She was on the verge of being stripped bare. Zhu Yingning finally gave in, pleading repeatedly, "Please spare ! I'm truly innocent. I only ant well when I brought you a gift. You're a grown man! You can't bully a helpless woman like !"
"Cut the crap. Just tell where the Tang Sect's lair is!" Lin Tang was utterly unmoved and reached for her clothes again.
His gaze landed on a patch of her smooth, fair skin. A different kind of fire began to surge within him. He was a young man, full of vigor, and even though Lee Encai had helped him cool down a little earlier, it was rely a drop in the bucket.
Catching the scorching heat in Lin Tang's gaze, Zhu Yingning grew even more frightened. She was like a little lamb, all of her usual composure and arrogance gone. Her cheeks flushed and her back was drenched in sweat as she stamred, "I really can't say! There's no consequence for leaving the Tang Sect, but if I betray them... even if you go there just to get yourself killed and cause them no real damage, the Tang Sect will never spare a traitor like ."
"Hah. They won't spare you, but you think I will?" Lin Tang sneered.
"...You would only hurt , but the Tang Sect can go after my family." Zhu Yingning lowered her head.
To put it bluntly, no matter how capable Lin Tang was, he was still just one man with no backing or power. He could fight his enemies head-on, but if they simply hid themselves away, he would be completely lost. Zhu Yingning didn't believe he could track down all of her family mbers. The Tang Sect, however, was a different story. It had the ans to find her family no matter where they hid.
"I didn't expect soone with a heart of stone like you to have a soft spot," Lin Tang mocked, his own fire flaring. He couldn't resist continuing to strip away her clothes.
Zhu Yingning was frightened to tears, deeply regretting her decision to co here. Forget it... I'll just consider it a dog bite... She felt there was no escaping her fate of being toyed with today. The spirit in her eyes dimd.
Just as her resolve wavered, Lin Tang suddenly pressed his forehead against hers, his eyes boring into hers.
"Look at !" he commanded in a deep, authoritative voice.
Zhu Yingning's gaze t his automatically.
BOOM!
She felt her mind, like a sponge, being forcibly saturated and scrubbed by sothing unseen. It was as if her brain's CPU had been fried in an instant. She plunged into an endless void as her consciousness sank deeper and deeper, a silly smile appearing on her face.
"Tell the location of the Tang Sect's lair... Tell the location of the Tang Sect's lair..." Lin Tang whispered repeatedly, his voice a continuous hypnotic drone.
Zhu Yingning involuntarily murmured, "Western Shu... Sky Screen Mountain... AHH!"
She let out a sudden, bloodcurdling scream, as if her head were exploding. Then, with a jerk of her legs, she lost consciousness completely.
Lin Tang gasped heavily for breath, utterly exhausted. His limbs felt weak. He staggered, collapsing on top of her.
So it's true. Before reaching the Golden Core Stage, one's Divine Sense isn't yet solid. Forcing this technique makes you vulnerable to backlash! His head was buzzing, as if its contents had been stirred into mush.
"You... you... you!" Lee Encai cautiously descended the stairs. Peeking her head out, she was stunned by the scene before her.
She had heard the sounds of a violent struggle earlier and had hidden behind the door, worried. As ti passed, the sounds of combat were replaced by the rhythmic smack of a spanking. She knew Lin Tang must have won and was now interrogating his captive. But then a series of other strange noises followed, making her heart itch with curiosity. She was dying to know what they were doing. Eventually, she couldn't hold back any longer and ca down to take a look.
Damn it! Lin Tang, you beast! It's one thing to get revenge and use harsh interrogation thods on an enemy, that's normal. But to force yourself on her? Isn't that crossing a line?! It was hard to bla Lee Encai for misunderstanding. Zhu Yingning's clothes were in disarray and her dress was torn, exposing large patches of skin that seed to glow even without light. To top it off, Lin Tang was lying on top of her, gasping for breath. The scene looked like sothing straight out of an adult film.
"You can't do this!" Lee Encai rushed over and tugged with all her might, yanking Lin Tang to the floor. Losing her own balance, she tumbled right on top of him, nearly knocking the wind out of him.
"Hey! You tell not to do that to her, but then you do this to ? That's a bit of a double standard, don't you think?" Lin Tang protested.
Lee Encai scrambled to push herself up, rubbing her sore chest. How is his nose harder than the corner of a table? she grumbled internally. Her face flushed red as she retorted angrily, "I was just pulling you off her! I didn't do anything to you."
"I was just trying to wake her up," Lin Tang said weakly.
"Yeah, right. Who'd believe that?" Lee Encai found a blanket and moved to cover the scantily-clad Zhu Yingning. As she drew closer, she got a better look at Zhu Yingning's exaggerated proportions. Good heavens! Lee Encai gulped, feeling a surge of envy. She glanced down at her own chest and was overco with a sense of inferiority. Are those even real? she wondered, unable to stop herself from reaching out a hand like a pilgrim approaching a sacred relic.
Lin Tang watched her, speechless. "And you have the nerve to call out? Look at yourself, you're the sleazy one!"
"I..." Lee Encai retorted illogically, "It's different when it's between girls! It's just... friendly! Ow! Hey, why is my hand stained? Ah! It hurts! I've been poisoned! Help , save !" She flew into a panic.
TSK. Lin Tang curled his lip, too lazy to bother with her. Let the poison kill her for all I care.
***
When Shen Youling awoke, the pain in her cheek was gone, and her body felt fine. She almost believed the whole ordeal had been a dream. But then she went to the bathroom, saw her reflection in the mirror, and fell silent. It had all been real.
"I'm so ugly now..." Shen Youling murmured, touching the black mark on her face as tears welled in her eyes.
Lee Encai stood in the doorway, unsure how to comfort her.
After a mont's thought, Lin Tang walked in with a band-aid and stuck it on Shen Youling's face. "There. Now it's covered. See? Looks pretty much the sa as before."
Shen Youling: "..."
Lin Tang added, "That Mo Pinglan has it way worse. Her whole face is black. If you think about her, you might feel a little better."
"If you don't know how to comfort people, then just shut your mouth!" Lee Encai snapped, shoving him hard with her shoulder.
Shen Youling lowered her eyelids and wiped away her tears. Then, surprisingly, she tore off the band-aid. "Actually, maybe it's a good thing I'm ugly now," she whispered. "At least I won't get into trouble because of my face anymore."
Looking back, wasn't it because I was too beautiful that all of them—Xie Changchun, Mo Zhongyuan, Hou Baoshu, and Tang Shaojie—wanted to hurt ?
"Huh. You know, you've actually got a point there." Lin Tang was stunned for a second. After mulling it over, he nodded in agreent.
Lee Encai looked as if she wanted to sew his mouth shut. "Could you please stop rubbing salt in the wound?!"
To this day, Shen Youling still had no idea that Lin Tang was the owner of that company, or that Tang Shaojie had co to Jiangbei because of him in the first place.
"Thank you for saving again," she said softly, then turned to leave.
Lin Tang blinked, a strange expression on his face. She... back when she was exceptionally beautiful, she was always so harsh and impatient with . Now that she's... ugly... she's beco gentler.
"Where are you going?" Lin Tang asked.
"Ho," Shen Youling replied. Only after the word left her lips did she rember that she no longer had a ho, just a lonely rented room.
"And then?" he asked.
"I'll keep looking for a job," she answered.
"Why don't you just stop looking?" Lin Tang finally said after a mont's hesitation.
Shen Youling didn't respond, simply continuing on her way. Lin Tang chased after her and grabbed her wrist. "Let's get back together."
"Huh?" Lee Encai's eyes widened in surprise. She never expected Lin Tang to have a romantic side. She was also quite moved that he didn't seem to care that Shen Youling was no longer beautiful. So why do I feel a little... uncomfortable? Lee Encai pursed her lips.
Just then, she saw Shen Youling wrench her arm free from Lin Tang's grasp. "I don't need your pity!" she said, walking away without a backward glance.
Watching her disappear into the distance, Lee Encai hurriedly shoved Lin Tang. "Aren't you going after her?"
"It's better to let her cool down," Lin Tang said, shaking his head. Besides, I need to make a trip to the Tang Sect's stronghold in Western Shu first. We can talk when I get back.
***
In another room, Zhu Yingning woke up with a jolt.
"Damn you, Lin Tang! What did you do to ?!" She shot upright. When she discovered her clothes had been changed, her heart sank with a mixture of disgust and sorrow. She had proposed to him, yes, but that was just a tactic! She never intended to actually beco his wife.
Thinking of her late husband, her vision blurred. "My love," she whimpered, "I've failed you..."
"Well, well, what's with the tears? Is today your husband's death anniversary or sothing?" Lin Tang said sarcastically.
"Bastard! I'll take you down with !" Zhu Yingning shrieked in a rage, charging at him again. But she was completely out of her poisons; there wasn't even a wisp of toxic smoke left on her. Like a defanged tiger, she posed no threat to Lin Tang.
SMACK!
A backhand slap from Lin Tang sent her sprawling to the floor. "Believe , I have no desire to touch you," he said coldly. "But even if I did, you would have deserved it! Who from your Tang Sect hurt my wife first?"
"How many tis do I have to say it? I've already left the Tang Sect, and I certainly didn't hurt your wife... Wait. You really didn't touch ?" Zhu Yingning's sorrow instantly turned to joy, and she subconsciously touched her lower body.
"She's the one who changed your clothes," Lin Tang said, pointing at Lee Encai, who had just returned from seeing Shen Youling off. "Other than spanking you, I didn't touch you at all."
"Oh, thank goodness," Zhu Yingning sighed, imnsely relieved.
"Are you now?" Lin Tang flashed a wicked grin. "Western Shu. Sky Screen Mountain. The Tang Sect's main lair."
Zhu Yingning: "!!!"
Her scalp tingled as if it were about to explode. She leaped to her feet, roaring, "You devil! How did you make talk? It's over... I'm really a traitor now! I'm dead! You've ruined !"
"So, it looks like you have no choice but to be on my side now," he said, teasingly patting her on the forehead as if she were a puppy. "Start talking. The exact location of the Tang Sect, how many experts they have, what traps they've laid out. And... what kind of treasures do they have in their collection? Do they have anything like the Thousand-Year Huangsun Resin that can restore a person's appearance?"
Zhu Yingning remained silent for a long while before finally answering.
"Yes."
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