Su Yun glanced at it and froze. A long tear ran down the robe, from the collar to the hem. Her voice trembled with both shock and concern. “Someone actually broke through your snake skin. Who was it? Are you okay?”
Chi Lian squinted, swallowing the sigh that had risen to his lips. He withdrew his hand from her head.
“You can go,” he said flatly.
“You’re not taking a price? Why?”
“Because of what you just said,” Chi Lian replied. Then, with a flick of his palm, he sent her flying out of the cave.
“If you keep staring at me like that, I’ll gouge your eyes out,” Ban Xia growled, throwing Chi Xue yet another sharp glare from across the guest room in the Marquis’s residence. It was perhaps the eighth or ninth time she’d done so.
Chi Xue quickly lowered his head, pulling out his tattered book and wetting his finger to flip through the pages. Excitedly, he showed it to Ban Xia. “Look, look! According to this, you might actually be one of our clan!”
Ban Xia leaned over, glanced at the book, then rolled her eyes dramatically. “Sure. That’s definitely a heavenly book. Not a single word on it makes sense to me. Keep spinning your nonsense.”
“No problem! I’ll read it to you,” Chi Xue said, undeterred. He pointed at the characters on the page one by one, his enthusiasm unabated. “Our clan has a strange balance. There are always exactly ninety-nine members. If someone dies and no new baby is born to replace them, that means it’s time for an outsider to join.”
“Is that so?”
“Three years ago, Uncle Wu went out to hunt spirits and hasn’t been heard from since. He’s probably gone. So now, including Ya Jin, there are only ninety-eight of us left in the clan.”
“Is that so?”
“So, you’re the ninety-ninth!” Chi Xue declared triumphantly.
Ban Xia burst into laughter. “If you knew where I came from, you wouldn’t think that.”
“Where you’re from doesn’t matter,” Chi Xue replied, lowering his voice in an attempt to sound mysterious. “What matters is who you are and whether you have the traits of our clan.”
“And what traits does your clan have?”
“We’re natural-born spirit hunters,” Chi Xue said solemnly.
Ban Xia fell silent.
A natural-born ability to see spirits. A body that instinctively releases energy to repel evil in moments of danger. A heightened sensitivity to detect the presence of malevolent forces. And, recently, the ability to chant a spell that revealed Feng Yi’s image without any prior training.
All of it was innate—abilities she’d never learned, yet possessed.
Could it be that her journey across time and space had brought her to the Song Dynasty for this very purpose? To fulfill some destined role?
The thought made her press her lips together in contemplation. Then, true to her personality, she asked the most Ban Xia-esque question imaginable.
“So, what’s in it for me if I join your clan?”
The autumn wind grew sharper under the moonlight. Somewhere in the shadows, Xuan Ye moved swiftly, his figure melding with the night.
Earlier, Xuan Ye had lied to Ban Xia and Chi Xue, saying he needed at least a full day and night to recover. They believed him, staying in the room, chatting and waiting for his recovery.
In truth, he was only about 70–80% healed. His joints were still stiff when walking, and sharp pains pierced his chest whenever his breathing grew heavy.
But there was no other choice. If he had recovered, that damned You Huang would have also regained his strength and undoubtedly interfered again.
Time was pressing. He traveled through the night, following the mark he had placed, searching tirelessly.
Finally, his journey ended at the outskirts of Mount Mao. Even without the mark’s guidance, he could smell the damp, sinister stench of malevolence in the air.
The snake demon was here, no farther than a one-mile radius.
“He’s here.”
At that same moment, Chi Lian sensed it. The cup in his hand trembled slightly.
Feng Yi, lying beneath a fox fur on his bed, widened her eyes, her expression tinged with hope.
Chi Lian leaned closer to her, meeting her gaze. “You’re hoping someone will come to save you, aren’t you? Hoping to leave here, right?”
Feng Yi didn’t flinch under his stare. She nodded firmly.
“As a lover, where am I lacking?” Chi Lian asked softly, his face drawing closer. “Am I not handsome enough? Not attentive enough? Or have I failed to please you?”
For a moment, Feng Yi was lost in thought.
As a lover, he was indeed flawless—an otherworldly, handsome face with a dark, brooding charm; a tall, elegant physique. And in that hot spring… the intimacy he had given her had been wildly intoxicating, unparalleled in her life.
“No woman enjoys being taken by force,” she finally replied, finding her reason to reject him.
“Other than taking you by force, what makes me unworthy of being your lover?” Chi Lian leaned even closer.
Feng Yi pressed her lips together.
“And then… there’s the fact that I’m a snake. A damned snake, isn’t that right?” His voice turned cold and haunting.
Feng Yi didn’t answer. She didn’t need to. Chi Lian’s hand had already closed around her delicate neck. With a quiet but firm twist, he cut off her breath.
“Welcome,” Chi Lian said, raising his glass in a mocking toast to Xuan Ye, who had just stepped into the illuminated cave entrance. “Too bad. You’re too late to save her.”
Xuan Ye was surprised. The snake demon hadn’t even tried to hide. Instead, he sat boldly in the cave’s center, holding a glass cup, unafraid.
“Second meeting,” Chi Lian said smoothly. “Allow me to introduce myself—I am Chi Lian.”
“I am Xuan Ye.” Xuan Ye’s hand rested on his blade.
“She’s already dead,” Chi Lian said, gesturing toward Feng Yi’s lifeless body on the ground.
“Then you should join her.”
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