Chapter 282 - 281: Merciless

Si Yan refused to let them go. "Brother Ayan."

Ling Yanzhi nonchalantly lifted his gaze.

’Why hasn’t Sheng Yue brought Si Xu over yet?’

Ling Yanzhi languidly lowered his eyes.

His voice was listless and lazy. "Get Si Xu out here."

The subtext was clear: ’Do you want your cousin or not? If not, I’ll just kill her right now.’

"..." Pei Yin paused for a long moment. "I’ll ask."

He also couldn’t figure out what Si Xu was planning.

The group ignored Si Yan and started to leave.

Si Yan used Instant Teleportation to block the doorway.

"I’m not done talking! You’re not allowed to leave!"

Ling Yanzhi’s eyelashes drooped in annoyance. Sunlight hit his face, casting sparse, long shadows. "Get lost."

Si Yan looked aggrieved and didn’t move an inch.

Ling Yanzhi’s brow furrowed.

’His aura had actually lost its effect on Si Yan.’

Upon probing her, he discovered she was carrying an immunity item given to her by a Priest of the Feather Clan.

The Red Snake Beast Soul materialized above Ling Yanzhi’s head, its massive tail sweeping toward Si Yan.

Si Yan’s face went pale with fright.

The long tail shattered the item’s barrier.

She reacted a beat too late, dodging to the side.

Si Yan looked wounded. "How could you do this to me?"

Without waiting for Si Xu’s reply, Pei Yin turned off his Star Brain.

"Stop acting. You’re just putting on that expression to perform some show of deep affection. The only one you’re moving is yourself; it won’t fool us. You don’t want Ling Yanzhi. You want the power in his hands, the resources behind him, and his not-too-shabby face and status."

Pei Yin sneered. "Chasing after a man with no regard for your own dignity. There are so many men in the world, yet you only pick those with backing and ability. Do you really think everyone else is blind and can’t see your intentions?"

Si Yan’s expression turned ugly.

’She liked Ling Yanzhi’s face, but she wanted everything he possessed even more.’

’People always say: he’s just a man, what’s there to fight over?’

’But was she only fighting for a man?’

’No. She was fighting for resources, for power, for the lifetime of happiness she could have with him.’

’Men themselves were a type of resource.’

Si Yan had gotten far too much from the High Priest. If she wanted jade, the High Priest would personally present all kinds of jade for her to choose from.

’In her eyes, picking a man was the same thing.’

’She was merely selecting her favorite from a pool of outstanding, age-appropriate men.’

’Was that so wrong?’

Si Yan was left speechless.

Watching their departing backs, she shouted frantically, "I was willing to betray my father and steal the Holy Pearl for him! You say I only like resources and power, that I’m hypocritical and cheap, so why wouldn’t I go after Xi Yu instead?"

Xi Yu didn’t turn back.

Clawed tentacles erupted from his back, and he raised a hand, punching a large, bloody hole in Si Yan’s shoulder.

Si Yan’s face went deathly pale. "..."

Pei Yin adjusted the person in his arms. "And that’s why. Tsk, it’s all our Ayan’s fault for being too polite in the past."

Si Yan opened her mouth, too furious to speak.

Jian Yu was still trying to imagine Ling Yanzhi’s polite side.

The next second, her ears were assaulted by filth.

Pei Yin’s demonic voice drilled into her ears: "If you’re sick in the head, go to a hospital! Don’t you have any self-awareness about how fucking ugly you are? With that pointy face, always wearing those unlucky, deathly-white funeral clothes, you look like a corpse! You’ve got some nerve chasing our Ayan. Have some goddamn shame! Even if you aren’t embarrassed, I’m embarrassed for Ling Gou! Being chased by trash like you... blah blah blah..."

Jian Yu wanted to cover her ears. After a moment’s hesitation, she dug her fingers into the gold chain on Pei Yin’s shoulder instead.

Si Yan felt a mouthful of blood choking her throat.

The humiliation was palpable. "If I go, the Holy Pearl goes with me! Don’t you all treat my cousin like a brother? The Holy Pearl he wants is on me! Brother Ayan, if you’re willing to be with me, I can give you the Holy Pearl right now!"

Si Yan held the Holy Pearl high. "Break up with her and become my partner! If you don’t agree, I’ll destroy the Holy Pearl today!"

Ling Yanzhi scoffed.

He turned around, his scarlet, slit pupils unblinking. "Are you threatening me?"

The smile that was about to form on Si Yan’s lips froze.

The Holy Pearl suddenly left her right hand and flew into the air.

"!!!" Si Yan unfurled her wings, chasing after it in a panic.

She reached out, but before she could touch the Holy Pearl, a powerful surge of Soul Power struck her fiercely.

Her body plummeted, crashing heavily to the ground.

Si Yan’s face turned ashen. "You don’t have the Picking Pearl Technique! Even if you get the Holy Pearl now, once its energy is depleted and it automatically flies back to the Holy Hall, you still won’t be able to retrieve it!"

As soon as she finished speaking, a great golden door materialized in midair.

The door opened, and a blinding Holy Light shone forth.

Si Xu, dressed in a Golden Feather Uniform, stepped out barefoot, his golden hair flowing freely.

Ling Yanzhi raised his arm and casually tossed the pearl up. "Here’s your thing. This is my final warning to her. If she still can’t understand plain language, don’t blame me for not being merciful to your cousin!"

Si Xu caught the Holy Pearl.

His glass-like eyes swept over them, his gaze disdainful.

Si Yan bit her lower lip hard.

Her eyelashes trembled as she stared intently at the Holy Pearl, which began to shimmer with iridescent light the moment it landed in Si Xu’s hand.

Her knuckles turned white from clenching her fists.

"Cousin."

Si Yan’s voice held a pleading tremor.

She gazed up at the figure whose white clothes were whiter than snow. "You promised me that if I gave you the Holy Pearl, you would help me break that damned marriage contract."

Si Yan took a deep breath, a crazed hope flashing in her eyes. "I can also give you the Picking Pearl Technique! Just kill Jian Yu... and forcefully bind my line of marriage to Ling Yanzhi!"

Si Xu looked down at her. "The High Priest really gave you a lot of nice things. It made you quite difficult to find."

His words struck Si Yan’s heart like a heavy hammer.

Her pupils contracted, and she instinctively recoiled.

With a mere thought from Si Xu,

Si Yan’s eyes went vacant. Flashes of her father’s desperate gaze before his death and the night she had secretly stolen the Holy Pearl flooded her mind.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t guess her father would be purged without the Holy Pearl.

Nor was she unaware of how despicable her "backstabbing" was.

She had simply, subconsciously, weighed her own interests and gambled that her cousin still held a sliver of familial affection for her, gambled that he wouldn’t truly be so heartless.

Si Yan lowered her head, tears streaming down her face. "You actually killed my father? Cousin, you’re so cruel, leaving me to live all alone."

Si Xu’s voice was filled with a pity as light as the wind. "Don’t worry. Your cousin won’t leave you all alone."

Si Yan was secretly delighted.

She looked up, her pupils trembling slightly.

A dazzling golden light erupted, shooting straight through her chest.

Si Yan’s eyes widened as blood trickled from the corner of her mouth, unable to form a complete sentence.

She looked at Si Xu’s cold, indifferent face and finally understood that she had lost her gamble.

Lost completely and utterly.

She lost because she wasn’t as ruthless as Si Xu.

"BANG!"

Her body exploded. The now-unbound Space Ring fell, and all sorts of treasures came clattering out.

Among them, a pearl emitting gentle fluctuations rolled to Pei Yin’s feet.

"So after all that, this is the thing she was using to hide her aura?"

No wonder she was so good at hiding.

It turns out she had a Breath Holding Pearl.

Pei Yin picked up a feather as white as snow. "What’s this?"

Si Xu replied, "A White Feather."

It can automatically counter-attack and kill an enemy when its owner is in danger.

The High Priest had refined two of them for Si Yan.

One was consumed when Yuge was tracking her and overheard the Picking Pearl Technique.

"Your Yuge died, and Si Yan’s aura was shielded." Pei Yin had a realization. "No wonder you and Feifei didn’t go after her. It was because you couldn’t find her, wasn’t it?"