Ning Xiang slept restlessly, tossing and turning through countless dreams.
Everything that happened in those dreams felt so real. She cultivated with her fellow disciples and explored secret realms with them. It was so beautiful that she did not want to wake.
But the clear, lilting notes of a xiao flute, flowing like a gentle stream beside her ear, roused her from sleep.
Ning Xiang opened her eyes. Her pillow was damp. When she reached up to touch her face, she realized she had been shedding tears in her sleep.
"Senior Brother, I failed to look after Junior Brother."
She had thought she would choke up, that she would sob too hard to speak. Yet when she said those words, she had no idea how calm her voice sounded, as though she were saying something utterly ordinary.
Su Lang wiped the tears from her cheeks. He did not comfort Ning Xiang by telling her it was not her fault. Instead, he said, "This was Tingchao's choice. Any one of us would have made the same choice."
Ning Xiang was dazed as well. Only after a long while did she come back to herself. "How is the Eastern Sea now? Have the Demon Beasts retreated?"
But at the sight of Su Lang's grave expression, Ning Xiang's heart plummeted a thousand fathoms.
In the end, Ning Xiang learned from Su Lang what had happened after she lost consciousness.
Yu Zhengrong, Ning Pingzhang, Mu Fang'ai, and the others who had rushed over, including Lu Qingchen and Qin Ge, had fought with all their strength. Only then had the Demon Cultivators and Demon Beasts grown wary and temporarily withdrawn.
"Then why did I..." Ning Xiang weighed her words. "Lose control?"
Su Lang said, "The Demon Cultivators likely cast a curse on you, making you