Chapter 17 A Life-Saving Grace—But it just happened so irrationally…
After consuming blood, Yu Die Nu can easily find the owner of the blood, no matter where they are in the world, and can even track them thousands of miles away by their scent.
Unfortunately, despite possessing such talent, Yu Die Nu lacked the aptitude for hunting, as if it were destined that she would be caught in a moth-to-a-flame chase.
Liu Yuhen, Xiao Qiuyu, and Dugu Fang all stayed at the inn because they still had people to kill and people to find.
As night deepened, Liu Yuhen stood at the window, just as he had every day before, gazing blankly into the dark night, lost in sorrow.
There were no stars or moon outside the window, only a dark, oppressive night that kept engulfing him.
Liu Yuhen should have died ten years ago, but he is still alive. Death is a difficult thing for him.
The intense sadness and desolation emanating from him were almost tangible, like a silent cry.
Timid people are often sensitive and tender. When a butterfly hears this silent frequency, it can feel the painful ache in his soul.
She gently fluttered her butterfly wings, not silently, but to let the person by the window know that an uninvited guest had arrived in the room.
Liu Yuhen looked over coldly. When he saw the familiar butterfly with its broken wings, his expression was neither surprised nor calm. He just looked at it with his one cold eye.
It wasn't until the butterfly seemed to understand his silence, fluttering its broken yet still beautiful wings and flying right up to him, that his eyes finally showed emotion, but it was filled with deep bitterness.
Looking at this butterfly with its broken wings, he felt a pang of sorrow, as if they were both wanderers in the same world!
Jiaojiao looked into his sorrowful one eye and knew that he had recognized her.
However, his wistful gaze lingered for only a moment before returning to the windowsill that he seemed to never tire of looking at, staring blankly out the window like a statue.
He always exuded a cold, deathly aura. Jiaojiao looked at him, then flapped her wings and gracefully flipped out of the window, landing in a clump of evergreen plants in the courtyard.
This clump of evergreen flowers is in full bloom, its vibrant colors untouched by dust, like a spring that never fades.
She fluttered her butterfly wings, which resembled the glow of the sunset, picked the freshest flower, and flew to Liu Yuhen's side, blocking his one eye that was staring blankly at the sky.
Liu Yuhen finally spared a glance for her, but his gaze remained cold and unmoved.
Jiaojiao could only tremble slightly as she stepped forward and placed the beautifully blooming Four Seasons Spring flower into the gap where his collar met.
However, the next second, he used his internal force to shake him down.
Jiaojiao was disappointed by his indifferent gaze, while Yudienu hung her head dejectedly in mid-air.
She was saddened by his gaze, but still couldn't help but let her tears fall onto his heart. The rhythm of his heartbeat broke through that thin layer of flesh and blood, vibrating in her ears.
This person is alive, but his heart is dead, yet his heart continues to beat, again and again.
Liu Yuhen's muscles tensed for a moment. He looked down at the butterfly that had flown into his arms for a long time. As if thinking of something, an indescribable desolation suddenly appeared in his single eye.
In the end, he did not chase away the butterfly, which was as broken as he was.
The butterfly cannot understand his distress, nor will it despise his imperfections.
Jiaojiao finally felt at ease and hovered herself on his body.
A faint, invisible demonic power emanated from Yu Die Nu's body, like fine green threads that gently mended his damaged flesh, nourishing him silently. This was all the little demon could do.
When the long repairs came to a stop, Liu Yuhen had already fallen asleep, or rather, he had just closed his eyes tightly in pain.
Jiaojiao flew to his ear and gently hummed a little tune. There were no words, just a gentle melody, like a mountain breeze blowing through the forest. But in this melody, you could hear the clear sound of flowing spring water, see flowers all over the mountains, and smell the scent of trees and morning mist.
In this strange little tune, Liu Yuhen quickly fell into a deep sleep, as if sinking into a clear spring. All the sorrow was gone, leaving only the carefree wildness of the mountains, an old dream hidden deep in the mountains.
She had been waiting for this moment for seven days.
When the Mirror of Tracing the Flow was activated, she was trapped in the secret realm by a weapon refiner. Already injured, her wings were shattered by the violent power of spacetime. Just when she was on the verge of death, she was picked up by a human and locked in a glass bottle.
She thought she could only wait for death to scatter her into particles and bring her back to the spirit tomb.
However, on that day, the dark and secluded chamber was smashed open, and the person who entered did not say a word. With just one sword, he pierced the throat of the person who had locked her in the glass bottle. At the same time, a small knife pierced the chest of that person.
But the man did not move, as if he did not feel any pain at all, leaving the small knife that had pierced his flesh in his chest.
The man who died with his throat pierced had his eyes wide open, and he fell heavily to the ground, filled with fear and hatred. Once he fell, he would never rise again.
Various jewels and rare treasures clattered and fell to the floor of the wooden table. A transparent glass bottle rolled crisply on the table, then rolled to the edge, hovering there, about to fall.
Inside was a dying butterfly with broken wings, trying to flap its wings, but it had no strength left.
Liu Yuhen's gaze followed the sound and fell on its exquisitely crafted wings. The tattered butterfly wings were so dazzling under the reflection of the glass.
A hint of sadness flashed in his eyes. After a long while, he used the fine iron sword on his right wrist to shatter the glass bottle, then silently turned and left.
As he turned, a string of blood droplets fell from his sleeve, one or two of them landing on Yu Die Nu's body.
Feeling nourished by the blood, Jiaojiao struggled to open her eyes and saw a painful, deathly eye in the hazy blood-red light.
The demon, whose consciousness was just beginning to emerge in the chaos, could not distinguish between good and evil, beauty and ugliness; she had only ever seen three humans in her entire life.
The first person, dressed in a silk robe embroidered with gold threads, used his magical artifacts to trap her inside a compass, attempting to pluck her butterfly wings.
The second person locked her in a glass bottle, causing her to nearly die.
The third person rescued her from the glass bottle, leaving her his own blood. He was special; he only had one eye.
But Jiaojiao knew that he was just injured, just like the wound on his chest from which blood was gushing out, which would leave a scar after it healed.
Monsters die from too many injuries, and so do humans. She drank his blood and will repay him.
She sprinkled scales into his unhealed wounds, and on the first day she saw him again, she had exhausted all her demonic power and was completely worn out.
Exhausted, she found a spot on Liu Yuhen's chest, nestled against his heart, listened to the muffled heartbeat, and fell into a deep sleep with him.
......
When Liu Yuhen opened his eyes, it was already bright daylight. He stared at the sunlight streaming through the window with a sense of loss.
He didn't know what he was lost in thought about; he just felt like he was having a dream, a dream that made him so engrossed that he didn't want to wake up. But he still woke up.
Even though this was the only time he had ever fallen into a deep sleep without remembering anything, when he woke up, it wasn't the dark night that followed him everywhere.
A dream one doesn't want to wake up from, a peaceful slumber—that could never belong to an assassin, much less to Liu Yuhen.
But it arrived just like that, so irrationally.
Liu Yuhen lay on the bed, his deep, dark eye staring at the roof beam. In that instant, he suddenly didn't want to do anything.
A soft flapping sound came from his chest, accompanied by a slight tingling sensation. Liu Yuhen's single, cold, and lifeless eye moved downwards.
It's still that strange butterfly.
Through the sunlight, the shapes of the dust particles floating in the air could be seen, and Liu Yuhen's terrifying face was even more clearly visible.
The uneven texture of his face, the withered and rotten flesh, the distorted single eye and half of his nose were so clear that, through another dark hole, one could almost see the bones of this person.
Jiaojiao flew to the top of his cheek, the sound of her fluttering wings was faint. Following the guidance of the sunlight, she looked at him so carefully, her butterfly heart heavy.
If my demonic power were a little stronger, perhaps I could heal him.
Unfortunately, she was just a newly awakened spirit, unable to even take human form, so she could only gently rest on his eyelashes, trembling along with him, unwilling to leave for a long time.
This pause stemmed from the sorrow and comfort of a jade butterfly servant. Liu Yuhen, however, did not understand; his eyes were filled with nothingness. Feeling the trembling of the butterfly's wings, he suddenly smiled bitterly, a sorrowful light welling up in his eyes.
How tragic, two wild beasts hiding in a corner, licking each other's wounds.
Therefore, he was indifferent to this strange butterfly, and fearless of being controlled or destroyed.
Even if it flew from a dark, remote underground chamber, across mountains and rivers, and suddenly made its way to his side...
After a long silence in the room, there was a knock on the door. The next second, Xiao Qiuyu and Dugu Fang entered leisurely.
Xiao Qiuyu was clearly surprised to find Liu Yuhen lying in bed, and he paused as he entered.
Dugu Fang spotted the butterfly with the broken wing at a glance. He frowned and said, "It's still that butterfly."
When they left, the butterfly remained where it was, and Liu Yuhen couldn't possibly have gone back to catch it. So, it must be that this butterfly somehow managed to find its way from such a distant place.
Dugu Fang already harbored murderous intent. For people like them who lived on the edge of death, this was the most taboo thing. After all, wherever there were people, there was the martial world, and countless people in the martial world wanted to kill them.
Xiao Qiuyu smiled and said, "It really is only spiritual; you can't shake it off."
The meaning behind their words was clear: no matter how beautiful, wild butterflies of unknown origin should not be kept.
There are many masters of poison in this world who are skilled at manipulating snakes, insects, and rodents; this butterfly might just be a scourge.
Better to kill the innocent than let the guilty go free.
A murderous aura filled the room, and the air seemed to freeze. Jiaojiao was so frightened that her butterfly wings trembled. She fluttered her wings and landed on Liu Yuhen's chest, then quietly crawled inside his collar, trying to hide.
Neither Dugu Fang nor Xiao Qiuyu moved, because Liu Yuhen had not moved either.
However, after hearing their words, Liu Yuhen simply closed his one eye and sighed, "We are all fellow sufferers in this world, why should we need to have known each other before?"
Liu Yuhen stopped speaking, but the murderous aura in the room had dissipated. Xiao Qiuyu sighed deeply and left with Dugu Fang.
The sorrow of this heartbroken man at that moment left them speechless.
A note from the author:
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In the next chapter, Little Butterfly and Little Willow will meet in their dreams! In dreams, one is unaware of being a guest!
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