"A drop of water shall be returned with a burst of spring. To repay the favor, from now onwards, you'll serve me with your life, and if necessary—you'll sacrifice it for me."
These words echoed in the Pure Yang Lord's mind like a decree from the heavens, stirring a great turmoil within him. Her words felt as if she was declaring his fate.
For the past him, who had always walked the path of extreme righteousness, this sentence would've been more effective in binding him than any slave seal.
But, this was no longer the old Pure Yang Lord, he had been reborn as Alister Maboric Grimshaw with a fierce heart and a tyrannical will. A wave of great anger aroused within him, dividing his psyche into a struggle of righteousness versus his tyrannical will and unyielding heart.
His eyes flashed with intensity as he looked at her. "Do you think I'm some naive child who can be swayed with flowery words to sacrifice his life's freedom?"
"I would gladly sacrifice my life, if necessary, to repay this favor," he spoke with great resolve. "But I'd rather die a thousand deaths than be enslaved by anyone."
Despite the large gap in cultivation levels between them, Princess Sara was still shaken by the tyrannical will emanating from him. It was as though the light of his spirit overwhelmed her pride.
"You ungrateful bastard!" she yelled to express her frustration and hide the unease she felt against his tyrannical will.
She was a spoiled and pampered princess who was experiencing the feeling of rejection for the first time in her life.
Facing her unruly behavior, he recalled all the interactions he had with the princess and felt something amiss beneath the naivety. It seemed as if she was too familiar with Alister's life but there was no memory of her in Alister's life.
'What does this pathetic body have that she wants it enslaved to her? DON'T tell me she.. she wants a gigolo? Screw that… I don't want to lose my purity!'
'Wait a minute… Her arrival at the perfect time to rescue might not have been a coincidence after all.' Suspicion about her grew in his heart.
'System, how long has she been following me?'
[System detected her presence around the hostage since the activation. But the system is unaware of her movements before that.]
His expression darkened as he felt it all made sense now.
He silently thought for a few moments and spoke emphasizing each word, looking straight into Sara's eyes, "Were you responsible for all the tragedy in my life?"
Caught off-guard by his sudden accusation, her expression darkened for a short moment before returning to normal. "Why're you blaming me for your miserable life? Did the poison also affect your brain now?"
He noticed the fleeting change in her expression with his sharp eyes and bombarded her with a barrage of questions with great confidence.
"I don't recall ever meeting you in my life so how did you know my life was miserable? Why are you so sure that I didn't accidentally fall into the river but instead was trying to commit suicide? How can you coincidently arrive in time to save me in this remote place?"
His voice hardened as he declared, "You were the one responsible for pushing me towards suicide so that you could save me at the last minute hoping I'd serve you for life for your saving grace."
Realizing her intentions were exposed, her face twisted into a malicious grin looking at him with a venomous glint as if she had nine generations of bad blood between them.
"So what if you've figured it out? I never expected it to succeed in the first place." She spoke releasing her energy, locking him in place.
He felt an eerie aura pressing down on him and he was unable to even move a muscle.
Her facial expression turned fierce. "No one's going to save you now. I'm going to put a slave seal on you whether you like it or not."
A dark, intricate seal appeared on her left hand pulsating with black light as her hand reached towards him. The fact that this seal was mostly similar to the seal given by the system in his mind albeit of a different nature alarmed him further.
Pure Yang Lord gritted his teeth unable to struggle. His heart pounded as he gathered the last remnants of his Martial Emperor-level soul power, preparing for the worst.
But, before he could act—
the overwhelming pressure around him suddenly vanished.
The eerie aura around Sara dissipated and she instantly became like a mortal without cultivation.
"What's… happening to me?!" she screamed, frightened by the sudden change.
A sudden bout of weakness hit her and she couldn't hold her body nearly collapsing to the ground.
Pure Yang Lord instinctively caught her falling body. He realized the side-effect of her using Pure Yin body to the limits, had flared up just like how the evil system predicted.
If he wants, he can put the slave seal on her in her weakened state. But he was still conflicted over this despite her openly showing malicious intent towards him.
Being grabbed by another man while unable to struggle, she threatened him with a weak tone. "How dare you touch me? Release me this instant!"
As if acknowledging her words, he reflexively threw her, causing her body to fall to the ground with a thud.
"Bastard!" she cursed him, her pride shattering with the indignity of being dropped like a discarded object.
But Pure Yang Lord didn't react out of fear or her threats. He threw her because of an instinctive reaction when he was attacked by her leaked Yin energy.
'This again…'
He looked at his hand which was still trembling with the shock, that felt similar to when she flicked him before but even more intense now.
Her body started convulsing and severe pain assaulted her senses. Initially, a few dark spots appeared on her skin which slowly increased and spread throughout her body.
She started screaming in great agony. The sequela of releasing her Pure Yin body wasn't as simple as he thought.
Despite feeling conflicted with these whole ordeals after just waking up, Pure Yang Lord's heart softened as he watched her writhing in pain in front of him.
He took a few more deep breaths, still confused at the situation going around him, hoping to wake up from this strange bream to no avail. She might have possibly orchestrated the whole suicide situation causing the death of Alister but he was not the real Alister, he was Pure Yang Lord. It could even be said that he should feel grateful for her because if she didn't force the poor guy to die, he wouldn't be able to take over this body.
And the real reason he fell into the river might be an accident unrelated to her so he still felt indebted to her for her 'saving grace'.
Instead of running away when he had the chance, he decided to stay behind and help her.
'Is there any way I can ease her pain?' he implored, turning to the system for guidance though he still was conflicted on accepting the system's existence.
[The only way you can save her life and ease her pain is by applying the slave seal on her.]
It finally dawned on him that this was the real purpose of the mission—she would die from the side effects if he didn't help her.
'Did you influence her to release her powers prematurely for the sake of this mission?' he asked, with trepidation in his heart.
But the system remained silent, unresponsive, leaving him to speculate on his own.
He felt greatly conflicted as he realized following along with the system meant going against his ideals of justice—ideas he had once lived and died by to protect.
At last, his will to protect her—no matter how flawed—prevailed over his will to maintain his strict ideologies.
He moved towards her hoping to 'save' her.
But before he could reach her, she glared at him with venomous hatred. "If you dare come any closer, I'll detonate my body and kill you even if I have to die along with you."
He paused and said in a soft tone, "I can help you relieve the problem. Consider it as repaying the debt of saving my life."
She spoke through gritted teeth, "I would rather die than receive your help."
He frowned, still unable to understand why she had such a deep hatred towards him. Personal. Raw. Almost… ancient.
'Why?' he wondered. 'What could I have done to deserve this?'
He had no answers.
Thoughts churned in his head, searching for a way to somehow help her while preventing her from exploding.