Chapter 5: His Hand Through Her Black Hair
But in the end, the patterns on the Fate Star Disk remained a blur, just like Zhou Garden in her eyes at this moment.
She could not see her own destiny, not even the faintest hint of direction, but in one part of those patterns, she saw some gray trajectories.
Seeing the fate of others was always simpler than seeing one’s own.
She looked again at the unconscious Chen Changsheng, thinking with some puzzlement, how could there be a connection between this person and herself? Was it simply because she had saved him? But this person’s fate trajectory was so dark and gloomy, it showed almost no sign of life, just as she had confirmed earlier in the reeds—without some unforeseen event, this person was surely doomed to die.
“As long as you haven’t died yet, I’ll do my best to keep you alive… but if you’re fated to die, could you please die early, die on your own, and not drag me down with you?”
She looked at Chen Changsheng, thinking this.
The cave had a way in but no way out. Her true essence was nearly exhausted, the Phoenix Soul had fallen asleep again, and the Parasol Tree Bow could not remain unbreakable forever.
On the verdant parasol tree, more and more gray spots had appeared—traces of the miasmic poison.
She lowered her head, lightly pressing her index fingers together, muttering to herself, “It’s okay, it’s okay. Rong’er will definitely be okay.”
At this moment, she was like an ordinary little girl, feeling wronged and sad, a little panicked.
But weakness was only temporary, and so was the grievance.
After a moment, she calmed down.
She had never been an ordinary little girl.
She was Xu Yourong.
She lifted her head, her eyes bright.
She decided to take a risk—to kill this man.
Time continued to flow, not having passed too far, and the green tree formed by the Parasol Tree Bow should have been able to hold out longer. But suddenly, the green tree turned into specks of light and vanished at the cave entrance.
She darted out of the cave, drawing two lines of fire in the air with her hands as she attacked Bai Hai.
To voluntarily dismantle her last line of defense and launch a preemptive strike while clearly at a disadvantage—this was a very brave and unexpected choice, and certainly very sudden. But ever since making the almost insane decision to seize the Phoenix Blood last night, Bai Hai had remained in his strongest state. Yes, even he, who was known for being cold-blooded and ruthless, found this matter insane. It made him unusually excited and tense, keeping his cultivation level at its peak, which was why he could track Xu Yourong and now steadily counter her desperate counterattack.
The parasol tree vanished, and the miasmic poison that had been on it turned into dust filling the air around the cave entrance.
Bai Hai’s steady and powerful palm broke through the dust, directly meeting those two lines of fire imbued with a sacred aura.
With a boom, the dust inside and outside the cliff cave grew thicker, followed by a sharp whistling sound of air being torn. Two afterimages dragged sparks as they whirled around, and the temperature in the space suddenly rose.
The lines of fire abruptly converged, palm wind howled, and a figure was forced back deep into the cave, unable to steady itself, crashing heavily against the cliff wall with a dull thud.
The one forced back into the cave was Xu Yourong. Ignoring the pain from the impact, she reached out beside her.
How could Bai Hai give her another chance to catch her breath and set up defenses? He turned into a gray shadow, appearing before her. The magical artifact in his hand suddenly blazed with light, knocking the Parasol Tree Bow she had just grasped again out of her hand. At the same time, he lunged forward, his withered hand shooting out like lightning, tightly gripping Xu Yourong’s throat.
The battle ended quickly.
Xu Yourong offered no meaningless resistance. She frowned slightly but did not spit blood. Her face was even paler than before, looking very weak.
Even under normal circumstances, Bai Hai, who had cultivated bitterly for over two hundred years to reach the peak of the Thorough Illumination Realm, could put up a fight against her. Now that she was severely injured and her true essence was completely exhausted, the final outcome was no surprise.
Bai Hai himself found it hard to believe.
“You lost,” he said, looking at Xu Yourong, his voice trembling slightly. An unnatural flush appeared on his aged face.
It was excitement and elation, but also some unease.
The reincarnation of the Heavenly Phoenix… had been defeated by him? And so easily?
He said in disbelief, “Who on earth was it last night that injured you so badly?”
Xu Yourong naturally would not answer his question. Her expression remained calm, as if he had not grasped her throat and her fate.
This disregard angered Bai Hai again. He shouted harshly, “Now I only need to move my finger, and you will die. Even in this situation, you still disdain to speak with me?”
Xu Yourong glanced at him quietly, still not speaking, using silence to show her attitude.
Bai Hai was so angry he laughed, his voice turning strange. “Don’t think this will provoke me into killing you. Rest assured, I’ll make sure you live, so you can watch your own blood be drained dry by me.”
Finally, a trace of disgust appeared in Xu Yourong’s eyes.
Not fear, not terror—just disgust.
Bai Hai leaned forward, looking at her face, his voice trembling as he said with emotion, “This face of yours… how was it made? It looks so real.”
Xu Yourong looked at this sinister, aged face and suddenly felt some regret.
“I never thought I would have the chance to be this close to you,” he said.
Bai Hai looked into her bright, autumn-water eyes and let out a grating laugh. “Hahaha, this is truly my honor.”
With that, he leaned forward again, moving even closer to her.
Xu Yourong looked at him calmly. Though she said nothing, there was a sacred, inviolable aura about her.
For some reason, looking into her eyes, Bai Hai suddenly lost interest in toying with her. He even felt a little uneasy. His voice turned dry as he said, “Rest assured, I will let you die with dignity… so even if you have any final tricks, I hope you won’t use them. Otherwise, I really don’t know what I might do—things that would outrage both gods and men—once my hopes are dashed.”
Xu Yourong turned her head away with some difficulty, no longer looking at him, and closed her eyes.
Bai Hai hesitated for a moment, then lowered his head toward her neck.
He had never done this before, so he was nervous. Especially thinking that she was the sacred, inviolable reincarnation of the Heavenly Phoenix, a true saintess, he grew even more nervous, his movements clumsy.
The next moment, Xu Yourong’s brow furrowed again, as if in pain.
Bai Hai’s pupils contracted sharply.
He felt that this was the most delicious immortal nectar he had ever tasted in his life.
But… why was there so little?
The next moment, he forgot this question. The liquid that flowed into his mouth seemed to contain endless flames, the very essence of the sun itself, countless times purer than the earth fire of the Falling Sun Sect. Compared to it, what was the legendary Earth Fire Crystal?
In an instant, he felt an immense amount of energy pouring into his body.
Just one mouthful, and he was intoxicated. His graying brows floated up, his eyes and brows twitching incessantly, as if drunk, looking extremely bizarre.
Xu Yourong could not see his face, and he could not see hers, so he did not notice that she had opened her eyes.
She gazed quietly at the stone wall of the cave.
For some reason, though she was at the brink of death, enduring such humiliation and cruelty, her expression remained calm, as if she still had leisure to think of other things.
Time passed slowly, yet inexorably, inspiring fear.
Suddenly, Xu Yourong’s brows lifted slightly again, because she realized she might have miscalculated.
Even if she could kill this hateful old scoundrel, the blood in her own body would be drained dry by him.
This time, genuine regret appeared in her eyes. Though faint, it was regret nonetheless.
She did not want to die like this, and even less did she want to die with this old scoundrel’s corpse pressing down on her.
But just like the trajectories of fate in the starry sky, once set in motion, they could never be stopped.
This was her decision, her plan. Once it began to be implemented, she became a part of that plan, with no way to prevent the outcome from arriving.
Was this her fate?
She thought quietly.
Fate could not be changed.
Both the southern and northern factions of the National Religion believed this.
But some people did not think so.
For example, Wang Zhice, and those who had to change their own fate.
Xu Yourong thought her fate could not be changed, that she could only die together with this old scoundrel, ending up as two undiscovered corpses in the cave. But she forgot that there was another person in this cave.
A hand rose before her eyes, carrying her gaze, slowly moving toward her neck.
This hand was not large, the nails neatly trimmed, the fingers slender. Usually warm, now it was very cold, with traces of ice and snow still between the fingers.
This hand looked tired and weak, but it was so resolute. It passed through her black hair, brushed past her earlobe, and landed on her neck…
This hand slowly and firmly pressed against Bai Hai’s face, then pushed outward.
(Push… recommendation tickets…)