Chapter 262: He Ange’s Thousand-Layered Schemes

“Forget it. I’ll do it myself.”

With that, He Ange used one hand to pin Yan Ruyu’s wrists. At the same time, he used his other hand to ruthlessly reach towards her lower abdomen.

“Huh?”

“Wha… What?!”

Before Yan Ruyu could react, He Ange lifted her top and placed his hand directly on her cherry-pink underwear, covering her lower abdomen.

Her white jade clothes were lifted, blocking her view. At this moment, Yan Ruyu’s mind was blank.

She couldn’t believe that her clothes had been lifted by a man, exposing her pink underwear beneath. Even more absurdly, when He Ange’s hand pressed against her underwear and the Phoenix Mark on her lower abdomen, she felt comfortable!

This was too strange!

“It might hurt a bit, Saintess. Please bear with it and try not to make any strange sounds.”

He Ange’s expression was cold and focused, as if performing surgery.

As soon as he spoke, abyssal demonic energy burst from his palm. But unlike with An Luo Yi and Xia Zhiyue, this time He Ange wasn’t infusing energy into the Phoenix Mark on Yan Ruyu’s abdomen but was instead extracting energy from it.

“Mmm… Ah…”

Yan Ruyu bit her lip, enduring the pain of the energy being forcibly extracted. Her previously blushing face turned pale, weak, and pained.

For a moment, her heart stopped, and her body resisted, feeling an intense reluctance deep inside.

As the Phoenix Mark on her abdomen was gradually extracted, Yan Ruyu felt a sense of loss, as if something essential was being taken away. She had never realized how important the Phoenix Mark was to her until now…

She grew increasingly uneasy. Without the Phoenix Mark, not only did her body weaken, but her heart also lost a strange sense of security.

She couldn’t bear it and tried to speak, to stop He Ange.

But it was too late. He Ange acted swiftly. With one firm motion, his long fingers pulled out the faintly glowing golden Phoenix Mark from her abdomen.

“Mmm—!”

Yan Ruyu groaned and finally made it through. She staggered and knelt on top of He Ange, panting heavily, her beautiful face pale and weak.

At this moment, Yan Ruyu felt as if she was back in the life-and-death struggle against Ye Qingchuan, her legs weak, body exhausted, struggling to breathe…

Only after losing it did she realize its value.

Yan Ruyu now understood that the Phoenix Mark was truly used by He Yuan to heal her.

Originally, she was full of energy, but now that the Phoenix Mark was removed, her body immediately returned to its weakened state after the battle.

“Alright, Saintess, I’ve taken back the Phoenix Mark. Your body is clean now.”

He Ange stood up, his tone cold and distant.

He didn’t care about the weak, panting White Dragon girl leaning on him. He stood up alone and walked towards the exit of the Cherry Sea Secret Realm—

“Saintess, the Ghost Controlling Sect is attacking at the Fox Clan border. I have much to attend to. Farewell.”

He snapped his fingers and disappeared from Yan Ruyu’s sight.

Under the cherry tree, the White Dragon Saintess leaned against the tree alone, her expression dazed and disoriented.

After He Ange left, her world seemed to shatter like a dream. Gone were the soft breezes and falling cherry blossoms.

All that remained was the cold, harsh reality and the faint scent of blood in the air.

The dream was over.

But the playful, teasing scoundrel was gone.

Yan Ruyu hugged her abdomen alone, no longer feeling the warmth from before.

Born in the depths of the Dragon Palace, as a pure-blooded White Dragon, Yan Ruyu had always been cold by nature, with a low body temperature, and couldn’t feel warmth from others.

But the Phoenix Mark had warmed her abdomen.

The unique experience of being with the Spirit Phoenix Sect’s Saint Son felt like a dream…

“He’s gone, but where will he go?”

Yan Ruyu didn’t understand.

But she vaguely remembered that He Yuan had left in a hurry, mentioning the border conflict between the Fox Clan and the demonic sects.

Now that Ye Qingchuan was dead, Yan Ruyu had achieved her main goal in coming to the Fox Clan territory.

Should she take advantage of He Yuan’s absence and escape the Fox Clan territory to return to the Dragon Palace to heal?

Or should she stay in the Fox Clan, follow the mysterious man’s footsteps, and further uncover his true identity?

Gulp…

Faced with the choice between going home or pursuing He Yuan, Yan Ruyu hesitated.

She swallowed nervously, thinking about the true identity of the sacred-robed young man, whether He Yuan was good or evil, and what plans he had in the Fox Clan…

Her curiosity was piqued.

She didn’t want the dream in the Cherry Sea Secret Realm to end so abruptly.

Even if there were many doubts about Ye Qingchuan, the fact remained that He Yuan had saved her from Ye Qingchuan.

Yan Ruyu had been so focused on questioning He Yuan that she hadn’t even had the chance to repay his kindness!

“If he wanted to harm me, he would have done so already.”

“Since he’s not interested in me, it should be safe to stay by his side…”

“I feel…”

—Unwilling to give up.

Yan Ruyu bit her lip and finally followed.

……

While the little dragon girl was feeling grateful, He Ange was already reaping huge benefits.

The Phoenix Mark?

It was just a decoy.

He Ange’s real plan was the soul poison. By using the obvious Phoenix Mark to draw Yan Ruyu’s suspicion, the soul poison hidden deep within her would go unnoticed.

This way, as long as He Ange removed the Phoenix Mark, Yan Ruyu would naturally drop her suspicions and believe her body was clean.

Little did she know…

The Phoenix Mark was only the first layer; the soul poison was the second!

Moreover, when extracting the Phoenix Mark from Yan Ruyu’s body, He Ange also stole a portion of her cultivation.

That’s why, when the Phoenix Mark was removed, Yan Ruyu felt such intense weakness and pain—He Ange had also drawn out the precious spiritual energy from her lower abdomen’s spiritual pool.

“Yan Ruyu is indeed a Heavenly God Realm dragon girl, comparable to Yuan Yi in strength. Just one extraction gave me such a huge amount of cultivation…”

“With this cultivation, I now have the conditions to break through to the Void Refining Realm.”

“But protagonists often save their breakthroughs for the last moment, to show off and humiliate the villains…”

“Although I am a villain, I can deliberately suppress my cultivation and use it as a trump card.”