Jiufeng was weak, as if all her energy had been drained, which reminded Jiang Si of people who experience a final burst of lucidity before death, when all their muscles have failed and they can no longer feel pain.
Six days have passed since Jiufeng first saw her. For someone experiencing a brief respite before death, six days is the limit. Therefore, today is his death day.
Jiang Si stood silently beside them, gazing at them with deep eyes and a somber expression. In one hand she held the small black skull bat, while in the other she channeled her spiritual energy into Jiu Feng.
It's useless, completely useless. He's like an impenetrable wall, like an insulator. When I send my mental energy to him, it dissipates directly into the air and can't even get into his body.
Even if Jiang Si didn't give up, even if she repeated herself again and again, it was no use. Her spiritual power simply couldn't enter his body, not even a little bit.
Shu Xubai was oblivious to everything and continued to warn me arrogantly and fiercely: "You begged me, not me making you beg me. Fine, fine, since I'm the best master in the world, I'll spoil obedient food, but don't take this for granted!"
Jiufeng's lips twitched slightly, her whole being like a transparent bubble, the kind that would burst at the slightest touch: "I understand, thank you, Master. Please take me inside to lie down, I'm just so tired I have no strength left."
"You said you weren't spoiled, but now you don't even want to walk by yourself. You're such a pampered child." Shu Xubai grumbled, but his body was quite obedient. He put his arm around him and entered the coffin.
The enormous coffin, made of Phoebe zhennan wood, could comfortably accommodate not only the two of them, but also three or four people. Inside the coffin were soft cushions covered with soft silk cloth.
Not only are there carvings on the outside of the nanmu coffin, but there are also various carvings inside, as beautiful as a forest. They are so beautiful that they are pleasing to the eye when you wake up, and you won't feel that the coffin is bare and has no aesthetic appeal.
The coffin was also inlaid with glowing beads. When the coffin lid was closed, the inside of the coffin was as bright as day. When the beads were removed and stuffed under the pillow, the coffin was pitch black.
Jiang Si deactivated her invisibility and stood in front of the coffin, gazing at the already sealed lid. She didn't use her mental power to try and find out what was inside the tightly sealed coffin.
She stood there quietly, watching. The little black bat in her hand broke free and flew away, only to return in an instant, bringing with it endless rose petals. It flew back and landed on Jiang Si's head, just like her, looking at the tightly closed coffin.
"Do you understand?" Shu Xubai re-embedded the luminous pearl into the coffin, making the inside of the coffin bright. He asked Jiufeng, "There is a pearl in each coffin. When no one is sleeping, the pearl is embedded in the coffin. You can come in whenever you want. When you are lying down, you can take the pearl off and put it under your pillow so that it won't shine into your eyes."
Jiufeng slowly moved her body in the coffin, getting closer to Shu Xubai. She pressed her forehead against his arm, her hand slowly resting on his waist, her eyes half-closed: "Shu Xubai, this bead is so bright, it's a bit dazzling. Can you take it off?"
"Just take it off, why are you being so clingy?" Shu Xubai stiffened slightly, stretched out his arm, took the bead off again and stuffed it under the pillow, then put his arm around Jiufeng and let him rest his head on his arm: "No food is as clingy as you, needing its master to accompany you to sleep. Let me tell you, this is a one-time thing, don't do it again."
The nine-phoenix pillow rested on his arm, her head against his chin, her icy hands slowly touching his, holding his fingers.
Shu Xubai frowned slightly, then reached out and grabbed him. His heart skipped a beat. His hand was so cold, like ice, even colder than when he was a vampire. He instinctively pulled on his cloak, wrapping him up tightly.
“I’m not cold, I’m not cold at all.” Jiu Feng’s voice was very soft: “Shu Xubai, your home is very nice, I like it very much. You are lying in the coffin, it’s very warm, I like it very much too.”
Shu Xubai was proud: "I am a vampire of my generation, the ancestor of all vampires. I have better and more noble judgment than any other vampire."
"The things I value, including food, are naturally the best in the world."
Jiufeng gently hummed in agreement: "Yes, you have good taste, and you are very good too. Wolf ears are very beautiful. If I disobey in the future, you can find another food, a more obedient one."
"Me and you..."
"You know how to make me angry, don't you?" Shu Xubai tightened his grip on his arm, interrupting him, threatening him, warning him: "If you babble again, I'll bite you."
Jiufeng's half-closed eyes made it difficult for him to even blink, and tears streamed down his face. In the dark coffin, his head rested against Shu Xubai's chin, and Shu Xubai couldn't see his tears: "Fine, bite me, eat."
Shu Xubai snorted coldly, acting like a child, a three-year-old: "If you tell me to bite, I'll bite. How embarrassing would that be?"
Jiufeng let out a barely perceptible laugh: "Don't you care about saving face? Go ahead and bite, go ahead and eat, okay?"
His tears flowed uncontrollably, as if he had never cried before. From childhood to adulthood, he had been orphaned, placed on a pedestal, struggled to grow up, lost his partner, searched for a partner, been betrayed by his people, and betrayed by his own spirit. At this moment, tears that he had never shed before burst forth.
But his voice remained unchanged, without any tremor or sobbing.
Tears flowed silently, yet surged like a raging torrent, unstoppable.
"Are you begging me?"
"Yes, I'm begging you."
"Alright, I'll indulge you for one day." Shu Xubai pulled him over and rolled him over. He had been resting his head on Shu Xubai's arm and leaning against him, but now Shu Xubai was leaning against him.
With his night vision, Shu Xubai's gaze fell on Jiu Feng's face, and his voice suddenly turned cold, like an impending storm: "You cried?"
When he touched his hand, it was covered in tears.
“I’m happy.” Jiufeng knew he could see her, so she tried to open her eyes wide and meet his gaze in the dark coffin. Her voice was soft and choked with emotion: “I am no longer the patriarch of the Phoenix Clan of the Fourth Civilization, nor the Great Shaman of the Fourth Civilization. I am just me, just the me who came to your home with you.”
"I'm so happy, really, Shu Xubai. I've never cried since I can remember. I was afraid you'd laugh at me if I cried now, so I asked you to remove the bead. Please don't be angry, okay?"
Shu Xubai propped his upper body up on his elbows, looking down at him as if trying to find out if he was lying from his eyes and his words.
No, I can't find it. He's laughing.
He was crying, yet he was laughing; his face was covered in tears, yet he appeared to be laughing.
Looking at his smile, he suddenly felt uneasy, very uncomfortable, very sad, very terrified, very frightened.
"I'll believe you this once, but you're trying to lie to me..."
Jiufeng interrupted him, saying, "If I were to lie to you, I would lie in your coffin forever and never be able to go anywhere."
Shu Xubai laughed heartily: "You wish! If you dare to lie to me, I'll tear you to shreds and grind your bones to dust."
Jiufeng laughed and said, "If I'm lying to you, don't bite me to pieces and grind me to dust. Go find lots and lots of delicious food, and don't eat the same thing twice every day."
Shu Xubai snorted: "Fine, it's decided then."
"Then drink my blood." Jiufeng used all her strength to tilt her head slightly, revealing her neck, and invited Shu Xubai.
Shu Xubai leaned down and got close to his neck: "Your food is strange. Every food I used to eat would scream in terror and wet their pants or poop when they saw me."
"Either it's a stinky zombie, who treats drinking a mouthful of her blood like it's going to kill her. But you're so good at letting me eat as much as I want. Be careful, or I'll suck you dry."
Jiufeng's lips slowly curved into a smile: "It's my honor."
When Shu Xubai heard him say that, he moved closer to him. Not only were his hands cold, but his neck was also cold. He opened his mouth, revealing sharp fangs, and bit down on his neck. It felt like biting into a block of ice, but his blood was warm.
I bit his neck, drank his blood, and swallowed the warm blood down my throat.
As Jiufeng listened to the sound of him swallowing, the corners of her mouth curled up wider and wider, her eyes unfocused, and her voice was as soft as a mosquito's buzz: "Shu Xubai, my people told me that people can live forever, and that living forever allows you to do many things. I believed it, but later I stopped believing it."
"Shu Xubai, I don't believe in immortality. I now believe in reincarnation, in the afterlife, in reunion, and in meeting again."
"Shu Xubai, if we can meet again, if time could turn back to the past, I hope you can find me soon. No matter what method you use, you must keep me by your side and not make me go looking for my lost partner."
"Shu Xubai... when you tie me up, even if I hate you, even if I want to kill you, you still have to do it, keep me by your side, and take me to see the scenery I've never seen before, okay?"
Shu Xubai released his neck, swallowed the last mouthful of blood, and propped himself up to look at him: "Little Phoenix, where did you get these messed up ideas? Believe in science, believe in humanity, there is no reincarnation, and no afterlife."
"Saying there's a past life is deceiving yourself, saying there's a next life is deceiving others. A person only has one life, a very short one!"
"Is that so?" Jiufeng said softly, "You're lying to me. People have reincarnations..."
"Be honest and don't lie. If you don't have something, you don't have something."
"Yes, you are immortal, I shouldn't have made a promise with you for the next life."
After Jiufeng finished speaking, the breath in his chest completely dissipated, and everything that had sustained him was gone.
His pupils were unfocused. He raised his hand to hug Shu Xubai, but suddenly lost his strength and let it fall limply. His head tilted to the side and nestled into Shu Xubai's arms.
In an instant, time seemed to stand still, and the surroundings fell into silence.
The faint breathing of Jiu Feng ceased, and the sound of her hand falling limply echoed deafeningly in Shu Xubai's ears, like a thousand horses galloping, like ten thousand rivers rushing, like...
Shu Xubai kept his elbows propped up on his body, not moving at all, his gaze fixed on him. He tilted his head and snuggled into his arms, only revealing the back of his long hair, his ears, and half of his face.
After an unknown amount of time, Shu Xu blinked his wide-open eyes, as if he had just realized what Jiu Feng meant by "I shouldn't have made a promise with you about the next life." He lost his arrogance and pleasure, and softly replied, "Yes, saying you've lived in the past life is just deceiving yourself, and saying you'll live in the next life is just deceiving others. Reincarnation, reunion, no matter how similar we are, it's not the same person as before."
"I...I've lived for thousands of years. The average human lifespan is sixty years. The world changes so much, no two pieces of film are the same, but, but..."
"But little phoenix, beg me, beg me, say something nice to me, I'll agree to anything you ask. As long as you beg me, I'll lie to you, I can lie to you..."
"Get up and beg me, open your mouth and beg me, little phoenix, open your mouth and beg me, get up and beg me, get up..."
Shu Xubai spoke softly at the beginning, but then roared out commands.
The only answer he received was silence, only his own breathing, only his own panting.
Jiufeng was silent. She would no longer beg him, no longer call him master, and she stopped breathing.
"Are you asleep?" Shu Xubai's stiff body suddenly moved, his long arms tightly hugging Jiu Feng, holding him in his arms, pressing his head against his heart: "You're asleep. You just told me you were very tired, and you asked me to sleep with you, to sleep with you for a while, right?"
"Alright, you've begged me, your master, for food, and I've agreed. I'll sleep with you, but not for too long. You'll have to get up and clean my coffin."
“Yes, little phoenix, you said you were too tired. I’ll sleep with you for a while. When you wake up, you have to get up and clean the coffins for me. I’m telling you, I have a total of 99 coffins.”
“You have to wipe every coffin, you have to wipe every single coffin. You can only sleep for a little while, you can only sleep for a little while, you can only sleep for a little while before you have to get up and wipe the coffins for me, do you hear me, do you hear me?”
Jiufeng couldn't hear him and wouldn't answer.
Shu Xubai answered himself, talking to himself: "You heard me, you heard me, now go to sleep, now go to sleep, I'll rest with you, I'll sleep with you for a little while, just a little while..."
Outside the coffin, beautiful rose petals and red rose petals wrapped around it.
A small black skeleton bat stood on the coffin.
Besides wrapping the coffin, the flower petals also floated in the air.
Jiang Si stood in front of the coffin with her arms crossed over her chest. Petals danced around her, and her loose hair fluttered among the petals even without wind.
Time passes little by little, slipping away bit by bit.
Seconds are like minutes, minutes are like hours, hours are like days, and days are like years.
Shu Xubai closed his eyes and could no longer hear Jiu Feng's breathing.
Every second, every minute was torture, like being in a laboratory, strapped to a lab table, being cut bit by bit with a knife.
It was as if he had been thrown into a secret room, given all sorts of filthy blood to drink and filthy living creatures to eat. He didn't want to eat or drink, but he would die if he didn't.
So he started eating and drinking. He vomited after eating and drank. Every minute and every second was unbearable. It drove him to madness and anger. It drove him to the point that he suddenly got up and overturned the coffin lid.
The huge coffin lid was lifted and landed on the ground with a loud thud.
Jiang Si suddenly stepped forward, and just managed to utter a single word: "Shu..."
Upon seeing her, Shu Xubai pulled her into the coffin, his blood-red eyes wide open and his trembling, bloodless lips parted: "You stinking zombie, you've come at the right time! Little Phoenix is ignoring his master and has fallen asleep. Wake him up for me! Wake him up for me!"
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