The wind rose, and the forest surged like ocean waves.
The tide of insects seemed to possess a life and will of its own, constantly shifting and merging in form.
Even though the nine-tailed demonic beast had nine tails, it was no match for the giant insect beast that could morph ten tails.
After a dozen rounds of crushing and tearing, the massive demonic body crashed to the ground, barely breathing.
"Since you're tired," the young man's lips slowly curled into a cold smile, raising his fingers as if pulling invisible threads, "then sleep forever."
Sensing the Gu master's killing intent, the insect tide let out a dense, excited hiss.
They prepared for the final strangulation.
But right at this moment,
From a hidden cave behind the nine-tailed beast, a demonic light, dark red like blood, suddenly shot out!
A clone?
The demonic light was incredibly fast, so fast it left only afterimages. Its target was clear, piercing straight toward the slender silhouette on the steep rocky slope!
Chai Xiaomi's eyes were covered in darkness, completely oblivious to the approaching danger.
Even if she had noticed, with such speed, she wouldn't have had time to dodge.
Wu Li's expression drastically changed.
All his composure and coldness vanished in an instant.
The fingers controlling the insect tide suddenly loosened. In an instant, the insect tide collapsed like puppets with cut strings, turning into dead dust on the ground.
Without a hint of hesitation, not even having time to think.
His figure disappeared from where he stood, and in the next second, he became a shield.
Firmly blocking the girl.
The dark red demonic light exploded in front of him, revealing a transparent phantom of the nine-tailed demon fox shrunk countless times. As expected, it was merely a clone, possessing not even a ten-thousandth of the main body's demonic power.
Yet despite this, a suppressed groan escaped his throat, and blood slowly seeped from the corner of his mouth.
He knew this wasn't entirely caused by the demonic power, but rather the severe backlash from forcibly interrupting such a massive Gu technique.
Otherwise, this minuscule demonic power wouldn't have hurt him to this extent.
"...Lili? Is that you?"
Chai Xiaomi froze for a moment. Although the faint groan in front of her was deliberately suppressed, she still heard it.
Wu Li swallowed the coppery taste surging in his throat, casually wiped the blood from his mouth, and feigned a relaxed tone: "It's your dad."
Chai Xiaomi fell silent for a moment: "Are you hurt?"
Her heart slowly tightened. Although his voice was calm, his breath clearly carried a faint tremble.
As she spoke, she reached for her face, wanting to pull off the snake covering her eyes.
"I'm not hurt. Don't look!"
His voice suddenly raised, returning to his usual fierce demeanor.
"I want to look!" She didn't back down, her hand moving surprisingly fast.
She grabbed the coiled Hongjiao and ripped it off, casually tossing it aside.
Hongjiao traced an arc in the air and landed three meters away, dazed for a moment.
It could clearly feel its master's cold gaze sweeping over it.
This girl was truly no longer afraid of it. She grabbed it like plucking an object, her grip so strong it nearly snapped it in half.
Knowing it had failed its duty, it crept away dejectedly and silently found a tree hollow to hide in.
Little Eight was already so scared it didn't dare to breathe. Mom and Dad fighting was terrifying. To avoid getting caught in the crossfire, it secretly slipped out of Chai Xiaomi's embrace.
It zipped into the very same tree hollow, locking eyes with Hongjiao's gloomy stare.
One ghost and one snake stared at each other for a moment.
Hongjiao flicked its tongue, and Little Eight nodded stiffly.
Since they were both in the same miserable boat, they decided to just squeeze together for now.
Chai Xiaomi moved fast, but Wu Li moved faster.
The moment she pulled Hongjiao away, an icy palm with thin calluses tightly covered her face.
Covering her eyes.
Not even a sliver of light had time to slip in.
"What are you looking at? Believe it or not, I'll really gouge your eyes out!"
His tone carried a chilling warning, along with an imperceptible tension.
Wu Li's eyes darkened, his expression gloomy. He quietly glanced at the insect tide covering the ground; the remaining eggs were slowly seeping back into the soil.
At this moment, his body was covered in bizarre, twisted black totems. They wriggled on his skin like living creatures, making him look like an evil spirit crawled out of hell. Only when these insect eggs completely disappeared would the totems on his body fade until they were gone.
This would take at least the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.
But Chai Xiaomi's mouth didn't stop: "Gouge them then! What's wrong with letting me take a look before you gouge them out? What is there to hide! Did you beat that demonic beast until it bled from all seven orifices, or did you chop it into eight pieces? If the meat is firm, we can drag it back and cure it into bacon, it will keep longer."
The dying nine-tailed beast lying on the ground really wanted to roll its eyes, but it didn't have any eye whites.
"Neither." Wu Li's eyes dimmed, a self-deprecating smile curling on his lips.
"It's much uglier than that."
The essence of this wicked Gu sorcery was to turn the caster themselves into a part of the Gu. Therefore, just as the soil was covered with totems, so was his body.
Neither human nor ghost.
He had long grown used to it.
In any case, this body had been broken countless times, dripping with blood.
Becoming stronger was his only obsession, and for this, he would pay any price, even if it meant becoming completely unrecognizable.
Yet at this moment, he actually cared about his appearance...
He only hoped these totems would disappear a little faster.
A little faster.
Even though the time it took to drink a cup of tea wasn't long, he felt as if he were suffering through years.
Chai Xiaomi used both hands, trying hard to pry away the wrist covering her eyes. But his grip was just too strong, unmoving like an iron hoop.
Her tone also became tinged with anxiety, "Li! Li!"
"Let go of me!"
She struggled and shook her head, but the back of her head was firmly held by his other hand, rendering her unable to move.
The more he tried to hide it, the more obvious it became.
Chai Xiaomi could almost conclude that he was definitely injured, and not lightly.
She seemed to even smell a faint scent of blood.
In the distant cave, a pair of round, bright eyes took in this entire scene.
In the darkness, a completely white cat let out a long sigh in a raspy, aged voice: "He looks like a ruthless and decisive character, so why does he mess up his own footing when it matters most?"
It muttered to itself:
"The insect tide clearly had time to block that attack, yet he had to rush up and throw himself at it. Now look, he's hurt himself. Truly, emotions ruin everything. Emotions ruin everything."
It was muttering with the air of an old sage, but suddenly paused, as if seeing something it shouldn't have. It immediately began to grumble in a flustered, hushed voice:
"Oh my, oh my! Young people these days really are... What a scandal! See no evil, see no evil!"
The white cat instantly puffed up its fur.
With a meow, it bolted away, darting toward another hidden exit deep within the cave.
Before leaving, it conveniently turned the nine-tailed demonic beast into a demon core and took it along.
And just a moment before—
Chai Xiaomi was still struggling desperately, wanting to break free from the hand covering her eyes.
"You must be hurt, right? Where are you hurt? Let me see!"
"Let go right now, immediately! Do you hear me? Say something! Lili!"
Her voice became tinged with obvious anger due to her anxiety.
Her relentless questions followed one after another like dense raindrops, beating against the calmness the young man was trying so hard to maintain.
His heart was hoisted high by these questions.
His brows were tightly knitted, his jawline tense and hard. Those eyes, usually carrying a hint of laziness or mockery, were now brimming with anxiety and unease.
He quickly cast his gaze down, sweeping over the fading speed of the hideous black totems on his body, and his breathing suddenly grew ragged.
Why were they disappearing so slowly?
So slowly that it made his heart burn with impatience.
He couldn't even stop himself from imagining, imagining the horror and disgust that might surface in her eyes when she saw him like this.
Would those bright, almond-shaped eyes that always looked at him, occasionally curving into crescents, be cast in shadows from now on?
...No.
She wouldn't be disgusted, nor would she be afraid.
She would only continue to say she liked him in that earnest tone of hers. After all, she was still planted with his love gu.
At this thought, his chest felt even more stifled, as if a bird were desperately flapping its wings inside, forever unable to fly out.
Wait just a little longer.
He finally spoke, his voice carrying a trace of loneliness and pleading that even he hadn't noticed.
Just a little longer, and they would all disappear.
Even with the love gu maintaining her attachment to him, he still didn't want her to see.
But the girl's mouth was still chattering away endlessly.
What the heck do you mean, wait a little longer? Stinky Lili, stinky Lili, stinky Lili...
Chai Xiaomi was out of ideas, so she simply switched to a broken-record mode, trying to annoy him into compromising.
If she annoyed him into surrendering, he would naturally free up a hand to cover his ears, thereby letting her go.
Wu Li's chest felt even more congested from her shouting.
But as it happened, he needed one hand to cover her eyes and the other to hold her squirming head in place.
He really wished he had a third hand to immediately cover her mouth.
Stinky Lili, stinky Lili... Those two soft pink lips opened and closed rapidly, as if they would never stop.
Wu Li frowned slightly.
Staring at her lips.
Suddenly, without any warning, he leaned in.
You're the stinky one.
The young man's voice was soft and magnetic, the end of his sentence incredibly husky.
The moment the words fell, he tilted his head and, driven by an unbearable impulse, kissed her.
Using his own lips, he blocked that annoying yet... tempting mouth.
Alright, he took back what he just said.
She wasn't stinky at all.
She was fragrant.
Sweet and soft.
Carrying a clear, gentle scent that made his heartbeat fall completely out of rhythm.
