"If so, then you'll stay here as my slave."
"!!!"
Eve lifted her head and stared at Ye Ling in disbelief. "There's actually a way like that? Brother, why didn't you say so earlier?"
Tsk. Haven't I seen that stupid look somewhere before?
The gloom in Ye Ling's heart seemed to be swept away in that instant, and he finally felt like he understood what choice he needed to make.
He didn't bother answering Eve's foolish question. Instead, he asked, "Besides Vital Energy, do you need anything else? Like food?"
"Food?"
Eve's eyes lit up at once. "If you have any, that would be even better!"
"Alright, alright. Don't get your drool all over my clothes."
Ye Ling quickly lifted Eve off him and stood up. "Eat the spirit fruits on the table first. I'm going outside to check what's going on. Stay in my room and don't wander around."
After thinking for a moment, he formed another hand seal.
"Hide."
Under the protection of the Great Dao, unless someone deliberately investigated Eve, they wouldn't be able to uncover her true nature.
Although she was half-human and half-Succubus, her demonic aura had always been extremely faint. But now that she had already transformed into a Succubus, she wasn't as perfectly flawless as she had been during the day in her human form.
So even though the Heavenly Courtyard had formations set up to protect guests' privacy, there was still no telling whether, while Ye Ling was gone, someone from the Garrison Guard might come and probe the area with Mental Force.
To avoid unnecessary trouble, Ye Ling decided it was best to add another layer of insurance.
After all, he still had no idea just how much disaster the Nine Heavens Jade Pendant might bring him.
So was Ai Yueli like this too when she was outside?
Ye Ling couldn't figure it out. Was the Nine Heavens Jade Pendant only affecting him, or did it have the same effect on everyone?
"Mhm! Then I'll go warm your bed right now, Brother! I won't go anywhere!"
Eve nodded vigorously and dashed straight toward Ye Ling's room, her little tail wagging happily behind her.
"???"
Ye Ling raised a hand, wanting to stop her, but when the words reached his lips, he swallowed them back down.
Forget it. It's just warming the bed.
Whether he felt regret or not, even Ye Ling couldn't say. He simply turned around and headed out of the courtyard.
He needed some time to seriously think about how he was supposed to deal with Eve.
More importantly, he wasn't sure whether Bai Yiyi... no, whether the Heavenly Gate Sect would even accept Eve.
But since they could take in even the Qiuqiu Monkey Clan, adding one half-baked Succubus probably wouldn't be a big deal.
With an inexplicable sense of exhaustion weighing on him, Ye Ling decided to go find Leng Qingqiu first—
That girl disappeared and never came back—what, did some kind of cursed leech latch onto her or something?
...
Meanwhile, the moment Eve shut the door, her expression changed completely.
Not only her expression, but even her body underwent a dramatic transformation.
The flat plains of her chest rose into rolling mountains, a deep and bottomless ravine forming between them. Even the modest curves below seemed to mature into something far fuller and more alluring.
Her dress was clearly specially made. As she grew, it changed with her, shifting from an innocent little floral skirt into a long gown embroidered with roses.
Her pale golden hair, smooth as silk, cascaded down to her waist in the blink of an eye, and her petite figure suddenly shot upward.
At 5'9", paired with a perfectly sculpted, curvy body, she could stir the most primal desires in any man's heart no matter where she went.
Her once pure and innocent face turned cold and mesmerizing, like an empress looking down on the world with indifferent disdain.
"Come out."
She walked gracefully to the luxurious bed and sat down, speaking softly to the seemingly empty room.
Her tone was calm, but the authority hidden within it was enough to make anyone who heard it tremble.
"M-My Lady Eve..."
Betsy appeared without a sound and knelt at Eve's feet, her face deathly pale, as if she'd just crawled out of a nightmare.
Damn it!
Wasn't she supposed to have no power?
Her presence feels even stronger than before!
Hmph!
When I get back, I'll tear those little bitches' mouths apart. How dare they feed me false information!
Betsy's mind was filled with vicious curses toward that Succubus squad. She was already imagining exactly what positions she would force them into once she got back.
But in reality, she found that her legs had already gone completely weak.
In terms of strength, Betsy had already touched the ceiling of this world. In cultivation terms, that was equivalent to the Great Ascension Stage.
But over nearly a thousand years, who knew how many times Eve had tormented her? Just the sight of Eve was enough to make her knees turn to jelly.
"While I was gone, did any of you kill anyone for food?"
Eve asked in a gentle voice, as casually as if she were making small talk.
But to Betsy, those words carried crushing pressure. Thankfully, after being terrorized by Eve for so long, none of the Succubi dared to harm another life.
"No! Absolutely not!"
Betsy shook her head furiously. "If anyone dared kill for food, I'd tear her apart myself!"
"Mhm. Good."
The corner of Eve's lips lifted slightly, as if she were smiling, but when you looked closely, there was no warmth in it at all.
Even so, that faint, ambiguous expression was enough to make Betsy feel as if she'd been granted salvation, letting out a long breath of relief.
"So why did you come here?"
After giving Betsy a moment to recover, Eve spoke again.
"In response to Lady Eve, here's what happened..."
Betsy explained the Great Peng Clan's plan, as well as the Succubus clan's own scheme, without leaving out a single detail.
In the end, she even cautiously tried to flatter her. "I never expected Lady Eve to intervene personally. Otherwise…"
Before Betsy could finish, Eve cut her off with a cold snort. "Hmph. Foolish."
Her gaze pressed down on Betsy like a mountain as she said icily, "This is the Cultivation World, not our homeland. And you actually dared to scheme for the offspring of a God? You've got some nerve."
"Please calm your anger, Lady Eve!"
Betsy didn't even know what she'd done wrong, but she instinctively threw herself flat on the ground. Experience told her that the lower she kept her posture, the less she might suffer.
Yet the punishment that usually followed never came.
She hesitantly raised her head to steal a glance at Eve, only to meet those crimson eyes filled with absolute authority.
Betsy shuddered, then immediately lowered her head again, not daring to look a second time.
"Heh. You're already bold enough to test me now?" Eve sneered, though her tone quickly settled back into calm.
"So my absence really did give you new ideas."
"N-no, we wouldn't dare…"
"Don't play innocent. Do you think I don't know you?"
As she spoke, Eve casually crossed her long, voluptuous legs.
"There's a God outside. He doesn't know my true form yet. Otherwise, do you think I'd be letting you off this easily?"
"!!!"
Betsy's body trembled violently.
So that's what it was… I was wondering why you suddenly went soft!
After years of being "tamed," Betsy might still harbor rebellious thoughts from time to time, but deep down, she never once doubted Eve's words.
"Let me tell you something else," Eve continued coolly. "That 'kid' you keep talking about is the God of Contracts of this realm. What you're doing is pushing the Succubus clan right to the edge of an abyss. One little shove, and you'll be damned forever."
Seeing the timing was right, Eve tossed out another piece of shocking information.
"The Great Peng Clan actually dared to deceive us?!"
Betsy jerked her head up, her alluring face twisted with both shock and fury.
"Foolish!" Eve's brows drew together, her expression severe as she snapped, "They only told you to get on good terms with the God of Contracts. But you decided to scheme for the offspring of a God instead. You're getting bolder by the day!"
Even the Granny of the Qiuqiu Monkey Clan, no matter how daring she was, would never think of trying to obtain Ye Ling's child.
With Eve's experience, she could tell at a glance that Ye Ling was still full of youthful vigor, and that he had intentions toward Bai Yiyi.
Since Ye Ling hadn't reached the point of being free of desire, sending members of the Succubus Clan to build goodwill with him was indeed the perfect move.
The Fox Clan could have served the same purpose, but unfortunately, the Fox Clan was aligned with the War Faction, so the Great Peng had no authority to command them.
But after the Succubus clan received the news, they developed thoughts they never should have had.
Infiltrating the bloodline of the powerful had always been instinctive to the Succubus clan.
And besides, even a tiger wouldn't eat its own cub. Even if the Succubus clan brought catastrophe upon themselves, the child of a powerful being would still survive.
Except when it came to the offspring of a God.
The offspring of a God held the right to inherit everything their parent left behind in the Mortal Realm once that God ascended to the Saint Realm.
Which meant that any attempt to scheme for a God's offspring was no different from courting extermination.
Gods were cold, ruthless monsters. They had long since ceased to be mortal, and would never care about bloodline or kinship.
Betsy broke out in a cold sweat and hurriedly bowed her head. "We were careless. Please calm your anger, Lady Eve."
When I get back, I'll make an example of the first little bitch who suggested this plan!
She might act meek and submissive in front of Eve, but within the Succubus clan, she could be as ruthless as she pleased.
"I'm no longer a member of the Succubus clan," Eve said calmly, shifting her pale thighs as she crossed her legs again. "You don't need to beg for my forgiveness."
"Lady Eve, you must be joking. Without you, how could our Succubus clan survive?"
"Stop pretending," Eve replied coldly. "When I left, you and Vicky were probably the happiest ones of all."
"…"
Betsy raised her head and gave a dry laugh. "Lady Eve really does understand us best."
"Hmph."
Faced with Betsy's shamelessness, Eve could only snort in contempt.
After a brief pause, she said, "In short, you'd better watch yourselves. This isn't the Western Continent, and I won't be protecting you anymore. If you don't do as I say and end up wiped out, don't come crawling back to me."
She wasn't sure whether Ye Ling would take her in, but at the very least, she couldn't afford to show weakness right now.
"Understood, understood. But if possible, Lady Eve, please come back and visit sometime."
Betsy forced a smile, not daring to offer a single opinion.
"Go," Eve said with a wave of her hand. "And don't come provoking him again."
"Mhm, mhm! This is Lady Eve's prey. I understand! I understand!"
Betsy put on an expression like a proud parent whose child had finally come of age, then hurried off without waiting for Eve to say another word.
"Phew…"
Three seconds after Betsy left, Eve's body rapidly shrank like a deflating balloon, returning to the size she'd been when she first met Ye Ling.