Seeing such a thrilling scene and suffering from excessive blood loss, Ouyang Rui closed his eyes and passed out stiffly.
The Plantain Demon stared fixedly at the young man walking slowly towards it.
Those terrifying memories flooded back like a tide.
It remembered their first meeting, when he beat it until only a broken demon core remained, just to ask a question.
And right now, he threw out a fatal question.
Suppressing its fear, it squeezed out a smile uglier than crying, pinched its voice, and called out flatteringly, "Husband... I'm Xiaomi..."
This sentence acted like a fuse, instantly igniting the young man's anger.
A surge of evil energy instantly wrapped around the Plantain Demon's neck and hoisted it up in the air!
"Shut up! Who allowed you to use her face, to use her name?" Wu Li gritted his teeth, hostility surging all over his body, "Filthy thing, you don't even deserve to be a single hair of hers."
"How... did you see through it?" The Plantain Demon, its voice shattered from being strangled, still squeezed out an unwilling question.
It believed its human skin technique had reached the peak of perfection, yet it was seen through by the young man at a glance.
If there was one flaw, it would be its demonic aura.
But it had clearly worn the protective magical hairpin that could conceal its aura.
Wu Li seemed to see through its thoughts. With a sweep of his evil energy, the jade hairpin fell into his hand.
"This piece of trash, what's the use?"
He glanced at it in disgust, casually threw it on the ground, and crushed it twice with his foot.
The demonic aura immediately scattered, and the exquisite human skin melted and collapsed like wax, revealing its twisted vine original form again.
Wu Li narrowed his eyes.
It was bad enough to pretend to be Chai Xiaomi, but it even dared to wear this hairpin with her face and throw itself into Ouyang Rui's arms.
He had just heard the call of the Silver Bell and immediately rushed here using his Gu power.
From a distance, he saw the embracing figures in the temple.
In that instant, he actually froze in place.
But the next second, "she" turned her head, and with just one look, he knew it wasn't her.
Her eyes held the starlight, each one shining brightly, as if they could speak, lively and vibrant.
There was no second pair of eyes like that in the world.
But even knowing it was fake, that scene still stung his eyes.
Wu Li slightly raised his fingertips, and the evil energy wrapped around the Plantain Demon's neck loosened a bit, "I'll ask one last time, where is she? Tell me, and I can spare your life."
He had never endured so much in his life.
The killing intent had long broken through the dam of reason, screaming and boiling in his veins, clamoring to tear everything in front of him to pieces.
Yet he still stood here, using the steadiest voice to negotiate nicely with a demon.
The guidance of the Silver Bell ended here.
Her aura was clearly close at hand.
But in front of him, there was no one.
Every breath of waiting felt like a slow death by a thousand cuts.
Until—
His gaze inadvertently swept over the waist of the humanoid vine.
He saw the Qiankun bag embroidered with cloud patterns.
The Plantain Demon was still asking hesitantly, "If I tell you... will you really not kill me?"
Wu Li raised his eyes.
"No need."
His voice was very light, but the depths of his eyes were as dark as an abyss, like a frozen deep pool.
"You can go die now."
*
In the dark void, a solitary bubble floated.
Chai Xiaomi's clothes were wet inside and out. Due to the running and nervous tension just now, she didn't feel cold.
However, trapped in this bubble now, unable to hear the slightest sound, and the light at the mouth of the bag had disappeared at some point. It was dark and quiet, and she felt the biting chill seeping out from her wet clothes, drilling into every pore.
She could only curl herself up into a tiny ball.
Even so, the coldness couldn't be stopped.
A subtle tremor spread from her shoulders to her fingertips.
Her face buried in her knees moved slightly. If someone leaned in extremely close, they could hear the suppressed whimpers muffled in her wet clothes.
Like an injured little animal, not even daring to cry out loud.
"Idiot, what are you crying for."
Suddenly, a voice shattered the absolute silence.
"Haven't I come?"
The voice was low, light, and gentle, like a breath exhaled right by her ear, afraid of startling the pitiful little animal shrinking in the dark.
Chai Xiaomi was stunned for a few seconds before slowly raising her head as if in a dream.
The mouth of the bag had let in light again at some point, illuminating the young man in front of her brightly and clearly, as if shrouded in a dazzling halo.
The silver collar on his chest was as bright as a mirror, reflecting countless tiny reflections of her.
Because she had buried herself in a grave mound earlier, her face was covered in mud, her nose was smeared with ash, and tears rolled down, washing out two muddy tracks on her dirty little face.
She looked exactly like a dirty bun just dug out of the ground.
Not a single spot on her body was clean.
An indescribable sense of grievance instantly rushed to her nose.
She threw herself into the young man's arms and burst into loud cries.
"Stinky Lili, you have no heart! I'm already in such a miserable state, and you still call me an idiot..."
Just now in the dark, even her crying was suppressed.
In fact, the moment the barbarian approached the grave mound, she was already on the verge of breaking down, holding on solely by willpower.
It wasn't until this moment, with her arms tightly around his neck and her breaths filled with his familiar scent, that she felt as if she had taken a reassuring pill, unreservedly pouring out all the delayed fear, helplessness, and grievance.
"It's not a scolding. The word 'idiot' is never a scolding."
Wu Li wrapped the girl entirely in his arms, letting her rub her hot tears and cold mud stains onto his neck.
The little girl's expression sometimes looked dazed and silly, and her skin was like a peeled boiled egg, white and bright.
Isn't that just a little idiot?
"If it's not a scolding, then what is it?" Chai Xiaomi's physical strength had long been exhausted during the escape just now. She cried for a bit and got tired, sobbing as she looked up at him, tears still hanging on her eyelashes.
Wu Li used his fingertips to wipe away the mud stains on her face bit by bit, earnest and meticulous.
When wiping her nose, he couldn't help but gently scrape it with his bent finger. His deep eyes met hers, and his pupils reflected only her, "It's liking."
Chai Xiaomi was still in a daze, but she had already been steadily carried out of the Qiankun bag by him.
But before their feet even touched the ground—
Suddenly, an ear-piercing shriek charged from afar!
Approaching at extreme speed, wrapped in a strong, cold gale.
Wu Li didn't even turn his head. Reacting swiftly, he spun around, shielding the girl in his arms, and forcibly took the devastating attack with his back.
His bones made a soft sound of being overwhelmed.
But he didn't even tremble. Using the momentum, he smoothly sent the girl in his arms towards the open space ahead.
Chai Xiaomi was suddenly pushed out of his arms and was stunned for a moment, but she didn't fall to the ground. Instead, she landed on a soft cushion formed by a flock of bats, and was then gently brought to the corner of the ground by them.
She looked up in panic and her breathing stopped abruptly.
She was stunned by the sight before her—
Behind Wu Li was a terrifying behemoth, rolling in dark clouds and scarlet gloom.
From the gloom emerged a monster, its long, multi-segmented centipede-like body composed of countless severed limbs and charred corpses linked head to tail, its joints making the crisp sound of bone friction.
Ghostly flames burned within the eye sockets of the monster's skull, and the two charred arms at the very front of that centipede-like monstrosity of severed limbs had already pierced straight through Wu Li's chest from behind!
At this moment, those two twisted hands protruded bloodily from his chest, the fingers still writhing grotesquely.
Wu Li let out a choked cough and violently spat out a mouthful of dark blood.
He lowered his gaze to look at it indifferently, then raised a hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth with his knuckles. His movements were so casual, it was as if he were merely brushing away a speck of dust.
Behind him, however, the monster's surging malevolent aura was already creeping up his back and shoulders like a living creature. It wrapped around him in dark, twisting threads, threatening to swallow him whole.
"Lili!!!"
The blood froze in Chai Xiaomi's veins, all color suddenly draining from her eyes.
