Chapter 360
Chapter 360
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 360
>Chapter Title: Changes
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Bai Lingmiao laughed, her laughter so flamboyant and joyful, as if she wanted to vent all the pent-up emotions in her heart through her voice.
In all the time he'd spent with Bai Lingmiao, Li Huowang had never seen such an expression on her face.
"Give me the sword! Quick, give me the sword!!" Li Huowang trembled as he walked toward Bai Lingmiao, who held the sword.
But just as he reached her, Li Huowang saw the white-haired girl raise her right hand, thrusting the long sword straight toward his chest.
With a flick of the blade, Li Huowang's chest cavity ripped open instantly, exposing his constantly beating heart to the biting cold air.
In the next moment, Bai Lingmiao pressed herself against him, clinging tightly to Li Huowang as the blood surging from his body quickly stained her light-colored clothes red.
"Ah..." A look of relief appeared on Bai Lingmiao's face.
As Li Huowang looked at the unfamiliar Bai Lingmiao before him and was about to speak, he saw her tilt her head slightly and lean in to kiss him.
A few breaths later, Bai Lingmiao slowly raised her head, looking at Li Huowang again with a slight upward curve at the corner of her mouth as she laughed once more.
Li Huowang tremblingly cupped her face, his expression filled with extreme conflict. "Miaomiao, please don't be like this, okay?"
Just like with Lv Xiucai back then, the baleful aura from the Purple Tassel Sword had ultimately changed Bai Lingmiao's personality.
Bai Lingmiao's expression gradually calmed, as if she had returned to being that gentle girl. With a shy look on her face, she asked,
"Is this how you want me, Senior Brother Li?"
Just as a glimmer of hope lit up in Li Huowang's eyes, the shyness on Bai Lingmiao's face was instantly replaced by excitement. "Hahaha! As if! What pipe dream are you having?"
"I don't want to go back to being that pathetic, self-pitying ghost I was before! I don't care about anything now, nothing matters! To tell you the truth, I feel so free!"
"If I'd known it would feel this free, I would've grabbed your sword ages ago! And look at you, look at me! We're a perfect match! Hahaha!!"
As she spouted these wild ravings, glimpses of the immortal family's traits occasionally appeared on Bai Lingmiao's face, like furry ears or a few snake scales.
Hearing her say so many shocking things, Li Huowang, his face twisted in extreme pain, trembled as he pulled her into his arms. "Miaomiao... I'm sorry... I let you down."
Bai Lingmiao leaned into his embrace and closed her eyes, inhaling the thick scent of blood from Li Huowang's body, a look of contentment on her face. "Li Huowang, you can go back to Oxheart Village now. Everyone's waiting for you."
Li Huowang released Bai Lingmiao and looked at her familiar yet unfamiliar face with a very complicated expression.
After struggling inwardly for a long time, he said to her,
"Don't worry, this all happened because of me. I'll find a way to change you back."
But unexpectedly, as soon as Li Huowang finished speaking, Bai Lingmiao's expression turned ferocious. She raised her slender, soft right hand and reached straight into Li Huowang's chest, gripping his burning heart.
"Did you even hear what I said? I said this feels so free! Who are you to decide what kind of person I become?" Bai Lingmiao's sharp black nails stood up slightly as she gently pierced a tip into Li Huowang's heart.
In the next moment, over a dozen tentacles burst from Li Huowang's body, wrapping tightly around Bai Lingmiao's arm and preventing her from going any further.
"Li Sui, don't do this." With Li Huowang's pained command, Li Sui's tentacles slowly retracted.
Bai Lingmiao, with a half-smile on her face, withdrew her hand from Li Huowang's chest and wiped the blood from it on his body.
After doing this, she quickly leaned forward again, nestling intimately against Li Huowang like a delicate bird depending on a person.
However, in stark contrast to her intimate actions were the barbed words coming from her mouth. "Don't think I'm stuck with you for life. We're not even married yet, so who knows? I'm a living person, not some accessory hanging off you, Li Huowang."
Li Huowang looked at the Bai Lingmiao before him with a very complicated expression. He was no longer as agitated as before. Since it had already happened, now he needed to think about how to clean up the mess.
While Li Huowang was agonizing over this, the others arrived. They first sighed over the corpse of the Heart Turbidity on the ground before turning their attention to Bai Lingmiao.
Bai Lingmiao showed no signs of stage fright at all, glaring back at them with flamboyant confidence.
"Brother Erxian, as the saying goes, marry a virtuous wife. Your lady here's got quite the temper. If you two live together, it'll be chaos every day, chickens flying and dogs jumping."
Tuoba Danqing offered his advice to Li Huowang in the tone of someone experienced.
Bai Lingmiao was just about to speak when Li Huowang held her back.
Clearly, Jixiang didn't think now was the time to discuss this.
"Hey, Danqing, you think now's the time to talk about that? Let's head back quick. I'm exhausted."
The earlier actions had left Jixiang looking unsteady and very weak, as if he might collapse at any moment. The ragged group slowly moved forward.
Supported by Bai Lingmiao, Li Huowang's mind kept flashing back to past moments of Bai Lingmiao's tender glances and smiles.
"No, I can't let Bai Lingmiao stay like this. There must still be a way to change her back!" Li Huowang resolved in his heart.
If he could search for something as impossible as heart purity, how could he fear this mere possession of baleful aura?
With his resolve firm, Li Huowang quickly turned to look at the others around him. If he'd been like a headless fly in the past, maybe these people could help with this matter.
It was just inconvenient to ask with Bai Lingmiao right there.
On the road back, no one spoke. Everyone was lost in their own thoughts.
Walking slowly, and with the earlier interruption, when night fell, they unsurprisingly hadn't reached the nearest village.
There was nothing more to say after that. They gathered firewood, lit a fire, and the group rested around the campfire.
Bai Lingmiao and Li Huowang slept embracing each other just like before. It had been a long time since they'd felt this way.
But evidently, neither could sleep. Under the glow of the campfire, their eyes met.
Looking at Li Huowang staring at her, Bai Lingmiao's lips curved slightly as she leaned to his ear and whispered slyly,
"Why are you staring at me? What, even all banged up like this, you still wanna do it?"
Li Huowang sighed deeply and pulled the cherished Bai Lingmiao into his arms.
Bai Lingmiao lifted the flap of Li Huowang's flesh and poked her head inside to kiss his beating heart. "Don't worry, I'm still the Bai Lingmiao who lived and died with you before."
"I haven't forgotten a single thing from our journey together. Almost everything's the same. The only change is how I think about things."
"But... you still changed in the end." There was self-blame and helplessness in Li Huowang's tone.
"Oh? Then dare you say that you, Li Huowang, haven't changed at all on this journey? You've changed too, haven't you?"
"I've changed?" The thought flashed through Li Huowang's mind, and he shook his head forcefully. "No, I haven't. I'm still Li Huowang."
"Is it fun to lie to yourself like that?" Bai Lingmiao rolled her eyes at Li Huowang.
"You've changed way more than me. The old Li Huowang never casually chopped off his own fingers or gouged out his eyeballs."
"Is the old Li Huowang still Li Huowang, but the current Li Huowang isn't anymore?"
(End of chapter)