[Since when has Pei Chaochao been so kind-hearted, turning back to save someone?]
[This place is dangerous. If she didn’t save Jiang Du, she wouldn’t be able to descend the mountain safely either.]
[This place is indeed dangerous. I thought she followed him up here purely to seek death.]
[Me too. I originally wanted to see her miserable state, but in the end, she was the only one completely unharmed.]
A Deity sighed with emotion.
During these years of being reborn as a mortal, Pei Chaochao lived a life of hardship. To make a living, even though she was blind, she often followed the villagers up the mountain to gather herbs, which she then sold at the market for money.
So it wasn’t surprising that she knew how to navigate mountain paths or recognize spiritual herbs. The Deities didn’t pay much attention to this.
Compared to her gathering spiritual herbs to save Jiang Du, the Deities were clearly more concerned about how she remained unscathed throughout the journey—
How could she possibly be unscathed?!
The Deities gritted their teeth in frustration.
However, everything that happened along the way seemed perfectly reasonable. In the end, the Deities could only sigh regretfully:
[How absurd! How is her luck so good?]
[You said it yourself—it’s luck. She was just fortunate this time. Next time something like this happens, she’ll be the one to suffer!]
If Pei Chaochao heard these words, she would surely say, “This isn’t luck.”
It was something she had planned from the very beginning.
But now, Pei Chaochao had no idea what the Deities were saying.
She patiently crouched beside Jiang Du, her hand holding the spiritual herb pressed against his lips.
Jiang Du hadn’t opened his mouth, so she didn’t move her hand away.
Neither of them made any unnecessary movements, as if engaged in a silent standoff.
Jiang Du was watching her.
His brows and eyes were stained with blood, and his vision was blurred by the crimson haze.
Even though Pei Chaochao smiled innocently before him, that smile, tainted with blood, carried an inexplicable sense of contradiction—both fragile and sinister.
His gaze was shadowed, yet tinged with complexity as he looked at her, as if scrutinizing her.
Pei Chaochao found it quite amusing.
She deliberately teased him, pretending to be oblivious to his gaze. “Why aren’t you eating these spiritual herbs?”
“Afraid they’re poisonous?” she asked and answered herself, tearing off a small piece of a spiritual herb leaf and putting it into her own mouth. “They’re not poisonous.”
After saying this, she smiled gently at Jiang Du once more, tore off another piece of the spiritual herb leaf, and brought it to his lips.
Jiang Du: “…”
Jiang Du looked away.
He thought to himself, her disguise was flawless. Anyone who saw her would think she was gentle and kind.
No matter how many times he looked at her, he couldn’t detect even a hint of duplicity in her expression.
That she had brought back spiritual herbs to heal his wounds was something he hadn’t anticipated.
But that fleeting sense of being pleasantly surprised was ultimately overshadowed by his wariness of her.
He found it hard to believe she was any kind of good person, scoffing hoarsely and coldly, “What are you scheming now?”
“Do I have to have an ulterior motive just to help you?” Pei Chaochao tilted her head, her voice bewitching. “Don’t think of me as so wicked.”
“Do I need your help? I’m not dying. I can survive without your spiritual herbs.” Jiang Du almost laughed in disbelief, unable to resist retorting, “And if I don’t think of you as wicked, should I think of you as good instead? Would a good person stab me in the heart? Would a good person threaten… Mmm!”
Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly grunted, then glared at Pei Chaochao—
Just now, while he was talking, Pei Chaochao had taken the opportunity to shove the spiritual herb directly into his mouth.
Immediately after, her slender, pale fingers slipped into his mouth, pressing against his tongue and throat, forcing him to swallow the herb.
He struggled to breathe, his throat pressed down making him cough uncontrollably. Between coughs, he was forced to swallow the spiritual herb, unable to suppress several dry heaves.
His sharp, fierce eyes were also forced to brim with tears, the corners of his eyes flushed red. The glistening moisture mixed with bloodstains actually added a touch of fragility to his fierce appearance.
Like a blustering, battle-damaged blade.
Glaring at Pei Chaochao like this, he truly held little intimidation.
Pei Chaochao pressed her finger against the base of his tongue once more, ensuring he had swallowed the spiritual herb, her tone intimate: “I don’t really like it when people refuse me.”
She leisurely withdrew her hand, smiling helplessly: “Besides, gathering herbs is hard work.”
Her tone was very gentle.
Yet beneath this harmless gentleness, a hint of danger and malice quietly surfaced.
Jiang Du stared at Pei Chaochao’s face, at first not even registering what she was saying.
He had always been an arrogant character, never having been so restrained by anyone before. He was stunned for a couple of seconds before belatedly realizing just how wretched his current state was!
His chest heaved incessantly, the unhealed wound in his heart had long since split open, now quietly bleeding with each breath, pulling with pain.
The corners of his eyes flushed crimson with rage, his rationality completely shattered!
Sensing Pei Chaochao withdrawing her finger, his actions preceded thought as he directly bit down on her fingertip!
His teeth ground fiercely against the flesh and bone of her finger.
Pei Chaochao hissed in pain.
She pinched his jaw with her thumb and forefinger, applying pressure with her fingertip to press back against his teeth: “Want to drink my blood?”
Her finger was already on the verge of being bitten through.
Even if she pulled it out now, deep tooth marks would surely be visible.
But her voice remained steady as she whispered in Jiang Du’s ear: “Drinking my blood will temporarily paralyze you. Aren’t you afraid I’ll take the chance to stab you again?”
Jiang Du loosened his bite slightly.
Ignoring the childishness of his biting action, he glared at Pei Chaochao.
Even though he knew she was blind and couldn’t see, he still stared at her fiercely.
If he weren’t severely injured and drained of Spiritual Power, he would have killed her on the spot!
His canine teeth were sharp.
After he released his bite, Pei Chaochao tapped the tip of his canine tooth with her fingertip.
She thought Jiang Du truly resembled a beautiful, irritable mad dog.
The way he looked at her now, it seemed as if he wanted to pounce at any moment, using his sharp fangs to bite through her neck.
Pei Chaochao withdrew her hand.
Seizing the opportunity, Jiang Du began to snarl: “I’ll kill you.”
Pei Chaochao said: “But I helped you.”
“If it weren’t for me, you would have collapsed here after exhausting your Spiritual Power. What if some monster came along afterward? Even a small monster could kill you. I gathered spiritual herbs to help restore your Spiritual Power—I saved you,” she coaxed persuasively: “Would you kill your own savior?”
After consuming the spiritual herb, the Spiritual Power within his body indeed began to recover.
As his Spiritual Power accelerated its recovery, his wounds also started to slowly heal.
Regaining his strength, Jiang Du picked up his knife and sized her up: “Savior? Why not mention how you nearly killed me?”
Pei Chaochao said: “It really wasn’t my fault.”
She sighed: “You wanted to capture me to be a Medicine Person. If I hadn’t fought back then, would I still be standing here safely now? I was truly terrified at the time.”
The knife was already pressed against her throat.
Jiang Du remained silent.
He thought,
Indeed, if he had taken her away like that back then, she wouldn’t be standing here safely now.
He would have taken her back to the Guiyuan Sect, and to prevent her from exposing his identity, he might have even cut out her tongue and severed her limbs.
He would never have the chance to know that beneath her harmless, innocent face lay such a malicious nature.
Pei Chaochao pushed the blade away from her neck. “Even if I stabbed you once, I also saved your life. Let’s call it even, alright?”
As she spoke, her smile was gentle.
It seemed like she was reasoning, like she was seeking peace, like she was yielding.
But Jiang Du felt in his heart that it was none of those things.
She had never been afraid. Even if he pushed the blade forward now, she would still have other ways to escape.
She was merely using this soft, calm side to coax him playfully, as if teasing him, like a deity looking down from above at the joys and sorrows of mortals.
The fleeting thought from earlier sprouted anew in his mind—
Would her emotions ever spiral out of control?
What would she be like when her emotions ran wild? Would she become hysterical like him?
He stared at her, then withdrew the blade following her push, sneering, “Fine.”
Pei Chaochao completely ignored his tone and praised him approvingly, “So reasonable.”
Her demeanor was somewhat like a master praising a gradually tamed mad dog.
Jiang Du didn’t notice it.
Hearing this, he merely sneered again, thinking to himself, what reason?
Demonic Cultivators like them committed evil deeds and never acted with reason.
It was just that he suddenly realized he wasn’t so keen on killing her anymore.
Perhaps, rather than letting her die just like that, he wanted to see her lose control?
Pei Chaochao and Jiang Du lingered for a while in front of the temple. Since Qiong Guang Jun still hadn’t come looking for them, it could only mean he was temporarily incapacitated.
Perhaps he had fainted.
Pei Chaochao hadn’t forgotten the purpose of this trip.
Once Jiang Du had recovered a bit of Spiritual Power, she asked, “Did you see Ji Xianzhang earlier? I can’t see, so could you take me to find him?”
Hearing this, Jiang Du suddenly remembered that she had come here to find Ji Shenzhi.
The lingering taste of the spiritual herb still lingered in his mouth, its slightly sour and astringent flavor rising from his throat to the back of his tongue. “What, gathering herbs for me wasn’t just so you could have me take you to Ji Shenzhi, was it?”
Jiang Du had reluctantly reached an agreement with her, no longer threatening to kill her, but the atmosphere between them remained tense when they spoke.
Pei Chaochao coaxed him, “Of course not. Gathering herbs for you was just to help you.”
Jiang Du lowered his gaze to look at her.
The sincerity in her smile seemed genuine, as if she truly wanted to help him, just as she said.
He instinctively remained wary of her,
but this time, for some inexplicable reason, he didn’t analyze whether her words were true or not.
Instead, a thought flashed through his mind—
The way she coaxed people was truly beautiful.
Jiang Du pinched his fingertips, staring at her without speaking.
Just as Pei Chaochao thought he wouldn’t agree, she heard him say, “Fine, I’ll take you.”
Pei Chaochao said gently, “Thank you, then.”
Hearing this, Jiang Du sneered, “Thank me for what? Do you think I want to take you? I’m just afraid you’ll run off with the demon core while you have the chance.”
He was severely injured now, and to heal, he needed to circulate Spiritual Power throughout his body.
If the demon core were in his hands, it would passively react to the Spiritual Power he used for healing, unleashing demonic energy that would strike him.
In his current condition, he couldn’t withstand the backlash of that demonic energy.
So, until his healing was complete, the demon core could only remain with Pei Chaochao.
Pei Chaochao also knew the properties of the demon core.
Hearing his words, she didn’t mention returning the demon core, planning to complete her task before Jiang Du finished healing.
She nodded as if suddenly enlightened, then waved her slender white wrist before his eyes: “If you don’t want to accompany me, you could always use Spiritual Power to bind me. I have no Cultivation Level—if you lock me down, I won’t be able to run away.”
As she spoke,
the two had already reached the back of the temple.
There, they saw Qiong Guang Jun lying unconscious, his white robes soaked through with blood, yet his body still protected by Spiritual Power—
this was because his severe injuries had triggered his body’s defense mechanism, causing his Spiritual Power to reverse flow. Not only would it protect his heart meridian, but it would also indiscriminately attack anyone attempting to harm him.
To extract his heart, they would first have to destroy his Spiritual Meridians.
It must be said that Qiong Guang Jun’s Cultivation Level was truly formidable.
So many members of the Guiyuan Sect had been severely injured fighting that great demon together, yet in such a state, Qiong Guang Jun had still managed to pursue and engage the demon in prolonged combat, and now he was merely unconscious.
Pei Chaochao sighed inwardly, then withdrew her wrist from Jiang Du’s grasp.
Jiang Du’s hand suddenly felt empty.
He watched as she groped her way to Qiong Guang Jun’s side and lifted his body.
Jiang Du had no intention of interfering with her. He found a spot to sit down and began circulating his Spiritual Power to heal his injuries.
Yet the moment he closed his eyes, he opened them again, glancing toward Pei Chaochao.
She was now some distance away from him. With a flick of his finger, he locked a strand of Spiritual Power around her wrist.
The Spiritual Power formed a translucent rope, tied around Pei Chaochao’s left wrist.
Pei Chaochao seemed to sense something and turned her head back.
Before she could ask, Jiang Du spoke first: “Double insurance, in case you run away.”
Pei Chaochao chuckled softly.
She was half-crouched before Qiong Guang Jun, originally wondering how to get Jiang Du to transfer Spiritual Power over, never expecting he would first bind her wrist with Spiritual Power.
With this urgent problem solved, her mood improved, and she gently coaxed Jiang Du: “Don’t worry, if I wanted to run, I wouldn’t have asked you to help me stay in the Guiyuan Sect earlier.”
Jiang Du sneered: “Really? I forgot to ask—why do you want to stay in the Guiyuan Sect?”
Pei Chaochao spoke a half-truth: “For Ji Xianzhang.”
Qiong Guang Jun’s hand clenched into a fist. She was prying his fingers open, preparing to place the demon core inside.
As long as they held the demon core together and recited an Immortal Incantation to channel Spiritual Power into it, the demonic energy would backlash onto Qiong Guang Jun, destroying his Spiritual Meridians.
As she worked,
from Jiang Du’s perspective, all he could see were her slender white fingers wedged between Qiong Guang Jun’s.
The posture carried an intimate air.
Jiang Du let out a cold laugh, then closed his eyes again.
Out of sight, out of mind—yet his tone remained sharp: “For Ji Shenzhi? What for, are you planning to harm him?”
She was now facing Jiang Du, and Jiang Du had his eyes closed.
Thus, neither of them noticed that the moment Qiong Guang Jun’s fingers were pried open, a talisman silently slipped from his hand and fell to the ground.
This talisman had been clutched in Qiong Guang Jun’s hand during his earlier struggle with the great demon.
Jiang Du didn’t see the talisman and therefore didn’t recognize it as the Guiyuan Sect’s highest-level summoning talisman, specifically used to call upon one’s master.
If a disciple encountered a life-threatening situation, they could produce this talisman. Once it touched the ground and turned to ash, the master’s avatar would appear instantly.
At this moment,
seeing Jiang Du close his eyes, Pei Chaochao turned her head back again.
Noticing Qiong Guang Jun’s hand had loosened, she paused, then slipped her hand into his palm, both of them gripping the demon core together. She casually brushed off Jiang Du’s question: “How could you think that? I only want him—”
Here, her words cut off abruptly.
She saw a tattered talisman on the ground, its origin unknown, slowly turning to ashes.
Immediately after, a translucent figure appeared beside and slightly behind Qiong Guang Jun.
It was a tall man with snow-white skin and hair,
His demeanor was gentle and serene, like the snow atop a mountain peak—both austere and beautiful.
Pei Chaochao had never seen this man before, nor did she know how he had suddenly appeared.
She raised her head and saw the figure looking down at her.
Was this a divine soul?
Or a clone?
Was it conscious?
She wanted to probe this shadow but was still pretending to be blind, so she reached out and groped forward like a blind person.
At that moment,
Jiang Du spoke, his eyes still closed, his voice icy: “Just what about him? Continue.”
Pei Chaochao’s hand touched the shadow but unexpectedly felt as if she had encountered something solid.
Dutifully playing blind, she acted as if unaware of what she had touched and moved her hand upward.
She touched the man’s chin, then his lips.
The man showed no reaction, so she mischievously pressed down on his lips.
Her left hand was being guided by Jiang Du’s Spiritual Power, and with his eyes closed, he couldn’t see that her other hand was secretly clasped with Qiong Guang Jun’s, together holding a demon core.
And now, she raised her right hand again, touching the lips of the white-haired man beside and behind Qiong Guang Jun.
At the same time, she moved her lips to answer Jiang Du’s question.
Even with her eyes covered by the white silk, she tilted her head upward as if looking at the white-haired man while saying—
“Love at first sight.”
As the words fell,
The white-haired man slowly blinked.
Jiang Du paused for a second: “What?”
Pei Chaochao couldn’t be bothered to reply and had already begun silently preparing an Immortal Incantation to channel Spiritual Power.
However, halfway through the incantation, she felt her hand being grasped in return.
Startled, she lowered her head,
And saw Qiong Guang Jun’s open eyes.