The Deserters

Shangguan Ru had no idea how long forever was, but she believed she would remember this moment forever.

A vast, unfamiliar presence within the Dragon King was melting away like ice beneath the blazing sun. His hard arms gradually softened, yet grew stronger, and the heat of his lips burned as fiercely as the hatred in his heart.

The Dragon King would remember this moment forever, too.

Shangguan Ru wanted to laugh and cry. Then she bit down hard on his lip, gathered all her strength, and punched him.

A small fragment of a killer's instinct still lingered inside Gu Shenwei. He sensed the change in the body in his arms and felt danger looming, but he couldn't move to dodge.

The punch landed squarely in his lower abdomen, twisting his insides with a pain like churning rivers and seas. It jolted him out of his daze. Gu Shenwei bent over, clutching his stomach. He didn't cry out; he only let out a muffled groan. By comparison, the wound on his lip and the pain it caused were nothing.

The punch had been far stronger than he'd imagined. The woman's dramatic change in behavior left him even more bewildered—and mortified.

Shangguan Ru leaped several paces away. She hadn't planned anything, but now that the moment had come, she believed this was the best choice. "You're a coward. You're not afraid of the Unrivaled King, blades, or ghosts and gods, but you're afraid of yourself. You're afraid to let go of that pitiful hatred. Keep it, then—but you never wanted to forget me, either."

She ran off, laughing and crying like a lunatic from Moonlight Hall.

The pain in Gu Shenwei's lower abdomen gradually faded. He raised a hand and touched the blood on his lip, thinking that this really was