Chapter 36 p1
“Two meat buns, a cup of soy milk. Your breakfast, ma’am.”
“How is it? To your liking? I made it myself, you know.”
“Don’t glare at me! Glare at him over there! I’m shy. I hate being stared at.”
Xin Yao rolled her eyes, taking a bite of her bun.
Her attempt to escape last night had failed. The damn Taoist priest had dragged her out of her dream.
Now, she sat on the floor of a simple room on the mountain, dressed in her pajamas, her bare feet cold against the stone floor. A faint blue light emanated from the magic circle surrounding her, trapping her within its confines.
The chattering figure squatting before her, offering her breakfast, was Li Henqing’s disciple, a chubby little Taoist priest with his hair in a topknot.
The person he was referring to was Li Henqing himself, sitting at a nearby table, his eyes closed, meditating. He hadn’t moved or spoken since capturing her and placing her within the magic circle.
Xin Yao was speechless. What was this guy’s deal?
After finishing her breakfast, feeling her strength return, she resumed her attempts to escape, pounding on the barrier of the magic circle.
“Help! A Taoist priest is kidnapping me! Robbery! Murder!”
“Li Henqing! Say something, you coward!”
Li Henqing remained silent, his eyes still closed, as if he hadn’t heard a thing.
The little Taoist priests sweeping the courtyard outside, however, having never ventured down the mountain, nor encountered a woman, let alone witnessed such a scene, began to whisper amongst themselves, their gossip spreading like wildfire.
“Master seems to have kidnapped a girl.”
“Has Master finally lost his way?”
“Or maybe this is his true nature?”
“Shameless old man!”
Li Henqing ignored them.
His chubby disciple, however, couldn’t stand it any longer. He shooed the other disciples away, then turned to Xin Yao.
“Ma’am, please stop shouting.”
“My master is like this. He hates working. Nine to five. He won’t open his eyes or speak until nine o’clock.”
Huh?
Xin Yao paused, her hand still raised mid-air, her expression bewildered.
Were these people insane?!
Just then, Li Henqing suddenly opened his eyes, holding up a finger.
“One tea egg, one bun, one cup of soy milk.”
His chubby disciple winked at Xin Yao.
“Except for breakfast.”
He scurried off to prepare his master’s breakfast.
After the disciple left, Xin Yao and Li Henqing were alone again, the room falling silent.
Xin Yao, unable to sit still, kicked at the barrier of the magic circle.
“Why did you bring me here?! What’s your reason?! Are you trying to use me against Pei Yu? How despicable!”
Li Henqing, calmly peeling his tea egg, glanced at her, then muttered to himself, “Don’t be angry, don’t be angry.”
He looked at Xin Yao.
“Do you know you’re about to die?”
“Who?” Xin Yao looked around the room, then pointed at herself, surprised. “Me?”
“Yes.”
“Why am I dying?”
The Taoist priest finished his tea egg and took a sip of soy milk, his gaze drifting towards the misty mountain outside the window. Then, he finally answered, his voice slow and deliberate.
“A cursed child will bring chaos to the world. That is the law of the mountain. And it is our duty to eliminate such a threat.”
“That snake demon, thinking he could hide his cursed offspring by stealing the Sacred Seal of the Snow Mountain, was foolish. Purity and evil cannot coexist.”
“It’s not her half-demon bloodline that’s causing her powers to surge. It’s the conflict between the Sacred Seal and the cursed energy within her.”
“This conflict will reach its peak when she reaches maturity. In other words, when Pei Yu’s vulnerable phase ends and she enters her mature phase, the two energies within her will clash, and she will die.”
“And you, bound to her by the mating mark, will die with her.”
“I brought you here to save you. This magic circle will remove the mating mark.”
Xin Yao instinctively looked down at her chest, pulling her shirt aside. The mark, usually so vibrant, was now faint and fading.
Soon, it would disappear completely, severing her connection with Pei Yu.
She clutched her shirt, her fingers trembling, her face paler than the snow falling on the mountain outside.
Her mind went blank, a wave of coldness washing over her. She collapsed onto the floor, tears welling up in her eyes.
Then, a sudden thought made her scramble to her feet, her hands gripping the barrier as she looked at Li Henqing.
“Isn’t there any way to save her?”
Li Henqing finally looked at her, his expression puzzled.
“I’m supposed to eliminate the cursed child and retrieve the Sacred Seal. Why would I save her?”
His words, his condescending tone, infuriated Xin Yao.
Her anger momentarily overshadowed her fear. She slammed her hand against the barrier.
“Tell me, what exactly is a ‘cursed child’? What chaos will she bring?”
“Has she caused any trouble? Has she done anything wrong? Why do you get to judge her, to decide her fate?”
Li Henqing seemed to find her anger amusing. “Should we wait until she actually does something, until the consequences are irreversible, before taking action?”
“But how can you judge someone based on something that hasn’t even happened?” Xin Yao argued. “Sentencing someone to death before they’ve even had a chance to live… don’t you think that’s ridiculous?”
His words made Li Henqing pause, a rare moment of silence. Then, he finally replied, “A demon is a demon.”
“Bullshit!” Xin Yao cursed. “Even you don’t believe that, Li Henqing! You’re a bastard!”
Li Henqing raised an eyebrow, his chopsticks clattering against his bowl, about to retort.
Just then, a deafening roar echoed through the mountains, making their ears ring.
The entire room shook, objects falling to the floor.
Xin Yao, her hands covering her ears, instinctively crouched down.
What was that? An earthquake? A landslide?
Her question was quickly answered as Li Henqing’s chubby disciple rushed into the room, his face pale with panic.
“Report!”
“Master! A giant white snake is attacking the temple!”
Pei Yu!
It had to be Pei Yu!
Xin Yao scrambled to her feet, looking at Li Henqing.
Li Henqing glanced at the clock on the wall.
It was 8:30 am.
His disciple rolled his eyes. “Alright, alright, I know. You won’t work until nine. I’ll go check it out.”
He ran outside, his voice echoing back into the room.
“Master! The courtyard is filled with snow!”
“Master! The temple dog has been defeated!”
“Holy shit, Master! The temple sign has been destroyed!”
Assessing the situation, the disciple decided that they were outmatched and refused to leave the relative safety of the doorway.
“Master, what did you do?!”
Xin Yao scoffed. “Your master kidnapped someone’s wife.”
“Whose wife?”
“Mine.”
The disciple’s eyes widened. “Yikes. He deserves it, then.”
Just then, the snake demon outside seemed to have gone completely berserk. A powerful gust of wind, carrying snow and ice, ripped through the temple, tearing off the roof and shattering the front door.
Bright sunlight streamed in, the swirling snow and ice like a blizzard, threatening to engulf them.
Pei Yu, in her half-human, half-snake form, stood amidst the storm, her white hair swirling around her, her red eyes blazing, her appearance terrifying and magnificent.
She was indeed a madwoman, unleashing her full power, having reached the temple gates in less than half an hour.
Li Henqing: This was her vulnerable phase?!
If Xin Yao wasn’t released soon, Pei Yu would tear the entire mountain apart.
Even a natural disaster wouldn’t stop her from rescuing her mate.
Xin Yao, trapped within the magic circle, stared at the figure in the blizzard.
“Pei Yu.”
The chubby disciple, even more terrified than Xin Yao, almost collapsed onto the floor.
“Holy shit, Master! I think we’re outmatched!”
Just then, the temple bell chimed, signaling nine o’clock.
Li Henqing, finally ready to “work,” stood up, smoothing his robes.
“Hmph. As if I could be defeated.”
He stepped out of the room, ready to face the rampaging snake demon.
Li Henqing, as confident as ever, was indeed powerful.
He and Pei Yu clashed in a fierce battle, their figures barely visible amidst the swirling snow and ice.
Whenever they disappeared from view, Xin Yao would anxiously peer through the barrier, trying to see what was happening.
After a long while, a roar echoed through the air.
Xin Yao looked up to see Pei Yu, forced into her true form by Li Henqing, her massive white body coiling and thrashing, her mouth open wide, ready to strike.
But just then, Pei Yu saw Xin Yao, trapped within the magic circle.
Mid-attack, she froze, a wave of fear washing over her.
Her mother, Pei Shuangshuang, had been frightened away by her father’s true form.
The scene was eerily similar to the one unfolding before her now.
And she was attacking someone, her fangs bared, her appearance terrifying. Would Yaoyao be disgusted? Would she still love her?
As Pei Yu hesitated, her mind momentarily clouded by fear and self-doubt, Li Henqing seized the opportunity, striking her with a powerful blow.
The pain jolted her back to reality, and she lunged forward, her mind clear.
She had nothing to fear. Xin Yao was her strength, her courage.
Xin Yao wouldn’t abandon her because of this.
And Xin Yao wouldn’t.
In fact, compared to Pei Yu, Xin Yao was the truly strong and unwavering one.
Watching Pei Yu battle Li Henqing, Xin Yao’s heart ached with a mix of sadness and compassion.
Her Pei Yu, who had suffered so much, who had finally found happiness, how could she die now?
And it was Xin Yao who was the one who couldn’t stay.
She looked at the glowing screen in her mind, the 24-hour countdown ticking away.
Xu Qing had been arrested for attempted murder and corporate espionage, his future a long prison sentence.
Xin Yao’s mission was complete. And with no points to pay for an extended stay, she would soon be leaving this world.
24 hours. That was all the time she had left.
She was the one who couldn’t stay.
But she couldn’t bear the thought of Pei Yu dying, her fate sealed from the moment of her birth, her life filled with suffering.
Good and evil shouldn’t be defined like this. No one deserved to die because of a curse.
She was leaving anyway. Why not use her remaining time to save Pei Yu?
Xin Yao wiped away her tears. “Nuan Nuan, please help me.”
Nuan Nuan, knowing what she was about to suggest, slammed her hand against her keyboard.
[Xin Yao, don’t be ridiculous! I can’t help you!]
“Please, Nuan Nuan,” Xin Yao pleaded. “Just this once. Can you really watch her die?”
[You’ll regret this!]
“I’ll regret it more if I don’t do anything!”
Nuan Nuan was exasperated.
[I warned you before you entered this world! Don’t get attached! There’s no happy ending for someone who’s leaving and someone who’s staying!]
[Xin Yao, think about your sister! Think about your mother! Think about the home you haven’t bought yet! Think about yourself, dying alone in the snow! Think about your own happiness for once!]
Xin Yao knew that Nuan Nuan, despite her harsh words, cared about her.
“I know, but this is the best option, isn’t it?”
“I’ll take her curse with me when I leave, and she’ll live.”
[Sigh…] Nuan Nuan relented, her voice softening. [It will be very painful, you know.]
Xin Yao nodded, her expression calm.
“I know.”
When Li Henqing had declared Pei Yu’s impending death, Xin Yao hadn’t just been sad.
She had immediately contacted Nuan Nuan, asking for a way to save her.