Evil Spirit - chapter 8

Chapter 8

“Do you also want to say you like me?”

Suddenly, Duan Qinglian sat up from the bedding, his black hair sliding over the pillow and spreading behind him, the moonlight casting a faint glow.

Also?

“Are there many people who say they like you?”

“Then how long can you like me?”

Once again, her words were brushed aside. His hand was still held in her palm, his clear eyes gazing at her as if they could see through flesh and blood, piercing the soul.

“Do you firmly believe in fate, unwavering as always, or will you flee in panic after seeing me kill again and again?”

He spoke softly, word by word, yet there was a kind of intimidating pressure that made Li Jiaojiao’s chest tighten, unable to speak.

Luckily, the rustling of wind and branches outside the door saved her, the sound of branches tapping against the window was muffled, and the chilly wind seeped through the paper window.

Li Jiaojiao shivered and changed the subject: “Could it be that the monster the shopkeeper mentioned has come?”

“It’s not a monster, it’s a spirit.” Duan Qinglian glanced at the noisy window.

“It’s really here!?” Li Jiaojiao jolted, clutching his wrist tightly with both hands. “Catch it quickly!”

…

“This will help you recover your memory…” Facing Duan Qinglian’s calm expression, she added weakly.

“Is that so.” He raised his eyebrows slightly.

After speaking, Duan Qinglian lay down again.

Li Jiaojiao: ???

“Why did you lie down?”

Was this ancestor planning to let her feed the spirit?

Duan Qinglian closed his eyes. “If I’m awake, the Earthbound Spirit won’t dare make a move.”

“Make a move?” Li Jiaojiao sucked in a breath at his words. Was he planning to use her as bait?

“I think we can try another way…”

But Duan Qinglian, eyes closed, no longer responded, only the sound of his steady breathing flowed through the quiet air.

Li Jiaojiao could only shrink back under the covers, warily watching her surroundings.

But after all the travel and the exhaustion from her brush with death, she couldn’t resist sleep. Her eyelids began to droop, and soon, sleep swept over her and she drifted off.

This sleep was unusually deep, so deep that even in her dream, it felt almost too real.

In the dream, she smelled the familiar stench from the earthen cave again, the odor of rotting flesh and blood made her nauseous. She wanted to escape, but couldn’t move.

Suddenly, a sharp pain stabbed her abdomen. She couldn’t help herself and tried to call for help. Just as she opened her mouth, a vine shot out from her throat, the thorns of the vine tearing through the flesh of her throat, and a sweet, bloody taste spilled from her distorted lips.

The pain nearly made her faint.

Help… me…!

A face bathed in mottled moonlight appeared, tears spilling from her eyes. She couldn’t see clearly, but that face was still smiling, beautiful, yet hazy as if shrouded in mist, and then it vanished.

“Duan Qinglian!”

Screaming, Li Jiaojiao woke up in shock.

The vine piercing her in the dream was fake, but the stench was real, lingering at the tip of her nose.

She stared around in disbelief.

Damn… she hadn’t guarded against it, and now she, the bait, had been bitten!

A sudden gust of cold wind rose. Even though it was spring, the deep night was bone-chilling.

Li Jiaojiao shivered, half curling up as she stood.

The surroundings were dim, but thanks to the moonlight, she could barely make out the general situation. Li Jiaojiao tried calling out, “Ah Qing?”

Only the wind answered her; Duan Qinglian seemed not to have followed.

With no other choice, Li Jiaojiao tried to walk forward, but as soon as she took a step, she tripped over something strange underfoot. Instinctively, she braced herself on the ground, but what she touched was neither damp earth nor hard stone, but something cold and slippery.

Li Jiaojiao lowered her head further and looked closely.

“Ah-!”

It was a pile of gleaming white bones!

Immediately, something even stranger happened.

Tiny green lights began to flicker atop the pile of bones, the scattered points of light gradually gathering, growing larger and larger.

Suddenly, the green light burst through the bones, sending them flying in all directions.

Li Jiaojiao instinctively covered her head. She heard a loud noise in her ears, and when she opened her eyes again, a huge monster stood before her.

Li Jiaojiao was not a Yin-Yang Master, so she couldn’t tell whether the monster was a demon or a ghost, but she could guess that this was the Earthbound Spirit Duan Qinglian had mentioned.

The monster’s entire body glowed with a faint green light. Its half-exposed body, having burst from the earth, was hunched and crawling on the ground, its hands like bird claws propping it up on both sides. On its withered, grotesque face, a pair of glowing green eyes flashed with ferocity.

In an instant, the darkness around was illuminated by the monster’s green glow, and Li Jiaojiao realized she was standing on a field of corpses.

Some of the corpses had already decayed into bones, rolled up in straw mats and tossed aside. Some were not yet rotten, but their bodies had been bitten and mangled.

There were also piles of half-rotted female corpses, tangled tightly by the vines of Saprophytic Flower, the tendrils already beginning to spread outward, showing signs of vigorous growth.

Everything before her made Li Jiaojiao’s vision go black; she was about to faint.

“I’ve waited for you all night, and you finally showed up.”

This voice was gentle as falling snow, instantly dispelling Li Jiaojiao’s fear.

She turned around in delight, tears streaming down her face when she saw that handsome face. “Duan Qinglian!”

Perhaps only she could be so happy to see him at a time like this.

Duan Qinglian stood atop the corpses, his eyes full of interest as he faced the monster. “I’ve never encountered an Earthbound Spirit that has turned demonic before.”

The joy slowly faded from Li Jiaojiao’s face.

It was that look again, like a child fascinated by a game. The last time she’d seen this expression was when he was on Shen Yunshu’s pleasure boat.

The moment Duan Qinglian appeared, the Earthbound Spirit seemed somewhat fearful, but it quickly calmed down, slamming its hands heavily on the ground and howling at Duan Qinglian.

The long howl echoed across the entire mountain, the stench-laden wind whipping his white robe into a frenzy.

Li Jiaojiao scrambled and crawled toward Duan Qinglian. When she finally hid behind him, she saw with horror that withered hands were breaking through the earth at her feet.
Naively, she had thought Duan Qinglian would run away with her, but instead, she heard his excited panting in her ear.

Li Jiaojiao: ???

Getting excited over this shriveled corpse that looks like a withered daylily-brother, do you perhaps have some kind of illness?

In her shock, she realized her cover was gone, and she stared blankly at her empty hands.

Duan Qinglian, on the other hand, was thoroughly enjoying himself. The Sword Line, shimmering with silver, danced in his hand like a nimble little snake, effortlessly slicing off the limbs of the attacking corpses.

His clear eyes now sparkled with the satisfaction of slaughter.

Li Jiaojiao found it all too horrifying and turned her head away, unable to watch any longer. How could a normal person like her accept this?

The Earthbound Spirit stared in a daze at the scattered limbs on the ground, while the man who killed with such joy remained completely unharmed.

Suddenly, it spotted Li Jiaojiao hiding to the side and let out another sky-shaking howl. The corpses that had been attacking Duan Qinglian now all charged toward Li Jiaojiao.

Crap!

Li Jiaojiao took off running.

She had always been hopeless at sports, and with her delicate, pampered body, she was out of breath after just a short sprint.

But the horde of corpses was still chasing her madly, their twig-like limbs crawling along the ground like wild beasts, lunging at her with gaping bloody mouths that emitted eerie, hissing howls.

So unlucky!!!

Li Jiaojiao clutched her skirt and kept fleeing forward.

Her steps halted at the edge of the mountaintop cliff.

No way out.

Staring at the corpses with glowing green eyes closing in on her, she couldn’t help but curse again.

At such a critical moment, her legs began to tremble uncontrollably, and the pebbles at her feet tumbled down the cliff as she edged backward.

The next second, several withered hands burst from the ground and grabbed Li Jiaojiao’s ankles.

“Ah!!!”

A shrill scream pierced the night sky.

Struggling, Li Jiaojiao lost her balance and fell backward toward the edge of the cliff.

That scream had nearly wrecked her voice, and she had no strength left to cry out again. Resigned, she closed her eyes.

The sensation of falling lasted only an instant before it vanished.

When she opened her eyes, she saw Duan Qinglian’s smiling face.

“Wah, Duan Qinglian.” Li Jiaojiao burst into tears and threw herself into his arms.

Someone who takes pleasure in killing would never use something like incense, yet Duan Qinglian always carried a faint scent-cool and crisp, with a trace of blood.

For the first time, Li Jiaojiao found this scent incredibly reassuring.

But that sense of security lasted only a moment before she realized their situation was far from safe.

It was late at night, and even with the moonlight, she couldn’t see the bottom of the cliff. The cold wind howled up from beneath their dangling feet, chilling her through her skirt. Li Jiaojiao clung even tighter to Duan Qinglian.

Both she and Duan Qinglian were suspended along the cliff face, their only lifeline the Sword Line wrapped around the back of Duan Qinglian’s hand. She couldn’t see what the other end of the Sword Line was attached to.

“Is your Sword Line secure?” Li Jiaojiao licked her dry lips and asked.

“I don’t know.” Duan Qinglian’s brows arched in a smile. One arm held Li Jiaojiao by the waist, the other gripped the Sword Line. “But it’s very sharp-half a beat faster than an ordinary sword blade at slitting a throat.”

“…”

Is this really the time to brag about your weapon?

“Just now, you called my name.”

Li Jiaojiao: ?

Is there a problem with that?

“You shouldn’t call my name.”

Li Jiaojiao hesitated for a moment, then tentatively called, “Ah Qing…?”

And then, Duan Qinglian’s strange sense of humor kicked in again. He buried his face in Li Jiaojiao’s shoulder, his thin back trembling, and his muffled laughter echoed along the cliff.

“Stop laughing…”

Even the Sword Line began to tremble along with him.

“Why?” Duan Qinglian lifted his face.

The corners of his eyes were tinged red, as if he’d laughed too hard, and tears shimmered at his lashes.

“We’ll fall,” Li Jiaojiao said softly, as if comforting a child.

“And what if we do?”

“We’ll die…”

He truly looked as innocent as a child. “I won’t die.”

Damn it!

“I will!” Li Jiaojiao was at her limit, the veins on her forehead throbbing.

Why had she ever thought this lunatic was reassuring?

“Then why don’t we try falling?” Duan Qinglian’s eyes lowered, the abyss below turning his ethereal pupils pitch-black. “Maybe you’ll come to like the feeling of death.”

“No way!!!” Li Jiaojiao refused flatly. If she weren’t hanging off a cliff, she’d have punched him by now.

“Why not?”

Are you the king of a hundred thousand whys?!

Li Jiaojiao glared at Duan Qinglian, but for the sake of her life, she forced herself to be patient. “Because it hurts.”

“Isn’t that nice? I really like pain.” He tilted his head, looking even more like a child.

…

Li Jiaojiao gave up on communicating.

After hanging on the cliff for a while longer, Li Jiaojiao noticed a large patch of blood soaking through Duan Qinglian’s right sleeve, even dripping down his arm and seeping onto the back of her hand where she clung to his waist.

The blood was still warm.

“You’re hurt?” Li Jiaojiao felt uneasy.

“I told you, my Sword Line is very sharp.” His tone was calm, with a hint of pride.

Looking up, she saw that the back of his hand gripping the Sword Line was a bloody mess, with blood gushing out in streams.

She couldn’t help but recall the scene of that black-clad man having his flesh sliced off by the Sword Line.

Li Jiaojiao felt a pang of guilt. Even if the owner didn’t care for his own hands, such beautiful hands-just the thought of them being scarred, let alone mangled-made her feel regretful.

“Why don’t you let go?”

She blurted out without thinking.

“Alright.”

Duan Qinglian let go, not hesitating for even a second.

“Damn it, Li Grandma!!!”

The wind howled past her ears as Li Jiaojiao clung desperately to the thin fabric in her hands.

She was just being polite!