"I also knew that outside of town two years ago, the wolves that chased after me did not come on their own; they were summoned. That was you warning me that I can't ever run from you, that you have dozens of ways to finish me off, right?"

Chang Geng quietly continued, "Only a barbarian knows how to manipulate wolves. Ever since we arrived in Yanhui Town, you have been in contact with the barbarians. I guess that you are also a barbarian woman. Back then, when you locked me inside a cupboard, I saw a man coming in to tear away your clothes. There was a symbol of a wolf on your chest."

Xiu Niang laughed softly: "Barbarians...you actually call us barbarians..."

Her laughter continued to get louder and louder until she eventually ran out of breath.

Xiu Niang's sharp laughter came to an abrupt end. She grabbed her chest and coughed harshly. Chang Geng instinctively raised his hand as if attempting to help her, but he retracted it upon realizing his action, his fingers balling up into a fist.

A trail of blood flowed through Xiu Niang's fingers, and a drop landed on her soft-yellow dress, its color a shocking purple-black.

Chang Geng was stunned. In the end, he stepped forward: "You..."

Xiu Niang grabbed his arm and tried with all her might to straighten her back, shaking like a withered leaf under the cold wind. She grabbed a half piece of a jade pendant from the bottom of her makeup box and pushed it into Chang Geng's hand, smearing it all over with her blood.

Her face was as white as snow; the blood smeared on her lips was more vivid than the lip color. She glared at Chang Geng with a pair of bloodshot eyes:

"My name is not Xiu Niang, that name is for a woman of your Central Plains.. I am called Hu Ge Er, which means Ziliujin at the heart of the earth..."

She was choked by her own words. After a painful coughing fit, she spurted out blood, dyeing the front of Chang Geng's robe in red.

"Unlucky...Ziliujin." The woman let out an odd cry, her breathing gradually becoming erratic. "My elder sister was the Goddess of Longevity; even the Wolf King worshipped her, you...

"You are the little monstrosity that I raised with my own hands." She gave a dying laugh, "No one will love you; no one will treat you with sincerity..."

She struggled to hold onto Chang Geng's wrist. Her sharp nails pierced his flesh and the iron wristband on the boy's arm: "This is the Yun Pan wristband, a portion of the Black Armor - especially made by those dark demons of the Black Iron Camp, who gave you this? Huh?"

Chang Geng immediately pushed her away as if he had just been burnt.