Chapter 18: Possession
When Sang Ying woke up again, she didn't know how much time had passed. Faint sunlight shone through the bed curtains. She fluttered her eyelashes and opened her eyes, seeing the young man sitting by the bed.
Noticing the commotion, he looked over, his expression as calm and serene as ever, but his eyes were unusually dark.
Sang Ying turned her head, subtly avoiding his gaze, and sat up, supporting herself on the headboard. She asked softly, "Junior Brother, how long have I been asleep?"
The young man remained silent for a few seconds, not answering her question, but instead asking, "Why did you suddenly call me senior brother, junior sister?"
Sang Ying leaned against the pillow, her face pale, and coughed lightly: "That's how it should be. Senior Brother has always called me that too. I was just young and ignorant before, and I hope Senior Brother won't mind."
A faint smell of blood could be detected in the air. Sang Ying frowned slightly and glanced at the young man, but there was no blood on him.
When she was in a daze, she vaguely remembered drinking something that tasted somewhat similar to the medicine she usually drank; it was a peculiar sweetness.
If the plot described in the book is correct, then the source of that peculiar sweetness is Xie Lingyu's blood.
She drank quite a lot; if she had a cut, it probably hasn't healed yet.
Sang Ying pursed her lips. "Junior Brother, I'm very thirsty. Could you pour me a cup of tea?"
The young man got up to pour water, then came back, parted the bed curtains, and handed it to her.
Sang Ying stared intently, and as she took the tea, her little finger inadvertently hooked his sleeve. In that instant when the sleeve fluttered slightly, she caught a glimpse of a corner of white gauze wrapped around his wrist.
At that moment, Sang Ying felt a mix of emotions.
Firstly, it confirmed that the guilt he felt was genuine, and secondly, it fueled his anger towards Xie Lingyu. How could he be so docile, enduring such bullying without any resistance, simply because of the life-saving favor from years ago?
The air grew quiet, and the atmosphere between the two of them grew tense and cold without either of them speaking.
In the end, Sang Ying made the first move, gripping the teacup tightly, biting her lip, and raising her eyes to meet his dark gaze.
"Junior brother, let's get a divorce..."
"Knock knock knock".
The knocking on the door interrupted her, and a gentle female voice rang out.
"Xie Jianjun, the Immortal Alliance needs to speak with you."
The voice sounded somewhat familiar, and before Sang Ying could figure out who it was, the young man by the bed stood up and spoke faster than usual, "Whatever it is, Junior Sister, let's talk about it when I get back."
Before Sang Ying could say anything, he pushed open the door and walked out of the room.
Sang Ying paused, parted the bed curtains and looked towards the door. Before the young man closed the door, she saw that gentle and pure face—it was Shen Ying.
No wonder he couldn't wait to hear her finish speaking; he was eager to see his white moonlight.
A pang of pain shot through her heart. Sang Ying lowered the bed curtains, drooped her eyelashes, and leaned back against the pillow to sleep. After a long while, unable to fall asleep, she took out the glass mirror.
It turned out that she had been asleep for several days. The case of the missing and kidnapped female cultivators in the cultivation world had been solved in the past few days. It was found that it had nothing to do with the Yunshui Chamber of Commerce. She was just being used by criminals and her innocence was cleared.
This matter involves the demon realm, and the demon realm and the immortal alliance are still negotiating. The demon realm claims that it was the work of demonic cultivators and has nothing to do with demons, while the immortal alliance believes that the demon realm should bear some responsibility and compensate for the losses. The two sides are at an impasse.
Sang Ying had made arrangements beforehand. During the days she was unconscious, Leng Mian, Jing Xi, and the branch's loudspeaker handled everything in an orderly manner, and released a timeline of all events and an apology letter as soon as possible, assuring the buyers that there would be no more such oversights in the future and that they would do better.
The two merchant guilds that had originally wanted to take advantage of Yunshui had just been released by the Immortal Alliance and cleared of suspicion. Before they could even rejoice, they were now being accused of kicking each other when they were down and framing their fellow merchants, leaving them in a terrible predicament.
Sang Ying only glanced at these before moving on. What she really cared about was the only one of the four major merchant guilds that hadn't gotten involved in this mess: Jinxiu.
...Could they be innocent and blameless?
Sang Ying rubbed her temples. Come to think of it, she always felt a sense of déjà vu with Jinxiu. Jinxiu was like a mirror image to Yunshui.
Similarly, Jinxiu always thinks of these new sales methods, such as opening up new sales channels on the Lingwang platform, facilitating door-to-door delivery by regional branches, and contracting with source suppliers for direct online sales.
She had considered that perhaps someone close to her had leaked the information, and that each new sales model was known only to her, without being told to anyone else; it only existed in her mind.
However, before the new model was launched, Jinxiu released a similar model, or even a better one, which resolved many loopholes that she hadn't considered.
Yunshui initially entered the market with its online sales model, capturing 50% of the market share in its second year. This gave Sang Ying great confidence, believing that she could conquer the entire market within three years and that established chambers of commerce like Wantong and Xingxiao were not worth her attention.
But unexpectedly, Jinxiu emerged in the third year, catching Sang Ying off guard.
What's strange is that Jinxiu wasn't aiming to dominate, but rather intentionally supporting these established chambers of commerce, achieving mutual benefit with them, and within just one year it became one of the top four chambers of commerce.
Feeling dizzy and confused, Sang Ying put away the glass mirror, stopped thinking about it, closed her eyes, and continued to sleep.
...
Xie Lingyu stepped out of the room, but his mind was filled with the image of the girl from just now. Her eyes were serious, and she was clearly prepared to tell him something important.
But for the first time in his life, he instinctively chose to run away.
"Xie Jianjun, how is your wife's health?"
An unknown female cultivator beside him spoke up.
Xie Lingyu didn't react and continued walking towards the Immortal Alliance's temporary base in the Demon Realm. The female cultivator then spoke up again: "Sword Lord Xie, my Yaochi is skilled in healing and purification techniques. Demonic energy invading the body can cause harm and leave behind some kind of ailment. Why don't you let me take a look at your wife?"
Xie Lingyu finally reacted, glancing at the female cultivator and noticing the insignia of the Yaochi Saintess on her body, before speaking up: "Alright, then I'll trouble you, Fairy."
Shen Ying smiled and said, "I heard that after Xie Jianjun's wife fell into a coma, he stayed by her side and wouldn't let anyone visit her. They are truly a loving couple."
Xie Lingyu did not respond, her eyelashes lowered, concealing the emotions in her eyes.
...
When Sang Ying woke up again, it was already night. She turned her head and did not see Xie Lingyu, but she saw another person sitting by the bed.
—Shen Ying.
Sang Ying was stunned.
When Shen Ying saw that she was awake, she smiled and said, "Miss Sang, you're awake. Do you still remember me? We met once two years ago."
Sang Ying remembered, of course, but she didn't know why she was here.
She came up to her, but what did she want to say? Did she want to assert her dominance and force her to divorce Xie Lingyu? But she had already planned to do so, so why was she in such a hurry?
While her mind was wandering in a daze, Shen Ying spoke up, smiling gently, "It's normal not to remember. Miss Sang, I'm here to examine your body. If demonic energy has invaded your body and some of it is not cleared out properly and is hiding in your meridians, that would be bad."
Shen Ying took her hand, pressed her palms together, and gently guided her: "Miss Sang, try to mobilize a trace of spiritual energy to circulate through your meridians."
...It turned out that she was being examined. Sang Ying felt a pang of shame and lowered her eyes, doing as she was told.
The palm of her hand was filled with light, and Sang Ying felt a gentle spiritual energy flowing through her meridians, like a breeze, warm and soft.
After a moment, Shen Ying withdrew her spiritual power and released her hand. Sang Ying felt her tired body relax considerably, and her face was no longer so pale. The healing power of Yaochi was truly miraculous.
Sang Ying lowered her head and whispered, "Thank you."
"It was just a small favor, Miss Sang, there's no need for thanks."
Sang Ying pursed her lips, wanting to ask her about Xie Lingyu, but when she looked up and met her gentle eyes, she was suddenly stunned.
A familiar feeling crept into her mind and trembled her soul, making her scalp tingle. Sang Ying murmured blankly, "Have I... seen you somewhere before?"
Shen Ying smiled and said, "Miss Sang, have you remembered? We met outside that ancient secret realm two years ago, when you were even younger..."
"Alright, you'll feel a bit sleepy after the healing procedure, Miss Sang, please rest."
Sang Ying rubbed her sleepy head and said, "Mmm."
...
Shen Ying left the room, closed the door, and turned to look at the aloof young man standing under the corridor pillar.
"Sword Lord clearly cares so much about Miss Sang, why are you standing outside and not going in?"
The young man did not respond, but simply said in a low voice, "Thank you, fairy. Luo Qing."
Luo Qingjian, carrying the spirit stone bag, flew to Chen Ying.
Shen Ying glanced at it and, without any hesitation, took the spirit stone bag, smiling as she weighed it in her hand. "Sword Lord is quite generous. But it must be your private stash, right?"
The spirit of the Fallen Azure Sword froze. "Shh, shh!"
"Keep your voice down, there's a reason why my boss hides his secret stash of money! Look, how can he buy his wife nourishing soups and pills if he doesn't have money? He also has to secretly buy her gifts during holidays and pretend that the maids bought them. It's not easy, you know!"
Shen Ying chuckled, "That is indeed very difficult."
She looked up at the aloof young man who was resting with his eyes closed, "Xie Jianjun, could you let your little sword spirit Luoyu... Luoqing rest for a while?"
Luo Qing retorted, "Huh? What is it that I can't—"
Xie Lingyu calmly raised her eyes and said, "Speak."
Shen Ying: "I examined Miss Sang's body and found no residual demonic energy, but I did make some other discoveries."
"Miss Sang has been drinking a medicine that uses dragon blood as a medicinal ingredient for many years. Her body has indeed improved a lot due to the nourishment of the dragon blood. However, this is not without its drawbacks. Dragon blood can be addictive, like being under a spell that one cannot quit."
"She can't live without it now."
...
Because of Xie Lingyu's words that he would talk to her when he returned, Sang Ying kept waiting, persisting even when she was sleepy.
But the young man didn't return until late at night, and she couldn't stay awake any longer, so she hugged her pillow and fell into a deep sleep.
The door was opened after she fell asleep.
The pillow in her arms was snatched away and ruthlessly thrown to the corner of the bed.
The young man embraced the girl, letting her be completely enveloped by his scent. He looked down at her as she unconsciously nuzzled against his chest in her sleep, like a bewildered little animal.
The dragon's tail then slowly tightened, wrapping around the dragon more and more tightly in a completely possessive manner.
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A virtuous gentleman (×) A gloomy male ghost (√)
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