Evil Spirit - chapter 9

Chapter 9

[Host is detected to be in mortal danger. Defense mode activated.]

Li Jiaojiao opened her eyes against the fierce rush of air.

Damn! The useless System finally did something right!

The fall didn’t last long. As she neared the bottom, the sound of trickling water became clear in her ears.

Li Jiaojiao was delighted.

Duan Qinglian frowned.

With a splash, Duan Qinglian landed in the water, and Li Jiaojiao crashed into his arms.

He was so thin, and dressed so lightly. Even though the water provided some resistance, Li Jiaojiao still hit him so hard she saw stars. After choking on several mouthfuls of water, she shakily grabbed Duan Qinglian’s robe and pulled herself up.

“There’s water,” Duan Qinglian said, his tone openly tinged with disappointment.

Li Jiaojiao rolled her eyes and climbed out of the water onto the shore.

[Ding-Congratulations, Host, you have completed a plot segment. Task reward: one memory fragment.]

She really wanted to complain…

But it was so cold. Li Jiaojiao curled up on the shore, shivering, and caught sight of a faintly glowing bead at the bottom of the water.

“What’s that?”

Duan Qinglian glanced over. “The Demon Core inside the Earthbound Spirit.”

He had just killed the Earthbound Spirit and picked up the Demon Core from its pool of blood.

He’d thought it was a self-demonized spirit, but it turned out someone had forced the Demon Core into it. The Earthbound Spirit, controlled by another, was easily defeated, which dampened his spirits a bit.

As he spoke, he bent down to pick up the Demon Core.

Suddenly, Li Jiaojiao noticed something strange under a tree not far away, but it was too dark to see clearly.

[System prompt: The target of your strategy is in danger. Would you like to block the attack to gain favorability?]

Immediately, two shiny prompts appeared before Li Jiaojiao.

Li Jiaojiao unhesitatingly tapped “No.”

Are you kidding me? This jerk almost got me killed, and you want me to take a hit for him? No way!

But even after she tapped “No” repeatedly, nothing happened.

“System, are you messing with me?”

[Received Host’s response. Executing immediately.]

A golden light instantly lit up the “Yes” button.

“Damn it! I don’t want to!”

[No, you do.]

With a wail, Li Jiaojiao lost control of her body and lunged toward Duan Qinglian in the water.

Another huge splash.

There were no hidden arrows or blades as she’d expected. The greatest pain came from the thin body beneath her. For the second time, Li Jiaojiao was painfully knocked by the bones under his delicate skin.

Clutching her swollen forehead, Li Jiaojiao gasped and forced out a reluctant, “Be careful.”

But Duan Qinglian’s gaze drifted to the side.

The shadow under the tree finally became clear-it was a man in black, wearing a wide robe and hood, dressed exactly like the one who had kidnapped her before.

A pale, thin hand extended from under the black robe, holding a Blowgun.

A Blowgun?

Li Jiaojiao froze and looked at her back shoulder. Sure enough, a silver dart was sticking out of her shoulder.

System, I’m going to kill you!

“Ah Qing, go catch him!”

Li Jiaojiao pushed Duan Qinglian’s chest, holding back tears.

In these old-fashioned novels, darts like this are always poisoned! And it has to be deadly poison!

“You’re on top of me. I can’t get up.”

Only then did she realize how awkward their position was.

She was straddling his waist, her palms pressed against his chest.

His clothes and hair were soaked, his eyelashes wet and innocent, his red lips misted with water, and the strands of hair at his waist tangled with hers in the current.

It was incredibly intimate.

Flustered, Li Jiaojiao scrambled off him. “Then hurry up and go!”

“But he’s already gone.”

Li Jiaojiao really felt like Duan Qinglian was her nemesis.

If she didn’t die from bad luck, she’d die from anger.

“What about the Demon Core?” She noticed the faint glow in the water had disappeared.

“He probably took it too.”

A sudden heat surged in her chest. Li Jiaojiao couldn’t hold on any longer; her vision went black and she fainted.

*

Today was a great day for Guilin Town. With the man-eating monster in the back mountain gone, their town could finally return to peace.

There was just one strange thing-a new stream had mysteriously appeared at the foot of the back mountain.

But no one cared about that. Who would bother with such a detail?

Early in the morning, the innkeeper spread the good news throughout the town. The townspeople, faces beaming with joy, came to the inn to thank Duan Qinglian and Li Jiaojiao profusely. Some were even so moved they knelt and kowtowed in gratitude.
In short, everyone was happy-except for Li Jiaojiao.

After she fell unconscious, Duan Qinglian brought her back. As soon as she woke up, she was told some terrible news: the dart that struck her was indeed laced with poison.

When she anxiously asked where she could get the antidote, Duan Qinglian smiled and told her,

“There is no cure for something from the Living Dead.”

Before she could catch her breath, another wave of frustration surged up.

The poison in her was concocted from the blood of the Living Dead and the sap of the Saprophytic Flower. According to Duan Qinglian, this poison was bizarre and unpredictable-its onset time varied. For some, it acted instantly; for others, it could lie dormant for months. Each time it flared up, the symptoms would be different.

Duan Qinglian disliked such festive scenes and went upstairs.

With an apologetic smile to the innkeeper, Li Jiaojiao followed him up.

When she pushed open the door to the guest room, she saw Duan Qinglian sitting by the window, his hand wrapped in thick, crooked gauze, gently stroking the Sword Line.

The gauze was wrapped so thickly and awkwardly that it looked out of place with his slender, beautiful fingers-strangely endearing in a way.

Of course, all of this was Li Jiaojiao’s handiwork.

Even though Duan Qinglian had tormented her countless times, she still repaid evil with kindness. In order to get him to apply medicine, she, the poisoned patient, had coaxed him for quite a while.

Li Jiaojiao dragged a stool over and sat beside him.

“Aren’t you staying downstairs?” Duan Qinglian asked when he saw her sit down.

He smiled as brightly as when they first met, but there was something different about it now.

“I thought you might be lonely up here by yourself, so I came to keep you company,” Li Jiaojiao replied.

Duan Qinglian let out a soft laugh. “You’re really strange. After all the bad things I’ve done to you, you still care whether I’m lonely or not.”

Her eye twitched involuntarily. So you do know you’ve done bad things to me?

Li Jiaojiao decided to treat him like a troublesome child, ignored his laughter, and reached out to touch his forehead. “Why are you so hot?”

She had already noticed his face was oddly flushed downstairs; she hadn’t expected he was running a fever. Could Evil Spirits even get fevers?

“Really?” Duan Qinglian touched his own forehead, his fingertips brushing over Li Jiaojiao’s hand, which was still cold as snow.

“My health has never been good. It happens often. I’ll probably be fine in a couple of days.”

She was stunned.

Not just because Evil Spirits could get sick, but also because of how calm Duan Qinglian seemed. Li Jiaojiao now seriously suspected that his madness was the result of a fever burning his brain day after day.

“No, you need to lie down on the bed,” she said firmly, pointing at the bed.

“Why?”

…

Here we go again. Once he started with the ‘why,’ there was no end to it.

“Because you’re sick, so you need to rest.”

“Why do I need to rest?”

“Because only by resting can you recover.”

Duan Qinglian let out a soft “oh,” paused for a moment, then asked,

“What about you? Will you rest with me?”

If it weren’t for the fact that he was injured and sick while protecting her, Li Jiaojiao would have punched him. “I’m not resting. I’m taking care of you.”

“Taking care of me…”

Duan Qinglian seemed to latch onto something that made him happy, murmuring to himself, his beautiful eyes curving into crescents.

No one had ever wanted to take care of him before. Out there, there were only people who wanted to kill him.

“Ah Qing, look! Doesn’t that person downstairs look like Yunlan Sister!” Suddenly, the girl who said she’d take care of him grabbed his arm, her eyes shining with delight.

“It really is Yunlan Sister!” The girl beamed, waving enthusiastically downstairs. “Yunlan Sister! It’s me! Look over here!”

From the window, a flash of red clothing was dazzlingly bright-it really was the young lady of the Yin-Yang Department.

He suddenly stopped smiling. A mottled shadow flickered in his clear eyes.

She was smiling again, full of joy after seeing someone she cared about. Her beautiful almond-shaped eyes sparkled with happiness-perhaps even more than when she saw him.

The girl didn’t notice him, and in the lightest tone she’d ever used, said, “Ah Qing, I’ll go down for a bit!”

She was so happy that even her voice rose at the end.

The blue figure disappeared from sight in an instant, leaving only the sound of her footsteps hurrying downstairs.

Duan Qinglian lowered his gaze, his eyes lingering on the gauze wrapped around his right hand, and murmured,

“Liar.”