"Idiot!"
Tang San's eyes were completely full of unbridled disdain.
This arrogant guy's cultivation had already been completely destroyed, yet he still boldly dared to spout such nonsensical bravado.
His brain was practically useless!
Hu Liena didn't appreciate Yan's entirely pointless protection at all; in fact, she just felt profoundly annoyed by his constant hovering.
After a long moment, she looked up at Tang San again, saying with absolute, stubborn certainty, "Teacher definitely won't give up on saving me, so just give up on whatever twisted idea you have."
"I've completely told you everything I needed to say. The final choice is entirely yours."
Tang San shrugged noncommittally at Hu Liena's defiant answer. He had only mentioned the grim possibilities casually; whether she ultimately agreed or not was entirely irrelevant to him.
Anyway, his mother would definitely repay his master's immense kindness; at absolute worst, she'd just have to work treating soldiers for a few more days.
As Tang San finally left the gloomy prison block, a heavy, deathly silence quickly returned.
The devastating blow of having their lifelong cultivation completely destroyed was already difficult enough to bear, but knowing their actual physical situation was even worse made it unbearable.
After a long while, Yan looked up affectionately at Hu Liena and solemnly promised, "Nana, don't you worry. No matter what happens, I will always protect you."
Hu Liena merely glanced coldly at him before squatting down again in her dark corner, miserably hugging her knees.
Although Yan had once possessed a powerful top-tier martial soul with both rare fire and earth attributes, without a single trace of soul power remaining, he could at absolute most deal with a lowly two-ring soul master.
He could currently barely protect himself, let alone physically protect others.
Xie Yue simply scoffed bitterly at Yan's completely empty promise.
In his cynical view, even if his beautiful sister were to be forcibly given away to an outsider as a spoil of war, it absolutely wouldn't be this pathetic guy's turn.
Besides, Lin Mu was an acknowledged peerless expert of a relatively similar age to them, probably even vastly stronger than Her Majesty the Empress herself.
Otherwise, Her Majesty wouldn't be so incredibly wary of the Heaven Dou Empire's military actions.
If Nana could somehow manage to get physically close to Lin Mu and gain his favor, it might actually not be a totally bad thing for their survival.
Now, stripped of his pride, Xie Yue had thought things through much more pragmatically.
Since his hard-earned cultivation had been permanently crippled, blind loyalty to Spirit Empire was completely useless now; he might as well rely entirely on his sister's beauty for a stable, quiet life.
After some careful deliberation, Xie Yue slowly approached Hu Liena and said quietly, "Nana, I honestly think we need to start making alternative plans early. What if Her Majesty actually refuses to agree to Lin Mu's outrageous demands? You might as well just..."
He didn't actually finish his sentence out loud, but the underlying meaning was abundantly clear to everyone.
Hearing this cowardly suggestion, Hu Liena's pale face grew even more grim. She said fiercely, "Even if I miserably die here in this cell, I will absolutely never betray my teacher!"
Before the grand establishment of the Spirit Empire, she had actively heard her teacher mention Lin Mu's hated name more than once.
Every single time her teacher mentioned his name, it was as if she violently wanted to physically tear him to bloody pieces, acting as if Lin Mu had done something truly unforgivable to her.
Furthermore, her own proud cultivation had just been permanently crippled by Lin Mu; how could she possibly ever willingly submit to him!
Seeing her incredibly resolute, stubborn attitude, Xie Yue frowned deeply.
They were currently helplessly trapped in a heavily guarded enemy prison, with absolutely no way to escape unless Her Majesty the Empress formally agreed to Lin Mu's ransom conditions.
Therefore, they desperately had to start preparing for the absolute worst-case scenario.
A moment later, Hu Liena suddenly remembered something terrible and hurriedly grabbed Xie Yue's arm, desperately pleading, "Big brother, why don't you just physically kill me right now? That way I absolutely won't be a useful burden or bargaining chip against Teacher."
"What did you just say?!"
Xie Yue looked down at Hu Liena in total disbelief. He truly hadn't expected her to be so blindly loyal to Her Majesty, even eagerly willing to sacrifice her own life.
Although he also didn't want to actively betray the Spirit Empire and Her Majesty, he definitely hadn't gone to this suicidal extent.
"Big brother, our cultivation has already been completely abolished. Even if we somehow magically go back, we'll be totally useless, and keeping me alive might even directly force Teacher to agree to some deeply humiliating conditions from Lin Mu just to save me."
Saying this, Hu Liena bit her soft pink lips tightly, her tear-stained face totally resolute. "I'd honestly rather commit suicide right here than ever let Lin Mu's devious scheme succeed."
"Slap!!"
Seeing his completely bewitched, suicidal sister, Xie Yue violently slapped her hard across the face.
As a bright, stinging red handprint rapidly appeared on Hu Liena's pale cheek, her panicked mind went completely blank for a moment.
She truly hadn't expected Xie Yue to ever physically hit her, and so incredibly hard at that.
After delivering the harsh slap, Xie Yue took a deep, shaky breath and firmly advised, "Nana, things have already come to this terrible point. The absolute only way out for us is to just focus on staying alive."
"Yes, Nana, I will definitely physically protect you," Yan immediately echoed again like a broken record.
In his naive view, Her Majesty the Empress would definitely do everything in her vast political power to securely save Hu Liena.
After all, Hu Liena was not only Her Majesty's personal, beloved disciple but also the official Holy Maiden of Spirit Empire.
If she were humiliatingly left abandoned in the enemy camp, it would definitely have a massive, negative impact on the overall morale of the imperial army.
Even if the high-stakes negotiations completely failed, he was fully willing to proudly die alongside Nana.
"Get completely lost, I absolutely don't want to talk to you right now."
Faced with Yan's pathetic attempt to appease her, Hu Liena became even angrier and glared fiercely at him.
As far as she was personally concerned, since her older brother was completely unwilling to take lethal action, she could only take things one grueling step at a time, desperately hoping not to cause too much political trouble for her teacher.
Night had just fallen over the battlefield when Lin Mu and Bibi Dong silently arrived at the agreed-upon, neutral meeting place.
Although Bibi Dong had failed the crucial ninth trial of the Rakshasa God, and her overall soul power was currently suppressed down to Level 98, she still possessed a nearly invincible ninth soul skill, making her practically impossible to truly kill for anyone below the god level.
However, Lin Mu's raw attack power had already fully entered the god priest-level, effectively giving him a solid 50% chance of completely, permanently killing Bibi Dong if he tried.
The only reason he didn't actively choose to act was simply because he didn't want to.
In his personal view, it was much better to leave this specific matter entirely to Qian Renxue to resolve; otherwise, future misunderstandings between them would inevitably arise.
"Bibi Dong, it's been a very long time. You truly seem to have visibly aged a bit."
As he spoke, Lin Mu casually looked Bibi Dong over with deep interest.
A clear hint of intense worry was visible on her normally cold, beautiful face, and her striking purple eyes were filled with heavy solemnity and burning resentment.
Upon hearing this casual insult, Bibi Dong's face instantly darkened. This arrogant bastard actually dared to say she had aged.
However, highly mindful of the other party's terrifying strength, she had to forcefully suppress her explosive anger and demanded, word by word, "Did you actually kill Xiaogang?!"
"Uh, shouldn't you logically be much more concerned about your precious disciple first? She's currently in my hands."
Lin Mu was genuinely speechless at Bibi Dong's blatant, absurd favoritism.
He truly couldn't understand where Gangzi's supposed charm actually came from, making a powerful woman like Bibi Dong so insanely fixated on him.
However, Bibi Dong didn't quickly change her mind, still staring intensely and murderously at him.
"Fine, I'll generously tell you the truth."
After a slight, dramatic pause, Lin Mu casually continued, "He actually took Ma Hongjun to Sea God Island. Only an absolute genius like Gangzi could confidently send a pure fire-type soul master to attempt to obtain the oceanic Sea God's inheritance."
"Sea God Island?"
Bibi Dong unexpectedly felt a sudden touch of deep admiration. Xiaogang truly hadn't disappointed her after all; even after being humiliatingly expelled from Spirit Hall, he hadn't given up bravely trying to prove his grand theories.
Since Xiaogang had actively gone to Sea God Island, it meant he might actually still be alive somewhere out there.
Thinking of this small hope, Bibi Dong was simultaneously surprised and deeply delighted.
Her burning anger quickly subsided by more than half, as if she had already completely forgotten the actual purpose of her trip here.
"So, do you actually still want your disciple back or not?"
Lin Mu frowned slightly, truly not expecting Bibi Dong's love-struck mind to be so incredibly severe.
Even though Gangzi had become physically so ugly and pathetic, she still clearly valued him far more than her own loyal disciple.
Hearing this blunt reminder, Bibi Dong finally came back to her senses and coldly said, "Just explicitly tell me, exactly what do you want for me to fully release Nana?"