Su Ling's back hit the cold stone wall, and his hands were tied behind his back with the knot pulled tight and firm.
If it were normal times he could easily break free from this restraint, but right now he did not have an ounce of strength.
He asked Ah Yin to detoxify him and Ah Yin ignored her too.
The cave was small, the air filled with the damp smell of earth, and water droplets seeped through the rock fissures overhead, dropping one by one onto the stone, their sound magnified countless times in the silence.
Tang Xiaosan lit a candle.
Then she squatted down in front of him, knees together, arms hugging her knees, and just stared straight at him.
Moonlight slanted in from the cave entrance, landing right on her face, and Su Ling suddenly discovered that this six-year-old little girl actually looked quite pretty, with brows and eyes like Ah Yin's, a petite bridge of the nose, slightly pressed lips, and baby fat that had not yet fully faded on her cheeks.
Su Ling also did not know why he had always treated Tang Xiaosan as a boy before.
It must have been a stereotype; after all, he didn't know what the real Tang San looked like.
It was a pity that what she was doing right now was not cute at all.
"Su Ling,"
"Hmm?"
"I seem to like you a little, and want to possess you all to myself."
The more Tang Xiaosan spoke, the more excited she became, and she simply hugged Su Ling, the two of them face to face.
"Xiaosan, calm down for a moment!"
"I am very calm!" Tang Xiaosan inched forward a little, her knees touching his knees.
"I have never been this calm."
Su Ling did not take up the topic.
Tang Xiaosan reached out, her fingertips gently touching his cheek, and Su Ling tilted his head slightly, not dodging. Her fingers slid down the line of his jaw, brushed past his Adam's apple, and landed on Su Ling's collar.
"When Xiao Wu kissed you, what were you thinking about?"
"Nothing at all."
"Lying."
"Really nothing."
Tang Xiaosan's fingers stopped, she lowered her head, and her disheveled hair covered her eyes.
Su Ling could not see her expression, but could hear her breathing turn short and hurried.
"Then why are you blushing."
"That was her..."
"You just like that kind."
Tang Xiaosan suddenly raised her head to interrupt him, her eye rims red, her voice carrying grievances suppressed for a whole day.
"She kisses you and you blush, I touch you and you dodge. She is better than me in everything, looks better than me, speaks better than me, and you would rather flirt with her than spare me another look."
Su Ling opened his mouth, not knowing what to say.
Just how starved for affection was this Tang Xiaosan anyway? Though thinking about it, it was indeed true: an orphan in her past life, unfavored in the sect,
and in this life she had been dealt a mother who died early and a father who drank.
"It's not what you think?"
"Then what is it like!"
Tang Xiaosan stood up, the moonlight shining from behind her, casting her shadow upon Su Ling-small, yet suppressing one so they could barely breathe.
Then she reached out and unbuttoned the buttons on her collar.
Su Ling's pupils contracted.
The second one,
"Xiaosan,"
the third one,
"what are you doing?"
Tang Xiaosan did not answer, her fingers trembling slightly, but her movements did not stop.
The night wind from the mountains poured in from the cave entrance, and she gave a slight shiver.
The moonlight shone on her thin shoulders, her collarbones as delicate as two thin bamboos.
Su Ling closed his eyes.
"Open your eyes."
"Not opening."
"Su Ling!"
"Tang Xiaosan, put your clothes on."
Tang Xiaosan froze, looking down at herself and then at Su Ling's tightly closed eyes.
There was no reaction on his face that she had expected,
no blushing,
no panic,
not even shyness.
He simply kept his eyes closed, his brows knitted tightly.
Tang Xiaosan's hands began to tremble.
"You..."
Her voice was hoarse, as if a ball of water-soaked cotton was stuffed in her throat.
"You are even unwilling to spare me a single look?"
Su Ling opened his eyes. He looked at her, his gaze moving from her face to her bare body, and then shifted away.
In that gaze there was no lust, no dodging, not even a trace of a ripple.
It was just like an adult looking at an unreasonable child.
Tang Xiaosan's tears fell.
"I understand,"
she took two steps back, her back hitting the stone wall,
"you look down on me!"
"I do not look down on you, truly I don't,"
"You do look down on me!" Tang Xiaosan's voice suddenly rose high, her tears falling down like a broken string of beads, but her tone instead turned exceptionally calm.
"You look down on me for being short, look down on me for being thin, look down on me for not being as pretty as Xiao Wu. You think I'm a little child who understands nothing."
She groped for something from her waist.
Su Ling saw it clearly.
It was a Sleeve Arrow!
The difference from before was that this time it was laced with deadly poison.
"Su Ling, kill me!"
"You're crazy!"
"I am not crazy." Tang Xiaosan's voice was so light it was almost inaudible.
"I had already figured it out long ago, if even you don't want me anymore, I will die in front of you; anyway, in this world no one cares about me at all."
Her finger hooked onto the trigger of the Sleeve Arrow.
"After I die, you can be together with Xiao Wu."
Su Ling's mind buzzed.
It seemed the female version of Tang San's mentality was still inferior in maturity to the original.
Her experiences in her past life combined with Tang Hao's abuse
had driven Tang Xiaosan into a pathological state of mind.
"Ah Yin!"
He shouted in his mind.
There was no response.
"Ah Yin! If you don't make a move this damn minute I will completely refine you!"
Still no response.
Tang Xiaosan's fingers began to tighten.
Right at that moment a blue light emerged from within Su Ling's body.
Tang Xiaosan's hand froze.
The Sleeve Arrow dropped to the ground, emitting a crisp sound.
"Who are you?"
Tang Xiaosan only felt that the person before her made her feel exceptionally affectionate, just like what she had felt on Su Ling earlier.
Ah Yin did not answer her, and she took a step forward,
walking right up in front of Tang Xiaosan, and squatted down.
Tang Xiaosan's face was level with the squatting Ah Yin.
Ah Yin reached out a hand, gently supporting Tang Xiaosan's chin to make her look at her.
Tang Xiaosan felt that this woman before her-whether it was the arc of the bridge of her nose, the shape of her lips, or even the contour of her chin-was seven or eight parts similar to herself.
Tang Xiaosan had no mirror, and when she asked Tang Hao for one she was scolded fiercely by Tang Hao.
She could only wait until it rained to find puddle water so she could see her own appearance clearly.
"You..."
Ah Yin spoke, her voice very soft.
"You are only six years old this year, and Su Ling is also six years old."
"With a six-year-old body, you can't do that kind of thing. Why are you so foolish? Your mother hasn't even made a move yet."
Tang Xiaosan's lips trembled.
"Mother?"
Ah Yin paid no heed to this Tang Xiaosan who loved to smash tiles.
"You don't even know what love is right now," Ah Yin interrupted her.
"You just want to possess him. Because since you were small no one has ever taught you what liking someone is."
Tang Xiaosan's tears gushed out wildly.
Ah Yin reached out her hand, wiping away the tears on her face for her.
"There is also one more matter, which I originally didn't want to tell you so early."
Ah Yin pulled her hand back, pressing it against her own chest.
"My name is Ah Yin,"
"the Blue Silver Emperor,"
"a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast who took human form."
She paused.
"And also your mother."
The cave grew so quiet that only the sound of dripping water remained.
Before you continue