Pain?
How could it hurt?
Yuan Shu remembered how, back in the underground cavern, Elder Qiu of the Earth Fiend Demon Clan had infused strand after strand of strange black spiritual energy into his body. Could it be…
Yuan Shu knitted her brows and raised a hand, preparing to summon the same Earth Fiend Demon Qi to investigate, but stopped herself.
Helan Ying was suspicious and cunning by nature. What if he was deliberately luring her into using the Earth Fiend Demon Qi? Wouldn’t that expose her identity?
Since the Earth Fiend Demon Clan still needed Helan Ying, they presumably had no intention of killing him.
He was probably just in pain, right?
Besides, he really did seem to be acting!
Helan Ying’s face was pale as he trembled in agony. After waiting for quite a while without Yuan Shu coming any closer, he furrowed his brows.
“You… help me. Help me redirect my spiritual energy. It hurts so much…”
Helan Ying raised a hand and groped in Yuan Shu’s direction, speaking in a pained voice.
“First Young Master, I’m only a guard, and my cultivation is limited. It would be better to wait until Second Young Master arrives and have him redirect your spiritual energy.”
Yuan Shu refused him in an even tone.
“You… you’re just going to stand there and watch me suffer? I’m going to die from the pain! Helan Zhao won’t let you off!”
Helan Ying gritted his teeth as he spoke.
However, despite putting on an earnest performance for quite some time, Yuan Shu remained unmoved.
He was furious, but there was nothing he could do. He could only stop acting for the moment and think of another way.
Just then, a sudden, excruciating pain shot through his heart!
His heart felt as though countless thorn-covered vines had wrapped tightly around it, constricting it again and again.
Helan Ying’s expression changed. He opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of blood with a wet cough.
Before he could pull his clean blue robes aside, several bright-red stains had already spread across them.
Yuan Shu’s heart jolted.
This man… was he really acting so convincingly?
As the thought crossed her mind, wisps of black spiritual energy began to spiral around him. They formed a complex spell pattern that radiated a faint dark-gold glow and enclosed him completely.
A surging, savage aura erupted, absorbing every trace of spiritual energy in the surrounding forest!
The wind howled, and the entire woodland instantly grew dim!
Yuan Shu’s eyes widened.
This was… the forbidden curse of the Earth Fiend Demon Clan that Elder Qiu had planted inside his body?
Damn it. He wasn’t acting!
Enveloped by the formation, all the color drained from Helan Ying’s face. The forbidden curse had seized complete control of his heart. His body slid from the rock he had been leaning against and collapsed.
Yuan Shu instinctively darted forward and caught him by the arm.
At that moment, Helan Ying reached back and seized Yuan Shu’s wrist.
The delicate, slender wrist was exactly the same as he remembered.
During those several days in the cavern, he had loved gripping them and pulling them above her head.
He knew them by touch alone.
At such close range, even the runes concealing Yuan Shu’s aura were no longer effective.
The familiar, faint fragrance of pear blossoms drifted toward him.
He was certain.
It was her!
A smile appeared on Helan Ying’s pale face. His eyes widened beneath the black ribbon, as though he wanted to see Yuan Shu’s face through the cloth covering them.
“Big Sis, do you really hate me that much? Hate me so much that you’d trick me into believing you were dead?”
His voice was soft—so soft. It held not the slightest trace of malice or accusation, yet somehow carried an unmistakable hint of grievance as it drifted into Yuan Shu’s ears.
The hand gripping her wrist tightened slightly, but it seemed he was afraid of hurting her, for it instinctively loosened again.
He tilted his head. Blood continued to well from the corners of his lips, yet he stubbornly “looked” toward Yuan Shu, as though he could see her through the ribbon that rendered him sightless.
Yuan Shu let out a quiet breath. Since he had already recognized her, there was no point in pretending any longer.
“When the Earth Fiend Demon Clan’s forbidden curse activates, it causes excruciating pain. They should be able to pinpoint your location very soon and come after you.”
“Don’t speak now. Save your strength and suppress the forbidden curse as much as you can. We’ll get you out of here.”
Yuan Shu returned to her normal voice and explained in a low tone.
Helan Ying said nothing. He neither circulated his spiritual energy nor tried to suppress the forbidden curse. He merely continued to hold stubbornly onto Yuan Shu’s wrist and asked,
“I know I forced myself on you in the cavern, Big Sis. I was wrong. I’m sorry.”
“But I really do like you, Big Sis. Could you… stop being angry with me?”
There was a trace of unease in his voice.
“You’re bringing this up now? You…”
Yuan Shu frowned and was about to scold him, but when she saw his bloodstained lips and ashen face, she held back.
Helan Ying received no answer. He remained motionless, stubbornly holding Yuan Shu’s hand as he continued explaining.
“Big Sis, I had no choice back then. The power of the Three-Eyed Spirit-Concealing Formation is inside me. Without your divine power, I couldn’t suppress it, and my blood and qi would have reversed, killing me.”
“I know it’s too late for anything I say now. You hate me, but I really do like you.”
“Big Sis, I don’t want you to hate me so much. I don’t want you to fake your death rather than speak to me.”
As Helan Ying spoke, it seemed he had begun to cry. The ribbon covering his eyes gradually darkened with moisture.
He thought of how, over the past few days, Yuan Shu had altered her voice and stayed with Helan Zhao. She had clearly known that he was nearby, yet she had still chosen to flirt and dote on Helan Zhao.
She obviously despised him. She didn’t want him to discover her identity, and she didn’t want him to know that she was still alive!
The thought made his heart ache terribly.
At the beginning, when he had called her Big Sis, her heart had been gentle and joyful.
She had liked him!
“So what if I forgive you? Shouldn’t you be thinking about how to deal with the forbidden curse in your body? Are you planning to die like this?”
Yuan Shu frowned.
Before this, she had thought Helan Ying was someone who cared deeply about his own life, someone who would use every possible means to obtain her divine power.
But now, at such a critical moment, what was he even thinking about?
Yet when Helan Ying heard Yuan Shu’s words, his expression brightened.
“Big Sis, does that mean you’re willing to forgive me?”
Yuan Shu pressed her lips together.
When she had first met Helan Ying, she really had softened because of the few times he called her “Big Sis.”
A young, innocent, inexperienced boy looking up at her with those beseeching eyes and calling her “Big Sis”—who wouldn’t have softened?
Only later did she discover that this seemingly innocent and inexperienced youth had all been an act. Beneath the surface, he was clearly a black-hearted schemer wrapped in sweetness.
Of course, Yuan Shu’s heart was hardly pure, either. She had only played along to see what he was up to.
Later…
Although there had indeed been an element of coercion on Helan Ying’s part while they were together, if Yuan Shu had truly been unwilling, she had ways to keep him from getting near her.
She liked Helan Ying’s face and his body. Besides, he possessed vigorous masculine essence and pure yang dragon qi of considerable power.
If anyone had suffered a loss, it certainly wasn’t her.
Helan Ying didn’t look particularly sturdy, but in bed, he was far from lacking. The two of them were exceptionally compatible.
It could be considered a pleasant, fleeting affair.
Yuan Shu’s gaze slowly settled on Helan Ying’s face.
The youth beneath the black ribbon had a face as fair as snow. His delicate red lips were stained with blood, lending that handsome face an even more striking, battle-worn beauty.
She remembered that his eyes were a deep green, beautiful as a tranquil jade-green pool. They were a magnificent, breathtaking shade, reflecting the image of whoever stood before him.
Suddenly, she wanted very much to see those beautiful eyes.
Yuan Shu reached out and gently pulled down the ribbon covering his eyes.
Her fingertips were stained with some of the antidote to the blindness pill. She casually wiped it across his lips.
