27 The Valley of No Return (Part 3)
◎Go back and save him◎
She felt dizzy for a moment, then regained her composure and heard the person next to her ask calmly, "So what if it turns red?"
The petals moved without wind, shaking irregularly, just like a living person breathing.
Li Jintang, in his panic, did not forget to pull him along: "Xie An, don't just stand there. Run quickly."
This time, she didn't pull him. She stopped in surprise and turned to look at him.
The evil-suppressing flowers were the exact opposite of the group of bat spirits. They loved the blood of living people the most. So when they woke up and smelled the bloody smell emanating from Xie Changyan's bandages, they immediately surrounded him, like a gentle trap with a sweet smell, making it impossible to escape.
"If you want to run, it's not too late." He lowered his eyes and looked at her, his voice calm.
"I……"
Li Jintang hesitated for only a moment, and finally let go of the hand that was holding the corner of his clothes. At the urging of the fate book, he turned around and ran out of his sight.
"If you say a few nice words now, we can make your death more beautiful."
The bewitching voice, accompanied by the intoxicating fragrance of the flowers, struck him. Blood-red petals fluttered in the air, forming a woman's hand. Her fingertips gently lifted his chin. "Such a beautiful face, it would be such a pity if it died in such an ugly way."
Suddenly, a bright light flashed, and the cold sword blade passed through the palm of the hand. The petals instantly scattered into a ball, turned into mist and disappeared into the air.
"Impossible, aren't you trapped by me?!"
The young man withdrew his hand, and the long sword sheathed with a sound. He raised his eyes coldly, and a hint of provocation appeared at the corner of his lips: "With you?"
He raised his hand again, and golden light emanated from his body, instantly transforming into a sharp blade, which stabbed towards the barrier formed by the petals.
The two forces collided, and for a moment, a fierce light burst out, blocking his vision.
When the surroundings returned to darkness, the bright red color came into view again. Xie Changyan's fingertips trembled, and a hint of imperceptible surprise flashed in his eyes.
The scene before my eyes gradually distorted, and in my ears were a myriad of intertwined voices that almost tore my heart and lungs apart: "Have you forgotten what you saw? Do you think you can still escape? Just stay and be my prey, hahahaha..."
The boy's eyes were dark.
"You can't leave me this time, or I'll die."
It was that time.
The girl made of mist touched his sleeve, temporarily disrupting his spiritual energy.
"You talk too much."
The golden light condensed at his fingertips flickered among the chaotic petals. Suddenly, a sword energy rose again, but the moment it touched the barrier, it was like piercing an invisible ball of cotton, and all the force was removed.
The evil-suppressing flower stopped laughing and transformed into a woman in red, floating in front of him. "Your cultivation is quite good, let me have a taste..."
She stretched out her strangely long and thin fingers, and just as they were about to reach Xie Changyan's collar, they suddenly retracted with a scream.
The young man's eyes slightly opened, the spiritual power brewing at his fingertips had not yet dissipated, the dim light shone on his face, and a hint of surprise appeared on his face.
It's her.
But isn't she... gone?
"Hey, you're afraid of even a rock. You're not as strong as my dad says you are."
The girl hid behind a big tree. In fact, her legs were shaking violently, but she kept trying to provoke the other party with her mouth.
The flower demon was certain that Xie Changyan was tied up and unable to fight back, so he transformed into a human form and wanted to suck away his spiritual power. Unexpectedly, the girl did not go far and hid herself to attack him.
"Little girl, are you worried that I'm not full, so you came back for a snack?" The flower demon laughed in a way that made people feel uneasy. "You only managed to hit me once by chance. Do you have the guts to come out and let me see what you look like?"
Li Jintang knew she couldn't hide. She had managed to sneak attack once, so she simply threw all the remaining stones in her hand and said, "I'm out now. What can you do to me?"
As soon as she finished speaking, she felt a strong wind coming towards her. Li Jintang hurriedly dodged to the side, but saw that the flower demon gradually broke into a ball, and it seemed that it wanted to trap her as well.
"That mist was useful to Xie An, but is it useful to you?" The girl suddenly spoke when one of her arms had already broken into petals.
The flower demon's movements visibly faltered, then she charged forward even faster than before, her laughter piercing: "The entire forest belongs to me, why would I be afraid of a mere fog?"
Li Jintang stood there with her lips tightly pursed. When the flower demon's claws were about to touch her eyes, she raised her right hand and large clouds of mist came out, blurring her vision.
"ah!!!"
Only a scream was heard, and then the flower demon's figure was seen gradually twisting in the mist. "How did you know? Impossible, no one can kill me!"
"You created the mirror image, didn't you? We haven't actually returned to the starting point, but rather to the point farthest from it. And the reason you settled here isn't because you're afraid of the poisonous fog?" Li Jintang calmly observed the shadows gradually dissipating in the mist, and said casually, "I can't be sure that it was you who revealed the flaw just now."
The screams faded, and the petals around them withered one by one.
"Xie An, if you close your eyes, you won't be affected by the illusion." She ran forward, looked up at him and said.
The young man was stunned for a moment, then he felt the corner of his clothes tighten and came to his senses.
"Hold your breath and concentrate, just take a break." The girl's eyes seemed to be filled with moonlight, and she smiled gently: "I will take you away, you can trust me."
Can... trust her?
Xie Changyan's expression changed slightly.
"If you don't close your eyes now, it will be too late."
Seeing him wait for a few seconds and then obediently close his eyes, Li Jintang pulled the corner of his clothes and walked steadily step by step in the dark.
"Thank you so much this time." She lowered her head and said softly.
If it weren't for the magic weapon it conjured, she really didn't know how to transport the mist over.
"I knew you would come back to save this brat." Mingshu snorted, but when he heard himself being praised, he felt very happy and stopped scolding.
After walking for about a quarter of an hour, Li Jintang stopped by a lake. She was about to wake up the person behind her, but when she turned around, she found that he had opened his eyes at some point and was looking at her quietly.
"Are you awake?"
She felt a little uncomfortable being looked at, so she turned away. After a while, she broke the silence with this nonsense.
“…”
Xie Changyan shifted his gaze from her face to the shimmering lake not far away. "What are you doing here?"
"Your injury has just worsened," Li Jintang looked at the bloodstains on the back of his collar, "The lake water here is clean and can help wash away the evil spirit."
"No need." Xie Changyan noticed her gaze, straightened his collar, and said in a hoarse voice, "I'm not injured. That was the flower demon's blood."
Li Jintang watched the young man walk to the lake and slowly sit down, leaning against a tree trunk with his eyes half closed, looking very tired.
The wound on his back was touched by the rough branches, and the fine pain spread throughout his body. He frowned slightly - the sword wound had not healed yet, and it was torn again after this ordeal.
Li Jintang thought he was asleep, so he didn't disturb him. He just sat down under a tree opposite him, hugged his knees, and looked at the stars boredly.
There were few stars tonight. She tapped the sky lightly with her fingers and counted them silently in her heart. When she counted to the last one, she lowered her hands and moved her eyes downwards, unexpectedly bumping into the boy's dark eyes.
"Are you awake?"
"I'm not sleeping," Xie Changyan was the first to look away, his tone indifferent, "Since you've already run away, why are you coming back?"
Li Jintang was stunned for several seconds before realizing what he was saying. He replied as if it was a matter of course, "Because we're friends."
Actually...it's not just because of friends.
She was still counting on him, the protagonist, to take her away from here and return home.
He raised his eyebrows slightly, and a moment of confusion seemed to flash across his eyes.
Friends? He never needed such empty things.
The lessons learned in the past, paid for with blood, told him not to trust anyone easily, even if the other person had done him a favor.
Just now she asked him to hold his breath, but he kept silent and watched with his eyes open. If she tried to take advantage of the opportunity to do anything bad, he would kill her immediately.
The girl had no idea what he was thinking and continued to talk to herself, "If the person trapped just now was Sister Qiuyan, Brother Qu, or...Fellow Daoist Nangong, I would go back to rescue them too."
Her tone was light, as if she had just done something very easy.
He curled his fingers together and had to close his eyes to suppress the pain of the old wounds tearing through his body with his spiritual power. After a long time, he opened his eyes and saw the girl turning her head to stare at the lake.
"Aren't you going to go find them?"
Li Jintang turned around, and for a moment, the blue of the lake was still before his eyes. "If you're tired, it's not too late to leave at dawn."
I just don't know how Qiuyan and the others are doing now...
Even she can sit here safely. The three of them are many times better at martial arts than her, so they will definitely be fine.
She suddenly remembered the thought that had entered her mind when she first came here - there must be a protagonist in the storybook, so was it Xie An?
Forget it, no matter whether it is true or not, every time I follow him, I can always escape danger safely, so let’s just think of it as the protagonist’s halo.
The shadow in front of her eyes moved. She raised her head and her eyes followed him involuntarily. "Where are you going?"
"You still want to stay here?" He walked without stopping, but very slowly. "If you miss them, then go find them soon."
"Okay, walk slower," Li Jintang stood up and followed. "It's not good if you touch the wound."
All the evil-suppressing flowers had withered, and the cool breeze that blew again in the forest brushed against the corners of their clothes. Thin clouds blocked the crescent moon, and the moonlight that filtered through became a little dimmer.
After they walked for a while, the mirror image created by the flower demon was broken, so they did not go around in circles.
He suddenly stopped and Li Jintang looked over, feeling a little nervous for some reason. "What's wrong?"
The young man looked ahead, then glanced back at her. "Stay here and don't move."
“Eh…”
Before she could finish her words, the other party flashed and disappeared into the dense jungle.
Li Jintang was stunned for a moment, then looked up at the sky, estimating that dawn would be around two hours away. She found a clean spot and was about to sit down when she suddenly remembered that the forest was very strange, and Xie An was not around. If she accidentally triggered any trap, she would be doomed.
She was startled by her own thoughts, and hurriedly raised her hand to grab the book of fate that was about to fall to the ground. She stood there obediently, looking in the direction where the young man had just left.
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