Chapter 228: So I’m the Protagonist After All (24)
Sui Yihuan, the Nine Continents native who wouldn’t even say she liked someone and used to get nervous holding hands, even as the Demon Lord now, hadn’t heard many sweet nothings. Su Mingxiu’s simple and sincere “I love you” left her flustered, unable to utter a single word of refusal. She silently led Su Mingxiu back to Black Stone Dock, which stood above the blood lake.
Su Mingxiu didn’t want to miss this opportunity to press her advantage. As soon as they returned to the room, she eagerly embraced her again, “If you don’t say anything, I’ll take it as you agreeing?”
Sui Yihuan’s eyes flickered, her pale lips parted, trying to find a rebuttal. But before she could speak, her gaze suddenly sharpened, and she looked towards the door coldly, “Who is it?”
“Reporting to Your Lordship—the two cultivators you ordered us to watch in the demon stone mine have caused some trouble.”
Of all times.
Hearing the location and the reporter’s identity, Su Mingxiu also remembered those two lingering presences. She could only let go, looking at Sui Yihuan with displeasure as she summoned someone in.
“Speak.”
The Demon Lord commanded curtly.
The demon sent to monitor Xiao Xingwei and Xuan Chan reported that the two cultivators had suddenly stopped working in the mine today, claiming to be unwell. When the people in the mine went to check their tent, they found that they had disappeared.
Just after this demon finished reporting, another demoness came outside the room and reported that the female cultivator with wood spiritual power near the blood lake cliff had also disappeared.
“By order of this Lord, from today onwards, the four major cities of the Demon Abyss will search for these three cultivators with all their might. Whoever captures these three alive will be handsomely rewarded by this Lord.”
“Yes.”
By the time the demons outside the room retreated, the previous ambiguous atmosphere had long since dissipated.
Su Mingxiu saw Sui Yihuan reach out and grab at the void, but only grabbed a few broken black neck rings. Her expression changed slightly, as if she couldn’t understand who could have such ability, daring to act right under her nose.
“It’s the Buddhist Sect’s doing,” Su Mingxiu said, conjuring a plate of green grapes, still fresh as if just picked from the vine.
The cultivator plucked one and held it to the Demon Lord’s lips, who was unconsciously frowning, “Although they are nominally beneath the Sword Sect, on par with the Hundred Flower Sect, Joyful Union Sect, and Beast Taming Sect, they appeared earlier than the Sword Sect and have hidden a lot of their true strength. If it weren’t for the fact that the Nine Continents’ tribulation is too difficult, they usually wouldn’t appear, so their reputation in the mortal world is lower.”
After two lifetimes, Su Mingxiu still hadn’t had the chance to figure out how many cards they held.
Sui Yihuan pursed her lips, refusing to eat the grape. Su Mingxiu could only lean closer and bite it herself, then, while she wasn’t paying attention, pressed the back of her neck, pried open her lips, and fed her the grape in another way.
“You say you don’t like this, but you force others to use this on you. The phrase ‘duplicitous’ must have been created for you.”
Because there was something in her mouth, the Demon Lord’s reprimanding tone became sticky, losing its usual coldness, “Su Mingxiu!”
“Mm-hmm, I know you love me too. No need to call my name over and over again, I’m here.” The playful voice seized the opportunity to stuff another grape into her mouth.
Sui Yihuan was angered by her. In the end, she pressed the person against the table to stop her unreasonable feeding behavior. Their breaths mingled, and although they weren’t doing anything, the atmosphere between them became heated.
Seeing the other person’s star-like eyes looking at her with a smile, Sui Yihuan looked at her for a while, and the anger in her chest inexplicably disappeared. Finally, she helplessly spoke, changing the subject, “They’re all gone, what about you?”
How did these cultivators communicate with each other? Why didn’t Su Mingxiu leave? Was it because she didn’t want to, or because they abandoned her?
Sui Yihuan had too many questions hidden in this helpless sentence.
But Su Mingxiu understood. She originally wanted to tease her beloved, but seeing those deep red eyes and sensing the tension in Sui Yihuan’s actions, she changed her mind and comforted her, “From the moment I stepped into this Demon Abyss, no matter where my heart lies, they were destined not to let me leave this place.”
So they didn’t tell her how to communicate with each other.
Nor did they inform her of any plans.
From the moment she took that gu, Su Mingxiu knew that she had become an abandoned child of the righteous path of the Nine Continents. But she didn’t feel abandoned, but rather that she had chosen another path. This time, she wanted to stand by Sui Yihuan’s side and see how the world would change.
But her comfort didn’t work. Instead, it made Sui Yihuan frown even more. She pursed her lips and after a long time, said, “It was my negligence, I shouldn’t have…”
She shouldn’t have brought Su Mingxiu to her side because she was too worried about her. If she could have restrained herself, Su Mingxiu wouldn’t have—
Just then, she felt a sudden pain on her face.
Su Mingxiu was pinching her face with both hands, like kneading dough, but with much less force, “You’re doing it again. You don’t even have children, how did you develop this patriarchal attitude? I knew what path I was going to take, and I knew the price of taking it. Sui Yihuan, I know my own Dao, so why do you put those irrelevant responsibilities on your shoulders? Isn’t it better to let me share them with you? You’re also human, aren’t you afraid of being tired?”
“I…”
Hearing the word “tired,” Sui Yihuan’s gaze drifted. Since leaving the Hundred Flower Sect, she had stopped treating herself as an ordinary person, getting used to always maintaining her strength.
Otherwise, she would be pushed into the abyss by those lurking in the dark at any moment. It was impossible for her to feel tired. If she ever felt this way, she would be close to death.
But she couldn’t deny that perhaps the grapes she ate earlier were too sweet, corrupting her hard heart and bewitching her tongue. Now she couldn’t say a single harsh word.
And now, Su Mingxiu chose to be honest with her. She released her grip on her cheeks and offered her own palm, “There’s a gu inside me that they planted. I don’t know what it is yet, but I’ve tried and can’t remove it with my own cultivation. I guess it’s not something easy to deal with.”
“Can you help me?”
She was using herself as an example, trying to teach this person who had been alone in the darkness for too long, telling her, you’re not alone. Look, even someone as powerful as me can ask for help without shame when I need it.
“I…”
In her unresisting compliance, Sui Yihuan changed the color of her eyes, carefully probing her meridians with the spiritual power she had as a cultivator, speaking very cautiously, “I will try my best.”
Su Mingxiu leaned in to kiss her, but was stopped by her. So she could only use her other hand to smooth the wrinkles between her eyebrows, “Don’t frown, even if you can’t solve it, I still have other ways. Don’t be nervous.”
“And those three people, I can probably guess where they went—”
“Don’t frown, it’s not the end of the road yet.”
Hearing her gentle voice, Sui Yihuan’s mood strangely calmed down. She even had the illusion that “if Su Mingxiu was really with her, there was probably nothing she couldn’t do in these nine continents.”
Seeing the loosening of the hard stone in her heart, the smile on Su Mingxiu’s lips widened. In this dim room, it was like a delicate red apricot blossom reaching in, bringing spring light to the entire room.
“What about you?”
“Is there anything you want to tell me?” She asked.
About the Heavenly Demon, about her plans for the Demon Abyss, or about how to fight against the Nine Continents, was Sui Yihuan willing to trust her unconditionally and give her this chance to stand by her side?
Facing the Heavenly Dao, the cunning Xiao Xingwei, and the difficulties she experienced in those small worlds before, Su Mingxiu didn’t think it was a big deal. She was like the sharpest sword in the world, and there could be no obstacle that could stop her.
Even love, she would occasionally weigh it carefully, deciding how much and to what extent she should give.
—But only when facing Sui Yihuan did she feel helpless and at her wit’s end.
Those arrogant thoughts from their first meeting, of wanting to keep the phoenix in a golden cage, to keep her as a treasured beauty, had long since vanished. After being loved so completely, Su Mingxiu could no longer bear to hurt her in the slightest.
No matter how annoyed she was by the other person’s willfulness, now she could only, like the first to fall in love in those romance stories, unable to hurt the other person, only hurt herself, dig open her chest, and present that worthless heart to the other person, whispering carefully and humbly:
Look, it loves you so much. Without you, it will die.
Leave a Reply