Chapter 103: I'm Not a Cruel Person

"Enough!" Ji Huo said in a low, stern voice.

The generals immediately shuddered, standing at rigid attention, none daring to speak another word. They exchanged glances with one another—how was it that when the Second Young Master spoke, he sounded even more intimidating than the Marshal himself?

"Miss Xia," Ji Huo said, his gaze shifting to land on Xia Ningshang's face. He was about to say something when, to his surprise, Xia Ningshang glared at him with an utterly expressionless face, as if to say, *"If you dare snatch the knife away like the rest of them, I'll run you through with my spear!"*

Ji Huo let out a dry laugh and shrank his neck, saying no more.

Xia Ningshang pondered for a moment, then withdrew a sheathed dagger from her bosom. When she drew it out, it was a pitch-black, lusterless blade that appeared roughly hewn, with little in the way of ornamentation.

Ji Huo raised an eyebrow. He had handled the remnants of the Demon Dragon Spear before, and somehow, looking at this dagger, he felt as though the dagger and the Demon Dragon Spear were made of the same material.

Xia Ningshang gripped the dagger in a standard hold, aimed it at the spot she had located earlier, and with a grave expression, drove it down into Ji Xiaoxiong's lower abdomen.

A crisp sound rang out as the dagger pierced through Ji Xiaoxiong's belly with ease. She then dragged the blade downward, and blood immediately gushed forth. She pulled the dagger out, pried the wound open with her fingers, and saw the flesh and organs within. Frowning, she quickly took the herbs she had prepared earlier and applied them to the wound, then swiftly wrapped it in bandages.

Ji Huo, meanwhile, circulated his mystic arts, rapidly helping his father recover from his injuries. At present, the old Marshal's inner force was completely suppressed by demonic energy, leaving him to heal only through his own bodily functions—far slower than Ji Huo's mystic arts.

Then Xia Ningshang noticed with astonishment that before she had even finished tying the bandages, the wound had already scabbed over.

*Such fast healing... He seems even stronger than a few days ago...* Xia Ningshang's heart jolted with surprise. She couldn't be bothered to finish the bandaging, and instead eyed the next spot on Ji Xiaoxiong's body, plunging the dagger in once more.

This strike likewise revealed no seed, so she withdrew the dagger and simply pressed her hand against the wound. In no time at all, the bleeding had stopped.

She made several more cuts after that. Ji Huo could tell that each strike was exquisitely precise, not damaging any internal organs in the slightest, and each location chosen was one she had felt along his father's body earlier—where she reckoned the seed was most likely to be hidden.

After several cuts, Xia Ningshang was covered in a fine sheen of sweat. Such meticulous work that kept her nerves stretched taut took an immense toll on her, let alone the fact that she was using that pitch-black dagger. Yet cut after cut, she found no seed, and a hint of dejection crept into her expression.

*If it's not in any of these places, then there's only one spot left.*

Xia Ningshang's gaze grew hesitant. She looked at Ji Huo, only to find him smiling gently back at her.

"..."

She took a deep breath, her trembling hand gripping the dagger as she slowly pressed it toward Ji Xiaoxiong's heart.

The motion startled everyone. Lü Shui was just about to let out a manly scream when, in an instant, Lu Deshui clamped a big, hairy black hand over his mouth.

No sooner had the dagger sunk in a little way than a sharp, piercing shriek erupted from Ji Xiaoxiong's chest! The sound was so shrill it stung everyone's eardrums.

Xia Ningshang's eyes lit up. She stopped pushing the blade deeper and instead yanked it downward, slicing a long, thin opening, which she then pried apart with force.

Only then did everyone see it—atop Ji Xiaoxiong's powerfully beating heart had grown a tiny fox face. The face stared at them all with pure malice, occasionally letting out earsplitting shrieks!

"It's a demon fetus," Xia Ningshang said, her face pale, her eyes full of exhaustion, her tone grave as she addressed Ji Huo. "I'm afraid your father was implanted with this demon fetus years ago. Now that it has awakened, if it's allowed to keep absorbing your father's essence, then in a matter of days, it will tear its way out of his chest."

Ji Huo's eyes lowered slightly. "In that position, right at the heart—can it be excised?"

Xia Ningshang frowned, studied the demon fetus closely, and her expression grew heavier and heavier before she finally said, uncertainly, "I recall that you once had a large portion of your heart pierced through, and you were still walking around like nothing was wrong. Perhaps... the bloodline of your family is extraordinary?"

*Extraordinary, my ass. That's because I have a system keeping my HP locked...* Ji Huo asked, unwilling to give up. "What if we only excise part of it?"

If the demon fetus were only attached to the surface of the heart, after cutting it away, there was still hope that his father's heart would grow back.

Xia Ningshang leaned in to observe. When the fox face saw her approach, its mouth split open, revealing rows of small, sharp teeth as it bared its fangs at her. The moment she got close, the face lurched forward, nearly detaching itself from the heart entirely to sink its teeth into her face.

Xia Ningshang hastily jerked her head back, and only then did the fox face retract onto the heart, a look of smug triumph on its features.

Xia Ningshang's eyes narrowed. The fox face clearly wore an expression of *Go on, come closer, see if I don't bite you to death, you little bastard!*

"A fox, is it..." Xia Ningshang's eyes narrowed further, until they were slits.

For some reason, Ji Huo suddenly felt the Human Emperor Sword at his waist give a faint tremor.

"Go find a big rooster," Xia Ningshang said in a low, ethereal voice.

The other generals were all taken aback and were about to ask why, when they saw Xia Ningshang smile at them—a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes on her otherwise lovely face. "Well? What are you waiting for?"

"Y-yes, of course!" The generals nodded hastily, not daring to ask another word.

*Look at you lot, so spineless...* Ji Huo shook his head inwardly.

Before long, a big rooster with bright, glossy feathers was brought in. In the meantime, his father's wounds had healed twice, and both times Xia Ningshang had sliced them open again.

Xia Ningshang grabbed the rooster firmly, first using the dagger to carve an incomprehensible talisman into the bird's belly, then drawing the blade across its neck. The rooster let out a shriek, and Xia Ningshang released it, letting the bleeding bird run wild around the tent.

Then she sat back down beside Ji Xiaoxiong, tapping the edge of the bed frame lightly with her dagger, producing crisp, ringing sounds, while from her lips came guttural, unfamiliar syllables—like a soft murmur, yet also like some kind of mystical incantation.

As the tapping and chanting gradually quickened, the rooster ran faster and faster, splattering blood all around the tent. Ji Huo's nose twitched—he suddenly noticed that the rooster's blood seemed to have grown more than ten times richer in scent.

The demon fox face on Ji Xiaoxiong's heart began to writhe in struggle. Before long, it actually poked its head out a little—a small purple fox face slowly rising from the heart, its pointed nose twitching as it sniffed the air, its eyes filled with desperate longing.

At last, driven by the stimulation of the rooster's blood, the fox face kept inching its way out of the heart, most of its spectral head emerging as it let out chittering squeaks.

It was at that very moment that Xia Ningshang moved with lightning speed. Her left hand gathered a surge of black energy that enveloped her palm, and she grabbed hold of the fox head, yanking it with tremendous force straight off the heart.

Because she had pulled too quickly, the heart suddenly constricted, and numerous torn wounds appeared across its surface, blood pouring out freely. Ji Huo hurriedly circulated his mystic arts, rapidly healing the heart.

"Squeak squeak squeak squeak squeak!"

The little fox struggled ceaselessly, trying to bite Xia Ningshang's hand, but her palm was wrapped in inner force, and its teeth simply couldn't sink in.

Xia Ningshang calmly drew out the black dagger and stabbed the little fox eighteen times, every strike landing fatally.

Only then, with a satisfied air, did she sheathe the dagger and toss the bloodied, mangled fox corpse to the ground. Her eyes were as soft as water, and her voice gentle as she said, "I'm not such a bloodthirsty person, you know."