Helping Xue Beng Castrate Himself

Though he felt disdainful, Jin Yan was worried Zhang Yan might get hurt, so he still called him back. There was no need for such pointless injuries.

"Young friend, can you release His Highness the Fourth Prince now?" Meng Shenji looked at Jin Yan, doing his best to put on a kindly expression.

"Heh." Jin Yan chuckled. "Don't worry. Once we leave, I'll definitely send him back to you."

"Uncle Zhang, let's go."

Zhang Yan nodded and took the lead, shielding Jin Yan and Ye Lingling.

Jin Yan grabbed Xue Beng from the ground, pressed the Soul Guidance Knife to his throat, and dragged him step by step toward the exit as he begged in terror.

Ye Lingling still felt as though none of this was real. She could only follow closely behind Jin Yan.

Watching Xue Beng being dragged away, Zhilin raised his hand, about to summon Azure Vine to pull him back, but Meng Shenji stopped him.

"Follow them first. Don't let them hurt the Fourth Prince."

With that, he took the lead in following Jin Yan and the others, trailing them from several hundred meters away.

Once they left Heaven Dou Royal Academy, Ye Lingling visibly let out a breath. Then a sense of grievance welled up within her.

She did not know why, but tears slipped from the corners of her eyes despite her best efforts. It had not even been that big a deal.

Ever since her grandfather had died because of her martial soul awakening, she had thought nothing could ever make her cry again. Even when Xue Beng had pushed her to that point just now, her heart had not stirred much. She had only thought about how to escape.

Yet after Jin Yan caused such a scene, an inexplicable sense of grievance arose in her heart instead.

People were like that. When no one was around, they could perhaps lick their wounds alone. But once someone showed them sympathy, the more sympathy they received, the more wronged they felt.

But Jin Yan had gone this far for her. He had even clashed with three Spirit Douluos and taken Xue Beng, the fourth prince of the Heaven Dou Empire, hostage.

Perhaps Jin Yan did not think much of it, but she felt as if she owed him so much. Her mother and she had already owed Jin Yan two lives. Although Golden Crocodile had said at the time that her mother had once saved the Pope, so neither side owed the other anything, she still felt that she owed Jin Yan her life. Now she owed him even more.

How am I supposed to repay this? Before the tears on her face had even dried, she was already pondering it.

Looking at Jin Yan's sharp, blade-like profile, the roots of her ears inexplicably turned red.

Seriously, just two years ago he had still been a little brother. How had he suddenly grown so much?

Naturally, Jin Yan did not notice her little reactions. He merely watched Meng Shenji and the other two following behind them, sneering inwardly.

Only after they had completely descended the mountain where Heaven Dou Royal Academy stood did Xue Beng cautiously let out a breath.

"C-can you let me go now?"

He was finally going to be free. He could not help it—he had truly feared that Jin Yan would kill him on a whim. That would have been far too unfair.

But just as he relaxed, he opened his eyes and met Jin Yan's faintly smiling gaze. The edge of the Soul Guidance Knife gently brushed across his face, bringing a thread of icy sensation that made goosebumps rise all over him. He shuddered instinctively.

"Wouldn't it be too easy to just let you go like this?"

Jin Yan chuckled softly beside Xue Beng's ear.

After gliding over Xue Beng's cheek, the blade slowly moved toward his neck. Beneath its icy edge, he could even glimpse the fine hairs shaved from his face.

His body trembled even harder. His legs shook, his lips quivered, and he opened his mouth to make incoherent sounds. He was so frightened that he could not even speak. His eyes stared at Jin Yan in terror, yet he did not dare move his head at all.

The stench of urine rose from below. Drops pattered onto the ground, quickly spreading into a wet patch beneath his feet.

"This guy... he actually pissed himself."

Jin Yan gave him a disgusted look, frowned, and drew the knife farther away. Qian Renxue had given this to him when he was little; it was his first time using it, and he did not want to dirty it.

Ye Lingling moved even farther away in disgust, covering her nose.

"Kid, you said you wouldn't harm the Fourth Prince!" Meng Shenji, following behind them, spoke up when he saw that Jin Yan seemed to be going back on his word.

Jin Yan glanced in that direction but ignored him, lowering his head to look at Xue Beng with a cold smile.

"I only said I'd let you return alive, didn't I?"

"Wah... ah..." Xue Beng still could not speak. He could only shake his head frantically, his eyes brimming with terror.

"Hehehe." Jin Yan still wore a smile as he put the Soul Guidance Dagger back into Panlong and replaced it with an ordinary dagger.

"A man has to be ruthless to stand firm. Don't blame me. Blame yourself." Jin Yan whispered into his ear. At the same time, the dagger danced between his fingers like a butterfly, before finally tracing a clean, sharp arc amid Xue Beng's terrified struggles.

Xue Beng's movements came to an abrupt halt. His face flushed red, then turned pale. His eyes bulged, bloodshot veins spreading across them. Several seconds later, he finally let out a scream.

"Aah!!"

He threw back his head, the veins in his neck standing out one by one as his fingers clenched tight. His cry changed from a pained howl into something shrill and delicate, almost like a woman's voice...

A horizontal tear split open across the crotch of his pants, soaked crimson. Threads of blood dripped from between his legs. Something seemed to hang there, bulging his trousers before flowing down along the pant leg.

Ye Lingling lowered her eyes for one glance, and her face instantly reddened as if blood might drip from it. She shot Jin Yan an angry glare and turned away.

By then, Xue Beng's face was colorless from pain. Yet compared to the pain in his body, the pain in his heart was far worse. His eyes had gone utterly dead, and he no longer struggled. He became much quieter, as though he had lost all desire for anything.

Jin Yan tapped several acupoints on his body, sealing the bleeding so he would not bleed to death.

"Meng Shenji, here he is!"

Meng Shenji accepted Xue Beng with a dark expression. Looking at him lying there like a dead dog, then glancing at the mixture of blood and urine dripping from his crotch, he gave a cold snort.

"Let's go!"

After the final patient left the clinic, Ye Lingsu let out a long breath and stood up to stretch. She interlaced her hands above her head and slowly pressed them down to one side. Her muscles tightened with the movement, displaying her curvaceous figure without concealment, while the fullness at her chest was squeezed as though it might burst free.

Then, from afar, she saw three figures walking slowly toward the clinic.

At a glance, she recognized the one at the back as her precious daughter. But the other two were clearly men, one of them tall and powerfully built, with a formidable aura that seemed both present and absent.

Her heart skipped a beat. Lingling never brought male classmates home. Could it be that Xue Beng had made things difficult for Lingling again?

"Sun Yuan, Wang Shan."

"Patriarch." Two middle-aged men ran out from the inner room.