Chapter 25

Shen Anzhi sank into a half crouch at her side, black robes spreading across the floor. He lowered his eyes, studying her features. His long, slender fingers moved with a patience bordering on obsessive as he brushed lightly against the soft curve of her cheek.
His hand stilled. Somehow, he couldn’t bring himself to wake her.
The touch tickled; Jiang Yu’s cheek twitched and turned away. Her thick lashes trembled almost imperceptibly.
As the room’s temperature began to fall, the warmth in his eyes cooled. His voice slipped out low and quiet. “Wake up…”
Jiang Yu was deeply asleep, her mind foggy. She slit her eyes open a crack, saw a dark shape beside her, and every last trace of drowsiness fled. She shot upright, snatched a scorch talisman, and flung it.
A pale hand cut through the air; two fingers caught the talisman neatly. He gave it an idle little shake between his fingertips.
Realizing it was Shen Anzhi, his long hair loose around his shoulders, she blinked in surprise. “Junior Brother, why did you wake me?”
In the shadows, his pale fingertips flickered in and out of sight. “Awake? Senior Sister, don’t move. In the back corner… there’s a demon.” He bit down hard on the last few words.
Jiang Yu’s spine snapped straight. “How many?”
Seeing how completely she trusted him, Shen Anzhi’s eyes flashed. His face was hidden in the gloom as his lips curved and he answered coolly, “A lot.”
In the wavering, suffocating candlelight, inky-black shadows oozed out of the corner, moving and writhing in silence. Wherever they flowed, the faint golden ring of light seemed to be gnawed away, dimming at a frightening speed.
Jiang Yu’s scalp prickled.
Shen Anzhi gave a soft, cold laugh. One arm hooked around her waist as he leaped them both onto the table; the Copper Coin Sword obeyed his command and slashed into the darkness.
Sword light flashed down, but instead of being cut apart, the shadows split. One became two, two became four… in a heartbeat they were swarming, racing to swallow up the remaining space.
“As expected, that won’t work,” Shen Anzhi said calmly.
The round little black masses spewed a corrosive miasma. Wherever the dark vapor touched, table legs, bed curtains, and beams all bleached, rotted, and crumbled away. Wood creaked and snapped, falling piece by piece in a chorus of crashes.
“No, if this keeps up, even if we don’t get torn apart, the poison will get us,” Jiang Yu said, anxiety tightening her voice.
And the fact that no one had come despite all this noise only confirmed they were trapped inside a demon’s barrier.
She dug out the last of her scorch talismans and shoved all of them into his hand. “What about burning them with these? Would that work?”
Shen Anzhi actually froze for a moment, head tilting. “Senior Sister, you really do trust me. This space is sealed. If we set it ablaze and something goes wrong, you and I will end up buried in the same sea of fire.”
“Then what else can we do…”
“Is Senior Sister afraid of pain?” He deliberately brought it up, leaning in just a little.
Jiang Yu let out a dry laugh and pushed closer into his arms, putting on a brave face. “Of course not, I’m not scared at all…”
“Then you’d better keep your eyes open and watch. Don’t you dare clamp them shut.”
His hand closed quietly around her wrist, lips curling in a reckless smile. Then his long fingers slid up to cradle the back of her neck.
Jiang Yu could hear his heartbeat clearly in her ear; her cheek brushed against his still-damp hair.
Shen Anzhi’s gaze went knife-cold as he looked at the demons. His lips moved in a soundless incantation; the scorch talismans flew from his hand, riding a sudden gale that roared up from the ground.
Wherever the blazing talisman fire reached, the black shadows went up like dry leaves, burning to cinders.
Heat surged around them in waves. Sweat soaked Jiang Yu’s temples; damp strands clung to her face. She could smell the singe of her own hair curling in the heat.
I’m not going to end up bald, am I.
What a way to go… a tragic, crispy little black bald chick.
Flames crawled like snakes up the bed curtains and onto the beams, yet apart from feeling hot, she didn’t feel so much as a scorch.
Only after a long, long moment did the temperature around them suddenly plummet.
Jiang Yu looked up and swept her gaze around. The room had been burned clean, charred furniture barely held its shape, glowing faintly with embers.
The metallic scent of blood drifted into her nose; something warm and wet dripped onto her cheek, carrying that faint, strangely enticing sweetness that made her mind blur for a heartbeat.
It smells so good… like a walking candy drop, all sugar and heat.
She bit her lower lip and lifted her head sharply. Splinters from the exploding wood had cut across Shen Anzhi’s brow, opening a thin, slanting line. Bright red trickled along its curve and fell onto her face.
Blood.
Shen Anzhi’s blood.
“Junior Brother, you’re bleeding.” Jiang Yu’s brows knit; she raised her sleeve and gently wiped his cheek.
The sweep of her soft, warm hand against his skin sent a fine, numbing sensation skittering from that point of contact, a strange, feather-light itch spreading quietly through the depths of his chest.
Shen Anzhi lowered his eyes, watching her, and even leaned down a fraction, letting her finish. When he caught himself, he licked his lips, stepped half a pace away, and casually wiped the rest off with the back of his hand, turning his face aside to hide the faint ripple in his expression.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a streak of drying blood on her cheek as well. He reached out and rubbed it away with his knuckles. “Don’t move.” His touch was a little rough, as if he were trying to erase something that shouldn’t be there at all.
Jiang Yu’s eye was sharp. In one glance she saw the back of his hand was a mess of blisters, skin swollen and angry-red from the heat.
That was the hand he’d used to shield her head.
In a blaze like that, she’d come out completely unscathed, every burn had fallen on Shen Anzhi alone.
He’d saved her yet again.
He’d saved her so many times…
Heat rushed straight to the top of her skull. For no good reason she felt a prick of anger as she stepped closer and grabbed his wrist, lowering her gaze to examine it carefully.
“Does it hurt?”
“What’s the point in saying so? Stop looking at it,” Shen Anzhi replied indifferently. But the sudden contact sent a current skittering up his arm.
It was the first time he’d felt truly… ill at ease. He didn’t want her to keep seeing him like this, torn up and worn down.
He attempted to pull back, but she looked up at him with those clear, bright eyes and refused to yield. She’d already taken out a jar of salve and was reaching for his hand.
Shen Anzhi’s fingers curled around her slender wrist, lifting it to stop her. A faint light flickered in his eyes. “And what exactly do you think you’re doing, Senior Sister?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I’m putting medicine on you.” Jiang Yu stared back just as firmly.
He went slightly blank under her gaze, unconsciously rubbing his thumb over the small ridge of bone at her wrist.
Her wrists were so thin that with a bit of force he could snap them like twigs.
Shen Anzhi quietly loosened his grip. If he broke her wrist, there’d be no one left to refine medicine or hunt for herbs for him.
Besides, she was spoiled and… afraid of pain.
Realizing where his thoughts had wandered, he pushed them down and deliberately drawled, “Just don’t complain later that the sight is too filthy for your eyes.” His smile broke over his face, the cinnabar mole at his eye glowing wickedly bright.
“I won’t,” Jiang Yu said, raising her voice a notch for emphasis. “I won’t say something like that.” After all, she wasn’t the original Jiang Yu.
His gaze met hers and something shifted in his chest. He had to admit it now, this Jiang Yu was no longer the arrogant girl she used to be. He let go of her hand bit by bit. “It’s just a scratch… Senior Sister is making a fuss.”
Despite his words, he watched her closely as she lowered her head to tend his hand, his eyes fixed on the smooth, snow-pale curve of her cheek. Her skin looked as soft as a handful of fresh snow, flawless down to every pore. She bent closer and blew lightly over the salve, and warm breath whispered across the burns, washing away some of the sting.
No one had ever been this close to him before… not to him, a man everyone labeled dangerous.
In some hidden corner of his soul, in that bottomless, shadowy sea, a tiny unknown seed quietly sank and rooted itself.
Jiang Yu’s fingers gentled. She brushed on the last of the ointment with care. “So what if it’s a small wound? Small wounds still hurt. For that one moment, the pain is real no matter how big it is. And if you don’t take care of it properly, it’ll scar.”
She lifted her pretty eyes to him, and Shen Anzhi turned his gaze aside, burying the dark ink of his emotions and the sharper edge of his desire.
As she bandaged the hand, her thoughts spun. If Shen Anzhi could shrug off his own serious injuries like nothing, how could he possibly care about anyone else’s life or death? No wonder, after enough injustice and blows, he slid straight into the dark.
“All done.” Jiang Yu tied off the bandage, satisfied.
Thinking back, he’d been getting hurt constantly.
The realization left a faint ache in her chest.
Shen Anzhi flexed his wrist and gave it a cursory glance. “Now find us a way out.”
Jiang Yu plucked a candy from her pouch and popped it into his mouth. “You sit tight, I’ll look.” Then she turned and headed for the door.
He froze for a heartbeat, a glimmer of something bright flashing through his eyes. As she walked away, his thumb brushed his lower lip; he bit down on the hard candy, head tilting in quiet amusement.
Jiang Yu pressed her fingertips to the charred doorframe, stopping just shy of the blackened wood. Her hand couldn’t pass through; a thin, transparent membrane shimmered with a faint chill.
The barrier shook, crackling like splintering glass. A sensation like losing all weight came rushing up from the soles of her feet.
Jiang Yu flinched back just as a hand shot out of the darkness. Her feet left the ground and she was swept up, an arm tightening around her waist.
A moment later, they were both standing on the Copper Coin Sword as the world around them blurred and twisted, reshaping itself into a damp, narrow cave.
“So it was a shifting formation. Interesting.” Shen Anzhi released her without ceremony, sword in hand, strolling ahead as if nothing at all were out of the ordinary.
“He’s targeting us now,” Jiang Yu said, taking in the clammy chill of the place.
“If he won’t come for us, we’ll go for him. Heh. Found it.” Shen Anzhi gave a reckless little laugh and drove his sword into the stone wall, splitting a crack wide enough for his foot. He stepped onto it and flicked a coin into the gap.
The whole wall collapsed with a roar, icy wind screaming through the opening and tugging at their hair and sleeves.
Jiang Yu’s gaze caught on the ends of his loose black hair, dark strands curling faintly red at the tips from the heat. He didn’t seem to notice at all. She couldn’t help a soft chuckle and called out, “Junior Brother, wait.”
He turned, puzzled, and she let her eyes flick away.
“What’s funny, Senior Sister?”
“Nothing. Just, tie your hair up first.” Smiling, Jiang Yu pulled out a scarlet ribbon and tugged him down by the sleeve. Shen Anzhi blinked, then half-kneeled in front of her, letting her gather his hair into a half-up tail.
He hooked the ribbon’s end with his little finger for a moment, glanced at it, and then walked on with his usual lazy stride.
They stepped through together. Inside the cave was a stone table, stone chairs, and a stone bed, everything one would need to live there.
Shen Anzhi ran his fingers lazily along the tabletop. “It’s clean. Someone’s been staying here.”
Jiang Yu couldn’t see anything unusual herself, but she recognized the scene. It had all appeared in the original story. She rose onto her toes to probe every bracket, crevice, and seam she could reach.
“What is Senior Sister doing?” he asked.
“Looking for a hidden mechanism.”
Shen Anzhi withdrew his gaze without comment.
She really is too naive.
In the faint light of the cave, the only sounds were their mingled breathing, the whisper of fabric as they moved, the occasional pop of the candlewick, and the faint, acrid stench of corrosion.
“Holding your breath. It’s poisonous,” Shen Anzhi said, stepping in close.
Jiang Yu clapped a hand over her mouth and nose, blinking.
Paper flowers pasted to the ceiling fluttered loose and dropped down; in the next instant, each sprouted limbs and turned into a vicious paper effigy.
For a while, the scene descended into chaos.
Shen Anzhi met them blade-first, his sword hemming the paper men in. Jiang Yu scrambled about the room, frantically searching for the mechanism.
Crack,
As she twisted an unremarkable candlestick, a section of wall slid aside, revealing a yawning dark stairway climbing upwards.
Shen Anzhi cut down the last paper figure with a flick of his wrist, then turned to stare for a beat at the open secret door.
He had, it seemed, underestimated his senior sister.
Jiang Yu pointed at the hidden door. “Junior Brother, there’s a way out!”
“Go.”