss for what to do, her eyes darting outward as she tried to find an escape route.
“You can't break the barrier Feng Qing set up.”
Having read her intentions, Xie Zhou applied a bit of force to make her turn her head back to look at him. His tone even carried a hint of schadenfreude. “Do you have anywhere to run, Senior Sister?”
Obviously not.
Song Yao was exhausted. Giving up her struggle, she sat there quietly, preparing herself for whatever fate had in store.
She heard him add in a leisurely tone, “I can return your life to you, but...”
Song Yao saw a glimmer of hope. “But what?”
Xie Zhou leaned down, his voice gentle and full of affection as he whispered in her ear, “But if I ever see you seeking death again, I will ravish you to death. Is that acceptable, Third Senior Sister?”
Song Yao: “...”
The shocks she received tonight came one after another, each bigger than the last.
At this moment, she was absolutely certain that her Fourth Junior Brother had completely blackened.
She had never even read such words in the novels published by the Chunqing Sect or Hehuan Sect, yet she was actually hearing them from her Fourth Junior Brother's mouth.
Her Fourth Junior Brother was truly a case of never judging a book by its cover.
Pulling a long face, she immediately began to struggle. “I—how could I actively seek death? I'm not crazy. How about this, we'll talk about next time when next time comes... Fourth Junior Brother, let me go for now...”
Xie Zhou let her retreat and scramble to the other side of the desk. Seeing her about to jump down and run, he unhurriedly reached out, gripped her waist, and dragged her back onto the desk.
They changed positions.
Held fast from behind, his warm breath fanned over her neck. She heard him say, “We aren't finished with this time yet. What is the rush, Third Senior Sister?”
“...”
A slight, stinging pain came from the side of her neck.
Song Yao couldn't tell if her Fourth Junior Brother was kissing or biting her.
Stimulated by this indescribable sensation, she trembled slightly and sensitively tilted her head to dodge, only to nestle even deeper into his embrace.
Her eyes grew red from physiological reaction. She instinctively began to form a spell gesture but hesitated slightly.
Her Fourth Junior Brother had already been wounded by her sword just now. If she struck again, would he be completely crippled?
Nine Saints Hall was already fractured. Losing another Fourth Junior Brother would only make things worse.
But she couldn't actually let him have his way with her...
Song Yao was far too distracted. Xie Zhou displeasedly turned her face around, his gaze falling back onto her lips. His flat voice interrupted her chaotic thoughts. “Song Yao, pay attention...”
Before he could finish, a fierce spiritual flame suddenly burst through the window. Enwrapped in powerful wind, the blazing fire shot straight toward Song Yao's back with a ruthless momentum.
Xie Zhou's eyes narrowed. Several pale gold talismans flew out, protecting Song Yao first before he stepped back half a pace.
At the same time, a vermilion rope wrapped itself precisely around Song Yao's waist. Before she could react, a powerful force yanked her outward.
The feeling of weightlessness lasted only an instant before Song Yao crashed into an embrace filled with a cold fragrance, her back pressed against a warm palm.
Looking up, she met Zhu Zhao's dark, stormy eyes.
The other party looked down at her. Her gaze first landed on the flushed, damp corners of Song Yao's eyes, lingered for a moment on her swollen, red lips, and finally locked onto the light red bite mark on the side of her neck.
Zhu Zhao understood what had happened almost instantly. The aura around her turned frighteningly heavy. She coldly lifted her eyelids to look at the person inside the room, her fists clenching at her sides.
The dark undercurrents in Xie Zhou's eyes had yet to settle. He looked up and coldly returned her gaze.
The two faced off across the scattered talismans on the floor. Neither spoke, but their spiritual energies clashed silently in the air, forcing the candlelight on the desk to flicker violently, its flame shrinking to a tiny pinpoint.
After a brief standoff, Song Yao snapped out of it. Sensing that the atmosphere was off, she turned her head to look. At that exact moment, Xie Zhou lowered his eyes.
Pressing a hand against the wound over his heart, warm blood seeped out once more. His shoulders slumped slightly, and he let out a couple of muffled coughs.
A trace of dark red trickled from the corner of his lips. When he looked up again, his eyes were clear, and his face was so pale it was almost translucent. He looked as if he was barely forcing himself to stand.
Song Yao couldn't help but knit her brows.
Her Fourth Junior Brother clearly hadn't been in such a serious state just now.
Had the wound reopened after that brief clash with Zhu Zhao?
She instinctively took two steps back toward him, only for her wrist to be firmly caught.
Zhu Zhao pulled her back without ceremony. Looking down at her with suppressed fury in her eyes, she said in a cold, hard tone, “It's late. Go back and sleep. Stop meddling in the business of irrelevant people.”
Someone irrelevant?
Why was the relationship between Second Senior Sister and Fourth Junior Brother so bad too?
Song Yao had no time to think too much. Her mind was still a bit of a mess, so she blankly murmured an agreement.
In the next instant, Zhu Zhao actually tore a rift right through the barrier Feng Qing had left behind. Gripping Song Yao's waist, she swept her out of Qiangua Peak without another word.
The sound of sleeves rustling in the night wind quickly faded away, and the quiet room returned to silence.
Xie Zhou stood in place, slowly wiping away the trace of blood from his lips with his fingertip.
He looked out the window at the pitch-black night. The vulnerability in his eyes vanished without a trace, leaving only a nearly paranoid, pathological possessiveness.
Song Yao had originally wanted to return to Wangyun Peak, but her mind was too chaotic, and she hadn't had the chance to tell Zhu Zhao. By the time she snapped out of it, she was already in Zhu Zhao's room.
Rate on N.U.
