Chapter 72 "Please, don't leave her behind."

Hua Miaozhi’s expression was filled with malice as she spoke. In truth, she harbored her own concerns. What if the Ninth Prince changed his mind and came back for this useless, ugly girl? Therefore, she mustn’t lay a finger on her—not even a single strand of hair!

Regardless, alone in the Forest of Demon Beasts, there could only be one end for her: death.

“Are you all finished?” From beginning to end, Baili Tianchang listened to their curses and scorn with an air of indifference, as if untouched by their ridicule. Only after Hua Miaozhi and her companions had said all they wished did Baili Tianchang speak, her voice light and unhurried.

“If you’re not done, I have no patience to keep listening. Since you’re all in such high spirits, why not remain in this Devil’s Forest and talk to your hearts’ content? As for me, the object of your gossip, I won’t be keeping you company any longer. But come to think of it, isn't it my honor that your every joy and sorrow, every action and word, are all stirred by a useless, ugly girl like me? So, will you be leaving, or shall I?”

“Hmph, the only thing tough about you is your mouth! Do you even know what it means to be stubborn to the end? In the Devil’s Forest, even the hardest bones are ground to dust by the demon beasts. Good luck to you!”

Hua Miaozhi and her companions had never expected that their threats and curses would be met with such composure from this so-called useless, ugly girl. After her cold words to Baili Tianchang, Hua Miaozhi turned to her senior brothers and sisters.

“Let’s go. We have tasks to complete. Haha, when we return, perhaps we’ll find a scrap of her hair or a tattered piece of her dress to show the Fourth Prince what became of his so-called rival in love!”

“Don’t worry, junior sister. One is a celestial maiden in the heavens, the other, mud on the earth. Mud will always be trampled underfoot,” the others mocked, their voices dripping with pride as they spoke to Hua Miaozhi.

“Let’s go!” With a command from the eldest brother, the group strutted away from Baili Tianchang, smug and self-satisfied.

“Don’t abandon her here. She saved every one of our lives! Senior brothers, sisters, please, we can’t repay kindness with ingratitude by leaving Miss Baili alone in such a perilous place!” Mu Yan’er, knowing full well she had lost the right to speak, still could not bear the thought of her benefactress being devoured by demon beasts.

“Mu Yan’er, since you’re so sentimental and sympathetic, why don’t you stay here with her?” Hua Miaozhi sneered, giving Mu Yan’er a cold, contemptuous look.

“Junior sister Mu, if you keep going against us like this, don’t blame us for ignoring all bonds of sect and kinship,” the eldest brother warned with authority.

Ignore her? You’ve long since abandoned me. When the Nine-Tailed Demon Mink attacked me, you all had already made up your minds to leave me for dead, hadn’t you? Mu Yan’er sneered inwardly, though she dared not voice her thoughts aloud, for now she still needed their help.

“I beg you, don’t leave her here alone. Please, I’m begging you,” Mu Yan’er pleaded with these heartless companions.

“Even the Ninth Prince, who brought her into the Devil’s Forest, has given up on her. Why are you still worrying about her? Do you not wish to go with us?”