Ye Qiu turned to the woman and asked, “Are you Qiushan Nange?”
“Hmph!” She let out a cold snort and turned her face away.
Ye Qiu felt a headache coming on.
He’d initially thought she was a high-ranking member of the Witch God Cult, but after all this, it turned out she was Qianshan Xue’s master.
This was a massive blunder.
If it had just been a fight, that’d be one thing, but the real issue was—he’d teased her.
How was he going to explain this to Qianshan Xue later?
“Hey, Ye Qiu, are you listening?” Cao Yuan’s voice crackled through the phone.
“Ninth Eunuch, I’m here,” Ye Qiu replied.
Cao Yuan warned, “Qiushan Nange’s skills are terrifying. If you run into her, you need to be careful…”
“Ninth Eunuch, I’ve already met her.”
“You have?” Cao Yuan sounded startled. “Did you fight?”
“We fought, but don’t worry—she’s under my control now. I’ve got something to handle, so I’ll hang up.”
“Ye Qiu, one more thing—”
Before Cao Yuan could finish, Ye Qiu ended the call, his eyes fixed on Qiushan Nange as he pondered what to do with her.
Let her go? With her temperament, she’d undoubtedly come after him with everything she had.
Keep her restrained? He couldn’t exactly keep her locked up forever.
Killing her was out of the question.
She was Qianshan Xue’s master. If she died, Qianshan Xue would hate him for life.
What now?
Ye Qiu’s head throbbed.
“What are you staring at? Keep looking, and I’ll gouge your eyes out!” Qiushan Nange snapped, glaring at him.
“Tch, a defeated foe still dares to threaten me? Who gave you the guts?”
Smack!
Ye Qiu slapped her just below the waist.
The moment the slap landed, he regretted it. Wasn’t this just escalating the conflict?
Sure enough.
Qiushan Nange’s face turned livid with rage. “You bastard! I’ll kill you someday!”
“Enough with the big talk. You’ve seen my skills—you can’t kill me.”
“I just don’t get it. Why are you so dead-set on opposing me?”
“I’m your disciple’s man, you know!”
Ye Qiu looked at her, utterly baffled.
Qiushan Nange sneered, “You’ve got the nerve to bring that up?”
“I know Xiao Xue. She’s devoted to the sword—she’d never give herself to any man. If you hadn’t forced her, how could you have gotten her?”
“You ignorant fool, you deserve a thousand deaths!”
“I’ll cut you to pieces!”
Ye Qiu blinked in surprise. “So, you want to kill me because of Qianshan Xue?”
“Exactly,” Qiushan Nange said. “I won’t let anyone bully my disciple.”
“Why didn’t you say so earlier? This is all a misunderstanding.”
Ye Qiu explained, “It’s not what you think between me and Qianshan Xue. I didn’t force her. She was poisoned at the time, and to save her, that’s how it happened.”
“You might not believe me, but the truth is, she forced me. She’s just as fierce as you…”
“Shut up!” Qiushan Nange’s face flushed red.
“It’s true, I’m telling the truth,” Ye Qiu said earnestly. “If you don’t believe me, go ask Qianshan Xue. I guarantee she’ll say the same thing.”
Qiushan Nange spat in disgust, “Men like you are the worst—doing it and not owning up.”
“I never said I wouldn’t take responsibility,” Ye Qiu countered. “When the time’s right, I’ll marry Qianshan Xue.”
“You? Marry my disciple?”
Qiushan Nange didn’t spare him any dignity. “Don’t think I don’t know—you’ve got several other women in Hua Country.”
“In your country’s terms, you’re a textbook scumbag!”
Ye Qiu shook his head. “I’m not a scumbag—just a bit too affectionate.”
“What’s the difference?”
“A big one. A scumbag sleeps around and doesn’t care. I sleep around and take responsibility.”
“Hmph, twisting words!” Qiushan Nange barked, “Let me go!”
“Don’t worry, I’ll let you go. But I know the moment I do, you’ll try to kill me again.”
“Even if you can’t kill me, having you constantly hounding me would be a hassle.”
“I need a foolproof plan.”
Ye Qiu stared at her, his eyes darting around before he grinned mischievously. “Got it.”
With that, he stepped behind Qiushan Nange and wrapped his arms around her from behind.
“What are you doing? Get away from me!” she roared.
She was one of the three grandmasters of Great Eastern Martial Arts, once the leader of the Water Moon Sect. In all her life, no man had ever gotten this close to her.
Ye Qiu’s actions drove her mad.
If she weren’t restrained, she’d have stabbed him through without hesitation.
This bastard had gone too far.
“Relax, I won’t do anything to you. I just need some leverage so that after I let you go, you won’t keep coming after me.”
Ye Qiu pulled out his phone, opened the selfie camera, and snapped a few shots of himself with Qiushan Nange.
He even critiqued as he went.
“This one’s no good—you’re not smiling at all. Give me a smile!”
“This one feels a bit distant—not intimate enough. Come closer!”
“Oh, right, I forgot—you can’t move. Guess I’ll do it!”
One arm around her slender waist, Ye Qiu held the phone with the other, pressing his face against hers.
“Bastard, I’ll kill you!”
Qiushan Nange refused to cooperate, shutting her eyes.
Unbeknownst to her, her expression, paired with Ye Qiu’s antics, made her look like she was enjoying it.
Click, click!
Ye Qiu snapped away like a maniac.
Dozens of photos later, he moved his lips closer to her face, still snapping.
To an outsider, they’d look like a couple in the throes of passion.
Qiushan Nange trembled with rage, feeling his hand on her waist slowly sliding downward…
Shameless creep.
I’ll haunt you even as a ghost!
She swore silently to herself.
After a while, Ye Qiu finally put the phone away, satisfied. “You really want to kill me right now, don’t you?”
“I’d advise you to drop that idea—and don’t ever think it again.”
“Otherwise, I’ll send these photos to Qianshan Xue.”
“Think about it. If Qianshan Xue saw us like this, what would she think?”
Qiushan Nange finally grasped his scheme, so furious she couldn’t speak.
Though she and Qianshan Xue shared a deep master-disciple bond, if Qianshan Xue saw these photos, no amount of explanation would clear her name. It’d surely strain their relationship.
Especially since Qianshan Xue was now…
Bang!
Suddenly, a bullet flew from the darkness.
“Watch out!” Ye Qiu swiftly tackled Qiushan Nange to the ground.
