You Must Not Die

As a genius expelled from the Beast Taming Sect, Tu Su squatted on the ground, his eyes fixed on the chick before him.

An enormous question now filled his little head.

Why had he signed a Bound Spirit Beast contract with a little chicken?

"Chirp, cheep!"

Tu Su reached out with a trembling hand and picked up the chick. He examined it again and again, finally confirming that it was indeed a chick.

"Aaaaaah!"

He was on the verge of falling apart.

As a disciple of the Beast Taming Sect, he had naturally devoted all his cultivation to beast taming. His Bound Spirit Beast largely determined his strength.

"It's over, it's over..."

"There's no chance left."

"Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west-never scorn a penniless youth... Now all that's left is respect for the dead."

Compared to Tu Su's grief, the three from the Heavenly Prison appeared much calmer, though they still surveyed their surroundings with solemn expressions.

The village before them had returned to its true appearance: a desolate ruin steeped in deathly silence.

Their memories had returned.

Yet they were utterly bewildered about what had happened in the village.

As far as they remembered, they seemed to have merely passed out and slept, only to wake up to this inexplicable situation.

But when they saw the injuries on Ye Wuyou's face, they began to suspect something.

Ye Wuyou tossed Lin Qingqing the corpse of a Demon Fox, so rotten that only its remains were left, then briefly explained what had happened.

In his account, however, he left out the Thousand Illusions Purple-Gold Bell and concealed Bai Lu's identity.

Of course, a glance at Tu Su, who was holding his chick in utter despair, left Ye Wuyou silent for a long while. In the end, he said nothing about that either.

Lin Qingqing gazed at the Demon Fox's corpse in her hands, her expression complicated.

All they knew now was that they had probably been trapped in an illusion earlier, and that it had now been resolved.

As for how it had been resolved, or what had happened in between, they knew nothing and were completely at a loss.

But unlike their bewilderment, one person was far from composed.

Bai Lu stood alone at the village entrance. A breeze swept past, thinning the deathly stench of decay, and her expression eased a little.

Perhaps because she had died once, she remembered everything that had happened in the village.

However, her aura was considerably weaker than before. Beneath her skirt, a tuft of white fluff flashed into view and vanished.

Bai Lu gently raised her head, her soul-captivating eyes turning toward the man before her.

His black clothes were stained with mottled blood that would never wash out, and his hair still hung in disarray. The filthy mud that usually covered his face had been wiped clean, but his right eye now bore a wound that could never be wiped away. Some fabric procured from who knew where covered it, wrapping around half his head and making his otherwise handsome face look rather comical.

Her delicate brows knitted slightly as hesitation stirred in her heart.

How should I face this man?

With anger? Hatred? Dependence? Or...

Bai Lu did not know what the future held. Could she still hide in the human world as she had before? Or would she have to live at his mercy for the rest of her life?

Although they had gone through all this together, their original relationship had hardly been that of companions. They had been enemies.

To put it more harshly, Bai Lu's life was in Ye Wuyou's hands.

A soft cough interrupted Bai Lu's thoughts. Ye Wuyou did not look at her, instead gazing into the distance as he spoke casually.

"Ahem, you might not know much about the Beast Taming Sect's methods. They're different from other beast-taming arts. When you're this close to me, I can hear some of your thoughts..."

The Beast Taming Sect's inherited cultivation art was naturally more refined than those of other sects.

That refinement, of course, was from a human perspective.

Other sects might require their disciples to share both joy and hardship with their Bound Spirit Beasts. The Beast Taming Sect did not.

Its art granted near-total control over a Bound Spirit Beast's every word and action, and that control grew more complete with time.

At those words, Bai Lu's alluring face instantly turned deathly pale.

Had he heard all the hatred and suspicions I'd just harbored toward him?

Then... there's no way he'll ever let me go now.

Just then, Ye Wuyou turned his gaze toward her face, seemingly examining something.

Bai Lu's beautiful foxlike eyes trembled. Back when she cultivated alone in her sect, she often heard her fellow disciples talk about the perverse sexual tastes of the humans down the mountain...

Whips and red wax, ropes and bondage, jade dragons that bewitched the soul...

The stories her Demon Race elders told of their kin being captured by humans also began to surface faintly in her mind.

Imagining him pinning her beneath him and punishing her mercilessly in the future, Bai Lu could not help shuddering inwardly.

Rather than meet such a miserable end, she might as well submit to him... Put his mind at ease sooner, so she could live safely in the days to come.

With that thought, Bai Lu took a few steps toward Ye Wuyou and pressed herself against his chest.

Then Ye Wuyou pushed her away with one hand.

"Miss Bai... I haven't told them your identity, and I don't need you to follow me. Forming a Bound Spirit Pact with you was an accident to begin with.

"But there's no denying that your innate Divine Ability helped me. Without it, I probably would have died long ago. By the same token, I rescued you from this place, so we can consider those debts settled.

"You're free to live the way you did before. I won't demand anything of you.

"After all, in a sense, we've been through life and death together, haven't we?"

Ye Wuyou explained all this in one breath. Then, looking at the stunned Bai Lu, he thought for a moment and asked another question.

"By the way, what sect are you from? I'll pay it a visit if I get the chance."

"The Joyous Union Sect." Bai Lu's expression was blank.

The Joyous Union Sect?

Ye Wuyou froze for a moment, then propped up his chin and began studying the woman before him.

At first, Bai Lu thought nothing of it, but the moment she sensed Ye Wuyou's strange gaze, she understood.

Perhaps influenced by what Ye Wuyou had said earlier, she now glared fiercely at him with her foxlike eyes.

"What are you thinking? Do you humans all think the Joyous Union Sect is... that sort of place?"

Isn't it...? Ye Wuyou looked bewildered.

"Those are just businesses owned by the Joyous Union Sect. Outer disciples with poor talent or ordinary aptitude manage those businesses and use them to cultivate the Joyous Union Art along the way."

"I'm a Royal Demon Fox, after all. Why would I cultivate those things?" Bai Lu explained indignantly. "Even my younger sister, who fell into demonic madness, used Illusion Blood Harvesting."

"The art I cultivate governs people's seven emotions and six desires and perceives the ten emotions and eight sufferings. Of all the arts in human sects, only this one shares anything with our fox race."

"Hey, are you listening?"

Watching Bai Lu explain herself so indignantly, Ye Wuyou found it rather funny.

"Why are you explaining all this to me?"

"Because I didn't want you to misunderstand..."

The moment the words left her mouth, Bai Lu froze. Her expression then turned cold, and she stepped back. A trace of undisguised hatred appeared in her eyes, but it quickly settled into calm.

Footsteps came from behind them. The others who had survived were now leaving the village as well.

She looked at Ye Wuyou, her eyes holding nothing but indifference, as though she had stripped herself of her seven emotions and six desires, leaving not a shred of feeling.

Bai Lu's voice was cold and clear.

"Remember, my life is in your hands. The life you're using is mine."

"Mm."

"I don't want to die."

"Hm?"

"So you must not die," she said coldly.

"Neither must you," Ye Wuyou replied with a soft smile.