Through gritted teeth, Ming spat: “You better pray not to get paired up with me in round three; otherwise, I won’t let you off. I’ll shred your dignity even worse before the eyes of all the people. It’s a taboo for an unmarried lady to be so vicious and have her body seen by other men! Don’t even dream of marrying in this lifetime!”

Baihe found his words funny, extremely comical that she couldn’t help but laugh and so she did. Ming scrunched his brows at her reaction. Baihe could tell he was confused at what she was laughing over and another bout of laughter erupted.

My god, is he that dumb? A taboo to show your body to anyone besides your husband? Has he forgotten about his own precious sister’s current situation or what just happened mere moments ago on stage?

“Even I, this grandpa, had a clear 360 view of her body. Hide what? She was fucking standing in the middle of an arena platform butt naked, stripped of all her petals!” Qian mocked.

“Perhaps he’s referring to whatever sick things he remembered about my predecessor’s body,” Baihe replied through telepathic transmission.

“Oh! Incest! So that asshole has that kind of taste!” Qian’s made a fist with one of his wings and slammed it down onto the other open wing, fanning open like a palm. With an exaggerated expression, his phoenix form imitated gagging actions to portray his disgust.

Ming was still left in confusion, unaware of the playful banter between Baihe and Qian as they laughed at his expense. He only saw her cast a glance at his pig-faced sister behind him, who was currently sporting huge swollen lumps on her face before turning around to give him a brilliant smile that somehow turned his blood cold.

“A taboo?” Baihe questioned with a raised brow, the smile on her face getting wider; “the only taboo is the one where you royally piss me off and congratulations, your Huang family has won the jackpot for that.”

With those words, Baihe strolled off the stage as elegantly as she had stepped on while the crowd cheered and applauded her for bestowing such mercy and having a benevolent heart.

Qian wanted to puke out blood when he saw the people’s reaction, treating this monkey girl of his as some sort of benevolent fairy with the heart of Buddha.

Merciful? Kindhearted? Benevolent? What utter nonsense! All gibberish! Stupid, blind hairy monkeys!

How could he not know the real truth behind why Baihe had let the girl go? He got full unrestricted access to her mind! This monkey girl had already calculated her survival rate if she were to kill that white lotus flower the moment her monkey butt went on that arena platform. Only after computing the results to be less than favorable because her current strength couldn’t match against an attack from both the Huang and royal family at the same time, did she finally conceded to save her prey for later.

Qian silently lit a candle for the fake Mary Sue. Fei Fei was saved this time because she had the backings of the Huang’s general household and the title of the future Crown Princess protecting her; to kill her blatantly in front them would have been a slap to the faces of those arrogant men and they’d definitely intervene; however, if white lotus only knew of the plans this monkey girl had in store for her, she would have prefer to die here today — dying today was the real mercy!

Pleased with the her performance, Qian could only shake his head for the bleak future ahead of those unfortunate victims printed on this monkey girl’s hit-list. This was why he’d always said humans are stupid — not only stupid, but also blind. Then again, the high interest on that blood debt would only keep growing and he was excited to see the show this monkey girl would perform for his entertainment.

♦

A lofty figure sitting by the window at the highest floor of an adjacent tea house watched the commotions below. Fenglong had a clear view of the Feng Martial Tournament and his dark sapphire eyes had an indiscernible light in them as he scrutinized the woman known as Huang Baihe — the same woman who haunted his dreams at night ever since he met her.

Correction: ever since he last saw her.

Within his 21 years of life, he had heard all there was to hear about the good-for-nothing trash, the eldest miss of the Huang’s family: Huang Baihe. Fenglong had even saw her a few times in passing, but she was none of his business and he had always loathed women in general.

Then something changed — something he couldn’t explain, yet had prompted him to save her when she had infiltrated the Feng’s imperial treasury vault. He been trying to think it through logically, breaking it down to find the core of the issue, but he still wasn’t able to figure out why he was so drawn to her.

Was it the sudden change in her appearance?

No, he had seen his fair share of beautiful women. Although, he’d to admit that she has an irresistible beauty — at least in his eyes. Like now, even though she was all tattered and bloody with her hair flowing wildly behind her, he still found her to be a beautiful goddess dyed in red and something in him felt uncomfortable seeing those wounds.

Was it her recklessness and bravery when she charged into the vault to steal an imperial treasure?

No, there been courageous thieves in the past who ventured bravely into the imperial treasury vault to test their luck and had all fallen victim to the laser trap room, but he’d never wasted any energy on them, much less lifted a finger to save them. There had also been strong, fearless women sent by his enemies to assassinate him in the past, but he killed them mercilessly. Was there anything more recklessness than that?

Then just what was it? What was it about her that had changed? That made his mind always drift back to their last encounter to the point that he even came here to watch this boring first half of the tournament in hopes of seeing her again?

Fenglong frowned as he lowered his lashes to look at the tea cup swirling in his hand. Could the women have poisoned him with a new type of drug to make him feel this way? His eyes narrowed and his face turned dark. Whatever was wrong with him, she was definitely responsible for it and he didn’t like the way she made him feel.

If he kills her, will he return back to normal?

♦

The second round of the tournament ended and the third round immediately commenced without giving the participants a break. Baihe successfully defeated her opponents and made her way to one of the two spots in the finals. She didn’t mind the fighting, but Qian’s power had reached its duration limit and she wouldn’t be able to use it for the time being.

The phoenix laid weakly inside her space, drained of energy. Every time she borrowed his powers, it sucked energy out of him and left him depleted like a dead battery. As long as Baihe didn’t fully unlock all the seals on the guqin, she would continue being encumbered by this restriction.

This made Baihe worried because with only her meager cultivation, would she be able to handle her final opponent? While she had been relying on Qian’s strength to pull through opponents stronger than her, that was not the case for the other participants.

Just as unease filled her, she heard the name of the other finalist — Huang Ming.