Chapter 19

What followed was a chaotic crash of blows, thuds, cracks, the sound of bodies hitting stone, underscored by two hysterical screams:
“Immortal, mercy, ahhhhh, spare us, we’ll never, ”
The sentence cut off into nothing.
A cold wind swept through, ruffling the loose hair at her forehead. Her butterfly hairpin chimed faintly as its wings knocked together.
A gust of air brushed past, carrying a scent she now recognized instantly, the clean, cool smell of soapwort.
Since when had that scent started to feel… safe?
When Shen Anzhi arrived, sword in hand, his shadowed gaze went straight to the corner.
The girl in the scarlet dress sat slumped there, her butterfly bun a complete mess. Her smooth forehead pressed against the rough stone wall, scraped red and swollen. Her cheeks were streaked with dirt, and the sheer black cloth over her eyes hid those bright, lively irises.
Curled up so quietly in the corner, she looked nothing like the loud, troublesome “little tyrant” she was supposed to be.
She looked both bedraggled and fragile.
His breathing stuttered for a moment.
Jiang Yu instinctively called out, voice barely above a whisper. “Junior Brother…”
“What were you thinking just now, Senior Sister?” Shen Anzhi asked. “You look like someone stole your soul.” He didn’t even know why the thought in his heart slipped out so easily. Arms folded, he stopped three steps away.
His gaze swept over the demon corpses, then settled on her again. A strange thought flitted through his mind: If she sees this, she’ll be afraid.
He took a step forward and, with a look of distaste, kicked aside the two little corpses blocking his path. They crumbled quietly into ash and vanished. He walked on until he stood just one step in front of her.
Suddenly, he leaned in.
Lifting his robe, he dropped to one knee, half-kneeling as he looked at her. His black hem bloomed like ink-lotus petals around her knees. One hand rested loosely on his own knee; with the other, he brushed his fingers above her forehead, barely skimming through her messy hair, then curled his hand away when he almost touched the corner of her eye.
“So disheveled,” he murmured.
Jiang Yu lifted her head slightly and angled her ear toward his voice, turning her face in his direction. “I was thinking, if Junior Brother didn’t come, how ugly would my death be?” she said quietly. “It would probably hurt a lot, wouldn’t it? They were very eager to eat me.”
“Senior Sister is… truly delicate,” Shen Anzhi said softly, rubbing his fingertips together as if trying to soothe an itch he couldn’t name.
Jiang Yu’s chest tightened with a sour, tangled feeling.
“I am afraid of pain,” she muttered. “Is that not allowed…”
This mission, she had agreed to it herself. She’d have to keep going even if she had to grit her teeth the entire way.
Ever since she started trailing after Shen Anzhi, it felt like she was either being quietly threatened by him or openly threatened by monsters.
She ground her molars in silent protest.
He noticed the little pout of her lips and the way she chewed on her frustration, and his mouth curved. His fingers brushed the black gauze covering her eyes and lifted it away.
Light flooded her vision. Her left eye was still dark and bright, clear as ink on fresh paper. Her right eye, however, was dull, clouded over as though a translucent film of mist had settled over it.
She blinked slowly, adjusting to the brightness, then looked straight at him without the slightest hesitation. The moment her gaze met his, her eyes reddened all over again.
“Junior Brother…” she said, voice trembling.
Shen Anzhi caught that subtle shift in expression, something in his chest stirring. “Is Senior Sister blaming me for coming late?” he asked.
The copper coin traced a cool line along the inside of her wrist, rolling down to her palm, carrying his warmth with it. Jiang Yu shrank her neck, wrist tingling and numb.
“Of course not,” she said, startled. Then she realized he was teasing her and added, “I want to live just as much as Junior Brother does.”
He didn’t bother to deny that she was afraid of dying.
“But I really do have to thank you,” Jiang Yu said with a small smile.
“Senior Sister is saying ‘thank you’ more and more often these days,” he mused.
He flicked his coin. A streak of golden light flashed, slicing off a strand of her hair. It caught fire in his palm. His phoenix eyes slanted up at the outer corners; he cut her a sideways look.
With her good left eye, Jiang Yu watched a lock of her hair burn to ash in his hand and felt her heart clench. It had taken ages to grow and maintain that shine.
“It’s because Junior Brother has been good to me,” she said. “You saved my life. Once we’re out of here, I’ll buy out an entire street of desserts to treat you. I’ll get you a mountain of your favorite chestnut candy, how about that?”
Tilting her head, she watched his expression shift from indifferent to faintly intrigued. Her eyes flicked to his fingers just in time to catch him rolling the coin.
So he really does like chestnut candy.
Shen Anzhi heard the forced lightness in her tone and the way she teased to cover it, lips lifting briefly before settling back into their usual languid curve. “Then I’ll wait for it,” he said, voice lazy.
By the time they finished speaking, the ashes of her hair had scattered, dusting the coin. In the next instant, the ash flared into the shape of a tiny scarlet butterfly and darted straight into Jiang Yu’s blinded right eye.
“I can see,” she breathed.
She looked up in surprise, both eyes now clear and bright again, staring straight at him.
The coin rolled once in his palm as he reached up and began loosening the rope around her.
His mood was unusually good. He popped a chestnut candy into his mouth.
Jiang Yu held out a hand and looked at him expectantly, autumn-water eyes shining as she deliberately drew out her words. “Junior Brother, give me one too.”
With a flick of his wrist, a pale brown candy appeared in his palm as if from thin air. Just as he set it in her hand, it vanished again. When she looked up, it was pinched between his fingers instead.
“Want it?” he asked, eyes lowered, as if amused.
“Not really,” she muttered, giving him a flat look. Not that much anyway…
Since she wouldn’t play along, Shen Anzhi simply rolled the candy between his fingers. Then, timing it perfectly, he dropped it straight into her mouth in the gap between her words.
Jiang Yu’s eyes widened. “It’s so sweet.”
It was her first time tasting his candy.
“Good?” Shen Anzhi asked, looking down at the girl with a chestnut in her cheek. His tone sounded like a question, but he didn’t seem to care about the answer; his gaze lingered instead on the slight puff of her cheek. His thumb rubbed idly against the edge of the coin.
“Mhm. It’s good,” Jiang Yu replied. She hugged her arms against the chill and exhaled a cloud of white breath, glancing toward the fire where the demon’s corpse had vanished. “What kind of demon was it that took me?”
“A siyu,” Shen Anzhi said, giving her a sidelong glance.
Jiang Yu searched her memory. A siyu was essentially… a snail.
She pulled her gaze back, curiosity getting the better of her. “How did you find me, then?”
“Senior Sister really does ask a lot of questions.”
Outside the cave, the wind roared. Flames flickered and jumped, painting his sculpted features in light and shadow. His gaze drifted to her forehead. “Naturally,” he drawled, “it was thanks to your hair.”
Jiang Yu clapped both hands over her head and scooted back, eyes wide. “My hair? Junior Brother, don’t you dare pull it all out!”
Shen Anzhi snorted softly, one brow arching. “If your life was gone, would you still care this much?”
“You don’t understand,” she retorted. “For any girl, hair is very important.”
Even back in university, when she’d nearly gone bald from late nights and stress, hair loss had always been a sore subject.
He folded his arms again, thumb and forefinger rolling the coin.
“What about the little demons that were in here just now?” she asked.
At the question, he thought of the charred remains outside and realized how absurd his earlier thought had been, that he’d been concerned about whether she’d be frightened by the sight.
Arms still crossed, he leaned against the stone wall and said lightly, “Nothing worth mentioning. I couldn’t exactly come back empty-handed.”
“Their demon cores…” Jiang Yu asked quietly.
Shen Anzhi’s profile was sharp in the firelight, jade-carved features lined with shadows. “If I kill a few small demons, their cores belong to me. Is Senior Sister that curious to see them?”
She bit her lip and hesitated, glancing at his expression. “It’s just… Junior Brother, look. I have a lot of spirit stones.”
“And?” he prompted. “What are you trying to say?”
Jiang Yu carefully chose her words, sounding almost like an elder lecturing a wayward child. “Keeping demon cores too close isn’t good for you. Carrying them on you all the time… The demonic energy can seep into your meridians and gather in your dantian. You might go astray and lose control.”
“Is Senior Sister… worried about me?” he asked, lips curving, eyes darkening with something unreadable.
She almost slipped and said the truth. Catching the probing look in his eyes, she quickly changed direction. “It’s not like I’m short on spirit stones,” she said. “Can’t I just buy all your demon cores?”
Shen Anzhi laughed under his breath and leaned closer, listening as her breathing slowed, tension collecting in her shoulders. A hint of wickedness crept between his brows. “With how pampered you are, Senior Sister, if demonic energy ever did gnaw at your mind, are you not afraid you’d be the one to lose control?”
She swallowed hard and forced her spine straight. “I’m not afraid.”
“And what does Senior Sister need demon cores for, exactly?” he asked.
“To… play with,” Jiang Yu said weakly, letting out two dry little laughs.
“Senior Sister really is something. Hand,” he said.
When his words fell, a cold demon core rolled into her palm. He took the pouch of spirit stones she passed to him, feeling bored already, until he noticed she’d turned her back and was doing something in secret.
Jiang Yu slapped three blazing-sun talismans onto the demon cores. “Junior Brother,” she called, “could you set up a barrier for me? Just in case?”
A sheen of light flared around them, forming a protective shield. Jiang Yu promptly tossed the hot-potato demon cores away. The talismans flared, annihilating them in a burst of power. Demonic energy exploded like a firework, scattering in dazzling, multicolored sparks. The barrier shuddered and cracked with web-like fissures.
Shen Anzhi stood at her side, letting out a soft, surprised click of his tongue. “Senior Sister really came all this way just to find new ways to play with fireworks,” he said. “Truly eye-opening.”
His gaze narrowed slightly. She seemed to care a lot about whether he was carrying demon cores.
When he dispelled the barrier and they stepped out of the cave, the moon hung bright overhead. Night air flowed down like cool water. Mist curled between the ridges, and the wind sent the leaves whispering overhead.
Shen Anzhi’s almost-translucent hand struck a fire-stick alight, and he held it out to her. “Take it.”
Twisted branches coiled overhead, weeds swallowing their ankles. The poisonous miasma coiled through the forest like a giant serpent.
Jiang Yu reached for the fire-stick and warmed her fingers on the flame.
“There’s a formation active in this area,” Shen Anzhi said, glancing at her as he drew his sword and led the way forward. “Getting in is easy. Getting out is not. Keep close.”
“If you fall behind, I’ll just leave you here.”
“I won’t fall behind,” she said, bunching up her skirt and hurrying after him.
They walked the length of a stick of incense.
Demonic miasma boiled up from the ground, coalescing into countless ghostly shapes. One after another, twisted faces lunged and shrieked, clawing toward them, every single pair of eyes locking onto the girl holding the fire-stick.
Jiang Yu finally understood. Even as ghosts, these things still bullied the weak and feared the strong.
They were very good at identifying the weakest fighter.
She’d expected as much. Retreating behind Shen Anzhi, she watched the shadows warily, every stir of grass and wind making her tense. “Junior Brother, be careful, okay?” she said.
He rubbed the coin with his thumb. Sword-light flashed.
In the gloom, his phoenix eyes were dark and bright all at once as he studied the girl in front of him, alert and serious.
“Senior Sister only needs to guard the fire-stick and make sure it doesn’t go out,” he said. “Leave the rest to me.”
“…Alright.”
Jiang Yu stepped aside, lowered her gaze, and focused on the utterly ordinary flame in her hand. One hand held it steady; the other curled around it to shield it from the wind. Naturally, she didn’t see the flash of excitement in Shen Anzhi’s eyes, or the ruthless, razor-sharp patterns of his swordwork.
The sword-light arced like a rainbow. Each coin along the blade clanged against the others in a bright, chiming hum, full of hidden menace.
When he was done, Shen Anzhi let out a quiet laugh, rubbing the edge of the coin again as he tossed it idly in his fingers. One glance to the side showed Jiang Yu standing very still, head bowed obediently over her task.
He softened his steps and walked silently up behind her until he was close enough to lean in.
“Senior Sister,” he murmured beside her ear, lowering his voice, “did you guard it well?”
Jiang Yu’s shoulders jerked; her fingers dug into her palms as she swallowed down a yelp, shooting him a reproachful glare. “Junior Brother, you did that on purpose to scare me. I guarded it just fine, here, take it back.”
Shen Anzhi didn’t reach out. Arms folded, he glanced at her from the side, voice lazy. “Senior Sister can hold on to it. If you slip on a rock and go rolling down the mountain…”
“Who said I’d slip? My eyesight’s perfectly fine.” She lifted her chin, about to argue that she still had her luminous pearl, and reached for the pouch at her waist.
Her hand closed on nothing.
“Oh no. My storage pouch is gone.” Her heart dropped. She remembered, belatedly, that those two little demons hadn’t just stolen the talismans from her sleeves, they’d walked off with her largest storage pouch, stuffed full of treasures.
The pouch of spirit stones had already gone to Shen Anzhi. The last of her blazing-sun talismans had been hidden inside the front of her robe and were now spent…
For a moment, Jiang Yu’s heart ached like someone had carved a slice off it.
She patted herself down again, and her sharp gaze landed on a tiny, squirming snail clinging to her sleeve. She shrieked.
A long, slender finger pressed lightly between her brows. While she was startled, Shen Anzhi flicked the siyu away as if it were nothing. “Senior Sister,” he said, “just a little snail demon.”
Jiang Yu exhaled shakily. “Oh.”
Seeing how crestfallen she was over the lost pouch, he quietly looked away.
“Let’s go.”