IVYSCP - Chapter 65
Chapter 65
"I..."
Pei Yin opened her mouth, got out the word "I," and then said nothing more.
Ling Qingyue turned to look at her.
"You saw everything?" Pei Yin asked softly.
Ling Qingyue frowned, the roots of her teeth itching. If the circumstances were different, she really would have liked to bite her again.
"If I hadn't seen it today, were you planning not to tell me about any of this?"
She didn't actually need to ask. Ling Qingyue knew perfectly well that, given Pei Yin's nature, she would never have brought these things up on her own.
Ling Qingyue flipped over and propped herself above Pei Yin again, careful this time not to press down on her, supporting herself on her palms and knees.
"Be honest. Is there anything else you're hiding from me? Whether it's from before or now."
Pei Yin gave a soft laugh. "Nothing else."
"Really?" Ling Qingyue looked at her with open suspicion, then narrowed her eyes in threat. "You'd better not be lying to me. If I ever find out later that you've kept something else from me, I'll..."
Pei Yin's brow lifted faintly. "You'll?"
The corner of Ling Qingyue's mouth hooked upward. She stroked Pei Yin's face. "I'll stop wanting to be with you. I'll go find someone younger, prettier, more obedient—hey!"
Ling Qingyue was yanked down hard. Soul and divine sense pressed tight together without a gap. Both of them shivered at the same time, a numbing tingle spreading through their whole bodies.
Pei Yin kissed her earlobe. "Then I'll tie you up and take you back to Cangshan, make you spin circles around me forever, never able to walk away."
A wave of aching weakness flooded Ling Qingyue's lower back. Gasping unsteadily, she bit lightly into the side of the woman's neck and only let go, satisfied, when she heard the sharply indrawn breath.
"Immortal Venerable really is tyrannical."
Pei Yin reached up and cupped her face, slowly lifting her head and leaning in as if to kiss her.
Ling Qingyue truly could not refuse this kind of intimacy. She adored Pei Yin. She was even beginning to not understand how her past self could have ever thought Pei Yin was cold-hearted and indifferent, unmoved and unfeeling.
She was so obviously this beautiful, this fragrant, comfortable to hold and comfortable to kiss.
Just as their lips met, soft and sweet, before Ling Qingyue had even had a chance to taste, she felt something wet and dribbly rubbing back and forth over her face.
"..."
She remembered the Dream-Eating Tapir she had left outside. What else could be wet and dribbly...
Her long nose.
"Hold on."
Ling Qingyue reluctantly gave Pei Yin one last lick before pulling her consciousness back to her physical body.
The moment she opened her eyes, she saw the Dream-Eating Tapir putting on a perfectly well-behaved expression, as if she hadn't done a thing.
If not for the lingering coolness on her face, Ling Qingyue might actually have believed her.
She raised a hand and cast a cleansing spell on herself, taking the chance to clean the bloodstains off her body as well.
The Dream-Eating Tapir noticed her displeased glance and immediately shifted into her human form. Sure enough, the displeasure in those eyes lessened.
The Dream-Eating Tapir touched her own little braids and muttered, "My yao beast form is very pretty too, you know."
Ling Qingyue really could not bring herself to praise the yao beast form insincerely, so she pretended not to hear.
Back outside the dreamscape, Ling Qingyue realized they were inside a cave, some distance from where the fighting had taken place.
The Dream-Eating Tapir must have brought them here.
"I wasn't trying to sneak a taste of your dream just now," the Dream-Eating Tapir explained. "There was something on your face. It was moving. It seemed... alive."
Ling Qingyue started at that. She instinctively raised a hand and touched her face.
Could it be that the Demonic Markings had surfaced just now?
"What did it look like?" Ling Qingyue asked.
The Dream-Eating Tapir lifted a hand, and a Water Mirror appeared before them.
Ling Qingyue saw what she had looked like a moment ago. It was indeed the Demonic Markings.
The first two times the markings had appeared, it had been during the Lightning Tribulation. What had triggered it just now?
"Qingyue."
A soft call suddenly sounded from her Spiritual Platform. Ling Qingyue, hopelessly weak, felt her ears go hot at the sound.
"Wh-what?"
"Let me out. Help me make another puppet body."
There were still a few pieces of Greenwood inside the Qiankun Pouch. Ling Qingyue used her spiritual energy to carve one. The body and features weren't as detailed as the previous one, but it would still hold divine sense.
She guided Pei Yin's divine sense out of her Spiritual Platform and cast a Soul-Attachment Art. The palm-sized wood carving instantly transformed into a living, breathing person of flesh and blood.
This time Ling Qingyue had deliberately made Pei Yin's shell a bit smaller, even shorter than herself, with adorable braids much like the Dream-Eating Tapir's human form wore.
Looking at the person before her, Ling Qingyue couldn't hold back and burst out laughing, doubling over. She reached out and pinched Pei Yin's face. "Aiya, little Immortal Venerable, how are you this cute?"
Pei Yin gazed at her with a deep, quiet look.
Ling Qingyue gave her a placating kiss on the cheek. "Just this once."
The Dream-Eating Tapir watched from the side, then looked down at her own human form. Her mouth pulled into a pout.
Her human form was very cute too. Why hadn't this person given her any kisses and instead always looked at her with that disgusted expression?
Pei Yin sighed helplessly. "Let's go. Those disciples are still waiting for us."
Ling Qingyue nodded. It was a good time, on the way, to talk to her about Cui Heng and Shangtianqiong Sect.
The two of them started walking out, a rustling patter of footsteps trailing behind them.
Ling Qingyue turned her head and saw the Dream-Eating Tapir still following.
"You've already eaten our dreams." Ling Qingyue didn't understand what this Dream-Eating Tapir was still following them for.
The Dream-Eating Tapir licked her lips and looked up at them. "Where are you going? Does that place have dreams to eat?"
Pei Yin caught Ling Qingyue's hand and sent a voice transmission. "We can take her to find Lu Yao and the others. Let her protect those children."
Ling Qingyue looked at her in disbelief. "You trust her that much? Aren't you afraid she'll take one look at that tender, delicate bunch and eat them?"
Pei Yin's eyes curved into a smile. "Dream-Eating Tapirs don't eat people."
Ling Qingyue glanced at the Dream-Eating Tapir and muttered secretly to Pei Yin, "She sure looks like she eats people."
"Then we'll bring her along."
As long as she didn't eat people, fine.
With the Dream-Eating Tapir in tow, Ling Qingyue and Pei Yin first went to find the three disciples trapped inside the formation.
Ling Qingyue told her about what had happened earlier.
"I killed Shangtianqiong Sect disciples. I also killed Cui Heng."
Pei Yin hardly reacted. "They struck first. I thought, for your Senior Sister's sake, you might have spared Cui Heng."
Ling Qingyue's expression darkened. She let out a cold huff. "She tried to kill you. How could I leave her alive?"
That fiercely protective tone made Pei Yin press her lips together and smile softly.
After the smile faded, Pei Yin also spoke of Cui Heng. "She knew I was a puppet body. She came specifically to find me."
Ling Qingyue was startled. The words came out before she could stop them. "She was courting death?"
Only after speaking did it sink in. Cui Heng had come prepared. That sword shadow at the Soul Formation stage was proof enough.
"She was undoubtedly one of the exposed pieces. The one behind her knows I'm injured and wanted to use this chance to gravely wound me."
As Pei Yin spoke, she was already thinking to herself that she needed to reforge her meridians as soon as possible after leaving the secret realm.
"My identity might not stay hidden much longer," Ling Qingyue said. "Bai Cha was sent by the one pulling the strings as a test. If they'd wanted to kill me, they could easily have sent someone else, someone with higher cultivation."
"It's fine. As long as we refuse to admit anything, we'll be fine. When the time comes, whoever suddenly stands up and points a finger at me is definitely tied to the one behind this."
They arrived at the place where the three disciples were, and the conversation stopped there.
"Elder Ah Xi!"
"Elder Ah Xi, why didn't Senior Sister come back with you?"
Ling Qingyue put on a grieving expression and said heavily, "Ah Si died at Cui Heng's hands."
The three of them turned pale at the words, then fury surged up, their bodies shaking with rage so fierce they looked ready to go avenge their Senior Sister on the spot. Even though this Senior Sister had not been particularly familiar to them, they were all disciples of Piaomiao Sect, fellow sect members. How could they allow one of their own to be bullied? And Senior Sister Ah Si had been killed by Cui Heng precisely to protect them.
Ling Qingyue watched them crying, eyes red and tears falling. She glanced at Pei Yin beside her. It wouldn't be convenient to tell them the truth.
"Come on. I'll take you to find the others."
"Alright."
The whole way there, the sound of sobbing never stopped. Ling Qingyue comforted one, then comforted another. She had barely managed to talk all three into stopping their tears when they reached the place where Lu Yao and the others were, and the three of them burst into tears all over again, wailing that Senior Sister Ah Si had been killed by Cui Heng trying to save them. And then it went from three people crying to eight people crying.
Ling Qingyue: "..."
Pei Yin: "..."
Lu Yao wiped her tears and came over to Ling Qingyue's side. In a low voice, she said, "Senior, you must be very heartbroken too. I know your relationship with Senior Sister Ah Si is... unusual. Don't worry, I won't tell the Immortal Venerable. It's just... Senior, you mustn't miss Senior Sister too terribly in front of the Immortal Venerable. You'll be found out."
The corner of Ling Qingyue's forehead twitched. "...What in the world are you talking about?"
She made it sound like she'd been carrying on some sneaky, illicit affair behind Pei Yin's back.
She turned her head. Pei Yin was looking at her with a smile that was not quite a smile.
Ling Qingyue: "..."
What are you smiling about! It's all you!
Lu Yao sniffled and looked at the two people beside her. Both looked quite young, both wore their hair in braids, and they looked like sisters. One had a cool, clear gaze; the other had a dazed, blank look.
"Senior, who are they?"
Ling Qingyue thought for a moment. "I rescued them on the road. I'm not sure which sect they belong to."
Lu Yao nodded and was about to ask their names when she saw the dazed-looking girl staring straight at her, with what looked suspiciously like a glistening sheen at the corner of her mouth.
Lu Yao: "..."
Ling Qingyue stepped in front of the Dream-Eating Tapir and said to Lu Yao with a smile, "Go and help settle everyone's emotions. In a little while, I have something to tell you all."
Lu Yao cast a pitying glance at the person behind her, then turned and went back to her fellow sect members.
Ling Qingyue turned around and faced the Dream-Eating Tapir, who was so ravenous she was drooling, and drew a deep breath. It was a good thing she knew this creature didn't eat people, because looking at that hungry expression, if she were still in her yao beast form, she would have scared Lu Yao unconscious.
The Dream-Eating Tapir grabbed her hand, practically vibrating. "Can I eat them?! Can I eat all of them?!"
Ling Qingyue started laying out terms. "It won't be for free, you know."
The Dream-Eating Tapir nodded vigorously. "Alright! I won't eat for free!"
Ling Qingyue pointed out the eight Piaomiao Sect disciples. "Do you have them memorized? You eat their dreams, and you protect them."
The Dream-Eating Tapir thought this was completely fine. "Deal!"
After finishing her instructions to the Dream-Eating Tapir, Ling Qingyue walked over to Pei Yin's side and asked, "You're having the Dream-Eating Tapir protect them. What are you planning to do?"
Pei Yin had known she would ask. She leaned close to her ear and said softly, "I'm going to look for Bai Ze's Tear."
Bai Ze's Tear.
Ling Qingyue thought it over. That item was very effective at purging Demonic Qi. Did Pei Yin intend to use it to utterly eradicate the Heart Demon?
"Fine. I'm going with you," Ling Qingyue said, and out of habit she took Pei Yin's hand and gave it a squeeze.
Not far away, Lu Yao saw this scene and frowned, puzzled. A strange thought tried to surface, and then she pushed it back down.
It was just... holding hands. That was perfectly normal, right?
Comments
Post a Comment