The giant wolf’s human form was already tall and powerfully built. His shoulders and back were a full size broader than Luo Ningning’s, and he stood a head taller than her. Now that he bent down over her, Luo Ningning was completely covered beneath him. She was like prey caught in the palm of a beast, utterly unable to move.
Scorching body heat spread from where they touched, and even the surrounding air seemed to grow still. Luo Ningning was stunned for a moment before becoming displeased. Why was this wolf reacting so strongly? She admitted that, after spending so long with the giant wolf, it was difficult for her to immediately change her way of thinking and regard him as a human. She had indeed acted rashly and rudely by touching his ears without permission. But even if her actions had been inappropriate, did this man really have to turn hostile at the drop of a hat?
Although Luo Ningning was too timid to confront him directly, she still said resentfully, “I—I was just curious why you suddenly grew wolf ears, and a little worried about your body… I meant well too, so why are you being so fierce with me?”
She bit her lip, looking as though she had been deeply wronged. Xie Shiqi stared at her for a while before finally releasing his hand and standing up.
He walked back to sit beneath the tree and turned his head away. “How would I know? They just suddenly appeared…” He felt extremely irritated. “In any case, you’re not allowed to touch me however you please! If there’s a next time…”
His words trailed off without continuing. Xie Shiqi did not say anything more. Luo Ningning slowly sat up and decided inwardly that she would not speak to this bad-tempered stinking dog tonight.
She cast a cleansing spell on herself, tidied up the fish bones left over from her meal, slowly kicked off her shoes, and climbed onto her simple giant-stone bed.
Xie Shiqi was still sitting beneath the tree with his head lowered. He neither spoke to nor looked at her. Luo Ningning lay down with her back to him. The two of them remained silent. In the oasis at night, the only sound was the rustling of wind through the grass and trees. Luo Ningning closed her eyes, then suddenly felt a chill at her ankle.
…A chill?
Where had that chill come from? Something thin and long was moving… Surely she couldn’t be so unlucky as to be sleeping outdoors and have a snake wind itself around her?!
The thought startled Luo Ningning into sitting up at once. Carefully, she lifted the garment serving as her blanket… and sure enough, there was a small black snake! She had no idea when it had crawled onto her bedding. By then, it had already wrapped itself twice around her bare, fair ankle. Carrying a bone-deep chill, it was ambiguously sliding and rubbing against her, inch by inch climbing toward her calf. Its touch was not slimy and wet; instead, it was dry, with a somewhat rough, granular feel like sandpaper.
The tender flesh of her leg was constricted into deep dents, and soon a thin redness spread across it. Yet the thing continued tightening its coils, as though it wanted to twist itself into her flesh and bones… Luo Ningning’s scalp went numb with terror! Trembling, she pulled out a dagger and hurled it at the little snake!
She was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, after all. Killing a snake was not a problem. The little black snake was severed, fell from her ankle, and transformed into a wisp of smoke that vanished without a trace.
Luo Ningning was stunned and terrified, unable to understand what kind of creature she had encountered, when she heard Xie Shiqi let out a muffled groan!
？？ Luo Ningning turned around in confusion and met Xie Shiqi’s gaze head-on. A thread of blood spilled from the corner of the man’s mouth, and his face looked even paler. “It wasn’t me—I didn’t…”
Under the moonlight, between the shadows of the trees, a slender tentacle of demonic qi extended from his waist. It twisted as it climbed onto her bed, stopping beside her bare ankle—there had never been any small black snake! The thin, elongated thing that had secretly wrapped itself around her ankle was actually Xie Shiqi’s demonic qi!
Those words, “I didn’t,” made Luo Ningning’s heart pound with fear. She had thought Xie Shiqi had lost his temper and secretly released a tentacle of demonic qi to scare her, but he said he hadn’t. Didn’t that mean… this tentacle of demonic qi had gone out of control?!
Xie Shiqi’s demonic qi had gone out of control?! This was a huge disaster capable of costing her her little life! Luo Ningning had long heard of powerful beings who, after their demonic qi went out of control, lost their reason and slaughtered their beloveds and family members. Without the slightest hesitation, she immediately summoned her little carriage and prepared to flee for her life!
But then Xie Shiqi shouted urgently, “Don’t go!”
Luo Ningning’s fingers gripped the carriage’s wooden door tightly. She turned her head and stared at Xie Shiqi in alarm. Why was he still telling her not to leave? He did not look as though he had completely lost his reason yet, so there was still hope that she could escape alive… Could fleeing stimulate him and cause him to lose control faster?
Xie Shiqi forcibly suppressed his surging qi and blood, then gentled his tone. “There’s no need to run. Don’t be afraid. My demonic qi has not gone out of control.”
He clearly knew what Luo Ningning was worried about, but she remained skeptical and did not put away the carriage. “Then just now, when you said it wasn’t you…”
Xie Shiqi was silent for a moment. “It indeed wasn’t me controlling the demonic qi and sending it over, but I truly haven’t lost control either.” He explained, “I’m different from other people who have fallen into demonic cultivation. I fused my demon consciousness into the demonic qi and refined it into a part of my body. That is why I can control the demonic qi and use it as a weapon. My demonic qi will not go out of control.”
Luo Ningning was still uneasy. “Then why didn’t it obey your control just now and come over here?”
Xie Shiqi opened and closed his mouth. “Perhaps because I was seriously injured, and then I was also somewhat… angry just now. They were influenced by my subconscious, which was why they ran over to cause trouble for you.”
That explanation did make sense. Luo Ningning’s expression became complicated. He had fused his demon consciousness into his demonic qi? For a moment, she did not know whether she ought to be shocked that Xie Shiqi had actually completed an operation of such heaven-defying difficulty or marvel at whether he had gone insane. “This can indeed suppress the demonic qi from going out of control, but sooner or later, your body won’t be able to withstand the erosion of the demonic qi… You’re merely quenching your thirst with poison.”
She finally understood where the tearing and corrosion in his meridians came from. No wonder Xie Shiqi had let out a muffled groan when she had severed the demonic qi just now. Since his demon consciousness was inside the demonic qi, she had actually injured him.
Xie Shiqi wiped away the blood at the corner of his mouth, unwilling to say more. “At the time, I had no other choice.”
He stared darkly at the little tentacle of demonic qi that had gone off on its own to harass Luo Ningning. The little tentacle trembled and obediently began crawling back. Xie Shiqi lowered his eyes and said quietly, “Since I promised to protect you, I won’t hurt you. If it dares to bully you again in the future, just cut it.”
The little tentacle trembled again. Luo Ningning did not know whether it was merely her imagination, but she seemed to see a hint of grievance on that black little tentacle. Since he had gone so far as to say that, Luo Ningning could not continue fleeing. She put away the carriage and sighed. “Since it’s part of your body, I can’t keep injuring you either. You should keep them under control.”
Xie Shiqi gave a soft “Mm” and said nothing more.
…………
The moon had reached the middle of the sky, and Luo Ningning had fallen sound asleep. Xie Shiqi opened his eyes from his meditation and looked at the scene before him, wearily pressing his fingers to his brow.
He had promised Luo Ningning that he would keep his demonic qi under control, but over the past several hours, more and more little tentacles of demonic qi had run off to harass Luo Ningning. At first, there had only been one, secretly circling beneath the giant stone. After discovering it, he had quietly withdrawn it. Then there had been two, then three. They had grown bolder, climbing onto the giant stone and twisting the corner of Luo Ningning’s bedding into a braid. And now there were seven or eight. Perhaps because they shared his consciousness, they knew that Luo Ningning was sleeping soundly and had become even more brazen. They had actually gone so far as to tangle themselves in her hair…
Her hair also carried a faint, sweet fragrance, just like the scent on her body… For no apparent reason, it made him ravenously hungry. Suddenly, Xie Shiqi thought of the shared sensation transmitted when the tentacle of demonic qi had wrapped around Luo Ningning’s calf. Her figure was clearly petite, with slender, delicate wrists and ankles, but only after wrapping around them could one feel that the thin layer of flesh had such an exquisite texture—soft and fine, as though it possessed some kind of magic that caused his tentacles of demonic qi to adhere to it, making him completely unwilling to leave…
The moment this thought emerged, Xie Shiqi’s expression froze. A moment later, he irritably reached out and grabbed at the space before him!
The demonic qi sensed its master’s anger and fled in all directions, rapidly burrowing back into Xie Shiqi’s body. Only the little tentacle in Xie Shiqi’s hand remained, trembling all over as it clearly received the words Xie Shiqi had not spoken aloud:
“If you dare act on your own again, I’ll crush you!”
The little tentacle trembled violently before shooting back into its master’s body. After threatening himself, Xie Shiqi glared viciously at Luo Ningning again.
He had reason to suspect that Luo Ningning’s identity was not simple. When he had fought his pursuers back then, he had torn open this spatial rift. If someone had been nearby, it was indeed possible for them to be caught up in it. But this strange place came with an ancient barrier. Inanimate objects could easily fall inside, yet unless a cultivator had reached the Nascent Soul and Spirit Severing stages, entering was completely impossible. They would only be struck by the barrier and bounced back into the original secret realm. Yet Luo Ningning, who was merely at the Foundation Establishment stage, had entered without suffering the slightest injury.
That was the first suspicious point. The second suspicious point was naturally his uncontrollable ears, tail, and demonic qi. It was not as though he had never been this badly injured before. His demonic qi had never behaved so chaotically, nor had ears and a tail suddenly appeared for no reason. How could a mere Foundation Establishment music cultivator possibly possess such powerful healing abilities? There had to be something strange about the spiritual energy Luo Ningning had sent into him, and that was why he had lost control and kept wanting to entangle himself with her.
But what use was suspicion? He had no evidence. Even if he did have evidence, it would be useless. She cried so skillfully… He was the dignified Silver Wolf Demon Venerable, yet he could not hit her.
Xie Shiqi selectively forgot his past of beating other female demons and female cultivators. Irritated, he picked up a stone and began filing his nails. After filing them a few times, he stood up and leaped onto the high treetop.
—The distance was far enough. He was injured, and his demonic qi could not climb that far right now.
Luo Ningning had slept well. By the time she awoke, she was no longer angry about the previous night. It was not that she was broad-minded; mainly, that wolf was rather pitiful. He had recklessly fused his demonic qi and demon consciousness together, and was therefore destined to suffer from the demonic qi’s erosion for the rest of his life, never able to escape it. Sooner or later, his body would reach the day when it could no longer hold on, and not even a Great Firmament Golden Immortal could save him. Since he was a wolf destined to die, and the day when the male protagonist came to the Land of Inheritance was drawing closer and closer—they would soon go their separate ways. As long as he could keep his promise and protect her properly, she would let the rest go.
She still remembered what Xie Shiqi had said the previous night: “At the time, I had no other choice.” It seemed that fusing his demonic qi with his demon consciousness had also been an act forced upon him by circumstance. He had probably once been a pitiful demon as well. So, considering that she had patted the little chubby wolf’s rear and touched the handsome wolf’s ears, during these final few days together, she would do her best to help him.
Luo Ningning made up her mind, tidied herself, and prepared to send Xie Shiqi another round of spiritual energy, only to discover that she could not find him.
Could he have gone hunting? Luo Ningning looked around, but suddenly heard a familiar voice from above her head. “Looking for me?”
？？ Luo Ningning hurried several steps away and looked up at the large tree beside her. Only then did she see the man crouching on a treetop. The newly risen sun hung over his shoulder, and his waist-length silver hair seemed to glitter and shine. His icy-blue eyes appeared even paler.
Luo Ningning froze, then could not help giggling. “Wolf Lord, you—you really do crouch on trees?”
The sunlight spilled across Luo Ningning’s face, coating her features in a hazy layer of brilliant gold. Finding it dazzling, the girl raised a hand to shield her eyes and smiled up at him… She was so beautiful that she seemed capable of melting into the sunlight.
Xie Shiqi was stunned for an instant. By the time he realized something was wrong, it was already too late. Luo Ningning lowered the hand blocking the sunlight and hesitantly reminded him, “Um… you’ve grown ears and a tail again.”
Xie Shiqi: “…”
Author’s Note:
Wolf: “Don’t touch me however you please!”
Ears: “I can’t control myself and keep appearing.”
Demonic qi: “I can’t control myself and keep tangling around my wife.”