**Chapter 0: Kindness Rewarded with Enmity**
Qin Gou asked the elders of Twin Fangs Mountain to remain calm and deliberate, then returned to his cave dwelling at the earliest opportunity.
“Wan Lianxiao died by your hand?” Qin Gou asked.
“Yes,” Li Hen wrote frankly. “I originally planned to capture him as leverage to exchange for You’er, but this person insulted and cursed my sister twice. Hate… I got angry at that moment.”
“Wan Lianxiao has never met me, why would he curse me?” Li You’er was completely confused.
Qin Gou didn’t care about these details, only frowning and saying, “You killed the Mountain Lord of Twin Fangs Mountain and still dared to linger in their territory for so long. Your boldness is truly remarkable.”
Li Hen didn’t retort, merely scratching his head and giving a dry laugh. He had wanted to finish quickly and rescue Li You’er immediately, but he was caught by you.
Glancing at Qin Gou and Li Hen, Li You’er asked in surprise, “Brother, Big Brother Qin, when did your relationship become so good?”
“We are brothers now,” Qin Gou said immediately.
Li Hen, already well-practiced and without needing Qin Gou to glare at him for a reminder, immediately smiled and said, “That’s right.”
Li You’er couldn’t help but be shocked by this brotherhood between men, one covered in blood, who became sworn brothers just by going out.
Qin Gou continued, “Actually, the reason I appeared at Twin Fangs Mountain was to save someone, and the biggest clue was with Wan Lianxiao.”
Li Hen understood tacitly, knowing he might have ruined things. His expression changed slightly as he immediately took out everything he had taken from Wan Lianxiao, including some jade slips and letters recorded in writing.
However, among this large quantity of items, only a small, bean-green clay pot quickly attracted Qin Gou’s attention. Although it was covered with heavy restrictions, a faint spatial power still leaked out.
“Is this a Fatal Relic?”
Li Hen nodded and wrote, “But it was not derived from Wan Lianxiao’s Natal Spirit Tool.”
Qin Gou carefully observed the restrictions on it. For him, although he couldn’t ignore these seals directly like Little Black Wu Ti Yue, he could break them all with some effort.
After the duration of one incense stick burning.
The clay pot in front of Qin Gou suddenly let out a crisp female voice.
“Who is it?”
“Who are you?” Qin Gou and Li Hen exchanged a glance and countered.
“You are not Wan Lianxiao! Did you save me?” The other party’s tone was filled with ecstasy. “My name is Lin Jincheng.”
Qin Gou’s eyes lit up. It turned out this Little Saint Monarch was trapped in a Fatal Spirit Tool with spatial laws. “I am Qin Gou, a friend of Ao Banwei and Ye Yaoh. You should have heard of me from Qi Qianchen or Fear.”
“This is wonderful, I’m finally saved, but… I still can’t get out of this mysterious space.”
“Then how can I help you?”
“Like this!” Lin Jincheng’s tone suddenly became extremely cold.
A flawless, snow-white, slender hand instantly emerged from the clay pot and grabbed Qin Gou’s throat, causing his entire being to transform into a stream of cyan light, sucked into the clay pot by an irresistible, immense force.
“This…”
Li Hen and Li You’er were greatly alarmed, but it was too late.
When Qin Gou finally came to his senses, he was already in a dim space, surrounded by swirling mist. Only a faint ball of fire allowed him to see a gracefully swaying woman lying not far away, smirking at him triumphantly.
“Lin Jincheng?” Qin Gou’s eyes narrowed. “Is this your thanks for saving your life?”
“Don’t rush, let me introduce you first,” Lin Jincheng’s complexion was unnaturally pale, appearing very weak. “Once you fall into this space, outsiders will find it hard to track your whereabouts, even through divination. Spirit Stones and Qi replenishment pills will be useless here, and there is no exit… The only way to survive is to do whatever it takes to drag someone else out of this bottomless abyss to replace yourself, and…”
Before Lin Jincheng could finish speaking, the staff sword at Qin Gou’s waist had already slashed towards her as fast as lightning.
Lin Jincheng, who was originally lying on the ground and appeared extremely weak, instantly sprang up to dodge, a playful smile playing on her lips.
“Moreover, before forcibly making me take your place and be trapped here, you will seize all my spiritual power!” Feeling his spiritual power rapidly draining, Qin Gou immediately realized Lin Jincheng wasn’t kindly explaining, but merely stalling for time.
“Clever.”
Lin Jincheng smiled playfully. “But at this moment, I have already absorbed a lot of your spiritual power. I will only grow stronger, while you will be the opposite. In the end, you will only be able to watch as I drain all your spiritual power and then leave triumphantly.”
Qin Gou’s face was as dark as water. “Even if someone needs to take your place to be trapped here, you didn’t have to choose me, right?”
“It was you from the start!” Lin Jincheng tilted her chin slightly, her eyes cold. “You only saved me once, and you expect me to willingly exit and surrender to Ao Banwei? That’s utterly laughable. Even if Qi Qianchen and Xiao Congxin agreed, they could never represent my thoughts! And now that you are trapped here, all Spirit Power Transmissions are invalid, and you cannot contact the outside world at all. Naturally, you are the best bargaining chip for me, this young lady, to exchange for my freedom and escape with Ao Banwei and Ye Yaoh.”
“In other words, you have defied the will of your own Residual Soul/Emotion Fragment, ‘Fear,’ and are determined to be my enemy?” Qin Gou’s tone was deep.
“Defy?” Lin Jincheng found it incredibly amusing. “Little Congxin, since when is she qualified to control me?”
Qin Gou’s face twitched. That Miss Fear, whom he had never met, had it too rough. After being a good person for so long, sparing no effort to help her Little Saint Monarch escape, this Lin Jincheng simply didn’t put her in her eyes.
“Once your spiritual power is depleted, I don’t know how long you can survive without food or drink, or if you can last as long as I can. However, it doesn’t matter even if you die. Before Ao Banwei and the others find out, I will have long since flown away!
And Qi Qianchen, I’ve seen through her this time. In the end, she’s just a burden. Who knows when her evidence will be plundered by someone else, forcing me to submit to others. So, I might as well kill her with my own hands to eliminate any future trouble.”
Lin Jincheng’s expression was full of confidence. Facing Qin Gou’s suddenly surging Bud of Taihuang, a disdainful look appeared at the corner of her mouth.
From the spiritual power she had plundered, she keenly discovered that the opponent only seemed to have the cultivation of Li Jiu Realm, while she was a genuine Dao Comprehension Realm expert!
“Pfft!”
Lin Jincheng was instantly sent flying by the vine of the Dragon-Snake Sacred Tree transformed by the Bud of Taihuang. With a sound of twisting bones, her entire body went limp, blood continuously flowing from her mouth.
“Your strength, why…” Lin Jincheng’s widened beautiful eyes were filled with terror.
Qin Gou’s expression remained unchanged. He thrust his sword towards Lin Jincheng’s neck, but just as he was about to take her life, his actions paused inexplicably.
“Please, don’t kill me, I am willing to be your slave and maid, at your…”
Lin Jincheng was surprised to find that Qin Gou had stopped before she even begged for mercy. Without hesitation, she forced out the last bit of her strength and launched a ruthless palm strike into Qin Gou’s heart from a distance.
…
“Why has Master’s aura suddenly disappeared for so long?”
Qing Yu gazed into the distance, gently rubbing a strand of black hair at her temple.
If Qishou were here, he would know that this habitual action was a sign of Qing Yu’s extreme anxiety, and also a precursor to possible memory confusion and impending turmoil.
