Chapter 1: Phoenix Women's Prison

On the prison yard of Phoenix Women’s Prison, the only man in the place sat idly as a procession of female inmates, all in uniform, lined up before him with shameless flirtation and brazen charm, each one trying her utmost to catch his eye. He was Li Mo Xuan, and for the women of the prison he had become the sole object of their longing.

Three years ago, his beautiful master had sent him here, telling him that the inmates suffered from all manner of strange ailments and that this would sharpen his medical skills. At first, Li Mo Xuan had been so exhilarated by the sight of those alluring women of every shape and temperament that he had nearly convinced himself he had come to paradise. He had been ready to throw himself into his craft, determined to win over every last person in the prison.

Yet within a month, he had been utterly defeated.

People said women become wolves at thirty, tigers at forty, and can still strip the earth bare at fifty. But in Li Mo Xuan’s eyes, the beauties in this prison, though mostly in their twenties and thirties, were all like industrial-strength vacuum cleaners.

Still, just as his second master had promised, his medical skill had improved by leaps and bounds over those three years, and his cultivation had advanced from the energy-refining stage into the foundation-building realm. He had truly entered the ranks of the cultivators.

According to the rules of his sect, once he reached the peak of the foundation-building stage, he would be allowed to return to the mortal world and emerge from prison like a dragon breaking free.

But he had not yet reached that peak. Instead, these one thousand and ninety-five days and nights had worn him down first, leaving him drained day after day.

That blissful emptiness from being used up to the core—who among his family could possibly understand it?

“Mr. Li, someone has come to see you!”

At that moment, the prison director, a stunning woman with short hair and a narrow waist that swayed as she walked, approached with the polished confidence of an older beauty, not forgetting to send Li Mo Xuan a coquettish glance.

“Could it be that Second Master has returned?”

Li Mo Xuan’s eyes lit up at once. He ignored the prison director’s alluring look, pushed aside the soft bodies in front of him, and rushed toward the reception room.

“Oh my, Mr. Li is so handsome!”

“I’m done for. Mr. Li just touched my waist. His hand was so strong!”

Behind him, the female inmates all wore lovestruck expressions as they gazed at his departing figure with tenderness and devotion.

There was nothing to be done. Most of them were serving life sentences, and in a women’s prison, stumbling upon a man at last was like discovering a rare treasure. They would have been terrified to let him slip from their grasp.

When Li Mo Xuan arrived at the reception room and looked through the bulletproof glass at the woman waiting there, he could not help but pause.

The visitor was not his second master.

She was tall, fair-skinned, with long black hair casually draped over her shoulders. Beneath her neat bangs, her eyes were proud and cool as she sized him up with a sharp, appraising gaze, carrying the icy air of someone who kept the world at a distance.

“So you’re Li Mo Xuan?”

The woman lifted her brows slightly, her expression marked by the arrogance of the privileged, as if merely coming here to see him was already an act of charity.

Yet Li Mo Xuan remained calm. He pulled out a chair and sat down.

“Excuse me, and you are?”

“You don’t know me?”

Clearly thrown off by his response, the woman had never imagined he would not recognize her.

Was this some kind of deliberate act of restraint?

“My name is Qin Si Yu. I am your fiancée.”

“In fact, I only learned about this engagement from my elders not long ago. And I also only just found out that my future husband is a worthless criminal, locked up in prison—and in a women’s prison, no less.”

As she spoke, Qin Si Yu’s gaze drifted downward toward Li Mo Xuan.

Was this man imprisoned in a women’s prison because he was neither fully male nor fully female?

That shouldn’t be. From the looks of it, he seemed rather well endowed.

Qin Si Yu’s cheeks flushed red at the sight of the slight bulge below Li Mo Xuan’s waist, and she quickly looked away in alarm.

“You’re my fiancée?”

Li Mo Xuan glanced at her in mild surprise.

Before leaving, his second master had indeed prepared a whole stack of marriage contracts for him, but he had recently developed an allergy to women and had never once opened them.

“So you came to see me today because…”

“That’s right. I’m here to break off the engagement.”

Qin Si Yu’s tone was resolute as she met his gaze directly, as though afraid he might refuse. She went on, “Li Mo Xuan, I know this is hard for you to accept at first, but you’re nothing more than a poor criminal, and as for your physical condition… cough, cough, I’m sure you understand. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be locked up in a women’s prison.”

Her voice softened a little, as though she intended to persuade him with both reason and sentiment.

“Between us, whether in terms of biology or status, it’s impossible.”

“If you really can’t let go, we can still be sisters!”

Sisters?

What in the world?

He was a hundred percent male. If she didn’t believe it, she could come check the merchandise herself.

Li Mo Xuan’s face darkened. This woman looked like a celebrity—so why was her eyesight so terrible?

He could not help rolling his eyes.

“Miss Qin, as for how my body is, you needn’t trouble yourself. After all, every girl in this prison has already inspected it.”

“As for being sisters, let’s forget that. And the engagement? No problem. I was just worrying about all these marriage contracts anyway. Once I get out, I’ll return yours. There are too many of them; they take up space. I even use them as a pillow at night, and they’re such a nuisance that they dig into me.”

Qin Si Yu nearly suspected she had heard wrong.

What on earth was this?

Too many of them take up space?

So many that he used them as a pillow and still found them uncomfortable?

She almost wondered whether she was hallucinating. Did this man even know what he was saying?

She had spent the entire night awake over this engagement contract, because marriage was no small matter—it concerned a woman’s happiness for the rest of her life. It was a decision that happened only once.

And yet this man in front of her had not taken it seriously at all. He used marriage contracts as pillows, and even claimed he had too many?

No, this man must be lying because he was too ashamed to be dumped. He was simply making up such flimsy excuses to save face.

Yes, that had to be it.

He was a mix of freak and prisoner. Not a single punctuation mark from his mouth could be trusted.

Qin Si Yu’s emotions, which had been as unstable as a roller coaster, quickly settled back into composure. A curve of disdain lifted the corners of her red lips.

“Get out? And you still think you can leave after being locked up here?”

“Li Mo Xuan, I don’t know what crime you committed. But I’ve looked into you. Your parents are nothing more than ordinary farmers in Peach Blossom Village, in Wu City, who worked themselves half to death just to send you to college. Yet before you could even finish university, you vanished mysteriously.”

“You were missing for six years, until three years ago, when you were sent to this Phoenix Women’s Prison.”

Her contempt only deepened.

“You should know that anyone locked up here will never get out for the rest of their life.”

“I’ll say it plainly. A poor criminal like you, even if you really are a man, is not worthy of becoming my Qin Si Yu’s fiancé, nor of becoming my Qin family’s son-in-law.”

“So I advise you not to entertain any foolish ideas. Return my marriage contract at once, and perhaps I can even help your Li family through this crisis.”

Her words were sharp and aggressive, nearly laying bare every last detail of his background. Yet Li Mo Xuan’s expression remained unchanged, until he finally heard her last sentence.

“Help my Li family through a crisis? What do you mean by that?”

Without warning, Li Mo Xuan felt his heart tighten, and an ominous premonition rose faintly within him.