The forest floor was a canvas of blood and crushed fur, a grotesque testament to the night's work. The three pathetic white Spirit Rings now clung to the Clear Sky Hammer like blemishes on a masterpiece, a permanent, soul-crushing mark of shame upon what was once the world's most powerful tool Spirit. The air hung thick with the metallic scent of death and the cold, triumphant satisfaction of the two predators who had orchestrated the defilement.
Zhang Tian looked down at the unconscious form of Tang San, a discarded puppet whose strings had been cut. A low, appreciative chuckle rumbled in his chest.
"That was beautifully done, my Empress," he murmured, his voice laced with genuine admiration. He wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her flush against his side. "Now, we must return the broken toy to the infirmary before anyone notices he is missing."
Ah Yin nodded, a faint, cruel smile still gracing her lips. The thrill of vengeance was a potent, intoxicating drug, and she was savoring every last drop. She knelt once more beside the imposter. Her palm, glowing with a soft, crimson light, rested gently on his forehead. Her mental power, vast and subtle as the deepest ocean, seeped into his mind.
It was not a bludgeon this time, but a scalpel.
With meticulous precision, she began to edit his memory. The terrifying journey into the forest, the feeling of being a helpless marionette, the sickening crunch of bone, the sight of his peerless hammer being sullied by trash-tier rings—all of it was carefully excised.
The gaping hole left behind was filled with a simple, mundane fabrication: the overwhelming pain from his chest injury, the gentle healer's Spirit power lulling him into a deep, dreamless sleep on his infirmary cot.
He would awaken with no knowledge of his violation, only a profound, inexplicable sense of loss and weakness.
Once the mental surgery was complete, the crimson vines of the Blood Silver Emperor snaked around Tang San's body once more. They lifted him from the defiled ground, carrying him like a macabre offering.
Moving as one, Zhang Tian and Ah Yin melted back into the shadows.
They moved with a supernatural silence, two ghosts gliding through the twilight-draped grounds of Shrek Academy.
The infirmary window was still open, an inviting maw in the side of the simple building. The vines extended, placing Tang San's body back onto the cot with an eerie gentleness, arranging his limbs and the blanket to look as if he had never moved.
With their work done, the vines retracted, vanishing without a sound. Zhang Tian and Ah Yin lingered for a moment in the shadows outside, two unseen predators observing their handiwork.
Then, with a shared, silent understanding, they turned and disappeared into the encroaching night, leaving behind a broken boy who did not even know the true extent of his own ruin.
At the very same moment the crimson vines were placing a violated Tang San back into his bed, Liu Erlong stood before the heavy oak door of Yu Xiaogang's office. The evening air was cool, but a nervous sweat trickled down her back. The setting sun cast long, distorted shadows that seemed to mock her, twisting her own silhouette into something weak and pathetic.
She had spent the last hour in her lonely wooden cabin, the echo of Zhang Tian's final, dismissive departure ringing in her ears. The brief, pyrrhic victory of her defiance had long since curdled into a cold, hard knot of dread in her stomach. Now, she had to face Xiaogang. She had to deliver the news that would extinguish the bright, hopeful light she had seen in his eyes.
'I have to be strong,' she told herself, her hand, still adorned with the heavy, dark metal chain—a constant, humiliating reminder of her pact—trembling as she raised it to knock. 'I just need to explain it properly. I'll start by telling him how arrogant that boy was, how unreasonable. Then I'll present the price he demanded. I'll make it sound like an impossible demand from a greedy, power-mad upstart. Xiaogang will be disappointed in Zhang Tian, not in me. Yes, that's it. He will see that I had no other choice. He will understand.'
The lie was a fragile, pathetic shield, but it was the only one she had.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The sound was soft, hesitant. For a moment, there was only silence from within. Then, a familiar, slightly irritated voice called out.
"Come in."
Taking a deep, shaky breath, Liu Erlong pushed the door open and stepped inside.
The room was cluttered, a chaotic testament to a relentlessly obsessive mind. Stacks of books and scrolls teetered precariously on every available surface. Scrawled notes and complex diagrams were pinned to the walls. The air smelled of old parchment, ink, and the faint, peculiar odor of Yu Xiaogang's martial Spirit, Luo Sanpao.
He was sitting at his large desk, but he was not writing. His attention was focused on the small, purple, pig-like creature that was lying on the ground beside his chair. The Luo Sanpao had changed. Its form was now leaner, more serpentine. A fine network of brilliant, crackling blue veins covered its body, and its usual pathetic squeal had been replaced by a low, rumbling, thunder-like growl.
Yu Xiaogang was observing it with the intense, focused gaze of a scientist on the verge of a breakthrough. He didn't look up immediately, his focus absolute. "What is it, Erlong? I'm in the middle of a critical analysis. The Stormbolt Spirit Pill seems to have induced a fascinating cellular regeneration in Luo Sanpao's digestive tract. The implications for Spirit evolution are…"
He finally lifted his head, his words trailing off as he truly saw her. His brow, furrowed in concentration, relaxed slightly, and his eyes widened with a flicker of surprise, and then, appreciation.
"Erlong…" he murmured, his gaze sweeping over her.
In the week she had secluded herself, a strange, subtle change had occurred. The act she had performed for Zhang Tian, the humiliation of swallowing his essence, had, on some deep, spiritual level, altered her. She was more beautiful, her skin seemed to glow with a new, vibrant life, and her already-magnificent mature charm was now a palpable, intoxicating aura. For a fleeting, treacherous moment, Yu Xiaogang felt a stir of possessive pride, a flicker of happiness that this magnificent, beautiful woman was his.
His expression quickly hardened again, however, as he registered the grave, troubled look on her face. The analytical mind reasserted control over the flicker of carnal appreciation.
"You look… well," he said, his tone shifting to one of serious inquiry. "But your expression is troubling. What is it? What do you want to talk about?"
This was it. Liu Erlong's heart hammered against her ribs. She clasped her hands together to stop them from shaking, the clink of her metal shackles a small, damning sound in the quiet room.
"Xiaogang," she began, her voice barely a whisper. She cleared her throat, forcing more strength into it. "It's about Zhang Tian. It's about the pills."
Yu Xiaogang leaned forward, his full attention now captured. "What about them? Did he give you this week's supply? I need another Stormbolt Spirit Pill. I believe that with a dozen more, I can finally stabilize Luo Sanpao's new lightning attribute, and then… then I can finally break past this cursed wall of Level 29 and absorb a new Spirit Ring."
She shook her head, unable to meet his intense, analytical gaze. She stared at a point on the floor just past his feet.
"He… he refused, Xiaogang," she said, her voice laced with a carefully constructed note of pitiful resignation. "The deal… I had to break it off."
Yu Xiaogang's face remained impassive, but a dangerous stillness settled over him. "Explain."
"He changed the terms," she said, the lie spilling from her lips, tasting like ash. "He said the initial arrangement was merely a trial. Now… now he's demanding an outrageous price. A price we could never hope to pay."
"What price?" Yu Xiaogang's voice was cold, sharp, and utterly devoid of emotion. It was the voice of a researcher demanding a variable, not a lover offering comfort.
"He… he demanded millions of gold coins for a single week's supply," she stammered, feeling a genuine wave of despair at the thought of her own fabrication. "And when I told him we didn't have that kind of money, he offered an alternative. He said he would accept a ten-thousand-year-old spirit bone in exchange for every three pills." She finally looked up at him, her eyes pleading for understanding, for sympathy. "Xiaogang, a spirit bone of that age is a priceless treasure! We might not find one even if we spend a month of hunting, let alone one every week! His demands were impossible! I had no choice… I told him the deal was off."
She finished, her chest heaving, bracing herself for his disappointment, for his sadness.
What she got was silence.
Yu Xiaogang just stared at her. He didn't speak for five seconds. Ten. Fifteen. His face was a blank mask, his eyes like chips of obsidian. The silence stretched, growing heavier and more terrifying with each passing moment. Liu Erlong felt a cold dread begin to creep up her spine.
And then, his face changed. The blank mask cracked, not with sadness, but with a terrifying, cold fury. His lips peeled back from his teeth in a snarl.
"You… did… what?" he hissed, each word a drop of venom.
Before she could answer, he slammed his fist onto the desk. The sound was like a gunshot in the enclosed space, making her jump back. Books and scrolls toppled over.
"ARE YOU FUCKING BRAINLESS?!" he roared, his voice exploding with a sudden, violent rage that was shocking in its intensity. He shot to his feet, his chair scraping loudly against the floor. "YOU BROKE OFF THE DEAL?! YOU MADE A DECISION OF THAT MAGNITUDE WITHOUT EVEN THINKING TO DISCUSS IT WITH ME FIRST?!"
He stalked around the desk, his face contorted with a mixture of disbelief and incandescent anger. He got right in her face, his eyes blazing.
"Millions of gold coins? A ten-thousand-year-old spirit bone? Did you even stop for one second to think, you impulsive idiot?!" he screamed, spittle flying from his lips. "Money! We could have gotten the money! I would have begged Flender, emptied the academy's coffers, and taken loans from the imperial family! I would have sold every last one of my theories for a down payment! It's a problem with a solution!"
Liu Erlong flinched back, her heart feeling as if it had been squeezed by an iron fist. "But Xiaogang…"
"HE ALSO OFFERED TO EXCHANGE IT WITH A SPIRIT BONE!" he bellowed, laughing a harsh, mocking laugh that held no humor. "YES! A FUCKING SPIRIT BONE! A TREASURE! AND HE WAS WILLING TO TRADE SUCH MIRACULOUS PILLS FOR IT! PILLS THAT COULD CREATE A LEGION OF TITLED DOULUOS! DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND THE OPPORTUNITY YOU THREW AWAY?!"
He began to pace frantically, his movements agitated and furious, like a caged animal.
"We have three Spirit Saints in this academy!" he raged, pointing a shaking finger at her. "You! Flender! Zhao Wuji! Three Spirit Saints! I would have had you hunting day and night in the Sunset Forest! We would have killed dozens of ten-thousand-year-old spirit beasts every single week! The odds of a spirit bone dropping are low, yes, but they are not zero! With that volume of slaughter, it was only a matter of time before we found one! And then another! And another! Did you forget that you are a Spirit Saint?! Your power, your purpose, it could have been used for something truly important! But you were too fucking stupid to even think of that!"
Every word was a hammer blow, shattering Liu Erlong's confidence, her pride, her very sense of self. Her heart, which had been so full of love and hope just a week ago, was now breaking, cracking into a million tiny, sharp pieces. To hear him speak of her power, her identity as a Spirit Saint, as nothing more than a tool for him to acquire his research materials… it was a cruelty she could never have imagined.
"You have always been like this!" he continued, his rant gaining momentum, fueled by its own furious energy. He wasn't just angry about the pills anymore; he was dredging up years of perceived slights and frustrations. "Impulsive! Emotional! Never thinking about the consequences! You think with your fucking fists and your overblown pride! I finally find a path, a real, tangible path to breaking my cursed limitations, and you… you, the one person who should have supported me, who should have understood the importance of this… you single-handedly destroy it because you were too fucking stupid and proud to come and talk to me first!"
Tears began to well in Liu Erlong's eyes, hot and shameful. They streamed down her cheeks, but he didn't seem to notice. Or perhaps he simply didn't care.
"Useless," he spat, the word dripping with contempt. "You were finally of some use to me, Erlong. You had a connection to this Zhang Tian. And now you've proven you're just as useless as ever. A fucking trash Spirit Saint who can't even handle a simple negotiation! You couldn't even do this one thing for me!"
The rant continued, a relentless, fifteen-minute tirade of verbal abuse. He tore her down piece by piece, eviscerating her character, her intelligence, and her worth. He made it agonizingly clear that her value to him was not in her love, her companionship, or her fierce loyalty, but solely in her ability to procure those pills for him.
And in the wreckage of her heart, a terrifying thought began to bloom. 'He never accepted me.' The thought was a cold, sharp shard of ice piercing through her despair. 'He only pretended to. He saw the pills, he saw a use for me, and he put on an act. The moment I ceased to be useful, the mask came off.'
The implications were horrifying. To get the pills back, to win back his "love," she would have to go back to Zhang Tian. She would have to grovel. She would have to accept his disgusting terms. The image of his leering smile flashed in her mind. The thought of performing that naked dance for him, of letting his hands roam over her body, of taking him into her mouth… it made a wave of nausea roll through her.
For one brief, defiant moment, another question surfaced. A small, rebellious whisper in the depths of her soul. 'Should I? Should I really sacrifice my body and my dignity for a man who treats me like this? A man who so clearly doesn't love me?'
But the habit of a lifetime of devotion was too strong. The rebellious thought was instantly, brutally suppressed. 'No,' she told herself, desperately clinging to the ruins of her love. 'It's not his fault. He's not himself. These pills… they mean everything to him. Of course he's angry. I was foolish. I failed him.'
Yu Xiaogang finally wound down, his chest heaving not from exertion, but from the sheer force of his rage. His face was flushed, his eyes still burning with a cold fire. He stood before her, the great theorist, the man she had loved for decades, and looked at her with nothing but utter disappointment and disgust.
He wasn't finished.
He pointed a stiff finger towards the door, his expression one of icy command.
"Go," he ordered, his voice low, guttural, and stripped of all warmth. It was the tone of a master speaking to a disobedient dog. "Go back to him. Crawl back to Zhang Tian on your hands and knees if you have to. I don't care what you have to do. I don't care what you have to promise him. Beg him. Plead with him. Reinstate this deal. Tell him you will meet his price. Tell him we will get him his fucking spirit bone. Now get out of my sight and don't come back until you've fixed the mess you made."
The night in the Shrek Academy was quiet. A deep, profound, and almost sorrowful silence had fallen over the grounds. The usual, boisterous sounds of the students' evening training had long since faded, replaced by the gentle, rustling whisper of the wind through the leaves.
But in a small, secluded wooden cabin by the edge of a tranquil, moonlit lake, a storm was raging.
Liu Erlong stumbled through the door of her lonely, empty home, her body trembling, her mind a screaming, white-hot vortex of pain and despair. The final, contemptuous words of the man she loved, the man she had dedicated her entire life to, echoed in her ears, a cruel, relentless litany of her own failure.
'Useless… a fucking trash Spirit Saint… you couldn't even do this one thing for me!'
'Get out of my sight… don't come back until you've fixed the mess you made.'
She slammed the door shut, the sound a sharp, violent crack in the quiet night. The last, fragile vestiges of her pride, of her composure, finally, completely, and utterly shattered.
She collapsed onto her simple, wooden bed, her face buried in the rough, scratchy pillow, and she began to sob.
It was not a gentle, quiet weeping. It was a raw, primal, and heartbreakingly agonized sound of a soul that had just been torn in two. Her powerful, magnificent body was wracked with great, shuddering sobs that seemed to be ripped from the very depths of her being. Tears, hot and shameful, streamed from her eyes without stopping, soaking the pillow, her hair, her very world.
She had failed him.
She, who had wanted to be his savior, his miracle worker, the one who could finally give him back his dreams… she had failed. And in her failure, she had become the object of his scorn, his contempt, his… disgust.
'It's my fault,' the thought was a broken, repeating mantra in the chaos of her mind. 'I was a fool. I was too proud. I should have just agreed. I should have just done it.'
She thought of the disgusting, perverted deal that Zhang Tian had proposed. The image of his handsome, arrogant, and terrifyingly leering face flashed in her mind. She thought of the act she had been forced to perform, of the feeling of his hard, thick dick in her mouth, of the humiliating, shameful act of swallowing his seed.
She had done it all for him. For Xiaogang. And it had all been for nothing.
She cried until her throat was raw, until her eyes were swollen and red, until she had no more tears left to cry. And then, she just lay there, a broken, empty shell of a woman, staring at the rough, wooden ceiling of her lonely, empty home.
A new, terrifying thought, a cold, sharp shard of ice in the wreckage of her heart, began to form.
'What now? What do I do now?'
She had to go back. She had to reinstate the deal. She had to get those pills. It was the only way. The only way to win back his love, his respect, his… tolerance.
But would he even agree? She had defied him. She had screamed at him. She had thrown his offer back in his face.
'He was so… cold,' she thought, a shiver of a completely different kind of fear running down her spine. 'He didn't even try to convince me. He just… left.'
And then, a new, paranoid, and deeply unsettling thought entered her mind.
'Is he watching me now?' she wondered, her gaze flickering nervously around the dark, empty room. 'Is he still observing me, secretly? Is he laughing at me? At my pain? At my despair?'
She remembered his words, his strange, confident assertion that he would come to her, only if she was waiting and wearing the chains.
'He must be,' she concluded, her mind a desperate, chaotic jumble of fear and a new, fragile, and pathetic sliver of hope.
She decided to test it.
She slowly, painfully, pushed herself into a sitting position. She looked at the dark, empty corners of her room, and she spoke, her voice a raw, hoarse, and pleading whisper.
"Zhang Tian?" she called out to the empty air. "If… if you can hear me… if you are watching me… I… I was wrong. I was a fool."
Her voice broke with a fresh, silent sob. "I… I want to reinstate the deal. I will do whatever you want. Just… just please. If you can hear this… can you come? Can we… can we talk about it?"
At the very same moment, on the other side of the Shrek Academy, two silent, invisible figures stood in the shadows near the infirmary.
Zhang Tian and Ah Yin were waiting. They were a pair of patient, predatory ghosts, their gazes fixed on the single, lamplit window of the simple, wooden building. They were waiting for the broken toy to wake up.
They were waiting to witness the moment when Tang San, the proud, arrogant heir of the Clear Sky Sect, would discover the true, horrifying extent of his own, new, and beautifully permanent defilement.
It was at that moment that a new, silent, and incredibly clear message rippled through their shared, Blood Silver Domain. It was the voice of a single, desperate, and heartbroken woman, carried on the silent, living network of the Blue Silver Grass that carpeted the entire academy.
'…I want to reinstate the deal… if you can hear this… can you come…?'
Ah Yin looked at Zhang Tian, a faint, amused, and incredibly contemptuous smile on her beautiful face.
"That woman," she said, her mental voice a low, purring sound in his mind, "is even more foolish than I thought. Does she truly have no pride at all?"
Zhang Tian just chuckled, a low, dark sound. 'So, this vice dean has broken,' he thought, a flicker of genuine, if slightly clinical, surprise in his mind. 'That was faster than I expected. What happened? Her defiance… it seemed so genuine. For her to break, so quickly, so completely… something must have happened.'
He turned his attention back to his silent, living information network. He did not ask it for a single piece of information. He gave it a command.
'Show me,' his mental voice was a quiet, absolute order that resonated through every blade of grass in the entire academy. 'Show me everything that has happened in this place, concerning Liu Erlong, for the past few hours.'
And the grass obeyed.
A flood of pure, unfiltered sensory data poured into his mind. He saw Liu Erlong's meeting with Yu Xiaogang.
And he heard the rant.
He heard every single, cold, cruel, and utterly devastating abusive word that the great Grandmaster had hurled at the woman who loved him more than life itself.
Ah Yin, who was connected to his domain, saw and heard it all as well.
She was silent for a long, heavy moment.
And then, she just chuckled. It was a soft, musical, and beautifully contemptuous sound.
"That man," she said, her mental voice a mixture of pity and a deep, profound disgust, "is a true, unadulterated fool. To have a woman of her power, her beauty, her absolute, unwavering devotion… and to treat her like that. To not even see that he is the one, with his own, pathetic, selfish hands, who is shoving her directly into your bed… it is a level of brainlessness that is almost… impressive."
Zhang Tian just shook his head, a look of genuine, profound bewilderment on his handsome face. 'She is right,' he thought. 'What kind of Grandmaster is this? To be so blinded by his own pride, his own theories, that he cannot even see the profound, emotional damage he is inflicting on the one person who truly loves him? He could have handled it so differently. He could have been gentle. He could have understood. But no. He chose to be a monster.'
He looked back in the direction of Liu Erlong's cabin, a slow, cold, and incredibly predatory smile spreading across his face.
"Well," he thought, his voice a silent, amused purr, "his loss… is my gain."
"What do you plan to do now, my love?" Ah Yin's mental voice echoed in his mind. "Will you give that foolish woman another chance?"
"Oh, I will," he replied. "But not on her terms. And not on our old terms."
He looked at her, and his eyes were gleaming with a dark, cruel, and beautifully creative light. "She was the one who broke the deal. She was the one who was so proud, so defiant. Now, she wishes to reinstate it. And she will. But she will pay a new, higher price for her foolishness."
He turned his attention back to his silent, living information network. He sent a new message, a cold non-negotiable command that rippled through the grass, across the academy, and directly into the mind of the broken, desperate woman who was waiting in her lonely, empty cabin.
'I am not coming to you,' his mental voice was a blade of ice in her mind. 'If you truly wish to reinstate this deal, you will come to me. You will come to the infirmary building. And you will come wearing the chains. I will know if you are not. And if you are not, you can forget about ever acquiring my pills again.'
He paused, letting the weight of his command settle upon her. And then, he delivered the final, crushing blow.
'And when you are one hundred meters away from the building,' he added, his mental voice a low, cruel purr, 'you will get on your hands and knees. And you will crawl. There is no one in the back of the infirmary at this time of night. No one will see your pathetic, desperate display of submission. No one… but me.'
He sent one final, parting shot.
'Come quickly. And be prepared. The price for the pills… it has just gone up.'
He cut the connection.
In her lonely, empty cabin, Liu Erlong, who had been sitting on her bed, a fragile, hopeful statue, suddenly gasped, her hand flying to her mouth, her eyes wide with a mixture of pure terror, a deep, profound humiliation, and a strange sick and overwhelmingly powerful wave of pure relief.
He had heard her.
The deal was back on the table.
She did not hesitate. She did not question. She did not even allow herself to think about the new, disgusting humiliating price he had just demanded.
She scrambled from her bed and rushed to her closet. She retrieved the heavy, cold, and dark metal chains.
With trembling hands, she shackled them around her wrists, the familiar, suffocating sensation of her own powerlessness a strange, almost welcome, comfort.
And then, she ran. She ran out of her cabin, out into the dark, silent night, a woman on a desperate, and very, very dark, visit.
~~
A/N: Check out my other novels like "Harem Master: Seduction System" and the "Villain: Manipulating the Heroines into hating the Protagonist" and I hope you like this story and those stories as well.
Check out more chapters on my P.atreon. The P.atreon will have 20+ Chapters ahead for this story. I hope you like it.
The link of p.atreon is: bit.ly/evildragon