Too Cute, I Want to Keep Two

People always thought repetition was dull, but Xu Chunliang, who was holding the blue-robed maid with one very restless hand, felt that repetition could often be quite entertaining.

Female eerie beings were usually beautiful, beautiful enough that the simps in his previous life could never have gotten near them, no matter how hard they tried.

Take the blue-robed maid in his arms, for example.

The maid had a petite figure that looked as though it had yet to fully develop, but under the influence of eerie energy, her skin was fair, soft, and smooth. Her big, sparkling eyes were as lovely as those of a girl in an anime.

Not to mention the woman in red waiting in the room.

Women were beautiful, but the most beautiful wore red.

With the blue-robed maid in his arms, he stood once more before Cao Qin, who was preparing to play.

Cao Qin on his left, the blue-robed maid on his right—such pleasures made him forget all about home.

The blue-robed maid poured Xu Chunliang a cup of apricot blossom wine. The wine was poisoned, enough to kill a person.

Xu Chunliang picked up the cup with an amused smile. "I hear that in those wealthy households, they have another way of drinking called the 'skin cup.' It's extremely romantic and refined."

"Young master, a skin cup? What's that?" The blue-robed maid nestled against Xu Chunliang, blinking her eyes. She was exceptionally cute.

"Let me show you." Xu Chunliang took the wine into his mouth and leaned in to kiss the woman in red.

The woman in red blushed and waved her hands repeatedly, but Xu Chunliang wrapped an arm around her neck, kissed her on the lips, and passed the cup of poisoned wine into her mouth.

"Three."

"Two."

"One."

Xu Chunliang waited quietly, but nothing happened to Cao Qin. Her pretty face was flushed with shyness, but she showed no other symptoms.

Was it not poisoned?

Or was she immune to poison?

At his side, the blue-robed maid hurriedly poured Xu Chunliang another cup and said with a smile, "Miss has already had hers. It's your turn, young master."

Xu Chunliang laughed and planted a kiss on the blue-robed maid's cheek. "I knew it. You wanted one too, Miss Blue. Come, let me treat you to a skin cup."

He took the poisoned wine into his mouth, wrapped an arm around her neck, and passed it into her mouth.

"Three."

"Two."

"One."

The blue-robed maid's face was bright red, but she did not die.

It seemed this wine only killed humans, not eerie beings. Xu Chunliang understood.

"Young master, Miss and I have both had some. It's your turn now. Come, let me give you a skin cup too."

The blue-robed maid smiled shyly, took a mouthful of poisoned wine, and leaned toward him.

Xu Chunliang dodged out of her way and hurriedly said, "No, no, no. I don't enjoy drinking. I prefer watching beautiful women drink. Why don't you and your miss try the skin cup this time? The sight would surely be magnificent, more beautiful than countless sights in this world~"

Cao Qin saw Xu Chunliang say this and had no choice but to lean over and take the blue-robed maid by the chin...

Xu Chunliang watched, dumbstruck, and cried out in delight.

He was even a little reluctant to kill the two female eerie beings.

They were too cute. He wanted to keep two.

Watching the two women drink the poisoned wine from between their lips, Xu Chunliang laughed, put his arms around their shoulders, and reached for their necks.

Sure enough, the blue-robed maid paid him no mind, but the woman in red quietly reached out, caught Xu Chunliang's hand, and moved it lower.

The woman in red's weak point is her neck. Xu Chunliang had his answer.

To be safe, he would cut her neck all the way through.

"Come, come, Cao Qin. The blue-robed maid fed you a cup of wine, so shouldn't you return the favor? All right, all right, don't look at me. Once you've fed her, I'll have a cup too, all right?"

Only when Xu Chunliang agreed to drink did the woman in red give him a coquettish glare. She put an arm around the blue-robed maid's waist, took a mouthful of poisoned wine, and passed it to her.

Their lips met...

Now!

Roar!

A low tiger's roar sounded, and the phantoms of three eerie tigers flashed behind Xu Chunliang.

The small brass knife sprang from his waist and landed in his hand. Xu Chunliang slashed with it casually.

The instant he struck, Xu Chunliang remembered, for no apparent reason, the feeling of that moment during the day when, after seeing [Death], his body and mind had been filled with pure death.

Struck by inspiration, he infused the slash with a trace of what he had felt of [Death] after dying and resetting over ten thousand times.

And so this Eerie Tiger Howls at the Heavens took on a different character.

Joy, anger, sorrow, happiness, stillness, madness...

A multitude of emotions danced and intertwined at the tip of the blade, then mingled into a mass of mottled black.

Before Xu Chunliang, the red-robed Cao Qin, who was passing the poisoned wine to the blue-robed maid, wore a strange smile.

Clearly, Xu Chunliang's sudden attack pleased her greatly. It seemed to have met some condition that allowed her to strike.

She raised a hand in front of her neck, and her red robes flew open in an instant, revealing a body covered in uneven, interlocking fangs.

A mere star transformation grade dared to draw a blade against a moon glow grade eerie being?

The woman in red was full of disdain! Then her hand touched the blade.

Pain! Itching! Numbness! Aches! Cold!

A multitude of sensations associated with death mingled together, entered through her palm, and reached her consciousness in an instant.

Who but [Death] could resist the power of death?

The consciousness of the woman in red, who should have been disdainful, was destroyed in an instant, falling into boundless darkness and silence.

The moon glow grade eerie being in red was dead!

The blue-robed maid felt only a power she could not comprehend coming from the woman in red's lips, arms, and the other places where they touched.

Then she knew nothing more.

The star transformation grade eerie being in blue was dead!

Two beams of clear light rose and entered Xu Chunliang's body.

He smiled calmly and glanced at his status panel out of habit. Then his eyes widened.

Name: Xu Chunliang

Age: 16

Attribute points: 22

Skills: Eerie Tiger Saber: Eerie Tiger Descends the Mountain, Eerie Tiger Howls at the Heavens, Eerie Tiger Splits the Earth

Hidden skill: Kiss of Death (cannot be actively controlled; unleashed at random; chance: unknown)

Remaining resets: unlimited

Current reset point: slaying the women in red and blue

What shocked Xu Chunliang was the skill listed separately beneath his other skills: Kiss of Death.

Remembering what he had thought when he made that slash, Xu Chunliang understood.

It was the power of [Death], from that unspeakable existence above the high heavens.

Perhaps its random chance depended on his understanding of death. The deeper his understanding, the more freely he could use it; if his understanding was insufficient, perhaps he would never grasp it at all.

While Xu Chunliang pondered, the women in red and blue before him quietly changed...

The flames of the thirty-six red candles burning around the room shrank in an instant, leaving the room dim and dark. The window behind Xu Chunliang, which faced Fireworks Lane, suddenly became a stone wall.

The faint sound of sutra chanting arose...

"Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, when practicing the profound perfection of wisdom, perceived that all five aggregates were empty, and crossed beyond all suffering and distress.

Shariputra! Form is no different from emptiness, and emptiness is no different from form; form is emptiness, and emptiness is form; the same is true of feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness."

As the Buddhist scripture sounded, the corpses of the two female eerie beings in red and blue turned into two life-sized reclining Buddhas made of white marble.

Xu Chunliang looked up at the changes in his surroundings.

His body stiffened.

"What... is going on?"