Chapter 274: What Do You Mean?

It was beyond everyone's expectations.

Luo Yaning did not play any more little tricks, nor did she use any schemes or plots on the spur of the moment; instead, she truly seemed to have accepted her fate, honestly and self-consciously sealing her own cultivation.

She walked silently to the side of the white fox to bind her own hands and feet, then, without a shred of resistance, allowed the other tail extended by the white fox to wrap around and tie her up.

Ren Yidao even discovered that the moment her body was constricted, the corners of her mouth seemed to curl upward for a fleeting second.

Ren Yidao: Huh?

Could it be that my previous guess was wrong, and this person... is actually a pervert?

The kind who looks cold and gloomy on the surface, but secretly hopes to be treated roughly?

Hiss!

Right, a Demon Blade?

Cough!

Although one shouldn't interfere with others' personal hobbies, Ren Yidao is not incapable of being a master of rope art.

But still...

"That would be an extra charge."

Without a foundation of affection, it is just work, and it costs money.

Although he felt some resistance in his heart, seeing Luo Yaning's resigned appearance, Ren Yidao decided not to calculate too clearly for the time being.

Perhaps there are still interesting things to come.

With two women wrapped in his tails, Ren Yidao had obtained Luo Yaning but had no intention of letting Shi Xiaoxiao go, even turning around as if to leave.

"Wait a moment!" Li Yiyi called out to the white fox, staring at it with furrowed brows.

【What is it? Do you have any other business?】

Upon hearing the shout, the white fox tilted its head to look at the youth, giving him a probing gaze.

Hmm?

What's up?

"What business? Senior, have you forgotten something?"

Li Yiyi felt anxious, but he suppressed the anger in his heart and said in as calm a voice as possible:

"She has already handed herself over to you, but you haven't kept your promise to return Xiao Xiao to me!"

【Does it have anything to do with you?】 Huhu was puzzled, not understanding why the youth was so agitated.

"What?" Li Yiyi's eyes widened; he understood even less what the other's counter-question meant.

【I said, what does her transaction with me have to do with you?】

"But didn't you say..." Li Yiyi was stunned, failing to understand which step he had missed.

How can I not understand a single word of what it's saying?

The white fox tilted its head in confusion and blinked, explaining patiently:

【She was willing to take the girl's place and kept her promise, so I fulfilled her wish.】

"So..."

【So, now this girl belongs to her!】 The white fox nodded as if it were only natural, sighing, 【And quite coincidentally, she now belongs to me.】

That really is a coincidence!

【Young man, is this relationship so hard to understand?】

Understand?

"You're full of crap!" Li Yiyi was completely flushed with rage.

He finally realized.

This guy was playing him!

From the very beginning, it had been playing everyone in the palm of its hand; it never intended to let anyone go!

He didn't care if the other party was some kind of expert or not, and roared directly:

"Xiao Xiao doesn't belong to her, and she doesn't belong to you!"

"Xiao Xiao doesn't belong to anyone!"

【Very good!】

Clap! Clap! Clap!

The white fox raised its front paws and clapped vigorously:

【That's right! You said it so well~ I almost want to applaud you!】

Very good, by virtue of these words, I declare that you have the right to be exempt from being 'punched' on the internet for three days~

As for why it's only three days?

Of course, it's because internet memory only lasts for three days.

After three days, you'll be punched if you're meant to be punched, and you'll be attacked if you're meant to be attacked.

"You..."

A bit bewildered by the white fox's reaction of laughing instead of getting angry, Li Yiyi couldn't guess what the other party was thinking.

Li Yiyi really wanted to shout out loud:

Is it a friend or a foe, damn it!!?

Ren Yidao only crooked the corner of his mouth, revealing a smile that symbolized justice:

I am not your enemy, but I am not your friend either!

I am merely a passing judge of justice!

He raised a paw and pressed down, telling the youth on the opposite side who was about to explode to calm down.

【I know you are in a hurry, but don't be in a hurry yet.】

【Don't be anxious~】

【Since you are unwilling, we can still continue to talk!】

Ren Yidao looked at his Junior Martial Nephew with deep eyes, drawing upon the Demon God Breath within his body to make the aura around him even more terrifying.

Hum—

Accompanied by a humming sound, Li Yiyi felt all the sounds around him disappear, and he could see nothing else before his eyes, falling into a piece of darkness.

Where is this!?

Without giving Li Yiyi any time to think, a pair of eyes like ghost fire lit up in the darkness ahead.

Li Yiyi heard a voice of indistinguishable gender echoing in his heart:

【She paid her part of the price, but you haven't yet, have you?】

【In order to save this young girl from the hands of the villain, what are you willing to pay?】

"I..."

!!?

Li Yiyi was still thinking about his current situation, but his body moved on its own, unconsciously opening his mouth.

"I, I am willing to pay everything for her."

【Everything? Do you mean everything including your life, the imperial throne, and even your soul?】

【Can you really do it?】

Silence.

The youth in the darkness fell into a long silence.

Just when Ren Yidao thought he had given up, the youth raised his head, no longer resisting that power.

"Perhaps."

His eyes were bright, as if burning with flames, looking earnestly at the ghost fire in the darkness ahead.

As if staring directly at the darkness within his own heart.

"I am also afraid of death, and unwilling to just give up that position like this... I don't know how I will choose when I truly have to make a decision."

He faced his own heart frankly and said sternly:

"But at this very moment, I am willing to die for her."

Crack, crack, crack—

As his words were spoken, the humming in his ears disappeared, and the power that had originally bound his body retreated silently.

He broke free from the restraints, and instead of rushing to escape, he provoked the darkness:

"If you want to take my life, then come and try!"

"But I will not sit and wait for death!"

Li Yiyi's eyes turned blood-red, and he sneered hideously at the darkness:

"I am a descendant of the Li Family, I will not die just like this!"

"If you want to kill me, I will definitely make you pay the price!"

Pfft.

A suppressed, playful laugh came from the darkness.

【You want to make me pay the price? Hehe, that really is a statement from an innocent child~】

Very naive and very chuunibyou, but Huhu... doesn't actually dislike it.

Snap.

After a light sound, light replaced the darkness before Li Yiyi's eyes.

Just returning from the darkness, the falling sunlight was a bit blinding, and Li Yiyi subconsciously raised his hand to shield his eyes.

Then, the youth heard a playful chuckle.

【So, that is what he said~】

The other party was not talking to him, but conversing with someone else.

【Did you hear it? Little girl~】

【He is willing to die for you!】

【How touching!】

Is it mocking me?

Li Yiyi was about to get angry when he heard a cry with a sobbing tone:

"Yiyi!"

!!!

It was Shi Xiaoxiao's voice!

Regardless of how blinding the sunlight was, Li Yiyi looked fiercely toward the direction the voice came from.

"Xiao Xiao!?"

In his eyes, a thin, delicate body was stumbling across the water toward him.

Then, running lower and lower, about to sink into the water...

Splash!

Glug, glug, glug...

"Careful!!!"

Looking at the bubbles on the water surface, Li Yiyi couldn't care about anything else, and without thinking, he rushed into the water.

Moving rapidly through the water, he soon discovered the young girl who was constantly sinking and blowing bubbles, and then he grabbed her in his arms.

Pfft!

After grabbing her, he rushed out from the bottom of the water, and Li Yiyi looked anxiously at the young girl in his arms.

"Xiao Xiao! How are you? You..."

This time, although the young girl was unconscious, her life was not in danger.

Seeing that she was unharmed, Li Yiyi felt slightly relieved, and only then did he have the energy to look around.

"Wait! Where are the people!!?"

He didn't know until he looked, but one look really gave him a start!

The white fox was gone.

The mysterious white fox that had been playing him in the palm of its hand had vanished into thin air.

And it wasn't just the white fox in the lake; Luo Yaning and her group of over a dozen subordinates had all vanished into thin air as well.

No footprints, no aura, no traces left behind.

Only the depressions in the grass could prove that people had indeed been there.

Where did they go?

Thump!

Li Yiyi didn't have time to ponder this question before his train of thought was interrupted by the delicate body.

"Cough, cough, cough... Yiyi?"

Shi Xiaoxiao looked at the boy who looked like a drowned rat and revealed a poignant smile.

"Is, is it you who came to save me?"

"It's me! Xiao Xiao! I've come to save you!"

"It's so good to have you here..." After saying this, Shi Xiaoxiao closed her eyes and drifted into unconsciousness.

This time, Li Yiyi did not try to wake her up again.

Shi Xiaoxiao was asleep.

She was too tired; it was just that after her heart was at peace, her spirit could no longer hold on.

"Sleep now, I am by your side, I will handle everything."

Whispering this, Li Yiyi picked her up horizontally.

Although he had successfully saved Shi Xiaoxiao and avoided a tragedy, it seemed as if everything had been resolved.

But in Li Yiyi's heart, there was still an unresolved knot.

"That fox..."

"What on earth did it mean!!?"

"Tell me, what was the meaning of you doing these things?"

"The young couple was living just fine, why did you think of breaking up a pair of lovebirds?"

Ren Yidao had returned to his human form, sitting atop a mountain of unconscious Dark Guards, looking down at Luo Yaning, who was kneeling on the ground and saying nothing.

Ren Yidao liked this high-and-mighty perspective; it allowed him to take in every move the other party made.

Luo Yaning was very calm.

It was not the calmness of having no regrets in her heart, but a kind of indifferent calmness born of self-abandonment.

"I'm asking you a question, don't play dumb."

Luo Yaning remained silent, seemingly intending to continue being mute like this.

But Ren Yidao was not prepared to give her this chance to prove her resolve through death.

You want to die in front of me?

Did I agree to it?

【Answer me.】

Under Ren Yidao's command, Luo Yaning let out a painful groan, and then her mouth opened uncontrollably.

"Ugh!"

Although she resisted in her heart, Luo Yaning still slowly opened her mouth under the control of Fox Speech:

"Reporting to you, my lord, this was a test for Li Yiyi."

"I wanted to know what choices he would make after encountering such a situation..."

Snort.

The boy atop the mountain of people let out a sneer.

"A test?" Ren Yidao lowered his eyes, looking at the woman who didn't know her own limits, and asked amusedly, "You want to test him, who do you think you are?"

"Who gave you permission to do this?"

"Did Li Long agree? Did Ran Yeting agree? Or did I agree?"

Watching Luo Yaning lower her head even further, Ren Yidao curled his lips and exposed the excuse she had found for herself.

"You are an outsider, what status and qualifications do you have to do these things?"

Testing my nephew, who do you think you are?

"... It was all for Miss Shi." Luo Yaning was silent for a moment, then raised her head and spoke with difficulty, "To keep her from repeating my mistakes."

Ren Yidao raised an eyebrow, then smiled eerily.

So that's how it is?

After thinking for a moment, Ren Yidao did not expose him, but instead said slowly:

"Lying, slap yourself."

Slap.

Luo Yaning raised his hand and slapped his own face, neither lightly nor heavily.

He said:

"Saying it was for her own good, but you were merely doing it for yourself."

"However, considering you didn't cause a major disaster and even let me see an interesting scene, I won't hold it against you this time."

Mm-hmm, that's right.

Jumping down from the human mountain, Ren Yidao raised his hand to pat Luo Yaning on the shoulder, then strode away.

"It doesn't matter how you explain it when you go back, whether you lie or confess, I don't care; I just need you to take a message to your master for me."

Luo Yaning, having escaped death, turned his head and looked at the back that was gradually moving away, "... What message?"

"The gates of the Divine Path Sect are always open to her; she can come whenever she wants, there's no need to be so cautious."

Ren Yidao wore a smile at the corners of his mouth, leaving the frozen Luo Yaning behind him.

This place of ours is not some dragon's den or tiger's lair, so there is no need to sacrifice a death soldier cultivated for many years.

Don't you think so?

Little Li Fengyao.

Worried that Luo Yaning would catch up again, and not wanting to run into the person who tipped him off, Li Yiyi chose another path to rush toward the sect.

Fortunately, the journey was peaceful, and he finally succeeded in returning to the front of the mountain gate, letting out a complete sigh of relief.

"Great..."

"What's great?"

!!!

The voice that came out of nowhere behind him made Li Yiyi feel terrible, and before he could turn his head, he lunged forward violently.

Just a little bit more!

Just a little bit away from the Array!!!

As long as he reached that point!

Slap.

But Li Yiyi failed; his shoulder was grabbed directly by someone, pinning him in place.

"I say, my dear nephew, what are you running for? Is your conscience guilty?"

... Dear nephew?

Could it be one of the imperial uncles?

But when he turned his head, he discovered it was a smiling, delicate face.

"... Ren Yidao?"

"It's Senior Uncle Ren, oh, you can also call me Imperial Uncle Ren."

Ren Yidao corrected him, then raised an eyebrow and suddenly said with a pained expression:

"Little Li, you have disappointed me too much; how could you do such a thing?"

"Ah?"

"How could you forcibly abduct a young woman!?"

I forcibly abducted a young woman?

Li Yiyi:???

"What are you talking about? How could I..."

Li Yiyi wanted to explain, but suddenly realized something and looked down.

Although he had dried Shi Xiaoxiao's clothes, the wrinkled garments looked exceptionally messy, as if they had experienced some horrific treatment.

And he, too, was in a disheveled state...

"Wait! You misunderstood! She is..."

Ren Yidao continued to be relentless:

"Who she is is not important! But who you are is very important! You are a disciple of the Divine Path Sect; when you are out, you represent the image of the sect!"

"Junior Martial Nephew, listen to your Senior Uncle!"

"You are still young, you will definitely find a good family! You must not do such illegal and undisciplined things; it has a bad influence on you and a bad influence on the sect's image."

"Quick! Be obedient, hurry up and send her back..."

I spent over three hours running errands today and walked for a long time.

Although it was very uncomfortable to have my writing interrupted, I saw humans for the first time in a while and breathed fresh air, so my mood improved a little.

Striving toward a normal state of mind.

Days must pass, and the sun rises as usual.

Keep it up—