With that, she made to leave.
But unhurried footsteps sounded behind her.
One step.
Then another.
The long black jade hairpin between Consort Nian's fingers once again glimmered with a wisp of golden-red phoenix light.
"Qing Chen." She did not turn around, but her tone had already grown cold.
"Enough."
As though he had not heard her, Qing Chen continued walking toward her back, step by step.
Only when less than three feet remained between them did Consort Nian abruptly turn, her back coming to rest against the jade wall.
Qing Chen raised a hand and planted it beside her ear, his tall figure looming over her.
"Move."
Consort Nian lifted her face, her eyes holding nothing but revulsion suppressed to its limit.
Qing Chen did not move.
They held each other's gaze for a moment before he suddenly bent down, closing that distance.
Consort Nian's body abruptly went rigid.
She neither closed her eyes nor reciprocated, merely staring fixedly at the face inches from hers.
The next instant, all her humiliation and anger turned to ruthlessness, and she bit down without mercy.
Qing Chen's brow twitched slightly, and he finally retreated half a step.
An almost invisible mark of blood had appeared on his lower lip.
Consort Nian's chest rose and fell unevenly.
"Qing Chen, until you become a Spirit Transformation Venerable, all you can do is get saliva all over my face. What else can you do?"
She then turned and left, leaving only a single sentence echoing through the great hall.
"Only when you truly stand at that realm will you be qualified to conquer me!"
The restrictions behind the hall were forcibly parted, golden-red phoenix light weaving a straight corridor before her.
Consort Nian swept her sleeve and departed, her steps still unhurried.
At last, her