Tang Jinxian held the talisman in hand, carefully approaching the strand of yingluo.
The yingluo seemed to sense her arrival, rippling with a faint violet glow as lotus-shaped, eerie patterns surfaced across it.
One more glance and it felt as though her mind would be stolen away.
Not daring to stare too long, Tang Jinxian swiftly pressed the Spirit-Suppressing Talisman against it.
The yingluo immediately fell still.
"Did it work?"
Tang Jinxian breathed a sigh of relief and drew out a cloth pouch embroidered with runic script from her waist, preparing to seal the thing away.
But the instant her fingers touched the yingluo, there came a sharp *crack*—the Heart-Purifying Jade at her waist suddenly split apart, then shattered into fragments.
Almost simultaneously, the talisman pressed against the spirit artifact burst into flying ash.
The woman's whole body jolted violently.
"Not good!"
Realizing something was terribly wrong, Tang Jinxian tried to retreat.
Yet the violet radiance emanating from the yingluo engulfed her in an instant.
The next moment, the strand of yingluo appeared around her fair, slender neck, locking tightly around it.
Tang Jinxian's face went deathly pale as she frantically grabbed at it.
She knew how horrifying the consequences would be if this spirit artifact took control of her.
But the yingluo had already sunk deep into her flesh, spreading thin pink threads outward, crawling down toward her lower abdomen as if to trace out some kind of pattern.
Tang Jinxian's eyes flickered between haze and clarity.
Her red lips gasped without pause.
As her strength was drained away, she sank to her knees on the ground, fine beads of sweat dripping one by one down her fragrant cheeks.
Regret and despair raged within the woman's heart.
She wanted to take a blade and end herself, yet she couldn't muster even a shred of strength.
If only she had listened to that fool.
*Crack—*
At that moment, in the shadows of the cavern wall not far away, a concealed stone door suddenly swung open.
Dust swirled.
Accompanied by the sound of clinking iron chains.
Out walked a man wrapped entirely in black robes, his face hidden behind a mask.
In his hand he held an iron chain.
At the other end of the chain was the corpse of a woman.
The corpse was completely naked, covered in wounds, blood still dripping from the gashes...
Clearly, she had died only recently.
"Chief Tang, I knew you weren't dead. So... I've come especially to receive you."
The newcomer's voice was somewhat muffled and hoarse.
As if he had deliberately altered it.
"Coincidentally, one of my disobedient slave bitches just died. From now on, you'll take her place."
The black-robed man stared at Tang Jinxian, the gaze behind his mask burning with fervor.
He gave his arm a tug.
The chain retracted, coiling around his forearm.
At the same time, a head went flying, rolling to a stop before Tang Jinxian.
On the woman's severed head, both eyes were wide open.
Filled with terror and unwillingness.
Tang Jinxian fought to keep herself lucid. "The women you kidnapped—are they hidden here?"
"That's right."
The black-robed man was in no hurry to act, apparently waiting for the woman to be fully tamed by the artifact.
After all, her status was special—she might be carrying hidden weapons or the like.
Better to be careful.
"Truthfully, I never wanted to trouble you. But you bitch didn't know what was good for you and insisted on hounding me. In that case, I'll just have to become your master and teach you a lesson."
He glanced at Jiang Mu, immobilized in the pile of rubble nearby, a playful smile on his lips.
"As it happens, someone's still alive. Let him watch too—watch how the illustrious Chief of the Patrol Bureau crawls before me like a dog, begging on her knees."
"Uh, actually I'd rather not watch that sort of thing. I'm a gentleman."
Jiang Mu made his principles known.
The black-robed man ignored him.
Dead men either way. Letting him live a little longer was merely to heighten this woman Tang Jinxian's sense of shame.
Tang Jinxian gazed at the woman's head before her, rage burning in her heart, and snarled, "Using a spirit artifact to torment these innocent women—you're nothing but a beast!"
"A beast?"
"Heh, that's right. I am a beast."
The black-robed man clasped his hands behind his back and said coldly, "In truth, all of you... are beasts as well.
The world calls mankind the wisest of all creation. The way I see it, all living things are merely livestock wearing human clothes.
When starving, they fight for food; when full, they indulge in lust; when afraid, they grovel; when angry, they bare their fangs. How are they different from pigs and dogs in a pen? However much poetry, rites, and music dress it up, strip away the skin and pull out the bones, and what remains is nothing but a heap of rotting flesh wrapped in greed, rage, and delusion."
His eyes gleamed darkly as he sized up Tang Jinxian's exquisite figure, sneering, "Besides, you women—your beauty and skin are vessels granted by heaven. They exist to please the strong, men like me."
"Twisted logic!"
Tang Jinxian, feeling her consciousness grow more and more blurred, bit down hard on the tip of her tongue and stared coldly at the black-robed man. "Who exactly are you? You're one of the Patrol Bureau, aren't you?"
The man couldn't be bothered to answer her.
He simply watched with mocking eyes as Tang Jinxian was tamed by the artifact, bit by bit.
He knew that this proud woman of noble station would soon be just like all the other bitches—kneeling and crawling before him, letting him defile and play with her as he pleased.
He loved this feeling of total control far too much.
It felt like being a god.
Just then, the black-robed man's sharp eyes caught something—Tang Jinxian's left hand, braced against the ground, seemed to be making some small movement.
The next moment, a thin grass rope suddenly shot out from the woman's waist, binding the man tightly.
"A spirit artifact?"
He was startled at first, then sneered. "Fair enough—someone of her rank as a Chief would hardly be without one. But spirit artifacts have time limits. Once the limit passes, they release on their own.
You can't kill me right now. Once that artifact has fully tamed you, you'll still come crawling over obediently to be my dog."
The man was in no rush. He simply waited at his leisure.
Tang Jinxian knew he wasn't wrong.
But she had no other options now. She could only stall for as long as possible, waiting for the rescue team outside to arrive as quickly as they could.
But the yingluo tamed her far too quickly.
As time passed, Tang Jinxian's eyes grew more and more hazy and unfocused, until at last, with her consciousness severed, they turned utterly hollow, as if her soul had been sucked out.
And that hollowness was then filled with seductive charm.
She looked left and right, her dewy gaze falling upon Jiang Mu in the pile of earth and stone.
Then she slowly lowered herself to her hands and knees.
"Kikikiki..."
At this sight, the man couldn't help letting out the signature laugh of the Soul Palace.
"I told you—in the end, you'd still obediently become my dog."
"My new darling... come here, come to Master... heheh... hm?"
The man's triumphant voice cut off abruptly.
His eyes behind the mask's holes widened in shock, staring dumbly at the scene before him.
Instead of waiting like an obedient little puppy for his favor, the bewitching woman was crawling toward Jiang Mu.
"Wrong!"
"You slave bitch, you've got it wrong! Come over here!"
The black-robed man roared and struggled, but though the rope's binding had begun to loosen, he still couldn't move for the moment.
Tang Jinxian paid him no heed whatsoever. On all fours, she crawled to Jiang Mu's side.
The woman tilted up her breathtakingly beautiful face, faint blush blooming across her jade-white oval cheeks, fine beads of sweat glistening on her petite, delicate nose.
She extended her soft, warm tongue and licked Jiang Mu's cheek, utterly solicitous.
"Woof, woof~~"
"I told you not to touch it, but you wouldn't listen."
Feeling the wet, soft sensation on his cheek, Jiang Mu habitually patted her head and let out a soft sigh. "I just hope that when you come back to your senses, you don't do anything rash."
He examined the yingluo sunk into her snowy neck and frowned slightly.
The beads had embedded completely into her flesh.
Pulling it off directly was clearly impossible.
He would have to use a magic seal.
"What is going on?"
The black-robed man's voice grew shriller with fury and confusion, and then he bellowed at Tang Jinxian, "You slave bitch! Come here! Come to me!"
But Tang Jinxian didn't spare him so much as a glance, still nuzzling affectionately against Jiang Mu's neck.
The man was dumbfounded.
As the artifact's master, this was the first time he had ever encountered such a thing.
Every woman who had ever worn the artifact had invariably become a slave obedient to his every word.
Why had it failed on her alone?
"Who are you!?"
The man realized the problem might lie with Jiang Mu, and shot him a sinister glare.
"Me?"
Jiang Mu shrugged. "I'm her master, obviously. Can't you tell?"
"Bullshit!"
The black-robed man was nearly driven mad.
As the spirit rope on his body lost its effect, he violently tore himself free.
Drawing his blade, he roared, "I am the master of that artifact—she can only obey my commands! What the hell did you do, boy!?"
"The master of the artifact?"
A mocking curve lifted at the corner of Jiang Mu's mouth.
He stroked the yingluo at the woman's neck as fragments of memory surged through his mind.
"In the Xuanming world, the Seven Treasures Joyful Sect is one of the five great evil sects of the Northern Continent. This 'Taming Ring' is one of their supreme treasures, used specifically to train cauldrons.
And to become its master, your cultivation must be at least at the fifth realm. What's your level? And you think you're fit to be its master?"
The black-robed man stared blankly.
What the hell was this brat babbling about?
"Watch closely. This is how the Taming Ring is used!"
Jiang Mu had finally recalled some memory of the seal. In a flash, his fingers formed a peculiar hand gesture and pressed it against the artifact, shouting in a low voice, "Go—give him a taste of what it's like to be a dog too!"
The black-robed man instinctively stumbled back two steps.
Fully on guard.
One second, two seconds...
The Taming Ring remained motionless.
"Uh... damn. I don't have any spiritual power right now, so I can't control it."
Jiang Mu was a bit embarrassed.
Most magical treasures in the Xuanming world required spiritual power to activate.
Right now, he was just an ordinary man.
Tang Jinxian blinked her enchanting eyes and licked Jiang Mu's cheek, as if to comfort him.
"Damn it all—he really is just an idiot!"
Feeling mocked, the black-robed man flew into a rage.
Knowing Jiang Mu couldn't move, he strode toward him, blade in hand. "Boy, no matter what tricks you've got, once I gut you, this slave bitch is mine all the same!"
"Woof!"
As if sensing the threat, Tang Jinxian shielded her master, baring her teeth at the masked man.
This only drove the man mad with jealousy.
He howled and lunged forward, blade swinging.
No order needed from Jiang Mu—the woman met the attack on pure instinct.
Tang Jinxian's cultivation was already considerable. Even with her mind disturbed, running on nothing but bestial instinct, her form remained fast as a phantom.
Seeing her charge, the black-robed man cursed under his breath and tried to sidestep her.
But Tang Jinxian clung to him relentlessly.
The woman had intended to bite with her teeth, but perhaps thinking it unclean—that her master would be disgusted—she instead curled the fingers of her right hand like claws and raked them toward the man's chest.
Startled, the black-robed man hastily stepped back to block.
Tang Jinxian's claw missed, and she dropped low with the momentum, her left hand sweeping toward his lower body, the curves of her full hips and thighs tensing with the exertion like ripened peaches.
The black-robed man staggered out of the way, his footwork turning ragged.
Before he could recover his stance, Tang Jinxian had already pounced again, riding the force of her spinning body. The man howled with fury, "You bitch, I'm your damn master!"
Tang Jinxian leapt and dodged, scratching and clawing at the man from time to time. Her fighting style was completely formless, yet frighteningly fast.
*Shrrk—*
The man's left sleeve was torn open by the woman's sharp claws.
From shoulder to elbow, the entire sleeve was ripped away, reduced to tattered shreds.
Fortunately, he wore a soft armor of golden wire underneath, or else a whole piece of his flesh would have been torn away by the woman.
"This woman's got some skill."
Watching the two combatants, and confirming Tang Jinxian could handle herself, Jiang Mu paid it no more attention and began thinking of how to break the Taming Ring's seal.
He remembered there was another way to undo the taming mark.
Some kind of incantation, if he recalled correctly.
Now, how did it go again?
Jiang Mu patted his head, racking his memory.
"Chief Tang!"
Just then, a shout suddenly came from a crevice in the rock above the cavern.