Chapter 26 The illusory bloodline slowly traced the graceful curve of the merman's neck...
The courtyard gate, enclosed by a bamboo fence, was gently pushed open, and the person who entered walked slowly. They paused for a moment in front of the door, then knocked lightly a few times.
There was no movement from inside the door.
Qingdai glanced at the sky; the sun had already risen. Thinking of Xiaojiang's arm from last night, she figured that Xiaojiang must have been delayed in getting up because of her injury.
Therefore, she couldn't care less about anything else.
The door, which was only slightly ajar, was suddenly pushed open.
Qingdai glanced around; the living room was empty, exactly as it had been before the High Priest disappeared. Knowing that Xiao Jiang slept in the room on the west side, she went straight there without thinking.
There was no one on the bamboo couch. Xiao Jiang's bedroom was as simple as her clothes, and you could see right through it.
Although her personality isn't exactly likable, she's still a simple and kind person, Qingdai thought.
A bamboo screen stands beside the bamboo couch, partially obscuring the view.
As Qingdai approached, she heard a muffled groan coming from behind the bamboo screen, the sound filled with pain.
"Jiang Yuhuo, how are your injuries? I brought some medicine from the shaman..."
Qingdai slowly drew back the screen.
Lying in the enormous bathtub was a handsome young man, his androgynous face contorted in pain, his eyes tightly shut, his wet, gray-blue hair plastered messily to his cheeks, evoking a sense of pity. But looking down, the enormous fish tail beneath the water clearly revealed that the young man was not human.
A mermaid.
The owner was not home, but a monster from outside was dwelling in the house.
Qingdai gripped the dagger she carried and slowly approached the mermaid in the bathtub.
But before she could draw her dagger, the merman in front of her suddenly opened his eyes.
A force that appeared out of nowhere instantly pulled her to the edge of the bathtub, and her neck was firmly gripped by a hand with sharp nails and soft webbed fingers.
As she struggled violently, the merman's gaze was sharp and cold, almost tangible. It felt as if seawater was filling her eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, and Qingdai felt a suffocating sensation of drowning for a moment, as if she were not in Xiao Jiang's bedroom, but in a bottomless abyss.
Qingdai felt like she was about to die. Her whole body was being squeezed by the heavy seawater, which was pressing down on her internal organs and bones, making it hard for her to breathe and leaving her nowhere to hide.
But in the next instant, the overwhelming force that had been applied to her vanished.
Qingdai collapsed to the ground, drenched in cold sweat, looking almost like someone pulled from the water. She gasped for air, and only after calming down did she have the strength to lift her head.
She saw the merman who had attacked her earlier clutching his chest, blood gushing from the corner of his mouth, staining the once clear water in the bathtub red.
"Trying to kill me? Ha... Don't you even know whose territory you're on?" Qingdai sneered, clutching her chest as she struggled to her feet.
The merman was still not giving up. He reached out and grabbed her arm. As soon as his sharp nails pierced her arm, five deep holes that exposed bone immediately appeared in the same spot on the merman's arm, and her well-proportioned arm was instantly covered in blood.
Qingdai glanced at the wound on her arm. Although it wasn't deep, it still exposed the flesh and blood, making her even more certain that the heavens were protecting her.
"Don't waste your energy. If you want to hurt me here, you'll have to suffer a hundred times more damage than I can."
She held the dagger to the mermaid's pale neck. "Where's Jiang Yuhuo? What did you do to her?"
Upon hearing the name, the merman's gaze immediately swept over the bed, but there was no one on it.
When did she leave? He had no idea.
When did his senses deteriorate to such an extent? He didn't even notice the person who suddenly barged in until they were right in front of him.
This is abnormal. Even when they lost their spiritual power, the merman's innate keen senses were not affected, let alone now that he has regained his spiritual power.
Seeing that the merman did not react for a long time, Qingdai moved the knife in her hand forward an inch, and a line of blood immediately appeared on the merman's slender and pale neck. This small wound was originally insignificant compared to the five bloody holes on his arm, but as the blood slowly flowed down the beautiful curve of his neck, Qingdai felt a sense of guilt for ruining the perfect work of the Creator.
The merman paid no attention to his wounds; he only wanted to know where Jiang Yuhuo had gone.
He tried to suppress the inexplicable surge of heat within him, a heat that had begun to surface last night. He had initially thought it was the heat emanating from Jiang Yuhuo during their embrace, but now it seemed clearly not to be.
Looking at the empty bed, the merman's gaze deepened.
Where is she? Why did she leave him alone again?
He endured the pain from his wounds, the heat within his body, and the irritation of being intruded upon by strangers. What bothered him even more was that he could smell a trace of that boy's scent in the mixed air—the boy whose gaze always burned with eagerness whenever he saw Jiang Yuhuo.
Didn't you hate him? Why did you go with him?
Amidst the surging heat, a strange unease welled up within him; he was completely unaware that his emotions were a hundred times more chaotic and fragile than usual.
The merman casually cast a spell to freeze the strange girl who had suddenly barged in.
Since he can't be killed, he shouldn't bother him. He's going to find Jiang Yuhuo. Now that his spiritual power has been restored, he no longer needs to be trapped in the bathtub waiting for her to return like last time.
But the next moment, the merman's gaze changed, and he was frozen in place, unable to move.
The impact on his internal organs, the inexplicable wound on his arm, and his own immobilization—everything about him confirmed the strange girl's words.
"If you want to hurt me here, you'll have to suffer a hundred times more damage than I can."
No matter what kind of magic is used on her, it will be multiplied a hundredfold by herself.
He realized what was happening, but it was too late.
He was silently calculating the time in his mind, but his little finger suddenly started moving uncontrollably—it was the finger that had formed a bond with her.
She's in trouble.
*
"What...what exactly is going on?"
Qin Yuqi unconsciously placed his hand on the sword at his waist, his eyes fixed straight ahead to make sure he wasn't seeing things.
How could it be that we can't reach the end of the road when this is the entrance we came from?
Xiao Jiang walked beside Qin Yuqi, carefully surveying the surroundings to avoid a spider suddenly appearing out of nowhere like last night. But this illusion seemed different; the passage was spacious, there were no unusual sights around, and the brightly lit exit appeared perfectly normal on the surface.
They walked for an unknown amount of time, and the torches had long since gone out, but the light at the exit was still quite bright. Even without torches, the two could see the way clearly, especially since there was only one path.
As Xiao Jiang walked, he would occasionally poke at the walls of the mine tunnel and break off a few pieces of ore.
Last time, killing the spider allowed them to escape the illusion. What about this time? What kind of monsters will appear this time? We can't just keep them trapped in this endless cycle of looking but not being able to reach the exit.
"Is this illusion really unrelated to you at all?" Xiao Jiang, tired from walking, stopped to rest against the wall.
Qin Yuqi was too tired to walk any further, so he leaned against the mountain wall next to Xiao Jiang.
"If I had known, would I still be trapped here with you today?" He regretted his impulsive decision to follow Xiao Jiang here without even bringing a servant. He only hoped that his men would discover his disappearance soon and come to the mine to look for him.
"You don't know? Doesn't Mr. Jia know either?" Xiao Jiang persisted in asking him. "He's always so secretive. Maybe he did it but didn't tell you?"
Qin Yuqi's heart skipped a beat. He recalled Jia Qianyang's lifeless eyes, as white as ink stains, and his strange abilities. He understood that what Xiao Jiang said wasn't impossible, but he still stubbornly insisted, "Impossible. Mr. Jia is my father's... my father's subordinate. Before he left for this trip, my father instructed him to always follow my lead, and to make all decisions, big or small. He would never set up an array here without my approval. It's just that there are quite a few people in your village who believe in witchcraft and evil spirits. It's hard to say that they might have set up an array here before but forgot to destroy it, which is why their descendants were injured here."
Xiao Jiang was caught up in his words and actually felt that there was some truth to what he said. He felt a little guilty, but he couldn't lose face, so he straightened his back and said, "No matter what, it was you who insisted on coming to mine that led to what happened. Don't try to absolve yourselves of any responsibility."
Upon hearing this, Qin Yuqi immediately stood up as well.
Seeing that the two were about to start arguing again, Xiao Jiang took the initiative to stop the impending debate, saying, "Stop talking. The most important thing right now is to find a way out. We can talk about the rest once we're out."
She walked away after saying that, leaving Qin Yuqi with the words she was about to say. But what she said made sense, so Qin Yuqi could only silently follow her, seething with anger.
Feeling stifled, Qin Yuqi began smashing the ore on the wall, almost as if venting his anger, furiously using the short knife he hadn't yet given away to chop at the ore protruding from the wall.
The knife he couldn't give away, the words he couldn't say, the mine tunnel he couldn't escape... and the person who always walked ahead of him, never even glancing back. Every single one of these things made him feel incredibly stifled.
Qin Yuqi swung his knife with all his might. The metal struck the stone, instantly sparking dazzling sparks, and the clang of metal echoed through the mine.
As the ore was cut and fell to the ground, a crack appeared in the mountainside. The crack quickly widened and spread, and the extending cracks continued to deepen.
Hearing the noise, Xiao Jiang turned around abruptly, "What did you do?"
Her response was a rock falling from the top of the mine shaft, and the mountain began to shake.
Qin Yuqi was still staring at the crack that had first appeared, not understanding how a single cut had turned it into this.
"What are you standing there for? The mine tunnel is about to collapse, run!" Xiao Jiang shouted to Qin Yuqi from a few steps away.
Rocks kept falling from above, but Qin Yuqi stood frozen in place as if his soul had been ripped from his body. Xiao Jiang had no choice but to do his best to dodge the falling rocks and get to Qin Yuqi's side.
It wasn't until his hand was grasped by another warm, dry hand that Qin Yuqi snapped out of his daze and followed the owner of the hand without hesitation. She pulled him and ran desperately toward the light, with the mine tunnel gradually collapsing behind them and an exit they might never reach in front of them, as if the whole world had shrunk to just the two of them.
He ran until his legs felt like lead, his heart pounded like a drum, and the smell of blood rose in his head. Jiang Yuhuo held his hand tightly the whole time.
Qin Yuqi followed the person in front of him, watching her messy white hair rise up. He used all his strength to hold her hand tightly, and suddenly felt that even if he died here, there was nothing to be afraid of.
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