Chapter 803: Scared Her to Tears

Clearly, that kick had been anything but light.

Yan Baoru lay on the ground choking up blood, her body trembling, her eyes almost splitting with rage. The agonizing pain was secondary. What hurt more was her pride. Who was she? The cultivator ranked second on the Golden Core Ranking, an expert famed beneath Heaven. And now she was being brutally humiliated by someone she had once regarded as little more than an ant. She truly wished she could tear out Niu Youdao's tendons and flay him alive.

But strength decided the situation. No matter how unwilling she was, there was nothing she could do.

She did not want to remain down. She did not want to lie abjectly at Niu Youdao's feet. She struggled to rise.

Swish! Swish!

Two streaks of sword qi swept past. Grass fragments flew as the weeds around her, taller than a person, were sliced off cleanly, exposing her struggling figure.

Yan Baoru turned her head and saw Niu Youdao wading through the grass toward her at an unhurried pace, sword in hand, his face expressionless.

Difficult as it was, she still tried to get up.

Niu Youdao stopped in front of her, raised his foot again, and planted it on her back. With almost no effort, he forced her flat against the ground and kept her from rising.

He looked down coldly at her sorry state. Blood stained her all over. Her exquisite makeup was smeared, her neat and dignified hair was in disarray, and bits of grass clung to her clothes. Once stripped of dignity, that cold, seductive beauty had lost its radiance as well.

Watching her struggle beneath his foot, Niu Youdao asked, "Tell me. Why did you try to harm me?"

To be pinned beneath the foot of someone like him was unbearable humiliation. Yan Baoru rasped, "If you've got the ability, then kill me!" The meaning was plain enough: she would not submit.

"Oh?" Niu Youdao glanced around. His gaze paused briefly on an earthen mound ahead, then returned to Yan Baoru beneath his foot. "I wouldn't have guessed it. You've got some backbone. The truth is, I hate fighting and killing more than anything. I've ridden through the jianghu, seen too many storms, too much life and death, and little by little I've learned something about how one ought to conduct oneself. I've come to understand the truth of 'where mercy can be shown, show mercy.' My heart has softened. I keep thinking, what can't be talked through properly? Why cover yourself in blood and murderous hostility? I truly don't want to go too far with you. You should understand the pains I'm taking."

Yan Baoru laughed bitterly. "A cat weeping over a mouse! Kill me. Kill me right now!"

Niu Youdao said, "A woman as beautiful as you must have countless admirers. With your abilities, you'd have every chance to find yourself a good man and whisper sweet nothings with him. That's what a beautiful woman ought to be doing. Licking blood from the edge of a blade really doesn't suit someone as pretty as you. Think about it. Wouldn't it be better to have a man with you beneath the flowers and moon, loving and devoted? Why insist on dying? Isn't that so?"

Yan Baoru cursed him. "There isn't a single good man in this world. You think—"

The foot on her back pressed down harder and cut her off.

"Enough. I've heard too many stories from women. They all come down to men being heartless and faithless." Niu Youdao used the tip of his sword to brush aside the tangled hair across her face. "Women see worthless men everywhere; men see shameless women everywhere. There's no point arguing over who's right and who's wrong. This isn't the time for stories. You know how many fierce beasts in this cursed place like following the scent of blood."

Yan Baoru said furiously, "What the hell are you? Kill me or carve me up as you please!"

"I've said every kind word there is, and you still won't listen. Fine." Niu Youdao let the sword tip play across her face. "I remember what you said earlier. You said you liked cleanliness and told me to cooperate because you didn't want to dirty your hands. That was how you threatened me, wasn't it?"

At those words, Yan Baoru seemed to realize something. The hand she had braced against the ground instinctively drew back.

Too late.

Sword light flashed in Niu Youdao's hand. Without the slightest hesitation, he drove the blade down as cleanly as a nail. The strike was decisive and ruthless.

"Ah!"

Pinned beneath his foot, Yan Baoru threw back her head and screamed. Her whole body shook violently with pain. One jade-like hand had been pierced clean through and nailed to the ground by Niu Youdao's sword, a full third of the blade buried in the earth.

The man who had just spoken of talking things over properly had turned vicious in the blink of an eye.

Niu Youdao lifted his foot from her back, released the sword hilt, and stepped back twice. Expressionless, he said, "I told you, I don't like fighting and killing, and I dislike killing people even more. Since you're determined to die, I'll give you the chance. The sword is yours. Cut your own throat. Afterward, I'll give you a proper burial so your corpse isn't left exposed in the wilderness. Repaying resentment with virtue. Fair enough, wouldn't you say?"

Yan Baoru trembled and tried several times to rise, but with one hand nailed to the ground, getting up was indeed difficult.

Niu Youdao watched coldly from the side. This woman's cultivation truly was profound. Even after taking his Qiankun Palm, she had managed to endure until now.

Eventually, Yan Baoru still forced herself upright. Half-kneeling, she gripped the sword hilt and pulled. A muffled groan escaped her as pain tore through her.

Her hand was freed from the ground and shook uncontrollably. She raised the blade to her neck, but could not bring herself to make the cut.

Was she truly going to die just like this?

Niu Youdao watched every change in her expression with cold eyes.

Suddenly Yan Baoru seemed to go mad. She lunged forward and thrust the sword at Niu Youdao.

In her present state, however, how could she possibly kill him? Niu Youdao merely guided her arm aside and took the sword from her hand.

Yan Baoru collapsed to the ground, tormented and despairing.

"If you don't have the fucking guts to die, then what are you putting on airs with me for?" Niu Youdao abruptly lost his temper. He reached down, seized her by the hair, and dragged her away.

Yan Baoru cried out wildly and raised a hand to beat at his arm.

Niu Youdao ignored her. Gripping her hair, he dragged her across the grass toward the earthen mound ahead.

The mound had previously been hidden amid weeds taller than a person. Now that the grass had been cut down by his sword qi, it stood exposed. Ants crawled frantically over the damaged earth. It was plainly an ant nest.

Niu Youdao dragged her up to it. His expression turned fierce as he hauled her by the hair and forced her to look at the nest.

Yan Baoru's eyes widened in terror. "What are you trying to do?"

Niu Youdao said nothing. Holding her hair, he slammed her head into the earthen mound.

Bang!

The packed earth broke apart, and he forcibly shoved her head into the ant nest.

Her body thrashed violently beneath him while muffled cries of "mmph, mmph" came from inside the mound.

He did not leave her there long enough to experience the full horror. A moment later, Niu Youdao yanked her head back out by the hair.

Ants crawled all over her face and through her hair, a horrifying sight. Some had already begun crawling beneath her clothes. She shook her head desperately, trying to fling them off.

Still gripping her hair, Niu Youdao crouched beside her and spoke into her ear. "I used to spend a lot of time digging holes underground. Later, I came to understand something: the most terrifying thing is for a living person to be forced to live like the dead. Do you know how I used to deal with women like you who refused to see reason? I wouldn't let them die easily. I'd bury them underground and feed them through a tube, keeping them neither dead nor properly alive, unable to move, just lying there beneath the earth. It never took more than three days. After that, whatever I asked, they answered obediently. I'll let you savor that slowly later. For now, have a proper taste of this."

With that, he used spiritual power to force her mouth open so she could not close it. Gripping her hair, he started to shove her head back into the ant nest.

Yan Baoru's eyes went wide. She babbled frantically through her forced-open mouth, "I'll talk... I'll talk..."

Niu Youdao stopped and restored her jaw. "What did you say? I didn't hear you clearly."

"I'll talk!" Yan Baoru broke down. She had been frightened to tears. Weeping openly, she said, "Tong Mo! It was Tong Mo, Grand Minister of Works of the State of Yan, who sent me to kill you."

Tong Mo? Niu Youdao frowned. He hauled her upright, then sent a pulse of spiritual power through her body, shaking the ants from her.

He seized the back of her collar and dragged her farther from the nest. First he placed a restriction on her body to stop the bleeding from her wounds. Only then did he press a palm against her back and circulate the Qiankun Art to dispel the two opposing torments of heat and cold within her.

Her other injuries were nothing by comparison. Once that agonizing torment vanished, she experienced genuine relief.

After recovering somewhat from the pain, Yan Baoru sat on the ground in a miserable state, dazed and empty-eyed, as though she had lost her soul.

The moment she begged for mercy, the pride of the cultivator ranked second on the Golden Core Ranking collapsed completely.

Niu Youdao stood before her with his sword planted at his side. "Tong Mo sent you to kill me? Was he acting on Shang Jianxiong's orders?"

"Shang Jianxiong?" Yan Baoru looked lost. "I don't know. Tong Mo learned that I was entering the Tiandu Secret Realm and contacted me. He told me to kill you and said you absolutely could not be allowed to return alive. I asked why he wanted you dead. He said this was an opportunity. If you died, Nanzhou might fall into internal chaos, giving the imperial court a chance to regain control of it. I said Yan and Zhao were at war. He said that didn't matter: before resisting enemies without, first pacify those within! I only asked in passing. Why he wanted you dead didn't really matter to me."

Niu Youdao asked, "With your status and position, free to come and go as you please, why would you act as his hound? Why obey him so readily?"

Yan Baoru replied, "I'm only an independent cultivator. Without money, where does this freedom you speak of come from? I've long enjoyed his patronage. He has secretly provided the money to support me, and when he runs into trouble, I help him with whatever lies within my ability."

So that was it. Niu Youdao understood. He asked again, "How did you manage to follow me in the first place?"

He had already questioned Situ Yao about the details. Situ Yao had never mentioned this woman taking part, and had even said Chu Fengping deliberately kept the other two factions in the dark.

That was what Niu Youdao could not understand. If Chu Fengping had deliberately concealed the matter from the others, why would he involve a woman like Yan Baoru, who was not easily controlled? Was there some other reason? Had Situ Yao deliberately kept something from him? Or was Yan Baoru only one of several people involved?

He had to understand this clearly. It was one of the reasons he had insisted on forcing her to talk.

"It was Li Wuhua, an Elder of Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion. I don't know what his purpose was. He found me..." Still dazed, Yan Baoru recounted how Li Wuhua had approached her.

Only after hearing the whole story did Niu Youdao finally understand how this seemingly unreasonable situation had come about. He did not know whether to laugh or cry. So it was Li Wuhua, that old fellow, whose good intentions had produced a bad result.

Fortunately, this woman herself was not entangled in any major struggle of interests. Otherwise, if her thinking had reached a little farther, Li Wuhua might very well have gotten him killed.

[End of Chapter 803]