"My, your lovers truly seem quite **weak**," a completely unfamiliar male voice resonated from above Xiao Jinsheng. The voice was unexpectedly pleasant, yet it held an undisguised hint of danger.
"They can't even protect their own female. Why not consider leaving them and choosing **me**?" A warm, large hand gently cupped Xiao Jinsheng's cheek, lifting her chin.
Xiao Jinsheng then saw a tiny **flame** flicker to life, and vaguely, she could discern that this flame was burning on a slender, jade-white fingertip. The fingertip moved slightly, and the flame danced outwards, igniting the golden candelabras of the palace along its path. This also allowed Xiao Jinsheng to clearly see the man kneeling before her: a grotesque **demon mask**, which, in the dim environment, presented a significant shock to her.
Xiao Jinsheng recoiled in fright, stumbling and sitting down on the ground. She looked at the tall man in the demon mask, dressed in solemn, luxurious attire, and chuckled awkwardly, "I'm a bit timid, so I'll **respectfully decline**."
"Heh." A pleasant chuckle emanated from the man. "I saved you, shouldn't you **thank me**?" He sat cross-legged on the ground with Xiao Jinsheng, his palm propping up his chin, his arm resting on his leg, and asked languidly, "Don't all you females believe in repaying a life-saving favor with oneself?"
"But I'm timid, and you're wearing a mask, which frightens me," Xiao Jinsheng said, her eyes moist and her red lips tightly bitten as she tentatively spoke. "How about you take off the mask, and I'll **consider it then**?"
"Take off the mask? That's not possible."
The man shook his head, shifting his posture and leaning in towards Xiao Jinsheng, who was still seated on the ground. He took her hand and touched his demon mask with it, his voice laced with temptation. "Of course, if you let me become your **only beast husband**, then as your spouse, you can take off the mask."
"And if we can't become spouses?" Xiao Jinsheng asked hesitantly.
From beneath the demon mask, a soft chuckle emerged, his words light and teasing. "Then… I'll **eat you**."
In the dim environment, the candlelight accentuated the demon mask, making it appear even more hideous and terrifying. Xiao Jinsheng had heard that in the Misty Continent, besides normal beast-humans, there were also **corrupted beast-humans**. They were not controlled by the terminal and fed on human blood, living in the west of the Misty Continent. Xiao Jinsheng realized that she had clearly encountered the rumored corrupted beast-human at this moment.
She hastily tried to appease him. "Handsome, **calm down**."
"Your condition, I'm not entirely unable to agree to it."
Xiao Jinsheng attempted to communicate with him, "All five of my beast husbands are currently in the process of divorcing me. I'll be able to divorce all of them once I return from the west of the Misty Continent this time."
"Since you want to be my only beast husband, how about **waiting a few more days**? You can come find me after I've gone back to the east of the Misty Continent and divorced them?"
"Since the beauty invites, and considers it so thoroughly, I naturally have no reason to refuse," the man's laughter conveyed his pleasure; he was clearly in a good mood.
"Li?" Xiao Jinsheng asked, puzzled.
"Mm, your only beast husband, my name," Li's red eyes, obscured by the demon mask, stared intently at Xiao Jinsheng's crimson lips. He lifted Xiao Jinsheng's chin, leaned in, and forcefully **kissed** her, their lips pressing tightly together. Before Xiao Jinsheng could react and push him away, he had already pulled back.
The demon mask, which had previously covered his entire face, also transformed into a half-mask during the kiss, revealing a smoothly contoured jawline, and thin lips curved upwards, stained with a hint of red. Li raised his finger and wiped his thumb across his lips, then looked at the red stain on his fingertip. His red eyes fell upon Xiao Jinsheng's smudged lip makeup from the kiss, and he chuckled softly, "**Rose-flavored**?"
"It suits you well, both of you are thorny."
"You, you, you—" Xiao Jinsheng lunged at Li in a fit of pique, punching and kicking him, but aside from leaving footprints on his body, she inflicted no damage.
"Tired from fighting?" Li smiled, seizing Xiao Jinsheng's fist as it aimed for his lower body. "**I'm 10-star**, and your mental energy is currently 1-star. You can't break my defense."
"How… how many stars?" Xiao Jinsheng asked, shocked.
Neither in her memories nor in the plot, at this current timeline, was the highest-ranked young beast-human higher than Bai Yan's beast husband, Jin Ao, who was an 8-star ability user. The Misty Continent wasn't without 9-star users, but they were all in the middle-aged generation; among the younger generation, Jin Ao was still the most powerful. But this man before her, both from his voice and the exposed skin, appeared to be quite young.
"I don't believe it." Xiao Jinsheng withdrew the foot she had placed on Li's shoe, attempting to see through the mask to the face beneath.
"I know that 10-star abilities allow for complete beast transformation. Since you won't take off the mask for me, you can at least **transform**, right?"
"Let me see your 10-star beast transformation power."
"Not now," Li said with a smile, shaking his head. "Want to see my complete transformation? You'll have to **divorce those five men first**."
"Don't worry, I definitely will," Xiao Jinsheng said, trying her best to appease him. Her thoughts raced, and she whispered, "How about you **marry me first**? Once we're married, I'll immediately divorce them, how does that sound?"
"Sounds like a good idea," Li said, lowering his head and stroking his chin in thought.
Seeing that he was genuinely considering it, the little person inside Xiao Jinsheng excitedly rubbed her hands together. *Just you wait, you dare to kiss her by force! Once they were married, with the terminal to protect her, she'd make his life a living hell.*
"However… Xiao Jinsheng, is it?"
Li sat on the ground, supporting himself with one hand, and looked up at Xiao Jinsheng standing before him. His imposing aura increased rather than diminished. "I saw your behavior, threatening your five ex-husbands with divorce."
"Are you trying to marry me first, then **threaten me**?"
She had imagined that after marriage, Li would be at her mercy, regretting and raging. But Xiao Jinsheng hadn't expected her plan to backfire so quickly. She had met Li in this dimly lit palace, whose location she didn't even know. But from Li's words, it was clear that he had been **secretly observing** her during her two-day journey in the west of the Misty Continent.
"You've been spying on me!" Xiao Jinsheng accused, though she already knew the answer in her heart. She thought of the bloodied figure that had forced her to fall from the building. "That **bloodied figure** was your doing too."
"Using fog corpses to scare people? My methods aren't so crude," Li scoffed. "That was a **6-star fog corpse**. It's normal that your ex-husbands, with their limited strength, didn't notice."
"As for spying…"
"I merely, when bored, discovered a thorny rose being chased by a lame fog corpse on the rooftop, utterly terrified and panicked."
"8@#**&%" Xiao Jinsheng glared at him fiercely, muttering incoherently under her breath.
"What are you saying?" Li asked curiously.
"Praising you for being **handsome**," Xiao Jinsheng replied tartly.
"Thank you," Li chuckled, then added, as if remembering something, "It's your privilege. Can I be a male Bodhisattva then?"
"Just shut up!" Xiao Jinsheng crouched down and clapped her hand over his mouth, intending to physically silence him, but her palm felt wet and itchy. Her face flushed crimson, and she quickly pulled her hand away, her trembling index finger pointing at him. "You… you **licked** me! How could you do that?!"
"Shh." Li grasped her wrist tightly, his thin lips pressing against her fingertips. "Don't say I didn't warn you, your **beast husbands are coming**."
"If you yell any louder, they'll hear us."
For some reason, hearing that the five men were approaching made Xiao Jinsheng feel oddly guilty. She struggled, trying to pull her hand away, but her wrist was held tightly by Li. He leaned closer. "You wouldn't want to expose me to your five ex-husbands right now, would you?"
"Then hurry up and go!" Xiao Jinsheng urged in a low voice.
Li, however, pointed to his own lips and said with a smile, "**Just a seal** and then I'll leave. It'll be easier to find you after your divorce."