"Miss Shi, it seems you really are quite the actress." Jiang Chen regarded her with a half-smile, his eyes full of amusement.
Had his spiritual sense not been exceptionally powerful, allowing him to pick up on certain telltale signs in advance, he might very well have been fooled by Shi Qinglu's entire performance — her expressions, her movements, all of it.
Shi Qinglu had previously put on a show of utter despair, the picture of total capitulation. She had handed over the antidote without a shred of resistance, and offered up the Trial Orb just as freely.
By any normal person's logic, one would assume that Shi Qinglu, as the losing party, was simply doing the natural thing by surrendering her spoils.
Jiang Chen had initially thought the same. But the moment his hand touched the Storage Ring, a faint fluctuation rippled through the chain seal in his sea of consciousness — a warning.
That premonition had put him instantly on guard, and it was precisely that early reaction that allowed him to dodge the silver needle attack.
He had to admit — Shi Qinglu was a genuinely troublesome opponent.
Had it been anyone other than him, had it been any of the other geniuses from the Ten Great Sacred Lands, they would almost certainly have fallen victim to her endless barrage of tricks.
There was no Trial Orb inside that Storage Ring at all.
Jiang Chen's brow furrowed, his voice growing even more cold and detached. "Miss Shi, it seems you really can't help yourself. I gave you a chance, and you didn't cherish it. In that case, I suppose I can't afford to be merciful."
The chill in Jiang Chen's tone told Shi Qinglu that she had truly enraged him this time. Her heart sank with a heavy thud.
"What… what are you going to do?" In that moment, all trace of the Poison Consort's usual aura had vanished entirely. She looked like nothing more than a helpless young woman, genuine terror flowing through her eyes.
If Jiang Chen truly intended to do something to her right now, she would be utterly powerless to resist — crying out to heaven would bring no answer, crying out to the earth would yield no help.
As for what came after? What of it? Once they left this island, she, Shi Qinglu, could do nothing to him. Could she really drag the Hundred Sacred Lands into a dispute with the Eternal Sacred Land over this?
If the details of this incident ever got out, not only would she have no leg to stand on — the sheer humiliation would be unbearable.
"Do what?" Jiang Chen let out a menacing laugh. "I'll strip you bare and search you myself, of course. Hoping you'd cooperate honestly — I suppose I overestimated your sincerity."
The words "strip you bare" sent a jolt of terror through Shi Qinglu that nearly stopped her heart. Everything she had displayed inside the Seven-Colored Silk Array had been nothing but an illusion — her true body had never been there at all.
Despite her reputation as the Poison Consort, despite the fact that she cultivated the art of innate allure, the truth was that she valued her chastity above all else.
If a man were to strip her naked in a place like this, it would be a stain she could never wash away for the rest of her life.
"Jiang Chen, if you lay even a finger on me, I will never forgive you for as long as I live. Even as a ghost in my next life, I will haunt you for this."
It was a vicious threat, but in a situation like this, those words sounded painfully hollow.
Jiang Chen stepped closer, his gaze cold and piercing as he stared down at Shi Qinglu. "I gave you a chance. You didn't take it. You know what they call that? Refusing a toast only to drink a forfeit. Isn't that right?"
With that, he raised his hand high and brought it down in a firm slap squarely across Shi Qinglu's backside.
*Smack!*
Though she was still clothed, the slap rang out with startling clarity. Jiang Chen hadn't used any Divine Ability, nor had he infused it with any hidden energy.
It was a genuine, honest-to-goodness spanking — the kind a parent might give a unruly child, one solid smack delivered without pretense.