When Yang Kai arrived at the Boss's chambers, he raised his hand to knock, and a cold voice immediately came from inside: "Get in here!"
Yang Kai flinched, realizing Old Bai hadn't been exaggerating — the Boss's mood really did seem sour. That tone was genuinely unnerving.
But he'd been sent out on errands, so he had nothing to fear. He pushed the door open and stepped inside. "Boss, I'm back."
Inside, the Boss sat upright in her chair, casting him a sideways glance, her face icy cold. Hearing his words, she let out a hollow laugh. "You've still got the nerve to come back? You're not ashamed to show your face?" She slammed her palm down on the table and shouted, "Why didn't you just die out there!"
It was you who told me to go pick Snow Sky Wisp! And now you're saying this. Yang Kai's anger flared, his fists clenching as he was about to fire back — but then he remembered how she had rushed to the Wind and Cloud Auction House to rescue him and Old Bai last time, and he forcefully suppressed his fury. Without a word, he stepped forward. "Boss, I brought back what you wanted."
"What I wanted? What did I want?" The Boss gritted her pearly teeth, looking as though she wanted to tear a chunk of flesh from Yang Kai's body. But the moment she finished speaking, her small mouth fell open, and she stared blankly at a bamboo basket sitting on the table.
The basket was filled with fruits the size of an infant's fist, deep red verging on black, their fragrant aroma wafting through the air. They looked incredibly fresh, as if they had just been plucked moments ago.
"Snow Sky Wisp?" The Boss was stunned, her entire fury vanishing in an instant. She murmured in disbelief, "Where did you get these?"
Yang Kai scoffed. "Where else could I have gotten them?"
The Boss shot to her feet, shock written across her face. "You went to the Nine Nether Continent?"
Yang Kai replied irritably, "Obviously. This is a specialty of the Nine Nether Continent. If I didn't go there, where else would I have gone?"
"You've been missing all this time — you went to the Nine Nether Continent?" The Boss still couldn't quite believe it, her eyes round as saucers.
"Where else did you think I went?" Yang Kai shot her an irritated look — only to notice that the Boss actually had traces of guilt and lingering fear swimming in her eyes. He was momentarily startled, having no idea what she could possibly feel guilty or afraid about.
"How did you get to the Nine Nether Continent?" the Boss asked.
"How else? Just like—" Yang Kai's words caught in his throat. He suddenly realized this was going to be difficult to explain. He didn't have a flying Artifact powerful enough to withstand the tearing force of Domain Gates, so how could he have traversed them? If he told the Boss he'd done it with his bare body, she probably wouldn't believe him. He decided not to bother explaining and waved his hand instead. "If you want to eat them, eat them now. They won't stay fresh for long. I'm going to rest."
He cupped his fists, turned, and made for the door.
But the moment he lifted his foot, someone seized his collar from behind. He turned his head to find the Boss had somehow already appeared behind him, gripping his clothes.
"What the — hey, why are you stripping me?!" Yang Kai's face went pale with alarm. There was no other way to describe it — the Boss had grabbed him and tossed him onto the bed, pinning him down with one hand while the other went to work undoing his clothes.
What sort of madness was this woman pulling? He tried to resist, but against a Sixth-Order Open Heaven cultivator, he couldn't muster even a shred of force, let alone fight back. In a matter of seconds, his clothes were peeled open.
"Have you lost your mind?!" Yang Kai roared, eyes blazing with fury. This was a first — what kind of woman pins a man to a bed and forcibly strips him?
He glared up at her, only to find the Boss's expression blank, her gaze fixed intently on his exposed chest and abdomen. Then she reached out a hand and gently touched his skin.
Her touch was warm, sending a shiver through him. Yang Kai couldn't help letting out a couple of involuntary sounds of pleasure, and his resolve to resist wavered considerably. But then he hissed in pain — the Boss had touched one of his wounds.
Though his physical body was extraordinarily powerful, and he had used the Spatial Laws to mitigate the danger, every traversal through the Domain Gates left him battered and covered in wounds. They weren't serious injuries — just unsightly in appearance — and a few days of rest would be enough for a full recovery.
He had come straight to see the Boss the moment he got back without pausing to rest, so the wounds hadn't healed yet.
"You forced your way through the Domain Gates?" The Boss stared at Yang Kai in disbelief.
Yang Kai shoved her away, stood up, and buttoned his clothes back on with a snort. "What else was I supposed to do?"
"Are you insane?!" the Boss scolded sharply. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? What if — what if—"
"Wasn't it you who told me to go?" Yang Kai straightened his disheveled clothes without looking up.
"I—" The Boss was struck speechless, at a total loss for words. She had indeed asked Yang Kai to go to the Nine Nether Continent and pick some Snow Sky Wisp, but she never meant for him to force his way through the Domain Gates. If Yang Kai had agreed, she would have found him a flying Artifact for protection. But Yang Kai had refused at the time — only to go on his own, leaving her to believe he had left in a huff. She had been in a terrible mood ever since.
"Boss, do you have any other orders? If not, I'll go rest now. The journey was exhausting." Yang Kai cupped his fists and asked. Seeing that she only stared at him blankly without responding, he couldn't be bothered to deal with her further, nodded, and turned to leave.
As he opened the door, Yang Kai paused. In the courtyard, the accounting clerk was clattering away at his golden abacus, while Old Bai and the Cook huddled together, muttering in low, solemn voices. The Cook nodded from time to time.