The Beloved Guide Was Forced in a Love-Rival Shura Field - Chapter 5

The air felt like it had frozen.

No, worse than frozen—it was that suffocating stillness before a volcanic eruption, the kind that could crush a person alive.

Two S-class mental force fields clashed in the hall. One belonged to the Second Prince, Gu Qingfeng—his was sly, insidious, and everywhere, like a knife hidden beneath a smile. The other belonged to Marshal Xiao Lin—violent, unrestrained, as if ready to destroy heaven and earth.

And Ning Ning was the pitiful cookie filling crushed right in the middle.

His whole body bristled in alarm, his legs weak as freshly boiled noodles, barely keeping him upright.

On one side was Gu Qingfeng’s gloved hand, extended with elegance and temptation. On the other side was Xiao Lin’s icy stare, so sharp it felt like it was boring two holes straight through him.

Help! Who wants this kind of overflowing fortune?!

【Host! This is your golden chance!】 System 89 screamed in his head, overly excited. 【Quick! Point at Gu Qingfeng’s nose and call him a toad lusting after swan meat! That’s the mission! That’s how you get home!】

Home, my ass! I’m about to lose my life here!

Ning Ning was on the verge of tears, lips trembling like a sieve, unable to get a single word out.

Just then, Xiao Lin moved.

He strode forward, long legs purposeful, ignoring the horrified gazes of nobles scrambling out of the way. Each heavy step of his military boots landed like a hammer on Ning Ning’s chest.

He didn’t look at Gu Qingfeng. Those bottomless, jade-green wolf eyes locked solely onto Ning Ning’s bloodless, terrified little face.

“Ning Ning,” the man’s voice was low, like sandpaper scraping across the heart, carrying a command that brooked no refusal. “Come here.”

The sound made Ning Ning’s body flinch involuntarily.

Gu Qingfeng’s smile didn’t waver. He kept his hand extended, even stepping forward protectively, before lazily lifting his gaze toward the approaching man.

“Marshal Xiao,” his tone was gentle, but barbed, “look at you, you’ve frightened him.”

“My person doesn’t require the Second Prince’s concern.” Xiao Lin’s voice was cold enough to drop ice. His gaze finally tore away from Ning Ning, colliding with Gu Qingfeng’s in mid-air like sparks.

“Your person?” Gu Qingfeng chuckled, eyes gleaming with amusement. He deliberately glanced at the nearly tearful Ning Ning. “Funny, I heard Young Master Ning is still single. With someone this adorable, who wouldn’t be fond of him? Surely, Marshal, you aren’t so domineering as to forbid others from pursuing him?”

That exchange sent the temperature of the ballroom plummeting to an arctic freeze.

All the guests held their breath, eyes wide with disbelief. The Empire’s war god of a Marshal and its most beloved Prince, facing off in public—for the sake of one obscure little B-rank guide?!

This melon was too big to swallow!

【Warning! Warning! Plot deviation critical!】 System 89’s alarm blared off-key. 【Host! You’re supposed to be a despised, vicious cannon fodder, not some adored sweetheart! Hurry, make a fool of yourself! Drag the plot back!】

Make a fool of myself?

Yes. That was it.

A spark lit up in Ning Ning’s brain. He looked at Xiao Lin’s eyes—eyes that looked ready to swallow him whole—and his heart pounded. With a reckless breath and clenched teeth, he made a decision that shocked everyone present.

He didn’t go to Xiao Lin.

Instead, he stretched out a trembling hand and, under everyone’s watchful eyes, lightly placed it in Gu Qingfeng’s palm.

Instantly, he felt the temperature of the stare behind him vanish, replaced only with an icy killing intent that seemed capable of freezing his very soul.

Surprise flickered in Gu Qingfeng’s eyes, then his smile deepened. He closed his fingers around Ning Ning’s hand and with a tug, drew him smoothly into the center of the dance floor.

The music began again—but who could pay attention now?

Ning Ning couldn’t dance. His limbs were stiff like a puppet’s, steps clumsy and chaotic as Gu Qingfeng led him around.

But Ning Ning had only one thought—fall!

I’ll fall in the most ridiculous, humiliating way possible, right here in front of all the Empire’s elites! That’ll count as a disgrace, right?

He spotted a turn, deliberately twisted his ankle, and yelped as his body tipped forward, ready to crash headlong onto the polished floor—

But the expected pain and humiliation never came.

A black shadow streaked faster than the eye could follow!

An iron-strong arm cut through the air like lightning, catching him firmly around the waist.

The world spun.

He felt his body hauled up by an unstoppable force—and the next instant, his feet left the ground. He was cradled securely in a scorching, steel-hard embrace.

Xiao Lin had swept him up in a flawless, domineering princess carry.

Time itself seemed to halt.

The ballroom fell into utter silence.

Ning Ning’s head tipped back, eyes crashing into Xiao Lin’s abyssal green gaze. Within them raged storms, burned flames, and churned a possessiveness so thick it could never dissolve—but at that moment, all of it reflected only Ning Ning’s small, panic-stricken silhouette.

The cold metal buttons of the Marshal’s uniform dug painfully into his back, yet through the fabric came a heat so fierce it felt like it could scorch him raw.

The strong scent of pine—icy, aggressive, laced with gunpowder—wrapped around him completely, seizing every one of his senses.

It’s over… I’m going to be marinated alive…

Ning Ning’s heart thundered out of control, pounding so loud it seemed ready to burst from his throat.

Heat rushed up his neck to his face and ears, staining them bright crimson.

And in that moment—spurred by his panic, shame, and fear, by the unbearable closeness to a top-rank sentinel—his damned, uncontrollable Divine Charm Aura exploded like a barrel of gasoline dumped onto a raging fire.

It detonated.

An invisible, colorless wave of mental force, sweet and cloying like warm milk, surged out from the two of them, flooding the ballroom like a tsunami.

At first, only the nearby young sentinels froze, eyes going dazed.

Then the wave spread wildly.

One by one, conversations faltered. Guests turned their heads as if pulled by invisible strings, gazes snapping toward the couple at the center of the floor.

Their expressions shifted rapidly—from awe, to fascination, to a frenzy of greed, obsession, and madness.

“Ah… Young Master Ning…”

“Gods, how can he be… this adorable…” A young officer muttered, dropping his wine glass with a sharp crash.

“My heart… it’s going to burst… I must have him!”

“Young Master Ning! Look at me! I’ll give you everything I have!” The blond youth Alan, who had tried to flirt earlier, was the first to lose control. His eyes bloodshot, he screamed and pushed forward.

“No! He’s mine! Ning Ning, I love you! I’ll die for you!” Another noble’s face flushed scarlet as he lunged.

“Get lost! Ning Ning is my god!”

“He’s mine! Mine!”

The once-elegant aristocrats now resembled beasts robbed of reason, shoving and cursing as they surged toward Xiao Lin and Ning Ning.

Chaos erupted instantly.

At the edge of the floor, Gu Qingfeng’s warm mask finally cracked. He could feel just how terrifying this spiritual storm was—even he had nearly faltered.

He steadied his mind, but in his black eyes swirled unprecedented shock and fervor. This was no mere guiding ability—this was… divinity.

A miracle.

A power capable of overturning the Empire—one that must be bound firmly in hand.

“Silence!”

Xiao Lin’s roar exploded like thunder across every mind in the hall, an S-class sentinel’s mental force slamming down with annihilating weight.

Cradling the trembling bunny in his arms, his gaze swept coldly over the ravenous crowd. It wasn’t anger burning in those wolf eyes—but a killing intent so sharp it promised to grind every covetous soul to dust.

He looked down. Into Ning Ning’s tear-blurred, bewildered violet eyes. His heart clenched painfully, as though crushed in an invisible fist.

Inside his chest, the beast called Possession howled madly, demanding everything be torn apart.

Then, before everyone present, he lowered his head with deliberate reverence and pressed a gentle kiss to Ning Ning’s smooth forehead.

Lifting his gaze again, his voice rang out—domineering, absolute, echoing enough to shake the whole Empire.

“He is mine.”

“Anyone who dares look again—I’ll gouge their eyes out.”

The words fell like the final judgment of Death, plunging the frenzied hall into instant silence.

As for Ning Ning—stunned by the sudden kiss and brutal declaration—the last fragile thread of his sanity snapped.

This wasn’t just courting death. This was a death sentence.

That kiss, that claim—it was the foundation stone of the cage he’d be trapped in for life.

Seizing the moment as Xiao Lin’s attention wavered from subduing the crowd, Ning Ning burst free of the iron embrace with desperate strength.

Like a rabbit driven to the cliff’s edge by hunters, he tore through the stunned onlookers and fled the hall in a stumbling panic.

…

In the palace gardens, moonlight spilled cold and sharp as ice.

Ning Ning curled up behind a giant angel statue, gasping for breath, his whole body trembling.

He’d escaped.

But he knew—it wouldn’t last.

From the direction of the hall, two blazing, possessive gazes—one bright, one dark—were locked firmly on his trail, clinging like shadows.

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