Chapter 138 The Bet

"There are no absolutes in the world." Xiao Ming's smile remained unchanged, his gaze deep as he looked down at the perilous battlefield below. "I just feel that this Saint has great Luck and is not destined to die; perhaps there is even good fortune in store for him. How about it, Big Sister, dare you make a wager?"

Mu Wanning looked at his infuriating expression of absolute certainty, then looked at the increasingly dire battle below (Jian Wushuang had just been sent flying, vomiting blood after a savage charge from the Earth Dragon Rhino, and then barely dodged a sneak attack from a Shadow Leopard, spitting out three mouthfuls of blood). A stubborn, unyielding spirit surged within her. She absolutely did not believe that anyone could turn the tide in such a desperate situation!

"Bet then!" She blurted out almost without thinking, her pale golden eyes burning with unyielding flames. "If you lose, what then?"

The smile in Xiao Ming's eyes deepened, and he said slowly, "If I lose, I will let Big Sister dispose of me as she pleases. Conversely..." He paused deliberately, his gaze lingering on her cheeks, which were slightly flushed with faint anger, before finally landing on her heaving bosom, which rose and fell with her rapid breathing. He slowly spat out a few words: "Then Big Sister shall be my personal maid for one month, how about that?"

"You!" Mu Wanning's face instantly flushed red, even her earlobes stained with a faint crimson. A month as a maid? And a personal one? "Mu Changge! You are shameless! I am your older sister, how dare you make such a request!"

"Is it excessive?" Xiao Ming blinked, his expression innocent yet carrying a hint of seduction. "If I lose, I am at Big Sister's mercy!" He deliberately drew out his tone, his gaze sweeping over her entire body with increasing audacity: "If Big Sister is afraid and doesn't dare to bet, then forget it."

Afraid? This word instantly ignited Mu Wanning's competitive spirit. She trembled with anger, her slender jade fingers clenched into fists, her gaze fixed fiercely on Xiao Ming's handsome yet punchable face, as her mind raced with calculations.

Thinking that if she could win... "At my mercy"... this incredibly tempting condition! Mu Wanning felt an itch in her heart... If she won, could she order him to do whatever she wanted in the future?

As for being a maid? She didn't even consider it; she absolutely could not lose!

"Fine! I'll take the bet!" Mu Wanning agreed, almost gritting her teeth, her pale golden eyes burning with determination. "If you lose, you are at my disposal!"

"A gentleman's word is his bond." Xiao Ming nodded with a smile, admiring her flushed cheeks from excitement. That appearance of forcing calm while looking puffed up with anger was much more vivid than her usual cold demeanor. "Big Sister must remember the promise. A personal maid, for one month, serving tea and water, making the bed... folding the quilt."

He said the last few words slowly and heavily. Seeing Mu Wanning's face flush so red it was almost bleeding, the smile in his eyes was overflowing.

Mu Wanning turned her head away in shame and anger, refusing to look at him any longer, and focused all her attention on the valley below, as if this could prove her inevitable victory and allow her to ignore the wager that made her heart race in confusion. However, her violent heartbeat and burning cheeks betrayed her far from calm inner state.

Xiao Ming stopped teasing her and continued to "watch the battle" with composure. He even produced a handful of spiritual fruits from somewhere and began to munch on them slowly, looking like a man leisurely waiting to reel in his catch.

In the valley, the battle had reached a life-or-death moment. Jian Wushuang was drenched in blood, his sword light as dim as a candle in the wind. The Earth Dragon Rhino let out a final roar, launching a fatal charge, while the three Nether Shadow Leopards sealed off all his escape routes like soul-reaping specters.

Just when Mu Wanning thought the outcome was decided, and even began to calculate how to "dispose of" her good younger brother after winning—

"Heaven-Extinguishing Cross Slash!"

That eruption in the desperate situation hit Mu Wanning's face like the loudest slap.

She stood frozen on the spot, her beautiful pale golden eyes widened, watching Jian Wushuang below, who, despite being in a wretched state, had miraculously survived, gained an Opportunity, and even advanced his cultivation. Her mind went completely blank.

Lost... She had just lost like that?

Personal maid... one month... serving tea and water... making the bed and folding the quilt...

These words echoed in her mind like a curse, making her cheeks burn terribly. She could clearly feel Xiao Ming's smiling, playful gaze from the side, landing on her, as if he were savoring her expression at this moment.

"It seems I have won." Xiao Ming's voice clearly entered her ears, carrying undisguised pleasure and mockery. "Then from today on, for the next month, Big Sister is my maid. You must be obedient, my, dear, big, sis, ter."

He enunciated the last few words one by one, like a heavy hammer striking Mu Wanning's heart.

She wanted to refute, to welch on the bet, to call him shameless, but all the words were stuck in her throat, unable to utter a single syllable. A bet is a bet; she had agreed to it herself... Moreover, Xiao Ming still held her "leverage" in his hands.

She abruptly turned her head away, turning her back to Xiao Ming, her thin shoulders trembling slightly, her teeth biting her lower lip tightly to prevent that humiliating sob from escaping even a little.

Xiao Ming finished the last mouthful of fruit unhurriedly and clapped his hands, as if brushing off non-existent dust.

"Alright, the show is over." His tone was as light as if he were talking about the weather. "My little maid, it's time we did some real work. You can't let your Young Lord return empty-handed, can you?"

"Who is your maid!" Mu Wanning turned around abruptly, glaring at him in exasperation, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

"Oh?" Xiao Ming raised an eyebrow, looking at her with composure. "Is Big Sister planning to... welch on the bet?"

"I..." Mu Wanning was speechless, her momentum instantly weakening. She did indeed want to renege, but looking at Xiao Ming's smiling eyes, which seemed to see through everything, and thinking of the leverage he held over her... she knew she couldn't escape it.

"...A bet is a bet." She finally lowered her head, her voice barely audible, carrying a heavy nasal tone and a resignation like defeat.

"Good." Xiao Ming nodded with satisfaction and reached out to ruffle her hair, but Mu Wanning retreated half a step like a startled rabbit, watching him vigilantly.

Xiao Ming's hand stopped in mid-air, but he wasn't embarrassed; he naturally withdrew it and placed it behind his back.

"Let's go, my little maid. While it's still early, let's go farm some crystal cores!" He turned and walked in another direction in the forest, his gait calm, his mood clearly excellent.

Mu Wanning stood on the spot, her chest heaving violently several times before she took a deep breath, forcing herself to suppress her churning emotions, and followed with heavy steps. However, her downcast eyes and tightly pressed lips showed that her heart was far from as calm as her appearance.

Xiao Ming walked in front, his gait as leisurely as if strolling through his own garden. Mu Wanning followed three steps behind, her beautiful face tense. The natural cold pride between her brows had dimmed somewhat due to the blow of the wager and her current status as a "maid," yet it had not completely disappeared. Instead, it was mixed with shame, resentment, and a trace of resignation-like awkwardness, forming a complex and moving expression.

Her arms were subconsciously wrapped slightly around her chest, and her pale yellow dress outlined breathtaking curves that rose and fell slightly with her steps.

After walking for about a quarter of an hour, a low beast roar and spiritual power fluctuations came from the dense forest ahead.

"Oh, prey has arrived!" Xiao Ming stopped, the corners of his mouth curling up. In the clearing in the forest, three "Iron-Backed Boars" with sturdy bodies, exposed tusks, and bodies covered in rock-like gray cuticles were rooting for plant roots. These were three Yao Beasts equivalent to the Early Nascent Soul stage, thick-skinned and immensely strong; even an ordinary Nascent Soul Cultivator would find it tricky to kill one.

Xiao Ming just raised his hand casually, fingers together like a sword, and pointed into the void.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Three extremely condensed, almost imperceptible pale yellow Qi blasts broke through the air, fast as lightning, and accurately entered the brows of the three Iron-Backed Boars. Their hard skulls, which could withstand ordinary Magical Artifacts, were pierced through instantly like paper in front of this pale yellow Qi. The three boars didn't even let out a scream; their massive bodies collapsed to the ground with a thud, their life force gone.

The whole process was clean and neat, without disturbing too many creatures in the forest. Xiao Ming clapped his hands, as if brushing off dust, and turned to look at Mu Wanning behind him, wearing that smiling expression that made her teeth itch.

"What are you still standing there for? My little maid." He nudged his chin toward the three boar corpses. "Go, take out the crystal cores. Do you expect this Young Lord to do such rough work himself?"

Mu Wanning's body stiffened, her arms wrapped around her chest tightened subconsciously, and a trace of humiliation and anger flashed in her pale golden eyes. Make her, the dignified Young Miss of the Mu Family and a Soul Transformation Cultivator, do this dirty, tiring work of dissecting corpses to extract cores? It was simply outrageous!

"You... can't you extract them yourself?" She tried to resist, her voice weak due to a lack of confidence.

"Hmm?" Xiao Ming raised an eyebrow and took a step forward, closing the distance between them, looking down at her cheeks, which were slightly flushed with shame and anger. "What, just became a maid and you want to disobey your master's orders? A bet is a bet, Big Sister, you aren't thinking of reneging, are you?"

The word "Master" burned Mu Wanning's ears like a red-hot branding iron. She jerked her head away to avoid Xiao Ming's scorching gaze, her chest heaving violently a few times, until she finally gritted her teeth, released her arms, and walked step by step toward the three boar corpses.

Each step felt as heavy as a thousand pounds. The heavy smell of blood assaulted her nose, making her frown slightly. She endured the discomfort, took out an ordinary short blade, crouched down, and began to laboriously cut through the boars' hard skulls to find the crystal cores inside.

Xiao Ming stood not far away, watching with composure as she, despite being extremely humiliated, had to lower her head and work, his mood pleasant. He noticed that even while doing such an unrefined thing, Mu Wanning's movements still carried an innate elegance. The lines of her profile were even more exquisite in the dim forest light, and her expression of slightly frowning in endurance had a unique charm. Especially the breathtaking curves made more apparent by her crouching, and the straight calves faintly outlined under her dress...

Finally, three earth-yellow crystal cores that still carried a hint of body heat were laboriously extracted by her. She then steadied herself, held the crystal cores, and walked back to Xiao Ming.

Mu Wanning stretched out her hand, palm up, and the three crystal cores lay quietly there, shimmering in the dim forest. She turned her face away, not looking at Xiao Ming, and said stiffly, "Here."

"Hmm, the movement was a bit slow." Xiao Ming commented slowly, and only then did he reach out. His fingertips did not directly touch the crystal cores, but instead first gently brushed over the edge of Mu Wanning's palm.

A subtle, numbing sensation came, and Mu Wanning shuddered as if scalded, her hand instinctively retracting, and she glared at Xiao Ming in shame and anger: "You...!"

"Alright, the warm-up is over." Xiao Ming clapped his hands, interrupting her, with that unfathomable smile on his face: "My good maid, just standing and watching won't do. Go, help your master hunt Yao Beasts and collect crystal cores."

Mu Wanning was stunned, almost thinking she had misheard: "You want me... to go hunt Yao Beasts?"

"Otherwise?" Xiao Ming said matter-of-factly, "Do you want this Young Lord to do it himself while you watch from the side? Then why did I take on a maid? To use as a vase to display? Although... you are indeed quite pleasing to the eye."

His final whispered tease made the blush that had just slightly receded from Mu Wanning's face rush back up. She took a deep breath, trying to calm her mood. Let her go hunt Yao Beasts? This wasn't a difficult task; with her Soul Transformation Stage cultivation, in the periphery of this Twilight Forest, as long as she didn't encounter particularly tricky Vicious Beasts, self-preservation and even hunting were no problem. But what was detestable was... he was really using her as a servant!

"What, unwilling?" Seeing her not moving, Xiao Ming narrowed his eyes slightly, watching her with composure.

"I'll do it!" Mu Wanning interrupted him, a flash of stubbornness in her pale golden eyes. She absolutely did not want to be looked down upon by him again, nor did she want to give him any excuse to further "punish" or tease her. Hunting Yao Beasts was just that; it was better than being stared at by him with that kind of look and being teased by his words!

She stopped looking at Xiao Ming, turned around, took out a suitable sword from her Storage Pouch, identified the direction, selected a place where spiritual power fluctuations were relatively active, and leaped forward.

Xiao Ming watched her slender back disappear into the forest, a smile curling at the corners of his mouth. He didn't follow immediately but paced unhurriedly in another direction. The terrain there was slightly higher, with a small, relatively open clearing in the forest, and next to it was a flat boulder, which was a good place for rest and observation.

His figure flickered, and he appeared on the boulder, casually brushing away the fallen leaves and dust on the stone, and sat down. He took a few more spiritual fruits and a pot of clear wine from his Storage Pouch, placed them on a small table, and really looked like a man who was leisurely and ready to "watch a show."

His perception, like an invisible spider web, quietly spread out, accurately locking onto Mu Wanning not far ahead.

Mu Wanning soon encountered a pack of "Wind-Howling Wolves." These were gregarious Yao Beasts, with individual strength ranging from the Late Golden Core Stage to the Nascent Soul Middle Stage, but they won by their large numbers, tacit cooperation, wind-like movements, and were quite troublesome.

Mu Wanning's cold eyes swept over the dozen or so Wind-Howling Wolves closing in to surround her, her face showing no fear. She didn't act immediately but stood quietly in place, her pale golden longsword pointing obliquely at the ground, her Aura condensed. When the leading wolf, which was the largest and had an Aura reaching the Nascent Soul Middle Stage, pounced first, only then did she move.

There was no earth-shattering momentum, only a flash of pale golden sword light as swift as lightning and as cold as the moon.

Pfft!

The sword light accurately entered the alpha wolf's throat; the ferocious wolf head didn't even have time to emit a complete howl before it was separated from its body, and blood sprayed. Mu Wanning's figure shuttled through the wolf pack like a ghost, and every time the sword light flickered, it inevitably brought up a spray of blood, accurately reaping lives. Her swordsmanship was simple, efficient, and elegant, carrying an innate imperial nobility. Even in the bloody fight, it was as if she were performing a magnificent dance, rather than a life-or-death struggle.

Xiao Ming watched from afar, admiration flowing in his eyes. This older sister of his was indeed not simple. This calmness in the face of the enemy, and that arrogant demeanor that was hard to hide even when in the position of a "maid" and forced to fight, all made her stand out.

Soon, dozens of Wind-Howling Wolves were all slain. Mu Wanning's breathing was slightly uneven but still steady. She twirled her sword, flicking off the non-existent blood droplets on the blade, and then began to skillfully dissect the crystal cores. This time, her movements were significantly faster than before, and although she was still slightly frowning, looking somewhat reluctant, at least she was no longer as stiff and clumsy as she was at the beginning.

Watching her crouch beside the wolf corpses, seriously (or perhaps resentfully) extracting the crystal cores, her beautiful silhouette looking somewhat lonely in the mottled forest light, yet carrying a kind of stubborn resilience, the smile at the corners of Xiao Ming's mouth deepened. He picked up the wine pot and took a shallow sip. The fragrance of the spiritual fruit and the mellowness of the wine melted in his mouth. In the distance was the "beautiful scene" of a beauty fighting with a sword and then having to lower her head to do chores. This feeling... seemed not bad at all!