The Holy Lotus Hall was dead silent, the atmosphere heavy.

Bound by others, Luo Xiu could only watch helplessly as Xia Chan stepped into the Lotus Pond and plucked the Green Lotus.

Inside the Lotus Pond, Xia Chan held the Green Lotus in both hands, inhaling its unique and refreshing fragrance. A sense of peace and joy washed over her. Then, she took out a large box from her Storage Magical Treasure, carefully placed the Green Lotus inside for preservation, and securely stored the box away.

Luo Xiu stared at the stem left after the Green Lotus was plucked, a sudden, sharp pain piercing his heart.

Xia Chan glanced at Luo Xiu, a flicker of guilt crossing her eyes. "Yingxiao, let him go. It's time for us to leave."

Yingxiao paused, looking at Xia Chan with some surprise.

By the pond's edge, Xue Xiao was also surprised. He gritted his teeth and said, "Miss, Fei Xiao died because of him! He even tormented Fei Xiao's body after his death. We must kill him for revenge!"

Xia Chan stepped on the lotus leaves, gracefully leaping back to the shore like a wisp of smoke. "I said, let him go!"

"We have what we came for; there's no need to complicate matters. He is from the Audit Bureau, and his position is not low. Killing him would bring unnecessary trouble."

Xia Chan did indeed hate "Chen Shuisheng" to the bone for killing Fei Xiao. But when it came to actually killing him for revenge, she found she couldn't do it. This man had saved her, after all—more than once. Her heart was a whirlwind of complicated feelings, and she hated herself for being soft-hearted towards her enemy.

At that moment, Yingxiao spoke up. "Miss, I can understand you feeling that way since he saved you, but I won't be showing him any mercy!" She glared at Luo Xiu, her gaze icy. "The debt for Fei Xiao's life must be paid!"

As her voice fell, Luo Xiu's body shuddered and his eyes bulged. She had mercilessly crushed his heart.

Luo Xiu's consciousness rapidly faded. His eyes, filled with worry, fixed on Dou Dou and Yaya on the shore. He knew the two little girls were there crying and shouting, but he couldn't hear a thing, as if he had lost his hearing.

Yingxiao's face was expressionless as she slowly withdrew her hand from Luo Xiu's chest, gently shaking off the blood. However, she failed to notice that as his blood dripped into the pond, it triggered some kind of wondrous reaction.

SPLASH.

Luo Xiu's body tumbled into the Lotus Pond and sank beneath the water.

"Fei Xiao, may your spirit in the heavens rest in peace!" A single, crystalline tear slid from the corner of Yingxiao's eye as she turned and stepped away across the leaves.

The Lower Nine Heroes were nine geniuses who had stood out from countless test subjects. In those hellish trials, the nine of them had relied on one another to survive, sharing life and death, and had long since forged a bond as close as family.

As Yingxiao was reminiscing about her comrade, ripples disturbed the emerald waters of the pond. A wisp of green light burst forth, wrapping around her ankle like a tentacle and yanking her down into the water.

Yingxiao was alarmed. Her Spiritual Energy surged as she tried to forcefully break free and fly away. But just then, a green Array pressed down from above the pond, slamming into her and leaving her head bleeding profusely. The tentacle of green light suddenly pulled taut, as if someone on the other end was yanking it with irresistible force, dragging her into the water.

"Yingxiao!" Xia Chan cried out, about to rush forward.

At that moment, more green tendrils surfaced from the pond.

Sensing a terrifying aura, Xue Xiao didn't hesitate to grab Xia Chan. "Miss, let's go! This is a power we can't fight! We need to get out of here alive!"

Gritting her teeth, Xia Chan made a swift decision, turning to follow Xue Xiao as they ran toward the hall's exit. In a situation like this, they couldn't worry about Yingxiao's safety.

However, the light tendrils relentlessly chased after them.

Xia Chan immediately channeled her Qi, turning and waving a hand. The Void around her twisted to form a spatial barrier, blocking the pursuing tendrils. But they only paused for an instant before piercing through the barrier and continuing their chase.

Xia Chan was horrified. She never imagined these light tendrils could even shatter the spatial barrier created by her Wicked Tenderness Technique.

"Bloody Bone Clone!" Xue Xiao shouted, urgently employing his Taoist Arts.

Three clones burst forth from him to intercept the oncoming tendrils, while he himself fled with Xia Chan. The three Bloody Bone Clones, each possessing eighty percent of his own strength, were instantly annihilated by the light tendrils, dissolving into three pools of blood in the blink of an eye.

"Don't run!" Dou Dou's eyes brimmed with murderous intent as she gripped the black umbrella and gave chase. "You killed Chen Shuisheng! Dou Dou will kill you to avenge him!"

Yaya shot a deep look back at the Lotus Pond before following Dou Dou in pursuit.

「An unknown amount of time passed.」

When Luo Xiu's consciousness returned from the darkness, he found himself seated in an opulent chair. In front of him, a section of tender white lotus root hovered in the air, emitting a soft green light. The light coalesced into strands that threaded into the wound on his chest, repairing his shattered heart. The process was long and excruciatingly painful, and he found he couldn't move.

Then, Luo Xiu noticed that not far away, Yingxiao was bound by green light strands, suspended in mid-air.

"Well, what a coincidence," Luo Xiu greeted with a smile.

Yingxiao's gaze was cold as she asked, "Who are you, really? Why would this palace save you?"

Luo Xiu gave a wry smile. "Shouldn't you be more concerned about whether or not I'll spare you? Or perhaps, how I plan to deal with you?"

Yingxiao's expression remained unchanged. "It has come to this. Kill me or torture me as you please."

"However, what I didn't expect... is that you're actually that Luo Xiu."

Luo Xiu remained unflappable, smiling faintly. "You used that Secret Technique that lets you control shadows to turn yourself into a black shade and hide in Dou Dou's umbrella. Hiding for so long... I wonder how many of my secrets you overheard."

"I can hide and lurk in any black object," Yingxiao stated. "As long as I don't reveal myself, no one can detect my presence."

Luo Xiu sighed. "That ability is terrifying."

"You can think of it as making oneself two-dimensional," she said.

"If it's for infiltration," Luo Xiu replied, "you could easily obtain many of Hua Country's top secrets. The more I think about it, the more terrifying it gets. So, I have to kill you."

"As we've been speaking, I have already destroyed my own Divine Sense," Yingxiao said. "I know you can control souls. You would have definitely tried to control me, just like you did with Fei Xiao."

"It's a pity... in the end, you couldn't kill me... I am the one... killing myself..." Her words came out intermittently.

Yingxiao closed her eyes. Blood began to trickle from her seven orifices as her life force rapidly faded.

"That woman is fucking ruthless, killing herself just like that," Luo Xiu cursed. He immediately employed the Soul Capturing Technique, trying to catch Yingxiao's dispersing soul. Unfortunately, the soul fragments had already scattered, and he couldn't reassemble them.

Lin Tong said, "Such a pity. If you could have obtained that secret technique, Boss, it would have been very useful. But at the end of the day, it's the soul of a Mahayana Realm cultivator. Even if it's broken and useless, it can still be refined for Luo Ying to absorb."

Luo Xiu sighed softly. "I guess that's the only option."

Since he couldn't move and had nothing else to do, Luo Xiu began to refine Yingxiao's soul.

A good while later, Luo Xiu had refined a large amount of Yin Essence Power. Using his left eye, he opened a portal to the Land of Lawlessness and called out, "Luo Ying, come out for a moment!"

Shortly after, Luo Ying walked timidly out of the portal.

"Come here," Luo Xiu said. "Look into my eyes."

Time passed slowly.

About half an hour later, Luo Ying slowly opened her eyes. She rubbed her temples, her face etched with pain.

Luo Xiu looked her over, a sense of joy rising in his heart when he saw that her gaze was no longer dull and vacant but had regained some of its former light. As long as Luo Ying can recover, she'll be able to lift the Blood Ban Technique, and I'll be able to regain my peak strength!

"It seems you've recovered quite a bit," he said. "Do you still recognize me?"

At his words, Luo Ying snapped back to reality. She looked around, her eyes widening in shock. "This is... the Holy Lotus Hall?!"

She whirled to face Luo Xiu, her eyes welling with tears. In a trembling voice, she asked, "Are... are you Your Majesty?"

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