His jaws dropped.

"What?!" Qingyu could sense his heart bleed. Even in this form, he was sure he still had some class. How is it that in her eyes, he was perceived as a pig? A stupid one on top of that.

Hongyue frowned; she had quite liked the name, "You don't like it?"

Qingyu stared at her in disbelief. Who was so wrong in the head enough to like a name like that?

Hongyue waved her hand dismissively. Fine. If he didn't like it, she'd just change it.

"Dumb pig."

How was that even better? However, before Qingyu was able to answer her, Hongyue was already crouching in front of him. She had her hand out and stared intensely at him with her different colored eyes.

Qingyu stared back at her blankly. What did she want this time? As if Hongyue heard his inner thoughts, she vocalized her intention.

"Compensation."

He didn't know if he should laugh or cry. During the whole fight, he remembered it was just him getting one-sidely attacked. He hadn't even exchanged a single blow.

"You were the one who attacked me," Qingyu uttered, feeling wronged.

Hongyue frowned, "I took out your poison, was lenient with you, and also gave you a new name. Since I'm currently injured because of you, you should give me compensation."

THAT was being lenient?! She was the one who poisoned him in the first place.

And...and as for the name, who would want such a stupid name.

Qingyu marked down all the complaints in his heart; one day, he'll make her pay him back in full. Why was she so unreasonable? Can she genuinely bear to bully a beautiful child like this?

Actually, Hongyue wouldn't have cared at that much who it was; she just wanted something for her loss.

"Well?" She pressed.

"We're doing this as an exchange for the truce, right?", Qingyu articulated with his teeth clenched tightly.

He needed to make sure she would promise not to attack or kill him.

Hongyue had been contemplating the same idea. While they did fight, it was just a simple exchange, so it could only be described as her testing his skills. There shouldn't be any lingering hard feelings; after all, they both weren't able to take the other one out. He didn't appear to harbor any killing intent towards her anyway. As she looked at him, Hongyue recalled what the Stone-Faced Pervert had said to her that night.

"Investment."

"What?" He grumbled numbly.

"Investment for our truce," Hongyue repeated.

Qingyu felt his mind had shattered. When did he have to be the one to give a gift to others? Usually, it would the other way around, not to mention who didn't want to be in a truce with him? People would die for his protection.

But!

This woman cared nothing about it. Nor did she know, so he could only listen to her with bitterness in his heart.

He slipped his hand inside his robe and brought out a pure jade white flute. Shiny white vines wrapped around the long smooth surface, and it held an alluring charm. But Hongyue only looked at it disdainfully.

"It's an instrument that can hypnotize your enemies," Qingyu explained. In reality, there was a lot more history behind the flute, yet Qingyu only gave her a simple answer to test her. It was a high-grade weapon that could be used to turn your enemies into your puppets. It was a much sought for by magic users, and here it was, being given away for an uncertain investment of a truce. He watched her reaction.

Hongyue merely glimpsed at it with no interest.

"Don't want it,"

Qingyu paused. Did she not know, or did she had something better than it? He glanced at her again; it didn't seem like she knew the genuine value of it. He sighed; she was known as the good-for-nothing miss. Other than her mysterious power, she really didn't seem to know much. If that's the case, he'll be helpful and explain it to her.

"This is a high-grade weapon of level ten. You can use it to confuse opponents and overpower them to be your puppets. You'll also be able to make their elemental abilities listen to you as well," He explained carefully, handing the flute over again.

Hongyue stared at him like he was stupid; she could make something better than that with her own powers. Why would she need an inferior instrument like that?

"Don't want."

"Did you even listen to wh-"

"Don't want it."

Qingyu could only take back the flute at her unyielding front. He reached inside his sleeves and showed off his pale arm with a pitch-black bracelet; he pulled his bracelet before he offered it to her.

"Here."

This time Hongyue looked on with interest; it was something she liked. The bracelet was made of pitch-black metal folds. If you unlatched the end, the folds could be corrugated into something else. She took the ornament and twisted the curves, collapsing them into the shape of a fan. Qingyu observed her movement with surprise. It was his personal weapon, so he hadn't thought she would be able to figure out how it worked. This weapon wasn't as highly graded as the flute, but it was highly versatile. With an experienced twist of a hand, by forcing the individual pleats in place, you could change it to a fan or a whip. It was convenient and lightweight. Qingyu looked at Hongyue; his interest grew increasingly stronger.

Hongyue felt his eyes on her; she sneered before she lashed out another attack to his head with the newly formed whip.

Crack!