"Help me?"
Ye Xuan looked as though he had heard the funniest joke in the world.
Forcing his body through the agonizing pain, he let out a hoarse, crazed laugh.
"Ha... Hahahaha!"
"You? A woman I threw away like garbage, a piece of trash whose Martial Dao Heart was destroyed—what makes you think you can help me?"
His voice was filled with undisguised contempt and scorn.
In his eyes, Li Xuan'er was in an even worse state than he was now!
At the very least, he had once been glorious, once stood upon that arena beneath the gaze of countless people!
But what about Li Xuan'er?
From beginning to end, she had merely been a pitiful clown clinging to men!
"Why?"
The strange smile on Li Xuan'er's face did not change in the slightest.
She slowly raised a hand, gently spreading her five fair, slender fingers before Ye Xuan.
Buzz—
A wisp of Black Energy, black as Ink and thick as oil, carrying a heart-palpitating aura of fallen misfortune, slowly rose from her palm.
The instant that energy appeared, the temperature in the entire hospital room seemed to drop several degrees!
The air filled with the scent of decay and evil.
"Th-This is?!"
Ye Xuan's laughter came to an abrupt stop. He stared fixedly at that wisp of black mist, horrified for the first time!
From that energy, he sensed an incomparably evil, incomparably tyrannical, incomparably...
Mad power!
The Burning Blood Dragon Transformation Technique burned Life Origin and fortune.
Yet the black mist before him gave him the feeling that it was...
Devouring souls!
"You..." Ye Xuan stared at Li Xuan'er in disbelief. "You... How could you..."
"Surprised?"
Li Xuan'er withdrew her hand, and the wisp of black mist instantly vanished without a trace, as though it had never existed.
The smile on her face grew increasingly teasing.
"Ye Xuan, do you think you're the only one in this world to encounter a fortuitous opportunity? Do you think you alone are the Child of Destiny chosen by Heaven?"
She bent down and leaned close to Ye Xuan's ear.
In a soft voice that only the two of them could hear, like a devil's whisper, she said, "While you were burning yourself on that arena like a clown for that so-called championship..."
"I had already... found the true path to the summit."
"A shortcut that requires no talent, no resources, not even effort—only... the offering of your soul!"
Boom!
Every word from Li Xuan'er was like a heavy hammer, striking viciously against Ye Xuan's already-collapsed defenses!
He was completely stunned!
He had always believed that after Li Xuan'er had been abandoned by him and crippled by Lin Yuan, she should have ended her days like a puddle of mud in some dark corner.
Yet he had never imagined!
That the greatest piece of trash in his eyes had also obtained an unknown power!
A power more evil and more powerful than his own!
Why?!
Why?!
Jealousy and resentment fiercer than ever before gnawed madly at his heart like venomous snakes!
"Do you see now?"
Li Xuan'er straightened up and looked down at his face, twisted by jealousy.
"This is the foundation that allows me to help you."
She paused, her voice filled with the utmost temptation.
"I know you hate Lin Yuan. You want nothing more than to grind his bones to ash."
"So do I."
"We can cooperate. I can share a portion of this power with you. It can repair your shattered meridians and return you to the peak in the shortest possible time! You may even become stronger than before!"
"When the time comes, if we join forces, even Lin Yuan... may not be impossible to kill!"
Kill Lin Yuan!
Those four words exploded through Ye Xuan's mind like a thunderclap!
In his eyes, which had grown deathly still from despair, a frenzied flame instantly blazed anew!
Revenge!
He dreamed of taking revenge!
But...
He Looked At Li Xuan'er, and the last shred of reason in his heart kept him wary.
"What's the price? There's no such thing as a free lunch. What do you want?"
Ye Xuan's voice was hoarse, like two sheets of sandpaper scraping together.
"Smart."
Li Xuan'er nodded approvingly.
"My demand is very simple."
She extended one finger and gently pressed it against Ye Xuan's chest.
"I want your... loyalty."
"From now on, you, Ye Xuan, are Li Xuan'er's dog. Whoever I tell you to bite, you bite. Whatever I tell you to do, you do."
"Are you willing?"
Humiliation!
Humiliation unlike anything he had ever known!
For him—the former favored son of Heaven, the future martial arts champion—to become the dog of a woman he despised most?!
"In your dreams!"
Without a second thought, Ye Xuan roared!
"Is that so?"
Li Xuan'er was not surprised in the slightest. The curve of her lips turned even colder.
"It seems you still haven't recognized your situation."
"Do you think you still have room to choose?"
"Your reputation is in ruins. The Huangfu Family has long regarded you as an abandoned pawn. You're a rat crossing the street, shouted at and beaten by everyone!"
"Without me, you can only lie in this hospital bed for the rest of your life, slowly rotting away like trash amid endless regret and pain!"
"And Lin Yuan, the one who trampled you beneath his feet, will live better and better, more and more gloriously! He will enjoy everything that should have belonged to you! The championship, the glory, and... Gu Ningxue!"
"You can only watch helplessly!"
"No—!!!"
Every word Li Xuan'er spoke was like a blade stabbing precisely into his most painful wounds!
Ye Xuan let out a beast-like howl. He could not accept it! He absolutely could not accept such a future!
"Well? Have you decided?"
Li Xuan'er's voice was like a death-urging curse.
"Will you choose to be useless trash, worse than a dog, for the rest of your life? Or... become a mad dog capable of taking revenge with your own hands?"
"The choice is yours."
The entire hospital room sank into deathly silence.
Only Ye Xuan's heavy, suppressed breathing remained.
Time passed minute by minute.
The expression on Ye Xuan's face changed madly.
Struggle, resentment, fury, hatred...
In the end, every emotion froze into one—
Complete, irretrievable madness!
Slowly, he raised his head.
Those bloodshot eyes stared fixedly at Li Xuan'er.
Word by word, he squeezed out several words through clenched teeth.
"Fine..."
"I... accept..."
When Ye Xuan's hoarse voice fell within the deathly silent hospital room.
Li Xuan'er's pale, numb face finally revealed a victorious smile that came from the bottom of her heart.
She knew she had won her gamble.
For a man like Ye Xuan, arrogant to the bone and utterly blinded by hatred, dignity was far less important than revenge.
"Very good."
Li Xuan'er nodded in satisfaction.
"From now on, you belong to me."
She stopped wasting words and walked forward, pulling Ye Xuan up from the hospital bed.
"This is not a place to stay for long. The Martial Dao Alliance will soon come to 'have a talk' with you. We must leave immediately."
Ye Xuan did not resist.
Like a puppet whose soul had been pulled away, he allowed Li Xuan'er to support him as they walked, step by step, out of that hospital room filled with humiliation and despair.
The night was deep as Ink.
Two figures, each harboring their own schemes and both twisted in mind by hatred, silently avoided every camera and guard as they left the hospital.
They were like two ghosts melting into the darkness.
They vanished completely into the night over Yan Jing City.
Before you continue