Chapter 168: ’Stop Me, I Beg You to Stop Me...

"Do you want it?"

Mu Yunlian asked her, holding a fortune so immense it was incalculable.

Did Xiao Yang want it? Perhaps.

"A trade requires fairness, and a business requires profit. Mr. Mu, you’ve offered such an enormous sum. What do you hope to get from me in return?"

Mu Yunlian didn’t answer immediately. Xiao Yang watched him with a smile. "The throne? My men? Or my life?"

She was perfectly composed, as if watching an awkward farce. "I am the Emperor of Da Wei. I am wealthy enough to own a country, and my armies are strong and well-equipped. In this age where Imperial Power is supreme, if I wanted these things, what’s to stop me from getting them? Your offer holds no allure for me."

Mu Yunlian stared blankly at Xiao Yang, his nonchalant expression completely vanishing.

Xiao Yang’s words were like a sharp awl, striking his frozen eyes. A hole was chiseled into the solid sheet of ice, which then fractured and collapsed, inch by inch.

Beneath the frozen surface of his eyes lay a dark abyss. The moment the fissure was forced open, thick, unsettling, and sinister emotions surged out like crazed demons.

He looked at her, his voice numb yet glacial. "Everything I possess holds no allure for you at all..."

His careful probing, his cautious and humble enticements, and the emotions he had suppressed with all his might were shattered by her single, casual sentence.

The iceberg in his eyes shattered and darkness churned. The sudden emotional impact was so great that even his brow twisted uncontrollably.

"You were born into the Imperial Family and inherited the throne. You were a high and mighty young Emperor."

"When you were ten, you became the Emperor, sitting at the pinnacle above all others, while I was still wallowing in mud, begging for scraps and fighting dogs for food."

"Your greatest worry was keeping power in your hands, while for me, even a single full meal was a luxury."

"Beatings, insults, abuse—I survived it all. For the sake of survival, I endured everything, until my hands were finally stained with blood just to get a full meal, one tainted with the blood of men."

"I mastered scheming and planned every single step. I sold my conscience and threw away my dignity. I survived countless brushes with death and poured my very heart and soul into amassing a fortune that could rival a nation. I laid it all at your feet, and you just scoffed at it."

"Because you are an Emperor, you were born with everything. In your eyes, all of this is beneath mention. Does that mean I’m also just a joke to you? Utterly insignificant?"

He gripped her shoulders, his unconscious strength threatening to crush her. But even though he was the one roaring, his entire being seemed about to be torn apart by his emotions. He was on the very edge of a desperate collapse.

He glared at her, his eyes filled with hatred and venom, as if he despised her to his very core.

And yet, tears streamed from the corners of his eyes, which looked as if they might split open. Their crimson tinge made it look as if he were crying blood.

It was as if another soul inside his body was screaming.

’Stop me. Please, stop me...’

’This isn’t what I want to say! Stop me...’

The strain was so great that the mask on his face fell away.

Behind the mask was, shockingly, the face of Meng Xuechen.

But now his eyes were savage and his face was twisted, completely devoid of that cold, otherworldly aura. He looked like a cornered beast driven to madness, desperate to rip into his enemy’s flesh.

He hated her with a crazed passion, yet he was in even more pain than she was.

His heart felt like it was being torn apart, dripping blood with every beat.

Xiao Yang said nothing. She tilted her head up and kissed his lips, which he had bitten so hard they were starting to bleed.

A gentle touch, a slight retreat, the lick of a tongue.

Not a single word was spoken, only kiss after gentle, patient kiss.

Mu Yunlian’s body trembled, shaking uncontrollably, as if it were being torn apart and pieced back together again.

After what felt like an eternity, he finally stilled. The hand on her shoulder moved up to cup her face, and he deepened the kiss forcefully.

His kiss was like his emotions—forceful, ravaging, and demanding.

He kissed her as if he wanted to chew her up and swallow her whole.

Xiao Yang was kissed until she went limp, forced to lean heavily against him.

Only when Mu Yunlian’s frantic emotions finally subsided did he pull her into his arms, holding her so tightly it was as if he wanted to crush her into himself, to meld her into his very bones and blood.

They clung to each other for a long, long time. At last, Mu Yunlian slowly released her and gazed down, his dark eyes burning with a scorching flame.

The corners of his eyes tilted up, forming a wicked curve.

He took Xiao Yang’s hand and gently placed it on his own cheek. His eyes held a sinister aggression, yet his movements were as docile as those of a tamed pet.

"Ah Yang, that coward is gone. You’re mine now."

Xiao Yang, who hadn’t yet fully recovered, felt her pupils tremble. ’???’

Mu Yunlian pecked her palm, his smile alluring and bewitching. "Sorry, did I scare you just now?"

Before Xiao Yang could answer, he leaned in and pecked her lips, then immediately pulled her into a hug. "It’s all right now. That fool is gone. Don’t be afraid."

Xiao Yang opened her mouth, truly stunned this time.

This face was Meng Xuechen’s, and yet it wasn’t.

His features were sharper, the corners of his eyes seeming longer and narrower.

If the previous Meng Xuechen was an ethereal figure, detached from mortal concerns, then the man before her now was a bewitching and dangerously obsessive lover.

There was no ethereal air to his features, only perversity, paranoia, and a hint of madness.

This was Meng Xuechen, and yet it was not.

’Seventeen years in the past plus twenty-four years in the present... He’s a completely new soul. His name is Mu Yunlian.’

He had been in this world for twenty-four years and suffered unimaginable torment. Though he was now wealthy enough to rival a nation, the pain of his past had torn him apart.

’Did he develop a split personality?’

The previous Mu Yunlian hadn’t dared to make a move. This new one, however, had her in his arms and was carrying her to the bed before Xiao Yang could even process her shock.

He lowered his head, trailing soft kisses and licks down her skin, his every move radiating sensuality.

Xiao Yang pressed a hand to his head and pushed him away.

"Stop acting crazy."

Mu Yunlian’s expression instantly darkened, twisted with jealousy. "You let him kiss you, but you reject me. Why?"

"He hates you. It’s all because of you that he came to this world and endured so much pain and torment. He was just starting to accept it all when you showed up. He suffered so much to get to where he is today, and you just appear as the Emperor. He hates how unfair fate is. He hates you."

"But what he hates most is that you don’t love him. You don’t even see him. He wants to kiss you, to have you—he’s desperate for it. But he still forces himself to act like the perfect gentleman you know, terrified of shattering your impression of him. Isn’t that just pathetic?"

He cupped Xiao Yang’s face. "But I won’t be like that. I don’t hate you one bit. I only want you."

Xiao Yang was speechless.

’So it’s true,’ she thought. ’Inside every quiet, reserved person hides a total motormouth.’

One moment he was just being awkward and moody, and the next he’d gone completely wild, spewing out whatever came to mind.

Seeing Mu Yunlian lean in for another kiss, Xiao Yang raised a hand and knocked him unconscious with a single palm strike.

’A perfectly good man, just fractured like that.’

’I need a minute to process this.’