Chapter 3: Beating Up the Scoundrel

Before Chu Yuyao, a water mirror appeared out of thin air. Delicate ripples shimmered across its surface, spiritual energy swirling around, yet it reflected her current appearance with unsettling clarity.

“Take a good look at yourself. With that face of yours, do you really think you’re in any position to despise us?”

His voice dripped with unprecedented mockery, his eyes brimming with disdain.

Su Qinghan, Yan Jingchen, Shangguan Yuheng, and Ye Cangming all twitched at the corners of their mouths.

Ji Ciyuan was being ruthless—wasn’t this just rubbing salt into her wounds?

But thinking back on Chu Yuyao’s recent actions and words, they couldn’t help but feel she deserved it.

Gazing into the water mirror, Chu Yuyao saw the withered half of her face, more terrifying and ghastly than ever. Though shocked internally, she betrayed not the slightest trace of it outwardly. Instead, she suddenly laughed—a chilling, ghostly sound made all the more horrifying by her deathly visage.

Heh, physical contact?

Does hitting someone count as physical contact?

“If Young Master Ji is so in need of a lesson, perhaps I should help you learn…”

She stepped forward slowly, then, in a flash too fast for anyone to react, delivered a resounding slap across Ji Ciyuan’s face.

The crisp sound of it echoed sharply in the silent room, startling everyone present—including Ji Ciyuan himself.

He, the dignified heir of the Ji family, had lived nearly twenty years without ever being struck by anyone, let alone being slapped in public by a useless, ugly woman.

His gaze drilled into Chu Yuyao, icy and grim as death, each word pronounced with venomous clarity: “Chu. Yu. Yao. You. Court. Death.”

[Ahhh, Host, have you lost your mind? The task was to make physical contact with any male lead, not to hit one! And you hit the most arrogant and conceited of them all! Forget your poison taking your life—you’ll be torn to pieces by the task’s male lead before that. Tsk tsk, Host, you’re truly the world’s bravest woman…]

The system shrieked in her mind, laced with biting sarcasm.

Chu Yuyao looked at Ji Ciyuan’s darkening face, feeling no remorse whatsoever.

It was clearly this man who was both insolent and foul-mouthed. A single slap was letting him off easy.

“Enough nonsense. You said physical contact—you never specified how. Now, where’s my antidote? Hurry up and hand it over.”

She swiftly retorted in her thoughts.

The system was speechless. “Host, you cheated. Task rewards halved. Advanced Antidote Pill (0.5) has been delivered. Please accept your reward.”

As the words faded, Chu Yuyao felt a pill materialize in her mouth. Without hesitation, she swallowed it.

Even if it was only half a pill, it was still the advanced version—enough to extend her life by another half year.

Together with the original month’s worth of antidote, she could now survive for seven months.

But seven months was all she had. The thought made her sigh inwardly.

Lifting her gaze to Ji Ciyuan, Chu Yuyao paid no mind to the increasingly murderous look on his face or the terrifying aura emanating from him.

Her red lips curved in a half-smile, half-taunt. “Young Master Ji, that slap was to teach you to behave like a proper person. If you’re human, act like one. Stop touching people and spouting such vile words all the time.”

A soft laugh burst from Yan Jingchen, who had been fanning himself. He quickly covered his mouth with his fan, but the schadenfreude in his eyes was impossible to conceal.

Seeing Ji Ciyuan suffer was simply too satisfying.

If he had to name the person he disliked most, besides Chu Yuyao, it would definitely be Ji Ciyuan. Their personalities were polar opposites, destined to clash, and their respective families and factions only deepened the animosity.

The other three looked at Chu Yuyao in astonishment, unsure if she’d gone mad or simply decided to abandon all restraint.

Ji Ciyuan’s aura grew ever more terrifying, his eyes black as ink, flames of wrath surging within.

This woman dared humiliate him so?

Very well.

He would see to it that she suffered a fate worse than death.

Spiritual power gathered in his palm as he struck out with lethal force, without hesitation.

Chu Yuyao could feel the overwhelming danger in his attack. With her current strength, she was no match for it.

Just as she was thinking how to evade this deadly blow, a sword flashed from its sheath, intercepting the attack with lightning speed.

A deafening boom resounded as two forces collided, unleashing a tempest of energy that rattled the entire room, threatening to bring it down.

Fortunately, this was the Celestial Dao Sect, where every building was reinforced with protective arrays. The structure held, though the furniture and decorations were instantly reduced to powder—a pity.

Chu Yuyao secretly broke out in a cold sweat; she’d nearly died just now.

Her gaze shifted to the man who had shielded her.

Clad in snow-white robes, tall and straight as a pine, his ink-black hair gathered in a jade clasp, strikingly handsome yet remote, his expression calm as a still lake.

It was Su Qinghan.

His brows were slightly furrowed as he looked at Ji Ciyuan. “If she dies, we’ll all have a hard time explaining ourselves.”

Shangguan Yuheng stepped forward, his face gentle as jade, a faint smile playing on his lips. “Brother Su speaks wisely. Young Master Ji, let’s end things here. Though Miss Chu may have offended you, it’s hardly a crime worthy of death. Besides, she is the adopted daughter of the Celestial Dao Sect’s master. If anything happens to her, we’ll all bear responsibility.”

Yan Jingchen continued to fan himself, smiling as he chimed in, “Brother Shangguan is right. We came here for the contract’s dissolution; now that our goal is met, why let an irrelevant woman sour our relations?”

While his words were conciliatory, the phrase “irrelevant woman” stabbed into Chu Yuyao’s heart like a knife.

Ye Cangming remained silent, arms crossed, watching the drama unfold.

No one noticed the figure lurking in the shadows outside the door—Chu Ruoyan, the true daughter, eavesdropping.

Her eyes were fixed on the scene within, expression twisted with resentment, tinged with confusion.

She had just witnessed that ugly wretch suffering the effects of the Thousand Severance Powder—on the brink of death, even coughing up black blood.

How was she now perfectly fine, with enough strength left to slap Ji Ciyuan?

Could it be the poison wasn’t potent enough?

Impossible. That was an ancient and deadly toxin, with no known antidote in the world.

If Chu Yuyao had survived, there must be some reason behind it.

Chu Ruoyan slipped away from her hiding spot, heading silently to the Grand Hall to find Chu Xiong.

That ugly woman had annulled her engagements to all five men. If she herself were to end up with any of them, wouldn’t she be picking up the trash that wretch had discarded?

That simply wouldn’t do.

She had to come up with a way to stop it, and let her father deal with that ugly woman.

No one inside was aware of this.

In the room, Ji Ciyuan’s gaze slid past Su Qinghan, his eyes icy as he locked onto Chu Yuyao. Suddenly, he laughed. “If you have the ability, hide in the Celestial Dao Sect for the rest of your life. Otherwise, I have all the time and means in the world to make you pay.”

Chu Yuyao met his frosty stare, understanding well that he meant every word.

But she had never been one to be intimidated.

She arched her lips in a cool, mocking smile, meeting his gaze head-on. “Young Master Ji, you’d best be careful yourself. Don’t let the day come when you fall into my hands—then, old and new grievances alike, I’ll settle them all with you.”