Chapter 81 Remember this, you asked for it...
Sheng Zhiyi arrived at the main hall, where Ji Fuguang sat at the table, looking down at the jade slip that had been delivered to him.
Just as she was about to walk towards the tea table, she suddenly heard a voice say, "Come here."
Her steps faltered, her heart leaped into her throat, and Sheng Zhiyi lowered her eyelids as she walked over. "Your Majesty."
There was silence for a long time.
Sheng Zhiyi finally couldn't help but look up, meeting Ji Fuguang's gaze. He raised his eyebrows slightly, as if asking a question in return.
Looking down, Ji Fuguang pointed to the inkstone.
Sheng Zhiyi breathed a sigh of relief and quickly ground the ink for him.
After reviewing the documents with his vermilion brush for a moment, a notice suddenly came from outside the hall that someone was requesting an audience.
Upon seeing the person who arrived, Sheng Zhiyi's heart pounded, and her fingers clenched involuntarily.
The one who arrived was the demon general we had just encountered in the abandoned old garden!
Sheng Zhiyi quickly lowered her head, turned slightly to the side, and faced the demon general directly, concealing her back.
"Your Majesty, the battle between immortals and demons is fierce. I am worried that some villains may take advantage of the chaos to sneak into the palace, so I have led my men to patrol the area."
Ji Fuguang turned his gaze to the window, where the distant sky faintly glowed with an eerie halo brought about by the collision of immortal magic and demonic energy.
The war is raging.
"What did you find?" he asked casually.
Sheng Zhiyi tensed up, listening intently to the Demon General's words.
"The vast majority of the palace's protective barriers are intact, except for a few corners where some of the restrictions have loosened. The Orchid Fragrance Garden, Flying Rainbow Ruler, and Jade Bay Garden have all been repaired, but..."
His voice lowered, clearly out of consideration for the other people still inside the hall.
"continue."
Upon hearing Ji Fuguang's order, he continued, "Only Changchun Garden in the northwest corner is dilapidated and difficult to repair, making it an overlooked area."
"Northwest corner, abandoned garden?" Ji Fuguang's fingertips paused for a moment on the armrest of the throne. The room was silent, as if he were repeating himself deliberately.
"Yes, I have reinforced the defenses there."
Ji Fuguang waved away the demon general, and the hall returned to silence.
Throughout the entire ordeal, the demon general never raised his head due to his accumulated power.
Sheng Zhiyi quietly turned around, facing the table again, and continued grinding ink.
Suddenly, a strong light shone in through the window, and the white light of spiritual energy illuminated half of the sky, making the main hall a bit brighter as well.
The battle between immortals and demons is so intense.
Sheng Zhiyi turned to look outside, but her wrist was grabbed. She staggered a few steps and fell into a cold embrace, sitting on Ji Fuguang's lap.
Ji Fuguang lowered his eyes, his face expressionless.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty..."
Her heart jumped into her throat.
Does Ji Fuguang already know what she did today?
Ji Fuguang picked up a grape and stuffed it into her mouth, silencing her.
He didn't want to hear her talk right now; he just wanted her to stay quietly in his arms.
What exactly is being done?
It's not advisable to make any changes to the current situation. Letting things take their natural course is the right thing to do. It's just a grape. If Ji Fuguang wanted to poison her, he wouldn't need to go to such lengths.
Sheng Zhiyi bit into a grape, and its sweet juice burst out instantly.
As expected of a tribute presented to the Demon Lord, it tastes quite good.
As Ji Fuguang swallowed slightly, his fair throat moved gently, and his eyes deepened imperceptibly.
Good, take one more.
Looking at the grapes on her lips, Sheng Zhiyi's anxiety had vanished, replaced by a strong sense of bewilderment.
She was certain once again that Ji Fuguang really had a distorted thought process, and trying to figure out his thoughts would only make things difficult for herself.
I guess I just had a sudden urge to see her eat grapes today.
The girl thought she had concealed her disdain well, with a slight smirk and even a secret eye roll, clearly showing her disgust.
These days, she has been like a clay puppet, with her head bowed and eyes lowered. Now, her eyes are lively, and she has regained some of the spirit she once had in the Tianyan Sect.
Outside the palace, war raged, with flashes of light and deafening roars echoing from time to time.
But Ji Fuguang didn't care at all, and slowly fed Sheng Zhiyi grapes one by one.
After eating about half a skewer, Sheng Zhiyi rubbed her stomach, indicating that she couldn't eat anymore. Ji Fuguang then slowly withdrew his hand, looking somewhat regretful.
Just as Sheng Zhiyi was about to ask, "The battle between immortals and demons is urgent, what countermeasures does the Demon Lord have?"
On second thought, what does this have to do with her?
The most urgent task now is to find a way to leave this place.
She bowed to Ji Fuguang and said in a low voice, "Your Majesty is busy with official duties, so this servant will take her leave for now."
Ji Fuguang wiped his hands with a clean white handkerchief and said meaningfully, "You belong to me. You should abide by your duty and be aware of your responsibilities, understand?"
"Yes, I understand."
Sheng Zhiyi appeared docile and respectful, but in reality, she was determined to find a way to escape as soon as possible.
That night, in the abandoned Changchun Garden.
The crumbling walls were hidden among knee-high withered grass, the night wind rustling and moaning. A withered old tree, its gnarled branches twisting and turning, stretched towards the dim sky, its posture eerie.
In the center of the courtyard, an ancient well stands silently, its stone railing broken and entwined with withered black vines, like a silent behemoth, devouring all light.
Sheng Zhiyi lay in the shadows behind a low wall, silently surveying her surroundings.
She wore a low-class maid's dress, loose and ill-fitting, yet perfectly concealing her figure. Her aura was carefully disguised, a faint, almost imperceptible, hint of demonic energy emanating from her.
Time passed slowly, and based on her observations over the past few days, there was still a gap of about half an incense stick's time before the next patrol of guards would arrive.
Not much, but enough!
Like a nimble night cat, she slipped silently out of the shadows and approached the ancient well quickly and cautiously.
The closer you get, the more you can feel a faint, distant, cool breeze seeping out from the wellhead.
This is it!
She rushed to the well and peered down.
The well was bottomless, filled only with an impenetrable darkness. But deep within the darkness, she could clearly sense a somewhat damaged barrier. The cool aura she had just felt came from the damaged area—outside the barrier, the aura of freedom.
Sheng Zhiyi braced her wrists against the edge of the well, exerted force with her arms, and jumped into the well.
The road ahead may be incredibly dangerous, but in any case, it is a thousand times, ten thousand times better than here!
She didn't want to stay here for even a second longer!
"Oh."
A very soft sneer sounded from behind him.
The sound wasn't loud, but it was like a bucket of ice, instantly freezing Sheng Zhiyi's blood.
She turned around abruptly—
A hand grabbed her arm firmly, stopping her from falling.
Before Sheng Zhiyi could react, she was grabbed and thrown hard to the ground.
Ji Fuguang, dressed in black, almost blended into the night, except for his unfathomable phoenix eyes, which reflected the cold moonlight in the dim light, staring intently at her.
“I gave you the chance to investigate Changchun Garden time and time again, but you are still extremely foolish.”
Sheng Zhiyi's face turned deathly pale in an instant, and she stared intently at Ji Fuguang.
"You knew all along!"
He saw it all from beginning to end, watching her meticulously plan like a clown, and watching her step by step walk towards the ending he orchestrated.
Overwhelmed by immense fear and the humiliation of being mocked, she almost instinctively poured all her spiritual power into the well in a desperate struggle.
"Stubborn to the end!"
Ji Fuguang raised his hand, caught a falling withered leaf, and threw it towards the well.
The leaves suddenly became covered with a layer of dark, demonic energy, transforming into a sharp, black shadow that shot into the well with perfect precision.
"Buzz—!"
A muffled sound came from the bottom of the well. The previously minor cracks in the barrier were instantly mended by an even more powerful force, becoming even more solid than before.
That faint sense of freedom vanished completely.
All of Sheng Zhiyi's efforts were reduced to dust once again in the face of absolute power.
Ji Fuguang's clothes fluttered, untouched by dust. He leaned down slightly, his cold fingers pinching her chin, a hint of anger in his voice. "How does it feel to give you hope, only to crush it with my own hands?"
Sheng Zhiyi suddenly waved her hand, unexpectedly blocking Ji Fuguang's arm. She sneered:
"The Demon Lord is truly skilled. How about I, a complete loser, share my thoughts and tell you what it feels like to be manipulated by the Demon Lord?"
Her almond-shaped eyes lit up again, but this time, they burned with undisguised, sharp hatred, like a poisoned dagger piercing straight at Ji Fuguang.
The calm in Ji Fuguang's eyes was instantly shattered by this undisguised hatred, replaced by a deeper and more dangerous undercurrent.
His jawline tightened, and the air pressure around him suddenly dropped, as if the air itself had frozen.
"Feelings?" he repeated, his voice terrifyingly low, closing in on Sheng Zhiyi step by step. "Do you think you're worthy of any feelings? What I give you, you can only accept! Whether it's preferential treatment or humiliation!"
"Preferential treatment?" Sheng Zhiyi seemed to have heard the biggest joke in the world. She staggered to her feet and met his piercing gaze without fear, her face full of mockery. "Locking me in a water dungeon is preferential treatment? Publicly humiliating me is preferential treatment? Trampling my last bit of dignity under your feet and watching me be a puppet in front of you is preferential treatment?"
"Oh, right!" she exclaimed, suddenly realizing. "You don't actually think that feeding me a few grapes is a favor, do you? Let me tell you, Ji Fuguang, the only thing I think about when you make physical contact is to run away as fast as I can. You disgust me!"
"Shut up!" Ji Fuguang suddenly raised his hand and grabbed Sheng Zhiyi's throat. Her cheeks quickly turned red, and she had difficulty breathing. The rest of her words were blocked.
But he didn't kill her; he merely restrained her, his phoenix eyes surging with a ferocity and a trace of pain that he himself was unaware of.
"Who do you think you are?" He stared at her pained expression, his voice icy cold. "You're nothing but an ungrateful prisoner. I'm already showing you mercy by sparing your life!"
Sheng Zhiyi gasped for breath, her life hanging by a thread, yet the hatred in her eyes did not diminish in the slightest. She forced out the words through clenched teeth: "Then I... would rather not... have this favor from you! If you have the guts... kill me! Otherwise... as long as I have a breath left... I will hate you! One day... I will repay you a hundredfold for the pain you inflicted on me!"
"Hate me?" Ji Fuguang's heart felt as if it had been pierced, a sharp and unfamiliar feeling swept over him, almost making him lose control.
He suddenly tightened his fingers, watching Sheng Zhiyi's eyes roll back as she suffocated, then abruptly loosened them as if he had been burned.
Sheng Zhiyi collapsed to the ground, coughing violently and gasping for air.
Ji Fuguang looked down at her, his chest rising and falling slightly, his eyes filled with turbulent chaos.
Why? He is clearly the Demon Lord, invincible in the world, so why does he still feel such pain?
"Ha!" Sheng Zhiyi raised her head, still catching her breath. "Ji Fuguang, who do you think you are? You're nothing but a despicable manipulator who tries to play with people's hearts. You think you can make me your puppet? Impossible! I'm right here, waiting for you to kill me!"
"Want to die?" He suppressed the metallic taste in his throat, his tone becoming unusually calm, yet more chilling than his previous rage. "Not so easy. I told you, you'll never escape."
He slowly raised his hand, and demonic energy gathered in his palm, causing a dark metal collar to slowly emerge.
The collar has an ancient design, engraved with intricate and eerie magic patterns, and at its core is a drop of dark red blood that flows slowly as if it were alive.
“This thing is linked to my very essence.” Ji Fuguang’s voice was like a stream chilled to ice, carrying a sense of final judgment. “From this day forward, you are mine. There is nowhere left to hide, no matter where you are in the world.”
He reached out and firmly fastened the collar around Sheng Zhiyi's slender neck.
A soft "click" sounded, like the final shackles of fate.
The moment it touched her skin, the dark red blood droplets shone brightly, and the collar automatically contracted as if it were alive, perfectly fitting her skin, as if it had grown into her flesh.
"ah!"
Sheng Zhiyi let out a short, painful gasp.
A domineering demonic energy forcefully surged into her limbs and bones. She clearly felt that with the arrival of the demonic energy, all the shackles in her body were removed, and in their place, an unbreakable connection was forcibly established.
Ji Fuguang looked at the black choker that stood out starkly against her fair skin, and the sharp pain in his heart was strangely replaced by a greater sense of satisfaction.
Yes, that's it.
He now has her completely under his control.
"From this day forward, you will live and travel with me, inseparable. Remember, Sheng Zhiyi, this is your own doing."
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