After she finished speaking, she even blinked playfully, as though she had just made an amusing joke.
Yan Xiu burst out laughing.
His laughter echoed over the lake. The women around him secretly breathed sighs of relief, thinking Niji had soothed him. But the next instant, his laughter stopped abruptly, and Yan Xiu struck her with a backhanded slap.
Smack!
Niji's body went rigid. Half her face instantly swelled, and a thread of blood seeped from the corner of her mouth.
Her cultivation had long since been suppressed below the third realm. Though the slap carried no true qi, its savage force left her ears ringing and stars dancing before her eyes.
Yet she dared not dodge, much less cry out in pain.
She forcibly swallowed the metallic sweetness rising in her throat. Her swollen lips curved upward, once again forming a charming, submissive smile. Gazing tenderly at Yan Xiu, she said softly, "Please quell your anger, young master."
She had to say it.
She dared not say anything else.
Because she had seen with her own eyes how many bodies of women who refused to submit had been dredged up from the bottom of this lake.
Their final expressions had still been frozen on their faces-some angry, some pleading, some defiant. But not one of those expressions had saved them.
The women around them lowered their heads, silent as cicadas in winter. Even those competing for the hook in the lake stopped. The vast lake fell utterly silent, save for the faint rustle of the gauze curtains in the wind.
Everyone held their breath, terrified they would be next.
Yan Xiu looked at the face nestled against him, half of it badly swollen yet still wearing a gentle smile, and suddenly smiled himself.
He said quietly, "In your eyes,