114. You Want Me to Beg You? Dream On.

"You are forbidden from making ink for the rest of your life!"

These six words struck like a thunderclap, ringing in everyone's ears. Gu Fei was the most affected; her eyes widened abruptly, the burgeoning turbulence in their depths resembling an endless desert, swirling with the wind until it became a fathomless, hazy expanse. Had her legs not been incapacitated, she would have leapt up on the spot.

Feng Lizhi stared at Mo Geyi in shock, his jade-like, handsome face unable to process the words for a long time. He understood the meaning of the six words individually, but hearing them from Mo Geyi’s mouth rendered them incomprehensible. Even Feng Puyu stared at Mo Geyi with sharp eyes; the small, thin old man suddenly radiated an aura as imposing as a towering mountain.

"I challenge you to a duel!" Gu Fei said coldly. She gripped the armrests of her wheelchair, her knuckles white with tension. Her face, pale as snow, exuded a chilling, abyssal frost under the morning sun, causing those nearby to shudder.

Mo Geyi sneered. He turned to face Gu Fei, lifting his chin with extreme arrogance. "You? Who are you? What qualifications do you have?"

Gu Fei narrowed her almond-shaped eyes, her mind racing. She analyzed Mo Geyi's motives: he was targeting her, but had started by going after Feng Lizhi, deliberately provoking him into an ink-making duel only to impose such a cruel condition. Could it be that he wanted her to beg him?

The two stared at each other, neither willing to yield, and for a long moment, no one spoke.

Wang Huayuan intervened, "I heard that the fifth young lady of the Gu family was lost outside for years and was only brought back by the second master, Gu Jiang, a few months ago." His tone practically labeled Gu Fei a lowly "illegitimate daughter."

Gu Fei did not even deign to look at Wang Huayuan. Like a fierce young beast, she stubbornly tried to tear a piece of flesh from Mo Geyi, even knowing she was outmatched. "What? Are you afraid?"

Unmoved by her provocation, Mo Geyi chuckled and glanced at Wang Huayuan. Raising an eyebrow, he asked, "Gu? She is no daughter of the Gu family, nor is she an illegitimate child. She is merely the maid of the eldest daughter of the Dajing Mo family, Mo Qingge..."

He paused, sweeping his gaze across the crowd, and continued in a voice everyone could hear, "Just a maid!"

If Mo Geyi’s earlier decree forbidding Feng Lizhi from making ink was a thunderclap, these words were a bolt from the clear blue sky. Before anyone could react, Wang Huayuan exclaimed, "No wonder! No wonder, no wonder..."

He repeated the phrase three times to ensure he had everyone's attention. As Mo Geyi looked over, he continued, "Is it possible she knows so many ink-making formulas and claims to have improved scented ink because she stole those recipes from the Dajing Mo family?"

The word "stole" hit Gu Fei like a meteorite falling from the sky, threatening to crush her into an bottomless abyss.

Mo Geyi frowned, feigning uncertainty. "As far as I know, the Mo family treated her well during her ten years in Dajing. So, Sister Fei, would you care to explain where the scented ink formula came from, and why it is so similar to the Mo family's 'Butterfly Scented Ink'?"

If Wang Huayuan's words had been groundless speculation, Mo Geyi’s words branded Gu Fei as a thief, burying her in a hell from which she could never escape. Yet, Gu Fei merely pressed her lips together, her small, pointed chin set in an icy, rigid arc. She watched him act out his drama, listening as he poured filth upon her.

She realized then that he hadn't exposed her identity two days ago because he was waiting for this moment—forcing Feng Lizhi into a dead end to trap her in a state of total isolation, where she would be condemned by all.

He wanted to leave her with no choice but to beg him!

Realizing this, her pale lips curled, and her eyes flickered with a wild, unrestrained amusement. She began to laugh, louder and louder, until the clouds under the vast sky seemed to scatter.

The entire ceremony fell silent. Everyone watched her, their expressions complex.

"Mo Geyi, this is all you are capable of!" Gu Fei said with icy contempt. Her words were like blades, stabbing at him with a ferocity that suggested she would rather perish than yield. "Thievery and deceit—it is truly fitting that only you and your sister would be alike."

Mo Geyi’s face darkened instantly. He glared at her with venomous hatred; had there not been so many people present, he would have lunged at her and crushed her throat.

Gu Fei was equally ruthless. "You want me to beg you? Dream on!"

"I want to see how you intend to leave Yizhou City after driving me into a corner," she said recklessly. Having torn away the facade, she no longer cared to play nice. "If you do not duel me today, I swear I will ensure that Mo Qingge receives nothing but your corpse!"

She began to threaten him; after all, she had cleared out his subordinates the previous night, and when it came to ruthlessness, she had never feared anyone.

"I am just a branch-family bloodline of the Mo clan. Compared to your noble, direct-descendant status, an eye for an eye is a bargain for me!" She added the final straw, certain that Mo Geyi feared death far more than she did.

Sure enough, Mo Geyi frowned, his eyes flickering, and he remained silent for a long time.

Wang Huayuan acted like a clown, shouting, "Audacious! In this clear and bright Great Yin, how can a mere woman be so rampant, speaking of taking lives..."

"Noisy!" Gu Fei spat the word out, casting a sidelong glance at Wang Huayuan that silenced him as if his throat had been gripped by an invisible hand.

"Duel me, or," Gu Fei said expressionlessly, "retract your words!"

Mo Geyi didn't want to choose either. He stepped closer to Gu Fei, slowly bending down to grip the armrests of her wheelchair, bringing his face level with hers. "And if I choose neither? What will you do?"

"The Feng family must either hand over the hammering technique, or Feng Lizhi must never touch ink again," he said, smiling. Amidst his haughty demeanor, the demonic mole under his eyelid flickered with evil intelligence. "Furthermore, you must beg me!"

Gu Fei could barely restrain herself from slapping him. A roaring fire burned in her chest, hot enough to boil her blood. With no outlet for her rage, the overwhelming negative energy within her thickened, nearly manifesting as a physical beast.

"Fine. You had better ensure you stay alive long enough to return to Dajing!" As she finished the sentence, she tasted the metallic tang of blood in her mouth.

Mo Geyi straightened up, looking down at her as if she were a pathetic ant. "You were clever to tamper with my ink pellets, but it is a pity. You spent the first ten years as a stepping stone for Qingge, and as for the next ten... no, perhaps you won't have ten more years. Since you left the Dajing Mo family, you cannot be allowed to remain in this world."

"How could you ever compare to Qingge..."

"As you wish," Gu Fei retorted with the same words. "I will never let you and your sister off for the humiliations of the past, including the grudge against my brother. It is a fight to the death!"

Having said this, she signaled to Nightingale behind her to fetch Feng Puyu and Feng Lizhi. At this point, she could not protect anyone; she could only provide the Feng family with a final path of retreat.

Feng Puyu was a sensible man of virtue. He finally understood that Mo Geyi was coveting the Feng family's "Ever-Changing Willow Hammering Technique." Thus, taking Gu Fei’s cue, he stepped forward, took the silent Feng Lizhi by the arm, and prepared to leave.

Passing by Mo Geyi, Feng Puyu stroked his silver beard. With a stern, humorless face, he said, "Young man, it is better to be humble. Taking what is not yours by force will only bring ruin upon yourself!"

With that, Feng Puyu turned and left with Feng Lizhi, showing no regret for missing the rest of the ceremony. Gu Fei smiled coldly, gave Mo Geyi a meaningful look, and turned her wheelchair to follow them.

Wang Huayuan stomped his feet and roared, "You little thief, spit out the formulas you stole from the Dajing Mo family..."

You Er emerged from nowhere, his tower-like frame shielding Gu Fei. Hearing Wang Huayuan's slander, he turned and glared with eyes as large as copper bells, snorting in a way that caused Wang Huayuan to turn pale and retreat several steps.

Once they were out of sight, Mo Geyi cupped his hands to the crowd and shook his head with a sigh. "A family misfortune, truly a family misfortune..."

Curiosity being human nature, someone asked, "May I ask, Young Master Mo, what is the true identity of the fifth young lady of the Gu family?"

Gu Min and the others, who had not yet left, looked extremely embarrassed. Mo Geyi did not answer, merely shaking his head repeatedly.

"I know this matter all too well," Mo Yan said, standing out with one hand behind his back, stroking his black beard. "Ten years ago, in the Yizhou branch of the Mo family, I had a cousin named Mo Hui..."

Mo Yan recounted the story, not telling lies, but conveniently omitting certain parts. "And so, at the tender age of five, she was taken to the Dajing Mo family to be raised." He looked at Mo Geyi. "I am not entirely clear on what happened after that."

Mo Geyi stepped in seamlessly. "Ah Fei came to the Dajing Mo family. Because she was the same age as my sister Qingge, my grandmother made them playmates. Everything Ah Fei ate and wore was provided according to the status of a direct descendant, just like Qingge. We did not treat her poorly. At first, they were indeed close, but later, when Qingge’s talent for ink-making emerged and she was hailed as a genius by the elders, I suspect Ah Fei felt dissatisfied because she could not keep up..."

If Gu Fei had been there to hear these words, one could only wonder what she would have thought.

After Mo Geyi finished, the venue fell silent for a moment, followed by a chorus of condemnations against Gu Fei. Some called her ungrateful, others accused her of returning kindness with evil, and some even turned their eyes toward the Gu family, asking snidely about the blood-testing ceremony that had taken place previously.

Gu Min did not know the truth, so Gu Zhong stood up and said indignantly, "That girl must have tampered with it!"

Mo Geyi sighed, appearing to console them. "Master Gu, do not blame yourselves. Ah Fei... she has always been deep and full of schemes. Even back in Dajing, Qingge was often manipulated by her, which is how she came to know so many of the Mo family’s secret formulas."

The atmosphere in the venue erupted into an uproar. Thanks to Mo Geyi’s deliberate efforts, Gu Fei’s reputation was utterly destroyed. From that day on, she would be treated like a rat crossing the street, and the small foothold she had fought so hard to establish in Yizhou vanished completely.