chapter 5

This was my brilliant solution.

I would give him some ordinary restorative soup, pretend I was demanding compensation for saving him, and use the excuse of taking liberties to consume the ghostly energy in his body.

I would achieve my goal without exposing myself as a succubus.

Perfect.

And what if Jiang Tingxue resisted my aggressive affection?

Ha! He was a powerless mortal now. Surely he could not beat me senseless again!

Jiang Tingxue shifted beneath me.

Alarms exploded in my head. Pure instinct made me seize his wrists and pin them above his head.

He groaned and said my name through gritted teeth.

“Xie Yuncheng. This isn’t funny.”

I ignored him. With great seriousness, I tore two strips from the bed curtains and bound his hands securely.

At the sound of silk ripping, Jiang Tingxue went rigid.

He finally understood that I meant it.

The once-noble immortal lord had lost all his cultivation and retained nothing but his beauty. A seemingly friendly demon had coaxed him into bed with a few honeyed words.

Now his hands were bound and his world was dark. He could only lie helplessly beneath the stranger astride him, at the mercy of a villain whose face he could not see.

“Why?” he asked hoarsely.

Jiang Tingxue had never once asked “why” when his sect framed him, when the world spat on him, or even when he was dragged into a brothel.

But now, though he could see nothing, he stared straight at me through layer upon layer of white gauze.

“Xie Yuncheng, why? Were all the things you said to me before lies?”

“No.” I tilted my head, my tone innocently cruel. “I meant every word. I do believe you, and I want to heal you.”

“But helping you and collecting payment aren’t mutually exclusive. You’re this beautiful – am I not allowed to want your body?”

Jiang Tingxue had probably never encountered such shameless reasoning. For a moment, he was too speechless even to struggle.

I reached behind his head and untied the hard knot someone had fastened there.

The white gauze slid away, finally revealing the phoenix-shaped eyes it had concealed.

Ghostly energy crowded within them, dimming eyes that should have been brilliant and sharp.

Jiang Tingxue opened that sightless gaze and instinctively turned it toward me. His face remained blank, as though he felt nothing about what I was doing, but the red at the corners of his eyes betrayed him.

He looked ready to cry.

“Poor thing.” I cupped his face. “Is being desired by a demon really so unbearable?”

If he reacted this badly to a demon, what would he do if he discovered I was also a succubus, the kind of demon he hated most? Try to kill himself on the spot?

Good thing I had kept quiet. I was so clever. Hee hee.

“What do you mean, desi – mmph…”

The rest of Jiang Tingxue’s question vanished in shock.

I pressed lightly on his eyelid, bent my head, and carefully dragged my tongue across it.