It was only because of a last shred of rationality that she just stabbed her hand, but if things escalated, she was afraid that she might kill herself.

It was also why she had followed Gu Bailu when the latter wanted her to face her problem.

However, who would have thought that the trip wouldn’t help at all, but only make things worse.

“Qian’er, you can’t blame yourself. Anybody would be deeply afraid after suffering that sort of extended abuse. You’re not alone or useless; you just didn’t have anybody to rely on before, and that wasn’t your fault, understand?”

An orphan girl, who didn’t have spiritual power or a family, and who had been a maid at the crown prince’s house since she was a child, naturally wouldn’t have had the courage to stand up to her heartless master’s torture.

If she had resisted, she would’ve been killed, and nobody wanted to die.

There weren’t that many people in the world who would rather die before caving in.

Even Gu Bailu had once submitted to Feng Qingtian because he was too powerful.

“But I have somebody to rely on now. You’re here to help me, but I still can’t defy him. I hate myself… I can’t be as brave as you at all…”

Qian’er closed her eyes in pain.

The greatest pain for a human being was knowing what their shortcoming was but being unable to fix it.

“Take your time. You must take your time. This is my fault. We shouldn’t have been hasty. We can prepare you in other ways first.”

Gu Bailu truly hadn’t known that Qian’er was so frightened of Lu Fenying that she even passed out just at the sight of Red Wolf.

“I… I really don’t know what to do. No, I know what to do, but I can’t help myself.”

“First of all, you need to know that you’re not useless. That is just the residual effect of your long-term abuse. You’re not useless; you’re very good. Think about it. You escaped from him. Not many people are capable of that. You should hate him instead of yourself! If you want to be free, you have to act against him and make him pay.”

Qian’er nodded fervently. “You’re right. I should punish him, not myself.”

“So, go paint a picture of Lu Fenying and try attacking that first.”

They had to take the first step at the very least.

But this first step also proved to be very hard. Qian’er was only halfway done painting Lu Fenying before she stopped and didn’t dare continue.

Gu Bailu picked up the brush and completed the painting. She then grabbed Qian’er’s hand, put the brush in it, then drew blots on Lu Fenying’s face. “What’s there to be scared of? He doesn’t dare complain even when we do this to him.”

Qian’er’s eyes widened. She had really taken action against Lu Fenying…

“See? It’s as simple as that.” Gu Bailu released her hand.

“I… Can I really…”

“Why not? You’re my disciple now, a Daoist nun. You’re no longer that Mo Qian’er who bowed and scraped in front of him!”

Qian’er looked at her hand in excitement; finally, it no longer hurt her. She was daring enough now to mess up a painting of Lu Fenying.

“If you have nightmares again, paint him after you wake up. Then, you can hit him, curse him, or do whatever you want to him.” Gu Bailu smiled at her.

“Okay!” Qian’er smiled in delight.

Gu Bailu let out a long breath of relief. She hoped the girl would be able to walk out of the shadow of years of abuse and truly say goodbye to the demon Lu Fenying.

However… Gu Bailu looked at the bandage around Qian’er’s hand.

That must be Lu Fenying’s work. Red Wolf had been sent to summon Gu Bailu, so the person who treated Qian’er could only be Lu Fenying himself.

Why would he wrap up Qian’er’s hand? Why did he do it himself?