No. 70: The Counterattack of the Lingering Shadow (9)

  "Anyway, your plan won't work out either, why bother with this extra move?" I looked at him disdainfully, holding the dagger to my own throat, "I'd rather not die by your hand, lest you use me to harm others again."

  Actually, what's more important is that I feel like dying at his hands would be even more miserable.

  But I only felt a gentle breeze, and Ren Pingsheng suddenly appeared by my side with a ghostly speed, and the dagger was already in his hand. Ren Pingsheng put Ruoyan down on the ground, then pulled over my left hand, and gently patted the dagger back into my palm.

  "It's extremely boring," he said. "I'm fed up and don't want to play anymore today."

  I stared at him in astonishment.

  "How can this be? How can the chess pieces not follow my orders? I originally thought you died in the cave, but you actually didn't die there and came here to die instead. That's not allowed, Ah Ruo."

  I'm stunned, and all I can think of are two words that keep echoing in my mind: Pervert...

  "So I'm very unhappy today. The good show hasn't started yet, and the white tiger will also be disappointed, right?" Ren Pingsheng glanced at Ruoyanjuan with a hint of hatred in his eyes, but only said to himself, "But Ah Ruo, little fool, I saw through your thoughts today. One day, you'll regret what happened today, because sometimes living can be painful, and you'll feel it with your flesh and blood. You and him are the same."

  "What's going on? I don't understand anything. I let go and shouted at him in a stern voice: 'Are you crazy? What do you want to do?'"

  Ren Ping Sheng smiled: "I don't understand what you're saying, anyway it's scolding me, right? Go ahead and scold me, your angry look is quite cute."

  I clutched the dagger and made a slashing motion at him, but he just chuckled and caught my wrist, his other hand's fingers lightly brushing against my cheek, making my attack look like a lover's spat. My anger flared even more intensely.

  "What do I want to do after all? Ah Ruo, must there be a reason for doing something? Just like how I want to torment you, or spare your life today, must there be a reason?" He tilted his head and looked at me, the smile returning to his eyes.

  I thanked his eight generations of ancestors in my heart. What kind of dogshit logic is this!

  "I wish you a good time at home, enjoying your father's flesh punishment!" I said viciously, recalling the words of Ruo Yujuan that I had overheard.

  "Hmph, a flogging? What's the big deal? Lying down for a few months will be fine." The perverted man chuckled softly and stuffed a pill into my mouth, pinching my jaw shut. The pill rolled in with a "gulp". "A-Yue, cherish your time well. You look great when you smile, hope it lasts longer."

  I was choked and coughed. Ren Ping Sheng let go of my wrist, bent down and carried Ruo Yu Juan on his shoulder, laughing: "A Xuan, see you later."

  After they finished speaking, they suddenly disappeared.

  Nothing was visible, no people, no beasts, no corpses. The lighter had gone out long ago, so the blood shed by that poor girl who died in my place could not be seen on the dark ground either. My strength slowly returned to my body, and I realized that what Ping Sheng gave me to eat just now was probably an antidote for the poison of the mirage lion. But my brain and heart seemed to have been emptied all at once, and my feet softened, unable to help but stumble.

  Am I going to die like this?

  How terrifying! How terrifying! A strong sense of fear suddenly surged up. What was I just doing? I almost got eaten by a monster? I almost died?

  My heart suddenly beats like a drum, my whole body is cold, and my hands and feet are trembling. I took a deep breath, but it didn't work. I really want to cry, I'm so scared. Is this what they call "after-fear"?

  But hurry up and get better, this is a deep mountain, what if there are other ferocious beasts? What if Ren Ping changes his mind? What if he wants to kill me again? He doesn't need any reason to kill people.

  However, I couldn't move and was rooted to the spot. I stood there alone in the quiet forest for at least fifteen minutes, shivering with fear, when suddenly I heard a rustling sound followed by a thud, and someone with very heavy footsteps fell from the top of the tree to the ground.

  It's done! My heart skipped a beat. I slowly turned towards the direction of the sound, and the moonlight shone brightly down on me. I looked at the person who had come, and they were also staring blankly at me.

  My heart skipped a beat again.

  The cold and bright moonlight illuminated the man standing not far away, making him look like a celestial being. However, in this world, perhaps there wouldn't be such a disheveled celestial being. The man's everything was extremely disheveled, his hair, clothes, and expression. I had never seen him with such a flustered expression before, nor had I ever seen so much meaning flowing from his eyes. Yet he was still him, no matter what, always looking good, my god.

  Nie Qiuyuan stood still, ten steps away from me, staring at me intently. I didn't know what he had been through before, as the clothes on his body were those of Tianjing Gate disciples under Ren Pingsheng's command, tied up in a messy way. He might have gone through a fierce battle, for he was clearly injured, with wet stains on the left sleeve of his shirt, and fresh blood still trickling down his dangling arm from the back of his hand to his fingertips, dripping into the mud one drop at a time.

  My terrified soul was enveloped by a gentle breath in an instant. He came, the one I thought I would never see again, he came here to save me. Not a single guess of mine was wrong, he is that kind of person, he must have come.

  It's great that those terrible things didn't happen!

  I suddenly had the courage again, I thought I couldn't let him know what happened before. But how should I make up a story? Ren Pingsheng had already passed on a message to him, he knew I was in Ren Pingsheng's hands, how could I deceive his keen intuition and return to my original life?

  "Brother!" I strained every nerve to control the trembling of my voice. "How are you here! Something terrible has happened, terribly awful!"

  Nie Qiuyuan didn't move, still staring at me like that, making me feel a bit creepy.

  What's wrong?

  "Brother, that Ruo Yujuan is a bad person! She's the White Tiger of the terrifying Tianjing Gate. We were all deceived by her. It was she who brought me here! She handed me over to someone named Ren Pingsheng, but later I don't know why they suddenly started fighting! I took advantage of the opportunity to escape and ran into this forest... it's so scary..."

  I don't even know how I managed to say so many words, but towards the end, I started speaking slower and slower because Nie Qiuyuan had a complex expression on his face as he slowly, step by step, walked closer and closer to me, getting nearer than I could have imagined, almost close enough to stick to my body.

  He gazed down at me, the air was extremely cold, and my body could even clearly feel the temperature of his light breathing. His breath fell on my skin, making my already racing heart beat even faster. I was about to cry out, my poor little heart had endured so many intense emotional fluctuations in this short period of time, how could anyone bear it!

  "Brother...... brother......" I feel that language is powerless, I can't pretend anymore, I'm on the verge of collapse, tears are already swirling in my eyes.

  I was astonished to discover in those eyes that gazed down at me something extremely, extremely hot, as if the entanglement of ice and fire. There, something was fighting, a battle that set one's heart ablaze, yet made one hesitate to move forward.

  He slowly raised his right hand, and that right hand, with a slightly warm temperature in the cold, gently fell on my left cheek, slowly lifting up my face.

  That right hand burned my cheek, burning my heart into a panic. I was suddenly confused and at a loss, with a blank mind. I opened my eyes in terror, but saw his struggling eyes slowly close. He slowly lowered his head.

  In an instant, I couldn't see anything either, all the sensations disappeared in an instant, only the sense of touch was infinitely magnified, that was his finally tightly attached fiery body, and those finally printed on my lips wet and scorching mouth.