Transforming into a stunningly beautiful fox spirit, leaving a scar on the heart of a prodigy.

The winds of Yunmengze have changed.

The breeze, which was originally moist, has now become dry and sticky, stinging my face.

The reeds no longer swayed in the wind, but hung their heads lifelessly. Even the waterbirds that used to chatter all day long fell silent, huddled deep in their nests, trembling.

Above the sky, a layer of hazy mist was gathering, pressing down so low that it seemed one could reach out and touch the suffocating gloom.

Bai Yin was very anxious.

He paced back and forth at the cave entrance, his bare feet crunching on the gravel.

Those eyes that usually followed Su Xiaojiu were now glancing at the sky from time to time, their pupils shrinking to the size of pinpoints, and a low growl was being suppressed in his throat.

He is a Geng Metal White Tiger, possessing an almost instinctive intuition for killing and crisis.

Something is coming.

It was huge and dangerous, like an invisible net tightening from all sides, trying to uproot Yunmengze.

"Sizzle—"

Bai Yin's fingers unconsciously dug into the rock wall beside him. The hard granite was as fragile as tofu under his fingers, and five deep scratches appeared instantly.

Stone chips flew everywhere, splashing onto his taut forearm muscles.

"noob."

A lazy voice came from behind.

Bai Yin froze, the murderous aura that was about to erupt was forcibly suppressed in an instant.

He took a deep breath and turned around. The murderous glint on his face had completely disappeared, leaving only an awkward attempt to please.

"Did I wake you up?" He walked over quickly, wanting to reach out and help Su Xiaojiu up, but then he glanced at his hands covered in stone dust, hastily wiping them on the hem of his clothes. "I... I'll go outside and keep watch, you can sleep a little longer."

Su Xiaojiu ignored his words and walked barefoot to him.

She was a head shorter than Bai Yin, so she had to look up to see the silly tiger's expression.

His eyes were bloodshot, and he had bluish stubble on his chin. He was taut like a fully drawn bow, ready to snap at any moment.

"Hold out your hand," Su Xiaojiu said.

Bai Yin paused for a moment, then obediently extended his right hand.

It was a very large hand, with thick calluses on the palm and countless crisscrossing scars.

Some looked like knife wounds, others like burns, and the deepest one ran across the entire palm—a wound left from catching a sword strike that fell from the sky years ago.

Su Xiaojiu extended her index finger, the tip of which traced across the rough palm.

It's a little itchy.

Bai Yin's fingers trembled slightly, and he subconsciously wanted to close them, but he forcibly restrained himself the moment he touched Su Xiaojiu's fingertips, leaving them flat and letting her manipulate them.

Su Xiaojiu lowered her head, her expression focused.

She slowly drew on his palm with her fingernail. First, a round head, then two pointed ears, and finally a fluffy tail.

There was no fluctuation of spiritual energy, nor any supernatural power or magic. It was just a simple fingerprint, which revealed a crooked fox outline on the slightly reddened palm.

"alright."

Su Xiaojiu withdrew her hand, looking at her masterpiece with satisfaction. "This is my mark."

Bai Yin stared blankly at the shapeless "fox" in his palm.

"Mark?" he murmured repeatedly.

"Yeah, just like how you tigers mark your territory... cough, mark it." Su Xiaojiu glared at him, spouting nonsense with righteous indignation, "I've put my hand on yours, so you're my tiger now. No matter where I go or how far apart we are, as long as I still have this hand, I won't lose you."

It won't get lost.

These three words struck Bai Yin's heart like a heavy hammer.

What has he been most afraid of all these years?

It's not death, it's not pain, it's not being an enemy of the world.

It can't be found.

It was the kind of despair where he was the only one left in the vast world, unable to even grasp a wisp of her soul.

Bai Yin suddenly clenched his fists, as if trying to embed that ethereal finger mark into his flesh and melt it into his bones.

He suddenly stepped forward, grabbed Su Xiaojiu's hand, and pressed it against his left chest.

"Thump! Thump! Thump!"

The heartbeat there was frighteningly fast, pounding against her chest, making Su Xiaojiu's palms go numb.

Bai Yin lowered his head, pressing his forehead against Su Xiaojiu's.

The two were very close, their breaths mingling. Su Xiaojiu could smell the chill emanating from him, and beneath that chill, her body temperature was burning hot.

"I won't throw it away."

Bai Yin's voice carried a stubborn fierceness, "I'd rather die than give it up."

Su Xiaojiu let him press against her, her eyelids lowered slightly, concealing the complex emotions that flashed through her eyes.

That idiot's intuition is too accurate.

Tomorrow is the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, and the God-Searching Array set up by that old charlatan Tianpeng will be activated. It's an indiscriminate search targeting the entire Northern Region, and in her current state, it will be difficult for her to completely avoid it.

Once exposed, it will cause a massive upheaval.

"noob."

Su Xiaojiu suddenly spoke, her tone casually probing, "I mean, if, if one day, a very, very powerful bad guy came and tried to take me away, what would you do?"

The air froze instantly.

Bai Yin, who had been pressing his forehead against hers, slowly raised his head.

Those clear black and white eyes were instantly swallowed by crimson blood. The once docile aura of the big cat vanished, replaced by a demonic monster crawling out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood.

The temperature inside the cave plummeted, and a thin layer of white frost formed on the rock walls.

"Who dares?"

These two words were squeezed out from between his teeth, carrying a strong smell of blood.

Bai Yin looked at Su Xiaojiu, but his gaze seemed to pass through her, directed at those non-existent enemies. The muscles in his face twitched slightly, and a cruel smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

I will find you.

His voice was soft, yet chilling: "No matter who took them, no matter where they are hidden, I will twist their heads off one by one, crush their bones inch by inch, and extract their souls to burn as lanterns."

"I will kill them all."

"Kill everyone."

"Then I'll take you home."

Without any hesitation, without any moral constraints.

In his world, apart from Su Xiaojiu, all other living beings are worthless and can be killed.

Su Xiaojiu sighed inwardly as she looked at him like this.

This knife is too sharp, too keen, and too easy to hurt yourself with.

She deliberately shrank her neck, took half a step back, and pretended to be frightened: "You...you're so fierce, you scared me."

"Click."

The devastating killing intent emanating from Bai Yin collapsed instantly, like a thread cut by scissors.

The crimson in her eyes receded like a receding tide, replaced by helplessness and panic.

He froze when he saw the fear in Su Xiaojiu's eyes, standing there helplessly like a child who had done something wrong.

"I...I'm not..."

He stammered, wanting to explain, but didn't know what to say. He was afraid that his aura would offend her, and also afraid that his appearance just now would remind her of some bad memories.

Bai Yin knelt down on one knee with a thud and took Su Xiaojiu's hand, which he had just pressed against his chest.

He lowered his head, his lips trembling, and carefully pressed his fingertips to hers.

I dared not use force, dared not desecrate, and dared not even touch her palm; I only dared to place a devout kiss on her slender white fingertips.

"sorry."

He said in a muffled voice, his voice filled with suppressed pain, "Xiao Jiu, don't be afraid. I won't be mean to you, I never will. I'll only be mean to bad people."

Even if he becomes a demon or a ghost, in front of her, he will always only want to be that big cat that she can knead and rub at will.

Su Xiaojiu looked at the man kneeling in front of her.

His broad back trembled slightly, like a prisoner awaiting judgment.

She pulled her hand away and lightly patted him on the head: "Alright, get up. The ground is cold, don't hurt your knees, who'll carry me then?"

Bai Yin suddenly looked up, his eyes flashing with an alarming light: "I'll carry it! I'll carry it for the rest of my life!"

……

into the night.

The moonlight over Yunmengze always carries a touch of melancholy.

The two sat on a boulder at the cave entrance. Su Xiaojiu leaned lazily on Bai Yin's shoulder, draped in that familiar cloak.

Bai Yin sat upright, acting as the most stable backrest, with a thick arm loosely around her waist, as if afraid she would slip off.

With his other hand, he restlessly grabbed one of Su Xiaojiu's tails.

That's his current quirk.

As long as Su Xiaojiu is by his side, he has to hold onto something that belongs to her, as if only in this way can he be sure that all of this is not a dream.

The snow-white fox tail wrapped around his fingers, the soft fur brushing against the calluses on his palms.

Bai Yin lowered his head, having a great time, and every now and then he would rub his cheek against the tip of his fluffy tail.

"noob."

Looking at the waning moon in the sky, Su Xiaojiu suddenly asked, "How did you spend the years while I was gone?"

Bai Yin stopped what he was doing.

How did you get through it?

Did you wake up amidst a pile of corpses, staring blankly at the dismembered limbs scattered all over the ground?

He dragged his broken arm and searched through every stone in the torrential rain, just to find a piece of clothing.

Or perhaps, in countless late nights, I'm awakened by nightmares, then I talk to myself over the blood-stained straw doll until dawn?

Those memories are too bitter, too astringent, and full of the smell of blood.

He didn't want to tell Xiao Jiu. He was afraid of offending her ears and upsetting her.

Bai Yin remained silent for a long time before starting to comb the fox tail in his hand again.

"I'm looking for you."

His voice was calm and devoid of any emotion as he said, "You're killing people."

I'm contacting you because I want to live.

People kill because they don't want others to live.

It's that simple.

Su Xiaojiu's heart felt like it had been violently clenched by something.

These six simple words encapsulate the torment and madness of those thousands of days and nights.

She turned her head to look at Bai Yin's well-defined profile.

The innocent boy who used to blush when looking at the stars and stutter when teased has ultimately been forced into this state by the cruel world and the "dead end" she herself wove.

Do you feel guilty?

A little.

But more than anything, it was an indescribable emotion, a bittersweet feeling that filled my chest.

Su Xiaojiu did not speak.

She suddenly sat up, leaned over, and gently kissed Bai Yin's stubble-covered cheek.

"Smack."

The sound was exceptionally clear in the quiet night.

Bai Yin was completely petrified.

The fox tail he was playing with slipped from his hand without him noticing. His eyes, which were always alert to his surroundings, were now wide open, pupils trembling violently, his mind blank.

Did you...kiss?

Not the fingertips, not the forehead.

It's a face.

It was a real, warm kiss, with the scent of gardenias.

A surge of heat shot from the base of his neck to the top of his head, and Bai Yin's perpetually pale and cold face visibly turned a deep liver color.

He stiffly turned his neck to look at Su Xiaojiu, his lips trembling for a long time, but he couldn't utter a single word.

Seeing his silly appearance, Su Xiaojiu felt her gloom dissipate considerably.

Fortunately.

No matter what it becomes, the innocent and pure-hearted nature of this silly tiger remains unchanged.

"Stamp it."

Su Xiaojiu leaned back on his shoulder, yawned, and said lazily, "Remember to wipe your face clean when you kill someone next time, so you don't get my blood all over you."

Bai Yin remained frozen in place, and after a long while, he mechanically nodded.

"well."

He raised his hand, wanting to touch the spot where he had been kissed, but afraid of wiping away the kiss, so his hand hovered in mid-air, grinning like a child who had received candy.

A night breeze began to rise, dispelling some of the heat.

But deep within the Yunmeng Marsh, a warmth was quietly flowing.

……

at the same time.

Tens of thousands of miles away, atop the Star-Picking Tower of the Heavenly Demon Dynasty.

Tianpeng, dressed in a Taoist robe, stood against the wind, his robes fluttering.

She stood on a huge star map, where countless stars flowed and died.

Behind him, the Demon Emperor Shitian stood solemnly, holding an array plate that exuded an ancient aura.

"Senior Sister, the time has come," Di Shitian said in a deep voice.

Tianpeng raised his head.

"Let's begin then."

He raised his hand and fiercely nailed the last array flag into the void.

"The celestial constellations, the net of gods—begin!"

Rumbling--

An invisible ripple, centered on the Star-Picking Tower, instantly swept across the entire northern region of Kyushu.

A storm is coming.

……

[Conclusion of this chapter]

The winds and clouds are fierce by the Yunmeng Marsh, and the tigers roar and the dragons howl, their anger still unsettled.

Vermilion in the palm locks away old dreams, warmth at the fingertips comforts the rest of life.

Even a demon has moments of humility, remaining unmoved for the sake of a beautiful woman.

On the ninth day of the ninth month, murderous intent arises; watch as a foolish child protects the lonely city.