"Cancel the engagement, Xue'er. Swear loyalty to me, and I won't just suppress this poison. I'll burn it out of you forever."
My words hung in the freezing air of the VIP box.
For a moment, Mu Xue'er just stared at me. Her piercing eyes, normally as hard as flint, were wide and unfocused. She was completely overwhelmed by the scorching, euphoric heat of my [Supreme Sun-Flare Physique] pouring into her frozen meridians.
"Commander!" Her lieutenant finally snapped out of her shock, raising her firearm again. "Get away from her!"
"Stand down, Lieutenant," Mu Xue'er gasped out. It took every ounce of her military discipline to speak. She pressed a trembling hand against my chest, trying to push herself away.
I let her. I didn't hold her hostage. I simply took a half-step back, withdrawing the flow of my Yang Qi.
The moment the connection broke, the agonizing, bone-crushing cold of the Nine-Yin Frost Poison slammed back into her chest.
She let out a sharp cry, her knees instantly buckling.
Before she could hit the floor, her lieutenant caught her. Mu Xue'er was shivering violently, her lips rapidly turning a terrifying shade of blue again. The brief taste of my warmth had only made the reality of her freezing death that much more unbearable.
"You see?" I said calmly, slipping my hands into my pockets. "I didn't poison you, Xue'er. I'm just the only man on earth who holds the antidote."
"You..." she gritted her teeth, her breath visible in the freezing air. "What do you want, Chu Feng? You want the Scarlet Guard to become the Chu Consortium's private hit squad?"
"I want exactly what I said," I replied, walking over to the shattered door and gesturing for Old Chen to bring the auction house manager. Within seconds, a terrified attendant scurried in, carrying an ornate wooden box.
I popped the latch. Inside rested the 500-Year Blood Ginseng, radiating a faint crimson glow.
I looked down at the shivering military commander.
"Long Chen betrothed you to steal your military backing," I said, my voice completely devoid of pity. "He disappeared for three years, leaving you to slowly freeze to death while he played king in the desert. He's a parasite. Break the betrothal. Announce to the underground world that the Scarlet Guard answers to me."
"And if I refuse?" she rasped, her pride warring with her survival instincts. "I am a soldier. I don't break oaths."
"If you refuse, I walk out that door with this ginseng," I closed the wooden box with a sharp snap. "You die by midnight. Your family loses their greatest protector, and your precious Scarlet Guard is devoured by rival factions within a week. Is your pride worth the destruction of everything you've built?"
She stared at me. She was a pragmatic, ruthless general. She analyzed the battlefield, and she instantly recognized that she was completely outmatched.
Chu Feng didn't just have the money; he had the exact, impossible power to save her life.
Mu Xue'er closed her eyes, fighting through a fresh wave of agonizing pain. When she opened them, the defiance was gone, replaced by a cold, calculating surrender.
"Fine," she whispered, her voice trembling. "The betrothal to Long Chen is void. Give me the ginseng."
"Not yet," I smiled, stepping forward. I handed the wooden box to Old Chen and looked down at her. "I told you, the raw Yang energy of the root will detonate your fragile meridians. You need a catalyst to process it."
I knelt down in front of her. Her guards tensed, but Mu Xue'er waved them off.
"What kind of catalyst?" she asked, her breathing shallow.
"Me," I answered.
Without asking for permission, I reached out and unbuttoned the top two buttons of her stiff, crimson military collar, exposing the pale skin of her collarbone.
"Chu Feng!" she gasped, her cheeks flushing a brilliant red as she instinctively tried to pull back.
"Keep still," I ordered, my Overlord Aura flaring just enough to make her freeze.
I pressed my bare right palm directly against the center of her chest, right over her heart meridian.
[Activating Supreme Sun-Flare Physique: Meridian Cleansing!]
A torrent of pure, liquid heat violently rushed from my palm into her body. It wasn't a gentle suppression this time. It was a scorching, aggressive invasion.
"Ahhn!"
A completely uncharacteristic, breathless moan escaped the Scarlet Queen's lips. Her back arched off the floor, her hands desperately gripping my shoulders. The sheer intensity of the Yang Qi crashing into her frozen heart felt like being submerged in a boiling hot spring after walking naked through a blizzard.
Her military uniform was instantly soaked in a fine sheen of sweat as the Frost Poison was forcefully violently pushed out of her major arteries.
[Ding!] [Major Plot Alteration!] [The Scarlet Queen has completely broken her oath to the Second Protagonist!] [Target's Affection +30! Current Affection: 30 (Intensely Reliant/Conflicted).] [Destiny Points -2000! Host gains 2000 Villain Points!]
Just as the system notification chimed, a sharp, repetitive buzzing sound broke the heavy tension in the room.
It was coming from Mu Xue'er's tactical belt. Her encrypted military satellite phone.
Only three people in the world had that number.
She opened her eyes, gasping for air, completely flushed and heavily panting from the intense Qi transfer. She looked down at the vibrating phone, then up at me.
"Answer it," I whispered, not breaking eye contact. I didn't remove my hand from her chest. Instead, I pushed another wave of intense heat into her, making her breath hitch sharply.
With trembling fingers, she unclipped the phone and hit the speaker button.
"Xue'er."
The deep, ragged voice of Long Chen echoed in the VIP box. The great Dragon Sovereign sounded exhausted, desperate, and filled with barely suppressed rage.
"Long... Chen?" Mu Xue'er forced the words out, trying desperately to keep her voice steady while my Yang Qi wreaked havoc on her senses.
"It's me," Long Chen growled. "Listen to me closely. I'm in Jinghai. Things... went sideways at the airport. A local rat named Chu Feng ambushed me. He used some underhanded cyber-attack to freeze my offshore accounts."
He paused, clearly swallowing his massive pride. The invincible protagonist was actually asking for a handout.
"I need you to mobilize the Scarlet Guard," Long Chen commanded, assuming absolute authority over her. "Send an extraction team to the southern docks. Bring your medical division; my arm is broken. And Xue'er? I need you to liquidate a billion in assets for me by morning. I'm going to wipe the Chu Consortium off the map."
There was a heavy silence in the VIP box.
Mu Xue'er looked at the phone, and then she looked at me.
I was currently kneeling over her, my hand pressed against her bare skin, saving her life, holding a billion-dollar ginseng that I had bought just for her. Meanwhile, her "destined fiancé" was hiding in the slums with a broken arm, demanding her money and her army.
The contrast was so absurd it was almost comical.
I smirked, leaning in closer to her ear. I applied one final, intense surge of heat into her heart meridian.
"Nnnh...!" Mu Xue'er couldn't stop the soft, breathless gasp from escaping her lips right into the open microphone of the phone.
The line went dead silent.
"Xue'er?" Long Chen's voice suddenly turned sharp, paranoid. "Where are you? Why are you panting? Who is there with you?!"
Mu Xue'er closed her eyes, steadying her breathing. When she opened them, the icy, pragmatic general had returned.
"I am at the Grand Auction House, Long Chen," she said coldly, her voice echoing in the room. "And as for your requests... the Scarlet Guard does not answer to you anymore."
"What are you talking about?!" Long Chen roared, pure panic bleeding into his voice. "We have a betrothal! I am your future husband!"
"That betrothal was made three years ago," Mu Xue'er replied, her eyes locked onto mine. "You left me to die, Long Chen. If you want to fight the Chu Consortium, you are on your own. Because as of tonight, my life, and my army, belong to Chu Feng."
She reached down and pressed the red button, terminating the call.
I pulled my hand back, standing up and brushing off my suit jacket. I looked down at the flushed, sweating military queen kneeling at my feet.
"Good girl," I said softly.