Luo Xiao saw that Ling Mo was close to him. Ling Mo had been slowly inching closer and closer to him without anyone noticing and when Jiang Yao turned around, he took his chance to launch a sneak attack.

Luo Xiao’s eyes widened, and he felt frightened. He knew that he couldn’t avoid Ling Mo, no matter what he tried to do and that he would most likely die in the next second.

Despite being about to die, he felt incredibly tranquil. Although he felt remorseful and sad that he couldn’t spend more time with Jiang Yao, he still felt happy for the time they had traveled together and that he had managed to get to know the handsome older man.

He closed his eyes and waited for the attack to land. For it to rip him to shreds and end his life.

Then… nothing happened. A long moment went by but the claw-like hand didn’t arrive and he felt no pain.

Luo Xiao timidly cracked one eye open and saw that the hand was right in front of his face. But it wasn’t moving.

Ling Mo’s face was twisted in agony and anger. Malice surged in his eyes, but he couldn’t move no matter how much he tried. His body was completely frozen like an icicle.

When Luo Xiao looked around he saw Jiang Yao stand behind him with an outstretched hand and a furious expression on his face.

“Are you hurt?” he asked with a low, dangerous voice. A threatening aura radiated outwards from Jiang Yao’s body, causing both Luo Xiao and Ling Mo to shiver uncontrollably.

Luo Xiao had never seen Jiang Yao this furious before, nor had he seen him release such an ominous aura. He was not even this furious when the poison incident had happened.

The reason that he was many times more furious now than he was before was because Luo Xiao had accepted his emotions. Luo Xiao was now the most precious person to Jiang Yao.

Luo Xiao couldn’t answer Jiang Yao. He was still shocked about the sudden attempt on his life and the killing aura that was spreading out from Jiang Yao.

The grass and herbs in a hundred meters radius started to freeze over. Frost laid itself on everything and cold air blanketed their surroundings.

“Xiaoxiao, I asked you a question,” Jiang Yao repeated with his low, dangerous voice. His cold eyes landed on the younger male and noticed that he was petrified while looking at Ling Mo. After seeing this his heart softened, but he was still furious.

“I’m sorry,” Luo Xiao quickly stuttered as he retreated from Ling Mo’s clutches.

He then hurried to Jiang Yao’s side and hid behind him. “I’m not hurt,” he said as he clutched Jiang Yao’s robe in his hands as if it were giving him strength.

He stared fixated at Ling Mo, while his body was hidden behind Jiang Yao, and his head peeked out from behind him.

Although Jiang Yao was furious, he almost broke out in laughter from seeing him act so cute.

“I know you wanted to be the one to kill Ling Mo,” Jiang Yao said with his cold voice devoid of emotions, “but I cannot let him go. To attack what belongs to me, so brazenly, I will cut him into thousands of pieces.”

Jiang Yao voice was ice-cold. His eyes displayed a complete lack of emotion as if he were very familiar with killing and torture.

Thinking this, Luo Xiao shivered. He was still traumatized from seeing his entire village slaughtered, but he knew that in this world strength was what mattered.

If he couldn’t handle it, then he would end up as one of the victims.

He looked at Jiang Yao with a hint of dread in his eyes. He knew what would come next, and although he steeled himself, he was dry in the mouth and fearful for what he might see next.

He hid his head in Jiang Yao’s clothes hoping that he didn’t have to see the gory scene, but before he could react, he felt a cool hand appear and grab his wrist. He was then dragged in front of the older male.

“This man has caused you so much pain and suffering. Although you are not going to end him, you should at least witness his ending,” Jiang Yao said with his emotionless voice.

Luo Xiao’s body shivered uncontrollably. But he had been given a task from Jiang Yao to watch Ling Mo’s final moments, so he kept his eyes open and looked at Ling Mo.

Jiang Yao reached out his hand and the temperature dropped even further. Ling Mo was incapable of moving and suddenly, he felt like his body was turning into an ice statue.

As he turned into ice, he felt how some of his body parts started breaking off in chunks.

Jiang Yao had said he would cut him with thousands of cuts and he meant it. He was using the cold weather to freeze him and then cut chunks of flesh and blood from his body.

Luo Xiao felt uncomfortable. He watched as chunks of flesh fell down. All his blood was frozen, so no pool of blood gathered beneath him but what seemed like red snowflakes fell as more and more was being shaved off.

Luo Xiao felt sick to his stomach but he understood that Jiang Yao wanted him to see this, so he would not turn his face away. However, his beautiful face was as pale as a wax figurine.

Jiang Yao looked at Luo Xiao. His anger had not subsided, he felt furious and only by killing Ling Mo would he feel a bit better.

Ten minutes passed and it felt like an eternity to both Ling Mo and Luo Xiao.

The pain Ling Mo experienced was so excruciating that he wished to cry out but he couldn’t even open his mouth.

He didn’t regret his attempt at killing Luo Xiao, only that he hadn’t succeeded before he was caught. Now he suffered for nothing.

Luo Xiao finally couldn’t hold on anymore and vomited as he saw Ling Mo was now nothing more than a skeleton with hateful eyes and a few bits and pieces of blood and flesh.

Ling Mo was a soul cultivator so even when his body had died, he could still live, but his soul could not leave his body currently as he had been captured by Jiang Yao.

Seeing that Luo Xiao couldn’t handle it anymore, Jiang Yao opened his hand and clenched a fist. Suddenly, the skeleton shattered and his soul tried to escape but was caught by Jiang Yao’s barrier. Soon after it started to dissipate.

A soul that was not inside a body would dissipate. The stronger the soul though the longer it would take to dissipate.

Ling Mo’s soul was strong but it was incapable of escaping Jiang Yao’s barrier without its body, so it could only wait and feel how it’s strength drained away as it slowly dissipated completely.

Luo Xiao had finished vomiting and he walked towards a stream of water nearby where he could rinse his mouth.

He did not wish to see what was left of Ling Mo anymore.

Jiang Yao looked at Luo Xiao with a complicated expression on his face. He wanted to pamper and protect him, but he knew that he had to toughen up if he wished to survive.

Luo Xiao understood this thought but he still felt uncomfortable. However, after rinsing his mouth, he felt better.

He was washing his face when he suddenly felt someone come close to him. Without even looking up he knew it was Jiang Yao, but right now he was busy so he didn’t look at the older male.

Jiang Yao waited behind Luo Xiao. He looked at the younger man as he finished washing his face.

“Feeling better?” Jiang Yao’s voice was gentle again, and Luo Xiao felt much better the moment he heard the gentleness and caring in his voice.

But then it hit him, Ling Mo was dead there was no longer a need for them to pretend to be lovers. Suddenly, he felt incredibly lost and depressed.

He rose to his feet, looked at Jiang Yao, and smiled while nodding his head, “I’m fine now, thank you so much,” he said gently.

Jiang Yao could feel a sudden distance in Luo Xiao’s demeanor and he frowned. He felt uncomfortable. He didn’t like this at all. For this reason, he reached out his arm, grabbed Luo Xiao by the wrist and pulled him into his embrace, hugging him tightly.

“Wha… what are you doing?!” Luo Xiao exclaimed shocked.

“You are my lover. What is wrong with hugging my loved one when he feels unhappy?”

Hearing, Jiang Yao call him his loved one, Luo Xiao’s face turned very red, and he slowly whispered, “but it’s your fault I feel bad…”

Jiang Yao was ecstatic. Luo Xiao had not complained about being lovers.

“Look at me,” he ordered Luo Xiao. Luo Xiao lifted his head and those clear and bright eyes looked straight into Jiang Yao’s dark eyes with curiosity and confusion.

“You will stay as my lover,” Jiang Yao decided. “I will not accept a no. You are mine from now on, do you understand?”

Luo Xiao once more misunderstood. He thought that Jiang Yao wanted someone to be his pretend lover so that he wasn’t troubled by others, but he felt relieved and happy and unknowingly a smile spread on his lips.

Seeing the sweet smile on Luo Xiao’s face, Jiang Yao was relieved.

It was at this moment that the pungent smell of blood reached Luo Xiao’s nostrils.

The ice that had was there had melted when Jiang Yao smiled at Luo Xiao, and all the frozen flesh and blood turned into a puddle of blood and flesh with a few bone fragments visible in the mix.

Jiang Yao ignored it completely but Luo Xiao was uncomfortable. “Can we leave here?” he asked gently, and Jiang Yao grabbed him and swept him off his feet. He placed a soft kiss on Luo Xiao’s forehead and chuckled when he saw him completely red in the face.

“Why did you kiss me suddenly? This is not the first time either!” Luo Xiao said indignantly but instead of any answer Jiang Yao just smiled at him. It was too early to admit his feelings to this young boy. Instead of making him feel good, it would likely scare him into wanting to run away.

Jiang Yao would never let Luo Xiao run away from him. As he had said earlier, he considered Luo Xiao his.

“Won’t you get in trouble now that Ling Mo is dead?” Luo Xiao asked as they flew away.

“Who can say he is dead?” Jiang Yao asked with a snicker, “as long as you and I keep quiet then no one will be the wiser. Ling Mo is a Marquis of my kingdom but he does like to travel.

“As long as I say that he ran away because he couldn’t handle our intimate gestures, no one would have any doubts.”

Luo Xiao looked at Jiang Yao with big eyes and suddenly a smile spread on his lips. “As long as you’ll be fine,” he said with a sigh.

Hearing that Luo Xiao was worried about him, Jiang Yao felt much better. He laughed out loud and increased their speed as they shot forward.

“Where are we going?” Luo Xiao could not help but ask. Jiang Yao just looked at him and smiled.

“We’re going home,” he said. “Your new home,” he added after a bit of time.