What kind of play was this?

The boy unconsciously clasped Xiao Qinghe's hand in return, a smile slowly curving his lips.

The disappearance of the Demon-Slaying Sect leader's daughter shocked the entire sect, sending everyone out in search of her.

Lights blazed throughout the sect, and calls for Ouyang Susu rang out from every direction.

Xiao Qinghe threaded his way through the crowds, moving farther and farther away.

At last, he stopped on the deserted shore of Black Water Lake.

The Demon Creature was aquatic and hid within Black Water Lake.

[You have arrived near your destination. Navigation has ended. Have fun.]

"What do you mean, have fun? System, are you screwing me over again?" Xiao Qinghe had a bad feeling.

Before the system could answer, the back of his neck went numb, and he toppled stiffly forward.

"Senior Brother Xiao, wake up! Senior Brother Xiao!"

Ouyang Susu's voice reached him, frantic and terrified.

Xiao Qinghe's eyes snapped open. He realized he had been ambushed, and Xie Jun was nowhere to be found.

Then he looked at the girl who had also been captured and sucked in a sharp breath.

Ouyang Susu hung against a stone wall, her pretty face streaked with tears. Only a red dudou and white drawers remained on her body; the rest of her clothes had vanished.

Black Water Lake lay right before her. Its waters had soaked her through, yet she could not move...

Xiao Qinghe could only marvel at the expertise.

They really knew how to play!

Ouyang Susu's face flushed scarlet with shame as she wept pitifully. "Senior Brother Xiao, how did you get caught too? Who's going to save me now? Waaaah..."

Xiao Qinghe took a closer look.

Well, damn. Black tentacles were wrapped all around him too.

Forget saving anyone-he could barely save himself.

"Heh heh..."

A strange, sinister chuckle rose from beneath the water.

A black head slowly emerged above the surface, followed by a green-skinned water demon.

His upper body was bare, and his lower body-

Was nothing but tentacles!

"An Octopus Monster!" Xiao Qinghe was badly startled.

Purely because this guy was ugly.

Hideously ugly.

He had the standard disposable-villain look, the kind that would not survive a single episode.

His ugliness made Ouyang Susu cry too. "Demon, let me go! My father is the leader of the Demon-Slaying Sect. If you so much as touch a hair on my head, my daddy won't let you get away with it!"

Xiao Qinghe wanted to knock her out with a slap.

Girl, announcing who you are will get you killed!

Every Demon Creature in the Demon-Suppressing Tower hated the Demon-Slaying Sect to the bone. This Octopus Monster was absolutely a member of the Demon Clan who had escaped from the Demon-Suppressing Tower. How could he spare his enemy's daughter?

Sure enough, the Octopus Monster turned and swam up to Ouyang Susu. He caught her chin in his sharp claws and chuckled sinisterly. "The sect leader's daughter? Perfect nourishment for me! If Ouyang Chong saw his daughter drained into a dried-up corpse, would he regret locking me in the Demon-Sealing Tower instead of finishing me off?"

Ouyang Susu turned pale and cried out, "I'm not my father's daughter! My father isn't Ouyang Chong! Don't drain me, waaaah..."

How did someone this stupid become the Female Lead?

Xiao Qinghe could not bear to watch.

The Octopus Monster could wait no longer. He swept out an arm.

The black tentacles writhed wildly, faint glimmers flowing along them like blood and into the Octopus Monster's body.

He was feeding on Ouyang Susu's vital energy!

"Senior Brother Xiao, save me, waaaah..." Ouyang Susu's cries grew weaker. She was about to breathe her last.

At that critical moment, a figure burst out of the water.

A longsword flashed fiercely, slashing through the air.

It cleanly severed the Octopus Monster's left arm.

Black blood sprayed.

The Octopus Monster instantly went berserk, letting out a shrill roar. "What impudent brat dares to wound me!"

As though she had found a lifeline, Ouyang Susu screamed herself hoarse through her tears. "Senior Brother Xie, you're finally here! Save me, waaaah..."

Xie Jun's face was icy. He coldly tossed aside the severed arm, then swept his sword up to point straight at the Octopus Monster. "Let go of my senior brother!"

Xiao Qinghe: "???"

Boy, did you call out to the wrong person?

Your Female Lead is calling you!

She's about to die!

Xie Jun paid no heed. Sword in hand, he charged straight in and clashed with the Octopus Monster.

But with the Female Lead's vital energy bolstering him, the Octopus Monster quickly gained the upper hand. His twisted tentacles swept toward Xie Jun all at once.

One blow badly injured Xie Jun's arm.

Xie Jun grunted and staggered back two steps, the aura around him gradually darkening.

A sign of demonization!

Xiao Qinghe knew this was bad. It was not yet time for Xie Jun's identity as a member of the Demon Clan to be exposed before Ouyang Susu. "Junior Brother, don't worry about me! Save Junior Sister first!"

"Senior Brother Xie, I'm so scared..." Ouyang Susu sobbed. Her clothing barely covered her body, making her look both heartbreakingly vulnerable and strikingly alluring.

Xie Jun seemed not to hear.

His burning gaze remained fixed on Xiao Qinghe. He spoke each word with murderous intensity. "You filthy octopus. Let go of my senior brother!"

Ouyang Susu froze, then burst into aggrieved sobs. "Why won't you save me? Senior Brother Xie, you're so mean! Waaaah!"

Xie Jun turned a deaf ear. He leaped up with his sword and charged at the Octopus Monster again.

"Take one more step, and I'll kill him." The Octopus Monster smiled coldly, his tentacles coiling around Xiao Qinghe's neck as though they had lives of their own.

Xiao Qinghe could not move. He was close to suffocating.

Xie Jun's expression shifted slightly. "Stop! Don't touch him!"

Ultimately, however, he dared not risk Xiao Qinghe's life and did not advance another inch.

Only his demonic eyes remained bloodshot, flushed a vivid red.

"You're so determined to save him. Could his essence be tastier?" As though he had discovered a whole new world, the Octopus Monster flickered into place before Xiao Qinghe. He tilted Xiao Qinghe's chin up and said playfully, "Whatever his essence tastes like, this face is rather nice. So dignified and proper. I wonder what it would look like stained with desire?"

As his words fell, the tentacles suddenly surged into motion.

Riiip!

Xiao Qinghe's clothes were shredded, leaving him almost completely naked.

The Octopus Monster's pupils abruptly contracted, his gaze growing hazy. His hand slowly slid down from Xiao Qinghe's chin to rest against his chest. "No wonder that brat is so determined to take you back. You were hiding such beauty beneath those clothes."

Those tentacles were manifestations of his consciousness. Sensing his lust, they writhed wildly.

Xiao Qinghe nearly coughed up blood.

Clothes-ripping seduction and tentacle play-weren't those supposed to be perks for the Female Lead?

What did any of this have to do with a grown man like him?

Get the hell away, aaaah!

But he was nearly suffocating and could not make a sound. His face flushed faintly from the severe lack of air, giving him an entirely different kind of allure.

Xie Jun witnessed every bit of it.

He had never imagined that the gentle, upright Xiao Qinghe could possess such a seductive, ravishing side-one capable of awakening the darkest desires in any man's heart.

It made a man want to thoroughly defile him!

Yet when he actually saw the Octopus Monster touching Xiao Qinghe, winding filthy black tentacles around his body, towering rage surged through his heart.

Don't touch him!

No one was allowed to touch him!

"I! Said! Let! Him! Go!" Xie Jun spat out each word as though it dripped with blood.

His killing intent erupted!

The next instant, he almost became a blur as he shot toward the Octopus Monster.

Swordlight flashed again and again. Wherever it passed, black tentacles were sliced in two.

The cuts were clean, and black blood spurted.

The tentacles wrapped around Ouyang Susu loosened as a result. Like a leaf in the wind, she fell from the stone wall and fainted.

Gravely wounded, the Octopus Monster looked at Xie Jun in terror.

Xie Jun's demonic eyes were blood-red, demon marks fully exposed across half his face. Demonic energy burst from his body, his aura so powerful that his clothes whipped around him, revealing the contours of his lean, muscular frame.

"Y-you're..." The Octopus Monster was utterly terrified. At last, he realized what kind of monster he had unwittingly provoked.