"What do you want?" Mo Qi had no desire to waste words with Fang Min. Their positions were irreconcilable; arguing about right and wrong was pointless.

Since Fang Min had led him here, she surely had a backup plan.

Fang Min tossed a knife, and it landed before Mo Qi.

"It’s simple. Sever the tendons in your own hands and feet." Fang Min forced the vicious words out through gritted teeth.

She already knew Mo Qi wasn’t the man he used to be; his physique was terrifyingly powerful.

Mo Qi picked up the knife. "If I do this," he asked, "will you return Uncle Niu’s remains to me?"

"You’re not in a position to negotiate with me." Fang Min held up three fingers. "I’ll count to three. If you’re still just standing there, I’ll let the dogs loose."

"Of course, you could also ignore all this and just walk away. I won’t stop you."

Without giving Mo Qi any time to think, Fang Min began counting the moment she finished speaking.

"One."

"Two." 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

Before she could reach three, Mo Qi’s hand rose and fell with the knife.

SHHHK—

Four sounds overlapped as one; he had severed the tendons in his hands and feet.

Mo Qi knew this was a trap. Fang Min would never spare Uncle Niu’s remains, much less let him go.

But he couldn’t allow any harm to come to Uncle Niu’s remains. Even knowing it was a trap, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and jump in.

The excruciating pain from his limbs didn’t cause the slightest ripple in Mo Qi’s heart. He looked at Fang Min with disdain. "And then what?"

"Then, drive that knife through your collarbones." Mo Qi’s gaze infuriated Fang Min.

SHHHK—

With another sound of tearing flesh, Mo Qi cleanly and decisively drove the knife through his own collarbones in a reverse grip. The sheer ruthlessness of the act made Fang Min inexplicably uneasy.

The young man behind her opened his eyes for the first time and truly looked at Mo Qi. This was a man who had earned his respect.

Under normal circumstances, Gu Dong would have gladly shared a drink with Mo Qi, because only a true man could understand this kind of spirit.

Unfortunately, his master was Wang Hao’s grandfather, Wang Xinglong, and he had been sent here as the final ace in the hole.

Gu Dong, an Elite Disciple at the Refining God First Heaven Realm.

"Is that all?" Mo Qi sneered, his gaze toward Fang Min growing even more contemptuous.

Fang Min reacted as if someone had stepped on her tail, hopping mad.

This wasn’t the scene she had envisioned. She wanted Mo Qi prostrated at her feet, crying and screaming, humbly begging for mercy.

Not this defiance.

"Get on your knees! Kneel before me!"

Fang Min was furious. Before Mo Qi could react, she flashed in front of him.

"I know you’re strong, and I’m no match for you. But all you have is brute force. With your limbs crippled and your collarbones pierced, can you still struggle now?" she hissed, grabbing Mo Qi by the collar, their faces so close their noses almost touched.

Mo Qi ignored her. Enraged, Fang Min kicked him, sending him flying. She drew a long whip from her waist and began lashing him mercilessly, tearing his skin open with each strike.

Gu Dong didn’t intervene, only sighed. ’A waste,’ he thought. He truly couldn’t understand what Wang Hao saw in a woman like her.

Fang Min didn’t want Mo Qi to die so easily. She wanted to torture him, to make him bow his head in submission.

She needed Mo Qi to admit he was wrong—wrong to oppose her, and especially wrong to have ever had designs on her.

She was a chosen daughter of heaven; her life shouldn’t be marred by the stain of Mo Qi.

In the past, what little sense of shame she possessed had restrained her. But from the moment her father, Fang Hua, died and she gave herself to Wang Hao, she had cast it all aside. She would now stop at nothing to achieve her goals.

But unfortunately for her, aside from being sent flying with every lash, Mo Qi only responded with cold, disdainful glares. He showed not a single sign of pain or of begging for mercy.

CRACK!

Mo Qi was sent flying once more. This time, he landed less than ten zhang from Uncle Niu’s remains.

Fang Min didn’t notice this. She followed close behind, planting a foot on Mo Qi’s chest. She looked down on him, her expression haughty.

"Mo Qi, you’re destined to be trash, fit only to be trampled under my feet. If you had just behaved yourself, I might have granted you a life of wealth and luxury for old times’ sake. But you didn’t appreciate it. Now, you’ll pay for my father’s life!"

The whip coiled around Mo Qi’s arm. She intended to tear his limbs from his body to vent the hatred in her heart.

Just then, the corner of Mo Qi’s mouth curled up. He cast a wary glance at Gu Dong in the distance.

’This distance is perfect.’

With the arm ensnared by the whip, he exerted his strength and gave a sudden, sharp pull.

Caught completely off guard, Fang Min felt an irresistible force yank her off her feet. Before she could even react, Mo Qi’s hand was around her throat, lifting her into the air.

"You! How can you still move?!" Fang Min’s face went pale with shock.

With tendons severed and collarbones pierced, even a cultivator in the Purity Realm—a realm above Refining God—would be left utterly helpless, let alone a mortal with no Cultivation.

It was only because she knew this for a fact that Fang Min had dared to get so close to Mo Qi.

Mo Qi ignored her and pulled the knife from his collarbones.

He certainly wasn’t going to tell Fang Min that in all his years of practicing his Sword Skill, he had cut himself more times than he could count.

It wasn’t just his tendons; there had been many times he’d nearly severed his own arms and legs completely.

Fortunately, the Chaos Scripture had always been there to heal him.

Now, he was cultivating the Creation Golden Body Technique. Having reached the Second-Turned Live Fetus of the Nine Transformations into Spirit Cultivation, his body’s natural functions had been activated, granting him extreme regenerative abilities.

With the two techniques combined, the injuries to his tendons and collarbones had already healed completely during the time Fang Min had spent whipping him to vent her anger.

His current position was also deliberate. He had used each of Fang Min’s lashes to adjust his trajectory, all with the goal of getting closer to Uncle Niu’s remains.

As for the whip marks, they were merely superficial.

Gu Dong, who had been watching from the sidelines, finally reacted. He never imagined that Mo Qi could still have strength left under these conditions. It simply didn’t make sense.

He respected Mo Qi, sympathized with him, and even looked down on Fang Min, but he couldn’t let anything happen to her. He was a disciple of Wang Xinglong and Wang Hao’s senior brother.

He had to carry out his master’s orders.

"Mo Qi, let Fang Min go," Gu Dong said, his voice low and serious. "I can make the decision to let you walk away from this alive."

"Don’t move, or I’ll snap her neck!" Mo Qi roared, pointing at Gu Dong.

Gu Dong felt incredibly dangerous to him. This was an expert capable of taking his life, and he couldn’t afford to be careless.

Gu Dong complied and didn’t move. "Mo Qi, don’t throw your life away," he advised. "Fang Min is Wang Hao’s woman. You should know who he is. You’re in over your head here; this is a fight you can’t win."

He believed Mo Qi was a man who knew when to back down.

Unfortunately, he had underestimated how much Uncle Niu meant to Mo Qi.

Though she was captured, Fang Min didn’t believe Mo Qi would actually dare to harm her.

Setting her relationship with Wang Hao aside, the rules of the Void Sect alone hung over his head like a sword, preventing Mo Qi from crossing the line.

She wasn’t like her father, Fang Hua. He was merely a Chief Steward of Miscellaneous Affairs, not even an Official Disciple. If he died, he died.

But she was an official Outer Disciple. If Mo Qi dared to kill her, he would face the sect’s judgment as well.

"Go on, Mo Qi, kill me if you have the guts!" Fang Min taunted, banking on the sect’s rules to protect her. "If you don’t kill me today, you’ll never get another chance. In the competition a month from now, Wang Hao will kill you for sure. And when he does, I’ll still be able to dig up that old man Niu’s bones and feed them to the dogs."