An expert. A supreme expert. Beyond the Ninth Imperial Uncle and Mu Mu — this was the third such person Feng Jiu’er had encountered in this era.

His arrival carried with it a suffocating, crushing despair. Even just being forced back by that display of power felt as though he had driven her straight into the depths of hell.

A terrifying sensation — a sensation that unmistakably carried the scent of death.

The black-robed man stood before her, gazing down at her from above, his lips cold and expressionless, curling into a faint smile that seemed to carry the very chill of the underworld.

“The woman Zhan Qingcheng holds dear?” A quiet sound of contempt escaped him. To have been hit by virulent poison and still manage to heal herself — what remarkable tenacity.

He crouched down, extending pale, long fingers that closed around Jiu’er’s chin. He tilted her face upward.

Jiu’er was exhausted — so utterly drained she did not even have the strength to push his hand away.

So tired… “Who… are you?”

Why go after the Ninth Imperial Uncle?

By now she was certain — this man had come to strike at the Ninth Imperial Uncle.

Was he trying to use her as leverage against him?

“You’re not yet worthy of knowing who I am.” The man smiled faintly. Behind the mask, the eyes that gazed down at her were laced with a cold, bone-deep menace.

“You think… I belong to the Ninth Prince? Ha. With eyes that blind — does your mother know?”

Feng Jiu’er’s words made the black-robed man’s brow flicker ever so slightly. Yet in the next moment, he let out an indifferent, icy laugh and dismissed it entirely.

“The provocation tactic won’t work on me. The nature of your relationship with Zhan Qingcheng — I understand it better than anyone.”

Feng Jiu’er said nothing. She simply watched him in silence.

The truth was that after being forced to cough blood by his inner force, she now had no strength left in her body — she barely had the energy even to speak.

“What do you say — shall we make a wager?”

The black-robed man suddenly curved his lips into a smile, reaching out and hauling her upright. “Let’s wager on whether he truly cares about you.”

“You——” A wave of cold swept through Feng Jiu’er. His smile was genuinely terrifying — it was enough to let her taste the very breath of death.

“Let me help you find out just how much your Ninth Imperial Uncle truly cares about you.”

His hand came to rest on her shoulder. In the next instant, Feng Jiu’er felt a crushing, searing pain explode at her shoulder.

Like a sharp blade driving in at the shoulder and tearing through every part of her body in a single merciless sweep.

It hurt. She had never known pain like this. Such agony that this stubborn, unyielding girl could no longer hold back — a wretched scream tore from her lips, and blood, once it started, would not stop.

This demon — he had destroyed her meridians. Every single one. She would be crippled from this day forward.

Tears of anguish slid from the corners of her eyes. Yet she kept her gaze locked on him with everything she had. Even screaming in agony, even choking on blood, she never took her eyes off the masked face before her.

Even if she could not make out the true face hidden behind the mask, she stared and stared — as though to brand the small patch of exposed skin into the deepest part of her memory.

At last, the black-robed man released his grip. Feng Jiu’er went down like a kite with a severed string — collapsing softly onto the ground.

Blood at the corner of her lips never ceased. Sometimes it welled up in a helpless mouthful. Other times, even when she was not actively coughing, it seeped out in thin, unbroken streams.

Her eyes were vacant, the light within them fading away drop by drop. Yet those stubborn eyes never wavered — fixed on the silhouette before her without blinking.

Even as his figure grew more and more blurred. Even as her eyelids grew too heavy to bear.

“Little one — you truly are something. One can only hope your Ninth Imperial Uncle genuinely cares for you. Otherwise, it would be a pity indeed for the world to lose someone as interesting as you.”