Chapter 227: Evil Thoughts

“I want you to treat me!” Although Lan Ling had kicked him, she still stubbornly refused to admit fault.

“Yeah, yeah, you, Miss Bigshot, don’t need anyone’s help. But why aren’t you using the wound medicine issued by the Empire?”

“That kind of medicine leaves scars when you spray it. I…,” Lan Ling’s heart raced, nearly blurting out that she was worried about not being able to get married later. Fortunately, she caught herself in time. She glared at Yang Hao, “What’s it got to do with you?”

“My medicine is purely herbal. It might heal wounds slower, but it definitely won’t leave scars. Once healed, the new skin will be even softer,” Yang Hao sighed and rubbed the spot where he had been kicked.

Lan Ling felt deeply embarrassed, realizing she had misunderstood him. Yet, her personality refused to admit fault, so she stubbornly retorted, “Then… then why don’t you use it yourself?”

“There’s only enough of the herbs for you. I’ll just use the regular wound medicine. After all, I’m a guy, I don’t care about scars or not being able to get married,” Yang Hao said casually, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m not worried about getting married either,” Lan Ling muttered softly. Looking at her wound, she found it already felt much better. Thinking she wouldn’t be scarred and would remain as flawless as before, she felt secretly delighted. She stole a glance at Yang Hao, who was still sitting on the floor rubbing the spot he had been kicked. Unexpectedly, her heart started pounding, a sensation she had never experienced before.

Under Princess Xianlan’s influence, Lan Ling had never held any favorable opinion of men. Logically, she should have looked at Yang Hao, a man with such a notorious reputation, with disdain. Yet, something strange stirred deep within her.

But quickly, Lan Ling forcefully suppressed those feelings. After all, Yang Hao was currently a suspect in the assassination attempt on the Emperor, and she was a member of the Imperial Guard. One was a criminal, the other an officer of the law—there was no room for fanciful thoughts.

They had no further conversation that day.

Later, Yang Hao went out for a while and returned with news that the planet was eerily quiet. He couldn’t determine their exact location, nor did he see any intelligent life. Without his powers, he couldn’t fly tens of thousands of kilometers in a day, so he just wandered around the vicinity. Not even encountering wild animals was considered good fortune.

That night, the man and woman, the fugitive and the soldier, stayed in the same thatched hut.

Lan Ling naturally took the bed, and Yang Hao said nothing, simply lying down on the floor fully clothed. Before sleeping, Yang Hao handed the silver spear to Lan Ling, half-jokingly saying, “You’d better hold on tight. If a pervert like me tries to sneak into your bed at night, you’ll have to stab me hard.”

Lan Ling had indeed been worried about this, but she was too embarrassed to say so. Now that Yang Hao had mentioned it, she felt even more flustered.

Seeing her blushing, Yang Hao found her even more enchanting and felt a stirring in his heart.

He teased, “Stab away, but aim properly. Don’t touch my vital areas or my face.”

Confused, Lan Ling asked, “I know not to stab certain places, but why shouldn’t I stab your face?”

“Didn’t your princess tell you…,” Yang Hao sneered and closed his eyes to sleep, “that I’m a pretty boy?”

That sentence made Lan Ling’s face even more flushed. Princess Xianlan had indeed called Yang Hao a pretty boy, which was why Ling Ziyun had fallen for him.

Now, under the fading light of the sky, Lan Ling looked at Yang Hao. Indeed, his face was clean-cut and handsome, his figure tall and upright. Among nobles, he would still stand out as exceptionally handsome. More importantly, he lacked the effeminate air typical of aristocrats from the capital, exuding instead a refreshing vitality. Yet, there was always a trace of melancholy in Yang Hao’s eyes, as though something weighed heavily on his heart.

But it made sense. Yang Hao was young but already had an almost legendary background. As the ruler of Shen Yu Autonomous Territory, one of the Ten Directors of the Merchant Guild, and the founder of his own organization and sword school, his achievements were unmatched even by all the young nobles of the Empire combined.

And he was so handsome.

Looking at Yang Hao’s sleeping face, Lan Ling was momentarily entranced. As she gazed, an uncontrollable ripple stirred in her heart. Until she finally drifted into a drowsy sleep, Lan Ling had half a night of nightmares and half a night of sweet dreams.

In the first half of her dreams, her Snow Night Star Lion squad was completely wiped out in a bloody battle. She watched helplessly as her subordinates and the Snow Night Star Lions fell into pools of blood, unable to rescue them.

In the end, the enemy reached her, and Lan Ling, unable to defend herself, saw the Emperor of the Empire struck down by several beams of white light and die before her eyes.

Lan Ling felt as if she were witnessing the end of the world. Everything she cherished was destroyed in the flames of war, and finally, she herself collapsed on the battlefield, unconscious and drenched in blood.

But halfway through this nightmare, everything suddenly turned bright. It turned out that after she fell, she wasn’t dead. A handsome swordsman rescued her, bringing her to a sunny, peaceful planet where he cleaned her wounds and cared for her meticulously.

In her drowsy state, Lan Ling felt the handsome swordsman’s face becoming clearer, as if mist were clearing from her eyes. When everything finally came into focus, she realized that the young swordsman was actually Yang Hao.

Yang Hao smiled and leaned in, seemingly about to do something untoward.

Lan Ling suddenly became alert, grabbed the silver spear in her hand, and thrust it hard at Yang Hao’s face. That thrust woke her up completely. Sweating profusely, she jumped out of bed and realized it was already dawn. The night of alternating nightmares and sweet dreams had passed easily.

She hurriedly checked herself from head to toe. Her clothes were intact, though her pants were already torn, leaving her underwear exposed. Lan Ling carefully examined her underwear and, upon confirming it hadn’t been tampered with, finally felt reassured.

But soon, Lan Ling noticed she was missing something—her silver spear was gone.

Of course, Yang Hao, who had been sharing the room, was also missing.

Suspecting something, Lan Ling hopped on one foot to the window and peered outside. There was Yang Hao, shirtless, with his pants rolled up, holding her silver spear and spearing fish by the lake.

It was simply… a sight to behold.

Among the nobility living on Earth, few had ever seen a real large lake. It seemed that aside from hidden places like the Merchant Guild, there were no natural lakes left on Earth. So for a girl like Lan Ling, who had rarely even seen natural lake water, the sight of someone spearing fish was practically unheard of.

And yet, there he was—Yang Hao, one of the most celebrated young martial artists in the Empire, the founder of the largest sword school at such a young age, and someone who had even dared to challenge the Senate. A young and handsome noble like him, engaging in such a rustic activity, was naturally enough to stir the imagination.

Even Lan Ling was just a girl. She rested her chin on her hand, sitting by the window watching Yang Hao happily playing by the lake, a smile forming on her lips, lost in her thoughts.

Whether it was his skill or the weapon, Yang Hao actually managed to catch many fish. He returned triumphantly with a pile of fresh fish. Seeing that Lan Ling was already awake, he nodded and greeted her, “Little girl, we’re having grilled fish for lunch today.”

Lan Ling giggled, burying her face in the table, pretending not to notice Yang Hao.

Yang Hao, however, was quite content. He cheerfully went around looking for firewood, used the tip of the spear to kill and clean the fish, and was just about to start grilling when he suddenly realized—he had no fire.

This seemed like a serious problem. In the past, Yang Hao could have easily produced real fire with his inner energy, or used Shadow Moon, which had a fire attribute. But now, without any inner energy and unable to summon Shadow Moon, he couldn’t exactly resort to rubbing sticks together to make fire.

Sitting there pondering for a while, Yang Hao walked back to the window of the thatched hut and patted Lan Ling’s head, saying, “Hey… little girl, we don’t have any fire.”

“No fire?” Lan Ling, who had been eagerly waiting for the fish, was suddenly deflated. “How are we supposed to eat without fire?”

“It’s simple to get fire, but you have to listen to me,” Yang Hao said with a tempting smile.

Lan Ling hesitated. Although she thought Yang Hao might be dangerous, the temptation of fresh fish was still strong. She pouted and nodded.

Yang Hao picked up a “Lian Rong Dan” from the table and handed it to Lan Ling. “Eat this.”

Lan Ling took the pill and sniffed it. It wasn’t too bad, just a bit spicy. She asked, “What is this?”

“It’s a supplement I usually take,” Yang Hao grinned slyly. “Eat it, and I guarantee we’ll have grilled fish.”

Lan Ling pinched the pill between her fingers, mustering her courage before finally swallowing it.

The alchemy pills of the Dan Ding sect worked quickly. Within ten seconds, Lan Ling felt a surge of heat rising from her dantian. Even more embarrassingly, a strange, tingling sensation of desire began to rise within her.

Seeing Lan Ling’s face flush red, her chest rising and falling more intensely, even revealing the clear outline of her snowy cleavage, Yang Hao’s mind stirred with a few wicked thoughts. If the woman before him had been a wicked one, Yang Hao might have acted without hesitation. But Lan Ling was extremely innocent. If he truly seduced her, Yang Hao would feel guilty.

So he raised a wooden stick in his hand and said, “Quick, blow a breath of energy onto this.”

Lan Ling didn’t think twice, assuming that if she expelled this hot energy, the strange sensations in her body would disappear. Following Yang Hao’s instructions, she exhaled a breath of energy. The surging heat within her instantly rushed out, transforming into a jet of flame in midair, turning the wooden stick in Yang Hao’s hand into a torch.

Seeing the fiery energy expelled through the Lian Rong Dan, Lan Ling felt relieved. However, before she could even calm herself for a second, she realized something was wrong. Although the fiery sensation had disappeared, the sensual desire within her body seemed to persist—and intensify.

It was a feeling she had never experienced before. It felt as though tiny insects were crawling slowly over her skin, creating an itchy, unbearable sensation that spread throughout her body, leaving her flushed and breathless.

Yang Hao, torch in hand, was quite satisfied. “Big Boss Lan, there’s one thing I forgot to tell you—the Lian Rong Dan, aside from being my daily supplement, is also an aphrodisiac. So it’s inevitable that you might feel some arousal.”

“What… what did you say…?” Lan Ling’s eyes brimmed with anger. She was about to lash out when the itching and heat within her intensified further. She could only bite her lip, squeeze her legs together, and avoid speaking, her face flushed red.

Yang Hao quickly made his escape, tossing a final sentence over his shoulder: “Little girl, you have strong martial arts skills—after all, you’re a sword saint. Use your energy to suppress the arousal, and it will fade soon. If you really can’t handle it, come find me.”

“Damn it!!!!!” Lan Ling’s anguished scream echoed through the skies of the planet.

With her legs tightly crossed, feeling the dampness soaking her underwear, the young female sword saint bitterly regretted not listening to Princess Xianlan’s advice. She should have knocked Yang Hao down at the very beginning.

About two hours later, Yang Hao was already eating his third fish when Lan Ling finally came hopping out of the house on one leg, her face dark with anger.

Although her expression was grim, she didn’t immediately lash out. Even seeing Yang Hao roasting fish with her silver spear didn’t provoke her to fury. She even reached out to take a grilled fish and started nibbling on it.

“Not planning to take revenge on me anymore?” Yang Hao chuckled mischievously.

Lan Ling’s face reddened again. She bit into the fish more fiercely, as if she wanted to chew Yang Hao up like the fish. But she still muttered something under her breath.

Yang Hao strained to listen and finally made out what the little girl was saying: “Thank goodness you didn’t take advantage of me, or I’d have killed you right now…”

Yang Hao cast a sly glance and noticed a large damp spot on Lan Ling’s little panties. It seemed the effects of the Lian Rong Dan had been truly potent, causing even a sword saint to experience such turmoil.

Realizing Yang Hao was looking at her, Lan Ling, though accustomed to his lecherous gaze, quickly closed her legs and tried to change the subject casually:

“Y… you know how to catch fish?”

“You nobles don’t know anything. I come from a commoner background.”

Yang Hao handed another fish to Lan Ling, who was happily munching away, before continuing, “We commoners were brought up in colonial group homes by the Empire. Our group home was by a lake, and my friends and I often sneaked out to catch fish to eat.”

The Galactic Empire’s policies toward commoners were harsh, especially in the core regions, where children of commoners were taken at a young age and placed into state-run group homes. The Empire selected individuals with potential for specific roles, while the rest were sent to distant colonies to fend for themselves without concern for their survival.

Yang Hao had been destined for such a fate, but fortunately, through some unknown stroke of luck, he had been chosen by the prestigious Rayman Star Academy, which paved the way for his current achievements.

“What about your old friends?”

Yang Hao’s expression stiffened, feigning calmness as he replied, “I don’t know. I heard the planet is dead.”

Lan Ling felt a pang in her heart, naturally understanding what Yang Hao meant. In recent decades, planets across the galaxy had been dying one by one. These planets seemed to have had all their natural energies drained, eventually becoming lifeless, devoid of gravity, light, heat, or any signs of life.

Naturally, Yang Hao’s childhood friends had long perished along with their planet.

Yang Hao chuckled, breaking the gloomy atmosphere. “To be honest, I’ve always wanted to catch a few fish for fun. Today, I finally got my wish.”

Lan Ling was devouring the fish hungrily, completely abandoning any noble decorum. “Now that you’re a noble, why bother thinking about your past as a commoner?”

“Being a noble wasn’t my dream,” Yang Hao shook his head repeatedly. “My biggest dream is to find a paradise like this and quietly live here with the woman I love.”

“Oh,” Lan Ling suddenly blushed without reason.

Yang Hao slapped his thigh, as if making a significant decision. “Then, let’s just stay here and never go back.”

Yang Hao laughed heartily, dispelling the somber atmosphere: “Actually, I’ve always wanted to catch a few fish for fun. Today, I finally got my wish.”

Lan Ling devoured the fish ravenously, with none of the refined manners expected of nobility: “You’re a noble now. Why bother thinking about your past as a commoner?”

“Being a noble was never my dream,” Yang Hao shook his head repeatedly. “My greatest wish is to find a paradise just like this, then live quietly with the woman I love.”

“Oh.” Lan Ling’s face flushed inexplicably.

Yang Hao slapped his thigh as if making a grand decision: “How about this—let’s just stay here together and never go back.”

Lan Ling’s face turned even redder. She cursed inwardly, thinking Yang Hao must be a mind-reading worm in her stomach—how else could he always know what she was thinking? But as the great leader she was, she remained defiant: “In your dreams! I still have to drag you back to face justice. You, the emperor’s assassin, are just waiting to be beheaded.”

“Beheaded? Would you really let that happen to me?” Yang Hao teased with a grin.

Lan Ling was about to retort when she suddenly noticed something strange. The discovery instantly sharpened her expression, and the commanding aura of a warrior returned to her.

The sky had changed color. What was once a clear blue with drifting white clouds had abruptly turned a deep, blood-like crimson. The clouds had vanished entirely, as if a scarlet curtain were slowly unfurling across the heavens.

“What’s going on?” Yang Hao also noticed the intensifying red in the sky, so vivid it made the veins in his eyes pulse.

Lan Ling didn’t answer, but her expression grew graver. She snatched the silver spear from Yang Hao’s hand, channeled her energy, and with a flash of silver light, erected a faint barrier around them.

To Yang Hao, the barrier seemed as powerful as a shielding spell. Lan Ling might look like a delicate beauty, but the strength of a Sword Saint was no joke.

“What’s happening?” Yang Hao studied Lan Ling’s furrowed brows and the unshakable gravity on her delicate face. “Have they found me?”

“You assassinated His Majesty. The entire empire is probably searching for you,” Lan Ling said coolly. “It was only a matter of time before they tracked you here—though it happened faster than I expected.”

Yang Hao chuckled. “If they’re here to arrest me, why are you protecting me?”

The question gave Lan Ling pause. Their identities were supposed to be at odds—Yang Hao was at least a suspect in regicide, while Lan Ling was a rightful member of the Imperial Guard. By all logic, she should be the one apprehending him. Yet at the first sign of danger, she had instinctively shielded him within the barrier.

Had she, without realizing it, stopped seeing Yang Hao as a criminal? If not a criminal, then what was he to her?

“Execution? You really think you could bear to see me die?” Yang Hao grinned playfully, half-joking.

Before Lan Ling could retort, she suddenly noticed something strange. This realization immediately made her expression serious again, and a vigorous heroism returned to the woman.

The sky had changed color. The once azure blue sky, dotted with drifting white clouds, had abruptly turned into a blood-red hue, as if a crimson curtain was slowly being drawn across the heavens, the clouds completely vanished.

“What’s going on?” Yang Hao also noticed it. The red in the sky grew more intense, even causing bloodshot streaks in their eyes.

Lan Ling didn’t speak, but her expression became increasingly grave. She grabbed the silver spear from Yang Hao’s hand, channeled a surge of inner energy into it, and the spear radiated a brilliant silver light, forming a faint barrier around the two of them.

In Yang Hao’s eyes, this barrier actually possessed the power of a protective spell. Although Lan Ling appeared to be nothing more than a beautiful girl, her strength as a sword saint was no joke.

“What’s happening?” Yang Hao looked at Lan Ling’s furrowed brows and her previously carefree face, now clearly weighed down with seriousness. “Have they found me?”

“You assassinated the emperor; the entire empire is probably looking for you,” Lan Ling said calmly. “It was only a matter of time before they found you here, though even sooner than I expected.”

Yang Hao, however, smiled. “If they’ve come to capture me, why are you protecting me?”

This question made Lan Ling hesitate. Their positions were clearly opposing. At the very least, Yang Hao was a suspect in the attempted assassination of the emperor, while Lan Ling was an official member of the Imperial Guard. Logically, she should be responsible for capturing Yang Hao. Yet now, at the first sign of strange skies, without hesitation, Lan Ling had instinctively shielded Yang Hao within the barrier.

Could it be that, deep down, Lan Ling no longer regarded Yang Hao as a criminal? If not a criminal, then what was he to her?