"Why? Why have you become like this?" Li Rong asked in astonishment after Wu Tian explained everything. How could a woman be so vicious?

Lin Fa cried out in disbelief. He no longer loved Bing Hong, but she was still someone he had once cherished. He had never imagined she was this kind of person—not only shameless but utterly ruthless! To think she had conspired with others to harm him.

"You..." At this point, Bing Hong knew that nothing she said would matter. Giving up completely, she pointed at Lin Fa and roared, "It’s your fault! It’s all your fault!"

"My fault?" Lin Fa was utterly bewildered. How could her downfall have anything to do with him?

"You fell for me at first sight when you joined Qin Corporation, didn’t you?" Bing Hong demanded coldly. Despite her cute, doll-like face, her current demeanor was that of a shrew.

Wu Tian watched the scene with amusement, curious to see what else the wretched woman would come up with.

Lin Fa said, "Yes, I fell for you at first sight. There’s nothing to be ashamed of. The day I first saw you, I thought you were a fairy."

"Yes, yes, yes," Bing Hong nodded, continuing, "And then you were always into me, secretly looking out for me and sending me gifts from time to time. You even sent them by courier to keep people from finding out and causing trouble for me."

"Yes," Lin Fa nodded. Remembering his years of devotion, he sighed as tears welled in his eyes. They weren’t for Bing Hong’s lost beauty but were a eulogy for his former self.

"But I never liked you. I was always good to other men—good to Zhibin, good to Nangong Yi, and several others in between. I was good to all of them, but never to you," Bing Hong yelled angrily. "After all these years, you should have realized what kind of men I like! If you wanted me to fall for you, why didn’t you learn anything? They could smoke, they could drink, they knew how to take me on trips, they knew how to talk and make me laugh! They... Women love bad boys! Lin Fa, you’re just too hypocritical. Every man is bad to the bone, but you insisted on being so painfully honest. I hate you! I find you disgusting! And that’s why I will never, ever like you."

Lin Fa was stunned. He finally understood how Bing Hong had seen him all these years. To her, his long years of devotion simply made him a fool. And all that time, he had believed he could eventually move her heart, which was why he had persisted. All for nothing.

However, the Lin Fa of today had moved on. "Yes, I’m not good enough," he said. "But is that old man you’re with really any better?"

"Yes, he is! He’s a thousand times, ten thousand times better than you!" Bing Hong shrieked, her voice filled with uncontrollable fury. "First, he’s more handsome. Second, his body is better than yours. Third, he’s richer than you. Fourth, he’s more humorous... Eleventh, he’s a truly good man! He has taste—he knows I’m beautiful, unlike you, who chose Li Rong in the end. How is she prettier than me? You’re blind! But his eyes are sharp; he recognizes my worth. He said he would marry me! That’s right, only a good man like him is worthy of me. He’s a truly good man, and compared to him... you’re pathetic."

Lin Fa was silent, too disgusted to say another word to her.

「Night fell.」

Inside the hospital, the lights were bright, but the halls were far quieter than they had been during the day. A figure entered the building. He would vanish into a puff of black smoke every five steps, only to reappear ten meters away. The man had an unnaturally pale face—not a healthy fairness, but the chilling, deathly white of a corpse. He now stood outside Lin Fa’s room.

He reached out, opened the door, and stepped inside. His eyes immediately darted toward the hospital bed.

But Lin Fa wasn’t dead. He wasn’t even emaciated. Instead, he was as plump as ever, his face radiating a healthy glow.

What... what’s going on?

Beiming Wang was astonished.

"A man over six hundred years old still fooling around with a girl in her twenties. How disgusting." Just then, Wu Tian’s icy voice sounded right beside Beiming Wang.

"Who’s there?!" Startled, Beiming Wang spun around to see Wu Tian, Bing Hong, and Li Rong. Wu Tian’s aura had concealed the two women, which was why Beiming Wang hadn’t noticed them at first.

"Martial God of the Surface World, was this all your doing?" Beiming Wang had investigated the top experts as soon as he arrived in the Surface World, so Wu Tian’s name was very familiar to him. Now, seeing Lin Fa unharmed, he knew it must have been Wu Tian’s handiwork. He had never expected Wu Tian to be able to neutralize the poison.

"Originally, I chose to use poison instead of making a move directly because I was afraid of exposing my methods, but now..."

Beiming Wang lunged, his sharp, pitch-black claws shooting toward Lin Fa, intent on killing him in his hospital bed. Previously, Beiming Wang had refrained from using his more direct methods to kill Lin Fa for fear that Yin Fengxue would find out. Yin Fengxue was the current Palace Master of the Heavenly Demon Palace—and Lin Fa’s biological father. The Palace Master had always said his second son’s personality was too flawed for him to inherit the position. Therefore, he was planning to send someone to the Surface World to bring Lin Fa back. That was why Beiming Wang had come to the Surface World: to assassinate Lin Fa. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

The Heavenly Demon Palace was built upon the legacy of ancient demon cultivators. Beiming Wang’s claws, like those of a ferocious beast, were terrifyingly sharp. They tore through the air with a whistling shriek, closing in on Lin Fa’s neck in an instant.

"Killing someone right in front of me? Do you have no regard for my presence?!" Wu Tian’s icy voice rang out from right behind Beiming Wang.

Not good!

The voice was too close—it was as if it came from right behind his back, sending a jolt of pure fear through Beiming Wang. He immediately abandoned his attack on Lin Fa, leaping toward the window in an attempt to escape.

"Take me with you!" Bing Hong shrieked, pouncing toward Beiming Wang. She knew that staying here meant certain death. Spurred by that mortal terror, she unleashed her latent potential and managed to reach his side.

"Get lost!" Beiming Wang roared, kicking Bing Hong squarely in the face. The blow shattered her heart meridian, and he shoved her aside. He shattered the window, sending glass flying everywhere as he leaped out into the night.

"Martial God, you’ve offended me," his voice echoed back. "A thief only needs one opportunity, but you can’t guard against one forever. Just wait for my revenge!"

With that, he dissolved into a black mist and vanished.

"He got away! What do we do now?" Lin Fa asked, worried.

Wu Tian remained unconcerned, a cold smile playing on his lips. "Even the Monkey King couldn’t escape the palm of Tathagata’s hand. Compared to him, that man is nothing but trash. He... won’t get away."