98: Chapter 98 Filial Piety Brings Strength! To save his own life, he actually sold out his master?

"Let's go, don't just stand there dazed."

Cao Kun smirked as he opened the stone door and pushed Yun Xiyue inside.

Without her cultivation to support her, Yun Xiyue stumbled forward several steps before barely managing to steady herself.

The air inside the stone room was murky and foul.

A pungent stench of decay mixed with a certain rank, fishy odor hit her right in the face.

Yun Xiyue held her breath and looked toward the center of the stone room.

A black stone bed was placed there.

Something that no longer looked human was lying on it, secured by chains.

There wasn't a single patch of healthy flesh on its body, which was covered in purple-and-blue bruises and dried blood scabs.

The eye sockets were deep, and the cheeks were so sunken that only a layer of skin and bone remained.

The entire person lay there limply, completely devoid of Life Qi.

Only the chest was still making faint rises and falls.

"Ji Nian..."

Yun Xiyue's eyes widened, and she blurted out.

She couldn't believe her eyes.

Was this really her Prodigy Disciple, who was usually so glorious and high-spirited?

Hearing the movement at the door, Ji Jinian on the stone bed struggled to turn his head.

Those eyes, which were originally hopeless, empty, and filled with Death Qi.

After adjusting to the light,

He clearly saw the snow-white figure standing at the door.

In an instant, a large amount of turbid tears gushed out of Ji Jinian's shriveled eye sockets, and he began to howl and cry in a breakdown.

"Revered Master!"

"Save me!"

"Quickly take me away from this hellhole! I can't take it anymore! I really can't take it anymore!"

The shrill wails echoed in the small stone room, striking hard at Yun Xiyue's heart.

She couldn't imagine what kind of tragic, inhuman torture Ji Nian had suffered in the Dark Dungeon of the Hehuan Sect,

To actually drain a Golden Core Stage Cultivator into such a state.

At this moment, the dozens of old hags surrounding the stone bed stopped their movements one after another.

Cao Kun unhurriedly stepped into the stone room and casually threw out a cloth bag.

"Alright, that's enough for today."

"Everyone, go out and receive your rewards."

The old hags immediately understood.

They glanced at Ji Jinian with lingering reluctance before respectfully bowing to Cao Kun and leaving the stone room one by one.

Leaving this dark and oppressive space to the three of them.

Yun Xiyue really couldn't bear to look at Ji Jinian's miserable appearance any longer.

She turned her head and glared at Cao Kun with bloodshot eyes.

"You demon!"

Cao Kun leaned against the doorframe nonchalantly, crossing his arms.

He leisurely admired the ever-changing expressions on Yun Xiyue's face.

From shock to heartache, then to anger and deep despair.

This kind of drama, where a high-and-mighty ice beauty falls into the mortal world, was truly something he never tired of seeing.

"You flatter me."

A cold smile hung on the corner of Cao Kun's mouth, his tone indifferent.

"He dared to lead people to block the gates of my Hehuan Sect and even tried to poach my people."

"I've already been merciful by not chopping him up on the spot to feed the dogs."

"With your behavior, you might as well just kill him!" Yun Xiyue gritted her teeth, her eyes full of hatred.

"Killing him would be so boring. I've always believed in making use of waste."

Cao Kun stood up straight and slowly walked to Yun Xiyue's side.

He leaned close to her fair earlobe and lowered his voice to threaten her: "Grand Elder Yun."

"Now, can you reconsider my proposal from earlier?"

"You wouldn't want your beloved Disciple... to continue suffering here, would you?"

"Those old hags received their rewards; their stamina will only be better tomorrow."

"Guess how many more nights his body can last?"

Cao Kun's words were like knives to the heart.

This threw Yun Xiyue into a state of extreme, painful struggle.

On one side was her purity and dignity, which she had upheld for hundreds of years.

On the other side was her eldest personal Disciple, in whom she had placed great hopes and invested countless efforts.

How was she supposed to choose?

If she agreed to Cao Kun,

And became this shameless scoundrel's Personal Maidservant, her life would be completely ruined.

But if she didn't agree,

Ji Nian would die in this Dark Dungeon, tortured to death by those hideous old hags.

Yun Xiyue still held onto one last bit of fantasy.

She turned to look at Ji Jinian on the stone bed.

If only Ji Nian could show even a little bit of backbone at this moment.

If only he said, "Revered Master, go quickly, don't worry about me."

She would feel immensely comforted,

And then she would not hesitate to detonate her Nascent Soul and perish together with this demon, Cao Kun.

Unfortunately, she had completely overestimated Ji Jinian,

And underestimated the selfishness of humans when faced with extreme fear.

Seeing his Revered Master lowering her head and hesitating to speak, Ji Jinian on the stone bed immediately panicked.

He thought his Revered Master was going to abandon him and watch him be sucked dry by those old hags.

In order to save his own life,

To avoid facing those terrifying old hags again, he roared out without any backbone.

"Revered Master!"

"I beg you, please agree to him!"

"I don't want to die, I'm still young! I still have a great future! I don't want to die here!"

Yun Xiyue's delicate body trembled as she looked at Ji Jinian in disbelief.

She couldn't believe such words were coming out of her own Disciple's mouth.

But Ji Jinian didn't care at all about Yun Xiyue's already shattering gaze.

His mind was now filled only with the thought of survival.

His tone even took on a hint of entitlement.

"Revered Master, what's wrong with suffering a little bit!"

"The reason I fell into this state today is because you insisted on setting me up with that Leng Qingyue!"

"You harmed me! You have to be responsible for saving me!"

"Elder Cao is handsome and has profound cultivation."

"Following him isn't beneath your status. Can you bear to see your Disciple die?!"

Every word from Ji Jinian turned into a sharp blade,

Precisely stabbing into Yun Xiyue's chest.

Shredding all her expectations and feelings for this Disciple into pieces.

Yun Xiyue only felt that the person before her was incredibly strange, strange to the point of being nauseating.

This was the Disciple she had raised since childhood and taught meticulously?

Afraid of death, shirking responsibility, and selfish to the extreme.

To save his own life, he actually didn't hesitate to let his Revered Master become someone else's Plaything.

Years of teaching and hundreds of years of Revered Master-Disciple bond shattered into a mess of debris at this moment.

Yun Xiyue's heart was chilled to the extreme.

Her persistence seemed incredibly ridiculous at this moment.

Standing to the side, Cao Kun couldn't help but laugh out loud.

He clapped his hands rhythmically.

"Clap. Clap. Clap."

"Wonderful, truly wonderful. What a good Disciple who respects his Revered Master and honors the Dao."

Cao Kun mocked mercilessly.

"Grand Elder Yun, your eye for talent is truly good."

"This Disciple wasn't raised in vain; at the critical moment, he really knows how to care for his Revered Master."

"As his Revered Master, you surely can't refuse even this small request from your Disciple, can you?"

These words from Cao Kun completely broke through Yun Xiyue's final psychological defense.

There is no grief greater than the death of one's heart.

Yet even though her heart was chilled to this extent,

Looking at the barely breathing Ji Jinian,

Yun Xiyue ultimately couldn't bring herself to completely ignore him.

If not for this beast, she had to consider the lives of the thousands of Disciples in the Miaoyin Sect.

If Ji Jinian died in the Hehuan Sect,

Once the Ji Family's Old Ancestor came out of seclusion, the Miaoyin Sect would surely suffer a devastating calamity.

So she had no choice.

From the moment she stepped into the Hehuan Sect,

She had already fallen into the trap meticulously woven by Cao Kun.

Yun Xiyue closed her eyes.

Two lines of clear tears slid down from the corners of her eyes.

Her hundreds of years of pride and dignity were personally crushed by her own Disciple in this dark and damp dungeon.

"I..."

"I promise you."

"Release him, I will do whatever you say."

Yun Xiyue