Chapter 20: A Bloody Kiss
Xie Bailu knew that to succeed, one had to take some risks, whether it was the danger during the process or the reckoning after failure.
But she was too desperate to escape her current situation and had to take the risk.
In the Absolute Demon Domain, she had intentionally and unintentionally provoked Ling Song many times, but he had never attacked her. Did he need her help? She didn’t think so. He was skilled in combat and had some knowledge of the Absolute Demon Domain. He didn’t need her in any way.
But he had never laid a hand on her. Whatever the reason, this was the premise of her current action.
Zhenhui’s movements were both light and fast. By the time Ling Song noticed something was wrong, the cleaver in Zhenhui’s hand was already at his neck.
Ling Song moved slightly, but Xie Bailu held him tightly, and the pressure on his lips also increased. Ling Song smelled the metallic taste of blood in his mouth.
The cleaver struck Ling Song’s neck, but it only broke the skin and could not go any further, because Ling Song’s hand was blocking the handle.
Sensing the spiritual energy overflowing from Ling Song’s hand, Zhenhui’s expression changed. He met Xie Bailu’s gaze and thought of the backup plan they had discussed earlier.
Zhenhui did not hesitate. He was just repaying a debt and would not risk his own life. Seeing that Ling Song could use spiritual energy even in the Absolute Demon Domain, he knew he was no match. So he didn’t even take the knife and quickly retreated, disappearing into the house again.
And Ling Song just took the cleaver. There was only a very shallow mark on his neck. When Xie Bailu realized the plan had failed and wanted to retreat, he grabbed both of her wrists, giving her no chance to take a knife, and with his other hand, he pressed down on her retreating head.
He smiled, his lips almost touching hers. “Running away already?”
His hoarse tone was almost ambiguous.
He turned the tables, holding the back of Xie Bailu’s head and pressing it against his. He bit her lip just as she had, and just as mercilessly.
A richer metallic taste spread in their mouths. Xie Bailu grunted, her eyes wide with shock.
This kiss, which couldn’t be called a kiss, didn’t last long, because Xie Bailu forcefully rammed her shoulder into Ling Song. When her hands were free, she immediately went for the boning knife, but the knife changed hands as soon as it was in her grasp. Ling Song threw the boning knife far away, pinned Xie Bailu’s arms behind her back, and pulled her up from the ground.
The wound on Xie Bailu’s hand was pulled, and she gritted her teeth through the pain, but she couldn’t control the instinctive stiffening of her muscles.
Ling Song’s movements paused. He tore off the cloth strips on Xie Bailu’s waist and arm and looked at the gruesome wound on her arm, smiling. “So you were really injured.”
Xie Bailu was now a fish on the chopping block. She couldn’t break free, so she could only use her words. “How can you still use spiritual energy? This is clearly the Absolute Demon Domain!”
Ling Song narrowed his eyes and smiled. “You’re about to die, and you’re still concerned about these things?”
Xie Bailu sized him up. His words sounded like a death sentence, but from his expression, he didn’t seem to care that she had set a trap for him.
She also smiled. “I want to die with my eyes open.”
Ling Song looked down at Xie Bailu and suddenly raised his thumb to press against her lip, rubbing it.
Xie Bailu felt a sharp pain on her lip. He had bitten her as hard as she had bitten him. It hurt even without touching it, let alone being pressed so hard.
She felt her face contort in pain.
Ling Song soon let go and looked at Xie Bailu’s face, nodding. “This looks much better.”
Xie Bailu was speechless. “…?” What the hell? Is he using my blood as lipstick?
Ling Song had no intention of killing Xie Bailu, but he didn’t let her go either. He raised his chin slightly. “That demon, how did you convince him to cooperate with you?”
Xie Bailu said, “I paid him with spirit stones.”
Ling Song clicked his tongue. “He ran away without killing me. Not very good.”
Xie Bailu thought to herself, It’s great that you think so.
She said, “I didn’t promise to give him much. It’s normal for him to cherish his life and run away.”
Ling Song sneered, “Cherish his life? He recognized me, yet he was willing to kill me for a few spirit stones?”
Xie Bailu’s heart tightened. She no longer defended Zhenhui and said with a nonchalant expression, “That’s none of my business. I paid the spirit stones, and he did the work. It’s a done deal. Oh, no, I was caught, so he won’t get the spirit stones.”
Ling Song said, “You talk too much. Not afraid of death?”
She looked at Ling Song and smiled back. “Young Master Ling, are you the type of person who likes to chat with your prey before killing it?”
He wasn’t. So, the fact that he was talking to Xie Bailu so much meant he wasn’t going to kill her.
Xie Bailu knew, and Ling Song knew that she knew.
But he looked at Xie Bailu and suddenly took the Five-Star Cauldron from her waist. Under her mournful gaze, he pried off the water elemental essence stone she had just obtained.
He smiled. “This is a punishment. I don’t like you plotting against me with others.”
His smile was as bright as his eyes were cold.
He put the water elemental essence stone into his own storage bag, then let go of Xie Bailu. Under her murderous gaze, he smiled even more pleasedly. “But I admire your courage to kill me at all costs.”
Xie Bailu was very angry, but there was nothing she could do.
It was just one water elemental essence stone, but she had saved her life and the Five-Star Cauldron. She was still the winner.
Learn from Ling Song, don’t let things get to you.
She finally calmed down. Let that water elemental essence stone be her second life. Failure and starting over always came with a price. Her price was already very light.
Xie Bailu took a few steps back, distancing herself from Ling Song, and asked, “When do you plan to kill me?”
A hunter’s amusement had a time limit. He wasn’t killing her now, just getting pleasure from her. Then she had to cater to him, make him happy, so she could have more time to grow and think of a way to get rid of him completely.
Ling Song smiled. “Are you so sure I’ll kill you?”
Xie Bailu didn’t answer this obvious question. If he didn’t want to kill her, why did he keep chasing her? If it was for the Five-Star Cauldron, he could have taken it back just now, but he didn’t.
Ling Song shrugged. “Alright, since you want to know, I’ll be kind and tell you.”
He lowered his gaze slightly, and even the curve of his lips carried the cruel coldness of a child torturing an ant. “When you make me feel bored, you can die.”
Xie Bailu’s heart trembled. Such a subjective standard. Interesting or boring, it was just a matter of his words.
But at least she could live for now.
Just as she was about to ask in detail what the standard for interesting and boring was, a tremor suddenly came from the direction of the tower, and the entire space seemed to be on the verge of collapsing.
Xie Bailu’s heart leaped with joy. It was Zhenhui! He had reached the tower and had really dealt with the Absolute Demon!
The backup plan she had agreed on with Zhenhui was both his escape route and hers. If it failed, counting on the fact that Ling Song wouldn’t kill her easily, she would stay behind to buy time, while Zhenhui would escape to the tower to deal with the Absolute Demon. As soon as the Absolute Demon died and the domain disappeared, Zhenhui would leave immediately, and she could also escape with the Divine Movement Art.
But she heard Ling Song say, “Xie Bailu, run. The next time I catch you, I won’t be as easy to talk to as I was today.”
…You’re really good at flattering yourself. Easy to talk to? If you’re easy to talk to, then there’s no one in the world who isn’t!
But Xie Bailu didn’t dare to delay. Who knew if Ling Song would suddenly change his mind? She performed the hand seals for the Divine Movement Art, and the moment the Absolute Demon Domain faded, she turned into a streak of white light and left.
Ling Song watched Xie Bailu disappear, but unlike before, he wasn’t annoyed. He just felt all his spiritual energy return and walked towards the tower.
Soon, he saw the still-living Fang brothers and Xiao Cui. They immediately bowed their heads like quails and greeted him.
Ling Song ignored them. When he reached where the tower should have been, he spread out his spiritual sense to search, but found nothing unusual.
He ran quite fast.
After Ling Song left, a frilled lizard chewing on leaves on a tree not far away suddenly spat out the leaf fragments in its mouth in a very human-like manner.
Fortunately, he had a magical treasure to hide his demonic aura. In the eyes of others, he was just an ordinary animal.
He thought of Xie Cheng, who he didn’t know what had happened to. No, her real name was definitely not that, but it didn’t matter anymore. After realizing he couldn’t kill Ling Song, he had immediately escaped according to the plan, came to the tower, transformed into his original form, climbed up, and successfully entered the tower through the small window.
The Absolute Demon’s true body was inside the tower, an ugly humanoid body covered in mold spots.
The rest was simple. He transformed into his human form, and because he had no weapon, he had to endure the disgust and smash the Absolute Demon’s head to a pulp with his bare fists. In the middle of it, the Absolute Demon had returned to its true body and cried for mercy, but he hadn’t listened to a word.
He could still smell the disgusting stench.
Zhenhui lay there for a while longer, and after confirming that Ling Song had really left, he slowly left in his frilled lizard form.
He had done what he had to do. Whether she could survive was her own fortune. He had to go find those two idiots, Zhenxin and Zhenyi. If he was gone for too long, he was really afraid they would get into some kind of trouble. He always had to clean up their messes. It was so annoying.
In the future, he had to make them do less sticky and disgusting things. If it weren’t for him trying to get away from them, he wouldn’t have been alone and brought into the domain by the Absolute Demon.
And another thing, he had to get as far away from White Rock City as possible. Nothing good happened around here! They had already left White Rock City immediately to avoid trouble, and they still ran into this kind of thing on the way.
As he ran, Zhenhui transformed back into his human form. He couldn’t wait to see Zhenxin and Zhenyi. He had to tell them that their judgment was poor. Although that female cultivator was quite bold, she didn’t even say her real name. What kind of friend was that? He was their friend!
After the Absolute Demon Domain dissipated, Xiao Xing came back online again. But before it could ask anything, feeling that Xie Bailu was using the Divine Movement Art, it immediately cooperated and helped Xie Bailu leave this place.
After reaching a hundred li away, Xiao Xing said, “Are you alright in the Absolute Demon Domain? What about Ling Song? He didn’t manage to kill you? Ahhhhhh, where’s my water elemental essence stone! Where’s my big water elemental essence stone!”
Xie Bailu ignored Xiao Xing for the time being. She took out a healing pill and swallowed it, quickly nourishing and repairing the wounds on her body with spiritual energy, mainly on her arm and lips.
The wound on her lip healed quickly and had already scabbed over, but the wound on her arm was large and deep and would need a few more treatments.
Only then did Xie Bailu have time to reply to Xiao Xing. “Ling Song is sick!”
Xiao Xing was confused. “…?” Didn’t we already know that?
She said, “He let me go, just to enjoy the fun of hunting me. Look, did he put a spiritual sense imprint on me again?”
Xiao Xing took a look and immediately wailed, “Yes! Let’s run!”
Xie Bailu said, “Wait, he should give me some time.”
She then asked her own question. “Xiao Xing, you said he didn’t completely lose his spiritual energy in the Absolute Demon Domain. What’s going on with that? And another thing, in the domain, the Absolute Demon can transform into anyone, with no flaws except for its personality. But I remember that every time Ling Song met me, he never seemed to suspect that I was the Absolute Demon… Could it be that he can tell if someone is the Absolute Demon?”
Although she could also tell, that was only when the Absolute Demon spoke. If the Absolute Demon transformed into someone she didn’t know, she would be at a loss.
Unfortunately, Xiao Xing couldn’t answer these questions either.
Xie Bailu could only sigh. “Forget it. Anyway, I can’t figure it out just by thinking about it. It’s good enough to be alive.”
Xiao Xing agreed. “Yes, before you entered the Absolute Demon Domain, I thought you were going to die.”
Xie Bailu said, “Indeed. Thanks to the Absolute Demon, let’s set up a cenotaph for it.”
Xiao Xing was confused. “…?”
Xie Bailu casually broke a branch and stuck it in the ground. “Alright.”
Xiao Xing was speechless. “…???”
Xie Bailu recalled the events in the Absolute Demon Domain, her expression a little hard to describe. “Ling Song clearly wanted to kill me before we entered the Absolute Demon Domain, but he changed after we went in… I killed the Absolute Demon with his face right after we went in, and then I killed it several more times in front of him, and even fought him directly, but he didn’t kill me immediately. Is he a pervert?”
Xiao Xing said, “What does ‘pervert’ mean?”
Xie Bailu said, “Um… it’s similar to ‘madman’.”
Xiao Xing immediately affirmed, “Then he’s a pervert!”
Xie Bailu couldn’t help but laugh. Thinking that she still had to find a way to survive under this pervert, she couldn’t laugh anymore.
She quickly sat down to meditate and recover her spiritual energy, planning to run as far as she could first. Since he liked to play so much, she would give him something fun. Didn’t he want interesting? Fine, she would be so interesting it would kill him!