Everything seemed to stand still.

Qi Xiezi, the Evil Cultivator who had harmed countless people, had fallen.

Song Wanning raised her hand, and the Storage Bag flew into her grasp. She simply took out the usable Spirit Stones, tossing the rest aside.

Her gaze then shifted to the Soul Summoning Banner. With a slight flicker in her eyes, she summoned it into her hand.

Now that the Soul Summoning Banner had lost its master, the resentful souls within churned violently, trying to break free of their bonds and take a vicious bite out of Song Wanning.

It was now filled with nothing but malevolent ghosts and resentful souls. There was no other way to deal with them but to destroy them completely.

But it would be a shame to just destroy it.

The corner of Song Wanning’s lips curved up as she deftly put it away in her Storage Ring.

Liu Yao, lying on the stone slab, saw her every move, and his heart grew even more uneasy.

’She dealt with Qi Xiezi so easily?’

’Is Song Wanning’s power really that terrifying?’

Liu Yao was horrified, regretting his decision more and more.

’I never should have let Liu Yiyi talk me into this. My Spiritual Power hasn’t fully recovered yet—how am I supposed to escape?’

His tightly shut eyes darted back and forth. An idea suddenly struck Liu Yao, and he slowly opened his eyes.

The moment his gaze met Song Wanning’s, his heart skipped a beat.

’Good thing I didn’t keep pretending to be unconscious. Song Wanning obviously knew all along.’

His expression darkened as he said to Song Wanning, "Song Dao You, I’m afraid there’s been a misunderstanding!"

"While I knew Qi Xiezi on the surface, our relationship was actually terrible. He poisoned me and used my life as a threat to force me to cooperate with him!"

"If I didn’t obey, he wouldn’t just kill me; he would have harmed many more innocent people. I was forced into it; this was a last resort!"

Liu Yao lied without batting an eye, and combined with his somewhat mature-looking face, he almost sounded convincing.

Song Wanning lowered her gaze and asked coolly, "Is that so? Did he force you to take off your clothes, too?"

She knew perfectly well that Liu Yao was just stalling for time to recover his Spiritual Energy, but she decided to play along anyway.

"I... I was poisoned. The poison acts up whenever I get near him..."

Even Liu Yao himself felt how lame his excuse was, but he couldn’t be bothered with that now. Every bit of Spiritual Energy he recovered increased his chance of escape.

"Song Dao You, you know I’ve admired you for years. It was only under the influence of the drug that I couldn’t control myself and did those absurd things. Please don’t hold it against me."

"You must know how I’ve felt about you all these years. That last arranged duel... I was pushed into it by the Sect and had no choice but to go through with it."

"I’m not worthy of you now, I know that. I’ll never bother you again in the future..."

Liu Yao secretly clenched his fists. He was currently stark naked, his body covered in marks from his ordeal.

The fact that Song Wanning had to see him in such a pathetic state only added to his humiliation.

’But none of that matters right now. The only thing that matters is escaping with my life.’

He firmly believed that where there’s life, there’s hope.

’Sooner or later, Song Wanning will fall into my hands. When she does, I’ll pay her back double for today’s humiliation!’

His words were full of emotion, but his eyes held not a shred of sincerity.

Song Wanning pursed her lips. ’This acting... it’s far worse than Qi Xiezi’s.’

At that very moment, Liu Yao suddenly shot up and bolted toward the cave entrance.

He had only recovered half of his Spiritual Energy, but he was out of time.

’Even if I’m seriously injured, it’s better than dying here!’

He summoned his greatest speed and flew toward the entrance.

At that crucial moment, Song Wanning’s light voice drifted over, "Aren’t you going to take the Memory Stone with you?"

’The Memory Stone?’

Liu Yao was startled. He’d almost forgotten about that thing!

’But this was no time to worry about that.’ He didn’t even turn his head as he continued to charge out.

But in that split second of hesitation, the light from Song Wanning’s sword was already upon him.

The immense power sliced one of his arms clean off, sending it flying.

The sharp sword light gashed his shoulder and face, leaving wounds so deep the bone was visible.

But at the same time, the tremendous impact sent him flying further away.

Liu Yao’s eyes lit up, and he sprinted at full speed.

Song Wanning swung her sword again.

"BOOM—"

The sword light engulfed him, the impact shattering his internal organs.

Liu Yao endured the excruciating pain, mustering the last ounce of strength in his body to fly away with all his might.

Song Wanning was intentionally letting him go, but she didn’t want to make it easy. So she struck him down again and again, watching him struggle back to his feet each time.

Even when he was down to his last breath, he never gave up, gritting his teeth and pushing forward.

If you ignored his naked body, it might almost look... "inspirational."

Song Wanning recorded the entire scene with a Memory Stone.

Kill the body, crush the mind.

She wondered if Liu Yao would be able to handle seeing it.

She smiled sweetly, and when she’d had enough fun, she feigned carelessness and gave Liu Yao a chance to escape.

Taking a deep breath, Liu Yao made one final sprint and disappeared into the dense forest.

He ran and ran, not daring to look back for a second.

He was running on sheer will alone. If not for his powerful survival instinct, he would have already been cut down by Song Wanning.

Finally, upon realizing that Song Wanning wasn’t chasing him, Liu Yao could no longer hold himself up and collapsed.

He fell headfirst into a patch of thorns, every inch of his body screaming in pain.

If any outsider had been there, they would have been terrified by the sight of him, covered in blood and filth.

Song Wanning had been utterly ruthless; even his... his lower body... was injured.

He’d been too busy escaping to notice before, but now the pain was excruciating.

"HISSS—AHHH—"

He looked down at his manhood and saw only a bloody mess, with a piece of flesh...dangling, about to fall off.

Liu Yao’s teeth clenched so hard they threatened to crack. A wave of fury shot straight to his head, making him dizzy and his vision go dark.

"SONG—WAN—NING—"

"That goddamn bitch!!!!"

He hated Song Wanning to the core; even slicing her into a thousand pieces wouldn’t be enough to quell his rage.

’But there’s still a chance to fix this. As long as I get my sister to bring me a High-level Muscle Regeneration Pill, I can still save my manhood!’

"Right, my sister..."

Gritting his teeth against the pain, Liu Yao prepared to take out a Communication Talisman to contact his sister.

Suddenly, his face fell.

Because his Storage Ring was on the hand that had been severed!

"Damn it!!!!!!"

On the verge of a breakdown, he furiously pounded the ground with his remaining hand. Unable to vent his inner rage, he could only let out a series of impotent screams.

But he quickly realized how dangerous this was and clamped his mouth shut, holding it in until his face turned crimson and his eyes felt like they would pop out of their sockets.

’The Storage Ring must be in Song Wanning’s hands now. Without it, how am I supposed to get the Elixir Pills to treat my injuries?’

’I don’t even have a single piece of clothing...’

At that moment, the last thread of Liu Yao’s sanity snapped.

But it wasn’t over yet.

Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through his Divine Soul.

Liu Yao’s eyes flew wide open. He spat out a mouthful of blood and, unable to hold on any longer, passed out.