Bai Muxi

With those words spoken, The patterns on Li Qingyan's gallant crimson robes suddenly began to flow as several silk-like mycelial tendrils wound themselves around the Blood God Stone jade pendant. Lightly caressing the pendant's surface, she seemed half inspecting it and half playing with it. Bai Muxi knelt on the ground with her clothes disheveled and her fair skin half-exposed, staring blankly at the blood-red gleam radiating from the Blood God Stone at Li Qingyan's fingertips. At the side, Xu Yuan kept quiet. In a subterranean city that served as such a twisted "Peach Blossom Spring," everyone's humanity was ruthlessly suppressed for the sake of continuing the race—warped power structures, warped values. For an untainted, innocent little white rabbit to emerge from an environment like this was probably about as likely as winning the grand lottery jackpot in his past life. After what had just transpired, Xu Yuan had known Bai Muxi was no saint, but he had never expected the woman to be duplicitous to this degree. Did she actually want to become Succubus Su Number Two? Black-hearted. Truly, utterly black-hearted. A tender, innocent little white rabbit on the surface, but sliced open, she was pitch-black to the core. Still, before dealing with this matter... Xu Yuan suddenly turned to glance at Li Qingyan and asked peevishly, "Wait, what's with the look you're giving me?" This chest-bound princess wasn't just scrutinizing Bai Muxi; she was also shooting him meaningful glances every now and then. Li Qingyan gave a breathy laugh. "What? Is This Palace not even allowed to look at her prince consort?" Pausing, she shook her head with a sigh, her voice laced with amusement. "Changtian, would using an external object to control This Palace give you a sense of accomplishment?" Saying so, Li Qingyan opened her slender, jade-like hand. Wrapped in Source Qi, the Blood God Stone jade pendant drifted through the air right before Xu Yuan. Her phoenix eyes curved into a dazzling smile. "If it would, go ahead and use it." "..." Xu Yuan took a deep breath, caught the pendant in his hand, and stood up. "If I knew what this pendant did and intended to use it on you, do you honestly think someone of my temperament would leave it in Bai Muxi's hands for you to discover?" As he spoke, Xu Yuan held the Blood God Stone jade pendant up before his eyes to inspect it, laughing. "I would have found a way to make Bai Muxi surrender the pendant before you absorbed that black death armor, and then stowed it in a Sumeru ring so you couldn't detect it at all." He genuinely had no idea the Blood God Stone jade pendant possessed such an ability. Bai Muxi's storyline in Cangyuan had likely been cut short; even if one used cheats to forcibly kill her during the plot, she didn't drop any equipment. The only reason he had wanted this pendant was that he had seen something similar in this Silent Crypt—on that slumbering Transcendent Realm aberrant ghost. It was one of the paths to escape the Silent Crypt. With that in mind, Xu Yuan took a step forward, raised his hand to pinch Li Qingyan's fair, silky chin, and narrowed his eyes as he gazed into her breathtaking, radiant face. "Li Qingyan, if I, Xu Yuan, want to tame you, I don't need such underhanded tricks." "Pfft." Li Qingyan burst out laughing and casually batted his hand away, the tip of her tongue lightly running over her luscious red lips. "Sharp tongue. This Palace only hopes your mouth isn't the only tough thing about you, Changtian." The crisis of trust was temporarily averted. Xu Yuan tossed the Blood God Stone jade pendant back to Bai Muxi, who remained kneeling on the ground. Seeing this, Li Qingyan frowned slightly. Xu Yuan immediately said to Li Qingyan, "I have a friend with the Bewitching Soul Fiend Physique..." "This Palace is finding that you certainly have a lot of friends." "I was born likable. Can't help it." "Heh." Li Qingyan stared at Xu Yuan for a few moments and chuckled softly. "According to ancient texts This Palace has read, the Bewitching Soul Fiend Physique must be an experience of utter bliss for a man, no?" "Not just for men, but for women too," Xu Yuan retorted head-on. "If you'd like to experience it, Qingyan, I can invite my friend over once we return to the capital." "..." Li Qingyan narrowed her eyes. "..." A flicker of contemplation passed through Bai Muxi's luminous eyes. "Qingyan," Xu Yuan said plainly, "what I'm getting at is that this pendant's method of mind control is probably similar to that of the Bewitching Soul Fiend Physique. It can only influence emotions in the heart to alter someone's actions. I believe someone of your caliber wouldn't be trapped by it." The corners of Li Qingyan's lips curved upward. "Naturally. Even if you used it to make This Palace fall in love with you, Changtian, This Palace wouldn't change anything for your sake..." "All right, all right, I get it." Xu Yuan stopped bantering with Li Qingyan and turned his gaze toward the purple-robed woman kneeling on the ground, holding the Blood God Stone jade pendant in both hands. His tone turned slightly cool. "Actually, when I saw those high-grade suits of fungal armor in the secret chamber, a thought crossed my mind. Since you knew the fungal armor could continuously fuse, you should have known that once all those armors merged, Li Qingyan's combat power would be far beyond anything your underground city could resist. "Selling the armor to us was no different from selling the executioner's blade meant to sever your own heads. "Yet even so, when I offered to buy the armor in your stockpiles, you agreed without hesitation. "Looking back now, were you scheming against us from that very moment?" "Yes." To Xu Yuan's surprise, Bai Muxi's answer was crisp and direct. "Muxi indeed wished to use it to control both Young Master and the Princess." "Well, aren't you direct?" Xu Yuan wasn't angered by her candor. Looking down at her, he said, "Seems you've already prepared an explanation?" Bai Muxi slipped the Blood God Stone jade pendant back into the soft cleavage of her chest. As she adjusted her loosened lapels, she lowered her eyes and spoke softly: "The fungal armor Her Highness was wearing was too low in rank; the Blood God Stone pendant was far from enough to affect her. But when you proposed purchasing the armor, Muxi decided to go with the flow. If successful, not only could we obtain all the resources inside both of your Sumeru rings, but we would also gain a second-rank combatant for the underground city. "For the Seven Cities Alliance on the verge of ruin, this was a gamble worth taking. And so, Muxi placed the bet." As she spoke, Bai Muxi finished adjusting her robes. The soft cleavage at her chest was once again concealed beneath the purple gauze scarf. Resting a fair, delicate hand against her chest, her voice remained serene: "However, the moment Young Master tapped Muxi's chest with your finger, Muxi had already abandoned the idea." "..." Recalling the finger he had poked into Bai Muxi's perky, voluptuous swell yesterday, Xu Yuan chuckled. "You thought I knew the Blood God Stone pendant's purpose?" "Yes." Bai Muxi lowered her eyes and nodded. "Looking back now, it seems to have been a fortunate coincidence. But in Muxi's eyes at the time, if you were already on guard, proceeding with the plan would have carried far too great a risk. "Furthermore, you asked Muxi whether I wished to leave, so the scheme was abandoned from that point onward." "Very well said." Leaning lightly against the cold stone wall, Li Qingyan folded her arms over her chest, her slender, jade-like fingers tapping rhythmically against her forearm as she looked sidelong at her. "Yet after all this time, why didn't you take the initiative to disclose what the Blood God Stone does?" "..." After a moment of silence, Bai Muxi looked up at Li Qingyan, neither servile nor overbearing. "Princess, the one Muxi owes allegiance to is Young Master, not you."