"You... why are you shaking?"
Mu Sheng was actually smiling as he shook his wound. Miaomiao could feel his palm grow warm; It was clearly fresh blood seeping out. She felt despair in her heart as she roared at him: "Stop smiling! Shut up!"
She picked up a new piece of gauze with her right hand, holding it in her hand as a backup. She exerted herself to keep him steady. From another perspective, it looked like she was hugging him.
Her embrace had a faint fragrance. It was the scent of a girl who bathed in flower infused water. After being steamed by hot air, the fragrance drifted out. Their warm bodies were separated by a thin ocean blue upper jacket, as if she wasn't tightly stuck onto him.
Cold. Very cold indeed.
However, Ling Miaomiao felt so hot she was covered with sweat: "Are you really ok having lost so much blood?"
The hot water slowly lost its temperature. His palm was as cold as ice and his lips were pale yet he slowly started to act up a cold war: "This body's blood... I detest... It'd be great if it were to all flow away..."
The person in his embrace shuddered terribly.
It's the chills. Miaomiao remembered all of a sudden. People who've lost too much blood would become like this.
Well, I'll be damned. The black lotus had the guts to instakill that mighty demon. When he fought alone, his body was covered with an overbearing and tyrannical aura. In the end, she found out that he was actually using his life to put on an act?
She was so angry she was speechless, and in the end could only say: "Let me go. I'll go grab some quilts for you."
"You... know that I'm cold."
"Isn't that obvious?" Ling Miaomiao's hand was held down by his so she was unable to move at all, "Your body is so cold..." She wriggled one hand out, extracting her sleeve.
She then put her hand on his shoulder and leaned her upper body closer, like she was striving to the best of her ability to give him some warmth.
Minutes and seconds flew by and
Miaomiao's heart was in a mess. She was restless and, unable to stay composed.
"I'm afraid that this won't work, I'll go find
Brother Liu and company."
"You dare go?" Mu Sheng awoke from his half-unconscious state. He suddenly opened his eyes; Eyes filled with a caustic look so strong it invoked terror.
"Ok ok, I won't go..." She didn't dare move rashly and sat back down disappointedly.
Fortunately, Miaomiao was constantly sweating so her body was somewhat warm. Mu Sheng unconsciously stuck himself as close to her as possible.
"Hey, do you not have any way at all?" Miaomiao's expression was complicated as she looked at Mu Sheng, who seemed to be in shock. Her voice was a bit sour as she asked: "If I didn't come find you today, what would you have done?"
"I wouldn't have done anything..." His voice was soft like he was in a dream. He felt like his head was extremely chaotic as Mu Yao's serious face continuously appeared: Ah Sheng, you are the Mu family's hope.
If she knew that this 'hope of the Mu family' not only had such a background, but could also draw reverse character talismans....
Truly ridiculous.
The crisp and clear voice beside his ear was still being long winded with any end: "Oh yeah, you Demon Hunters, don't you all have those staunching talismans? Or maybe sear it? How about the type of talisman that can turn into liquid and act as a cure to many maladies..."
Mu Sheng smiled coldly, "You're speaking of what fake daoist spread to swindle people."
"Then what do we do?!" Ling Miaomiao wanted to cry. The blood staunching medicine in her hands couldn't staunch a wound with as much area as his covered. "If this goes on, you'll die!"
"Die? What importance would my death have..." His mouth curled up into a self-mocking smile. His expression grew colder and his entire body turned pale like he was about to ascend as an immortal in the next moment.
"You can't... you can't die wahh...." Ling Miaomiao nervously stared at him. Seeing that he was in a bewildered state, she raised her voice and fiercely shouted at him, "Do you hear me? You can't die! Think of a method! I can help you accomplish dangerous tasks... otherwise, if you pass out, I will go wake up your sister!"
Mu Sheng stared at her and sunk into a strange silence.
After a long pause, he replied in a low voice: "I can't use it."
Liu Fuyi's phrase 'evil practice' flashed through her head. The book had said that Mu Sheng's heart was not straight. He was unconventional and walked an evil road. Yet, it didn't clearly say exactly how it was 'evil'.
If her target were to just die, would she directly get transported to the punishment world? Realizing this, what did this 'evil' have to do with her at all!
"Why can't you use it! Your life is in danger!"
"I've already used it once today..."
"I understand, you don't want your sister to know of this matter. Put your heart at ease, I won't say a single word at all! So hurry up and use it."
Mu Sheng's face was as pale as paper. His wet hair stuck on the side of his temples and his expression was misty. His black pupils turned increasingly more and more clear: "What you saw today, are you not scared?"
"Yeah, I saw." She tried to brush past the topic while furious anxiousness burned in her, "Who cares about evil practices, isn't it enough just to be able to kill demons? If it can save your life, why won't you use it! Hurry!"
He slowly lowered his body and leaned on her body. His voice was as light as a feather and it was far from his cute and obedient tone: "... help me then."
"How... how do I help you?"
"Help me comb my hair."
He let go of his hand, the back of Ling Miaomiao's hand covered in cold sweat. She took a few steps towards her suitcase and dug out a comb. She then inserted the comb into the black lotus's head of black hair while shaking all over.
"The headband... untie it..." His voice was very erratic.
"Oh..." Ling Miaomiao extended her hand to undo the white hairband. She had only lightly pulled it when she felt the aura around him change all of a sudden.
The air around them became filled with countless whirlpools spinning and twisting around. This person in front of her seemed to have a deadly attraction to them, like a lovely snow white poppy drifting about softly in the wind; inviting one to pluck it.
That beauty laced with poison was like an adrogynous deity of the highest heavens yet also like an evil spirit with profound worldly desires. At times, eminent and unapproachable. At times, extremely corrupted. The images would intersect and change several times and the only thing that remained unchanged was his pair of pitch-black eyes that were raised at the ends, his charming appeal that continuously oozed and his pupils looked like a whirlpool of stars, containing the world's brightest and richest affections.
With a single glance, one would feel an uncontrollable desire to get nearer to him, and once one got close, splay themselves out on his legs. Becoming his offering and give him free reign to do as he pleased with them.
She felt a sweetness in her throat and by the time she reacted, a mouthful of blood was already dripping out of her lips and down her chin. She felt like her organs had been twisted by an invisible kneading force. But strangely, she couldn't feel any pain, and on the contrary... felt a sort of pleasurable satisfaction.
She felt excited but her conscience and rationality made her hairs stand on end.
Was this saving people? This was getting her to accompany him into the grave!
"Ugh..." Another mouthful of blood spewed out. The depths of her eyes were dark and she couldn't control her hand as it moved over to touch his headband.
"Paaa—-" Suddenly her hand was grabbed and her whole person was forcefully pulled aside as she fell onto her butt.
"Enough."
The mysterious aura suddenly dissipated like a person who was floating mid air suddenly falling to the ground. It was only now that she felt all the organs in her body in the wrong places. Pain started to return to her in a wave of attacks. "Wah!" She spurt out another mouthful of blood as she collapsed onto the ground gasping for air.
Mu Sheng turned around slightly and Miaomiao saw that his wound was still there, but it had stopped bleeding.
His face was snow white. She didn't know how, but there was a bizarre beauty in the corners of his eyes. His face was gloomy without a single hint of light on it. The depths of his pupils had no end, "Get lost! Stay further away from me."
Are there people who treat their saviors like this?
She cradled her arm that hurt from being hit by Mu Sheng as she shrunk into a corner of the room. She watched as Mu Sheng stretched out both of his arms then elegantly and slowly retied his headband. Then, he draped his clothes on.
The ordinary-looking white ribbon seemed to have moonlight condensed atop it, causing it to look more mysterious.
What kind of evil art does he train? How is it this terrifying? Remembering that surge of strength of just now, she felt terror still. No wonder Mu Yao didn't want him to use it. If he were to continue like that, it's hard to say if he would become the sect head of an evil sect or not.
After Mu Sheng combed his hair and put on his clothes, he started sitting upright with his eyes closed.
"Uhm.... are you fine now?" Ling Miaomiao felt bored after hiding in the corner for so long and broke the silence.
"The things that happened today, you are not allowed to mention even a single word of. Otherwise, I won't..."
His tone was ice cold and he suddenly stopped talking.
Miaomiao felt stifled; Did the black lotus grow sick in the mind? Obviously, just now he was just a warm little sheep leaning in her embrace yet in such a short period of time, he completely flipped his face around.
Suddenly, a thought crashed through her brain like a streak of lightning striking her heart. She immediately felt cold sweat coating her whole body as her entire person froze.
For the sake of revenge, he could pettily harm the entire family... Other than his sister, everyone else in the black lotus's eyes was just like a fart... could such a person even possess a conscience?
He had already known everything that would have happened but still drew her in step by step into doing his bidding. But at the moment he considerably roughly tossed her away, he must've had a change of mind and let her go.
"Truly... thank you." She squeezed a sentence out from between her teeth.
Mu Sheng had his back to her the entire time. The hem of his robe was spread out on the ground like a flower. He was taciturn for a long time before sarcastically smiling: "Miss Ling, being too intelligent might not always be a good matter."
"You're wrong Mu Sheng." Ling Miaomiao leaned with her back against the wall as the boat beneath her feet suddenly jolted.
"True intelligence is used to protect one-self, and never used to harm others."
The candle light flickered in the dim room and all grew silent again.
"You don't believe me?" Ling Miaomiao coldly smiled, "Since you believe that Mu Yao is an absolutely good person, then based on what can you deny that this world doesn't have another person just like her?"
Mu Sheng's smile was full of unknown meaning, "Are you talking about yourself?"
"Are you thinking that it's very laughable that I am comparing your sister to me?" Ling Miaomiao lingered on for a long time before her stomach called. She then just directly crouched down in the corner and started eating a steamed bun.
"That's right, I am a little different from your sister." She chewed while speaking in a rather incoherent manner, "I'm just someone that's petty and small minded. I'm not magnanimous or righteous. As long as the people I care about are safe and happy, I will be very satisfied."
She suddenly discovered that there was a very slender crack under her feet. The ship trembled again and the crack spit out a few bubbles of water with a 'pu'.
Eh? She scrunched up her brows.
Shadow filled the area beneath her feet and shrouded her at the same time. She raised her head and discovered that Mu Sheng had walked to her. He was looking down at her from his height. There was a strange mood in his eyes as he was filled with both curiosity and doubt: "You don't blame me?"
"Blame you for what?" She meticulously pretended to be dumb as her words carried in them barbs, "You said that you used evil practives. It was I who persevered in making you use the medicine. If I were to just unluckily die, I can only blame my fate for being bad."
She swallowed her steamed bun as she licked her lips in satisfaction. The sweetness filled her heart with joy and even her irascible desire to curse others out recovered.
Ling Miaomiao was already unable to grow angry any more. Her whole body was clenched tight. The second mission is really much harder than she expected it to be.
"Using my life to exchange for Young Noble Mu's life; I believe that it's quite a fair trade." She smiled sweetly.
The youth lowered his lashes and a sharp light appeared in his eyes. He didn't realize that this person who looked weak and delicate actually possessed an extremely strong character within.
He seemed to struggled for a long time before finally adjusting his mood. However, his face still grew increasingly cold, "You—-"
"Hua...." A deafeningly loud sound suddenly came from outside. As if the river's waters suddenly rose up into a massive wave, the ship under their feet suddenly started to violently tremble and convulse.
"What's going on?"
"Ah! Water is coming in..."
The voices outside grew noisy and it sounded like many people had run out from their rooms. In a short moment of time, people carrying candles in their hands grew into many layers. It was just like a dance of fireflies and they continuously ran back and forth atop the deck, their footsteps amalgamating into a disordered mix of sounds.
"Kacha—-" Miaomiao was stupefied as she was moved away, nearly falling onto her face. The slender crack underneath her feet suddenly grew massive. In an instant, it was like a bloodthirsty beast stretching its jaws wide open. A column of black smoke-filled river water suddenly shot out of the hole, going straight for the ceiling.
Miaomiao was stunned by the black smoke when Mu Sheng suddenly grabbed her wrist. He pulled her over to the other side of the hole in just a blink and pushed the door: "Go, let Liu Fuyi take my sis away."
Miaomiao turned around and saw that Mu Sheng's sleeves were still stained with blotches of blood. She hesitated as she asked: "You... are you able to stop it?"
"Enough nonsense, leave!"
Mu Sheng's hair started floating up and two talismans had already left his sleeves. But upon seeing her lower her head and turn back around, he couldn't hold back his great anger: "Didn't I tell you to go? Why are you worrying about me!"
"Who cares about you?" Miaomiao reached the cabinet in just a few steps. She rapidly threw the wrapped up package on the short cabinet onto her back. She turned around rushed out the door: "I haven't grabbed my steamed buns!"