Shi Ying tilted her head away from Yun Jinghe’s touch, and as she reached out to push her away, her hand accidentally brushed against the spot of Yun Jinghe’s old wound.
Yun Jinghe frowned with a muffled groan, then felt the other woman withdraw her hand.
Though her wound had healed on the surface, she still occasionally suffered phantom pains.
Shi Ying’s gaze lingered on the spot she had touched, hesitation flickering in her eyes. She poked it lightly with a finger.
“Has the wound not healed yet?”
Her words gave Yun Jinghe the illusion that she might actually be concerned.
Yun Jinghe caught her restless finger. “Are you talking about the outside or the inside?”
Shi Ying didn’t want to answer. She squirmed slightly. “Let me go. Being held like this is uncomfortable.”
Yun Jinghe ignored her protest, stating firmly, “If I do, you’ll just try to run away again.”
“Do I look like I can run right now?” The thought made Shi Ying angry. If she hadn’t faltered midway, she wouldn’t have been caught in the first place.
Eventually, Shi Ying gave up struggling. Fighting Yun Jinghe, who had regained much of her cultivation was pointless in her current state. It was better to conserve her energy.
Besides, she wasn’t particularly tense anymore. Yun Jinghe didn’t seem intent on killing her.
Yun Jinghe took her wrist, carefully probing her meridians. “What’s wrong with your body? Why does your demonic energy sometimes manifest and sometimes vanish?”
During the time they had spent together day and night, Yun Jinghe had never sensed any demonic energy from Shi Ying, leading her to believe she was just an ordinary woman perhaps a little naive and unworldly.
Generally, demons found it difficult to suppress the leakage of their demonic aura unless they were exceptionally powerful. But based on their previous encounters, Shi Ying’s cultivation wasn’t advanced enough for that.
“Ugh, why do you have so many questions?” Shi Ying grumbled, resting her head on Yun Jinghe’s shoulder to avoid answering.
Then, as if struck by a thought, she suddenly lifted her head. “What if I agree to tell you? Would that mean we’re even?”
“Yingying,” Yun Jinghe called her name in a low voice. “Are you really so eager to cut ties with me?”
“I just don’t want you chasing me anymore.” There probably wasn’t a single demon in the world who enjoyed being pursued by a cultivator and vice versa.
Yun Jinghe’s expression remained calm, her tone gentle but resolute. “That’s impossible.”
Shi Ying studied her eyes. “Are you angry?”
She wracked her brain for ways to “appease” someone, a trace of frustration crossing her strikingly beautiful face. Yun Jinghe was harder to coax now her usual tactics of acting spoiled seemed ineffective.
“If I kiss you, will you stop being angry?”
To placate someone, one had to cater to their preferences. Shi Ying had a feeling Yun Jinghe liked this, given how her mood had noticeably lifted during their few past kisses.
Her voice was like a pampered kitten’s, a faint smile playing at the corners of her lips as she spoke, utterly frank and unguarded.
Yun Jinghe’s breath hitched for a moment. She clenched her palm tightly to keep her composure from slipping.
Taking her silence as tacit approval, Shi Ying braced herself against Yun Jinghe’s shoulders and leaned in to kiss her.
Yun Jinghe’s hand lifted uncontrollably but soon froze mid-air before pressing against Shi Ying’s back, pulling her tightly into an embrace that left her unable to move.
She closed her eyes, exerting all her strength to suppress the deep yearning in her heart.
When she opened them again, a faint crimson hue surfaced in her gaze. “Shi Ying, what exactly am I to you?”
“A person,” Shi Ying answered truthfully, a person with a golden core, at that.
Yun Jinghe took a deep breath, her eyes lingering on Shi Ying’s vivid lips. “Would you act like this with anyone?”
Shi Ying pondered seriously for a moment. “Don’t worry, I wouldn’t do this with two people at once.”
Otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to handle it dealing with Yun Jinghe alone was already difficult enough.
Before Yun Jinghe could react in anger, the sound of a child’s crying abruptly pierced the quiet space.
Turning her head, Yun Jinghe saw that only the young daughter remained from the surviving mother-daughter pair of the merchant caravan, the mother was nowhere in sight.
Her brow furrowed, and she immediately pulled Shi Ying up, dragging her toward the girl.
The previously unbreakable barrier dissolved, making Shi Ying’s heart skip a beat. Pretending to be docile, she followed Yun Jinghe with light steps.
“Where’s your mother?” Yun Jinghe scanned the surroundings but found no trace of the woman.
Though she had been careless earlier, the mother couldn’t have been taken by a demon, she would have sensed it.
The little girl wiped her tears and shook her head. “I-I don’t know. When I woke up, Mama was gone.”
Yun Jinghe stood silently for a moment before glancing thoughtfully in the direction they had come from.
“Let’s check the main road.”
Hearing this, Shi Ying quickly suggested, “You go ahead. I’ll stay here with her and wait for you.”
“No.” Yun Jinghe refused without hesitation. “You’re staying with me.”
She wouldn’t let Shi Ying leave her sight.
“Why?” Shi Ying pretended to struggle, but Yun Jinghe’s grip was too firm, she couldn’t break free.
Yun Jinghe turned to the little girl. “Stay close to us.”
The girl sniffled and nodded obediently.
Their resting spot wasn’t far from the troubled main road. The moon was once again obscured, making the night path unclear.
As they neared the road, Yun Jinghe suddenly halted.
“Huh? Someone’s crying.” Shi Ying peered ahead curiously.
“Shi Ying!” Yun Jinghe tried to stop her, but it was too late.
“It sounds like your mother.”
At Shi Ying’s words, the little girl’s already anxious heart leaped in fear. Sobbing, she dashed forward, calling out for her mother.
The hazy night was abruptly swept aside, revealing the bright moonlight and the scene on the road.
The bandits Yun Jinghe had restrained earlier now knelt motionless, heads bowed low. Under the moonlight, thick strands of crimson blood dripped steadily from their mouths.
The finely dressed woman sat collapsed on the disordered ground, weeping into her hands, a bloodstained knife lying beside her.
Not a single one of the dozen bandits had been spared, all had died at the woman’s hands.
Upon hearing her daughter’s cries, the lady finally lowered her hands and looked over. A fleeting panic flashed across her face as she stumbled to her feet and rushed toward her child.
The mother tightly embraced her daughter, as if shielding her from the gruesome scene.
“She clearly killed someone and avenged herself, so why is she still crying?” Shi Ying expressed her confusion. Humans seemed prone to tears, yet she had never seen Yun Jinghe cry. With this thought, she turned her gaze toward Yun Jinghe.
Coincidentally, Yun Jinghe also looked at her. Shi Ying’s face showed no trace of emotion only curiosity and bewilderment.
At that moment, Yun Jinghe recalled an old saying about dream demons: they were born without tears because they lacked emotions.
She reached out and brushed aside the stray hairs near Shi Ying’s eyes, gazing into those light-colored irises, clear and innocent like a child’s. She couldn’t determine whether there was any emotion hidden within them.
“Would you cry for me?”
Shi Ying met her gaze and was about to speak when Yun Jinghe stopped her, covering her mouth once more.
“No need to tell me,” Yun Jinghe said, her voice carrying a barely perceptible tremor.
She turned her attention back to the mother and daughter still weeping in each other’s arms, steadying her own emotions.
Yun Jinghe led Shi Ying toward them. “Let’s pretend this never happened,” she said.
The law would not punish someone for killing a robber in self-defense, but this situation clearly went beyond mere defense.
The lady stiffened, lifting her dazed face to look at Yun Jinghe.
Yun Jinghe instructed the mother and daughter to leave first, then took Shi Ying to where the dead bandits lay.
She raised a long blade from the ground with a flick of her hand, aligning its edge with the wounds on the bandits’ bodies.
The next day, at the break of dawn, chaotic noises erupted along the official road.
Passersby had discovered the gruesome scene and hurried to report it to the authorities.
The officials arrived swiftly, shocked by the carnage before them.
Someone recognized the bandits as long-wanted criminals, now all dead without exception.
The scene was one of brutal slaughter, with only a mother and daughter from the merchant caravan surviving.
The bandits’ wounds were deep bones severed by blade strikes far beyond the strength of an ordinary person.
The mother appeared frail, and the daughter was merely four or five years old. Neither seemed capable of such violence.
Moreover, since the bandits had died kneeling, whispers of supernatural intervention spread among the onlookers.
Everyone pitied the survivors, and no one suspected them.
The surviving lady claimed they had been rescued by a masked warrior.
The officials, for once, turned a blind eye. The dead bandits were notorious, their hands stained with blood. No one cared to investigate their deaths too closely.
Shi Ying and Yun Jinghe stood among the crowd, unnoticed.
“Why did you help them when you stopped me from killing them earlier?” Shi Ying asked, recalling the strand of hair she had lost.
“You and they are different,” Yun Jinghe replied. “This world has no absolute fairness. People are more forgiving toward humans who err for understandable reasons, but never toward demons.”
Shi Ying pondered this. “Is that so?”
The next moment, Yun Jinghe felt an unexpected push against her back, sending her stumbling forward. Just as she turned to grab the person’s hand, a voice rang out.
“The murderer is right here.”
Instantly, the gazes of the crowd converged on Yun Jinghe some suspicious, some probing. A few shrank back in fear at the sight of the sword in her hand, while others boldly stepped forward to inspect her. The scene quickly descended into chaos.
The officials, hearing the commotion, began making their way over.
The surviving noblewoman’s face flashed with panic, but she bit her lip tightly, too afraid to utter a word lest she say something wrong.
The clamor of overlapping voices swirled around them, as if they were in the middle of a bustling marketplace.
Staggering back two steps from the push, Yun Jinghe turned and stared in disbelief at Shi Ying, who was retreating further away. She tried to push through the crowd to seize her, but the pressing throng forced her back instead.
For a fleeting moment, she considered using her spiritual power to sweep everyone aside but she couldn’t bring herself to harm ordinary people.
Watching Shi Ying disappear into the crowd, Yun Jinghe let out a bitter laugh, her fury boiling over. “Shi Ying, Shi Ying!”
Her knuckles whitened around the hilt of her sword, and her chest tightened as though she couldn’t breathe.
Don’t let me catch you again.