Self-Harm and Refusing to Become Ninth Royal Uncle’s Enemy

Just as Serena Feng had predicted, her role in entering was simply to serve as a hostage. Whether she was willing or not, Prince Damien was determined to use her life to bargain for the villagers'.

Damien chose to act at this moment not only because Serena was exhausted and hungry, but also because they had just finalized their agreement.

Repeated failures had stripped Damien of all authority; the grotesque white-robed outsiders trusted him less and less. Still, when Damien warned them to be careful of Serena, the entire group agreed.

Before entering the village, Damien deliberately had a peasant woman bring Serena a set of farm girl's clothes, making sure she carried nothing that could be used as a weapon.

Luckily, Serena wasn't as fussy as Ninth Royal Uncle; she changed quickly into the clean but obviously used clothes, loosened her long hair, and wrapped it up casually.

Serena had no objection to the disguise; as a hostage, she cooperated so well that Damien began to wonder if she'd lost her mind.

"Aren't you afraid of dying?" Damien remembered that Serena had always cherished her life.

"Of course I am," Serena replied honestly.

"If you're afraid of dying, why did you come in? Don't tell me you think I won't kill you." Damien scrutinized Serena.

"I don't doubt your determination to kill me at all. But unfortunately, you're not the one in charge here." Serena looked at Damien with mocking eyes, her gaze sliding to the ghostly white-robed man behind him.

Damien's face turned green then pale. The white-robed man gave a sinister laugh: "Heh heh heh... Miss Feng really is clever."

"I don't want to die, so I have to be clever." Serena answered honestly. "Your goal is to escape, mine is to save these villagers. Our aims are aligned."

"Is that so? I thought Miss Feng's goal was to take our lives." The white-robed man drifted out from behind Damien. Only now did Serena see just how twisted his tastes were—even his shoes were white. He really loved playing the ghost.

Serena feigned surprise as she looked at the white-robed man. "Did you misunderstand something? There's only one person I've ever wanted to kill." To make sure everyone understood, she pointed directly at Damien. "Prince Damien and I have been enemies for a long time. We can't stand each other and both want the other dead."

"Looks like we really did misunderstand. But now that it's cleared up, that's good." The white-robed man followed Serena's lead, but she still sensed something odd—then understood in the next instant: a madman's logic is beyond normal reasoning.

Suddenly, the white-robed man tossed a dagger onto the table. "Miss Feng, Prince Damien says you're skilled with underhanded tricks. For our safety, we'd like to trouble you a bit."

"You want me to hurt myself?" Serena looked at the dagger on the table and immediately understood his meaning.

For once, she cursed her own mind for working too fast.

"If that's how Miss Feng wants to interpret it, that's fine. You've seen my companions—you should know we're not like ordinary people. I hope you'll become like us, so we won't stand out traveling together." The man's voice came muffled through cloth, sending chills down Serena's spine. For a moment, she wanted to laugh. These people were born disabled, and now they wanted her to join them—what kind of logic was that?

"I refuse."

"Miss Feng, you have no choice." The white-robed man pressed her, and the tension in the room thickened oppressively. For those without martial arts, it was suffocating—almost a physical force.

Serena seemed unaffected. Facing the man's oppressive aura, she remained unmoved: "I refuse." She wasn't about to mutilate herself—once cut, it would never heal back.

"If Miss Feng won't do it, then I'll just take it out on the villagers. Tell me, should I gouge out an eye or cut off a nose first?" The white-robed man asked seriously, and Serena replied just as seriously, "I think you'd better start running. If my calculations are right, Ninth Royal Uncle should be arriving any minute now."

This time, Serena wasn't bluffing. According to the plan she'd set with Ninth Royal Uncle, he should be arriving right about now to support her.

"Impossible. Night City isn't so easy to take." Damien had just started to protest when a short man rushed in and whispered in the white-robed man's ear.

Serena couldn't see the white-robed man's expression, only that after listening, he suddenly looked at her: "Miss Feng, you really do have foresight. Ninth Royal Uncle is only ten li away. What should we do?"

"If I advised you to surrender, you wouldn't listen. So you should focus on escaping. As for gouging eyes or cutting noses, I strongly advise against it. You should understand, Night City is now Eastlyn territory. Ninth Royal Uncle fiercely protects his own. If you harm his people on Eastlyn soil, he'll never let you go. I doubt you want to make an enemy of him." Otherwise, Damien would never treat her so politely.

The white-robed man wasn't upset at being read so clearly; he simply nodded. "Miss Feng, we have no intention of making an enemy of Ninth Royal Uncle. We're new to the Nine Provinces Realm and didn't understand things, so we offended him by accident."

In fact, they really had wanted to kill the famous Ninth Royal Uncle and split his blood, but it was obvious they weren't his match. Since that was the case, they decided to change tactics. After all, they had no real conflict of interest with him, so there was no need to become mortal enemies.

Damien's face changed dramatically—this was bad. Before he could speak, Serena looked at him with a half-smile: "We have no grudge against your master, only some old scores with Prince Damien. If your master hands Prince Damien over to Ninth Royal Uncle, I think he'd be very satisfied."

The proposal tempted the white-robed man. If handing over Prince Damien could earn peaceful coexistence with Ninth Royal Uncle, he didn't mind sacrificing Damien. They could always find a better spokesman—replacing Damien would be easy.

Damien's face turned green and pale. Being cast aside as a pawn stung, especially for someone so proud. He was furious at being so openly dismissed, but he knew he couldn't afford to fall out with these people now.

Damien took a deep breath and reminded the white-robed man, "Don't forget, Old Gray hasn't returned yet. If you count the time, he's likely been killed by Ninth Royal Uncle's people. Even if he's not dead, with the situation as it is, he probably hasn't escaped."

To be fair, Damien was still sharp. The moment Old Gray was mentioned, the white-robed man went silent. Serena frowned, sensing the shift in atmosphere—she knew the momentum was gone, and there was no point in continuing the conversation.

Besides, Lance Quinn had died at Old Gray's hands; Serena had no intention of truly letting these people go. Rather than waste energy scheming here, it was better to be direct and let fists do the talking when the time came.

The orthodox jianghu fighters outside didn't really obey her orders, but they would definitely follow Ninth Royal Uncle's lead.

No matter where you were, even among the strong, a woman's status was always lower than a man's—especially when she still wasn't as powerful as Ninth Royal Uncle.