After Cutting Off Love And Emotions, I Was Pestered By The Demon Sect’s Enchantress - Chapter 34

Reunion (Part V)

For the past few days, Xie Funiing had not reappeared, yet the crowd dared not let down their guard.

Ji Yanshu speculated, “Having not appeared for several days in a row, could she have gone off to refine resentment?”

“It is a possibility,” Li Yishuang said, her brows furrowing. “The person who abducted my junior sister appeared that night, and Fellow Daoist Zhu was also present. I asked her about it, and she said the yin energy on that person was exactly the same as that on Xie Funing.”

“Possessing such similar yin energy, I fear that person has a profound relationship with Xie Funing. They even specifically sent word to the Xuanqing Sect, naming you to appear. Fellow Daoist Li, do you know that person?”

Li Yishuang lowered her eyes, recalling 그 gloomy face, and admitted slowly, “Yes, an old acquaintance.”

A person not seen for many years; seeing them again now, yin energy and resentment swirled around their body. The youthful visage overlapped with the one in her memory, but the eyes no longer held the spiritual clarity of yesteryear, replaced instead by a heart full of hatred.

The young girl who once followed behind her, vowing solemnly to slay demons and eliminate evil, had now become an evil cultivator whose hands were stained with the blood of the innocent.

Li Yishuang suddenly understood why her Master had insisted she come here—it was to let her see it with her own eyes, thereby severing that lingering delusion.

Seeing her expression darken slightly, Ji Yanshu stopped questioning and turned instead to look at Shi Su nearby:

“Eh, why haven’t we seen Fellow Daoist Zhu?”

“Senior Sister Zhu is in her room.”

Hearing this, Ji Yanshu nodded and asked in confusion, “Strange, Miss Ning hasn’t been seen for a few days either.”

The medical cultivator who had checked Ning Xu’s pulse that day spoke up at the right moment: “She is in Miss Zhu’s room.”

After those words fell, the scene lapsed into silence. Shi Su reacted a moment later, her eyes widening as she exclaimed:

“The two of them have been staying together all these days?”

The expressions of the group varied. Shi Su, in particular, couldn’t wrap her head around it. Senior Sister Zhu treated others with cold detachment; this Miss Ning had only joined them for a few short days, yet had the two of them already become soulmates?

No, staying in the same room for several consecutive days—this relationship could no longer be described as “soulmates.” It was more like…

The matter was unclear, and Shi Su was originally unwilling to make wild guesses, but before they departed, the Sect Master had specifically instructed her: if a woman of unknown identity intentionally approached Senior Sister Zhu in an attempt to disturb her Daoist heart, she must report it via transmission talisman.

After a moment of hesitation, Shi Su took out a transmission talisman.

Inside the room.

Ning Xu looked at the ceiling with utter boredom; lying down for several days in a row had made her whole body uncomfortable.

She turned her head to look at the person beside her. Zhu Shengxi was currently closing her eyes and concentrating, likely regulating her breathing.

Since that night, this person had returned to her cold attitude. Although she stayed with her all day, Zhu Shengxi would only offer a brief response for every five sentences Ning Xu asked.

Ning Xu gazed at her, silently tracing that flawless, white-jade face with her eyes.

Feeling the gaze that was far too fervent, Zhu Shengxi opened her eyes, her expression indifferent. “What is it?”

Ning Xu spoke truthfully, “I’m so bored.”

Seeing that Zhu Shengxi was prepared to continue her meditation, she quickly added, “I… I feel a bit unwell. It hurts.” As she spoke, Ning Xu knitted her brows, pretentiously pressing her hand against her waist and abdomen.

The fact that Zhu Shengxi was willing to stay in the room with her these past few days proved that she wasn’t entirely heartless toward her.

Ning Xu stole a glance at her expression, intentionally furrowing her brow tightly, her face showing a few hints of pain.

In the next moment, that person’s voice indeed drew closer:

“Where does it hurt?”

Ning Xu: “My waist hurts. It must be because you pinned my hands down that night; in the struggle, I accidentally twisted my waist.”

After a few sentences, it had actually become her fault?

Zhu Shengxi was half-doubting as her hand covered the other’s waist and abdomen, pressing lightly.

“Here?”

At this moment, Ning Xu was wearing only a single thin layer of white inner clothing. That ice-cold hand pressed against her waist, bringing an involuntary shiver.

Having not received a response for a long time, Zhu Shengxi looked down at her and found that her originally porcelain-white ears were now as red as if they were engorged with blood.

Seeing this, Zhu Shengxi understood clearly. The so-called waist pain was just another of the little tricks played by the person before her.

After seeing through it, she did not pull away as she had in the past. Instead, she went a step further, slowly and gently stroking the area, asking with a serious face, “Is it here?”

Ning Xu’s breathing grew somewhat heavy, and she subconsciously bit her lip, only to feel that hand slide toward the other side, as if embracing her.

“Or here?”

The other’s breath grew closer and closer. Ning Xu remained calm on the surface, but her heart felt a rare moment of panic.

How did it turn out like this? Logically, upon hearing this, Zhu Shengxi should have gone straight to find a physician; how did she end up pressing against her like this?

The posture between the two was currently quite intimate. Ning Xu’s expression was somewhat unnatural, and her eyes flickered as she said:

“It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

Zhu Shengxi calmly withdrew her hand, glanced at her complexion, and said slowly:

“Why is your face so red? Is it very hot?”

Hearing this, even the most dull-witted person would have realized what was happening. Ning Xu looked back at her, gritting her teeth:

“You did it on purpose, didn’t you?”

“What did I do on purpose?” Zhu Shengxi feigned ignorance. “Didn’t you say your waist hurt?”

Knowing she was in the wrong, Ning Xu gave a light huff and turned her head away, speaking no more. Because of this, she missed the fleeting flash of tenderness in Zhu Shengxi’s eyes.

Silence returned to the room. As Ning Xu thought about their conversation just now, a strange emotion surged in her heart.

The lighthearted dialogue just now felt very much like their old way of interacting, making her believe for a fleeting second that their relationship had never been broken.

This brief warmth was like a brilliant but ephemeral firework—difficult to hold onto. Thinking of this, Ning Xu suddenly felt a pang of heartache.

During these five years, she had imagined more than once: if she had confessed everything then and hadn’t struck out at Zhu Shengxi, would the relationship between them have avoided becoming what it was today?

But their identities and positions at the time dictated that she could only act that way.

Ning Xu picked up the jade flute by the bedside. Although she had found someone to repair it, the color at the junction was different from the surrounding area, still showing that it had once been broken.

In the past, she had always acted with step-by-step calculation, but this time alone, she had moved according to her heart. She didn’t know what kind of result she wanted by running to Chaosheng City, nor was it clear where her relationship with Zhu Shengxi would go.

Ning Xu took a deep breath, unwilling to let her thoughts wander further. She looked at Zhu Shengxi and asked the question that had been weighing on her heart for days: “What is your relationship with Ji Yanshu?”

Zhu Shengxi gazed at her; Ning Xu’s eyes were persistent, appearing to care very much about the answer to this question.

“Why do you ask?”

Seeing that she wouldn’t answer directly, Ning Xu felt anxious, her tone carrying a hint of urgency: “Don’t worry about that, just tell me.”

Zhu Shengxi ignored her urgency and intentionally gave an irrelevant answer: “What does it have to do with you? Fellow Daoist Ji is an upright person, unlike a certain someone who harbors ulterior motives.”

Ning Xu fell silent, and in a departure from her usual behavior, she actually didn’t speak up to retort.

Zhu Shengxi looked at her. In the past, if she had spoken this way, Ning Xu would have immediately argued back with clever words, but now she said nothing.

Ning Xu looked up at her and asked, “The reason you stayed in the room these past few days—is it because you were worried I would secretly harm them?”

Zhu Shengxi gazed at her without speaking.

However, Ning Xu took her silence as a tacit admission, and a wave of dull pain spread through her heart.

After a moment of silence, she said hoarsely, “My injuries are almost recovered. I will return to my own room tomorrow. Also, you need not worry; I have no reason, nor the extra heart, to harm them.”