51 Ancient City (VI)
◎"Don't be afraid, I'll take you away"◎
The young man was slightly startled, and the coldness in his eyes, like a blade of frost and snow, disappeared in an instant, and a hint of goose yellow was reflected in his dark pupils.
At that moment he even felt that this was the most beautiful color in the world.
"Don't be afraid, Xie An. I'll take you away." With every word the girl spoke, she took a step towards him until she crossed the darkness and came to his side.
Take him away... Many years ago, someone also said this to him.
The puppet had been left behind, the dense, impenetrable branches and leaves blocking out the faint moonlight. This was a forest they had never been to before, and they didn't know how many dangers lay within. Therefore, they didn't dare to move around freely.
"I didn't know where I was when I woke up. Later, I finally managed to get those people away, but I didn't see you..." Li Jintang kept talking. When he turned his head inadvertently, he found that the other person seemed to have lost his mind for some reason. He just stood there without saying a word.
She stopped talking and looked at him cautiously, "Xie An, what's wrong with you?"
As soon as she said that, she caught a glimpse of a dark red spot in the mud. She looked upwards and after a moment, she saw the source of the blood drop.
"You are injured. Let me take a look at you."
Li Jintang's heart skipped a beat. She stepped forward to check on his injuries, but he put his hands behind his back and looked away from her face. "It's none of your business. Don't come over here."
How could someone not even care about their own injuries? Li Jintang felt that this was a common problem among the protagonists in all the storybooks she had read - stubborn and unwilling to sacrifice their lives.
"What happened to your leg?"
"What?" Li Jintang didn't react for a moment, lowered her head, and gently lifted the hem of her skirt.
The bloodstains on the calf have not been treated yet, which looks so abrupt.
Xie Changyan lowered his eyes, his long, curled eyelashes casting a shadow in his eyes. No emotion could be heard in his tone: "Where is the elixir I gave you?"
So he wanted the elixir back... That's right, it originally belonged to someone else, and it should be returned to its original owner after use. Li Jintang hesitated for a moment, then stumbled, "Brother Qu and the others haven't woken up yet, so I left it here..."
After a while, seeing that the other party did not respond, she tentatively asked: "When we get back, I will give you a new one, okay?"
The young man's gaze returned to her, two dark lines gathered between his brows thoughtfully, as if he was extremely confused.
Li Jintang felt inexplicably guilty when he looked at her, so he changed the subject: "Let's go back and find Brother Qu. They're still unconscious, and we don't know how long the elixir will last."
Before she could finish her words, she was suddenly pulled forward by a force. After staggering and holding onto the tree trunk to steady herself, she looked up at the young man with a little shock, only to see that he had a gloomy face, and the long sword circled in the air and returned to its sheath.
There was a clicking sound behind me, and then something seemed to fall to the ground.
Li Jintang's body stiffened, and when he saw what had fallen to the ground, he felt his blood run cold.
It was half a human arm, exposed in front of her eyes with blood.
"It's not a living person, what are you afraid of?" The young man wiped the blood stains from the corner of his clothes. Li Jintang followed his gaze and saw a puppet with a broken hand swaying a few steps away from her, and then fell to the ground.
Her face turned pale in an instant.
A puppet appeared silently behind her, but she didn't even notice it... If Xie An had acted a little later, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
"They..." She paused for a moment before finding her voice again, "Are they following us again?"
Xie Changyan glanced at his wrinkled sleeves, waved his hand to protect the person behind him, looked coldly at the endless darkness in front of him, and gathered an evil golden light at his fingertips.
Don’t be afraid, Li Jintang rubbed the corner of his clothes and silently comforted himself in his heart - anyway, I will not die as long as I stay with the protagonist.
...At least, it shouldn't be a tragic death.
"It can actually break through the purification spell and follow here." The spiritual power of the young man's fingertips suddenly dissipated, and a smile suddenly appeared in his eyes. "Things that consume human spiritual power are really interesting."
"Xie An, what are you talking about?"
"Nothing." He lowered his eyes, raised his hand again to seal the spiritual vein, and then grabbed her wrist with his backhand. "What are you doing?"
"The flute sound just now was able to temporarily restrain them. I want to try again." Li Jintang raised her gaze and struggled a few times to free her hand, but the other party held it tightly. Helplessly, she could only sigh and say, "Xie An, no matter how strong you are, you can get hurt. Besides, at a time like this, I should stand with you."
She said so much in one breath, but he didn't seem to react at all, and just loosened his grip on her hand slightly.
"It's useless," he said in a low voice, the corners of his lips twitching slightly, "Your spiritual power is not high to begin with, do you want to turn into a mummy?"
Li Jintang stopped talking, she withdrew her hand, and the two of them remained silent for a long time.
There was a commotion behind the bushes, and a breath that did not belong to the living surrounded them.
Suddenly, a cluster of fire emerged from the darkness, first jumping onto the boy's sword sheath, and then gently falling into her palm.
She widened her eyes slightly and asked uncertainly, "Is this...a life-saving thing?"
His eyes darkened and he remained noncommittal.
Li Jintang paused for a moment, then circled around him twice, his eyes constantly flickering over his body. When he circled for the third time, he stopped because he was holding his shoulder.
"What are you looking for?"
She raised her eyes and met his slightly confused face.
"Didn't you keep any for yourself?" He had nothing on him, and it was obvious that he had given the elixir only to her.
Even if you have the aura of a protagonist, you can't waste yourself like this...
"I don't need that kind of thing," Xie Changyan said with disdain in his eyes. He looked into the distance, a hint of sarcasm on his lips, "If you keep talking nonsense, don't regret it if you can't escape..."
"Why not? I didn't see you when I woke up just now, and you didn't leave anything for yourself. Do you know how worried I was?" Li Jintang raised her voice unconsciously in her anxiety. She stepped forward and stuffed the elixir back into his hand. "You, you don't have it anymore? Keep it. Don't try to be so brave. Staying alive is the most important thing. We have to hurry back to find Brother Qu and the others. I can run fast, so I can get rid of them even without this..."
The young man was suddenly stunned, and the little bit of vigilance he had towards her seemed to have completely melted away.
It was the first time he heard her speak in such a tone.
"The first thing you did after waking up was to look for me?" He glanced at her sideways, his eyes seemed to become gentle.
Li Jintang was stunned and suddenly felt speechless - she had just said so many words, why did he only choose the most insignificant answer?
Feeling the warmth in his palm, Xie Changyan lowered his gaze and said nothing more. He took the elixir from her and, without hesitation, placed it back into the girl's pouch. Without waiting for her to react, he put his arm around her waist and emerged from the quieter bushes on the left.
The shadows of the trees dappled her face. Li Jintang felt the force around her waist tighten suddenly, and her words were stuck in her throat. The boy's sleeve, carrying the cool scent of pine, brushed against her nose, and she instinctively grasped his robe. Behind her, she heard the sound of a tree trunk snapping in half.
"Close your eyes." The boy's voice brushed against her ear. Although she didn't understand what he meant, she still closed her eyes as he said.
Without spiritual power, he would most likely suffer a loss if he went head-on with these troublesome creatures. If he were alone, it wouldn't matter much, just a few more wounds on his body, but now...
After he left, he would return alone to subdue these puppets. Xie Changyan tightened his grip, but suddenly a faint golden light flashed before his eyes.
That is... His eyes flashed, and the long sword at his waist flew out, circled half a circle in the air, and then fell steadily back into the sheath.
His feet stepped on the soft ground. Li Jintang opened his eyes slightly and asked curiously, "Xie An, where is this?"
"I wanted to take you away," Xie Changyan lowered his eyes to look at her, "but it's a pity that someone has set up a barrier up there."
"I still have some talisman paper left, which should be enough to hold us back for a while." Li Jintang took out a wrinkled but neatly folded stack of talisman paper from his purse and handed it over. "Take these with you. Don't worry, you can use them even without spiritual power."
His eyes reflected her serious expression, and he smiled slightly: "Miss Li, are you scared?"
This sentence came out of nowhere, which was really strange.
"What are you afraid of?" Li Jintang asked haltingly, his hand that was raised in the air dropping down.
The young man did not answer, his eyes narrowed slightly, but there was no fear of death in them at all.
Rather, it's more like excitement.
She suddenly understood what he meant. Now that she couldn't use her spiritual power, how long could she hold out with just a sword?
"I'm not afraid." She hesitated for a moment, then shook her head and uttered these three words through her teeth.
How could she not be afraid at a time like this? But there was no point in being afraid. She might as well think about how to deal with it.
"Take the elixir and go find Qu Lingfei, or leave here. It can save you from death."
Xie Changyan shifted his gaze from her trembling hands, casually dropping these ambiguous words under the girl's puzzled gaze. In the darkness, several puppets emerged from behind the trees, their twisted figures intertwined with the shadows of the trees, creating a particularly eerie scene.
The sword blade was already emitting a cold light, and he suddenly smelled a scent of blood.
Li Jintang cut his fingers with a dagger to draw blood, smeared the blood on several pieces of talisman paper, and threw them out quickly. Thick fog rose in all directions.
"Xie An, let's run..."
The goose yellow skirt swayed gently in the mist. She turned around a few times but did not see the man.
What about others?
Did you abandon her?
The fog not only momentarily disoriented the puppet, but also obscured her ability to see her surroundings. Fear belatedly surged into Li Jintang's heart, and her nose suddenly felt sore, and she was about to cry.
"Xie An?" She called out desperately, but she didn't dare to speak too loudly, for fear of attracting the puppets.
Something moved around her waist, and she immediately lowered her head, but her heart sank to the bottom again.
That was the elixir that Xie An had just forced upon her, and the stack of talisman paper that he had not taken.
What else does he have to protect him?
Li Jintang didn't dare to stay too long. He walked along the quiet path with the faint light emitted by the fortune book. Now that things had come to this, he might as well go back to find Qu Lingfei and the others. After all, nothing would happen to the protagonist.
The moonlight was swallowed by the branches and leaves extending overhead. She walked all the way with her weak legs, but her fingers suddenly touched a sticky substance.
She pressed her palm against the tree trunk, not daring to move. With her other hand, she held up the glowing book of fate and carefully moved closer - it was actually a pool of blood.
Why is there blood here?
【Author’s words】
Save the draft, and add more to it tomorrow [cat head]
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