The clan leader froze at the sight. "Isn't that the medicine boy he brought back? Still alive?"
He had assumed that Wu Li had long since fed the boy to his poisonous insects or left him as a meal for the tomb bats.
The High Priest glanced at the old shamaness crumpled on the ground, still shaking with terror, then lifted his eyes to the girl bound tightly by black tendrils. A cold laugh escaped him. "A moth flying into the flame, overestimating herself. Since she's chosen to die, you're in luck."
The malevolent aura had sensed it—this was the final step of its consumption. Once it drained this living being dry, it could completely devour the boy's original soul and become the true master of this body.
The tendrils writhed in ecstasy, and the ones coiled around Chai Xiaomi tightened further.
Her neck was constricted to the point of suffocation. Her face flushed crimson as she gasped for air, but it couldn't reach her compressed trachea.
Her consciousness began to fade. In a daze, she seemed to see before her that small, dirty, lonely silhouette...
The malevolent aura could mimic the evil spirits it had killed.
At this moment, it was imitating a tree demon.
It would use the tip of one tendril to burrow into the girl's mouth, draining every ounce of her life force from within, leaving her a dried, shriveled husk of skin.
"Xiaomi—!"
Jiang Zhiyu and Song Yueyao cried out at the same time.
Song Yueyao's crescent blade was already drawn, cold light gleaming in her hand. She gritted her teeth, ready to leap forward and sever the tendril.
But the moment she took a step, a wobbly bird feather swung in front of her.
It was the White Cat's dust whisk.
"Alchemist Ji! Why are you stopping me?!" Song Yueyao's voice was strained with panic. "That monster before us isn't Wu Li at all! If this goes on, Xiaomi will die!"
The White Cat didn't look at her.
Its amber cat eyes were fixed on the scene ahead, pupils narrowed to thin slits. The dust whisk remained steady in front of her, showing no sign of yielding.
"Old man trusts that Xiaomi girl," it said.
Its voice was ancient, and something trembled in its cat eyes.
"Even more, I trust..."
"That Brat."
The dust whisk held firm before them as the White Cat's gaze pierced through the howling black winds, landing on the boy.
A memory surfaced—from half a month ago, on a boat.
The sea was shrouded in mist as he taught Wu Li the mantra for drawing Qi into the body.
The boy sat cross-legged at the bow, listening half-heartedly, his eyes drifting toward the stern.
There, a little girl of about seven or eight, the daughter of the boat's helmsman, was crying because her beloved rag doll had fallen into the sea.
The White Cat: "Draw Qi into your dantian, focus on the mysterious pass—are you even listening?"
"I'm listening," Wu Li replied lazily. Then he raised his hand, a thin wisp of malevolent aura coalescing at his fingertips, hooking the tattered rag doll floating on the water and gently tugging it.
The doll landed steadily in the little girl's arms.
She blinked, then broke into a smile through her tears.
The White Cat watched, deeply gratified. "Oh ho, not bad—knowing to care for the little ones."
"Hmph, why would I care about a brat like her?"
The boy let out a cold sneer, his voice flat: "I just felt sorry for that ugly rag doll."
"If it sank to the bottom of the sea, no one would ever fish it out again—no one would even remember it."
...
Black.
Endless black.
A small child, his body thin as a tattered rag doll, sank into a deep sea, wrapped in icy water.
So he swam.
Swimming upward.
He didn't know how long he had been swimming, how far he had gone.
Gradually, he couldn't tell if he was going up or down. All around him was endless black. There was no surface to find, and it felt like any direction was the wrong one.
Then, in the darkness, a distant voice rang out.
"Lili."
The boy's young voice was full of wariness. "Who are you?"
"I'm your wife—the one who loves you most."
"...Wife?"
"That's right. Stinky Lili, didn't you promise to eat all the delicious food in the world with me? Are you going back on your word?"
"When did I ever promise you that?"
"Hehe, you haven't promised yet, but you will someday."
The voice paused, then became very soft, very gentle.
"Xiao Lili, how old are you now? Five? Six?"
"Listen to me, sister: don't drink water from gutters anymore. It smells bad, doesn't it? I'll teach you a trick: you can pick a lotus leaf and collect dew or rainwater—then you'll have clean water to drink."
"The straw bed you sleep on—was it set on fire by some bad person? Don't be sad. We can find a sturdy tree and build a treehouse to shelter from the wind and rain. Remember to hang a self-portrait sign outside the treehouse door so everyone knows it's yours."
"When the sun's out, you can pick some flowers to keep inside—fragrant and beautiful, and they'll lift your spirits. Mountain daisies are the most plentiful, the easiest to keep alive. Just water them a little, give them some sunlight, and they'll thrive."
"Oh, and do you know the flower language of daisies?"
The voice asked softly, then answered just as softly.
"It's 'love hidden deep in the heart.'"
Silence.
Only endless black, and an endless sea.
Then the voice came again, even lighter but more resolute than before:
"I know it's hard for you right now. It's painful."
"But wait for me—just hold on a little longer, okay?"
"I will come to your side."
"You will never be alone again."
...
The thin, small figure searched lost in the deep sea.
"Don't go... Where are you?"
No answer.
In those innocent, clear eyes, something warm flowed out, melting into the icy seawater.
He knew this was just a fleeting dream.
The happiest dream he had ever had since he was born.
When the dream ended, it would all be gone.
He slowly closed his eyes.
Telling himself that no one would fish a broken rag doll from the water.
Just as he thought everything would fall into silence and his soul would perish—
"Lili."
A familiar voice pierced through the endless sea, surging into his ears like tidal waves.
"Look up. See? The sun has already risen."
He snapped open his eyes.
In the pitch-black sea, amid shimmering ripples, there was a round, radiant light, sparkling and glistening.
He had found the surface!
No more aimless swimming.
To find that voice, he strained toward the surface, toward that beam of light.
The moment he broke through the water—
The black aura in the boy's eyes suddenly dissipated.
The malevolent tendrils that had formed solid tentacles turned into a wisp of black mist, vanishing with a gust of wind.
The dark aura faded.
That bloodthirsty monster—gone.
The tears gathered in Chai Xiaomi's eyes finally spilled over.
She met his—one eye like purple twilight, the other like amber. This time, they held no cold killing intent. Instead, they were veiled in a layer of tender, watery light, as if he had just woken from a long, endless nightmare.
He looked at her.
Then, the corners of his eyes curved upward.
It was that familiar, lazy smile.
Wu Li opened his arms.
The tentacles that had been wrapped around her suddenly dissolved into nothingness, vanishing like black smoke. She fell from midair like a streak of light, finally landing in the darkness that had long awaited her.
Steadily, he caught her in his arms.
The two held each other tightly.
She could feel him trembling, like a drowning man finally grasping a piece of driftwood, like a lost child finally finding his way home. She said nothing, only wrapped her arms around his back, gently patting him, one soft stroke after another.
As if soothing someone who had been trapped in a nightmare for far, far too long.
"Stinky Lili," she said, "leaving everyone without a word."
She buried her face deeper into him, her voice muffled, tinged with tears: "I'm going to punish you. From now on, you have to accompany me as I eat all the delicious food in the world."
From above her head came the faintest, nasal reply:
"Okay."
"I promise you."
So...
What was left behind in the dreams of a certain childhood night was never a dream at all...
