When Ling Qingyue instantly teleported right in front of her, Meng Li looked at her Shizun now standing before her. On the sharp longsword in Ling Qingyue’s hand, Meng Li could already see her own reflection. The psychological pressure finally overwhelmed her completely.
“N-No! I don’t want to die!”
Saying this, Meng Li scrambled up from the ground. Ignoring her kneeling-numb legs, she ran towards the bright light of the exit. In her heart, she couldn’t help thinking—maybe she had been wrong from the very beginning.
She was still treating all of this as a game. If it was just a game to her, then how could a powerhouse like Ling Qingyue—who had been treated as a game character and toyed with for ten whole years—possibly let her off so easily?
“You’re leaving just like that?”
Just one sentence. Meng Li, who had been only a few steps from the door, instantly widened her eyes. Her body involuntarily collapsed straight forward. Her legs seemed to have lost all control.
“No! No!”
Right now, Meng Li’s tears flowed uncontrollably down her cheeks. Feeling her utterly numb legs, she had no idea what method Ling Qingyue had used. No matter if she pounded or pulled, there was zero sensation.
“Just this alone makes you scared enough to run? What you did to me was far more than this…”
“Shi… Shizun! I won’t run! I won’t run! I-I haven’t done anything else either!”
“Yes, the current you hasn’t. But when you were pinning me beneath you, humiliating me… that was not the face you wore.”
“Shi… Shizun, what are you talking about? How could I ever dare humiliate you?! Shizun, I’m just an insignificant, ordinary disciple!”
“Heh, of course you dared. In fact, you dared the most…”
Ling Qingyue raised her longsword high. Meng Li forced a bitter smile, trying one last time to talk her way out. But as Ling Qingyue’s sword descended, Meng Li thought her life had ended.
“I told you. Everything you did to me, I will recover piece by piece…”
Meng Li felt the cold metal brush past her skin. Ling Qingyue’s sword returned to its sheath. A mere two seconds later, the clothes on Meng Li’s body instantly burst into shreds. Her soft, petite body was left exposed to the air.
“Ah…! M-My clothes… Why was it just my clothes?”
“Obviously to repay you for what you did to me. Why are you surprised? Isn’t this something you frequently did…”
“Eh?”
Meng Li stood there dumbfounded. As someone who had crossed over, she naturally knew exactly what that “thing” was. But looking at the peerlessly beautiful Shizun before her, the fear on her face was slowly replaced by another thought: Could this even be counted as a punishment?
Facing Ling Qingyue who was drawing closer step by step, although Meng Li’s eyes still held a trace of fear, her inner state had completely shifted from before. For some unknown reason, she even felt a tiny bit of anticipation deep in her heart. But to avoid raising suspicion, she still maintained a look of innocent terror.
“Shi… Shizun… Your disciple has only just come to know you, right?”
Ling Qingyue didn’t answer her question. But what came next—a push devoid of any gentleness—shattered Meng Li’s fantasy. Her entire body flew straight onto the ice bed beside them. The hard ice bed had no cushioning whatsoever; Meng Li was simply tossed onto it.
“It hurts! Ah~! So cold!”
“That’s enough to make it hurt? It’s going to hurt much more in a moment…”
“Huh?!”
Hearing the suggestive words from Ling Qingyue’s mouth, an ominous premonition rose in Meng Li’s heart. After all, her current body was extremely weak. Struggling to sit up, all she wanted right now was to get off this ice bed.
At the moment, Meng Li was only wearing two pieces of close-fitting underclothes. Although the temperature of the ice bed wasn’t bone-chilling cold, it still made her very uncomfortable.
“Shi… Shizun, I’m a coward. You can’t toy with me like this!”
Meng Li carefully tried to sit up. Ling Qingyue didn’t speak, only staring at her icily. Meng Li tentatively tried to leave the ice bed, but the moment her petite toes touched the ground, she was forced back onto the bed by an invisible force.
“Shi! Shizun!”
At this point, Meng Li had absolutely no idea what the other intended to do. Ling Qingyue used just one hand to pin Meng Li’s wrists above her head. With a flick of her fingertip, the strings of the dudou that Meng Li was wearing came loose.
“Doing what you like to do. What are you afraid of…”
“I-I’ve never liked doing this kind of thing!”
“Right. Indeed, the present you never has…”
“!!!”
Ling Qingyue completely ignored the puzzled Meng Li. She slowly parted her lips and gradually bent down. Right now, Meng Li had completely forgotten the pain and the cold. She didn’t understand what this Shizun of hers was trying to do.
“Shizun? You… What are you doing?”
The moment the questioning words left her mouth, Meng Li felt a sting on her shoulder. She couldn’t help but widen her eyes, looking at Ling Qingyue, who had bitten down on her shoulder.
This sudden turn of events had completely bewildered Meng Li. She didn’t dare move a muscle. But Ling Qingyue didn’t intend to stop there. After slowly releasing, she looked at the faintly pink bite mark and extended the tip of her tongue for a gentle lick.
“Shi-Shizun! What are you doing!!”
“No reaction… because it’s too small, huh…”
Meng Li was now thoroughly terrified by this unpredictable Ling Qingyue, having absolutely no idea what the other might do next. Ling Qingyue, however, looked expressionlessly at the Meng Li she had pinned beneath her.
“What’s the matter, Shizun~? Is this the limit of your means to please someone? How about your disciple shows you ‘lotus blooming on the tip of the tongue’~?”
“!!!”
Ling Qingyue’s mind wavered for a moment. It was as if she saw again that treacherous disciple Meng Li whom she loathed to the bone. Even the Meng Li beneath her seemed to have transformed into that grown-up version.
A pair of deep purple eyes that bewitched the heart. A head of somewhat coy pink long hair. Every glance seemed filled with authentic affection, luring her, calling out ‘Shizun’ over and over, displaying everything most beautiful to her, only to betray her when she was most alone and helpless.
“Unfilial disciple!”
【Jade Finger Maiming Art: Heaven’s Decree】
In an instant, a terrifying aura erupted around Ling Qingyue’s entire body. Even her silver-gray pupils gradually gained a red glint. Meanwhile, Meng Li, pinned beneath her Shizun, was about to be driven insane.
“Wuwuwu… damn it, can’t you just get it over with? Every time you build up emotions it’s exhausting… wuwuwu”
Meng Li felt her breathing grow increasingly difficult. Ling Qingyue, her face murderous, was choking Meng Li’s neck. Meng Li didn’t understand why Shizun suddenly wanted to kill her again. But from Ling Qingyue’s perspective…
The Meng Li pinned beneath her had long turned into the grown-up version. Even though she was choking her by the neck, the other’s face still wore that smile she was all too familiar with—a smile full of mockery and pity.
“Indeed, no matter how strong you are, Shizun, you’re still just Shizun~ Are you going to kill me~?”
“Un… unfilial disciple… do you admit your crimes…!”
Even though she could crush the other out of existence with a mere twitch of her fingers, Ling Qingyue felt as if she were choking her own throat. A powerful sense of suffocation surged up within her.
“Come on, kill me. Kill this me, who amounts to no more than a speck of dust. It’s so easy for you, isn’t it, Shizun~?”
“Shut up!!”
With a furious roar from Ling Qingyue, the surrounding hallucination vanished without a trace. Ling Qingyue urgently snapped back to clarity, as if she had returned again to those ten powerless years. She took a deep breath and heard sobbing sounds from underneath her.
“Why are you crying…”
“Thought of something sad… wuwuwu…”
Meng Li’s face could no longer produce tears or saliva. Her petite body, tormented like this, was already drenched in fragrant sweat. Ling Qingyue glanced at the slightly reddened mark on Meng Li’s neck.
“Ah… just now was a small test for you. You passed…”
Expressionless, Ling Qingyue descended from the bed as if nothing had happened. Meng Li watched this nominal Shizun of hers, who couldn’t even be bothered to come up with a reasonable excuse.
“What kind of test takes place on a bed…”
Facing Ling Qingyue, who was calmly drinking tea off to the side, Meng Li naturally didn’t dare voice this aloud. She could only complain in her heart.
As for Ling Qingyue, although she appeared composed on the surface, the trembling teacup in her hand had already exposed her state. She simply couldn’t understand how, with her Mahayana Stage cultivation, she could still be deceived by a mere illusion.
“Should I kill her…”
Ling Qingyue looked at the reflection in her teacup, then glanced at Meng Li slowly climbing off the ice bed. She let out a faint, turbid sigh, then shifted her gaze to the pink silhouette beside her. The face was unclear, but the figure allowed Ling Qingyue to know exactly who it was.
“Shizun~ Be well~”
That pink silhouette gave a respectful bow before vanishing once more. Ling Qingyue slowly sipped her tea, watching her own reflection in the cup. Her ashen pupils seemed to hold a trace of red light. She set the teacup on the table beside her.
“So this is what having a Heart Devil feels like…”
