The moment those words left his lips, Xue Yue's expression shifted wildly. She stared at Yang Kai, stunned, and exclaimed in disbelief: "Don't tell me you actually…"
The corner of Yang Kai's mouth curled upward as he snorted coldly. "I already told you — at worst, we'll both go down together. It's not too late for you to let us leave now. Otherwise…"
Xue Yue's face turned ashen in an instant. She hadn't expected Yang Kai to be this stubborn! Her heart surged with grief and rage, her slender body trembling faintly. All she wanted was for him to come with her — she didn't intend to kill him. In fact, an enormous opportunity awaited him. Why did he resist so fiercely?
How many people had sought to follow her without ever finding the door? She was practically extending an olive branch to him, trying to recruit him — albeit in a somewhat heavy-handed manner. Why couldn't he understand her good intentions?
Since her birth, Xue Yue had never been so powerless in any situation — except when facing her father, Chairman Aeolus.
A woman was a woman after all. No matter how convincingly she dressed as a man, she was still prone to letting emotions get the better of her. Seeing Yang Kai adopt an attitude of "better a shattered jade than an intact tile," her expression instead grew calm, and she smiled coldly. "Do as you wish. If you really go through with it, everyone here except you and me will die!"
The moment these words left her mouth, the ReturnVoid Realm experts beside Xue Yue all turned pale, watching Yang Kai with tense eyes.
"Fine, fine, fine!" Yang Kai's fury boiled over into laughter. He swung his arm forward and took a step ahead, glowering at Xue Yue. He enunciated each word with deliberate weight: "All of you, listen up! Your Third Young Master has a tremendous secret, and I'm about to tell you exactly what it is!"
Things had reached this point, and he had no way to back down. He had to play his trump card.
Xue Yue slowly closed her eyes and took a deep breath, making no move to stop him. Her posture suggested she was prepared to go head-to-head with Yang Kai to the very end.
In contrast, the ReturnVoid Realm experts beside her all wore peculiar expressions, each of them anxious beyond measure. The exchange between Xue Yue and Yang Kai hadn't been hidden in the slightest — every word, every sentence had reached their ears crystal clear.
By now, they understood perfectly well that if Yang Kai truly revealed that secret, they might be dragged down with it. Sometimes, even if something had nothing to do with you, merely overhearing it could bring disaster — especially for a colossus like the Heng Luo Commercial Association, where many secrets could never be allowed to leak.
But on the other hand, their curiosity had only grown sharper.
Shan Qing Luo and Bi Luo were no different. Both women perked up their ears, listening with rapt attention.
Just as Yang Kai was about to expose the so-called tremendous secret, the white-bearded elder with three long whiskers beside Xue Yue couldn't help but roar: "Silence!"
There was no way he would let such a thing happen. He only wanted to shut Yang Kai up before the secret could leave his lips. Even as his sharp cry rang out, his figure blurred and he hurtled toward Yang Kai, spreading wide in midair like a great roc taking flight — his aura overwhelming, as if he intended to kill Yang Kai with a single strike.
Yang Kai didn't even spare him a glance. Gritting his teeth, he exhaled and declared: "Your Third Young Master, Xue Yue, is in love with me. That's right — deeply, hopelessly in love with me!"
Those words fell like a thunderbolt!
Everyone was struck dumb. Shan Qing Luo and Bi Luo instinctively covered their mouths with their hands, their beautiful eyes darting between Yang Kai and Xue Yue, filled with the most extraordinary expressions.
And that white-bearded elder who had been lunging toward Yang Kai stumbled midair and plummeted to the ground. His coalesced killing strike dissipated into nothing, and once he landed, he stared wide-eyed, his face a mask of utter bewilderment.
Every last person present felt like their eyes had fallen out of their heads.
This… this news was explosive!
"Insolence!" The elegant woman beside Xue Yue snapped. "How noble the Third Young Master is — beauties are like clouds around him. How could he possibly… how could he possibly have feelings for you…"
Even as she scolded, the woman stole a glance at Xue Yue and saw that her complexion was shifting between green and white, her eyes round with shock. But the expression on her face was quite awkward, carrying the unmistakable air of someone whose innermost thoughts had been laid bare.
Could it… be true? The woman's heart lurched.
"Beauties like clouds?" Yang Kai sneered without pause. "Has she ever shown any particular warmth to any of them? Has she ever spent a single night with any beauty?"
When he put it that way, several of the ReturnVoid Realm experts froze. Upon reflection, they realized it was true. Although the Third Young Master was courteous and polite to everyone — her smile as refreshing as a spring breeze that had charmed countless young women and married ladies alike, making her the most sought-after young talent among women in the entire Star Domain — she had never lacked for female attention. Wherever she went, beauties threw themselves at her, offering their affections freely.
But she had never had any intimate contact with a single woman, to say nothing of spending the night with anyone.
In the past, people had thought the Third Young Master possessed excellent self-discipline and kept herself pure. But now…
Replaying the conversation between the Third Young Master and Yang Kai — something about how a forcibly twisted melon isn't sweet, and how the Third Young Master had chosen to take Yang Kai while abandoning the stunningly beautiful woman back there — the others found themselves believing the claim seven or eight times out of ten.