After Xie Bai changed into her clothes, Gu Baiyi also donned the black outfit.
She then removed the plain-colored hair band from her wrist, wrapped it around a few times, and gathered her scattered black hair into a neat bun.
While the two of them were changing, Wu Yan crawled back into Ji Rong's arms.
Noticing that Gu Baiyi was tying her hair, Wu Yan lay on Ji Rong's lap and quietly observed.
Gu Baiyi's face was very pale, even more so than a year ago when she had fallen into the abyss.
Her colorless face resembled the layers of white silk veils in the Demon Palace, barely revealing a corner. The faint, dimly lit corridor and the cold, dark tiles of the floor seemed to manifest before Wu Yan's eyes.
Looking at this face, Wu Yan was reminded of the scene from a year ago.
At that time, she had been ordered by Bai Yushuang to infiltrate the Wanjian Sect and search for the Heavenly Demon Seed that Mei He had brought back.
The moment Wu Yan saw Gu Baiyi in the Wanjian Sect, for some unknown reason, she felt that Gu Baiyi was the person she was meant to find.
It was the same feeling she had when she met Ji Rong, Wu Yan just knew that person would be her master.
It seemed mysterious, but her intuition had always been reliable.
So, while Ji Rong was consulting with Gu Baiyi about alchemy, Wu Yan licked her wrist, leaving behind the aura of the demon race as a mark.
However, she never expected that one day, that aura would become so faint she could barely sense it.
That day, following the mark of the demon race, Wu Yan rushed to the base of Tianji Peak, where she found a bloodied figure lying at the bottom of the abyss.
She couldn't see Gu Baiyi's face clearly, as it was covered in blood. But she could distinctly see that Gu Baiyi was smiling, weakly and faintly.
Gu Baiyi's breath was shallow, and Wu Yan could sense her life force rapidly slipping away.
Wu Yan glanced at the blood surrounding them and then at the frantic beating of Gu Baiyi's heart, a heart trapped in the blood-red totem, as though bound by an ancient curse.
She thought, even with this, someone who had bled so much and fallen from such a height surely couldn't survive.
She thought back to the pale, slender hand, the hand that had once gently caressed her head.
The touch was light, and the sensation had been pleasant.
Then, she remembered when she had once embraced Gu Baiyi's legs.
Wu Yan sighed. Fine.
She transformed into her human form, lowered her gaze at the bloodied Gu Baiyi lying in the pool of blood, and extended her hand, creating a barrier, just as she had done in the Tianshui Secret Realm.
But it was different this time, as this healing barrier drew upon her demon core, and its glow was as red as blood.
Gu Baiyi looked at the barrier, the blood-red light passing through her body, light as if it were a dream.
She smiled as tears unknowingly fell down her cheeks.
Wu Yan raised her hand, gently stroking the bloodied strands of Gu Baiyi's hair and said, "Don't cry, I've absorbed the Moon Essence for years at West Mountain. This little demon power is nothing."
"Hey, why are you still crying? You're about to die, why cry for yourself? Cry for me, instead."
She looked at the bloodied figure and caught the falling blood-colored light, saying to Gu Baiyi, "Stop crying. Look, look, it's the plum blossom rain."
Upon hearing Wu Yan's words, Gu Baiyi opened her eyes, and with great difficulty, she lifted her broken hand to catch the falling blood rain.
The red shadow landed in her palm, beautiful, resembling thousands of shattered plum petals.
She smiled faintly at first, then laughed loudly.
Plum blossom rain. What a plum blossom rain.
As Gu Baiyi's laughter grew weaker, Wu Yan sighed deeply.
There were too many wounds, and the blood kept flowing. She couldn't save Gu Baiyi.
Unless a divine being arrived, this person was certain to die.
Just then, a dark shadow appeared on the ground, like scattered ashes.
Wu Yan gazed at the familiar figure, thinking, a divine being really has come.
The luck of the Heavenly Demon Seed was simply too good.
...
Wu Yan snapped back to reality, looking at the smiling Gu Baiyi and then glancing at Ji Rong, whose face remained expressionless. She couldn't shake the feeling that, somehow, she had unknowingly brought great trouble to her master.
Ji Rong had no idea that the one who had saved Gu Baiyi's life was actually her pet.
At that moment, holding the fox, she stared at the plain hairband in Gu Baiyi's dark hair, feeling a chill run down her spine.
That hair band looked too familiar.
The edges were embroidered with plum blossoms, and it was white. It was the very same... design belonging to the original owner!
She thought to herself, it seems Gu Baiyi really liked the original owner.
Looks like my house has completely collapsed.
She gave in to despair.
Maybe I should just go and kiss myself?
Looking at the disturbing smile on Gu Baiyi's face, Ji Rong silently retracted her previous self-defeating thoughts.
Forget it, getting involved with a madwoman... I must be seeking death.
However, ever since Gu Baiyi fed Ji Rong the "Doubtless" pill, she had not done anything inappropriate. She simply smiled at Ji Rong and said, "Junior Sister, as long as you behave, I won't kill you."
Heh, I wish you'd kill me already.
Ji Rong looked coldly at Gu Baiyi, not wanting to respond to her disturbing remarks.
But Gu Baiyi lazily leaned on the soft couch, reached out, and pinched Ji Rong's chin, lightly laughing, "Junior Sister, all you need to remember now is that you only need two attendants."
Attendants?
Ji Rong furrowed her brows, wondering if Gu Baiyi intended to follow her into Kong Mountain.
It dawned on her. The heroine wasn't here to kill her, but to... follow the plot.
Ji Rong remembered that in the later stages of the game, there was indeed a main plotline, which seemed to be related to the Bodhi Sect.
But the ultimate goal of that plotline was to obtain the Chixiao Sword. However, since Bai Yushuang had stolen the Chixiao Sword a year ago, why did Gu Baiyi still come to Kongshan?
Unless...
Bai Yushuang hadn't actually obtained the sword, and everything still needed to follow the storyline.
Fate is predetermined in the grand scheme of things.
Ji Rong had a faint sense that no matter how the plot developed, the ending would still follow the set path.
But why?
She still didn't believe it. How could a living, breathing person like herself lose to a game designer?
So, Ji Rong decided she couldn't be so cautious anymore. She would free herself and fight the game designer to the end.
Just as she made this bold decision, a cold foreign object slid into her mouth.
It felt like a finger.
Ji Rong: ???
What was going on? Could this behavior even pass the review?
Gu Baiyi, seeing that Ji Rong didn't respond for a long time, smiled and pried her mouth open, slipping a finger inside.
The finger was as slender and cold as a flower stem, yet the area it entered was incredibly warm, soft, and intimate, tightly wrapping around her branches and leaves.
The flower stem brushed past her tightly closed teeth, gently grazing, turning in circles. Then, it pried open her mouth, moving deeper, engulfing her in the most primal warmth and softness.
Unlike the usual indifference Ji Rong showed, this area was incredibly warm, like red maple leaves clustering together, struggling to embrace the invading branches and leaves.
Gu Baiyi moved nonchalantly, watching as Ji Rong furrowed her brow, clumsily dancing with her.
After a moment, she withdrew her finger, pulling out a few transparent silver threads.
These silver threads hung from Ji Rong's slightly parted red lips, adding an extra layer of seductive charm.
Gu Baiyi enjoyed watching Ji Rong's stunned and helpless expression, feeling a sense of pleasure in her heart.
The pleasure stemmed from the fact that this expression of Ji Rong could only be seen by her.
Before Gu Baiyi even extended her finger, she had already set up a barrier, blocking Xie Bai and Wu Yan's view, so they couldn't see what was happening.
On the other side, Wu Yan was stunned.
One moment, she was being held in Ji Rong's arms, and the next, she was magically transported onto the table.
And standing next to the table was Xie Bai.
She gazed at the barrier that covered the soft couch, feeling an overwhelming sadness.
Today, she was just a homeless pet no one wanted.
Xie Bai smiled mischievously at Wu Yan, placing his finger on his lips and saying, "Shh, your master is busy."
Wu Yan didn't even want to respond to Xie Bai.
She sulked, lying on the table for what felt like an eternity, waiting for Gu Baiyi to lower the barrier.
Once the barrier disappeared, she was even more stunned.
What was Gu Baiyi laughing at?
What was her master wiping with her hand?
Ji Rong was frowning, vigorously wiping her lips.
In fact, she not only wanted to wipe her lips, but also rinse her mouth, because her mouth didn't feel clean anymore.
Damn Gu Baiyi, just casually putting her hand in someone's mouth, how rude!
Gu Baiyi watched as Ji Rong raised her hand, frowning while wiping her lips, feeling a dry thirst in her mouth and barely managing to control herself.
In the past, she had thought Ji Rong was as cold as a plum blossom, but she didn't realize that once a plum blossom was dirtied by the mundane world, it would take on a seductive charm that was truly unique.
She watched with great interest, almost tempted to bite Ji Rong's lips.
But just as Ji Rong wiped her lips clean, she drew the Qinghe Sword and swung it at her.
Gu Baiyi dodged to the side; she could avoid the sword strike but couldn't escape the blade's edge.
The tip of the sword grazed her cheek, leaving a shallow cut.
Ji Rong raised her sword again, aiming to strike at Gu Baiyi once more.
This time, Gu Baiyi didn't plan to dodge. She looked at the sword tip paused in front of her face, smiling as she wiped the blood from her cheek and asked, "Junior Sister, you've fallen into the 'Doubtless' trap. If you kill me, you won't survive either."
"Do you dare to strike with this sword?"
Ji Rong scoffed, "You think I'm afraid to kill you?"
Ha, what's there to be afraid of?
If it weren't for the rules, I'd have killed you from the start.
However, at this moment, Ji Rong didn't fear breaking the rules anymore, because she would rather explode and destroy herself, get reincarnated, and get it over with.
Anything was better than being stuck in the same room with this crazy person.
But now, holding the sword and looking at Gu Baiyi, for some reason, she couldn't bring herself to strike.
She thought for a long time and finally came to a conclusion.
Because she no longer saw Gu Baiyi as just a game character.
Ji Rong thought, even though Gu Baiyi was a character in the game, she could still feel pain, she could still cry, and she was quite twisted.
And she was really good at breaking up ships.
Her expression became complicated.
After everything that had happened, she couldn't bring herself to kill Gu Baiyi.
Forget it, she might as well live for a few more days. It wouldn't hurt either way.
Ji Rong looked into Gu Baiyi's eyes and slowly lowered the Qinghe Sword.
After lowering the sword, she felt like she was entering a villain burnout phase, desperately needing to break free and regain her confidence.
Otherwise, she would definitely be driven to madness by this stupid game.
So, under Gu Baiyi's teasing gaze, Ji Rong took a few steps closer and smiled, saying, "You think I don't dare to kill you? You think I'm afraid of death?"
"The only reason I'm not killing you is because I don't want to."
Gu Baiyi froze.
She... didn't want to kill her?
*************
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