Chapter 452: Almost Harmed Him
"Hm? What is it?"
Qiao Xixi lifted her hazy, watery eyes.
Feiyan didn’t want to get distracted at this final moment, but more than his own ultimate pleasure, he was concerned about the change in Qiao Xixi’s body. It could potentially be harmful to her.
"Xixi, a strange totem appeared on your lower back. Just now... when you were close, it became much clearer."
Qiao Xixi furrowed her brow slightly. She had indeed felt a scorching heat on her lower back just moments ago, which had also left her confused.
"What does it look like? Is it still there?"
"Yes, but the color faded after we stopped."
Qiao Xixi was even more surprised. She shifted forward, suppressing her body’s desire, and asked Feiyan to fetch a piece of parchment and a safflower stalk. The safflower stalk was like a red pen, capable of drawing on the parchment.
Feiyan took a deep breath and reluctantly pulled away to get the items. But strangely, by the time he returned, the pattern on her lower back had completely faded.
"Why is it gone?"
"Did it disappear completely?"
Qiao Xixi glanced back over her shoulder, but she could only see the skin on the side of her waist. It was smooth, with nothing on it.
Feiyan set the items aside, pressed his body forward, and hugged her tightly from behind.
"Could it be that it only appears when you’re at the peak of your passion?"
Qiao Xixi didn’t know, but this business of getting so close to the finish line only to stop was quite agonizing.
Feiyan held her and kissed the top of her head. "Let’s continue."
"Mmm..."
As Qiao Xixi closed her eyes and felt Feiyan’s powerful presence, the temperature on her waist indeed began to rise rapidly.
Feiyan lowered his gaze. The pattern had reappeared. He didn’t stop this time, instead picking up the safflower stalk and quickly, meticulously tracing the pattern.
Just as the final stroke of the safflower stalk was drawn, his body tensed.
The storm subsided. Feiyan felt a surge of energy drain from his body. Before he fell into a deep sleep, he quickly rolled to the side so he wouldn’t crush her.
Qiao Xixi gasped for breath, only calming down after a good while. She felt that this time had been particularly intense. Even though she had just absorbed energy from Feiyan, after a brief respite, her body grew hot and restless again.
She took a deep breath, temporarily suppressing the heat. After pulling a beast-hide blanket over Feiyan, she picked up the parchment to examine it.
’What is this...’
The drawing on the parchment looked like some kind of map, its lines appearing rather complex.
’But why would something like this appear on my body?’ she wondered.
A bold guess formed in Qiao Xixi’s mind, but she couldn’t be sure if it was true. She needed to verify it further.
With this in mind, she sat up, pulled a beast-hide blanket around herself to cover her body, and then opened the door a crack.
The moment the door opened, she was met by two pairs of eyes, burning like a hungry wolf’s.
Before she could speak, Sangze pushed his way inside and scooped her up with one long arm.
He eagerly planted a kiss on her forehead, then shot a disdainful glance at the unconscious Feiyan.
"Couldn’t get enough? What a useless fox."
Qiao Xixi wrapped her arms around his neck, kissed his lips, and said in a slightly hoarse voice, "In a bit, from behind... pay attention to my lower back..."
In the past, it had always been pitch black when she was with them, so she’d never noticed. But thinking back, she seemed to recall feeling the heat on her lower back even then. It probably just vanished after they finished, so she never paid it any mind.
This time, the image Sangze drew was a little more complete than the last one, but she still wasn’t sure if it was the final pattern.
It wasn’t until she went back to Xijing’s stone house with him and he drew the final dot on the pattern that she suspected this was likely the complete map.
’But one thing is still missing,’ she thought. ’I’ll wait for Jin Ling and Sunxiao to return...’
Qiao Xixi stared at the pattern on the parchment, wanting to think about it more deeply, but a wave of drowsiness washed over her, and soon her eyes wouldn’t stay open.
After battling three fierce beasts, no matter how much energy she could absorb, she was reaching her limit. She snuggled closer into Xijing’s embrace. Before falling into a deep sleep, she was incredibly grateful that Feiyan and the others had arrived. Otherwise, she would have truly harmed Yun Ji.
Just as Feiyan and the others left with Qiao Xixi, Qiao Yi and Yun Ji descended into the secret passage.
When he first entered, Qiao Yi didn’t notice anything unusual. But then he discovered some treated powder in a corner of the stone cave. In that instant, his blue eyes turned dark to the extreme.
The commotion downstairs startled the Beast Queen, who was upstairs entangled with her beastman mate.
When she arrived, her face was still flushed an unnatural red. Upon seeing Qiao Yi and his group, her expression turned completely grim.
"Qiao Yi, who gave you permission to barge into my palace!"
The Beast Queen was furious. She turned and glared at her beast soldiers. "What are you doing? How could you let these people force their way in?"
The beast soldiers were terrified. It wasn’t that they hadn’t tried to stop them; they simply couldn’t!
Enraged, Qiao Yi strode forward and seized the Beast Queen by the throat.
"Speak! Why did you put powder that sends females into heat in that damn place!"
With her throat suddenly constricted, the Beast Queen’s eyes widened in terror.
Seeing this, Sunxuan moved to intervene, but the moment he did, a deadpan Sunxiao blocked his path.
"Sunxiao, that’s the Beast Queen! What do you think you’re doing!"
A bone-chilling coldness glinted in Sunxiao’s serpentine eyes. "Anyone who dares to harm Xixi, no matter who they are, will die."
"The Queen! Save the Queen!"
The beast soldiers tried to rush forward, but with a lift of his hand, Qiao Yi hoisted the Beast Queen into the air.
"If you can’t give me a satisfactory answer today, I will kill you!"
The Beast Queen’s pupils constricted. She didn’t doubt Qiao Yi’s words in the slightest. He was truly capable of it!
The Beast Queen looked to Yun Ji for help, only to see a frenzied rage in his eyes—an expression she had never seen on his face before.
"No, it wasn’t... me!"
’Making Qiao Xixi go into heat wouldn’t benefit me at all,’ she thought. ’There was no reason for me to waste my energy doing such a thing!’
Jin Ling’s golden eyes were grim. He too was furious, but he calmed down slightly after seeing the Beast Queen’s reaction.
"Who else entered this room today?"
The beast soldiers exchanged glances. Finally, one of the guards at the door spoke up. "It... it was the beastman who serves the Witch Doctor. He went inside. He said the Witch Doctor sent him to get something, but when he came out, we didn’t see him carrying anything."
The Beast Queen’s pupils trembled violently. She frantically clawed at Qiao Yi’s hand. "It wasn’t... me...!"
"Han Lie!" Qiao Yi abruptly slammed the Beast Queen onto the ground.
"Oof, COUGH, COUGH, COUGH!"
The pain nearly brought tears to the Beast Queen’s eyes. The beast soldiers immediately rushed forward to help her up.
"Qiao Yi, you dare to harm me! I’ll make you all pay! Seize every last one of them!"
"Stop!"
Yun Ji’s cool voice cut through the Beast Queen’s fury.
"Priest, you’re stopping me? Are you in league with them?"
Yun Ji suppressed the rage on his face. His voice was chillingly low, and his gaze toward the Beast Queen felt tangible.
"A moment ago, it was me and Shuishui in the secret passage."
The Beast Queen froze. "What?"