Damn It, Even If She's Dead, We'll Have Our Fun While She's Still Warm! (Please Vote and Collect)

"Hong, Hong Tao, I-I'm warning you... D-don't you dare do anything reckless!"

"I, Xiao Yi Xian, have friends in Green Mountain Town too!"

"If you dare kill me, they won't let you get away with it!"

Xiao Yi Xian had lived in Green Mountain Town for many years and had always believed in helping others.

Most of the mercenary squads in Green Mountain Town had received treatment from her. Every one of them owed her a favor. If Hong Tao really killed her,

someone would surely avenge her.

"Hmph! Xiao Yi Xian, I admit you've helped a lot of people, but..." Hong Tao said, his eyes turning vicious. "Compared to a second-tier herb, that's a price I'm willing to pay!"

"After all, I'm a Dou Shi!"

"How many people do you think would make an enemy of a Dou Shi like me for your sake?"

"And even if someone were willing to avenge you, they'd have to know I killed you..."

"This is a third-tier area of the Magical Beast Mountain Range. If you die here, who would ever find out?" Hong Tao edged closer to Xiao Yi Xian, his face full of menace.

"You, you, you... don't do anything reckless!" Seeing Hong Tao bearing down on her, Xiao Yi Xian went pale, panic taking hold of her.

Her voice trembled, and her eyes darted about in search of a way to escape.

"That's enough. I'm done wasting my breath on you!"

"Hand over the second-tier herb in your hand right now, or this day next year will be the anniversary of your death!" Hong Tao was losing patience. He issued Xiao Yi Xian one final ultimatum.

If she still refused to see reason, he'd have no choice but to crush the flower.

"Boss, it'd be such a waste to kill her just like that."

"The brothers have been out with us for ages and haven't had any fun."

"Why not let them enjoy themselves first?"

The mercenary squad's vice-captain suddenly spoke up.

His gaze burned as he stared at Xiao Yi Xian, fixed on the graceful curve of her slender waist. His throat bobbed as he swallowed.

Everyone in Green Mountain Town knew that Xiao Yi Xian of the Myriad Medicine Pavilion was a rare beauty. It was such a waste to let her die just like that.

They might as well let the brothers under him have some fun first.

"Oh?" Hong Tao raised an eyebrow at this. Turning around, he said with a grin, "Is that what all of you think?"

"Yes!" The mercenaries behind him cheered excitedly.

"Captain, you're a born leader!"

"I want to be first!"

"I'll be second!"

"I..."

"D-don't come any closer!" Cornered, Xiao Yi Xian stared at the more than twenty men before her. Her little face turned deathly pale as she cried out in terror.

"I'll give it to you! I'll hand it over, all right?!"

Her eyes glistening with tears, she hurriedly pulled the second-tier herb from her small pouch and tossed it to Hong Tao without hesitation.

"Hmph. If you'd handed it over right away, none of this would've happened." Hong Tao caught the second-tier herb and held it in his hand, grumbling.

"I gave it to you. You can let me go now, right?"

It was a shame to give up a second-tier herb for nothing, but compared with her life and her virtue, it didn't matter.

"Let you go?" Hong Tao stepped aside, leaving a path open. "Of course!"

Xiao Yi Xian breathed a sigh of relief and was just about to leave.

But she suddenly saw the more than twenty mercenaries surrounding her on all sides.

"Hong Tao, you went back on your word!" Xiao Yi Xian's face was deathly pale as she shouted at him furiously.

"I always keep my word!" Hong Tao let out a booming laugh. "I promised to let you leave."

"But whether my men let you go has nothing to do with me..."

Hong Tao gave an exaggerated shrug of helplessness. Xiao Yi Xian pressed herself against the rock wall in despair as the mercenaries slowly closed in.

"Stop! If you take one more step, I'll swallow poison and kill myself!"

As the men advanced, a vicious glint flashed in Xiao Yi Xian's eyes. She immediately pulled a pill from her pouch and held it up to them. "Take a good look. This is Spirit-Dissolving Powder, potent enough to kill a first-tier Magical Beast. Come any closer, and I'll swallow it!"

"I, Xiao Yi Xian, would rather die than let you defile me!"

At her threat, the mercenary vice-captain from earlier burst out laughing. "If you take Spirit-Dissolving Powder, you'll suffer terribly before you die."

"Your internal organs, meridians, and even every bone in your body will rot into bloody water."

"I don't believe you can endure that kind of pain!"

He laughed and shouted to the mercenaries behind him, "Brothers, it's been a long time since we've had any fun, hasn't it? Today, I'll let you taste Green Mountain Town's great beauty!"

As the mercenaries cheered, he moved closer to Xiao Yi Xian one step at a time.

"Hmph!" Seeing she had nowhere left to run, Xiao Yi Xian clenched her teeth and swallowed the Spirit-Dissolving Powder in front of everyone. Then she glared at them. "Let's see if I dare!"

"Even as a ghost, I won't let any of you get away with this!"

As she spoke, sinister black poison markings spread visibly across her skin. It was the sign that the poison had taken effect. The next second, her head lolled to one side, and she died without warning in front of them.

"Holy shit, that girl actually swallowed it!" The mercenary vice-captain stared at Xiao Yi Xian's corpse, completely stunned.

Spirit-Dissolving Powder caused excruciating pain before death.

Ordinary people wouldn't choose such a method even to kill themselves.

He'd never imagined anyone could be so gutsy as to swallow that poison and kill herself.

"Damn it!" The vice-captain spat as he looked at Xiao Yi Xian's dead body, then cursed, "So what if she's dead? I'm still going to enjoy myself while she's warm!"

He'd been pent up for ages.

At this point, he'd try his luck with a beast if he had to, let alone a corpse that had only just died.

"Is it over? I'm dead, and they still won't leave me alone?"

"What a bunch of animals!"

Xiao Yi Xian lay on the ground pretending to be dead, her heart turning ice-cold as she heard the footsteps drawing closer.

Ever since she could remember, she'd known that she was immune to every poison.

No matter how deadly a poison was, it couldn't hurt her in the slightest.

At worst, it would make her unconscious for a while. Once that time passed, she could still get up and move around full of life.

She'd never told anyone this secret, so that she could "swallow poison and fake her own death" to protect herself in a crisis.

This time was no different.

To make it convincing and avoid being defiled "after her death," she'd even used Spirit-Dissolving Powder, a poison that left horrifying patterns all over the body.

She'd thought she could get out of this unscathed. Who could have guessed that the man before her was such a beast?

He wouldn't even leave a corpse alone?

It was over. This time, she was really finished!

Just as she lay there pretending to be dead in despair, trying to figure out how to escape his clutches,

suddenly,

a cool mountain breeze brushed across her cheek.

She lay on the ground, planning to make one last desperate stand when he reached for her.

But she waited a full quarter of an hour, and nothing happened.

The expected hands never came. Instead, the cool breeze from the mountain stream drifted past now and then.

"Hm?"

She opened one eye and cautiously peered outside.

To her astonishment, the mercenary squad that had surrounded her in the ravine stood frozen in place, every one of them rigid as a lifeless statue.

"What's going on?"

She opened her eyes, slowly got to her feet, and went over to inspect them.

To her surprise, their faces still wore the excitement they'd shown at first, with not the slightest hint of fear.

It was as if everything had happened so suddenly that they hadn't even had time to react.

"How could this be?"

Xiao Yi Xian's mouth fell open, her face full of shock.

If not for what had happened earlier, she would have found it hard to believe that these lifelike statues had once been living people.

"Something's wrong with this place. I need to leave, fast!"

Xiao Yi Xian's alarm bells rang. She anxiously scanned her surroundings.

Seeing no one else there, she hurriedly set off to leave.

"You're leaving without even saying thank you?"

"Is that how you treat your benefactor?"