Lone Wolf Returns
Swish——
Under the dim candlelight, the parchment map was neatly unrolled, a fine dust rising from the edges. Tiaotiao's fingertips jabbed heavily at the precipitous valley circled by the cinnabar. "This is the Holy Fire Hall's lair," his voice was as cold and hard as iron.
Su Baiwei listened attentively.
He spoke very quickly, describing the layout, guards, and mechanisms in a clear and logical manner...
After he finished speaking, she glanced at the markings on the map, then at his tense profile, and whispered, "So much has changed since then. The Sacred Fire Hall is impenetrable, and outsiders are unable to enter. You were able to draw this map..." Her words were soft, but full of understanding. "You must have paid an unimaginable price, right?"
Tiao Tiao's eyes flashed, and he averted his gaze. His fingertips moved rapidly, pointing to a dense patch of warning symbols deep within the map. "This is the only place. We've explored several times, but we've come back empty-handed. We haven't been able to find the core." His knuckles turned white from the pressure, and his voice was firm, "The mother Gu... must be hiding here."
Su Baiwei's fingertips brushed over the symbols and she nodded. "The Mother Gu is nurtured within the Blood Marrow Cauldron, accompanied by a symbiotic formation, transforming its power into invisible chains that control the mind and spirit. This formation is treacherous and cannot be broken by brute force. My medicine can contaminate its source, rendering the Mother Gu 'terminally ill,' but because of the formation, I cannot completely sever the power of the chains."
"How to break the formation?" Tiao Tiao raised his eyes and locked them with hers.
Su Baiwei met his gaze. "Bloodline resonance. Only the power of the bloodline that has nurtured the mother Gu can enter the array's core and break it. Anyone else... who touches it will be retaliated, annihilated." She drew a line on the map, pointing directly to Beimang. "So, after the medicine is contaminated, you and I must immediately rush to Beimang Mountain, find the array's core, and break it in one fell swoop." A cold light flashed in her eyes, "Only then can we sever the evil Gu's shackles."
As night faded, a pale ray of light shone through the window lattice. Candle tears, like blood, slowly congealed. The three people in the room showed no sign of fatigue.
Tiaotiao's eyes were fixed on Beimang Mountain, and his fingertips rubbed the rough surface hard, as if he wanted to crush the terrain into flesh and blood.
"You are hesitating." Su Baiwei's voice sounded calmly, stating the truth.
The fingers that were caressing her suddenly froze, as if frozen. Her Adam's apple rolled violently.
"Is it because of me?" Her gaze was sharp, piercing the corner where he tried to hide. "Are you afraid that my identity... will embarrass them? Or," her voice suddenly dropped, with self-mockery, "are you afraid that because of my father's matter... they will look down on you?"
Tiao Tiao suddenly raised his eyes, and a sharp light flashed in his eyes: "What nonsense!" His voice was filled with embarrassment of being exposed and suppressed anger.
Su Baiwei refused to retreat or give in. Her clear eyes reflected his untraceable anxiety and struggle. Her voice was unusually calm, but every word was like a needle, piercing the deepest barriers: "That's because of you. You are used to walking alone in the darkness, carrying everything on your shoulders. Asking others for help is more difficult for you than breaking into the core of the Holy Fire Hall, right?"
Tiaotiao's breath suddenly hitched, as if an invisible hand had gripped his throat. His jaw tightened like a bowstring, and veins popped in his forehead. In her eyes, reflecting the shadows of his soul, all his arguments collapsed. He could only clench his fists tightly, his knuckles clenched until they turned pale.
"Tiaotiao," Su Baiwei's voice was soft but powerful. "For five years, you fetched the Qing Nang Book for me, found fluorescent corals for me in the abyss, saved me and protected me time and time again. You were the glimmer of light in my darkness." Her eyes burned as she stared at him. "But where is your light?"
The old wound between Tiao Tiao's ribs felt like it was pierced by a poisonous needle, and his body trembled violently.
"You stubbornly trapped yourself in darkness, rejecting all light, even from companions you once trusted with your life. Rainbow Cat's carrier pigeon brought not only intelligence, but also trust, a hand reaching out to you. Would you rather perish alone than accept it? Is this pride?" Her voice was like a hammer, shattering his last line of defense, "or another... deeper form of self-destruction?"
The word "self-destruction" resonated like thunder in Tiao Tiao's ears. His entire body trembled violently, and the resistance and pain swirling in his eyes froze in an instant, replaced by a sense of bewilderment and shock, as if his soul had been pierced.
Memory fragments flashed by——
Rainbow Cat's bloodstained back pressed against him, his roars erupting amidst the flashes of swords and sabers: "Tiaotiao, left three! I'm the right wing!" Doudou's eyes shifted from shock to determination, the cold gleam of the Rain Flower Sword flashing: "How can I let you face danger alone?" Black Heart Tiger's massive claws gripped Blue Rabbit's throat, and she screamed, "Take... him away... Leave me alone!" Refusing to be protected... was actually self-destruction? This cold key unlocked the deepest lock of the heart's prison.
The words in Hongmao's letter, "The Seven Swords will help you, please take care," pierce through her memory; the bond of trust born from fighting back-to-back resurfaces; if only there had been help at the mass grave, they wouldn't have to face the brink of death... And then she recalls the words, "This blood debt shouldn't be yours"—is the fact that he bears it all alone another kind of injustice? A betrayal? A kind of... self-destruction?
His eyes were as heavy as iron, and they moved away from the map with difficulty, falling on Su Baiwei's pale but extremely determined face.
Her fingertips trembled slightly, and she quickly held the edge of the table to steady herself. She forced herself to swallow the suppressed cough, and her lips pursed into deeper lines.
She's still seriously injured, and in three days her life will be demanded. She's the most vulnerable and irreplaceable link in the plan. If she falls on the way to Beimang Mountain because he's unable to protect her, everything will be over! Protecting her through the Dragon Pond, ensuring the successful decontamination, escorting her to Beimang to destroy the array's core... none of this can be accomplished by one person, nor can one life be gambled. He can't afford to lose her, and even less can he lose this only hope.
Heavy breathing echoed in the dead silence. The violent storm in Tiao Tiao's eyes finally subsided, transforming into a clarity and determination that was almost tragic. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, the lone wolf-like wildness in them remained, but was now covered with a more tenacious and pragmatic light.
He slowly raised his hand and took out the Frost Flower Seal. The candlelight danced and stretched in his palm.
He picked up the pen, dipped it in ink, let the tip of the pen hover for a moment, then dropped it, writing a few simple lines on the paper.
Fold the letter paper.
Melt the wax.
Hot, sticky liquid dripped down. He pressed the frost seal deep into the blood-like wax, his movements slow and heavy, as if he were personally sealing a solitary time.
He glanced briefly at the indigo sky outside the window, a trace of complex emotions passing through his eyes, then immediately covered by determination.
call out--
A clear whistle suddenly broke the silence before dawn.
A spirit pigeon flew through the air, its green feathers drawing a sharp arc in the dim light of the sky, like a green arrow of light tearing through the night sky, and landed steadily on his outstretched arm.
Su Baiwei watched him carefully put the letter into the pigeon tube and tie the rope tightly, and the corners of his mouth slowly rose.
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