Pei Yuhang had once asked his master if there was anything in this world that was truly destined to happen.
For example, were two people fated to et, or to fall in love, or to hate one another, or to be tangled together for the rest of their lives, inseparable.
On a sweltering sumr night, his master had fanned Pei Yuhang with a cattail fan and said, "In the grand sche of things, there is indeed fate, but success still depends on human effort."
"As Cultivators, what we cultivate is a defiance of fate. So-called change exists for the very purpose of fighting against one's own destiny."
...
"You're not bad. I'll take you."
A slight smile played on Shang Miaoyan's red lips, as if she had finally found a toy that she genuinely adored at first sight.
She extended a slender, pale finger and poked frivolously at Pei Yuhang's face. As her fingertip traced his tense jawline, she deliberately pressed harder.
Seeing his Adam's apple bob unconsciously in pain, Shang Miaoyan felt a strange sense of excitent.
She leaned in close, her breath as fragrant as an orchid. "What, are you scared?"
Pei Yuhang lowered his gaze and said nothing, his long lashes casting shadows on his pale face.
But Shang Miaoyan laughed aloud, as if she had just discovered so amusing new curiosity.
She pinched his chin, forcing him to look up and et her gaze.
"Looking at this face up close, I can't find a single flaw. How strange. Why is it that there isn't a single thing about you that I dislike?"
Her fingertip lingered over the pulse point on the side of Pei Yuhang's fair, slender neck. Feeling the rapid beat, her eyes glinted with the pleasure of a cat toying with a mouse.
Fan Xuan had never seen Shang Miaoyan so interested in anyone, let alone a man of low status. She pressed her lips together and said softly,
"Your Highness, are you certain you want to choose him? His foundational physique... is a bit too poor.
"Although he has managed to condense so Spiritual Qi in his body, it's too scattered. His future prospects are limited... though he is admittedly a bit easy on the eyes," she added in a small voice.
Fan Xuan seed to be arguing on Shang Miaoyan's behalf, urging the Holy Daughter to reconsider carefully.
After all, this would be the first Cauldron Slave for a Yin Yang Dao Cultivator on their path of cultivation. It was not a decision to be taken lightly.
Fan Ya also spoke up softly from the side, advising Shang Miaoyan to look at a few more candidates.
The Elder had instructed her to keep a close eye on the Saintess and not let her act on a whim.
However, Shang Miaoyan waved her hand impatiently and said coldly, "My mind is made up. Are you questioning my judgnt?
"He's just a Cauldron Slave. As long as he's pleasing to the eye, it's fine. My talent is peerless. Even relying on my own comprehension alone, I'm more than capable of looking down on all the geniuses in the world."
After speaking, Shang Miaoyan frivolously hooked Pei Yuhang's chin with her fingertip.
"Right now, I'm just picking out a 'little pet' that's pleasant and interesting to look at."
"What's your na?"
"...Pei Yuhang."
"From now on, you'll be called Xiaohan."
Shang Miaoyan chuckled. Her finger finally left his chin, only to pat his cheek lightly, as if marking her new pet.
Before turning away, she deliberately brushed the pad of her finger across the corner of his lips, her eyes filled with malicious glee.
"Go sit with Fan Xuan in the front. Co back to my residence with ."
She gave a lazy wave, then drew the curtain, her figure disappearing into the carriage, leaving behind only a faint, lingering fragrance.
Fan Xuan walked over. Her expression was cold, and her almond-shaped eyes swept over Pei Yuhang with a hint of scrutiny before she spoke, her words as precious as gold:
"Co here."
Pei Yuhang glanced at her and breathed a quiet sigh of relief.
'Being near Fan Xuan, this long-legged girl who seems cold but is actually quite simple, is much more comfortable than being around that wicked, unpredictable woman, Shang Miaoyan.'
'At least she won't toy with so wantonly with her fingertips like her master does.'
He followed behind Fan Xuan, his gaze inadvertently sweeping across her profile as they sat down together at the front of the carriage.
Fan Xuan's expression remained cold, but the tips of her ears were slightly red, and she pressed her long legs together a little more tightly.
Clearly, she was not used to being so close to a man.
...
...
After Pei Yuhang was brought back to Shang Miaoyan's residence, things were a little different from his past life. Because he hadn't revealed his talent this ti, the Maids in the Saintess Hall no longer treated him as a "Young Master."
Unlike in his past life, Shang Miaoyan wasn't filled with a desire to conquer him. She didn't launch surprise attacks on him at night, rely coming over to tease him a bit during the day when she had nothing better to do.
It was as if she were truly just keeping a pet.
Realizing he wasn't being taken very seriously, Pei Yuhang felt a surge of joy. 'I might still have a chance to escape this place.'
'I will not believe in fate.'
Pei Yuhang would—change his own destiny!
So what if he had t Shang Miaoyan again?
He would never again fall into the hands of that wicked woman!!
In his past life, Pei Yuhang had studied countless escape opportunities, made over a thousand plans, and put them into practice 314 tis.
One hundred and sixty-eight of those tis, he didn't even make it past the vermilion threshold of the Saintess Hall.
On those occasions, Shang Miaoyan would always be watching him as he was caught, a mocking smile on her face.
"Xiaohan's been naughty again. It looks like Miaoyan needs to put a proper leash on... no, that's not right. I need to 'correct' him~"
Her sighing tone held a chilling tenderness, and she would imdiately drag him back to the inner chambers for so "bad boy correction training" that could not be spoken of to outsiders.
Another one hundred and thirty-two tis, Pei Yuhang was lucky enough to bypass the multiple Restrictions of the Saintess Hall and successfully escape into the Sect's grounds.
But before he could escape the Yin Yang Sacred Land completely, he would always be captured by the female disciples responsible for patrols or pursuits within the Sect.
At those tis, Shang Miaoyan would arrive gracefully, settling everything with a flick of her jade-like fingers.
"My Xiaohan has caused you so trouble. As for the Sect... there's no need for you to report this."
After dismissing those disciples with Spirit Stones, Shang Miaoyan would turn around and drag him back to her bedchambers for even stricter private confinent.
Two more tis, Pei Yuhang got incredibly close to the Yin Yang Sacred Land's Sect Teleportation Array, on the verge of flying free like a bird in the vast sky. On one final occasion, he even escaped the Demon Cave completely.
But in the end, he was still apprehended by a Female Cultivator from the Yin Yang Sacred Land and brought back.
Because the repercussions of those three escape attempts were too severe for even Shang Miaoyan to cover up, Pei Yuhang was handed directly over to the Yin Yang Sacred Land's Ministry of Justice for punishnt.
Pei Yuhang was tortured with all sorts of punishnts inside. Although Shang Miaoyan intervened to prevent his execution, he still suffered imnsely.
He only rembered that after each punishnt ended, he would drag his blood-and-gri-covered body out, and as the warm sunlight he hadn't felt for days bathed his skin, Shang Miaoyan would be standing outside the Ministry of Justice's dungeon, her eyes glistening with tears, looking at his miserable state with such heartache that, for a mont, she couldn't even bring herself to scold him.
"You... why are you so stubborn? Enjoying wealth and luxury in the Saintess Hall, a beauty in your bed, a long life ahead of you—isn't that better than your poor, backwater mountain ravine!"
In the end, Shang Miaoyan would comfort him instead, carefully bandaging his wounds.
At those tis, although Pei Yuhang's body was exhausted, in pain, and covered in filth, his eyes were bright and full of hope.
Because in his eyes, he was one step closer to completely breaking free from this cage.
As for the final ti, it was with Fan Xuan's help that he truly managed to escape and et the Naless Daoist.
As an escape artist, he had studied the maps of the Yin Yang Sacred Land tens of thousands of tis. Perhaps even the Cultivator in charge of the Sect's surveillance Arrays knew less about the layout of the Sacred Land's buildings and streets than he did.
Having been reborn, even though his initial plan had gone slightly awry, Pei Yuhang was still fully confident in his ability to escape from Shang Miaoyan's side.
He gazed at the blue sky outside his window, preparing himself to escape this cage within the next six months.
However, this ti... because he hadn't revealed the value of his Giant Sun Saint Body, if he was caught escaping, he would most likely be executed on the spot.
But it didn't matter. Even if he only had one chance.
It would be enough.
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