“You…”
Xie Lin’s sword began to shake: “Did you know about the Heart-Eating Lotus all along?”
Xiao Jin took a bite of the sugar cake, nodded with puffed-out cheeks: “Mm.”
“The Golden Lotus Bone puppets in the East Sea?”
“Mm.”
“Is Lin Miaomiao actually a manifestation of a lotus seed?”
“Mm.”
“Have you been using me to collect the Golden Lotus Bones from the very beginning?”
Xiao Jin finally swallowed the cake. His finger, stained with sugar frosting, suddenly poked Xie Lin’s left eye: “This question—”
A familiar, infuriatingly smug smile, which Xie Lin hated so much, appeared in his eyes: “costs money.”
The Heart-Eating Lotus suddenly rioted!
Gold and black filaments shot out from Xie Lin’s left eye, but the moment they touched Xiao Jin’s fingertip, they suddenly softened—
Those filaments actually curled around the other man’s finger of their own accord, acting as affectionately as a small animal rubbing against its master!
“See? It recognizes me.”
Xiao Jin took the opportunity to stuff a chestnut pastry into Xie Lin’s mouth: “Just like how you always miss your target by three inches every time you try to assassinate me.”
The sweet, cloying taste exploded on the tip of his tongue. Xie Lin suddenly tasted the flavor of the blood-soaked candy.
No, even earlier than that…
It was that “poison” Xiao Jin had forced him to take when they first met after his transmigration.
“A sugar-frost trap.”
Xie Lin’s sword clattered to the ground: “You’ve been… since the very first time we met?”
Xiao Jin suddenly grabbed him and pulled him into the storage closet.
In the cramped space, their noses were barely an inch apart.
Xiao Jin’s hand shielded the back of Xie Lin’s head, his breath carrying the scent of sweet osmanthus: “The Law Enforcement Hall is searching for spies from the Demonic Sect.”
His Adam’s apple moved: “You have three sentences to ask questions now.”
“Why did you save me?”
“Because your Heart-Eating Lotus will bloom.”
“What exactly is Lin Miaomiao?”
“My safety catch.”
Xie Lin grabbed Xiao Jin’s collar: “Last question”
“Whose side are you on now?”
Xiao Jin suddenly laughed.
This smile was unlike any other Xie Lin remembered.
It carried thirty percent madness, seventy percent tenderness, and one hundred percent Xiao Jin-style provocation: “On the side…”
He leaned down and nudged Xie Lin’s left eye: “…that can see you crying until you bloom.”
The door of the storage closet was suddenly split open by sword qi!
Amidst the angry roar of the Law Enforcement Hall elder, Xiao Jin backhanded his life-bound sword into his own shoulder, and with his eyes wide in shock, Xie Lin watched Xiao Jin’s lips move to form the words:
【Run】
The instant blood splashed onto Xie Lin’s cheek, he saw the new mark branded below Xiao Jin’s collarbone.
The highest-level tracking curse of the Xuan Tian Sect. The person branded with the curse shares all five senses with the caster.
When Xie Lin washed the blood off his face by the creek, Lin Miaomiao finally crawled out of the black lotus cocoon.
“Brother, you’ve been marked.”
She pointed to the faint, golden pattern on the side of Xie Lin’s neck: “An upgraded version of the symbiotic contract. Senior Brother Xiao can see everything you see now.”
The water Xie Lin had scooped up splashed all over him.
“Including while I bathe?”
“Including while you bathe.”
The Frost Flower Sword slashed into the creek, startling a school of fish and shrimp.
Xie Lin ground his teeth and pulled out that half-piece of blood-soaked candy. Just as he was about to crush it, he discovered golden filaments swimming inside the candy—
It was a wisp of Xiao Jin’s divine sense!
“Eat me.”
Xiao Jin’s laughing voice came through the divine sense: “Or wait for me to… through the symbiotic contract…”
The scene suddenly cut to the Xuan Tian Sect’s bathing pool.
In the misty vapor, Xiao Jin turned his back to the “camera,” untying his sash. Droplets of water rolled down his spine and into his waist dimple…
Xie Lin’s left eye suddenly started raining.
Not metaphorically—the Heart-Eating Lotus was truly spitting out rainwater, mixed with a few pink flower petals!
“Side effect of the symbiotic contract.”
Lin Miaomiao stifled her laughter, pointing to the sky: “Senior Brother Xiao’s emotional fluctuations will directly affect…”
Her words were interrupted by a rumble of thunder rolling across the sky. Xie Lin looked up and saw the clouds forming clear handwriting:
【The sugar cake was too salty.】
Immediately after, a second bolt of lightning struck:
【Want to see you.】
“The Heart-Demon System.”
Xie Lin covered his face: “This has got to be the damn Heart-Demon System…”
The creek suddenly reflected Xiao Jin’s silhouette.
The real Xiao Jin stood behind him, holding a box of honey-drenched osmanthus cakes: “New product tasting.”
He leaned over, his hair brushing against Xie Lin’s ear: “Elopement included.”
Xie Lin’s sword pressed against his heart, this time with perfect precision.
“Explain.”
“Where should I start?”
“Why did you pretend to be a recycler to lie to me?”
Xiao Jin suddenly grabbed the sword blade and pushed it forward, the tip piercing through his clothes and pressing against his skin: “Because only you can kill ‘that person’.”
Blood seeped out, yet he smiled brilliantly: “And I need to ensure that in our final showdown”
“you are willing to use a lethal strike against me.”
The honey sauce from the osmanthus cake dripped from Xiao Jin’s fingertip, congealing into an amber-colored spot of light on the tip of Xie Lin’s sword.
“You…”
Xie Lin’s sword pushed forward another half-inch: “How many pieces have you cut yourself into?”
The blood drop on Xiao Jin’s Adam’s apple rolled onto the sword blade, actually emitting a vibrating sound like a harp string: “Enough for you to kill for fun.”
He suddenly poked Xie Lin’s heart with his blood-stained finger: “But this will hurt.”
The Heart-Eating Lotus suddenly went wild in Xie Lin’s chest, the sharp lotus petals scraping against his ribs.
It wasn’t a hallucination; Xiao Jin was really manipulating it through the symbiotic contract!
“Stop it!”
Xie Lin’s sword clattered to the ground, his whole body curling up like a shrimp.
Lin Miaomiao was just about to step forward when she was frozen in place by a look from Xiao Jin.
“Hush.”
Xiao Jin pressed one hand against the back of Xie Lin’s neck, while his other hand continued to channel spiritual power into the Heart-Eating Lotus: “He’s learning to share the pain.”
Xie Lin was in such pain that everything went black, yet he saw a bizarre scene reflected in the creek.
Seven golden threads appeared on Xiao Jin’s back, each leading in a different direction.
Three were already broken. Of the remaining four, the thickest one was connected to…
“The Nether Palace?”
Xie Lin suddenly grabbed Xiao Jin’s wrist: “You cut off a piece of your own flesh to feed my father?!”
Xiao Jin blinked: “To be precise, to feed the parent stock of the Heart-Eating Lotus he’s raising.”
He lifted his robe, revealing a ghastly wound on his waist.
“After all, to deceive Palace Master Xie, one must pay a price in blood.”
The flesh around the wound was squirming, regenerating, with a golden lotus pattern faintly visible.
Xie Lin suddenly realized something and ripped open his own collar.
In the same position, the same lotus pattern, only his pattern was black.
“Two-way parasitism.”
Xiao Jin used his blood-stained finger to draw a line between the two wounds: “The more pain I feel, the stronger you become.”
The creek water suddenly exploded!
Lin Miaomiao’s black lotus whip coiled around Xiao Jin’s neck: “You turned my brother into a living nutrient tank?!”
Xiao Jin let the lotus whip cut his skin: “Wrong, he turned me into…”
He suddenly pulled the whip to bring Lin Miaomiao closer: “…a scapegoat.”
The moment their shadows overlapped, Xie Lin’s left eye suddenly saw a strange memory.
In the dungeon of the Nether Palace, the original owner was pressing Xiao Jin against the parent stock of the Heart-Eating Lotus;
The moment the lotus vine pierced Xiao Jin’s heart, the young boy suddenly smiled: “Xie Lin, your heartbeat is so fast…”
And the original owner’s trembling hand was pressed tightly against his back, his fingertips flickering with golden light.
“You tampered with my father’s plan?”
Xie Lin grabbed Xiao Jin’s collar: “That event three hundred years ago…”
A sound of breaking through the air suddenly came from the end of the mountain road.
Twelve flying swords formed a killing formation, and the cinnabar decree of the Xuan Tian Sect’s Law Enforcement Hall dyed half the sky red.
The leading elder roared: “Xiao Jin! You actually dare to collude with a demon!”