As he floundered helplessly, a fierce chill swept over him.
Xiao Qinghe jerked his head up and met Xie Jun's cold black eyes. Scared out of his wits, he stammered, "J-junior brother, you can't blame me. She was afraid someone would target her again, so she came to me for protection..."
Xie Jun was expressionless, the chill around him laced with murderous intent. He looked utterly terrifying.
His piercing gaze shifted from Xiao Qinghe to Bai Liuli, and he suddenly stepped forward.
That step felt like the tread of death itself, landing squarely on Xiao Qinghe's heart.
In a moment of panic, Xiao Qinghe swiftly pushed Bai Liuli toward him to prove his innocence.
She's your girl. I'm giving her back. Happy now?
Although Bai Liuli was delirious, she seemed to sense that Xie Jun wasn't Xiao Qinghe. She weakly pushed him away and toppled toward Xiao Qinghe again.
Xie Jun reacted instantly. One chop of his hand sent Bai Liuli collapsing unconscious to the floor. A large red lump swelled on the back of her neck, clear proof that he hadn't held back.
Xiao Qinghe: "..."
She would probably sleep until dawn and outlast the drug's effects, but wasn't that a little too brutally straightforward?
"Do you feel sorry for her?" Xie Jun enunciated each word, murderous intent rolling off him.
As if I'd dare say anything, Xiao Qinghe thought.
All he could do was shake his head vigorously.
Xie Jun sneered. Without even glancing at Bai Liuli on the floor, he dragged Xiao Qinghe to the bed, pressed him down onto it, and lay on his side beside him.
Xiao Qinghe stared blankly, feeling that something was off.
If Xie Jun was jealous over Bai Liuli, wasn't he being far too coldhearted toward her?
"Stop looking at her." Xie Jun raised his hand to cover Xiao Qinghe's eyes and said bitterly, "Go to sleep!"
Completely bewildered, Xiao Qinghe asked, "Junior brother, you're sleeping here?"
"Are you trying to chase me away so you can be alone in a room with that woman?"
"..."
So he'd come to keep watch over him?
By getting into his bed?
They had shared a bed plenty of times during their previous dual cultivation sessions, but they weren't cultivating tonight. Yet here they were, in the same bed, with a peerless beauty lying on the floor beside them.
What a delightfully awkward scene!
"Still haven't looked enough?" Xie Jun's expression was icy. He gripped Xiao Qinghe's chin and turned his face toward him. "Senior brother, didn't I tell you that if you kept getting entangled with her, I couldn't say what I might do? Did you let my words go in one ear and out the other?"
This is bad, Xiao Qinghe thought.
Perhaps Xie Jun had been so docile around him for so long that he had almost forgotten the boy before him was no innocent soul. He was the future demon lord who would rule an entire region, whose very name would strike terror into people's hearts!
Xiao Qinghe, the cannon-fodder supporting character, lost his nerve. Sheepishly, he said, "Junior brother, there's something I don't understand. Why are you so angry?"
Xie Jun suddenly leaned closer, staring intently at Xiao Qinghe with dark, unreadable eyes. "Do you truly not know, senior brother, or are you deliberately playing dumb?"
With the original novel's plot filling his head, Xiao Qinghe said, "Junior brother, have you fallen for Miss Bai? Is that why you don't like me getting close to her?"
That didn't quite make sense.
If that were true, he shouldn't have struck Bai Liuli so hard, then watched coldly as she lay alone on the freezing floor.
Was he punishing Bai Liuli for coming to Xiao Qinghe's room and clinging to him after being drugged?
Given his stubborn refusal to understand romance and his complete lack of tenderness even toward the Female Lead, it certainly seemed like something he would do.
His feelings tangled, Xiao Qinghe sighed deeply. "You blockhead. I'll keep my distance from her from now on. But she isn't the woman you're destined to be with. Listen to your senior brother and don't get too involved with her either."
Your wife is the Female Lead, after all!
Xiao Qinghe didn't say that aloud, but Xie Jun could tell at a glance that his thoughts were nothing like what Xie Jun had imagined.
A sudden surge of anger rose in his chest.
Wasn't it obvious enough who he cared about? Or did his senior brother only have eyes for their Master, leaving him utterly blind to how Xie Jun felt? In that case-
Xie Jun suddenly rolled over and pinned Xiao Qinghe beneath him. His black eyes burned as he stared down at him, his chest heaving as though he were desperately suppressing something.
Instinct told Xiao Qinghe that Xie Jun was dangerous right now, like a beast that had stalked its prey for ages and might bare its claws at any moment to tear him apart and devour him.
His heart jolted. "Junior brother, surely you don't want to practice dual cultivation right now? Miss Bai is here too. If she suddenly wakes up and sees us..."
Xie Jun stared at him for a long time before slumping weakly to one side. "Senior brother, you're the blockhead."
Then he turned his back on Xiao Qinghe as though sulking, apparently unwilling to say another word to him.
Xiao Qinghe looked at him, then at Bai Liuli on the floor, utterly baffled. He silently asked the system, System, what's going on?
The system seemed unwilling to speak to him and gave no response.
Even more confused, Xiao Qinghe simply opened the reader comments.
The readers had an omniscient view. Surely they'd know something?
The comment section was packed with speechless ellipses. Apart from those, there were only a handful of remarks.
[He's so stupid I could cry [facepalm]
My poor Jun. Such a long road ahead to winning his wife [sigh]
You're still chickening out after all that! Xie Jun, can you even get it up?!]
Xiao Qinghe: "...???"
He couldn't understand.
The readers' thought processes were just as incomprehensible as Xie Jun's feelings.
Unable to make sense of it, Xiao Qinghe could only set his questions aside for the moment.
Early the next morning.
Xie Jun dragged him into the carriage. As for Bai Liuli, the drug's effects had already worn off by the time they left.
With her cultivation restored and no drug suppressing it, she certainly wouldn't suffer further abuse.
As for Xie Jun never sparing her a glance, leaving her on the cold floor all night, then stepping straight past her to drag Xiao Qinghe away-best not to mention that.
Soon, the various sects gathered at the foot of Deer-Cry Mountain.
Deer-Cry Mountain was isolated from the world, the only entrance to the Nine Ridges and Eighteen Peaks beyond it.
The Nine Ridges and Eighteen Peaks had treacherous terrain, shrouded in mist and fraught with danger. A barrier sealed them on all sides. Ordinary people couldn't hope to trespass; even finding the place was a problem, since the seal concealed it entirely from ordinary eyes.
It was sealed by a barrier because countless demons lurked within, each cruel and bloodthirsty. A single one escaping could wreak havoc across an entire region. The barrier imprisoned the demons inside and spared the outside world disaster.
Yet such a dangerous place was the ideal testing ground for competitions between the sects.
The annual Heroes' Conference was held here.
An elevated platform had been built at the foot of Deer-Cry Mountain, and the elders of the various sects took their seats in order.
The seating arrangement was carefully ranked.
The place of honor belonged to the Azure Cloud Sect, last year's champion. The Demon-Slaying Sect, Spirit Sword Mountain, and Heartless Valley followed immediately after. Together with the Azure Cloud Sect, they were known throughout the martial world as the Four Great Sects.
The Azure Cloud Sect revered martial strength and boasted a host of formidable experts. Competitive and combative, it enjoyed great renown and was hailed alongside the Demon-Slaying Sect as one of the martial world's two dominant powers.
Spirit Sword Mountain emphasized both scholarly and martial pursuits. Its members wore white robes, exuding the refined air of scholars. They greeted everyone with courteous bows and warm smiles, looking less as though they had come to fight than to deliver all living beings from suffering;
Heartless Valley consisted entirely of female disciples. With beauties everywhere, it drew considerable attention and was the most reserved and subtly feminine of the Four Great Sects.
Each of the Four Great Sects had sent over a hundred disciples. With nearly the full ranks of the other sects turning out as well, a crowd of more than a thousand surged at the foot of Deer-Cry Mountain.
The scene was grand and bustling.
Xiao Qinghe looked around and found his Master already seated on the elevated platform, posture straight, bearing immortal-like, noble, and coldly elegant.
Not far away, Ouyang Susu wore yellow robes and smiled charmingly, surrounded by handsome cultivators vying to shower her with attention.
She truly lived up to being the leading Female Lead of Every Handsome Man Spoils Me!
Before you continue