Love-struck Brother

Northern Ao Continent, Changshan City.

The leaden sky hung low, and the dilapidated city walls were covered with spiderweb-like cracks, whistling mournfully as the wind swept through.

Twelve-year-old A Jiu held his younger sister A Ying tightly in his arms, and the two huddled together under a collapsed temple shrine.

As poor people, they didn't know who the deity enshrined here was, but A Jiu knew that the belief that the deity would bless them was as fragile as the statue itself.

The statue of the immortal has long been broken in two, half of his compassionate face leaning against the broken tiles, his empty eye sockets facing the direction of the surging black fog outside the city.

"Brother... I'm hungry..." A Ying's voice was barely audible, her chapped lips brushing against A Jiu's clothes. A faded red string was tied around her wrist, the last thing her mother left behind when she risked her life to bring them here.

Their mother didn't actually believe in the so-called blessings from immortals, but she had no other choice when she was desperate.

Two nights ago, Changshan City, a city that was not considered remote in the Northern Ao Continent, was suddenly engulfed by an unimaginable surge of evil spirits. They came from nowhere and swept through the entire city in an instant. Cultivators died in battle, civilians perished, and the survivors tried to gather together to await the arrival of reinforcements, but two days have passed and the Evil Tide continues.

A Jiu swallowed hard, his throat burning with pain. They hadn't eaten a single grain of rice for two days; even the moss in the corner of the wall had been picked clean. In the distance came the crisp sound of bones cracking, mixed with the sticky sound of evil spirits swallowing flesh and blood. He gritted his teeth, cold sweat from his palms soaking his cuffs—the marks from when he tore off a piece of his clothing to bandage his sister when she was pricked by a splinter the night before.

"Just bear with it a little longer," A Jiu whispered in A Ying's ear, his fingertips gently stroking her straw-like hair. "Once the moon climbs above the statue's head, I'll take you to find something to eat."

A Ying buried her head in her bent knees and nodded. She had always been an extremely obedient child, and even if she really wanted something, she would not ask her mother or brother for it.

She was always an extremely intelligent child. She would say she was hungry because she knew her brother was even hungrier than she was. If she told him to eat something, he would rather starve than take her away from here.

At midnight, the long street looked like a graveyard.

A Jiu led A Ying as they snaked through the ruins, the putrid mist clinging to their skin, each step feeling like walking through a pile of corpses.

His heart pounded like a drum in his chest, his ears perked up, catching every rustle of wind around him. The putrid mist seemed alive, coiling around their ankles, as if countless withered hands could reach out from the darkness at any moment and drag them into the abyss.

"Brother..." A Ying's voice was so weak it was almost inaudible. Her fingers gripped A Jiu's sleeve tightly, as if she were grasping at the last straw.

"Don't be afraid, follow me," A Jiu whispered in response, her voice hoarse but firm. "Don't look at them, just walk your own path..."

This was a pattern he had vaguely discerned through numerous risky attempts: the more fearful and panicked they were, the more fiercely these demons would chase and bite. If they restrained their reactions, sometimes these demons could simply ignore them.

But this wasn't absolute. He had once stared directly into the eyes of a demon that had let him go, and he was certain that the demon hadn't failed to see him, but rather that he had simply failed to pique its interest. However, not all demons were uninterested in his dry, lifeless flesh and blood, devoid of any Mystic Qi.

So his eyes scanned the darkness quickly, trying to find a relatively safe path.

The houses on both sides of the long street had long since collapsed, and occasionally a few mutilated corpses could be seen among the ruins. Some were already rotting, while others looked as if they had just been torn apart, with the blood still fresh.

A Jiu did not choose to search the homes of these wealthy people, because these rich people hid their food and money better than their own lives. He dared not linger outside for too long. He needed to go to a place where there would definitely be food—the home of that benevolent city lord.

The vermilion gate of the City Lord's Mansion was half-open, with a piece of intestine hanging from the door knocker, swaying and spinning in the wind.

A Jiu held A Ying's hand tightly; his fingertips were icy cold, but his palms were covered in fine beads of sweat. He carefully searched everywhere with his sister, as if racing against time.

"There's a rice bin!" A Ying suddenly grabbed her brother's sleeve, her dirty little face lighting up with joy.

In the corner of the storeroom sat a half-person-high earthenware urn, its mouth covered with cobwebs. When it was lifted, a cloud of choking ash rose up. A Jiu reached in with trembling hands, her fingertips touching a few shriveled grains of wheat.

He suddenly remembered that when the City Lord's Mansion distributed alms, it gave millet to the poor. However, the rice jar in the City Lord's Mansion, which was used to store wheat, was covered in dust. This meant that the city lord could not possibly finish the good rice, but would rather let it rot there than share it with the poor.

He gritted his teeth and spat, shattering the image of the city lord as a good person in his heart. He then hurriedly grabbed a handful of food and stuffed it into his sister's palm, while pressing his empty stomach even tighter.

"A Ying, eat quickly! Fill your stomach first, then we'll take some with us!"

"Brother, you eat too..." A Ying stood on tiptoe to feed him wheat.

Before he could finish speaking, the beam above his head suddenly burst into splinters!

A pufferfish-like evil spirit, bloated like a balloon, crashed down. Its bluish-purple skin was covered with pustules, each containing half of a distorted Fish Face. It had no eyes, and its abdomen was split open with a serrated mouthpart, from which viscous fluid dripped onto the blue bricks, sending up pungent white smoke.

The broken wooden beam nearly pierced A Jiu's body, and the brother and sister, who were only eleven or twelve years old, were immediately terrified and collapsed to the ground. A Ying trembled all over, but A Jiu acted decisively and stood up abruptly.

"Run!"

A Jiu shoved his sister against the door, then grabbed a broken piece of wood and held it across his chest. The eerie pufferfish-like evil spirit was only a person's distance away from him. The Fish Face in the pustules emitted a shrill cry like an infant's wail, their lips opening and closing as if about to explode.

A Ying stumbled and fell outside the threshold. Turning around, she saw her brother being dragged towards the gaping maw of the abyss. She grabbed a piece of tile and threw it fiercely, but the broken tile shattered into dust upon hitting the evil spirit.

Run!

As he was about to be swallowed by the evil spirit, A Jiu suppressed his voice, neither roaring nor crying out, because he knew that any loud noise might attract the attention of other evil spirits to his sister.

At this moment, A Ying's mind went blank, and her face turned ashen. She could only watch helplessly as her only relative in the world was swallowed by the tiger.

"Bang!"

A loud bang suddenly exploded in the courtyard, A Jiu fell heavily to the ground.

Before he could even react to the excruciating pain, the swollen evil spirit suddenly deflated, its sticky body limp on the ground like shed snakeskin.

A Ying was overjoyed and scrambled to her brother's side, shouting, "Brother, it was you who killed it!"

A Jiu's blank expression provided the answer; he shook his head as he looked at the shriveled corpse of the evil spirit on the ground.

In an instant, the evil spirit turned into a pool of pus that seeped into the cracks between the bricks. What made A Jiu A Ying stare wide-eyed was that after the corpse turned into water, two figures tightly embracing each other were revealed underneath!

A Ying was immediately frightened by the scene and tightly gripped her brother's sleeve. A Jiu felt a metallic taste rising in his throat and gently pressed his sister's hand.

He guessed that this must be a poor soul who had been swallowed by this evil spirit before him. He mustered his courage, blew on the tinderbox tucked in his heavy collar, and shakily swept it across the area.

By the firelight, he could see the winding bamboo leaf pattern on the woman's blue dress. Although she was called a woman, her figure and childlike face were not much different from his younger sister, so he should be called a girl. The man was tall and slender, dressed in a long black robe, and he held the girl, who was much smaller than him, tightly in his arms.

"Is this... a match made in heaven?"

A Ying took a half-step closer, stunned. In just one glance, she was captivated by the Celestial Person beautiful faces of the two unconscious people. In her limited vocabulary, only the word "divine" could describe them.

What caught A Jiu's eye was not their faces, but the sight of this man and woman of vastly different sizes, their lips pressed together, their breaths mingling, as if even death could not separate them. He was amazed by the depth of their affection, as if he were seeing himself die in the mouth of an evil spirit, but his sister would not be with him, because he would keep her alive.

Just then, shadows crept up the wall, and what attracted other evil spirits was not A Jiu's low growl, but the explosion of the pufferfish-shaped evil spirit.

A spider-shaped evil spirit, three zhang tall, hung down from the beam, its eight compound eyes reflecting the terrified faces of the brother and sister.

This time, A Ying reacted even faster than her brother! Without hesitation, she lunged forward and shoved her dazed brother away!

The moment the spider-like demon's scythe-like forelimbs slashed towards A Ying's back, A Jiu realized how foolish he had been to let his mind wander. Despair tightened around him like silken threads, while the pair of "immortals" lying on their sides suddenly opened their eyes—

You Su's Ink Pine Sword was drawn like a dragon's roar, its Sword Qi cleaving the spider's abdomen in two; Bai Ze's fingertips blossomed with ice lotuses, and the bursting frost blades pierced the remaining seven eyes. As pus and blood poured down like a torrential rain, You Su spun around and shielded A Ying in his arms, his black cloak billowing up to cover all the filth.

"Finally alive, meow!" Bai Ze closed her eyes and took a deep breath, as if savoring the beauty of life. She turned to look at A Jiu, who was sitting on the ground, and greeted her with a smile, "Hello!"

The girl who came back from the dead and greeted him warmly stunned A Jiu. The crystal-clear ice around the girl's fingers contrasted eerily with the bloodstains on the ground, making him even ignore the cat-like meow in the girl's voice.

A Jiu quickly regained his senses, his gaze passing over the girl's shoulder to look at his sister, who was safe and sound in You Su's arms. The boy's tense back suddenly slumped, and tears mixed with the blood on his face fell to the ground.

More rustling sounds came from the end of the long street. Bai Ze got up and dusted off her skirt, but the filthy, sticky liquid had already stained it a dirty color.

You Su twirled his sword and turned to deliver A Ying to A Jiu's side.

"Thank you," You Su said softly from the bottom of her heart, extending her hand to the boy who had fallen to the ground.

He and Bai Ze had been tormented for an unknown amount of time in a dizzying, disorienting state, and were already disoriented, but they quickly assessed the situation based on their surroundings. The evil spirits had emerged from their lair, which was exactly what he had expected.

The older brother's actions reminded him of himself in Chuyun City, so he looked at the boy, who was much younger than him, with both admiration and respect.

A Jiu stared blankly at the young man, who was covered in filth yet possessed extraordinary handsomeness. His swordsmanship just now had proven that he was definitely a cultivator, and she could feel the respect he showed her. For a poor man who had managed to survive in the city, this was an immense luxury and the best affirmation.

He unconsciously puffed out his chest, and ignoring his sister's support, he mustered his strength and stood up on his own, but his voice still betrayed his unsettled state of mind:

"No, you're welcome..."

A Ying clutched her brother's clothes tightly, her eyes constantly glancing at the immortal who had saved her. She suddenly realized that her mother was right—a red thread binds fate, and even in dire straits, the gods will show mercy.

"Brother, they seem to recognize us..."

Bai Ze frowned, staring at the three evil spirits lurking on the roof beam. The look in their eyes was no longer that of looking at their own kind, but naked greed.

You Su, of course, also noticed the menacing evil spirits. "Hmm, let's take them to a safe place first."

He shook the Ink Pine Sword, the blade vibrating the air with a buzzing sound. He was waking the sleeping Ink Pine Sword, and also waking himself.

Hearing this, A Ying was stunned. She had clearly seen the two immortals kissing while they were unconscious... She had thought they were lovers, but she never expected that they were actually siblings like her brother?!

Unbeknownst to her, this was an emergency measure that You Su and Bai Ze had to take in the underwater whirlpool in order to share the power of the Water Repelling Bead...

A Jiu wasn't as perceptive as his sister in this regard, so he volunteered, "I know where it's safe!"

You Su glanced at him, and without the slightest hesitation, said, "Lead the way."

This unwavering trust warmed A Jiu's heart and completely dispelled any doubts she might have about the two of them.

Seeing his sister already holding hands with the seemingly harmless female fairy, he didn't stop them. Instead, he took the lead and walked ahead, saying, "Follow me!"

You Su stared at the boy's retreating figure, somewhat dazed. He then beckoned Bai Ze to follow him, showing no intention of making the boy hide behind him. He didn't think the boy in front of him was weak; on the contrary, he believed the boy was stronger than many people with cultivation.

A Jiu led You Su and Bai Ze through the ruins, heading towards the temple, his steps light and firm. Despite the howls of evil spirits rising and falling all around, he felt inexplicably at peace. Perhaps it was because of the presence of the two "gods" behind him, or perhaps it was because he was experiencing the power of being trusted for the first time.

A Ying held Bai Ze's hand tightly, feeling the warmth from her palm, and the fear in her heart gradually dissipated. She secretly looked up at Bai Ze and found that she was smiling at her, her eyes as gentle as the spring sunshine.

"What's your name?" Bai Ze asked softly, his voice as melodious as a clear spring.

"A Ying..." A Ying answered timidly, her voice barely audible.

"A Ying, what a lovely name." Bai Ze smiled. "Don't be afraid, we're here, everything will be alright, meow."

A Ying nodded emphatically, but suddenly another voice rang in her ears. She looked at the girl who was about the same height as her, but the girl just smiled and didn't open her mouth.

"You can't do that kind of thing with your real brother... This person is my lover."