Focused on staying cool-headed, Xia Ge continued: “So you went back to the second chamber, waited for me to get there, lied to me, and got me to come here.”

Ah Tang contemplated the calm-faced girl in front of her.

Soft black hair spread over her shoulders, framing a delicately pretty face, where the eyes that had been full of blazing flames were now like still deep waters, and the torn clothing revealed the paralyzed body’s pale skin.  Altogether, the petite girl had a slender fragility, while also somehow possessing an aura of unbreakable tenacity.

The beauty of someone who’d lost their way but refused to yield.

Ah Tang laughed lowly.

Deciding to ignore Ah Tang’s amusement, Xia Ge said: “What I don’t understand is……how did you know the lost deer would come and find me?”

“I didn’t know.”  Ah Tang tenderly pulled the remnants of the black clothing back over Xia Ge’s shoulders with a smile, “Sometimes, when I’m in a foul mood, I like to come to your back mountain for a stroll.  How unexpected it was to see some sneaky little thief wandering around too.”

System: [……]

Xia Ge: “……”

Why the hell would you come to Lingxi’s back mountain for a ‘stroll’ when in a bad mood?!  Who’s going to buy that crock of shit, liar?!

Ah Tang: “The lost deer had been watching you from the shadows for a long time, you know.  Watching you run around, trying to find something to pilfer.  Wherever you went, it followed.  However, it seemed scared of the back mountain’s assorted guardians.  It wasn’t willing to venture out into the open when they were passing by, so I thought……”

“Watching how pathetic it was, I thought I should help it get a closer look at you,” Ah Tang assumed an innocent expression, “So I used those useless guardian puppets to attack you—When it saw that, it kept urging you to run away, but still didn’t dare to come out of hiding.  You’re quite dim-witted, do you know this?  Hearing all those noises, but not absconding when you should’ve——ah well, I remember it.”

The red-clad beauty’s voice was lingering and seductive, her jade-like hand still softly holding Xia Ge’s chin, her eyes filled with laughter: “Now you’re willing to run away……but you no longer can.”

“I must say, the lost deer is actually very powerful.”  Ah Tang dropped her hand away from Xia Ge’s face, “When it did finally come out of the shadows, I immediately lost control over those demon guardian puppets.”

Ah Tang’s eyes narrowed: “Very beautiful and very powerful.”

Listening to Ah Tang, Xia Ge had a sudden realization.

——That was what the ‘oo, oo, oo’ Xia Ge had kept hearing had meant.  The lost deer had been warning Xia Ge to run away……

Xia Ge had mistakenly believed that it’d been the lost deer controlling the demon guardian puppets.

And now, from the bottom of her heart, she was feeling like an idiot.

Ah Tang finished tying Xia Ge’s belt: “Anymore questions?  Ask and I’ll answer.”

Perhaps it was wishful thinking, yet Xia Ge felt like her body’s paralysis had slightly lifted.

She could feel the coldness of the teleportation runestone in her palm.  She didn’t dare let it show on her face, though that didn’t mean her heart didn’t beat a little faster.

[Black Vine: Thorned, With A Slow-Working Toxin.  Efficacy:  The Black Vine Toxin Can Paralyze A Person For 3 Hours.  After 4 Hours, The Person Will Gradually Lose Consciousness.]

According to the system……her paralysis should be getting worse, not better……then why did she feel like maybe she could move?

And she was starting to feel faint pain from the wound in her abdomen.

“Why did you mention Mo Quiran?”  Not wanting Ah Tang to notice anything amiss, Xia Ge hoped to distract her: “How do you know her?”

“Ah?”  Xia Ge was reasonably sure Ah Tang would give an explanation, but the beauty simply shrugged instead, “I’m afraid I can’t tell you that.”

Xia Ge: “……”  Can’t tell at all?

Well, Xia Ge guessed that meant that the demon sect’s undercover agent was still in place.

That left Xia Ge still unable to use her body, unable to crush the teleportation runestone, and a person in front of her that she had no conceivable way of winning against.

But instead of going the long way around……maybe it would be better to——

“You say you’re a person who repays your debts,” Xia Ge lifted her eyes, “Then I’ll tell you that I need to get out of here.”

“Is that so?”  Ah Tang’s smile was spurious, “I think it’d be best if you don’t try moving right now.”

“I have something very important to do,” Xia Ge said.

Ah Tang: “Perhaps you want to inform someone about me?”

Xia Ge got her second sudden realization.

Ah Tang: “See, you understand.  How could I let you go just like that?”

Xia Ge: “……”  It did make sense, anyone would find it hard to believe that Xia Ge wouldn’t promptly report to her master.

Taking a deep breath, Xia Ge pasted a smile on her face: “I won’t tell anyone about you or any of this.  I don’t even know your true name.  Besides, do I seem like a revengeful person to you?”

It was true that Xia Ge did not look like a person who’d bite the hand that fed her.  She did, however, look like someone who’d carry out a vendetta.

Glancing at where she’d stabbed the girl, Ah Tang considered.

An insincere smile was stretched across the girl’s face, so Ah Tang sighed and grabbed her chin again, speaking bluntly: “Don’t smile like that, it’s very ugly.”

Xia Ge: “……”

Restrain yourself, be calm and tranquil like still waters, take a mental step back, attain clarity, endure, endure, endure, endure……

System: [……It Appears You Have Encountered A Predator.]

Xia Ge: “……” Shut up.

The Dao is one foot high, while the devil is ten feet high.

道高一尺，魔高一丈（dào gāo yìchǐ，mó gāo yízhàng）

The Dao is one foot high, while the devil is ten feet high.

what is not good is big enough to overwhelm what is good. If you achieve a certain level of results, you will have great difficulty.

The original intention was for religious scholars to warn practitioners to be aware of outside temptations. Later metaphors often face new and greater challenges after achieving certain outcomes.