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"Master, are you alright? Did Yino hurt you?" Xumo asked curiously when he saw his master suddenly fall silent.

"I'm fine... how could I easily fall into the hands of a mere mortal..."

Yuebai hugged herself, her silver teeth clenched, casually appeasing Xumo.

While enduring, Yuebai listened to Xumo's indignant description while recalling how she had resided in the sacred mark on Yino's hand, witnessing Xumo's pathetic state firsthand.

Even then, Yuebai had already lost all sympathy for Xumo.

She now felt Xumo was foolish and deserved his fate.

In the Azure Forest, Xumo had turned into a fawning dog the moment he saw Ruoning, ignoring Yuebai's warnings and insisting on offending Liuli to save Ruoning. Later, after being thoroughly cursed by Ruoning, Xumo ran to the bridge to reminisce about Yuebai, the master who had always accompanied him. His behavior truly disgusted Yuebai...

Not to mention that in the Azure Forest, this bastard had abandoned her and fled to save himself!

Despite his pitiful, aggrieved appearance now, Xumo's true nature was that of a foolish, cowardly ingrate!

Indeed.

How had Yuebai not discovered Xumo's true nature earlier?

Yuebai used to think Xumo was a decent person, but in retrospect, her judgment was far inferior to Jinyue's taste in men. No, that's not right...

Actually, Yuebai had known Xumo was garbage all along.

When she originally accepted the task of nurturing Xumo from the Celestial Master, wasn't it because Xumo was an unwanted little beggar who had never experienced family love? Xumo was handsome and gullible—Yuebai only needed to show him a little kindness, and he would obey her every word like a parent. Now that Xumo had abandoned Yuebai out of fear for his life, it could only be said that Yuebai was reaping what she had sown. Truly, karma comes full circle...

Had Yuebai known, she should have taken the Western Region assignment and let Jinyue accompany this foolish Xumo in Jiangnan to play house!

If so, perhaps after ten years, Yuebai would be dating Yino, while Jinyue wore a collar with a tail inserted, crawling on the ground like a little dog calling them master...

"Regardless!"

"Master, I'm so glad you're safe!"

Xumo seemed still immersed in the joy of reunion, completely oblivious to the white fox girl's head-lowered, teeth-grinding, increasingly angry expression.

He again tried to open his arms to embrace Yuebai, but she still looked at him with disgust, avoiding physical contact while revealing a murderous intent and warning from the depths of her heart.

"M-Master...?"

Xumo stood helplessly in place, feeling that after not seeing each other for some time, Yuebai's gaze had grown colder and harsher, completely losing the familial affection and gentleness she once had as his master.

"Don't touch me. Just looking at you makes me sick!"

Yuebai glared at Xumo, becoming very angry.

Xumo was supposed to be the Celestial Master's chosen one, but why was this so-called chosen one not even comparable to Yino in the slightest?

Yuebai felt irritated. She was already Yino's little fox, with no way to turn back, so there was no point in entangling herself with Xumo over these past matters. Yuebai didn't want to see Xumo's face at all, so she simply turned and left without another word.

"Master... are you still angry about my escape...?"

Xumo ran after her.

But Yuebai suddenly turned back, her golden eyes flashing with murderous intent, her cherry lips baring two small tiger teeth as she shouted:

"Get lost!"

"I said get away from me! Did you hear?"

"From today on, Xumo, you must keep a three-meter distance from me! If you dare pounce on me again, don't blame me for cutting you down! If you dare touch even one of my fingers, whichever finger touches me, I'll chop off that finger!"

Yuebai pointed at Xumo's head, speaking viciously. Perhaps due to her conditioned psychology, or perhaps due to the side effects of the spirit pet contract. Regardless, Yuebai now didn't want any male except Yino to touch her, or she would feel mentally uncomfortable.

"M-Master, please calm down... it was truly my fault then..."

Xumo was frightened.

In all these years, he had never seen his master so angry, even openly displaying such disgust toward him.

"Speaking of which, Master, where are you going?"

"Back to the Jianlan Sect!"

"But... Master, you're a fox demon... and that ring was lost in the Azure Forest... without the ring, how will you hide your identity...?"

Xumo followed like a little shadow, running after Yuebai and questioning her.

However, with the previous warning and murderous intent, Xumo now maintained a three-meter distance from the white fox girl.

"I no longer need the ring. My soul has another destination!"

Yuebai couldn't be bothered with Xumo and spoke flatly without turning back.

Her face showed both anger and shame.

The anger was because Xumo had the nerve to mention her ring, and the shame was because she recalled that after signing the spirit pet contract with Yino in the secret realm, Yino now wore a new white-gold ring on his right hand, with a white-gold sacred mark similar to the Nine-Colored Deer imprinted on his hand.

And Yuebai now had a matching set of ring and sacred mark!

The difference was that Yino merely wore the ring on his index finger, but Yuebai had to wear hers on her right ring finger, and the sacred mark merged with spiritual markings were engraved below her navel.

Yuebai knew that in the Western Region, a ring on the ring finger symbolized marriage. And in Central Plains medicine, the ring finger contained a meridian directly connected to the dantian. Wearing a ring on the ring finger, in a sense, meant Yuebai's dantian and spiritual root completely belonged to Yino.

Whenever she thought of this ring, Yuebai felt utterly humiliated.

Beyond the placement, even Yuebai's sacred mark differed from the Nine-Colored Deer's!

The Nine-Colored Deer had an almost equal spirit pet contract, but Yuebai's was more like a contract of servitude.

Yuebai had completely and unilaterally mortgaged her soul to Yino.

So now Yuebai had no need to bother with rings for Xumo.

She would simply sneak into the Jianlan Sect and disguise herself as a junior sister using illusions every day.

After all, that's what Jinyue had always done.