Wei Ping and Ruang Ning were flabbergasted at this turn of events. While Ruang Ning had figured that everything was already known, he still thought that Li Yu Rong would play along and follow them into the Ice Forest. Then, it would be whoever reacted quickest to win the game in the end.

Although Li Yu Rong had that mad ghost, An Ying, he and Wei Ping had that guy. They had been given permission to summon Mao and his Shaqi with a special signal. This favor was graciously offered as insurance should they run into any issues during this capture plot.

Yet, who knew that it would end up this way? Though aware that Li Yu Rong had a splendid mastery over arrays, able to create his own equations, it simply went beyond his expectation that this partial demon would pull this kind of ploy.

Didn't one usually lure the enemy into a false sense of security before striking when able to catch him unawares?

….

Oh, wait... this is exactly what had been done.

Realizing this, understanding that he had been outmaneuvered, Ruang Ning felt a sense of shame fill his being. He always prided himself on being a splendid tactician. Yet, here and now, in his haste to rectify his blunder, he overlooked one critical fact.

Li Yu Rong was already aware of their involvement.

In trying to trap him by luring him to the Ice forest, Ruang Ning was trapped himself.

The failure was his fault, yet, also wasn't his fault.

Trying to capture Li Yu Rong the first time had been extremely stressful. Then, being told to prevent that demon's subordinates from traversing through the teleportation array wasn't any less of a burden on the heart. Honestly, who wanted to face the renowned Mad Ghost and Godly Doctor?

To make matters worse, the wrong person had been captured, and Li Yu Rong was still free to roam about. Who would be able to think properly under such pressure? The only thing that made it somewhat bare able, though not by much, was that the Quick Handed Rouge wasn't present.

Though famed with such a name among the Spirit Realm residents for his shameless womanizing, he was by no means a character one would wish to cross.

So, assuming that it was the Quick Handed Rouge mistakenly nabbed by the Shaqi, some of the pressure slamming down on Ruang Ning eased. So what if, even with just one of them, they were a surging force of power? With as many being beneath his command, just waiting for the signal he had been granted, what did he have to fear?

Besides, so long as everything was denied, what could be done?

Ruang Ning affected a look of ignorance and hurt. Squinting his eyes, as if in disbelief to be questioned thus, he said. "We, too, lost a person and were merely trying to get him back. I only thought that by combining our numbers, we would have a better chance at success. I don't understand where you got-"

As he continued his speech of lies, Li Yu Rong grabbed at his chest as his brows scrunched down painfully. A look of intense worry with a trace of fear crossed his eyes. "Stop," he said with a heavily hoarse voice, "I don't have time for your superfluous words. An Ying, if he won't speak than he doesn't need a tongue. Take it."

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Wei Ping felt a chill down his spine as he was watched that emotionless ghost slowly make his way toward Ruang Ning. His dark copper eyes looked, unable to turn away, while that mad ghost grabbed at the delicate jaw and pried open rose-colored lips. All struggles had been made fruitless under his unrelenting strength, Ruang Ning's screams rending the air as his tongue was pulled from his mouth.

For the first time, he couldn't help but be grateful that despite his heroic visage, he always slipped into the background like some unimportant side character. Then, another cold order fell from that demon's lips that chilled his blood.

"Lu Se Ying, stop the blood and don't let him choke to death. He can still write." Then, as Lu Se Ying quickly undertook the task, he added. "An Ying, one by one, if they don't talk, pull their tongues." Then he snidely spat. "If it can't be used to talk, then what good is it?"

After sprinkling a powder that lessened the flow of blood and sewing up the wound, Lu Se Ying handed a pouch full of the same blood staunching powder over to An Ying. After nodding to his master, that he was in fact done, the pair disappeared with a flash of light once they stepped on to the array.

-----------------

A baby...

Making a baby....?

The words echoed about her brain a whole five seconds or more before they registered. When they did, her body stiffened up as panic began to settle in her chest while her limbs fell into a sort of shaky numbness that burned.

To make a baby you had to...

Sure enough, his mouth fastened to her neck before drawing the tip of his tongue down the length to her clavicle where he roughly sucked on its flesh. His free hand also didn't sit still as his fingers danced across the supple skin beneath her robe.

'Calm down,' the voice called from the confines of her mind, 'he won't do anything more to you.'

Nastasia could hear none of it as she panicked and struggled. "Wh-What does any of the earlier stuff have to do with making a baby!? Isn't this just an excuse to...Ah!" Her words ended in a yelp as he bit her collar, the force of his closing jaw nowhere near delicate.

Snorting, the man said. "Didn't you hear anything I said before?" His free hand began to part her robes as he talked. "To open a gate to a specific realm, world or wherever requires a special type of energy plus the ability to manipulate space." He paused to drop another lingering kiss along her shoulder, lightly biting the bone there. "You have a special energy within you, one that's needed. I have the ability to manipulate space. The child we create will have both."

"So you see, this is absolutely necessary." Removing the sash that was keeping his robes closed, he used it to tie up her arms despite her desperate struggles. Once tied securely, he moved her to a sitting position and pressed her tied wrists against an array on the wall, activating it. Afterward, it was like being bound to the wall with a chain and shackles, like a prisoner.

He chuckled lightly as he added. "You can talk all you want and try to distract me, but it won't work. Remember...?"

"I said I wouldn't make the same mistake twice."