Chapter 8: Ruthlessness of the Five Poisons—Part 7

A person followed by ten thousand ghosts must be quite different from ordinary people.

Ti Ying thought so in her heart.

She was afraid of ghosts… But if she didn’t open her divine eyes, then she wouldn’t be able to see them, right?

Moreover, with such a frightening senior brother, once they left the Five Poisons Forest, she would definitely keep her distance and not continue traveling with such a person. Only by figuring out what this senior brother looked like could she avoid him in the future.

With this calculation, it turned out that now was actually Ti Ying’s only chance to satisfy her curiosity about this strange senior brother.

Ti Ying had already prepared an excuse in her heart and became even more eager to try: How could someone travel together for three days without seeing what the other person looked like?

The sky was dark like this, and the cave was so quiet, perhaps because they were about to do something bad, Ti Ying was so nervous that she dared not even breathe.

She kneeled beside him, leaning slightly forward, her fingers grasping the hood, attempting to lift it little by little.

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Suddenly, the young man’s hand grabbed hers, stopping her from continuing to lift the hood.

Ti Ying’s mischief was discovered, and her face turned red to her neck in an instant.

She was drenched in cold sweat, unable to catch her breath.

Jiang Xuehe leaned forward suddenly, not pushing her away. With one hand, he held her misbehaving hand that was tugging at his hood and refused to let go, while the other hand held her chin, making her look up.

Ti Ying’s vision was filled with stars—a mixture of shame and anger.

She heard Jiang Xuehe’s hoarse voice exploding in her ear, urgent: “Exhale.”

Unconsciously, Ti Ying followed his instructions.

Her cold sweat stopped, and the stars in her vision stopped spinning. She stared at the hood without blinking her eyes, belatedly realizing that she had done something wrong just now because she was too nervous and had forgotten to breathe.

Ti Ying glared at Jiang Xuehe.

She had a pair of cat-like eyes as clear as jade. When widened, they were shimmering with waves, innocent and pitiful yet dazzlingly beautiful.

She snapped at Jiang Xuehe angrily, “Why did you grab my hand?”

Jiang Xuehe came to his senses and looked down, seeing her hand still trying to lift his hood.

Jiang Xuehe asked, “What were you doing?”

“I…” Ti Ying stumbled for a moment but quickly found an excuse: “Didn’t you promise me to pretend to be a new bride so that the Wuzhi would be captured? But you’re a man; how can you pretend? I… I need to do some disguise for you.”

Jiang Xuehe smiled slightly. “Junior sister can do disguises?”

Ti Ying couldn’t.

But she blinked, “Yes.”

Jiang Xuehe spoke gently, “Senior brother can also.”

Ti Ying: “…”

Her eyes widened even more, filled with resentment.

But she was stubborn and wouldn’t admit that she wanted to see what her senior brother looked like — why should she beg him? She wouldn’t.

The resentful little junior sister looked up at Jiang Xuehe.

Jiang Xuehe said, “Junior sister reminded me of something.”

“What?” Ti Ying asked.

Jiang Xuehe let go of her hand and gently pointed in the direction of her cheek and ear across the void.

Jiang Xuehe said, “The bride that Wuzhi wants should be junior sister. The eyeless monsters in the mountains track us by our breath. I’m not unwilling to help junior sister delay Wuzhi, but if I want to deceive them, I need something of junior sister’s… to lure Wuzhi away with junior sister’s breath.”

Jiang Xuehe continued, “Junior sister needs to give me something of yours.”

Ti Ying suddenly realized this.

She looked up and said, “What does senior brother want?”

She took the initiative, “How about I give you a hairband?”

Jiang Xuehe’s gaze fell on her —

Ti Ying is a cultivator, constantly evading pursuit along the way. Arriving at the Five Poisons Forest, although her face is fair and her lips are red, she wears no makeup. She has no hairpins, earrings, bracelets, or jade ornaments. The dark hair of the young girl is only tied back with a hairband.

But the hairband… Jiang Xuehe hesitated.

In the mortal world, a woman’s hairband is only given to her husband.

Ti Ying misunderstood his silence. She explained in a coquettish voice, with a hint of pride: “Do you think I only have one hairband in my hair? Giving it to you means I’ll let my hair down? No, I have many hairbands. I can tie many beautiful hairstyles. Can’t you see that?”

In fact, Jiang Xuehe had never paid attention.

He just went along with her: “Yes.”

Ti Ying smiled.

She was as beautiful as peach blossoms, forgetting the annoyance from peeking just now.

She generously said, “I can tie many braids… Shall I teach you after we go out?”

Jiang Xuehe: “…?”

He wondered why he would need to learn that.

But to prevent his junior sister from getting angry, he quietly agreed, “Okay.”

Ti Ying’s mood improved.

She released her fingers that were clutching his hood and reached for her own black hair, intending to take off a hairband for her senior brother. However, after several days of fighting and without having bathed, many strands of her hair were tangled together, and the hairbands were entangled with each other. Without a bronze mirror in front of her, she couldn’t untie them.

Ti Ying started to get irritable.

Before she pulled her own hair out of frustration, Jiang Xuehe’s hand reached over and gently pushed away her hand that was messing with her hair.

He didn’t say anything.

But Ti Ying knew he was helping her untie the hairband.

She stared blankly, feeling embarrassed, and put down her own hand, picking at her sleeve obediently and sitting still.

She looked up and saw her senior brother’s hood swaying, and his sleeve lightly brushing against her face, tickling and soft.

She looked up, unable to see anything clearly, only smelling his scent.

…A feeling very different from her previous master.

The bewildered Ti Ying didn’t wait long before Jiang Xuehe held a slightly wider pink-blue hairband and took a step back, creating some distance between them.

He might have wanted to create some distance, but the cave was so small that even if he stepped back, he would still be within arm’s reach.

Jiang Xuehe lowered his gaze.

He asked, “Is this hairband okay?”

Ti Ying glanced at it and nodded.

Her eyes remained clear and clean.

Jiang Xuehe thought to himself that his junior sister was still young and didn’t understand much. It was probably better that way; she didn’t need to know.

But when the second senior brother came to take Ti Ying away, he would have to tactfully suggest that the adults should teach Ti Ying about male and female precautions.

—

With that, the two of them fell silent, waiting quietly for the night to fall.

In the end, Ti Ying didn’t have the nerve to pester the strange senior brother to see his face again. The strange senior brother sat in the darkness, slowly winding Ti Ying’s hairband around his own hand.

His movements were graceful and slow, her hairband circling around his wrist, winding around those scars, still carrying the fragrance from her hair…

Ti Ying watched intently.

Jiang Xuehe paused his movements and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Ti Ying turned her head away, refusing to look, “Hmph.”

Jiang Xuehe said nothing either.

Soon, the last glimmer of light disappeared from the sky, and the cave plunged into complete darkness.

In just a moment, both of them felt the overwhelming aura of demons filling the space between heaven and earth.

Outside the cave, the talismans pasted by Ti Ying suddenly ignited, extinguishing the formation. The little monsters surged forward one after another, howling towards the cave…

Ti Ying held her breath, watching Jiang Xuehe stand up.

The eyeless monsters held red bridal gowns and rushed towards Jiang Xuehe.

Ti Ying wanted to say something, but she was afraid the monsters would detect her breath.

She suddenly froze.

Because her hand was lightly tapped by Jiang Xuehe, who stood up and brushed his sleeves.

It didn’t have any special meaning, and Ti Ying indeed didn’t know this senior brother before, but in that instant, her heart trembled, understanding the unspoken words from the strange senior brother —

I’m fine; be careful.

Ti Ying was stunned.

—

Her hairband really worked.

The little monsters mistook Jiang Xuehe for her and tried to put the bridal gown on him.

Ti Ying held her breath, leaning against the cave entrance, watching the moonlight haze and the night like frost, the trees tainted with a dismal white.

The shadows of trees swayed as the monsters passed like locusts. Moonlight poured down like flying snow. Senior brother was pushed into the bridal sedan by the monsters, and the bridal veil and gown wrapped around Jiang Xuehe together.

Mist rose in the mountains, shimmering white.

The little monsters carried the bridal sedan, taking the new bride to meet their leader.

A eerie folk song roamed between heaven and earth:

“Red embroidered shoes, blood-stained bridal gown, crying parents. Sitting in the bridal sedan, swaying along the mountain road, the night is long and treacherous. Bride, do not look back…”

Once they had gone far, Ti Ying collected herself and began searching for traces of the “Shadow Splitting Talisman,” focusing on her own tasks.

—

A dozen male and female cultivators walked cautiously in the Five Poisons Forest.

Needless to say, they were the ones who had bought information from Chen Da and were chasing after Ti Ying.

One junior sister hesitated, fearing the Five Poisons Forest and fearing deception. They left the timid junior sister to guard the base of the mountain, while the others entered the Five Poisons Forest together.

Their impatience was understandable.

They had a reason to capture Ti Ying — for this secret, they chased after the disciple of Qianshan Sect. Their old master only knew how to hide in the mountains, so they had to get that secret from this little disciple.

Although the Five Poisons Forest sounded frightening, Chen Da had assured them that the big demons inside would only target Ti Ying.

They didn’t necessarily have to compete with the big demons for Ti Ying.

They just needed to catch up to Ti Ying and obtain the secret she was guarding before the big demons killed her.

For this, they could even cooperate with the big demons.

They moved carefully through the forest, suddenly hearing urgent footsteps ahead.

The leading senior brother quickly stopped his junior brothers and sisters and said, “Be careful!”

In the cold, moonlit night of the forest, they saw a girl running out from between the trees in a sorry state, with shadows behind her, seeming to have a demonic aura.

The girl was panicked, her face filled with fear. “Help, help—”

Moonlight shone on her running figure.

Graceful, beautiful, and tender.

The panic in the girl’s eyes met theirs.

They immediately exclaimed, “It’s Ti Ying! Chase—”

—

Jiang Xuehe sat in the bridal sedan.

He wrapped his junior sister’s hairband around his wrist, used his spell to change into the bridal gown, and then used the veil to cover his face instead of the hood.

The little monsters smelled the scent of the bridal gown on him and carried the bridal sedan with confidence, stepping into the forest along a path Jiang Xuehe and the others had never found.

After an unknown amount of time, the bridal sedan stopped.

Jiang Xuehe felt a heavy demonic aura approaching him with adult steps from outside.

He remained calm and waited silently with his head down.

Five steps, three steps, one step.

The curtain of the bridal sedan was blown open by the wind.

The veil lifted slightly.