Shameless Union

Someone suddenly grabbed my arm hard from behind.

A cold, delicate hand was moving toward my wrist.

"Don't."

My voice rose, sharp with panic.

At that moment, I couldn't even care about my discomfort. I began struggling violently.

Ye Qingxian was just as stubborn, pinning the wriggling Junior Sister beneath her. "Ye Xiaoyao, I'm ordering you to submit to an investigation at once. As the Highest Law Enforcer of Heavenly Sword Peak, I have the authority to suspect you of having violated the Sect Rules."

Her cool fingertips pressed against me. Her strength was impossible to resist.

I bit the corner of my lip, knowing disaster was upon me, and suddenly shouted, "Ye Qingxian, you're winning by unfair means, bullying a little girl! You're just taking advantage of your higher cultivation. If you've got the guts, fight me without using it!"

At those words, Ye Qingxian really did stop using her cultivation.

She kept hold of my arm from behind, maintaining her position. I had no room to use my strength, so I simply yanked her down hard.

Ye Qingxian, the Female Protagonist of this world, a snow lotus on a lofty peak in the eyes of countless people, had suppressed her cultivation and was suddenly pulled off balance. Without warning, her entire delicate body came crashing down on top of a soft, adorable little girl.

Pinned to the ground in a wall slam, I was so stunned my eyes went blank.

And with the force of pulling her down, I had ended up lying almost flat on the ground too.

Ye Qingxian reacted quickly enough to brace herself with one arm on the grass, keeping her weight off my chest.

She gazed down at me, still intent on what she wanted to do. "I'll make you accept the truth. No matter what, I'm taking your pulse myself today."

I was about to grind my back teeth to dust.

I'd made it all the way to the Cultivation World, so why was there still an old-time doctor here?

With so many people on Heavenly Sword Peak, why was the Female Protagonist—of all people—fixated on me, a Cannon Fodder Female Supporting Character?

My tone was defiant. I was determined to talk tough. "No! There's nothing wrong with me. You can't take my pulse." Even with calamity bearing down on me and a mountain of evidence against me, as long as I hadn't been completely cornered, I could keep denying it.

I braced my elbow against her shoulder, refusing to let her have her way or come any closer.

On a shady lawn carpeted with fragrant grass, a cool and stunning young woman in a plain skirt pinned a cute little girl beneath her. Their gauzy skirts, one in each of two colors, tangled together, and their jade-white legs overlapped slightly. At a distance so intimate it could make anyone's heart race, they were frozen in a scene that stirred the imagination.

"Whether there's something wrong with you isn't for you to say."

"I'll make that judgment myself."

Ye Qingxian's voice was calm, but she was stubborn to an absurd degree.

"G-get off me!" My voice was already breaking. I bit down hard on the corner of my lip.

Deep in my watery eyes, a sudden flush of red spread.

I looked just like I was about to cry.

Ye Qingxian's gaze flickered.

Was I crying?

Of course I wasn't. I was furious.

Wouldn't you be angry if someone pinned you down so you couldn't move?

My eyes were red to begin with, okay?

Ye Qingxian's voice softened a little. "Junior Sister, forgive me for the offense."

"I'll let you go as soon as I've taken your pulse."

She was afraid that if she released the girl, she wouldn't be able to pin her down again.

And if the girl turned around and accused her of bullying her, Ye Qingxian would have no easy way to deal with it.

Suddenly, I snapped. I opened my mouth and sank my small, pearly teeth into Ye Qingxian's shoulder.

Ye Qingxian hadn't expected me to bite her.

On her milk-white skin, smooth as mutton-fat jade, a neat ring of teeth marks appeared, complete with a tiny red dot from one little canine.

Even so, Ye Qingxian didn't let go. Instead, she seized my pale wrist as my half-sleeve slipped down, her fingers tightening around it.

Thump, thump, thump—

My pulse beat beneath the fingertips holding me.

Ye Qingxian's pupils contracted.

This was—

A slippery pulse.

Two or three months into pregnancy.

The suspicion she'd long harbored had been confirmed. Ye Qingxian released my wrist and slowly stood, her gaze complicated as she looked down at the little girl lying on the grass. Her watery eyes were frighteningly red, her beautiful, exquisite Immortal Skirt was rumpled, and bits of grass clung to her slender legs. She looked as if she'd just endured some horrific ordeal.

Ye Qingxian spoke with exasperation. "Junior Sister, how could you act so shamelessly and enter into a union without a matchmaker?"

"You've lied to me again and again. Are you only trying to hide that person's existence?"

"You know perfectly well what you've been doing."

"How could the Junior Sister of Heavenly Sword Peak let someone deceive her into giving up both her body and her heart, without even realizing it? And now you still want to cover for him and give birth to the child all by yourself?"

"If he really loves you, why didn't he send a marriage proposal and marry you openly and honorably?"

"Has he bewitched you so thoroughly that you're still refusing to see reason?"

Having my arm forcibly seized so she could take my pulse had already thrown me into turmoil; pregnancy had left my emotions unstable to begin with. Now I stared at the bite marks on her shoulder, my gaze blazing as if it could spit fire.

I brushed my skirt hard with one hand and staggered to my feet.

Then I lowered my head and shoved her forcefully.

"Yes, you, Ye Qingxian, are noble, high above everyone, immaculate—a celestial maiden beyond the reach of ordinary people."

"I, Ye Xiaoyao, was born in the mud. I can't compare to you, and you have no right to impose your standards on me."

"As you can see, I'm shameless."

"But at least I know this is my baby."

"I have to protect her."

Those words were, in part, the truth of my own heart.

I was venting, but I hadn't lost all reason.

My words were half true and half false, yet perhaps they already contained what I truly thought.

Ye Qingxian froze.

She was silent for a while, then suddenly said, "You've ended up like this partly because of me. I didn't take good enough care of you before."

"You're still young. This isn't your fault."

"Before anyone finds out, get rid of the child."

"As for that person..." A murderous glint flashed through Ye Qingxian's eyes. "I'll erase the stain myself."

"Ye Qingxian!" My emotions surged violently. "Is there something wrong with you?"

"Who gave you permission to make decisions for me?"

"Do you even know what you're saying?"

"You're the Head Law Enforcement Sister of Heavenly Sword Peak, and now you're telling me to keep this hidden from everyone else? You're completely disregarding the Sect Rules. Have you forgotten who you are?"

Ye Qingxian's gaze didn't change; her voice remained steady. "I told you, this isn't your fault. If you did nothing wrong, what's the harm in keeping it hidden?"

"He lured away my nineteen-year-old Junior Sister and treated the dignity of Heavenly Sword Peak with utter contempt. As Senior Sister of Heavenly Sword Peak, I have the right to take his head as atonement."

I clenched my fists hard.

My once-tidy hair hung down in front of me, obscuring my eyes.

Suddenly, I shoved Ye Qingxian again, my voice growing louder. Countless points of light seemed to ripple deep within my pale red eyes, and my emotions ran so high I nearly screamed. "Who are you to me? I don't need you meddling in my affairs!"

Ye Qingxian had suppressed all her cultivation, so my shove forced her back a step. She still replied, "I've already told you why. You're the Junior Sister I brought back. I'm responsible for your life."

"You're emotional right now. Go back and calm down before you answer me."

"I'll kill that bastard for you."

I left without looking back.

The beautiful eyes that had been blazing with anger just moments earlier suddenly held a quiet, inscrutable calm.

Ye Qingxian watched me go, then suddenly spoke.

"Junior Sister, is it that you don't want me to interfere..."

"Or are you really so deeply in love with that bastard?"

Ahead of her, the beautiful figure in the black skirt faltered for some inexplicable reason, then disappeared around the corner.

Ye Qingxian's gaze was icy as she suddenly drew a long sword.

Killing intent rose with the wind.

To be toyed with without even realizing it, as if bewitched—

She would find out for herself just who the beast was—

And what sort of methods he'd used

to hoodwink her Junior Sister so thoroughly that he'd taken both her heart and her body.