The third night.

Xiao Kui, whose wounds were getting worse and worse, lay on the windowsill in boredom. As expected, she saw Bai Liu holding a lantern at the shrine. She propped her chin up and sighed, "He's gone again."

After a while, Xiao Kui stood up in surprise. She saw Bai Liu holding a lamp and stopping at the door of the shrine, but did not push the door open.

An hour passed.

Two hours passed.

Bai Liu stood alone in front of the shrine in the long, dark night, holding a dim lamp, quietly, like a stone lantern guarding the shrine, standing next to the door, motionless.

The door of the shrine suddenly opened slightly, and a pair of slender white hands could be seen holding the door latch and stretching forward to push the door out. It was obviously the hands of the evil god.

The evil god wanted to come out to see the offerings standing outside the door, but Xiaokui remembered that his brother had said that the evil god was chained inside the shrine and there was no way he could get out.

It was obvious that the evil god would be visible as long as the sacrifice went in, but Bai Liu just stood outside the door and refused to get any closer, allowing the evil god awakened by his pain to struggle inside and get closer to him.

"What is he doing?" Xiao Kui frowned. "This guy wouldn't go to such great lengths to steal the key to the shrine despite being seriously injured, just to stand outside the shrine for a night, right?"

Bai Liu really stood outside the shrine for the whole night.

When it was almost dawn, Xiao Kui woke up and saw Bai Liu still standing outside the shrine, holding a lantern and walking down the mountain without looking back.

The shaky door in the shrine also stopped moving.

"What on earth is this person thinking about?" Xiao Kui frowned.

On the fourth night, the fifth night, and for a whole month, no matter how severe the torture was during the day, no matter whether it was sunny, rainy, snowy or windy, Bai Liu would always go up the mountain with the lantern at night, stand outside the shrine all night, and go down the mountain when it was almost dawn.

Working like this day and night, even Xiao Kui, a bystander who was just observing out of curiosity, could clearly see that Bai Liu was rapidly becoming thinner and more haggard.

Although from the outside, this man still looked so calm, as if he did not wait outside the shrine alone every night for dawn.

This went on day after day, and an unknown amount of time passed. When the Kitahara family's sacrifice committed emotional suicide for the first time due to the pain, the head of the Kitahara family came to inspect the sacrifice with satisfaction. After praising the teachers who taught them, they added a course on "Love" to their sacrifice teaching.

In Luming County, streamers celebrating the evil god festival began to be hung, rainy days began to exceed snowy days, and the trees around the shrine began to bud and bloom.

Xiao Kui vaguely realized that the summer festival seemed to be coming.

Not long after, the sacrifice that came in with Shiroyanagi committed suicide again. His pain was beyond words, which formed a sharp contrast with Shiroyanagi, who was so calm that no matter how much torture he endured, he did not show any ripples. So the attention of everyone in the Kitahara family began to shift to the sacrifice who looked more painful.

So when the sacrifice committed suicide again, the head of the Kitahara family waved his hands with joy and said, "Great! This sacrifice is about to reach maturity. Stop the training today and give him whatever promises he wants. Make sure he survives in pain!"

Bai Liu lowered his head and stepped back from the patriarch. The patriarch waved his hand impatiently and let Bai Liu go back.

As summer approaches, it rains a lot at the seaside. At night, it suddenly started to rain. Bai Liu held up an umbrella and walked up to the shrine from the side path as if she knew the way.

Now that no one in the Kitahara family is paying attention to this sacrifice that doesn't seem to be in any pain, Bai Liu's actions are even freer than before.

Xiao Kui lay on the windowsill, looking at the dim light in the hazy rainy night - watching Bai Liu go up the mountain to meet the evil god every night had become one of the few pleasures in her boring sacrificial life.

She was really curious about what Bai Liu was trying to do.

The rain was getting heavier, and the light held by the white willow in the rain was very faint, like some kind of luminous insect floating around the shrine, wandering and floating in the mountain forests where the vegetation was gradually becoming dense, swaying towards the residence of God, and then stopping at the gate of the shrine again.

Xiao Kui saw the door inside the shrine being pushed open by a hand again.

Over the past few days, the evil god in the shrine has been moving forward with bigger and bigger steps. In the beginning, he could only open a small gap, but now he can open half of the door. At one point, Xiaokui thought that the god inside would be able to come out soon.

But what Xiaokui couldn't see was that the hand that pushed open the door was slender, white, but covered with scars, covered with wounds caused by silk threads and chains. Blood dripped down the outer robe, blending with the sound of rain in the pond.

"You're here, Bai Liu." Shetta stood by the door that he had pushed half open, lowered his eyes and said softly, "I heard your footsteps and felt your pain, so I woke up and waited for you at the door."

"Aren't you coming in to see me today?"

Outside the shrine's gate there was only the sound of heavy rain. Bai Liu did not speak. Even though Bai Liu came every day and Xie Ta chatted with him like this every day, Bai Liu had never answered him a single word.

Xie Ta was used to this. He raised his head slightly and calmly watched the swaying wind chimes under the eaves and the increasingly heavy rain outside the eaves. The tightly tied silk threads on his hands and feet cut into his flesh, and his outer robe was covered with dense bloodstains. The fresh wounds on his wrists that had just been strangled were dripping blood drop by drop, dripping down along his pale fingertips.

The rain dripped down from the umbrella held up by the white willow outside the door, and the blood and rain fell to the ground at the same time and melted into the mud.

Xieta said softly, "...Since you came over these few days, I've woken up earlier and earlier. You seem to be in more and more pain."

"What are you suffering from, Bai Liu?"

Xie Ta looked at the heavy, old wooden door. He knew that Bai Liu was standing on the other side of the door. He would stand there all night, leaving only when it was almost dawn, and then come back the next night.

It rained so heavily today, will Bai Liu get sick?

It was so strange. Sheta lowered his eyes and looked at his body covered with wounds. He clutched the clothes around his chest in confusion.

It was his body that was bleeding, but he didn't feel much pain. However, when he thought of Bai Liu getting sick, his heart tightened.

A very strange pain.

During these days, Xie Ta had never seen Bai Liu and had never heard Bai Liu's voice. He only knew that Bai Liu was on the other side of the door. There was a thick wooden door between them that made it impossible for him to reflect Bai Liu's emotions, but he could feel many emotions so clearly.

Every night, when he was about to wake up because of Bai Liu's approach, his heart beat faster. After he woke up and tried to push open the door of the shrine, his heart beat slower when he saw that Bai Liu did not push open the door of the shrine to see him.

When Bai Liu left, as he listened to the sound of Bai Liu's gradually fading footsteps and slowly fell asleep, his heartbeat would begin to speed up and slow down.

Thinking about Bai Liu leaving today, my pace will slow down; thinking about Bai Liu coming back tonight, my pace will speed up.

"It's raining too hard tonight." Sheta said to the wooden door, "Do you want to go back early?"

There was silence outside the door. Xie Ta heard the sound of the umbrella turning, and then the sound of Bai Liu's footsteps walking down the mountain.

It's so weird.

Xieta pursed his lips, staring at the wooden door, his fingers clutching his clothes tighter and tighter.

Obviously, he was the one who asked Bai Liu to go back because of the heavy rain, but when he really heard Bai Liu's crisp and unrequited footsteps, he thought about how the time he had spent with Bai Liu through the wooden door tonight was gone so quickly...

Shetta couldn't help but feel lost again.

Why?

Without anyone around him, he naturally cannot reflect anyone's feelings. So where do these two contradictory emotions come from?

Although she never got any response, Xie Ta would always ask Bai Liu when she left: "Will you come tomorrow?"

Bai Liu paused for a moment, and Xie Ta heard Bai Liu's breathing become slightly heavier amid the sound of the pouring rain. He took a step forward and walked to the door of the shrine. Xie Ta even heard the sound of Bai Liu's hand touching the wooden door of the shrine, as if Bai Liu was going to push the door open and say something to Xie Ta the next second.

Sheta heard his heartbeat getting faster than ever before. He tried hard to move forward. The silk strings tied around his body even cut into his bones, but he didn't care. He lowered his head and tidied his clothes and hair helplessly. He frowned slightly, but what bothered him was not the pain from the scars, but the blood on his body that had stained his clothes and hair.

Seeing Bai Liu in such a bloody state seemed a little untidy, but he couldn't care less about that now.

Sheita simply tidied up his appearance, then raised his head and stared at the wooden door in a trance, concentrating to the point that his breathing almost stopped, letting the blood in his body flow down and soak through his coat.

Will Bai Liu open the door to see him?

What would he say to him?

Bai Liu's breathing stopped for a moment near the door, and his hand moved slightly on the wooden door.

Sheta stared at the wooden door, his shoulders and back slowly straightened, and the light in his eyes gradually brightened.

Then Bai Liu's hand stopped. He paused, and just like the nights before, he turned and left without saying anything.

Xie Ta's tensed shoulders gradually collapsed. He stared blankly at the door, his eyes filled with a faint light that seemed to be about to fall.

The moment he heard Bai Liu leave, Xie Ta could hardly hear his own heartbeat, as if his heartbeat had left along with Bai Liu tonight.

Xie Ta slowly fell to the ground as Bai Liu left. Countless silk threads crisscrossed and tied his skin under his clothes. He gradually closed his eyes and whispered to himself:

"Whether you come tomorrow or not."

"I'll always be waiting for you."

Xiao Kui leaned against the window. She originally thought that it was another rainy night when Bai Liu would guard outside the shrine, and she was yawning when she saw him. But when it was dawn, Bai Liu suddenly walked a few steps towards the shrine, raised the lamp and shone it on the door of the shrine, with his hands pressed against the door.

Xiaokui perked up and leaned forward to take a closer look: "Is he going to go in today?"

"No." Xiao Kui narrowed her eyes, "Did Bai Liu write something on the door of the shrine?"

The rain was pouring down, making a loud noise. Sheta's voice was also blurred by the rain:

"Will you come tomorrow?"

"It doesn't matter if you don't answer me. I will wait for you whether you come tomorrow or not."

Bai Liu held an umbrella and stood silently in the rain that was almost torrential. Then he suddenly turned around and shone the lamp on the wooden door that was steaming with rain mist.

The wooden door was covered with granular water droplets. Bai Liu lowered his eyes and lightly placed his palm on the wooden door. Then he pointed his fingers on the door and carefully wrote a sentence on the door stroke by stroke. Then he stood still in front of the door for a while and turned around to go down the mountain.

The rain is getting heavier.

In the hazy rain, the light held by Bai Liu was getting farther and farther away from the door of the shrine, but the gradually brightening sky shone on the wooden door of the shrine, illuminating the words that Bai Liu had written on the wooden door of the shrine:

【I will come tomorrow. 】