The Scent of Hatred and the Slave Mark’s Burn

White Snow Jade stared intently at Xia Niansheng.

If looks could kill, he would have been riddled with a thousand holes by now.

Were the disciples of the Heavenly Spirit Sect to witness their usually gentle and dignified Saintess exhibit such an expression,

they would likely find their entire worldview shattering.

Xia Niansheng, intimately familiar with White Snow Jade’s true nature, merely watched her with a serene smile,

patiently awaiting her to speak.

Witnessing this, White Snow Jade’s eyelids twitched uncontrollably.

‘What kind of joke is this?’ she fumed inwardly.

‘Are you truly expecting this Saintess to address you first?’

“Xia Niansheng…” White Snow Jade’s silver teeth ground together,

his name forced out from between them.

“It seems you are not only wicked, but also utterly foolish.”

Xia Niansheng let out a soft sigh, then crouched before her.

“I have stated that you may harbor your hatred for me, and make killing me your ultimate goal,

but that does not grant you license to defy me at will.”

He extended a hand once more, seizing White Snow Jade’s chin.

White Snow Jade instinctively attempted to wrench free,

but in the very next moment—

“Ah!”

She felt the character [Xia] on her inner thigh begin to burn,

followed by a wave of torment coursing through her body.

The pain, emanating as if from the very depths of her spinal cord, instantly drenched her in a cold sweat.

“With the s*ave mark carved upon you, all your senses can be controlled by me,

the most fundamental of which is the sensation of pain.”

After uttering these words, Xia Niansheng ceased the torment in the next instant.

He was, after all, not a sadist who relished in torturing others;

this act was merely to help White Snow Jade gain a clearer understanding of her current predicament.

In mere seconds, White Snow Jade was already drenched in sweat.

The raw, unadulterated pain was nearly unbearable;

she felt as though she had been on the verge of death.

“Do you understand your situation now,

White Snow Jade?”

Xia Niansheng uttered White Snow Jade’s name with an almost airy lightness.

He leaned in so close that White Snow Jade could even detect his scent.

An utterly repulsive scent, it reminded her of what she had consumed before losing consciousness…

The hatred in her eyes intensified relentlessly, accumulating to the point of overflowing.

‘Make me call him master? What a ludicrous joke!’ she raged.

‘What about my master?!’

Perceiving White Snow Jade’s hesitation, Xia Niansheng raised his hand once more…

The character [Xia] began to faintly glow with heat again.

White Snow Jade’s eyes widened, staring at Xia Niansheng with a mixture of disbelief and profound hatred.

Xia Niansheng merely regarded her with an amiable smile.

He understood White Snow Jade better than anyone.

He knew that even if she verbally conceded at this moment, it would not be an acceptance of fate, but rather a profound act of forbearance.

Indeed, a few seconds later, White Snow Jade struggled to speak:

“Ma… master.”

This was merely the initial stage of her conditioning;

Xia Niansheng understood the adage that one cannot become fat with a single bite, and his plans stretched far into the future.

Since he could not kill her, he would condition her to a point where…

she would even plead with him not to remove the [Xia] character herself.

He released White Snow Jade’s chin.

White Snow Jade’s palms ached from where her fingertips had dug in.

Xia Niansheng’s gaze, however, did not linger on her;

he walked directly to the campfire, adding wood to the dwindling flames,

then placed the wild chicken atop it to roast.

Once the seasoned wild chicken neared the campfire, its enticing aroma was released.

Though White Snow Jade’s heart was still brimming with hatred, her body involuntarily began to swallow.

Xia Niansheng meticulously roasted the wild chicken, then abruptly spoke:

“Your master should be sending people to search for you tonight.”

Still immersed in her recent fury, White Snow Jade was momentarily taken aback by his unexpected words.

“How do you know?”

Xia Niansheng did not even spare White Snow Jade a glance.

“You need only concern yourself with your own affairs.”

White Snow Jade was stifled by his words, able to offer only a cold snort.

Xia Niansheng merely focused on roasting the wild chicken, then added a reminder:

“And, Saintess, you don’t assume I’m roasting this for you, do you?”

“What do you mean?”

White Snow Jade’s eyes widened.

‘Such a large chicken, can you possibly finish it all yourself?’ she thought.

Though cultivators could abstain from food, she was currently exceedingly weak,

and replenishing her energy through sustenance would undoubtedly be ideal.

‘If I were to develop lasting ailments due to lack of nourishment, then what would have been the purpose of saving me?’

Xia Niansheng finally cast a glance at White Snow Jade.

‘Did you imagine that merely by its presence, you were entitled to this chicken?’

“Go fetch firewood.”

Xia Niansheng’s tone brooked no defiance.

****

Presently, White Snow Jade could barely move, yet the Compound Pill had truly proven extraordinary.

The venom, however, was exceptionally potent;

otherwise, it would not have placed White Snow Jade in such a perilous situation.

It was merely suppressed for the time being;

without effective treatment within a week, she would still succumb.

On this expedition, the two had been dispatched to investigate traces of demonic cultivators.

Their strength placed them among the Heavenly Spirit Sect’s elite young generation,

yet this time, they had nearly fallen into dire peril.

Fortunately, the demonic cultivators had now been completely dealt with,

though no useful information had been acquired.

White Snow Jade ate the wild chicken roasted by Xia Niansheng, finding its taste quite palatable.

However, the mere thought of actually having helped Xia Niansheng gather firewood earlier filled her with indignant frustration.

‘He truly treats this Saintess as his s*ave.’

Yet, Xia Niansheng’s earlier words concerned her even more deeply.

‘People from the Heavenly Spirit Sect will be here tonight?’

Meanwhile, Xia Niansheng sat to the side, eyes closed in meditation,

appearing as though everything was perfectly under his control.

As the personal disciple of the Heavenly Spirit Sect Master, White Snow Jade naturally enjoyed privileges unavailable to ordinary disciples.

Her master, the Heavenly Spirit Sect Master, was a woman named Qiu Yan.

In her past life, she had met that grim fate, and Qiu Yan was the direct cause.

She was also Xia Niansheng’s primary target for revenge.

White Snow Jade’s current state proved certain things.

Even as the female lead, possessing immense fortune and the protection of the Heavenly Dao, she was likely unkillable…

However, if it involved something akin to becoming a s*ave… or something even more extreme.

Under certain circumstances, such a fate might indeed become reality.

Qiu Yan was an extraordinarily formidable woman.

Given Qiu Yan’s profound affection for White Snow Jade and their unique relationship,

White Snow Jade naturally possessed numerous safeguards.

Beyond the most fundamental life token, she certainly had other protections in place.

Likely sensing White Snow Jade’s previous near-death state, Qiu Yan had immediately dispatched people to the sect.

According to the plot of his past life, after administering the Compound Pill to White Snow Jade, he would have rushed her towards the sect without delay.

After merely half a day’s journey, they would have encountered the reinforcements sent from the Heavenly Spirit Sect.

And among those reinforcements…

At this thought, a particular face surfaced in Xia Niansheng’s mind.

****

White Snow Jade had only awoken in the late afternoon;

the two had merely eaten a small meal and made brief preparations,

as dusk was already descending.

White Snow Jade crouched in a corner of the small stone cave, her arms wrapped around her knees.

Her porcelain-like cheeks conveyed an air of aloofness,

while the melancholy etched between her brows was enough to stir a powerful urge to protect her.

She had always excelled at portraying this very image,

and it was precisely for this reason that Xia Niansheng in his past life had trusted White Snow Jade so completely.

Such trust, however, only magnified the agony of betrayal.

Sensing Xia Niansheng’s gaze, White Snow Jade lifted her head to look at him, where he sat not far away.

There was no need for pretense before this scoundrel;

murderous intent flared openly in White Snow Jade’s eyes.

“Are you certain people will arrive tonight?”

Xia Niansheng remained utterly unconcerned.

“I have no reason to deceive you;

if you were to die, my Compound Pill would have been wasted.”

‘What you regret losing is probably not just this Compound Pill, is it…?’

White Snow Jade turned her head away, her gaze frigid.

Xia Niansheng chuckled.

“You’re alive, yet still unhappy?”

‘Scoundrel… After what you did to me, how could I possibly be happy?’

White Snow Jade offered no reply.

“You should consider yourself fortunate that I did not take advantage of the situation to do something even more egregious.”

“Scoundrel…” White Snow Jade gritted her teeth,

this wretch seemed perpetually capable of reigniting her emotions with just a word or two, just as they began to settle.

Years of cultivation in emotional restraint seemed to have been utterly wasted.

‘What just happened, I’ll just pretend I was bitten by a dog…’

‘No, wait, it felt more like I was biting…’

‘No, no…’

‘Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!’

“What did you call me?” Xia Niansheng raised an eyebrow, observing White Snow Jade.

White Snow Jade was intimately familiar with that look.

Whether it was an illusion or not, the character [Xia] between her thighs seemed to shimmer anew.

Just as White Snow Jade was about to speak, several footsteps suddenly echoed from the mouth of the stone cave.

In her heightened state of tension, White Snow Jade instinctively reached for the sword at her waist.

After all, in her current condition, encountering any remnants of the evil cult would leave her utterly defenseless.

Xia Niansheng, however, appeared utterly unconcerned, maintaining an air of effortless composure.

White Snow Jade would never admit it, but Xia Niansheng’s expression did alleviate some of the apprehension in her heart.

The footsteps drew nearer.

Only upon recognizing the approaching figures in their Heavenly Spirit Sect disciple robes did White Snow Jade truly sigh in relief.

Xia Niansheng, meanwhile, rose to his feet,

his gaze immediately settling upon the stunning woman leading the group.

“Senior Aunt Xue.”