Ashina Wuduo picked up a sheepskin pouch filled with black dog blood from the ground. She opened the lid, and a strong smell of blood assaulted her nostrils. Ashina Wuduo covered her nose in disgust. She shook the pouch and said to Li Ying: “Do you know what’s in here? Freshly killed black dog blood. If a living person drinks it, they can see ghosts for twelve hours. I drink it every day, until I almost vomit, but I still have to drink it just to see you. Hmph, before seeing ghosts, I thought they were frightening. After seeing them, I found them not so scary. And after capturing a ghost, I realized they’re nothing!”

Ashina Wuduo approached Li Ying, gradually tilting the pouch. Black dog blood poured down. Li Ying instinctively raised her arm to shield herself. The black dog’s blood splashed onto her arm, instantly making it feel as if it were being scorched by fire. Wisps of white smoke rose, as if thousands of red-hot steel needles were piercing her simultaneously. Li Ying’s entire body shook violently with pain, but she didn’t want to cry out, not wanting to worry Cui Xun or give Ashina Wuduo the satisfaction.

Her lips were bitten until they were a bloody mess, with crimson blood flowing down her lip line. Ashina Wuduo laughed softly. Cui Xun’s fingers were clenched tightly around the iron cage bars. He glared at Ashina Wuduo through gritted teeth: “You hate me. Don’t hurt her!”

Ashina Wuduo stopped her actions. She turned around, looking at Cui Xun in disbelief: “Even today? You still think I hate you? I traveled thousands of miles from Turkic lands to the Great Zhou. I married a man I didn’t love. Do you think I did all that because I hate you?”

“Isn’t that the case?” Cui Xun mocked. “I ruined your face, burned your father to death, turned you from the first beauty of the Western Regions into an ugly monster, from a Turkic princess who commanded the wind and rain to a submissive consort sent to ally. Shouldn’t you hate me? Don’t tell me you love me?”

Ashina Wuduo’s eyes turned red with anger. Cui Xun saying she loved him was simply an insult to her. Her father Khan, had been so good to her, giving her everything she asked for. When her father died, she thought every day about how to kill Cui Xun. How could she possibly love him?

But if she didn’t love him, why was she unwilling to kill him? She repeatedly said that after she tamed him, she would kill him. But she knew she couldn’t tame him. She couldn’t tame him during those two years in the Turkic lands, let alone in Great Zhou. If she could never tame him, would she never kill him, never avenge her father’s death?

By now, she didn’t even know whether what she felt for him was hatred or love.

Ashina Wuduo gripped the sheepskin pouch tightly. No, what she felt for him was only hatred, not love. She would tame him! She would kill him!

She sneered: “Ridiculous. How could I love you? I look at you as nothing more than an untamed beast. You are my Lotus Slave, my slave. How could I possibly fall in love with a slave?”

The sheepskin pouch tilted again towards Li Ying’s head. Ashina Wuduo glanced at Cui Xun in the iron cage and said languidly, “Lotus Slave, I’ll give you a chance. Kneel, kowtow to me in apology, and say you’re willing to be my slave, and I’ll let her go. Otherwise, when the black dog blood pours down, I can’t guarantee what will happen to this ghost.”

Li Ying’s eyes filled with tears. She looked at Cui Xun and silently shook her head.

From the beginning, she knew that Ashina Wuduo wouldn’t kill her because she wanted to use her to threaten Cui Xun.

But she didn’t want Cui Xun to bend his spine, bow his knees, or extinguish his pride for her sake. If Cui Xun were to endure humiliation and become Ashina Wuduo’s slave for her, she would rather die.

She looked at Cui Xun with tears in her eyes, and Cui Xun looked back at her. In the dim cell, a teardrop fell from Li Ying’s eye, sliding down her jade-like cheek, leaving a shallow tear mark. Cui Xun’s eyes also seemed covered by a thin mist, hazy. He gritted his teeth, suddenly turning his gaze away from Li Ying, and calmly asked Ashina Wuduo: “If I agree to be your slave, will you release her?”

Ashina Wuduo was stunned. She hadn’t expected Cui Xun to agree so easily. Her six-year obsession was finally being fulfilled, and for a moment, she couldn’t describe what she felt. Her heart raced, and she hastily replied: “Yes, as long as you agree to be my slave, I’ll release her!”

Afraid that her promise seemed too easy, and wary of Chinese cunning, she added: “You must swear, swear that you’ll obey me for life, be my slave. No, not just this life, but the next life, and the life after that, for all eternity. You must be my slave. Swear on this ghost’s life, then I’ll believe you.”

Her expression was tense, but Cui Xun just smiled faintly: “Swear? Don’t delude yourself. I won’t agree to be your slave.”

Ashina Wuduo was completely stunned.

Cui Xun said, “Ashina Wuduo, are you someone worth trusting? How could you possibly release Moon Pearl?”

Realizing she had been deceived by Cui Xun, Ashina Wuduo immediately flew into a rage. She tightened her grip on the sheepskin pouch: “You aren’t afraid I’ll kill her?”

Cui Xun replied: “I am afraid, but even if I agreed to your terms, you would still kill her.”

Cui Xun’s words indeed hit Ashina Wuduo’s thoughts. She had never intended to spare Li Ying. Just thinking about losing to a ghost made her want to flay Li Ying alive. She was so angry that she wanted to kill Li Ying immediately. The sheepskin pouch tilted, and the black dog’s blood was about to pour out, but then it stopped. Ashina Wuduo hesitated. If she killed Li Ying, she would have no way to threaten Cui Xun anymore.

However, if she couldn’t kill, she could still torture.

She sneered: “Fine! Then I’ll torture her in front of you. Let’s see how long you can hold out!”

The black dog’s blood fell like rain, splashing onto Li Ying’s shoulders. Li Ying collapsed to the ground in pain, but suddenly she felt relieved in her heart. She even smiled, looking at Cui Xun. Cui Xun’s heart felt as if it were being cut by a knife. His fingers tightly gripped the iron cage bars, his eyes misty, but surprisingly, the corners of his mouth also turned up in a slight smile.

Ashina Wuduo was stunned. What kind of bizarre scene was this? She was torturing the woman he loved in front of him, forcing him to submit, but both of them were smiling. Her scalp tingled, and she couldn’t help but ask: “What are you smiling at?”

Li Ying sneered through her pain: “We’re laughing at you.”

“You are both my prisoners. What right do you have to laugh at me?”

Li Ying said, “You think you’re torturing us? No, you’re bringing our hearts closer together. I would rather die than see him beg you pitifully for my sake. Doing so would only move him, not me. But he didn’t beg you pitifully. Shouldn’t I be happy? Even if we die today, we die with our hearts connected. Unlike you, who, after all this effort, what have you gained? You can’t even get him to beg for mercy!”

Hearts connected… Li Ying’s words struck Ashina Wuduo’s vulnerable spot with each syllable. She wanted to pour all the black dog blood from the sheepskin pouch, but Li Ying showed no fear and still looked at her with sympathy: “You’re so pitiful. The true heart you want is with me.”

Ashina Wuduo trembled with rage: “I don’t want his true heart. I only want his submission! I don’t love him! I cannot love him!”

Cui Xun suddenly said, “Ashina Wuduo.”

Ashina Wuduo turned.

“Ashina Wuduo, kill me.” The wounds on Cui Xun’s neck were a bloody mess, and every word he spoke caused intense pain. His face was pale, but still as beautiful as a lotus. He stared at the lotus pattern on Ashina Wuduo’s face and mocked with a light laugh: “If you don’t kill me, it proves you’ve fallen in love with your father’s killer. Hmph, the proudest Princess Wuduo of the Turkic people, unwilling to kill her father’s murderer. Are you worthy of being a descendant of the Ashina family? Are you worthy of being the daughter of the Turkic Khan?”

Ashina Wuduo was furious. She drew her sword, stepped forward forcefully, cut off the iron lock on the cage, then kicked open the cage door. She approached and pressed the sword against Cui Xun’s chest. Just one inch more, and she could kill Cui Xun.

But after the sword drew a small amount of blood from his chest, it advanced no further. Ashina Wuduo held the sword hilt, her fingers trembling. Suddenly, she realized—no, she couldn’t fall for his trick. She couldn’t let him die so easily. She wanted to tame him, torture him. She wanted to kill Li Ying in front of him, making him grieve and suffer for the rest of his life!

As she was about to withdraw the sword, Cui Xun suddenly grasped the sword tip with one hand. His palm was instantly cut open, and blood gushed out like a fountain. Enduring the pain, he pushed the sword tip toward his chest. Ashina Wuduo was stunned. She thought he was trying to commit suicide, so she released the sword hilt to grab the sword from his hand. But in that instant, Cui Xun pushed her to the ground, his other hand also grabbing the sword hilt, the blade moving toward her throat.

The change happened so quickly that Ashina Wuduo couldn’t react. She had forgotten that this was the Great Zhou, not the Turkic lands where she could do as she pleased. And even in the Turkic lands where she had free rein, Cui Xun had lit a fire that nearly burned her and her father Khan, to death in the Turkic royal tent.

This so-called Lotus Slave, as long as she didn’t kill him, as long as he had a breath left, would resist to the end.

Ashina Wuduo deeply regretted being provoked so easily and falling into his trap. The cell was airtight; even if she called for help, no one would come to her rescue.

She could only use all her strength to grab his wrist, keeping the blade away from her throat. Although Cui Xun’s wrists had been tortured to the point where his martial skills were ruined and he could no longer draw his old bow, he was still an adult man. Knowing that if he failed this time, neither he nor Li Ying would have any chance of survival, and people often burst forth with tremendous strength when on the brink of despair, Ashina Wuduo could only watch helplessly as the blade came closer and closer to her.

Once Ashina Wuduo died, Cui Xun could escape the cage, remove the talismans trapping Li Ying, and then, with no one to stop them, they could naturally be rescued.

But just then, a Palace Guard, seeing no movement from the cell for a long time, began to grow anxious. He was under His Majesty’s orders to protect Consort Hui. If anything happened to Consort Hui, he would also have no way to live.

He wanted to enter the cell to investigate, but was stopped by other Palace Guards: “Consort Hui is imperious. We’d better not go in.”

That Palace Guard rebuked: “Do you listen to Consort Hui or His Majesty?”

Everyone was startled. Indeed, Consort Hui was just a consort sent for an alliance marriage; naturally, they should listen to His Majesty.

So several Palace Guards entered together, just in time to see Ashina Wuduo pinned to the ground, the blade about to cut her throat. Everyone was shocked and rushed forward to capture Cui Xun. Ashina Wuduo’s throat had already been cut with a long wound, the flesh turned inside out, looking terrifying. A Palace Guard supported her and was about to ask if she was all right when she pushed him away.

Ashina Wuduo covered her throat. Gritting her teeth, she gave Cui Xun, who was now restrained by the Palace Guards, a hard slap across the face.

Cui Xun’s left cheek immediately swelled, and traces of blood seeped from the corners of his mouth. Ashina Wuduo was still not satisfied. She staggered to take down a whip hanging on the wall, her eyes full of fury. She kicked Cui Xun to the ground and began to lash him mercilessly.

She hated, hated that she had been pecked in the eye by the hawk a second time.

The whip in the cell was specially made for torture, covered with barbs. Each lash tore flesh and drew blood. Ashina Wuduo, as if venting her anger, showed no mercy with each stroke. Cui Xun’s clothes gradually turned red with fresh blood, yet he endured without making a sound. Ashina Wuduo hated seeing him like this—clearly in extreme pain yet not even crying out, with only the bone-deep hatred in his eyes showing he was alive.

She was like she had been back in the Turkic lands, furiously whipping him as she had each time he was caught trying to escape. Each lash became increasingly savage. Li Ying was anxious: “Stop it! You madwoman!”

Ashina Wuduo had no time to pay attention to her now. She was completely immersed in her anger. The whip fell again and again, bringing only torn flesh and trembling from the intense pain of the body, but not a single plea for mercy.

The iron cage was permeated with the smell of blood. Ashina Wuduo seemed to have gone mad. The cell echoed with the sharp sound of the whip cutting through the air and the dull sound of it landing on flesh. The Palace Guards couldn’t help but click their tongues, all quietly taking a step back. No one noticed that Li Ying, trapped by the talismans, had bloodshot eyes, and black mist had begun to swirl around her body.