Xiang Haikui stood up in fury, suppressing a “fuck your mother” in her throat, and sneered, “First apes, then dogs. Continue, don’t stop!”

“My finger is already hovering over the delete button, but I can’t bring myself to do it. Push a little harder, and I’ll just pretend my senior is already dead!”

She couldn’t possibly connect her senior with this kind of garbage!

Jing Ran also stood up, his face even more gloomy than before. “When did I say you were a dog? Can you truly not understand the meaning of my words?”

It was no wonder some women ended up living in misery.

Jing Ran turned and flew down from the petal, his face as black as a pot bottom. “Let’s go back to the Soul Nourishing Pool.”

“Go back to your mother! Do you think I’m a dog that comes when you call and leaves when you dismiss?” Unable to bring herself to cut him down, Xiang Haikui was furious and threw Tian Kuang like a javelin.

Jing Ran was only at the fifth rank. What he had used to kill earlier wasn’t a magical power but a spiritual perception.

How could he block the sword energy of someone at the peak of the eighth rank?

Tian Kuang struck his back with a loud bang, immediately sending him staggering forward, falling flat on the ground.

Although this spider lily palace had been cleared, the Underworld Lord had assigned two people to secretly guard him.

At this moment, the two were dumbfounded.

Feeling that going out might mean death, they exchanged a glance and chose to remain hidden.

After a long moment, Jing Ran spat out a mouthful of blood. Just as he was about to stand up, Xiang Haikui flew down and kicked him in the buttocks, sending him flying forward to fall flat on the ground once more.

The two hidden guards exchanged another glance. Di Jun’s cultivation wasn’t high, but he could still summon a golden protective body to save his life.

But once the golden body appeared, that young lady would be severely injured.

So, they continued to hide.

Tian Kuang’s sword intent rose sharply, but Xiang Haikui wasn’t hitting him for the sake of increasing the wild intent.

She had frustration bottled up inside, not from being insulted by him.

The feeling of having the only bit of beauty in her memories trampled into pieces was truly…

“You…” Jing Ran staggered to his feet, looking at her with icy eyes.

The wild intent grew even faster, and Tian Kuang began to issue danger warnings, but Xiang Haikui showed not the slightest fear and shouted at him, “Come on! Come kill me! Use my corpse to deal with Yin Changli, and see if he’s frightened by you or if he’ll fight you to the death!”

Her gaze was equally cold, but at the same time, suffused with deep disappointment.

After staring at her for a long while, Jing Ran smoothed his wrinkled sleeve, and with a gloomy face, turned silently and strode away quickly.

The Tian Kuang sword in Xiang Haikui’s hand gradually calmed down, indicating his killing intent had dissipated.

“Hmph.” She sneered at his retreating figure.

Then she flew back to sit on the petal.

She couldn’t escape. The city was in the middle of the sea, and the seawater wouldn’t let her float, nor could she fly over it.

No one had arranged a room for her; it was as if she were just an accessory, going wherever the Di Jun went.

Feeling better after kicking him, Xiang Haikui sat cross-legged to meditate. It was quiet now, just right. Her boss had said earlier that she could already break through to the ninth rank.

Jing Ran already had a wound on his back, and now he had suffered additional injuries.

Gritting his teeth, he climbed up several levels of the spiral staircase. At a turn, he looked down at her from above.

She was sitting in meditation as if nothing had happened.

He stood there for a while.

Then he walked down one level.

Then continued up the stairs.

…

Xiang Haikui could achieve complete focus once she said she would eliminate distractions.

After meditating for several hours, she suddenly heard her boss’s voice.

—”Miss Xiang.”

Xiang Haikui instinctively wanted to open her eyes and look around, but she resisted. “The Di Jun is trying to catch you. Why are you here?”

—”Don’t worry, I know the Other Shore City better than he does. He can’t catch me.”

Xiang Haikui recalled the message he had sent through Lu Xiqiao. “Then why have you come? Don’t tell me you’ve changed your mind again and come back to rescue me?”

A moment of silence.

—”Will you come with me?”

Xiang Haikui was taken aback. He had changed his mind. She didn’t fully understand, but she agreed readily. “Alright, how do we leave?”

Yin Changli fell silent again.

Xiang Haikui asked, “Did I answer too quickly, making you suspect it’s a trap?”

—”No. Nine days from now, I’ll have someone deliver a message to you. After receiving it, go to the Palace of Extreme Pleasure, and I’ll take you away. Before then, you’d better have Lu Xiqiao leave first.”

Xiang Haikui felt a bit nervous. “Will we be able to escape?”

—”There shouldn’t be a problem. At that time, all restrictions and formations will lose their effectiveness for a quarter of an hour. The Other Shore City will be in chaos, but this opportunity comes only once.”

Xiang Haikui grew more nervous. “Senior, this sounds like you’re preparing for war?”

—”Yes.”

Xiang Haikui asked, “Wasn’t your plan to first rescue my master and the others? Why have you suddenly changed your mind?”

—”If I said you were a factor, would you believe it?”

Xiang Haikui was momentarily stunned.

She realized she didn’t doubt him at all, even though he was being more dog-like than a dog.

But it seemed that in certain matters, he had never deceived her.

She didn’t worry at all that he would secretly use her, because he always stated his terms clearly, dealing fairly with all.

She tentatively asked, “Have you remembered what happened before?”

—”No, but whether I remember or not isn’t important anymore. What’s important is… I’m somewhat afraid.”

Xiang Haikui didn’t understand what he meant by being afraid. He didn’t clarify, and she didn’t ask.

—”I also have a question for you.”

“What is it?”

—”Why are you suddenly so determined to come with me?”

Xiang Haikui was straightforward. “To be honest, my opinion of you has changed.”

—”Oh?”

“Actually, in my eyes, you’re still garbage. But when two piles of dog shit appear next to the garbage, I suddenly discover that garbage is still acceptable.”

Comparison creates beauty—that’s the truth.

After a long while.

—”Then I should thank them.”

Xiang Haikui raised an eyebrow.

She heard nothing from him for a long time.

Just when she thought he had left, she heard him say, “This is the first time I’ve indulged myself since my clan’s upheaval. I hope… There can be a next time.”

After he left, Xiang Haikui pondered the meaning of his words for a while, then continued cultivating.

Three days passed without any sign of advancing her cultivation level.

She inwardly complained that her dog-like boss had overestimated the power of his yang essence.

“Xiang classmate.”

She looked up. Jing Ran stood above her. “Come up.”

Xiang Haikui remained silent and raised her middle finger at him.

He was unmoved. “If you don’t come up, I’ll have someone kill Lu Xiqiao.”

Xiang Haikui’s eyes flashed with anger.

Jing Ran said calmly, “Anyway, I’m already rotten in your eyes, so I don’t mind being a bit more rotten.”

“Is the Di Jun like a dead pig that doesn’t fear boiling water?” Xiang Haikui mocked, then left the petal and went upstairs, following him into the Soul Nourishing Pool.

Jing Ran sat cross-legged.

Xiang Haikui lay down on the ground, crossing one leg over the other.

“Do you know what the golden light I released earlier to kill those people was?” he said with his eyes closed.

It was the Heavenly Race’s “spiritual perception.” Xiang Haikui had heard of it.

“I know you think I’m a feudal old fossil,” he continued without opening his eyes. “But you’ve never considered that it’s not we who chose the class system, but the class system that chose us.”

Humans are born equal, but the Heavenly Race is inherently unequal.

The existence of “spiritual perception” creates suppression, dividing them into various ranks.

“Did you see my spiritual perception? It effortlessly turned them to ashes. Similarly, everyone in the Heavenly Race experiences this suppression, just like the bloodlines of the demon race.”

Jing Ran’s tone showed not a ripple of emotion. “And this position as king of the race wasn’t my choice either. Our lineage is born to be the alpha wolf of the Heavenly Race, natural rulers. If I were to quit, the Heavenly Race would immediately fall into chaos, and the Three Realms would be finished.”

There was no choice.

To maintain the stability of the entire race, the alpha wolf relies on formidable power, not moral integrity.

The former Underworld Lord, his elder brother, was born with much stronger spiritual perception than he, making him the best successor. Jing Ran had once yielded to this power.

But his brother was truly outrageous, his heart turned entirely toward the Mountain and Sea Clan.

If the alpha wolf shows mercy to sheep, it spells disaster for the entire wolf pack.

And their father king was determined to exterminate the Mountain and Sea Clan because they were truly too overbearing, never giving the Di Jun any face. Whenever they were displeased, they would come to the upper realm and stick their swords in the plaque of the Heavenly Palace.

He pointed at Xiang Haikui. “Yes, I mean your master, Qi Yin.”

Yet despite this, his elder brother still defended the Mountain and Sea Clan.

His father king, believed his elder brother was beyond redemption and wanted to install him instead, but the Heavenly Race believed in spiritual perception, and the entire race would not agree to depose the Crown Prince.

So he provoked an incident and went to war with the Mountain and Sea Clans.

First, to solve a major concern, and second, to let the Heavenly Race see that the Crown Prince’s heart was not aligned with the Heavenly Race and that he couldn’t be a good alpha wolf.

But in the end, everything became Jing Ran’s fault—that Jing Ran had deliberately provoked trouble to bring him down.

His father king, didn’t want to bear the blame for exterminating a race, so he pushed it all onto him.

At the same time, it was to help him establish authority.

Jing Ran offered no explanations, since he had contributed most of the strategies, both overt and covert, that won the war, expending the most effort.

Xiang Haikui listened quietly without saying a word.

After a suffocating silence, Jing Ran changed the subject. “Xiang classmate, back in Silver Sand City, I blocked a flying sword for you. Do you remember?”

Xiang Haikui nodded.

The reason was that Jing Ran felt he owed her a debt, for when he was in danger, she had rushed forward to grab his leg.

Everything on Earth had felt unreal to him, but unexpectedly, as he was leaving, he had experienced something genuine.

It made him feel indebted to her, wanting to repay her.

Until he awakened and realized that in his long life, there had truly never been anyone who had risked themselves for him without hesitation.

“I have weapons to deal with Yin Changli. I treat you well simply because I want to, because I want to keep you by my side. Because I like the way you look at me, I like how you call me ‘Senior’ rather than ‘Di Jun’…”

His tone remained calm. “Think carefully, what use would it be for me to please you? Can you compete with Yin Changli in cultivation or schemes? Or am I trying to coax you to go to that fox Yin Changli’s side to employ a beauty trap and extract the whereabouts of the divine artifact?”

“Ask yourself honestly, with Xiang classmate’s intellect, unable even to understand what I’m saying…”

Jing Ran had suffered enough linguistic setbacks before these past few days. After a moment’s hesitation, he still spoke bluntly, “I might as well disguise myself as a woman and go myself.”