Chapter 274: Drawing the Five-Thread Heart Lock
Nan Xun stared at the three black dots on the little paper figure’s face for a long while. Suddenly, she found them oddly sinister and ridiculous, and burst out laughing.
“My lord, you really did the finishing touch here. Such a cute little paper figure instantly turned into an ugly freak—hahaha…”
She laughed so hard her body trembled, sitting on the man’s lap, shaking nonstop.
“Duoduo, don’t mess around. Continue,” Gong Moran said suddenly, reaching out to lightly grip her slender waist, signaling her to behave.
But that casual squeeze made Nan Xun’s laughter cut off abruptly, her body jerking hard.
“My lord, that’s my ticklish spot. You’re not allowed to pinch it again.”
A glint flashed through Gong Moran’s eyes. Not only did he ignore her, he very seriously pinched that spot again—once wasn’t enough, he pinched it several times in a row.
The woman in his arms instantly let out a series of shrill cries, half laughing and half screaming, laughing until tears came out, and finally begging for mercy again and again.
Damn it, Gong Moran was insane. His character setting had completely collapsed! What happened to the cold, aloof immortal? Was it really appropriate to pinch her ticklish spot so seriously?
And to make it worse, that bastard even said in a puzzled tone, “Such a strange ticklish spot. This seat has no flesh anywhere on his body that can produce such an effect.”
Nan Xun’s mouth twitched. “You’re full of old flesh, of course you don’t have ticklish spots like that.”
She’d said it without thinking. The moment she noticed the Big Boss’s face darken, she deeply regretted it and immediately added fawningly, “My lord, in my eyes you are an immortal god—eternal, beautiful, and noble.”
Gong Moran shot her a sidelong glance and told her to get back to proper business.
After cutting out the paper figure and writing down the birth details, Gong Moran began teaching her how to draw the formation. Inscribing such a complex array onto such a small paper figure required absolute focus.
He thought she’d need several practice runs before daring to draw, but instead, she put brush to paper immediately and completed it in one smooth motion.
“My lord, what does this formation do?” Nan Xun asked curiously.
“This is a Heart Lock Formation. What I taught you is the simplest kind—the Five-Thread Heart Lock Formation. You should see it: there are five thin lines within the formation, each representing one strand of malicious intent. Every time this person generates a malicious thought, one line will automatically snap. When all five are severed, the person’s heart will suffocate, and they will die—killing without leaving a trace.”
After a pause, he glanced at her and added lightly, “This witch formation is mostly used to punish evildoers. The one who sets it will suffer no backlash.”
Nan Xun was amazed. “So as long as Princess Yao doesn’t harbor ill intent, she’ll be fine. But once she forms malicious thoughts—more than five of them—she’ll suddenly die? But my lord, how is ‘malicious intent’ judged? Everyone has evil thoughts sometimes. I even think about killing people occasionally.”
Gong Moran smiled faintly. “It must be the intent to kill or seriously harm others, and the same malicious thought must persist for some time to count.” After a brief pause, he added, “However, for those who can kill without changing expression, this formation automatically becomes ineffective.”
Nan Xun muttered inwardly: That last line… are you talking about yourself?
She understood his explanation. In other words, if Princess Yao merely had fleeting murderous thoughts, it wouldn’t count. Only if she constantly fixated on harming or killing someone—when the malice grew too intense—would the Five-Thread Heart Lock Formation sense it and snap a thread.
Nan Xun inserted the paper figure with the formation into the ashes of the incense burner. The five lines of the formation faced her clearly.
Just as she was about to look away, she suddenly saw something and her eyes widened.
One of the five lines was slowly fading from the middle, growing lighter and lighter, until it vanished entirely—like it had snapped clean in half.
What the hell, that fast?
Nan Xun looked at Gong Moran, who said calmly, “The formation was just completed, yet one thread has already snapped. That shows this person has harbored malicious intent for a long time—intense and deeply rooted.”
Nan Xun nodded. “Obviously, the person she wants to kill most right now is me.”
Then she suddenly smiled brightly at Gong Moran, blinking slyly. “My lord, can you guess why her killing intent is so strong right now?”
Gong Moran looked at her silently, waiting for her to continue.
Nan Xun chuckled. “Because today I said a few things to Princess Yao and thoroughly enraged her. My lord, do you know what I said?”
After deliberately building suspense, she continued, “I said I already slept with you. The immortal god she worships was defiled by me. I became the demoness in her heart—the one who sullied the god she revered. Of course she wants me dead.”
Gong Moran’s gaze flickered. He suddenly flicked her forehead lightly with his finger. “Naughty.”
Then he fell into thought.
After a long while, he looked at Nan Xun and suddenly said, “Duoduo, I have nothing to do tomorrow morning. So tonight, you may… defile this god at will.”
Nan Xun’s face instantly went blank.
She only wanted to tease the Big Boss in a roundabout way. What the hell did the Big Boss just say?
Defile… a god?
That night, Nan Xun didn’t even manage to pretend to sleep—she was forced to “defile” him.
In the main hall of Mo Ran Hall, an intensely sensual scene played out: a seductive demoness tempting the aloof, immortal Grand Preceptor. The entire time, the Grand Preceptor maintained his restrained, ascetic expression—yet his actions were anything but restrained, fierce enough to nearly throw Nan Xun’s back out.
Nan Xun sobbed internally. Immortal god, my ass—what nonsense!
Then she suddenly remembered: they forgot to close the windows.
Damn it, damn it. Didn’t that mean her ghostly wails all night were heard by everyone outside?
Shame piled upon shame, until Nan Xun grew calm.
Thick skin could be trained, after all. She firmly believed her skin would only grow thicker in the future.
Early the next morning, Nan Xun, sleeping on the inner side, quietly opened her eyes. Seeing the man beside her still sound asleep, she carefully climbed over him, trying to get out of bed.
Just as one leg crossed over him, and one arm followed, the sleeping man suddenly opened his eyes, hooked her waist, flipped her over, and without a word started pressing her down again.
Nan Xun grabbed the bedsheets tightly. Though she was being “pressed” mercilessly, she couldn’t hear a single sound of heavy breathing from the man behind her.
For some reason, Nan Xun felt annoyed and suddenly said something incredibly suicidal:
“My lord, that’s too light. Be heavier.”
Heavier…
The man behind her paused noticeably.
The next second, Nan Xun forgot who her parents were.
