"Seduction technique?" Yang Kai's brow furrowed as a possibility occurred to him. Only a seduction technique could explain the current situation — explain the way he was feeling right now. Otherwise, how could a woman he'd met by chance, who had clearly plotted against him with ill intentions, leave him so torn apart inside?
Li Shiqing simply smiled without a word.
Yang Kai glared at her viciously, his gaze enough to devour a person, the killing intent radiating from him so thick it was almost tangible. Anyone else facing this sort of situation would have been terrified out of their wits, yet Li Shiqing seemed utterly incapable of knowing fear. Even with Yang Kai's hand clamped around her throat, pinning her against the tree trunk, her smile never once faded — only the slight furrow of her delicate brows betrayed the pain she was in.
"I'll ask you one last time — what exactly did you do to me?" Yang Kai's voice was icy enough to freeze bone, like a glacial wind blowing off a snow-capped mountain that had stood since the dawn of time.
Sensing his impatience, Li Shiqing hesitated for a moment before finally pursing her lips and saying, "Heart Seal!"
"What's a Heart Seal?" Yang Kai's frown deepened.
"Hearts intertwined, two souls flying as one!" Li Shiqing answered with a radiant smile.
Yang Kai's brow creased even further. "You're telling me I've been placed under this Heart Seal secret technique, and now I'm supposed to be devoted to you?"
"Can't you feel it for yourself?" Li Shiqing teased, gazing at him. "Besides, the feeling goes both ways. Whatever you're feeling right now, I'm feeling the exact same thing."
Yang Kai's eyes went wide. What kind of bullshit technique was this — one that could forcibly bind two strangers together, making them both suffer? If it were one-directional, that would be one thing; there'd be plenty of uses for that. But the fact that Li Shiqing herself was also bound by this secret technique — no wonder the woman's eyes had looked odd from the start. So that was why.
"Happy, are you?" Li Shiqing suddenly asked.
Yang Kai kept his expression flat. "Look at me — does anything about me look even remotely happy?"
"Your lips just curled up," Li Shiqing said, blinking her big eyes at him.
"Bullshit!" Yang Kai denied immediately.
Li Shiqing pouted reproachfully. "Can you not be so fierce? You're being so mean it hurts."
"Who are you flirting with?" Yang Kai shot her a sidelong glance. When he'd first woken her up, he'd genuinely thought this woman had a cold and haughty temperament. Now that he was actually getting to know her, he realized he'd been completely blind — there wasn't a trace of coldness or haughtiness left in her.
Perhaps his words had been a bit harsh. Li Shiqing glared at him resentfully, her beautiful eyes brimming with grievance.
Yang Kai's hand around her throat clenched and unclenched several times, the muscles in his arm straining. In the end, he couldn't bring himself to do it. He hated himself for it — he clearly had the resolve to kill her and eliminate a future threat, yet he simply couldn't make his hand follow through. He released his grip and snapped, "Put your clothes on before we talk." Having her walk around naked wasn't exactly practical. Even if he tried not to look, that expanse of pale skin kept distracting him no matter what.
Li Shiqing rubbed her throat and coughed a few times, then retrieved her clothes from her spatial ring and shoved them toward Yang Kai.
"What are you doing?" Yang Kai said impatiently.
"Help me get dressed!" Li Shiqing replied with a bright smile.
"Get lost!" Yang Kai sneered without hesitation. He was already fuming inside, and this woman wanted him to help her get dressed? Keep dreaming.
"Are you going to help me or not?" Li Shiqing asked, gazing at him stubbornly.
Yang Kai snorted. "And if I don't? What then?" You can't force a bull to drink even if you push its head down.
Li Shiqing studied him seriously for a moment, then suddenly tossed the clothes onto the ground, turned around, and flew off in the direction they'd come from.
Yang Kai stood rooted to the spot, stunned. It took him a good while to snap out of it. His figure flickered, space rippled around him, and in a few bounds he was blocking Li Shiqing's path. Through gritted teeth, he demanded, "What do you think you're doing?"
"Going back," Li Shiqing replied matter-of-factly. "They're all so worried about me, aren't they?"
Yang Kai nearly bulged his eyes out of his head as he looked her up and down. "You're going back like *that*?"
Li Shiqing smiled sweetly. "What about it?"
"Have you lost your mind?" Yang Kai had absolutely no idea what to say to her. Sure, most of the people over there were women, and the only man was blind — but running around naked? What kind of propriety was that? And more to the point, Gao Zhan might be blind, but he had the cultivation of an Emperor Realm master. One sweep of his divine sense and he'd see everything. The thought of that possibility made Yang Kai's chest tighten with frustration.
"Then help me get dressed!" Li Shiqing said with a look of smug triumph.
Yang Kai's expression became a spectacular display of conflicting emotions. He gritted his teeth for a long, agonizing moment before finally exploding: "You're a goddamn lunatic!"
With that, he flashed over, seized Li Shiqing's delicate hand, and dragged her back toward the lake.
Li Shiqing let him pull her along, her face suffused with tender affection, her smiling expression that of a general celebrating a great victory.
Back at the lake, Yang Kai picked up the clothes she'd thrown on the ground earlier and fumbled with them for a good while before finally figuring out how women's clothing was supposed to go on — when had he ever helped a woman get dressed? He'd always been the one taking them off.
The process inevitably involved some accidental contact. Yang Kai fought down the flutter in his chest, enduring every agonizing second, but Li Shiqing had to go and add fuel to the fire with shameless timing: "If you want to touch, go ahead. I don't mind."
Yang Kai's mental defenses collapsed instantly. In for a penny, in for a pound — he abandoned all his remaining reservations and let his hands wander, deliberately or otherwise taking full advantage. Li Shiqing's breath grew ragged in response, a blush spreading across her cheeks.