The light in Cha Jin’s eyes dimmed. “Why not kill me?”

Su Yi sheathed Guiding Mysteries. “If that senior apprentice brother of yours finds out I’ve taken you captive, will he come save you?”

Cha Jin was briefly dazed, but she quickly understood Su Yi’s intentions. She couldn’t help but sigh, “I understand. You plan to use me as bait to make my senior apprentice brother show himself.”

“You’re not so stupid after all,” said Su Yi. Suddenly, his hand shot out, and he wrapped his fingers around Cha Jin’s snowy-white neck. He held her aloft, her back facing him.

Cha Jin’s expression changed dramatically. “What are you doing?

The hand clamped around her neck, and her entire body went soft and limp. She could barely breathe, nor could she exert any strength at all.

Now, with her back facing Su Yi, in this position and at this distance, she felt an indescribable sense of shame and indignation.

Su Yi ignored her. He just extended his right index finger, pressed his fingernail straight against the snowy white skin of her back, and started outlining.

A sudden, piercing pain made Cha Jin go rigid. Her breathing sped up, and she couldn’t...