Chapter 62
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Chapter 62: Title
Yan Ge entered the room. As she passed Suiyin, her gaze dropped to the girl’s right hand.
This hand had just been touched by another woman.
Filthy.
"I thought you’d obey." Her gentle tone contrasted with the rough cloth scrubbing Suiyin’s skin.
"Did you forget my warning?"
Suiyin shuddered, hearing the remembered threat echo:
"No excessive physical contact with others."
"Remember my words… or I’ll make her die before your eyes."
Pain flared as Yan Ge scoured the unblemished skin.
"Answer."
Those crimson eyes glinted coldly.
Suiyin jerked her head down. "I remembered!"
Only when the rubbing drew blood did Yan Ge cease, her fingertip soothing the raw flesh with pure spiritual power.
Xia Shi watched openly from three paces away. She’d initially suspected this woman to be one of the Thirteen Ghost Domains’ six City Lords, or perhaps… someone from the Endless Sea.
But spiritual power changed everything.
Ghost Domain dwellers couldn’t wield spiritual power. Suiyin possessed the Divine Bone, and this "Aunt Yan" radiated immortal energy. Was she truly an immortal?
Xia Shi’s lips thinned unconsciously, her face darkening as she witnessed Suiyin’s silent compliance.
Yan Ge turned towards the hostile stare, crimson irises clashing with stormy black.
"And this?" she inquired lightly.
Terrified by Yan Ge’s mood, Suiyin blurted, "Just a traveling companion. We’re not close."
"Oh?" The drawn-out syllable tightened Suiyin’s chest.
"Not close?"
"Not close!" Suiyin insisted, nodding fervently.
Across the room, Xia Shi’s face darkened like spilled ink.
She tugged at the corners of her lips and said coldly, "Right. Strangers."
After speaking, she grabbed the teapot and poured herself a cup. The tea had long gone cold.
"Since we’re strangers, keep your hands off my people," Yan Ge hinted.
Xia Shi didn’t respond.
When the woman moved toward the bed, Xia Shi pulled out her sword to block the path, glaring. "What to do?"
The blade hovered two fingers from Yan Ge’s throat.
Suiyin gasped, wanting to intervene – but Xia Shi’s frosty stare froze her limbs.
Her blood turned to ice as sudden grief choked her heart.
Her emotions always swung wildly with Xia Shi’s treatment of her.
Though her face stayed calm, her heart churned violently.
Eyes reddening, she quietly lowered her raised hand.
Yan Ge ignored the deadly blade at her throat, meeting Xia Shi’s gaze as she stepped forward –
One more step would impale her neck unless Xia Shi withdrew the sword.
But when steel nearly pierced skin, unseen force shoved Xia Shi’s arm backward.
The woman kept advancing until Xia Shi’s heels hit the bedframe, jaw straining.
"Aunt Yan." Suiyin’s timid voice broke through.
Yan Ge paused, smiling sweetly. "Yes?"
"That’s my friend on the bed." Sweat dripped down Suiyin’s neck, terrified they’d clash.
Xia Shi had just survived poison – another injury might kill her.
She frantically signaled Xia Shi to stand down.
But Xia Shi stared straight ahead, ignoring her completely.
Her face showed the cold hardness of thousand-year glacial ice.
Suiyin faltered. She’s angry… Because I called us strangers?
"Ah Yin." Yan Ge tilted her head.
Suiyin jolted, scurrying over. "Here!"
"Your friend looks gravely hurt. Shall I examine them?" Yan Ge’s voice flowed like warm honey.
Suiyin blinked, glancing between Xia Shi and the bed. She couldn’t read Aunt Yan’s motives, but Lu Ciyou and Yan Li needed help…
She bit her lip, paralyzed by indecision.
"Well? I’ll leave otherwise."
The coaxing voices melted her resistance. Her head bobbed automatically. "Yes."
"!!!!!"
In the next instant, wind and snow whirled through the room, doors and windows banging open and shut. Yan Ge stepped forward, her figure flashing through the icy chaos to land a palm strike on Xia Shi’s back.
"Stop!" a voice cried out.
The storm ceased abruptly. A dusting of snow now carpeted the floor, scattered red plum blossoms staining its surface. Both woman and sword collapsed limply.
Suiyin dropped to her knees, clutching both to her chest beneath the cold gaze from above. Her fingers whitened around the sword’s hilt.
"Planning to challenge me?" Yan Ge’s voice dripped with contempt.
Head bowed, Suiyin forced out through gritted teeth: "I wouldn’t dare."
A humorless laugh echoed. Ghostlike, Yan Ge materialized before her, roughly seizing Suiyin’s chin. "Strangers? You think me fooled? Ah Yin, you’ve been naughty."
Suiyin hugged Xia Shi closer, meeting that piercing stare. "We did nothing improper." No stolen kisses, no skin against skin, none of intimacy’s pleasures.
"Dead?" Yan Ge inquired mildly.
Suiyin felt the steady rhythm beneath her palms – breath and heartbeat. She knew Xia Shi wasn’t dead.
"Her body’s nearly an empty shell. I’m merely clearing impurities from her system." Yan Ge’s lip curled. "Why so protective?"
Without waiting for reply, she turned to examine the bed’s occupants. The inner figure’s right eye glowed with contained demonic energy, restrained by Chen Ci’s silver needles. A temporary solution.
As for the other…
Yan Ge extended her hand. Spiritual power flowed from her fingertips, coaxing forth answering energies. The Immortal Capital’s glory had faded centuries ago – what true immortals remained in the Nine Realms?
When the energies connected, Yan Ge’s vision shifted. Suddenly she stood within another’s consciousness sea.
"Never thought my final visitor would be you." The echoey voice held millennia’s weight.
Yan Ge turned slowly. Before her shimmered a faint figure that stole her breath.
"Lingyang?"
The apparition smiled at her old comrade, then frowned. "You’ve changed."
Yan Ge ignored the observation. "Why aid this stranger?"
"As Broken Stream’s new master, she fought Blood Demon to save others. My stored power can mend her meridians." Lingyang’s form flickered. "Besides, I’ve my reasons."
"Investigating Qingxue’s death?" Yan Ge crossed her arms. "It’s been a thousand years. You’re gone."
"Even if she finds answers," Lingyang whispered, fading faster, "you’ll never know them."
The ghostly figure vanished with finality, leaving only silence.
The two stood facing each other, silence stretching between them.
“Yan Ge, long ago Tiansui paid with her Divine Bone to seal the Blood Demon under the Nine Realms. Why has it returned now?” Lingyang’s gaze remained steady, her heart already holding the answer. “Do you have knowledge of this?”
Yan Ge’s eyes flickered. She clenched her fist beside her and rasped, “I don’t.”
“Good.” Lingyang’s figure began dissolving. “May you find peace hereafter.”
Silence reclaimed the consciousness sea. Yan Ge stirred, pulling herself free from it.
She drew out all demonic energy lingering inside both bodies and left strands of spiritual power to heal them.
Saving lives, she thought while staring at her palms. Not a demon—an immortal.
Only immortals saved mortals.
Her form scattered like mist.
Suiyin approached once Yan Ge vanished, examining Lu Ciyou and Yan Li before leading Xia Shi to the neighboring room.
*
Dawn came. The girl who’d lain unconscious all night finally stirred, eyelids fluttering open.
Her vision showed only half the world—the right side drowned in blackness.
Lu Ciyou’s fingers brushed cloth bandages shielding her right eye.
Yesterday’s memories crashed over her: A Li bathed in blood, A Li shielding her with desperate strength.
Where’s A Li?
A LI!
She jerked her head sideways. There lay the masked figure, silent and still beside her.
Relief flooded Lu Ciyou as she devoured A Li’s face with hungry eyes. Scars marked the skin beneath the mask’s upper edge, yet Lu Ciyou found every mark beautiful.
Her gaze dropped to A Li’s ravaged lower lip—self-inflicted?
Surviving yesterday’s horrors must’ve demanded unimaginable effort.
Lu Ciyou pushed upright, leaning down until their noses almost touched, feeling A Li’s faint breath.
A tear escaped Lu Ciyou’s lashes, tracing a wet path down A Li’s cheek.
“I told you to leave.”
The chiding whisper came as she thumbed the tear away, eyes returning to the damaged lip.
The deepest bite had nearly torn flesh free, leaving a scabbed wound with clear toothmarks.
More tears fell. Lu Ciyou scrubbed at them uselessly.
“A Li… does it hurt?”
Her hovering fingers hesitated, fearing to cause pain.
Another teardrop landed at A Li’s mouth corner. Lu Ciyou shut her eyes, withdrawing her trembling hand.
The saltwater droplet seeped between dry lips, bringing moisture.
Curtains of black hair fell around them, veiling their pressed foreheads.
Lu Ciyou’s fingers curled as she slowly lowered her head.
When her lips touched the cool corner of that mouth, her heart pounded like it might burst from her chest.
They stayed pressed together until the young lady finally straightened up, only to catch a fleeting figure in her peripheral vision.
Startled, she carefully stepped over A Li sleeping outside and chased barefoot after the shadow.
Her own heartbeat had been too loud earlier – she hadn’t noticed anyone entering.
Sunlight blinded her as she crossed the threshold, forcing her to raise a hand in defense.
"Awake?"
Lu Ciyou turned toward the voice. Suiyin sat rigidly in the courtyard, her posture unnaturally straight.
"You…"
Their eyes met briefly before Suiyin quickly looked away, avoiding her gaze.
Lu Ciyou arched an eyebrow. Was someone who’d shared divine connection with her really this timid?
"You saw us?"
Suiyin stiffened, caught off guard by the directness. She’d hoped to play dumb.
"So what if I saw?" Lu Ciyou strode forward boldly. "I like her."
She saw no reason to hide her feelings.
