Chapter 19 Chapter 19 "Hold on tight, don't fall."

Biqing leaned against the tree trunk, panting heavily. Seeing Xuan Yi standing safe and sound not far away, she reluctantly calmed down.

The instep of her foot felt slightly itchy. Biqing looked down and hurriedly shook off the larvae stuck on the shoe surface.

She ran to Meng Chi, her eyebrows raised. "You're just saying it nicely! Even if you can't fly, don't you still have legs? You don't want to find a way to settle your people, but instead believe in those unrealistic things! You say Xuan Yi is a blockhead, but I think you are the one!"

"What can you, a high and mighty God, understand?"

Meng Chi's bloodstained face was both alluring and ferocious. "Have you ever experienced the days of displacement and hiding?! Do you know how it feels to wake up every day and face the death of your people?! Everything is caused by you, but in the end, we are the ones who bear the consequences! How innocent are we?!"

Meng Chi's accusations became louder and louder, and he blamed all his misfortunes on Biqing.

Biqing's cheeks trembled slightly when she heard this, and she felt a stomachache from anger.

"Shut up!"

Biqing roared in anger, shocking Meng Chi and also making Xuan Yi, who was unsuspecting beside him, shudder.

"You don't think about how to change the current situation, but instead complain to me without any reason!"

Bi Qing held her aching abdomen tightly and cursed, "You deserve to be tricked by that thief! There are so many ways to survive. You can choose to go it alone, cooperate, or temporarily rely on others! But you are complacent and keep going in circles! How foolish!"

"I'm just stupid!"

Meng Chi laughed almost maniacally, "I am just stupid! So stupid that I adapted to the dark and gloomy demon world just to survive! So stupid that I ate the nourishing leaves of my own kind just to survive!"

"Every time they swallow a leaf, memories of their dead kin flash before their eyes... Many of their people have been tortured and fled the forest!"

"Do you think I didn't want to take my people away?! All the butterflies that left the forest, without exception, never came back! They're dead... They're all dead..."

"And you!"

Meng Chi glared at Bi Qing in front of him with resentment: "You are the culprit! Why are you standing in front of me so calmly?!"

"What a lunatic!" Bi Qing was too lazy to look at Meng Chi again and stopped arguing with him.

There are some things that no one except Xuan Yi would believe even if he said them tens of millions of times.

If you don't believe it, why bother explaining it?

Xuan Yi regained his usual calm demeanor and said to Meng Chi, "I'm giving you a chance to leave. Do you want it or not?"

Biqing and Mengchi were both stunned.

Biqing came to her senses first.

Same position, different circumstances, same purpose.

Very similar to Xuan Yi, yet not the same.

Biqing frowned, a hint of disgust appearing between her brows: Xuan Yi is a thousand times stronger than Meng Chi!

Meng Chi was moved for a moment, then returned to normal. He clearly didn't believe Xuan Yi's words. He let out a sarcastic laugh and stiffened his neck, "Go ahead and kill me!"

"You have a lot of guts, but—"

Xuan's gaze shifted to the butterflies dancing in the distance, and he gathered his demonic power in his palms: "I'm going to use these butterflies to perform surgery, and you'll have to watch them die one by one in front of you."

"Don't touch them! You! Ah..."

Before Meng Chi could finish his words, a blue demonic force flashed before his eyes.

Meng Chi's head tilted and he fainted.

Xuan Yi saw Bi Qing with her eyes closed beside him, and said slowly, "Let's go back."

He paused, then asked with concern, "Does your hand...still hurt? I didn't pay attention to you just now."

"It's okay, just a minor injury, it will heal soon."

Biqing's hair stood on end as she thought of the larvae scattered across the ground. She looked at Xuan Yi expectantly, "Are we... still going back to the same place we came from?"

My arm was grabbed, and my body leaned forward with just the right amount of force, bumping into a reassuring back.

While Biqing was stunned, she was already carried on Xuanyi's back.

A strong arm passed under Biqing's knees, and Xuan Yi weighed her against his body. "You have injuries on your hands and body. I'll have Mingzhu check you out when we get back to prevent infection."

The woman's soft arm was wrapped around his neck, and a faint fragrance wafted out from behind him, brushing against Xuan Yi's nose.

Xuan Yi's Adam's apple rolled, and he warned unnaturally, "Hold on tight, don't fall."

"Xuan Yi."

Biqing pointed at Meng Chi, who was nailed to the tree trunk with a horizontal knife: "What should we do with him? Should we leave him here?"

"Take it back."

——

Xuan Yi carried Bi Qing on his back as he returned to the tribe's resting place, where he ran into Mo Jue who was walking hurriedly.

Xuan Yi called out to his brother, "Ajue, where are you going?"

Seeing that the two were safe and sound, Mo Jue turned his worry into a joke: "I just got up and walked around, waiting for my brother to come back and tell me the story of the hero saving the damsel in distress."

"The butterfly demon is more interesting than the hero saving the beauty."

Xuan Yi stepped aside to make way and pushed Meng Chi, who was tied up tightly with ropes transformed from demonic power, in front of Mo Jue.

Mo Jue saw Meng Chi covered in wounds and deliberately smacked his lips and said, "He's so badly injured, I'm afraid there's no way he can be saved."

"How could this happen?" Biqing, who was lying on Xuan Yi's back, asked anxiously, "Xuan Yi helped him stop the bleeding when he came here!"

"If he's really dead, find a place to bury him. It'll be worth it that we're all monsters in the same lifetime." Xuan Yi carried Bi Qing on his back as they went to look for Ming Zhu. "Ajue, keep an eye on him."

Mo Jue smiled, glanced at Meng Chi who had his eyes closed, and led him into the depths.

Not far away, a black butterfly resting on a leaf flapped its wings and quietly flew towards Mo Jue.

The little wolf cubs were playing in the barrier. When they saw Mo Jue leading a stranger over, they curiously went to the edge of the barrier to take a look.

Ah Jiu asked, "Master Mo Jue, where did you pick up this big sister?"

"It's my older brother."

Mo Jue held Meng Chi's shoulders and let him lean against the tree. He smiled and said, "Ajiu, how about I perform a magic trick for you?"

When the little wolf cubs heard that there was a magic trick to watch, they immediately became excited. They crowded together and looked at Mo Jue with anticipation.

Mo Jue smiled, condensed his demonic power at his fingertips, and transformed it into a light blue butterfly, which flapped its wings and landed on his fingertips.

"It's a butterfly!" the wolf cubs in the barrier shouted excitedly, "I haven't seen a butterfly in a long time!"

The light blue butterfly flew away from Mo Jue's fingertips, lingered around a black butterfly, inadvertently framing it.

The black butterflies fluttered in panic, trying to escape.

But it was too late. She was pushed by the light blue demonic power and brought to Mo Jue.

The little wolf cubs in the barrier had never seen a black butterfly before. Some stretched their necks, some jumped three feet high, and some jumped up and down and even wanted to rush out of the barrier, just to see clearly whether the butterfly was real or fake.

"I haven't seen a butterfly in a long time. It's just a little darker."

Mo Jue smiled at the butterfly that landed on his fingertips: "I really miss it."

——

Meng Chi didn't know where he was. He felt like a huge rock was pressing on him and he couldn't move. His right shoulder hurt so much that it felt like it was burning.

His eyelids were so heavy that he tried to open them several times but failed, so he stopped struggling.

"Sister Biqing, where did you go just now?"

"Ajiu, how did you know I left? Did Master Mo Jue tell you?"

"No! I heard some noise outside the barrier, and when I got up, I saw you, Sister Biqing, circling around a tree several times, talking to yourself. Sister Biqing, are you under a spell?"

"...I, I was sleepwalking! I wasn't under any kind of bewitching spell!"

Biqing was explaining awkwardly, but she heard a "puff" sound, as if someone was laughing at her.

Bi Qing frowned and asked unhappily, "Are you awake?"

Meng Chi ignored Biqing's question and rested his broken body.

"Your Majesty..."

A timid sound came from my right shoulder, and Meng Chi suddenly woke up.

Meng Chi moved and found he was still tied up. He began to struggle, blood seeping out from his shoulder. "Why did you run over here?! Did they arrest you?"

"This butterfly followed us all the way to save you."

Xuan Yi didn't even glance at Meng Chi. He held the bone bowl and handed it to Bi Qing. He also took out a piece of scorpion cake and gave it to her: "Have you thought carefully about the proposal before you fainted?"

"Your Majesty..."

The butterfly cried, "We heard everything you said. Don't worry about us. Just go with them..."

"What nonsense! How could I abandon you?"

Meng Chi's low scolding made the butterfly cry even harder. It sobbed, "Your Majesty, just let them go! If, if you let them go and find another way to stop people from eating those leaves, we can live longer..."

"Will eating leaves shorten your life?"

Biqing sipped water from the bone bowl, ignoring the scorpion cake in Xuanyi's hand. "What's going on here?"

Xuan Yi frowned slightly and took back the scorpion cake. He gave Bi Qing a look, then turned back to the barrier to tend to the wolf cubs.

Biqing smiled and waited patiently for Mengchi and the little butterfly to answer.

The butterfly hesitated for a moment, then whispered, "When we eat the leaves, we will see the memories of our fallen kin. Over time, many people can't stand this torture, go mad, and eventually die by colliding with their heads against the tree."

"What's the point of saying this to them?"

Meng Chi interrupted the butterfly and said, "If you don't kill me today, I will seek revenge on you someday!"

Suddenly, a bone bowl appeared in front of me, and a refreshing breath came towards me.

Meng Chi stood there in a daze.

How long has it been since I smelled the scent of clean water?

"This is the water source that Xuan Yi purified with his demonic power."

Biqing's fair fingers touched the water surface, touched a drop of water, and brought it to the butterfly on Meng Chi's shoulder, saying softly, "It's very clean."

The butterfly resisted the temptation and turned its head away from looking at the crystal clear drop of water.

Meng Chi pursed his lips and looked at the divine woman in front of him with a complicated expression.

"You clearly want to accept Xuan Yi's proposal, why do you go against your own wishes?"

Biqing found a leaf and wiped it clean with the corner of her clothes, rolled it into a cup shape, poured some water into it and brought it to Mengchi's mouth.

Meng Chi was reluctant to open his mouth. Bi Qing sighed, "I just drank so many mouthfuls. If it was really poisonous, I would be the first one to get hurt."

She patiently advised, "How could Xuan Yi, who had expended his demonic power to purify the water, poison it and destroy it?"

Meng Chi opened his mouth to retort, but Bi Qing took the opportunity to put the leaf into his mouth.

Meng Chi felt a chill on his lips, and a sweet taste rushed into his mouth, sliding down his throat into his stomach.

Tears flowed uncontrollably. Meng Chi sniffed and begged the person in front of him: "Leave some water for this butterfly. She has never drunk such clean water since she was born."

Biqing turned a deaf ear to his words and drank all the water from the leaves. Holding the bone bowl in her arms, she said, "Water is precious. If you want me to leave it for that little butterfly, then tell me why Xuanyi and I won't leave the forest."

"If you don't want to tell me, I won't force you."

Biqing stood up and walked towards Xuanyi, who was combing Jiu's hair, muttering, "Anyway, you've had some clean water, so you didn't lose out. It's just a pity for this little butterfly; she hasn't even had a single sip!"

After a while, Meng Chi lowered his voice and said, "I'll tell you."