Mei Man felt utterly miserable.
The heavy gloom had been pressing down inside her all this time, as if someone had stuffed a lump of wet clay into her chest—sticky, cold, and damp, with a nauseatingly bitter, fishy stench.
As if that weren’t enough, the moment she stepped through the entrance to the cave abode, she heard that long, mournful howl.
“Awoooo—awoo, awoo, awoo—ooo—”
Mei Man grew even more irritated.
She slammed the door shut and stormed toward the Clearheart Pavilion.
When she was nearly there, she caught sight of the White Wolf through the window, throwing back its head and howling. Off to the side, the puppet was crouched down, silently covering its ears.
She couldn’t control her expression. Her face twisted so badly that even the corners of her eyes began to twitch.
What was this supposed to be?
Someone as hypocritical as Yu Guiya had so many people who genuinely cared about him. Fan Zilang was even worse—arrogant and overbearing, full of scheming and bad intentions—yet he could rely on his wealth to order others around and have them clean up his messes.
And what did she have?
A noisy, idiotic wolf that never stopped making a racket, and a fool who only moved when poked!
Mei Man found it terribly unfair. The anger had nowhere to go, and remained stifled inside her.
But just as she stomped up the stairs, just as all the frustration, unhappiness, sorrow, and bitterness had swelled to their limit, the White Wolf suddenly fell silent.
When it saw her, it opened its mouth slightly and panted, “Ha, ha,” its tail whipping rapidly from side to side and making its entire body sway along with it.
The puppet lowered its hands as well. Without a word, it rose to its feet and gazed at her with a blank, placid expression, as though waiting for her orders.
Mei Man stopped short.
The White Wolf seemed to want to come closer, but the chain held it fast. It could only let out one short whine after another, as if urging her to hurry over.
For just a brief moment, a strange feeling surfaced in Mei Man’s heart.
Back at the Qiu residence, she had helped Qiu Heyang raise a dog.
Afterward, the dog had indeed accepted her as its master. No matter what command she gave, it would obey docilely.
But it also had Qiu Heyang.
As long as Qiu Heyang was there, she would always come second.
If the two of them stood in different places, the dog would run to him first. If they gave it a command at the same time, it would obey him first.
No matter how carefully she looked after that dog, Qiu Heyang would always matter more.
She knew it was because Qiu Heyang was its true master. It was normal, and she ought to understand.
The dog trusted her too. It liked her.
But every time she realized she had been placed second, a bitter, sour liquid would spread through her heart. Sometimes, she didn’t even want to go near the dog anymore. For a while, the feeling had grown so severe that she had begun to resent it.
Qiu Heyang noticed that she no longer played with the dog as she had before and once asked her about it. Unwilling to admit that she was actually petty enough to be jealous of him over a dog, she had only said, “I don’t like spirit pets. They’re a nuisance.”
Did she really dislike it?
Mei Man stared at the White Wolf and watched it strain forward. Its cold, tranquil eyes remained fixed intently on her.
Even with the puppet standing nearby, it didn’t spare him a glance. It only wagged its tail at her.
Then she remembered the long howl she had heard earlier and suddenly realized that it had most likely been calling for her.
Mei Man took a few steps forward.
The wolf spun around several times where it stood before excitedly pouncing toward her.
It was simply too large. The impact forced her back several steps. But the wolf seemed unaware of that. It immediately pressed close again, rubbing its furry head hard against her and nudging her back and forth, as though trying to leave its scent on her—or absorb hers.
Mei Man lowered her head. Several overly long strands of hair fell over her forehead, casting a faint shadow across her face.
She reached out and rubbed its fluffy, soft head.
The White Wolf flopped down beside her legs with a muffled thud, then rolled over to expose its belly, its enormous body twisting and writhing across the floor.
Mei Man squatted down with it and pinched its muzzle, giving it a little shake.
“What a sycophant,” she said expressionlessly.
But the moment the words left her mouth, she took advantage of the motion and lay down, resting her head against the warm, furry wolf.
The White Wolf gently bit her arm. Every so often, it stopped to lick her.
The negative emotions gradually faded away, and Mei Man belatedly realized that what she wanted was to be someone’s one and only.
If she couldn’t have that, then she would rather destroy everything.
Rather have nothing at all.
That night, she didn’t return to the Library Pavilion. Instead, she curled up on the second floor of the Clearheart Pavilion and read.
The White Wolf lay quietly to one side, watching her the entire time. Every now and then, it let out a long sigh.
Even so, Mei Man still didn’t dare release it. Given how dependent it was on people, it would surely follow her wherever she went. That would be far too troublesome.
Early the next morning, Qiu Yingling contacted her through a communication jade slip, saying that he had something to discuss with her.
Before leaving, Mei Man repeatedly instructed the puppet, “Repair the wooden boards, then go stand guard at the entrance.”
The puppet nodded, hammer in hand, and began banging away.
Before long, it heard a noise behind it.
The puppet turned around and saw that the White Wolf, which had been sleeping moments ago, had suddenly begun to struggle. The sharp fangs exposed in its mouth were rapidly shortening as well.
The puppet stood up, found the clothes they had prepared beforehand, and draped them over the White Wolf.
Shen Shushi had not fully awakened yet when he heard the clanging of hammer and nails.
He opened his eyes in a daze and saw a figure crouching nearby, hammering nails.
He vaguely recognized the figure as the puppet. He moved his lips, about to speak, when he suddenly felt tightness around his neck, along with a slight prickling pain.
It was as if something were clamped tightly around him.
Wait—
Clamped around him?
Shen Shushi’s eyes flew open. He raised a hand to touch his neck and looked down at the same time.
His fingers encountered something cold and hard. His eyes, meanwhile, saw a slender chain, one end locked around a stone pillar, the other—
Fastened around his neck.
Shen Shushi was shaken to the core.
The puppet happened to finish nailing one of the boards and turned back to call out, “Immortal Lord.”
Shen Shushi remembered to conjure a robe over himself, then casually crushed the iron chain. With a stern, furious voice, he demanded, “What is this?”
The puppet answered truthfully, “A chain.”
“Do you think this lord cannot tell that it is a chain?” Shen Shushi roared.
The puppet fell silent for a moment before adding, “The Immortal Lord transformed into your demon form and wanted to bite people, so the Immortal Lord locked you up, and then—”
“Enough!” Shen Shushi cut him off. Alongside his anger, shock filled his eyes.
Remembering the previous time Mei Man had been bitten, he spread out his consciousness, but could not sense her presence anywhere in the cave abode.
He asked, “Where is she? Is she injured?”
The puppet replied woodenly, “Not injured. Ran away.”
Shen Shushi froze.
The little color already present in his face drained away completely.
Had he… frightened her into running away?
Within the sea of consciousness, Mei Man lay prone in a small boat, searching for lotus flowers amid gently rippling water.
Qiu Yingling had said that very little demonic energy remained. This would be the final time. Once she drew away all the remnants of demonic energy, she would have completed this task and could take the golden bell with her.
After drawing away a few strands of demonic energy, she spotted another lotus flower. She was using the mouth of the bottle to touch the tip of one of its petals when she happened to notice a bubble beneath the water.
Inside the bubble, she saw Qiu Yingling searching for something in his study. He removed a book and took a string of keys from a hidden compartment behind it, then used the keys to open a secret door behind a hanging scroll.
The keys were hidden so discreetly?
There had to be something shady going on.
Mei Man even suspected that he kept all his enemies locked up in there, building up enough anger outside each day before returning home to torture people and vent his frustration.
The thought flashed through her mind, and for some inexplicable reason, she felt like laughing. But unless it was absolutely necessary, she had no interest in prying into other people’s secrets, so she was about to look away.
Unexpectedly, her eyes shifted, and she suddenly noticed that the water beside the bubble was tangled with countless red-and-black strips.
The strips sprouted from the bottom of the water, spreading across an enormous area—hundreds, even thousands of times more than the demonic qi she had gathered earlier.
Mei Man was startled and instinctively shrank back toward the boat, her heart pounding so hard it felt ready to burst from her chest.
What were those things?
Why were there so many? They looked just like the demonic qi he had described, but they weren’t shaped like lotuses.
She was about to take a closer look when the red-and-black strips suddenly shot upward. The small boat was overturned, and she fell into the water. Before she could even struggle, the world spun wildly around her, and her soul was jolted out of the sea of consciousness.
When her soul returned to her body, Mei Man rubbed her aching head. Heavy, labored breathing sounded beside her ears.
She looked up and saw Qiu Yingling hunched over on the bed, clutching his neck as he gasped in pain.
Mei Man sensed that something was wrong and wanted to run.
Before she could move, Qiu Yingling had already lifted his eyes to look at her.
Those foxlike eyes had once again transformed into needle-thin vertical pupils.
He lowered his hand, and Mei Man saw that bright dragon scales had spread across his neck as well.
Clearly, the demonic qi had infected him, causing him to take on the form of a monster.
“Manman, it’s you.” Qiu Yingling let out a low, breathless laugh. “Come here. Sit a little closer. Why are you acting like such a stranger?”
Though he said that, he himself braced a hand against the bed and crawled toward her on his knees.
As though he had no strength left, he lowered his head the moment he reached her and rested his forehead against her knees, rubbing against them slowly and restlessly.
His hot breath spilled over her legs, brushing faintly against her calves.
Mei Man was stunned, her mind going completely blank.
Qiu Yingling was an extremely arrogant man.
To outsiders, he always seemed even-tempered. He wore a smiling expression, treated people amiably, and spoke with warmth and wit.
But Mei Man knew that he looked down on everyone to some degree. Deep down, he never truly regarded anyone as an equal.
When someone was useful to him, he habitually began with a mild approach, using a friendly facade to make that person lower their guard. Then, little by little, he would suppress them until they became nothing more than a convenient tool, no longer capable of independent thought.
Those who were useless but posed no threat were either ignored or dismissed perfunctorily. If someone stood in his way, he would find a way to eliminate them. And if he disliked someone, he would do everything in his power to remove that thorn from his side.
At his core, he always needed to look down on everyone from a superior position. Even when he occasionally acted shamelessly in front of her, he still had to keep everything under his control. How could he possibly lower himself before her like this, appearing entirely at her mercy?
This was not normal.
Absolutely not normal.
“Qiu Yingling?” Mei Man pressed down on his shoulder, trying to push him away.
But he did not move an inch. Instead, his breathing grew even more labored.
Mei Man pushed harder, calling his name as she shoved at him. His collar was forced open, revealing part of the back of his neck.
Blood-red markings covered his firm, smooth skin.
The lotus mark on his back had not disappeared.
Not only had it remained, it was even darker than before, as though someone had carved it into his back with a knife.
As he breathed, the scales on his neck—scales that did not belong to him—slowly opened and closed, releasing a faint red mist.
A fragrance gradually spread through the room.
Mei Man had never smelled anything like it before. It resembled sandalwood, but was richer and more intense. There was also something colder and sharper about it, and breathing it in made her feel slightly dizzy.
She had no idea how to handle the situation. Thoroughly alarmed, and seeing that he was dazed and barely conscious, she simply kicked him away and ran.
All Mei Man could think of was finding someone to help.
The people from the Medical Valley—
No.
If the Medical Valley could have helped, Qiu Yingling would have gone there long ago.
Then Shen Shushi?
But he was in seclusion at the moment. Besides, he was a White Wolf who knew nothing but eating, drinking, and sleeping, so he was of no use.
Qiu Heyang had not yet emerged from seclusion either. As for Qiu Yanxue… ever since arriving at the Immortal Manor, Mei Man had not seen her even once, and she had no idea where she was.
What about Qiu Yingling’s master?
But she could not even find the man.
She paced back and forth several times before deciding to look for Qiu Heyang after all.
Even if he was in seclusion, he should still be able to come out.
