Chapter 37

Shen Qing knew perfectly well how potent the poison in her ring truly was. Seeing that he wasn’t telling the truth, there was nothing she could do.
A sharp pain shot through her calves. Shen Qing felt the vines tightening further and further. If this continued, it wouldn’t be long before their legs were snapped clean in two.
Unwilling to die like this, Shen Qing grit her teeth and removed the arm guard hanging from her forearm. She formed seals with both hands, and the Golden Ring instantly expanded several times over. Its brilliant golden body gleamed dazzlingly in the pitch-black surroundings.
Soon, Shen Qing controlled the Golden Ring and smashed it downward.
But her condition was already poor, and the ring’s power was greatly diminished. The Golden Ring sank down, and she vaguely saw the red lotus open its fanged maw and swallow it in one bite. After that, there was no further movement.
Whether it had choked or something else had happened, the red lotus suddenly stopped moving. Even the force of the vines wrapped around their calves lessened somewhat.
Unfortunately, the cave opening was too narrow. Shen Qing couldn’t bend down to untangle the vines around her legs.
After about the time it takes to burn half an incense stick, the red lotus finally recovered and once more screeched as it climbed upward.
As the sounds drew closer and closer, Shen Qing suddenly began struggling in Li Daoxuan’s arms. “Let go of me!” Her voice carried a trace of anger.
Perhaps with death looming, Shen Qing’s courage abruptly swelled. Being forced into such a miserable state by this lotus demon was something she had never experienced before. Even the magical artifact her senior brother had given her had been swallowed by the monster. Rage surged from her fear, she wished nothing more than to go down and fight the thing to the death.
Li Daoxuan pinned down the restless person in his arms. “What are you doing now? Afraid, so you want to throw your life away?”
Shen Qing snapped, “Of course not! If the position weren’t wrong, I’d already be fighting it to the death! Let go of me, I refuse to believe I can’t kill it!”
Li Daoxuan was amused by her words and let out a low laugh. “Don’t forget where we are right now. If Lady Shen gets hotheaded and jumps down, you’ll either be swallowed in one bite or smashed into minced meat. That wouldn’t be very pretty.”
His words knocked some sense back into Shen Qing. She immediately deflated, thinking: if she really were to die here today, she would never accept it. Shen Ling hadn’t been dealt with, and the enemies who destroyed her family hadn’t been found. Even if she turned into a ghost, she wouldn’t rest easy.
But there was simply no solution. A heavy sense of despair surged up in her heart, just like in her previous life when she lost all five senses, powerless, able only to count the days while waiting for death to arrive.
Sensing that the person in his arms had suddenly gone limp, Li Daoxuan asked, “You really want to get out that badly?”
Shen Qing didn’t answer.
“Enough.” Li Daoxuan was the first to compromise. He pressed his lips to her ear and said softly, “Shen You’an, hold tight. This prince will take you out now.”
As soon as he finished speaking, his large hand cradled the back of Shen Qing’s head. He buried his face against the side of her neck, sharp canine teeth piercing her skin. The metallic sweetness of blood flooded his mouth, blood was to him like a celestial delicacy, carrying a fatal temptation.
Like a traveler in the desert suddenly encountering rain, he could only gulp greedily, frantically trying to quench his thirst, yet never able to drink enough.
Only when the person in his arms let out a faint cry of pain did what little reason he had left finally return.
With immense reluctance, he pulled away from Shen Qing’s neck. His lips, stained with blood, had turned a vivid crimson.
Shen Qing immediately clutched her neck. Cold sweat soaked her forehead. She had no idea how much blood that damned dog had sucked from her, she only felt dizzy, her limbs weak, as if she would ascend to the heavens in the next instant.
She cursed him, “Are you a dog? We’re about to die and you still bite me!”
Li Daoxuan didn’t explain, only said, “Hold on tight.”
With his internal strength restored, he felt refreshed and brimming with energy. He drew the vines wrapped around his legs into his hand through the air, then yanked hard. A shrill, piercing cry rang out as a seven-foot-long vine was torn free and clenched in his grip.
He tapped the ground lightly with his foot and leapt upward, holding Shen Qing. He flung the vine downward to wrap around his sword sheath, then pulled hard, forcibly wrenching the sword, embedded three feet into the rock, free and into his hand.
Using the same method, he leapt upward again and again. Soon, a glimmer of light appeared above them.
Only after they landed did Shen Qing regain a bit of awareness. The first thing she did was shove him away, but she forgot how weak her body was. Losing her support, she immediately collapsed to the ground.
Feeling dampness at her collar, Shen Qing instinctively wiped her neck. Her hand came away slick with blood.
Only then did she realize that the bite wound was still bleeding. Shen Qing glared at him angrily, her eyes reddening.
Li Daoxuan lowered his head, cut another strip of cloth from his sleeve, and handed it to her. “Later, this prince will send someone to deliver medicine. You won’t have to worry about scarring.”
Shen Qing wasn’t angry enough to gamble with her own safety. She snatched the cloth, balled it up, and pressed it against the wound, snorting coldly. “Fake kindness.”
Li Daoxuan wasn’t foolish enough to expose his weakness to others. He didn’t explain why he had drunk her blood, only said, “Once you’ve rested enough, get up. We’re going back.”
Though he didn’t say it outright, Shen Qing vaguely guessed something, such as how he lost his internal strength halfway through, only to recover completely after drinking her blood. She suspected that the poison in his body might be related to her somehow, but the more she thought about it, the less sense it made.
In the end, she could only suppress her curiosity and slowly prop herself up to stand.
The place they were in now seemed to be a dilapidated temple. A nine-foot-tall wooden statue of Maitreya stood at the head, with layers of hanging banners draped from above. Buddhist scriptures were scattered all over the ground. The temple was in utter disrepair, as if it had been forgotten for a long time, dust and ash everywhere, faint traces of age still visible.
The spot where they emerged was directly in front of the statue. The pitch-black cave opening was still there. A meditation cushion, larger than the opening, had been moved aside, it seemed to have been used to block the entrance. Only then did Shen Qing realize that, for some reason, the red lotus hadn’t pursued them for a long time.
Gritting her teeth, she pulled out a talisman from her sleeve and activated it, sending it flying into the cave in an attempt to deal the creature a heavy blow.
After finishing all this, Shen Qing dusted off her hands and leaned against a scripture pillar.
Li Daoxuan had already begun examining the ruined temple. Seeing this, Shen Qing slightly tilted her head to look at the pillar as well, and with that casual glance, she noticed something amiss.
A scripture banner hung down from the pillar. One side of it curled slightly, concealing the pattern within. Just as she was about to take a closer look, Li Daoxuan had already strode quickly toward her.
“You,” Li Daoxuan clapped a hand over her mouth and whispered, “Something’s coming.”
Shen Qing fell silent at once.
Li Daoxuan scanned the surroundings, searching for a place to hide. Finally, he spotted that the roof beams were wide enough to conceal two people. He wrapped an arm around Shen Qing and leapt upward, using the beam to perfectly hide their forms.
Shen Qing slowed her breathing, not daring to move at all.
Soon, someone walked in from outside the temple.
First came a long, thin shadow stretched by the setting sun. Then layers of robes, a dangling hand, and finally, a parasol.
A man in white approached, holding a green parasol, his steps leisurely, as though strolling through his own home.
Once he fully entered the temple, the newcomer closed the parasol, revealing a completely bloodless face. Judging by his features, he seemed to be a young man.
He was thin and tall, with a high nose and deep-set eyes, bearing a refined and upright countenance. Yet beneath his eyes was a bluish tinge, his cheeks gaunt, he looked unhealthy, like someone who had spent years steeped in medicinal broths.
What was more unusual was that despite it being the height of summer, white silk was wrapped around his neck. On closer inspection, similar white wrappings could be glimpsed around his wrists as well, as though concealing something.
He slowly placed the parasol on the offering table. Then his long, pallid hand gently touched the Buddha statue. His eyes brimmed with lingering affection as he said, “You and I truly are a match made in heaven.”
The young man’s tone was unhurried and gentle, but placed within this scene, it was eerie beyond measure.
One need only ask: when a man gazes tenderly at a pot-bellied, smiling Maitreya Buddha and says, “We are a match made in heaven,”,
Who wouldn’t think there was something wrong with him?
As such, Shen Qing felt her scalp prickle, her brows knotting so tightly they were nearly tied in a deadlock. Internally, she screamed: What a freak! Even more deranged than Li Daoxuan!
The young man continued to gaze gently at the Buddha statue, never seeming to tire of it. Only when the sun sank fully and the first pale moonlight emerged did he finally move.
He walked slowly to the cave entrance and leapt down without hesitation. After he disappeared, the meditation cushion slid back into place on its own, sealing the opening completely.
The moment he left, Shen Qing lost all strength and slumped down, not caring in the slightest that the dust on the beam dirtied her skirt hem.
Li Daoxuan spoke from behind her. “Let’s go.”
They truly had to leave immediately. If the Bai Shuisha returned home and noticed the changes inside, he would surely realize someone had been there, and it wouldn’t take long before he chased after them.
Clutching her neck, Shen Qing bared her teeth and hissed, “I can’t walk anymore!” She genuinely had no strength left to do anything else.
Li Daoxuan could see how weak she was. He hooked an arm around her shoulders, intending to lift her up, but Shen Qing struggled backward and shoved him away. Li Daoxuan frowned at her, his eyes filled with helpless what are you doing now resignation.
Shen Qing looked utterly aggrieved as she covered her neck. “Being carried is uncomfortable. I want a piggyback.”
Under normal circumstances, Li Daoxuan would have turned around and left without another word. But with a potential threat still lurking nearby, he compromised yet again and turned his back to her.
Only then did Shen Qing feel satisfied. She lunged onto his back, and the youth’s solid frame carried her steadily without a hitch.
Just before leaving the ruined temple, Shen Qing suddenly remembered the scripture banner she had noticed earlier. Acting on instinct, she reached out and tore off a strip of the banner, gripping it tightly in her hand.
Once outside the temple, illuminated by moonlight, they discovered it was a forest.
Silence enveloped the entire woodland. Aside from the occasional birdcall or the rustle of some animal, there was nothing. Moonlight failed to penetrate the depths of the forest; one glance was enough to feel as though countless unknown secrets and dangers lay hidden within.
The more Shen Qing looked, the more uneasy she felt. She decided not to look anymore and simply buried her head against his shoulder.
Li Daoxuan asked, “Scared?”
Shen Qing didn’t mince words in the slightest. “Obviously. What normal girl would like a place like this?”
Perhaps choked by her bluntness, he didn’t speak again for the rest of the journey. Shen Qing was more than happy to enjoy the silence.
But once things quieted down, the discomfort in her body became more and more pronounced, making each moment harder to endure. Shen Qing couldn’t help tightening her grip on the scripture banner, trying to ease the unease.
She suddenly asked, “What do you think those paintings we saw earlier meant?”
Those paintings had been deeply unsettling, impossible to make sense of.
Li Daoxuan didn’t want to waste energy on irrelevant things and replied flatly, “No idea.”
Shen Qing ignored him and continued on her own, “I think Bai Shuisha must’ve suffered some kind of heartbreak when he was alive. Otherwise, why set up such twisted mechanisms? They crossed the river together, yet he still had to force one person into the water.”