78: Bai Luoluo... Bai Luoli

"Reporting to the Sect Master, this Disciple's Foundation is stable, and I feel no sense of instability."

"Mm."

Bai Luoli nodded, seemingly satisfied with his answer.

She slowly stood up from her throne and paced over to stand before Qin Feng.

An aura of terrifying, world-dominating pressure, accompanied by a Phoenix-like fragrance that was even more overbearing and biting than Zhao Muxue's icy lotus scent, instantly enveloped Qin Feng.

Qin Feng's heart tightened violently!

Bai Luoli slowly circled around him.

"Not bad."

After a long while, she spoke again, a hint of approval in her voice.

"Divine Elephant Suppressing Prison, a Foundation like a mountain, blood and Qi like a dragon, and a condensed Divine Soul."

"You are even more outstanding than I imagined."

She paused, turned around with her back to Qin Feng, and her voice became somewhat distant.

"Qin Feng, I asked you last time if you were willing to take me as your master."

"You refused."

Qin Feng's heart instantly leaped into his throat!

She... why was she bringing this up again?

"Today, I am asking you once more."

Bai Luoli slowly turned back around.

She raised her hand, seemingly about to do something.

And at the very moment she raised her hand!

Her wide sleeve, embroidered with a golden Phoenix, slipped down slightly.

Revealing a section of her snow-white, jade-like wrist.

And upon that wrist, tied with a red string as an accessory... was half a phoenix token!

The token was neither gold nor iron, with a jagged break, and carved upon it was half of a Phoenix spreading its wings!

Specifically, the Phoenix's head!

Boom!

The moment Qin Feng saw that half-token, his brain buzzed and went completely blank!

He felt his blood freeze in that instant!

His deep eyes stared fixedly at the token on Bai Luoli's wrist, his pupils suddenly shrinking to their limit!

Time seemed to stretch infinitely at this moment.

Qin Feng's entire world lost its sound and color.

All that remained was that half-token on her wrist, swaying gently with its owner's movements.

Bai Luoluo... Bai Luoli... this was no longer a simple similarity in names.

It was irrefutable, hard evidence!

The token of love—one half was with him, and the other half was on the Sect Master.

The System's reward was 'Bai Luoluo.'

What did this mean?

Qin Feng didn't dare think further.

Bai Luoli's sharp phoenix eyes, which seemed capable of piercing through everything, remained clear.

Those eyes were quietly watching him.

With a hint of confusion and scrutiny.

She seemed to have noticed his abnormality.

"Qin Feng?"

Bai Luoli's voice sounded as if it came from the distant horizon, carrying a note of inquiry.

"What is wrong with you? Why do you look so pale?"

Qin Feng's body shook violently!

As if pricked by a needle, he instantly woke up from his endless shock and panic!

He abruptly lowered his head, not daring to look at Bai Luoli again, much less the token on her wrist.

Cold sweat flowed like a stream from his temples, dripping onto the cold floor tiles with an almost inaudible 'patter.'

"Re... Reporting to the Sect Master."

His voice was dry and raspy, like two pieces of rusted metal rubbing together.

"This dis... Disciple is fine."

"It's just... just that I was just intimidated by your Divine Might, Sect Master, and for a moment... my mind wavered."

This excuse was terrible.

Even he didn't believe it.

With his current cultivation and state of mind, how could he possibly lose his composure to such an extent just because of the Sect Master's pressure?

Bai Luoli's eyebrows furrowed almost imperceptibly.

She looked at Qin Feng's pale face and his panic-filled eyes, the confusion in her own eyes deepening.

Something was wrong.

This boy was very off.

He was fine just a moment ago.

Why did he look like he'd seen a ghost the moment she raised her hand?

Could it be... Bai Luoli's gaze instinctively fell upon her newly raised wrist.

There, a simple red string was tied.

Hanging from the string was the half-phoenix token she had worn for hundreds of years.

Was there something wrong with this token?

A hint of incomprehension flashed through Bai Luoli's heart.

But she didn't press further.

As the Sect Master, she had her pride.

Since Qin Feng was unwilling to speak, she wouldn't deign to force him.

"Is that so?"

Her voice returned to its aloof coldness that kept people at a distance.

"It seems your state of mind as the Saint still needs tempering."

She slowly withdrew her hand, hiding the phoenix token back within her wide sleeve.

"Forget it."

She turned, walked back to her throne, and sat down again, her expression indifferent.

"Since you have no intention of becoming my Disciple, then that will be all for today."

"Dismissed."

The voice was cold, devoid of any emotion.

The terrifying pressure weighing down on Qin Feng vanished along with it.

Qin Feng felt as if he had been granted a grand reprieve!

He felt like he had just taken a walk through the gates of hell.

"This Disciple... takes his leave."

He bowed, trembling, and backed out of the suffocating Sect Master's Grand Hall step by step.

Not until his back hit the cold doors of the hall.

Only then did he seem to lose all his strength, hurriedly pulling open the doors and fleeing in a pathetic state.

The sunlight outside the hall was somewhat blinding.

Qin Feng leaned against the cold stone wall, gasping for breath.

His heart was still pounding wildly in his chest.

He wiped his face; his hands were covered in cold sweat.

He finally understood what kind of 'Opportunity' the System had given him!

How was this an Opportunity?

His Dao Companion was the Sect Master?

What kind of joke was this!

That was Bai Luoli!

She was the queen who was decisive in killing, used iron-blooded methods, and had ruled the Tianxuan Sect for a hundred years, deciding the lives and deaths of ten thousand with a single word!

Never mind letting her be his Dao Companion.

If she even knew that he had ever harbored the slightest improper fantasy about her in his heart.

Qin Feng had no doubt she would unhesitatingly crush him, along with his Divine Soul, into the finest dust!

"System! Get out here!"

Qin Feng roared frantically in his mind.

"What the hell are you trying to do?! Are you trying to play me to death?!"

He vented all his fear and anger toward the culprit who had pushed him into this endless abyss.

He hoped the System could give him an explanation.

Even if it was just to tell him that all of this was a bad joke.

However.

[Host, please explore on your own.]

The cold, emotionless mechanical prompt sounded in his mind once again.

And then, it fell back into dead silence.

This response was like the final straw that completely broke Qin Feng's already strained nerves.

His mind went blank.

What should he do?

Pretend nothing happened?

And then wait for the day the Sect Master discovered he also had an identical token, and then slapped him to death as a spy with ulterior motives?

Or, take the initiative to confess?

Tell the Sect Master that he was bound by some mysterious System, and the System said she was his Dao Companion and even gave him half of a token of love?

Qin Feng had no doubt that if he dared to say that, his end would only be worse than the first option.

Run?

Where could he run?

The entire Tianxuan Sect was her territory.

Even if he escaped the Tianxuan Sect, with the Sect Master's methods, finding someone in the entire Great Eastern Desolation would only be a matter of time.

An extreme desire to survive erupted in the depths of Qin Feng's heart! He abruptly raised his head, and in his previously despair-filled eyes, a spark of madness ignited.

I can't just sit here and wait for death!

If that's the case, I might as well risk it all!

...