Chapter 7: The Love Gu is no longer a debt; we will never meet again.
On her way to Yongjin City, Hua Xun had secretly imagined countless times the scene of meeting Baili Sheng.
She thought she would be overjoyed that he was still alive, or even that he had regained his magic power; or worry about whether he would bleed or be injured when he regained his position as Demon Lord; or perhaps secretly look forward to the promise he made...
She never imagined that when they met again, she would be afraid of him.
It wasn't just the innate aura of the Demon Lord over a lowly mountain demon, but also... a deep-seated fear of death.
The tragic scene in Dahe Village kept flashing before her eyes. Hua Xun's throat tightened, and she moved her lips, but she didn't even know how to respond.
I can't just smile and pretend nothing happened like I did in Dahe Village, nor do I want to kneel down and answer respectfully like the other demons.
In the end, she managed to squeeze out a weak "Mmm".
Baili Sheng slowly turned his head, looked at her quietly, and remained silent for a long time.
In the simple guest room, even breathing seemed to be frozen, and the sound of time passing could be faintly heard; there was only deathly silence.
After an unknown amount of time, Baili Sheng finally spoke, his voice deep and resonant: "Why did you come to Eternal Ashes City?"
He had already spared her life, but she seemed to have no idea when to stop.
Hua Xun snapped out of her daze and unconsciously looked at him.
There was only one reason she came to Eternal Ashes City: him.
With just one glance, Baili Sheng inexplicably understood Hua Xun's meaning. This discovery made him frown and look away.
Thinking of that ridiculous promise, Baili Sheng said calmly, "The Demon Queen could never be a mere minor demon."
Hua Xun looked confused, and when she realized what he meant, her face turned pale and embarrassed.
She never wanted to be a demon queen; she just wanted to see if he was alright and to stay with him like she had in Dahe Village, knowing and supporting each other without betraying each other.
After all, he had said that he would not let her down after returning to the Demon Palace.
She wouldn't let him down.
But he couldn't bring himself to explain these words.
It was only at this moment that Hua Xun suddenly realized that Baili Sheng looked down on her.
He looked down on her status, the times she once found exceptionally beautiful, and the promises he made to her.
The Demon Lord and the lesser demons are indeed worlds apart.
She had once thought that he was different from the other demons.
Hua Xun lowered her eyes, and her turbulent heart gradually calmed down: "I know."
Baili Sheng glanced at her, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes, but it quickly returned to its somber tone: "That's good then."
After saying that, he didn't speak again, his fingers tapping lightly on the table as if he were pondering something.
Hua Xun paused for a moment, then asked, "Did you order the burning down of Dahe Village?"
Baili Sheng was surprised that she would still remember those ordinary people from the countryside. Recalling those past events, she frowned and said, "Yes."
Why?
Baili Sheng: "I am not pleased."
Hua Xun looked up in disbelief and glared at him reproachfully: "Although they insulted you with their words, they did not deserve to die."
Baili Sheng frowned, inexplicably disliking the way she was angrily blaming herself for a few mortals: "Who judged them to be innocent of death?"
Hua Xun's originally intense gaze froze, then slowly turned into dejection.
Yes, although humans have laws, the officials still ignore the deaths of the villagers, let alone the ever-unrestrained demons.
Hua Xun's throat felt dry. She wanted to ask him if he really had no attachment to Dahe Village or the place where they lived together, and that he could destroy it so easily.
But the question remains: Baili Sheng, who would have waited for her to come home, the little courtyard she had decorated bit by bit, and the peaceful little mountain village are all gone forever.
"So, everything that happened in these past ten years was a lie. You were only kind to me because I could save you, but in reality, you always looked down on my identity?" Hua Xun quietly asked, revealing the truth she had already guessed.
Baili Sheng replied calmly, "Yes."
There was no subtlety, nor any concealment.
Now, he no longer needs to pretend to be gentle to please her.
“…I understand,” Hua Xun said softly.
"Then why did you come looking for me again?" she asked.
The room suddenly fell silent.
This familiar silence reminded Hua Xun of how she used to have countless interesting stories to tell Baili Sheng every night when she returned home, but now they were speechless.
This stark contrast brought tears to Hua Xun's eyes, and she turned her head away.
"You like Changsang Jiuqing?" Baili Sheng suddenly asked.
Hua Xun, who was about to make a move, froze in place, looking bewildered.
She didn't immediately realize who "Chang Sang Jiu Qing" was, but then she belatedly remembered that Jiu Qing Divine Lord seemed to be from the ancient Chang Sang clan.
And Baili Sheng just said... he likes Lord Jiuqing?
Hua Xun was easily embarrassed. Thinking of the God's pure and untainted appearance, she felt that she had defiled the God. Overwhelmed by anxiety and misunderstanding, all the blood in her body rushed to her face: "How could this be?"
Looking at her flushed cheeks, Baili Sheng paused involuntarily as he tapped the table. The image of her staring blankly at Jiu Qing during the day flashed before his eyes again, and a strange anger rose in his chest.
Until Qingjiao's question, "Do you like Huaxun?" entered his mind again, Baili Sheng's gaze gradually turned cold.
That night in Dahe Village, he shouldn't have spared her life, but he still stopped Shang Qu.
Even coming here tonight, he intended to kill her—the survivor who knew of his unbearable past.
She was carrying a familiar purse, quietly walking into the room. The moment she lit the fluorite, the murderous intent in his chest inexplicably vanished.
All these abnormalities disgusted him immensely.
He is the supreme ruler of the demon race, while Hua Xun is nothing more than a lowly little demon.
If you can't kill her, send her away, the farther the better, so that she will never appear in front of you again.
"How about I grant your wish?" Baili Sheng waved his sleeve, and a jade porcelain bottle appeared in his palm.
Hua Xun looked closely and quickly recognized that the porcelain bottle was exactly the same as the one that Lord Jiuqing had taken today.
When Baili Sheng saw that she recognized the porcelain bottle, he slightly moved his fingertips, and the porcelain bottle shattered instantly, leaving only a pill emitting a red light that was slowly rotating in his palm.
He stared silently at the pill, his expression unreadable.
This object appears to be a medicinal pill, but it is actually a poisonous insect.
The Spiritual Rhinoceros Gu, also known as the Love Gu.
Those who ingest this poison cannot be separated from each other for more than a day, even if they are mortal enemies; otherwise, they will weep blood incessantly.
He originally intended to give the other half of the Spirit Rhinoceros Gu to the lowest beggar in the human world, to see with his own eyes whether the so-called Nine-Tiered Divine Lord could still agree with his consistent belief in "equality of all beings".
Let's even see if he would be tainted by worldly desires for the life of a beggar.
He wanted to witness with his own eyes the divine ruler revered and admired by the immortals, who would fall into the mundane world.
But now, even the lowest-ranking demons are in the same boat.
The demon he looked down upon was the same kind of love potion as that self-proclaimed high and mighty god—how ironic.
Hua Xun's expression changed, and she subconsciously tried to escape, but she was frozen in place by the powerful pressure, and could only see a red expanse in front of her.
Baili Sheng raised her palm, hesitated for only a moment, and the pill turned into specks of red light, merging into her brow, then quickly condensing in her sea of consciousness, and finally reforming into a pill, gently floating in her sea of consciousness.
Hua Xun stood there in a panic, her face ashen. After a long while, she looked up and asked, "What is this?"
Baili Sheng looked at his empty palm, paused for a moment, and then casually withdrew his hand.
The jade porcelain bottle fragments, enveloped in crimson light, lost their support from demonic energy and instantly fell to the ground, emitting a series of crisp sounds.
"The love potion will make you see your god every day like today. Isn't that good?" Baili Sheng stood up, turned his back to her, and didn't look at her again.
A love potion? Her relationship with the Nine-Tiered Divine Lord?
Hua Xun stood there, stunned, a sense of absurdity instantly enveloping her.
Just because she glanced at the God a few more times, he took it upon himself to plant a love potion?
wrong.
Hua Xun's mind started working very fast for the first time.
Baili Sheng didn't care who she was looking at; he simply loathed the Nine-Headed Divine Lord who was admired and adored by the Immortal Clan and Fairy Qingjiao.
And she, this little demon he looked down upon, was merely a pawn he used to humiliate the God.
It's even possible that he loathed the promise he had made to her, and now that he has Fairy Qingjiao by his side, he naturally only wants her to go as far away as possible.
Killing two birds with one stone.
Thinking of this, Hua Xun looked at Baili Sheng's back again and felt extremely unfamiliar and...terrified.
"What if I don't see the Divine Lord?" Hua Xun asked in a low voice, "Will I die?"
Indeed, a demon is a demon.
From that night in Dahe Village, although he didn't know why he hadn't been able to kill her, he had never given up the idea of "killing her" until this moment.
Baili Sheng's voice was completely flat: "The demonic energy that suppresses the Gu worms will dissipate on its own after fifteen days, at which time the Gu worms will be able to enter the flesh and take root."
Hua Xun looked at the pill in his sea of consciousness and saw that it was indeed surrounded by a ring of crimson demonic energy.
It felt very familiar, sharing the same origin as the demonic energy surrounding Baili Sheng.
He suppressed the Gu worms.
Hua Xun tried to force the pill out with her magic, but unexpectedly the Gu worms became unusually active, and her sea of consciousness immediately felt a dull pain.
Baili Sheng turned around, his brows furrowing slightly: "The Gu worms will only become more excited when they come into contact with any external force."
Hua Xun withdrew his magical power, met Baili Sheng's gaze, and said with a wry smile, "Should I thank the Demon Lord for reminding me?"
Baili Sheng's face darkened as he stared at her, saying inexplicably, "Once the Gu worm enters the flesh, there is no possibility of suppressing it."
The smile on Hua Xun's lips gradually faded, her eyes reddened, and she momentarily broke down: "Since you already have someone you like, why did you make promises to me in the first place?"
Even without that promise, I would still save you!
At that time, it was simply because he had saved her, and she was repaying his kindness.
That's all.
Baili Sheng looked into her eyes without saying a word.
In the silence, Hua Xun felt like a madwoman, like those despicable pale-faced characters in storybooks.
She exhaled, her turbulent emotions gradually calming down, and asked another question: "Fairy Qingjiao knows my identity, doesn't she?"
When they parted today, Fairy Qingjiao noticed her hesitant expression and dazed gaze, which led her to this speculation.
After all, she had spent ten years with Baili Sheng, and it was inevitable that she would carry his scent with her.
Baili Sheng's eyes flickered slightly: "Hmm."
Hua Xun's heart was completely at peace: "I understand."
She turned to the side: "You can go now. I'll leave once the barrier is open."
Baili Sheng's fingertips twitched slightly as he looked at the woman, whose intention to dismiss him was obvious, and he felt somewhat displeased.
"What happened in the past ten years..."
“I won’t reveal a single word,” Hua Xun interrupted him. “If you don’t believe me, you can erase those ten years of memories.”
Baili Sheng frowned deeply, glared at her for a long time, and then suddenly waved his sleeve, turning into a crimson light and disappearing from the spot.
Hua Xun remained standing there quietly, staring blankly into the corner.
She felt a little disappointed that Baili Sheng had not erased her memories.
Hua Xun went into the inner room and nestled on the bed.
It's a bit cold, but it will warm up eventually.
Hua Xun thought quietly, "No woman in the world could tolerate her beloved spending ten years with someone else."
So let her take the liberty of leaving as a way of repaying the kindness of Fairy Qingjiao.
From now on, we owe each other nothing, and we will never see each other again.
A note from the author:
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Ah Xun has unlocked a new map!
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