Journey to the End of the Night
Chapter 647: 573: Gentle Knife_2

Chapter 647: Chapter 573: Gentle Knife_2

Shu Ci did not visit the Mohe Palace where he lived. He had no interest in asserting his dominance and status over such trivial matters.

Moreover, exposing himself as the bearer of the Mohe was truly an act of desperation. The identity of Shouhe, which the demons frenziedly revered, was more of a burden to him than anything else.

Returning to his chamber, Baili An could no longer sustain his forced alertness and collapsed onto his bed, sinking into a deep sleep.

In the battle with Shu Ci, his strength had already been exhausted. The Blood Energy and Spiritual Power stored within the Corpse Pearl and the nodes of Spiritual Power had already been squandered.

Once the Blood Energy within the corpse demon’s body was depleted and could not be replenished with fresh blood, it would generally crumble and rot away, like decaying wood.

But Baili An was different; as a direct Bloodline descendant of Jiang Chen, he could replenish his Blood Energy by entering a state of hibernation.

He had no idea how long he had been asleep, but when Baili An woke up, a pair of hands were entwined around his arms, making them tingle with numbness.

Outside the curtain, the night rain was cold, and the spring hangings of the soft canopy were warm.

The pitter-patter of light rain tapped against the window, and the soft breaths that smelled like orchids fluttered at the tip of his nose, entangling with him in a myriad of ways.

Baili An’s eyes were half-open, and beneath his sparse and long eyelashes were a pair of serene pupils.

He silently observed the porcelain face so close at hand. It was translucent with two touches of blush, moist and beautiful lips, and a pair of eyes brimming with emotion, revealing a hint of bewitching charm amid tranquility. Even without makeup, there was a natural elegance and charm.

The big red cloak that should have been securely draped over the lady was now covering them both on the soft bed.

Underneath the cloak, their bodies pressed closely together, Baili An’s cold body was snuggled warmly by her body heat.

She blinked at Baili An, her eyes smiling, “Good morning.”

Baili An also blinked, seemingly puzzled as to how Ning Feiyan had ended up in his bed.

He withdrew his numb arm and sat up to glance at the evening sky outside the window, calmly stating, “It is nighttime now.”

Ning Feiyan’s cheeks flushed with a readily summoned blush, which she could fade away at will. Disappointed at not seeing Baili An react as she had hoped, she gathered her hair trailing over her shoulder and said with a smile, “You’ve been unconscious for a whole day; of course it’s nighttime now.”

The wind from the courtyard entered the palace door, stirring the warm fragrant smoke.

Baili An looked down to tidy his disheveled clothing and asked, “Has Zangxin set out to Gan Mountain?”

Ning Feiyan smiled knowingly as if seeing through his thoughts and replied, “He is indeed patient.”

Baili An felt momentarily relieved, and his gaze suddenly shifted as if he had caught something. Staring at Ning Feiyan’s pale neck, he frowned slightly and lifted a finger, “What is this…?”

Ning Feiyan arched her delicate brow. She, who could comfortably and without shame sleep hugging his body, now sidestepped his hand.

Touching the bite marks on her neck, she said with a smile, “During the battle with Shu Ci, you severely overdrawn your Blood Energy and Spiritual Power. If I had not come, do you really think you would have woken up so quickly?”

Hearing this, Baili An guessed that she must have presented herself to be bitten on the neck and had her blood drawn while he was unconscious.

Baili An withdrew his finger and looked again at the deep bite marks on her neck, saying softly, “Thank you.”

“You’re too formal. If thanks are in order, I should be the one thanking Mister Si Chen,” Ning Feiyan murmured with deep yet smiling eyes, “I thought you were scared of Shu Ci when you advised me to leave the Royal City of Ming Continent.”

Baili An looked at her honestly and said, “Being afraid of Shu Ci, who is so powerful and the most terrifying existence in the Demon World, is not a shameful thing, is it?”

Hearing his words, which did not seem to be false, Ning Feiyan was momentarily stunned. She then asked, “The Battle Order in the box was originally mine, wasn’t it?”

As Baili An sat on the edge of the bed, putting on his boots without looking back, he replied, “Yes, I stole your Token and put it in the box. Didn’t you know that already?”

It was hard to tell whether his tone was resentful or mocking. Ning Feiyan chuckled and suddenly asked, “Have you ever seen the stray dogs in the alleys of the Human Capital?”

By this time, Baili An had finished putting on one boot and turned to look at Ning Feiyan without speaking.

Ning Feiyan leaned against the bed head, the flickering candlelight cast a warm yellow halo on her face, making her skin translucent, possessing a sickly beauty that captivated at first glance.

“In a snowbound wasteland, a stray dog cornered in a deep alley will think that any approaching person is there to take its life with a stick, for who would willingly enter a filthy, narrow alley in the bitter winter to approach a bloodied, desperate stray dog.”

Her lips curved slightly, her eyes steadfastly on Baili An, “I reckon, when cornered, I wasn’t much more appealing than that stray dog.”

The heartbreakingly determined Mi Lu, who had longed to take her as his bride, could easily turn into an onlooker throwing stones down the well. It showed how dark and treacherous human hearts could be.

Even close kin might not act in unison; who is without ulterior motives? Whose love is pure and free of desire?

Even now, knowing the truth, Ning Feiyan did not regret her suspicions at the time; that was just how she lived, unable for change.

“So…” Her gaze hooked deeply and laughing into his, Ning Feiyan propped herself up and slowly leaned towards him, her voice faint and misty,

“I actually quite want to peel off the skin of this little cat of yours and see exactly what kind of thoughts are hidden inside. You were clearly terrified of Shu Ci and had no desire to become the master of Mohe, yet you deliberately swapped your own Token and revealed your identity, kneeling before the Demon Lord as if wishing for death. I saw it clearly; you did not want to kneel before her at all.”

Her eyes were deep as the sea. The naturally affectionate pair seemed to hold a faint trace of sympathy, yet deep within lay a dark and overcast landscape, where endless rain and snow obscured the sun.

“So, this… is not because you couldn’t bear to see me die at Shu Ci’s hand, right?”

Baili An pulled back his leg from outside the bed, sitting crossed-legged on it, supporting his cheek with his hand and smiling casually, “What do you think?”

His smile was particularly attractive, his clean eyes slightly curving, lips tipped up like those of a cat.

Ning Feiyan was a master at manipulating the game of love. Men charmed by her were as numerous as sands by the river, yet she had never been so unable to see through a man before.

For some reason, her heart felt a different kind of emotion, and her brow furrowed slightly.

She reached out and pinched Baili An’s cheek, speaking nonsense, “What do I think? I think you had your sights on Shu Ci’s position all along and simply took this opportunity to act along with the flow, owing me a favor. You not only saved my life and bound me with gratitude but also triumphed over Shu Ci and attained an esteemed position just one step beneath the Demon Lord. If I were you, I would be extremely pleased.”

Baili An openly laughed, and whether it was because of the moonlight or a trick of the mind, his eyes were calm and gentle: “Yes, miss, you are absolutely right; I truly am extremely pleased.”

Ning Feiyan’s frown deepened further, realizing that although he seemed harmless and lazy like a cat, a slight misstep and one could easily drown in his shallow eyes.

Gentleness is a deadly blade, and Ning Feiyan never thought that she would one day experience the tactic of using a person’s strategy against themselves,

Annoyed within, she spoke bluntly, “Baili An, don’t tell me you’ve fallen for me?”

Baili An found such a notion utterly absurd, laughing, “You’ve hurt me, imprisoned me, turned me into a plaything, and endangered me. Under such treatment, if I still harbored improper thoughts, wouldn’t I be a masochist?”

Ning Feiyan paused, finding his argument reasonable. The tension in her heart eased somewhat, “If that’s not the case, then all the better.”

She looked at him earnestly, the false merriment gone from her eyes, showing her seriousness, “In light of you saving me, let me advise you: don’t harbor such thoughts in the future either. I do not want your affection, and you should not fall for a woman like me.”

Her words were always laced with sweet arsenic, nine out of ten statements false.

The last one, aside from being untrue, contained a deadly poison. By the time you heard the tenth statement, your end was likely near.

Today, in front of Baili An, she rarely revealed a sliver of her unfeigned nature, cold-hearted though her words were, they still contained a hint of gratitude.