Hearing Shan Qingluo's questioning, those men cried inwardly, cold sweat beading on their foreheads. How could they have run into this demoness here? Heaven had no eyes!
"I wouldn't dare!" Guo Yuanming swallowed hard. "Allow me to explain, my lady — we were merely tracking a group of Zhenyuan Realm martial artists who intruded upon the sacred grounds. We had no intention of offending your noble presence. We deserve death a thousand times over!"
"Oh, is that so..." Shan Qingluo replied flatly, her voice dripping with a languid, alluring tone. To those men's ears, far from sounding pleasant, it was like thorns pressed against their spines. Every one of them broke into a cold sweat and didn't dare make a sound.
Shan Qingluo raised a delicate finger in a leisurely orchid gesture, lightly tracing one of her nails, her expression detached. "Since you know you deserve death, why haven't you acted on it yet? Or would you prefer that I send you on your way?"
Guo Yuanming's entire body went rigid with trembling, and with a thud he dropped to his knees, slamming his forehead to the ground. A chill coursed from the crown of his head to the tips of his toes.
Behind him, his men were drenched in cold sweat as well, great beads of perspiration rolling down from their temples and trickling through their collars into their chests.
Yang Kai's eyes flickered as he stood silently behind Shan Qingluo.
This was the first time he had witnessed this demoness's methods firsthand. The sheer overwhelming authority was breathtaking!
So this was the true bewitching queen in all her glory?
Though he didn't fully understand the situation, Yang Kai guessed that Shan Qingluo had some grudge against the master of these experts, which was why she was bullying them without so much as an explanation.
Moreover, with her current strength greatly diminished, she was probably using this preemptive display of dominance to scare them off.
"Hee hee..." Shan Qingluo suddenly let out a light, feminine laugh and called over to them, "Get up. I was only joking with you. Don't take it so seriously — how boring..."
Guo Yuanming didn't dare move a muscle. He would never believe the words of a woman like Shan Qingluo. What if he stood up only to be killed on the spot?
He could only kowtow repeatedly, saying, "Thank you for your mercy, my lady! Thank you for not killing us!"
Shan Qingluo cast a cold glance their way, her voice turning frigid as she snorted: "Go back and deliver a message to your master. The business from last month — sooner or later, I'll settle accounts with him properly. Get lost!"
Guo Yuanming felt as if he'd received a pardon from death. He scrambled to his feet, keeping his head low as he retreated, saying respectfully, "Rest assured, my lady! Your message will be delivered without fail!"
"Within ten breaths, if you haven't left my line of sight, you'll stay here forever!"
Whoosh whoosh whoosh...
Six or seven men shot off with the wind beneath their feet, using every ounce of strength they had. They fled in a panic and vanished in the blink of an eye.
"Hmph!" Shan Qingluo snorted coldly, then turned. "Let's go!"
Yang Kai hurried after her, greatly impressed by the demoness's methods and the commanding presence she had just displayed.
Shan Qingluo quickened her pace with every step, and after a moment she was flying through the air with the speed of the wind.
"Why are you rushing so fast? Didn't you already fool them?" Yang Kai chased after her, puzzled.
"That was only temporary. Guo Yuanming is a deeply calculating man — it's only a matter of time before he sees through the ruse. My relationship with the Thunder Beast King is far from cordial. I was injured before because he ambushed me with his men. Those were the Beast King's subordinates — if they catch us, it's all over!" Shan Qingluo explained in a hurried whisper, her feet never stopping as she crossed over a dozen zhang in the blink of an eye.
"My, my..." Yang Kai's expression turned peculiar. "You are an Evil King, after all. The Thunder Beast King holds the same rank, yet he dared to ambush you with his men. Unless there was some incredibly serious conflict of interest, he must have coveted your beauty. The allure of a beautiful woman really is powerful!"
"Shut your mouth!" Shan Qingluo shot him a glare, her face turning as cold as ice.
Yang Kai shrugged and said nothing more.
...
Guo Yuanming and his six or seven companions had fled a good dozen li before suddenly coming to a halt.
"What's wrong, Brother Guo?" asked a Shenyou Realm second-level expert, looking at him.
Guo Yuanming's brow was deeply furrowed. He glanced back toward the direction Shan Qingluo had gone, then seemed to reach a realization. "Did any of you notice that something was off about that demoness today?"
"Off? How so?"
"She let us go that easily?" The more Guo Yuanming thought about it, the more suspicious he became. "Our lord personally led an ambush against her just last month. Setting aside whatever grudges existed between them before that — just based on that battle alone, running into her today should not have ended well for us at all."
"Then why did she let us go?"
Guo Yuanming stroked his chin in thought, then said hesitantly, "I've heard that even though they failed to capture the demoness in that battle, she took a hit from our lord's technique."
"Now that you mention it, I did sense that her aura seemed somewhat unstable. Could she have been seriously wounded in that fight and still hasn't recovered?"
"Our lord's techniques are not so easily neutralized." Guo Yuanming's eyes lit up. "She must be gravely injured — otherwise there's no reason she would have let us go so easily! I still remember half a year ago, Brother Yuan, when your younger brother was killed on the spot by that demoness simply for looking at her... The demoness is ruthless and cruel. Since when does she speak so reasonably?"
Hearing this, a flash of venomous resentment crossed Yuan Shi's sinister face. He let out a cold snort. "If it weren't for the fact that their lineage cultivates a special technique — one that allows the previous queen to pass down the majority of her cultivation — she wouldn't have such powerful strength! A little girl like her, I would have killed long ago!"
Guo Yuanming's eyes darted back and forth, and a sly grin spread across his face. "Brother Yuan, if you want revenge for your brother, this might just be the chance you've been waiting for!"