What could have been a good night’s sleep was disturbed by He Liansheng. The rest of the night was restless. People from Lingshan rose early, usually setting out before dawn. Xing Shuishui packed her things and came out, still drowsy.
Though He Liansheng ignored her, his eyes were full of warning.
The message was clear: Don’t follow.
Xing Shuishui deliberately avoided him, walking to Li Guanyu’s side to greet her: “Good morning, Sister Guanyu!”
Li Guanyu nodded. Li Guanxing sat on a stool eating a bun, his eyes widening when he saw Xing Shuishui: “You really want to come with us?”
Xing Shuishui nodded: “I’ve packed all my things.”
He Liansheng glanced at her bag, full of food. He picked it up, cast a spell to hang it on the beam above, turned around, and said one word to the Li siblings: “Go.”
His eyes were mocking.
Xing Shuishui stared at the unreachable beam.
Li Guanyu couldn’t retrieve it with magic. Li Guanxing gloated, pulling his sister’s hand to leave.
Finally, Xing Shuishui had to get a ladder to climb up and retrieve her bag. By then, the Lingshan group had almost left the city.
What an annoying person.
Thinking of her sister, Xing Shuishui still chased after them. It was dusk by then. After running for a long time, she finally saw their shadows and stopped, calling out Li Guanyu’s name.
He Liansheng’s figure stiffened. He turned first, seemingly surprised she had still followed.
Their eyes met, the sunset reflected in his dark pupils.
Xing Shuishui clutched her bag: “Don’t use magic to throw my things again!”
He Liansheng: “You’re so troublesome.”
As if he wasn’t the one who hung her things on the beam.
Xing Shuishui didn’t want to deal with this unreasonable psycho. She tried to run toward Li Guanyu but was blocked by He Liansheng.
Xing Shuishui looked at him: “Give me one reason, and I’ll stop following you.”
She didn’t think He Liansheng could give one. He probably just disliked her, suspecting she was a spirit earlier. After several failed attempts to prove it, he lost interest and didn’t want to see her anymore. Then yesterday, she accidentally pulled off his headband.
Xing Shuishui stared at him steadily, not backing down. He Liansheng walked up to her.
It grew darker, and then her arm was pulled.
Startled, she looked up at his jaw as he dragged her to a nearby tree. The leaf shadows fell across his nose as He Liansheng impatiently tied her to the tree.
He threatened fiercely: “Don’t follow.”
He let go, his eyes cold: “No reason needed.”
Li Guanyu behind them said: “He Lian…”
Seeing the situation, Li Guanxing pulled his sister back, whispering: “Sister, don’t add fuel to the fire. Xing Shuishui will probably break free soon. If you go over, He Liansheng will just get angrier and make things more difficult.”
Xing Shuishui was stunned to be tied to the tree. She tried to break free but found the vine was a spirit vine – the more she struggled, the tighter it became. That damn He Liansheng, was this really necessary?
She wasn’t growing on him, she could follow whoever she wanted, it wasn’t affecting him at all!
He Liansheng left without looking back.
Xing Shuishui wasn’t in a hurry to use her spirit eyes to cut the vine. She was betting that Li Guanyu wouldn’t leave her alone here. Li Guanyu kept looking back as Li Guanxing pulled her along: “Guanxing, Shuishui seems unable to break free, go help her quickly.”
Li Guanxing took a deep breath and tried to convince her: “Sister, you don’t understand, this is a strategy. Maybe it’s deliberately done this way to get He Liansheng’s attention. Maybe He Liansheng will really care soon.”
So Xing Shuishui watched helplessly as the group walked further away. Something felt off.
She considered whether cutting the vine and chasing after them would make He Liansheng more suspicious.
Time ticked by slowly.
Meanwhile, Li Guanyu grew increasingly uneasy.
She said to Li Guanxing: “Guanxing, let’s go back and check. Maybe He Lian is really determined this time…”
Li Guanxing said: “Let’s wait a bit longer, Sister.”
Li Guanyu sighed. He Liansheng’s expression remained unchanged. As they were about to leave the forest, Li Guanyu became more worried.
Suddenly, a figure appeared ahead wearing a gray cloth headscarf – very ordinary looking, walking quickly. Notably, they carried money bags that jingled with each step.
Li Guanxing recognized them immediately: “Sister, this is that scammer who sold you funeral money last time. Guilty people often meet ghosts – we’ve run into them again.”
Before Li Guanyu could speak, Li Guanxing drew his sword and approached the scammer. They were startled: “Are… are you bandits?”
He Liansheng coldly glanced at them.
Li Guanxing sneered: “Who’s the thief? You are! When you took advantage of my sister’s kindness for money, did you ever think you’d face consequences?”
The figure glanced at Li Guanyu, seemingly remembering something. After a stunned moment, they argued: “I didn’t take your money, your sister gave it to me willingly.”
Li Guanxing laughed coldly: “Really? Maybe hanging you from a tree will make you honest?”
Li Guanyu intervened: “Guanxing, don’t bully people.”
Seeing Li Guanxing ready to act, the figure quickly said: “It’s almost dark, there are strange things in this forest, very powerful and evil things that eat people, understand? If you thoughtlessly hang me in a tree, you’re treating life as worthless! If I die, I’ll become a fierce ghost and haunt you!”
Hearing this, Li Guanyu immediately stopped Li Guanxing: “Guanxing, maybe it’s just a misunderstanding. Don’t hurt her. Didn’t you hear? There’s something strange in this forest.”
Li Guanxing complained: “Taking your money was a misunderstanding? Sister, I saw it with my own eyes, this person is full of tricks!”
He Liansheng looked back toward where they came from, stayed silent for a moment, then asked: “What strange things?”
The figure finally noticed him, stared blankly for a moment, then answered: “I can’t say, but it’s very dangerous. You need to leave this forest before dark. Don’t say I didn’t warn you, I’m only saying this because of this sister here.”
Then pointing at Li Guanxing, they emphasized: “Not. For. You.”
Li Guanxing was furious. Li Guanyu suddenly remembered Xing Shuishui tied to the tree.
He Liansheng suddenly put his sword to the figure’s throat: “Do you want me to repeat myself?”
Seeing he wasn’t someone to mess with, they mumbled: “I heard there are spirits, that’s all, don’t blame me, I don’t really know what’s in there, but it should be spirits, people keep disappearing. I also know these things like to come out at night, but that’s just what I heard.”
Li Guanyu worried: “He Lian, go back and check. No matter how much you dislike her, you shouldn’t play with someone’s life! What would the Mountain Master think if he knew?”
He Liansheng: “Are you threatening me?”
Li Guanyu got angry: “I’m just reminding you.”
The forest was silent for a moment, tree shadows swaying.
The figure curiously observed the two. He Liansheng glanced over, and suddenly a branch behind broke with a crisp sound. The figure moved closer to Li Guanyu, startled.
He Liansheng vanished with his Taoyuan sword.
The sun was setting, the sky darkening like a bruise.
Xing Shuishui studied the spirit vine. At first, she was angry about being tied up, but now found it interesting. She had planned to cut it with her spirit eyes or burn it with separation fire, then catch up to He Liansheng and make up a story about how she cleverly escaped.
But the spirit vine was intriguing. It had played dead while He Liansheng was there, but after he left, it seemed to come alive, one end keeping her tied while the other changed shapes in the air, desperately trying to communicate something.
Xing Shuishui couldn’t understand and tried to break free.
The vine panicked, afraid she’d escape, tied her more securely to the tree and kept gesturing.
After watching for a while, Xing Shuishui finally understood: “You’re saying you were human, but now a spirit has taken over your bones and won’t let you reincarnate?”
The spirit vine nodded frantically.
Xing Shuishui: “…”
Why come to her? Right now she was just an ordinary “mortal” without powers, harmless and innocent. If that damn He Liansheng hadn’t tied her here, she’d have left with them already.
How could Li Guanyu be so comfortable leaving her tied up here alone?
She said: “I can’t catch spirits, go find the one with the headband, he can!”
The vine grew angry, shaking continuously. Xing Shuishui thought it was threatening mutual destruction. According to it, there should be a spirit in this forest.
If they really faced off, who knew who would die first.
Just then, peach blossoms started floating in the sky. Xing Shuishui stared dumbly, no longer struggling. A wave of killing intent approached, and the spirit vine, seeming to sense something terrifying, retreated like water.
Xing Shuishui fell to the ground, her body sore. It darkened before her eyes, then she saw white robes.
He Liansheng…
He stood before her holding the Taoyuan sword, his voice flat: “Get up, you’re all dirty like you fell in mud after just a short while.”
Xing Shuishui looked up, somewhat surprised, but remembered his previous bad behavior and got fired up. She touched her foot, saying with difficulty: “My feet are so sore, I can’t walk. Being tied to the tree made me lose all strength.”
He Liansheng: “What trick are you playing now?”
Xing Shuishui innocently: “Carry me on your back.”
He Liansheng held back his anger: “Why should I carry you?”
Xing Shuishui: “I can’t walk. You can hold me in your arms too.”
He Liansheng sneered: “Then stay here alone.”
Xing Shuishui pointed at the trembling spirit vine: “It says there’s a spirit here, I’ll get eaten if I stay alone. Plus, you’re the one who tied me to the tree.”
He Liansheng: “…”
He took a few steps away, inexplicably irritated, but finally came back, fiercely warning: “Xing Shuishui, behave yourself, or I’ll throw you down, hang you in a tree, and let the spirit eat you.”
Xing Shuishui looked up: “I’ve always been well-behaved, or I wouldn’t have stayed tied up for so long…”
In her heart, she had already mentally stabbed He Liansheng a thousand times. Psycho! What did she ever do to him? Why did this psycho come back instead of Li Guanyu? Wasn’t he the one who didn’t want them to go catch spirits?
Xing Shuishui hung on his back, hands on his shoulders, grumbling inside. The bright side was his walking was steady, she barely felt any bumps. Her eyes secretly observed, wondering where he had hidden the spirit-suppressing pagoda on his body.
And how could she get it?
Seeing them leave, the spirit vine hurried after them.
He Liansheng turned to look, and the vine immediately didn’t dare follow.
Xing Shuishui suddenly felt sorry for it.
She remembered telling it earlier to find the person wearing the headband if it wanted to catch spirits. It wasn’t a big deal anyway. She pushed He Liansheng’s shoulder: “Why don’t we help it?”
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