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This man had clearly lost his mind from the catastrophe that had befallen him and was spouting nonsense without thinking. Everyone who heard his words frowned.
"Watch your mouth!" Shu Xiaoyu stepped forward and snapped. She'd actually felt some sympathy for the man's plight, but seeing how he was indiscriminately lashing out—even cursing her senior brother—that sympathy vanished in an instant.
Chen Xueshu held her back, slowly shaking his head at her.
Chen Xueshu had a decent temper and knew the man had taken a devastating blow, so he had no intention of picking a fight with him.
Who knew the man would push his luck? He glared at Zi Mo and snarled, "You bitch! If you can't come up with a way to restore my dantian, I'll make you wish you were dead!"
Zi Mo wasn't exactly the patient type either. She'd spent the past few days under someone's control, unable to even dictate her own life or death. She'd had to play nice with Yang Kai, then been backstabbed by her own sect. She'd been burning with suppressed fury, and now hearing this threat, her temper flared right up. She let out a cold laugh. "With what? I don't even know a method to heal you—and even if I did, I wouldn't save you!"
It was supposed to be nothing more than an angry retort, but the man's face lit up with delight. He grabbed Bi Xiuming's arm excitedly. "Senior brother, did you hear that? She really does have a way! Quick, grab her and force her to save me! I don't want to become a cripple!"
Bi Xiuming's expression shifted between light and dark for a long moment before he finally nodded slowly, reassuring his junior brother. "Fine. If she refuses to save you, I'll cripple her cultivation and make her your personal servant to wait on you for the rest of her life!"
With that, he rose slowly and turned, fixing Zi Mo with a dark, sinister gaze.
A murderous look surfaced on Zi Mo's beautiful face as she returned his stare with cold indifference.
"What are you doing?" Chen Xueshu stepped forward to mediate. "Bi Xiuming, you should know that what this young lady said earlier was just an angry outburst. Besides, she's practically saved our lives. If she and Brother Yang hadn't put on that little act together, we'd still be under Yao He and Yao Xi's control. Not being grateful is one thing—are you really going to lay a hand on her?"
"Saved our lives?" Bi Xiuming sneered. "If she and those two Heavenly Wolf bastards hadn't attacked us in the first place, how would we have ended up as prisoners? She saved us? That was just self-preservation! She only saved herself. Chen Xueshu, I know you're a soft touch, but stay out of this!"
Chen Xueshu's brow furrowed. As much as he disliked Bi Xiuming, he had to admit that the man's words were the truth.
Zi Mo had led the demon beasts to attack everyone present. She bore significant responsibility for their being controlled by Yao He and Yao Xi. When she'd helped Yang Kai cut down Yao He and Yao Xi earlier, it had indeed been purely out of self-preservation—not with any intention of saving anyone else.
It was precisely because he knew Bi Xiuming was telling the truth that Chen Xueshu found himself in a difficult position. On one hand, he didn't like Zi Mo either. On the other, he knew Zi Mo and Yang Kai had come here together, and there was certainly some bond between them. Taking either side would be wrong.
Chen Xueshu had his reservations, but the others were no different. Whether it was the four girls from Wan Hua Palace or Ye Qingsi and Zhou Ba's senior-junior sister-brother pair, they all remained silent, choosing to side with neither and simply watch how things developed.
None of them could figure out what exactly the relationship between Yang Kai and Zi Mo was.
Seeing countless pairs of eyes turned toward him, Yang Kai let out a cold laugh and fixed his gaze on Bi Xiuming. "You want to cripple her cultivation and make her your junior brother's servant?"
Someone was making a move against Zi Mo, and naturally he couldn't just stand by and watch. After all, Zi Mo was under his control now.
"If she can't restore my junior brother to how he was, then that is her fate!" Bi Xiuming's expression was grim.
"Your junior brother probably doesn't have that kind of fortune!" Yang Kai smiled faintly. "She's already my servant!"
Zi Mo's chest heaved, her face flushing—yet she couldn't argue. Calling her Yang Kai's servant was honestly an upgrade. Her life was literally in his hands; what was there to say?
Though she gritted her teeth, Zi Mo also felt that this man's infuriating behavior somehow made it impossible to truly hate him—because right now, he was standing up for her.
The others were stunned by his words. They watched Zi Mo in disbelief as she failed to deny it, their eyes wide as they looked back and forth between her and Yang Kai. How was this possible?
The three of them had ended up in Yao He and Yao Xi's hands, living in humiliation and enduring endless suffering. But the dynamic between Yang Kai and Zi Mo was completely reversed. How? How had he pulled that off?
A slightly unnatural expression flickered across Leng Shan's face. Strictly speaking, her status was the same as Zi Mo's.
"My servant—only I get to decide whether she lives or dies. You don't have that right." Yang Kai had long since grown fed up with Bi Xiuming, and now he let it all out at once.
"Heh heh…" Bi Xiuming sneered, looking at Yang Kai with contempt. "Looks like you've been bewitched by this Heavenly Wolf vixen until you can't tell which side you should be on anymore. Going to bat for her like this—have you become one of her kept men? Well, I suppose that figures. She's obviously a seductress, a woman who'll spread her legs for anyone. What's the loss if she lets you have your fun a few times?"
The women all frowned. Bi Xiuming's words had been far too crude and offensive—no one could stomach them.
Zi Mo's face drained of color with fury, her delicate body trembling. Though she might appear wanton and gave off that impression through her words and manner, only those who truly knew her understood that she was still, in every sense, a young maiden.
"Move aside! I'm going to kill him!" Zi Mo bit down on her pearly teeth, her eyes filled with venom as she stared at Bi Xiuming, her expression ice cold.
Being humiliated to this degree left no room for reconciliation.
"You cannot strike first!" Yang Kai shot her a cold glance. She was, after all, from Heavenly Wolf. Even if her strength surpassed Bi Xiuming's and she could defeat him, the moment she made a move, the people from the Han Dynasty wouldn't stand by idly—and things would get very difficult to contain.
"I don't care! I want him dead!" Zi Mo was on the verge of losing control, her True Yuan surging violently within her.
"Get back!" Yang Kai barked.
Zi Mo's expression froze, and much of her fury subsided involuntarily. She was clever enough to understand what Yang Kai was concerned about. Leng Shan, reading the situation, quickly rushed forward and pulled Zi Mo away. Both of them had suffered the agony of having their souls tortured and knew Yang Kai's temperament well. If they truly went against his wishes, they'd likely face that torture again.
Bi Xiuming watched Zi Mo with a cold, sinister expression, practically itching for a fight.
"Senior brother, we can't let her go!" Bi Xiuming's junior brother was shouting again from the side.