Volume Three: No Longer at Ease, Chapter Eighty-Seven

Jin Li looked at the mooncakes in the hands of the two men and gave a soft laugh. "You two are quite in sync. You even bought the same kind."

Geng Yuan and Sang Li exchanged a glance. The boy’s eyes darkened a little, then he curved his lips. "How could what I bought compare with what the Divine Lord bought?"

Seeing the smile on his handsome face and hearing the gentleness in his voice, Jin Li smiled and reached out to take the mooncake from Sang Li’s hand. At once, the boy’s expression grew even uglier.

He lifted his damp eyes to look at Jin Li and asked, "Sister, is mine not good?"

Jin Li had just taken a bite of the mooncake when his words nearly made her choke.

He withdrew his hand, lowered his head slowly, and looked utterly innocent and pitiful.

As if he were the one being bullied, stirring guilt in the heart of anyone who saw him.

"Ah, don’t... don’t be like that. I, I... they’re all the same."

Sang Li narrowed his eyes at him, then spoke very generously. "He’s still just a child, after all. Let him have his way."

Hearing Sang Li’s words, Jin Li suddenly felt enlightened. Right—it was only a little brat. There was no need to fuss over it.

So she reached out and took the package from the boy’s hand as well, then smiled to comfort him. "All right, let me taste yours and see if it’s good."

The boy smiled at once, and the clouds from before vanished in an instant.

His temper really did come and go quickly.

The three of them strolled for a while longer when cries of surprise broke out all along the street. People began talking all at once, and one after another they looked up into the sky.

Jin Li followed their gaze. The bright full moon was being slowly devoured by black clouds. Then, after the clouds passed, the moon itself turned a horrifying crimson.

It looked as though it had been swallowed by demonic qi. Jin Li and Sang Li exchanged a glance, then she turned and said to Geng Yuan, "Release the signal flare your senior brother gave you."

Geng Yuan was very obedient and asked nothing, for he too had seen the moon’s strangeness. He set off the flare in his hand, and at that moment the heavens burst with dazzling light.

Now that the Demon God was sealed and the Demon Lord imprisoned, how could such a creature still exist?

Thinking this, she lifted her eyes and saw a black shadow darting through the high eaves and towers. The disciples of the immortal sect were already pursuing the creature, but there were too many mortals here; it would not do to involve them.

At that moment, the creature plunged into the crowd. People scattered in panic. Jin Li used magic to rescue the mortals flung up by the impact, but at this rate, how many could she save?

The crowd parted to make a path. Before Jin Li and Sang Li could react, Geng Yuan stepped forward and pulled Jin Li behind him, fixing the creature ahead with a burning stare.

When the creature saw them, it instantly flinched. Panic flashed across its face as it roared, "Get out of the way!"

Jin Li stepped forward and looked it in the eye. "Go back where you came from."

By now, because of the creature’s appearance, most of the mortals on the street had already fled, leaving the road in ruin.

The creature glanced about wildly. Just as it seemed ready to run amok, Jin Li looked at the youth standing before her. The boy’s expression was steadfast and earnest, and the feeling in his eyes was somehow heartbreaking.

She pressed a hand to her chest. After a long moment, she heard Sang Li ask, "A Li, what is it?"

She came back to herself and shook her head. By then, the disciples from Mount Bu Zha had arrived. A creature that had escaped from the demon realm—those immortal mountain disciples should be able to handle it.

She raised her hand, joined her fingers, and swiftly drew a talisman formation, trapping the creature within it. That would perhaps make it easier for them to subdue it.

When the battle ended, Jin Li did not bid Geng Yuan farewell. She and Sang Li disappeared faintly into the night.

By the time the boy turned around, the girl was already gone.

Huai Xiu patted his shoulder. "Huai Gui, who are you looking for?"

Geng Yuan was silent for a long while. Then he heard Zhao Yao Yi scoff, "A useless wretch who can’t even summon his own sword, and he still dares to stand here and get in the way."

Tu Su Chun tugged at his sleeve, but one sharp look from him made fear rise in his heart.

"Senior Brother, I’m heading back first."

What Zhao Yao Yi said was not wrong. He was nothing right now. He still could not protect Jin Li. Only by cultivating diligently could he protect her, and only then would he be worthy of standing beside her.

Jin Li parted from Sang Li. When she returned to Lianchuan, there was not a soul there. She called out for Qi Sui several times, but not even a shadow appeared.

Perhaps the affairs of the clan had not yet been fully settled. With the butterfly clan’s matters, and with Qi Sui there, she need not worry.

She looked up at the full moon in the sky, and the young man’s sorrowful eyes surfaced again in her mind. For some reason, whenever she saw that look in his eyes, a nameless sadness would stir in her heart.

Had she been overthinking?

Under the veil of night, she could not fall asleep for a long time.

By the next morning, Qi Sui still had not returned, but Sang Li had come.

Sang Li looked sorrowful as he gazed at Jin Li, and that look made her uneasy. "What is it?"

"A Li.... Lord Yao Cen.... has fallen."

The moment those words were spoken, Jin Li felt a buzzing in her ears. She could hear nothing from the outside world. A heaviness grew in her heart, followed by a slow, dull ache. Her whole body went numb; with the slightest movement, it felt as if her limbs were not her own.

She had fallen into an ice cavern, frost seeping into her bones.

A curve tugged at the corner of her mouth. "Wh... what nonsense are you talking about?"

Someone who had been speaking with her the day before—how could that be possible?

Someone who had still been talking heart to heart with her two nights ago, who had said he respected every choice she made—how could she have fallen?

She would not believe it.

How could she believe it?

Seeing Sang Li lower his eyes, her own gradually turned red, tears welling up slowly. In her gaze were disbelief, shock, panic.

She murmured, "Impossible... absolutely impossible... impossible...."

This had to be a joke from Tu Shan Yan. She had always been like that, always making jokes of herself...

Sang Li wanted to pull her into an embrace, but Jin Li shoved him away with all her strength and cried out in grief, "Impossible! You’re lying to me! You’re lying to me! Brother, brother must know where Mother is! Yes, the Great Marsh of Qingqiu—Mother must be in the Great Marsh of Qingqiu. I’m going to find her now."

Sang Li could not stop Jin Li. She vanished in a flash of mist. As soon as she reached the entrance to Lianchuan, she saw Jin Cong. Seeing him, she hurriedly seized his arm and said, "Brother, brother, where is Mother? Is Mother in the Great Marsh of Qingqiu? Is Mother in the Great Marsh of Qingqiu?"

Jin Cong’s eyes reddened slightly. Looking at Jin Li, who had already gone somewhat mad, he drew her into his arms with painful tenderness and soothed her softly. "A Li, A Li, you still have your brother. You still have your brother."

At those words, Jin Li’s eyes went blank.

What did that mean? Was it true?

And yet she still did not want to believe it.

"You’re lying to me! Why are even you lying to me!"

She broke free from Jin Cong’s embrace and said, word by word, "I won’t believe a single word."

Then she flung off Jin Cong’s hand, tears still wet on her face. "I’m going to the Great Marsh of Qingqiu now."

At first, when she heard the word "fallen" from Tu Shan Yan, she had understood nothing. But with Tu Shan Yan looking upon all of this, had she already known everything? Had she known about her own fall?

She had known everything, and yet she had not told her.

After taking only a few steps, Jin Li stopped, slowly collapsed to the ground, covered her face, and burst into tears.

Jin Cong cherished this younger sister dearly. Seeing her so heartbroken, his own heart ached as well.

He went over, crouched down, and gently gathered Jin Li into his arms, saying again and again, "A Li, you still have your brother. You still have your brother."

"Why? Why didn’t you tell me?"

She sobbed and accused them, knowing full well that even if she cried like this, her mother would never return—but she still wept in agony.

No one knew how long passed before Jin Li finally fell silent in Jin Cong’s arms. He lowered his head and saw that the young girl’s delicate face was covered in tear tracks, her eyes dull, utterly desolate.

Seeing her look so completely shattered, Sang Li was deeply shaken. Something about that expression felt strangely familiar, as though he had seen it somewhere before.

Jin Cong carried Jin Li back to Lianchuan and settled her to sleep.

Jin Li’s hand clung tightly to his, and even in sleep she would not let go.

She murmured in her dreams from time to time. Fine beads of sweat covered her brow, her face was deathly pale, and the hair at her temples was damp with perspiration.

Jin Cong wiped her sweat away with aching tenderness.

His eyes held boundless pity and sorrow.