The blood moon in the sky grew even redder and larger, like a bloodshot eyeball.
Its light stretched the three people’s shadows into long, twisted shapes, like vengeful ghosts trailing behind them, silently mocking their struggles.
“My wife hasn’t come in yet, so it looks like we’ll have to handle this ourselves.” Jiang Huai stared at the ominous blood moon above, his brow slightly furrowed as he muttered to himself.
Qin Qingyue must be maneuvering on the outside as well, but distant water can’t quench present thirst.
He turned his head to look at Chihuang and Chi Lian beside him, and his heart sank.
The two women’s conditions were obviously off.
Their once bright and fiery Red Dragon Eyes were now shrouded in a layer of dust, dull and lifeless.
The fleeting shadows of dragon scales on their exposed skin had also lost their gem-like luster, becoming gray and dim, as if quietly eroded by the deathly aura and resentful spirits of this place.
“You’re not looking too well either.” Jiang Huai’s tone was grave.
Chihuang furrowed her brows tightly, the blood color fading from her beautiful face.
She placed a slender hand over her ample chest, her breathing slightly rapid, her voice tinged with suppressed discomfort: “I feel awful, like something is stuck in my chest—heavy. Even my Dragon Essence is running sluggishly.”
She didn’t know the reason, but the sensation of her strength being suppressed and her vitality slowly draining made her extremely anxious and irritable.
“This won’t do, we can’t just waste away here!” Chihuang’s pride and impatience made her unable to tolerate this feeling of sitting and waiting for death.
She suddenly stood up straight, a decisive glint flashing in her eyes.
“If we stay here, sooner or later this ghostly place will assimilate us, and we’ll turn into those walking corpses—the Resentful Spirits! It’s unbearable!”
Even if she had to die, Chihuang would die standing, fighting until the end!
“Let’s go!” She grabbed the equally unwell Chi Lian beside her and was about to charge deeper into the dead and eerie town.
There, danger surely lurked, but perhaps also a chance for survival—or a grand, explosive ending.
She pulled Chi Lian forward two steps, but sensed nothing moving behind her.
Chihuang stopped abruptly, her heart inexplicably empty for a moment.
She instinctively turned back, looking at Jiang Huai, who still stood leisurely in place.
“A-Are you coming or not?” Her voice unconsciously dropped a bit, carrying an unspoken trace of nervous hope even she didn’t notice.
After the Evil Dragon’s Roar just now, she realized very clearly that Jiang Huai’s power, immune to this place’s suppression and even able to counter the resentful aura, was key to their survival.
Jiang Huai looked at her—clearly needing help but stubbornly clinging to her pride—and found it somewhat amusing.
He deliberately shrugged, putting on a nonchalant air: “Me? I could come or not, it doesn’t matter.”
“It’s uncomfortable here, but for now, this place can’t really do anything to me.”
“If it comes down to it, I’ll just wait for my wife to come find me.”
Chi Lian lowered her gaze, her long lashes shadowing the dullness in her eyes.
Yes, everyone’s situation was never the same.
Just like in the Red Dragon Clan, the Saintess was always high above, while she was only a maidservant.
Here, Jiang Huai could safely wait for rescue, but she and her mistress might soon become Resentful Spirits.
She was used to this unfairness; there was no resentment in her heart, only a chilly acceptance of fate.
“If you don’t want to come, then forget it! It’s not like the Saintess can’t manage without you!”
Chihuang was angered by Jiang Huai’s attitude—or rather, stung in her pride by the fear of being abandoned.
Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, she immediately bristled, determined to drag Chi Lian away in a fit of pique.
“Not going. I think it’s safer to just wait for my wife to come pick me up.” Jiang Huai still shook his head, his tone relaxed.
“Then we’ll go by ourselves!” Chihuang gritted her teeth, though her bravado rang hollow.
Woo!
It descended.
That mournful and shrill Evil Dragon’s Roar suddenly erupted again without warning.
This time, the sound seemed to echo right in their ears, carrying boundless resentment and soul-crushing sorrow, like an invisible giant hammer smashing down on all three of them!
“Hold your breath!” Jiang Huai’s face changed slightly as he barked the command.
All three instantly held their breath.
Chihuang and Chi Lian’s bodies shuddered violently, their faces turning deathly pale in an instant.
The Red Dragon Essence inside them, already troubled, suddenly boiled over like ice thrown into hot oil—rampant and out of control!
A sweet taste rose in Chi Lian’s throat; she forcibly swallowed back the blood, but couldn’t stop a thin trickle from spilling out the corner of her mouth.
She staggered, nearly collapsing to her knees.
Shadows of red dragon scales flickered uncontrollably over Chihuang, her aura thrown into chaos.
Three breaths. It felt as long as a century.
Their lungs burned as if on fire.
Dragon Essence rampaged through their meridians, tearing them apart with pain.
Chihuang’s vision began to blur; she felt she could not hold on any longer, and that chilling resentment was about to seep into her very bones.
A warm, steady palm, carrying a reassuring strength, gently pressed against the vital spot on her back.
Next, a balanced, peaceful flow of Two Energies of Yin and Yang, cool and brimming with vitality, slowly entered her nearly ruptured meridians, like sweet rain after a long drought.
Where this power passed, her raging Dragon Essence was soothed by an invisible hand, and the bone-piercing resentment was cleverly dispersed and neutralized, stabilizing her transformation before it could become Dragon Transformation.
Startled, Chihuang turned her head to look at Jiang Huai, now only a breath away.
She saw fine beads of sweat on his forehead and his face pale; clearly, managing two people’s energies at once was a huge burden for him.
Yet his gaze remained as deep and steady as an ancient well.
Another gentle force simultaneously entered Chi Lian’s body.
At last, the Evil Dragon’s Roar ceased.
Both women nearly collapsed, gasping for breath, feeling as if they’d just walked back from the gates of the underworld.
For the first time, Chihuang did not immediately shake off or slap away Jiang Huai’s hand.
Instead, she felt the continuous, sustaining warmth at her back, and a flood of complex, unprecedented emotions surged within her.
She turned her face slightly to avoid Jiang Huai’s gaze, and in a voice soft as a mosquito but clear as day, whispered: “Thank you.”
Chi Lian, even more, lifted her pale face and looked at Jiang Huai with relief and deep gratitude for surviving disaster.
After her breathing steadied, Chihuang took a deep breath, as if making some kind of decision.
Her voice was still awkward, but now quieter as she asked: “So, are you planning to come with us?”
She had to bow her head.
Reality had cruelly shown her that without Jiang Huai, it would be nearly impossible for them to make any progress in this town of resentment.
Jiang Huai looked at her—clearly yielding but still putting up a front—and smiled inwardly, though he kept up his act: “If the Saintess invites me personally, I might consider it.”
“After all, I came here for the Saintess in the first place.”
Chihuang bit her lip, not expecting him to throw the ball back at her, and in such an annoyingly embarrassing way.
Yet deep inside, the Saintess’s vanity was inexplicably satisfied by this.
This hateful philanderer.
“Really…” she muttered softly, as if organizing her words, preparing to “stoop down” and give Jiang Huai the Saintess’s official “invitation.”
But before she could say anything, Jiang Huai stepped forward, moving right past her to stand before Chi Lian.
Under Chihuang’s suddenly frozen gaze, Jiang Huai faced the timid girl in her Saintess Gown, reaching out his hand, his smile gentle and sincere as he softly asked: “Will you invite me, Saintess?”
Chi Lian’s face instantly turned scarlet.
She looked helplessly at Jiang Huai’s outstretched hand, then nervously glanced at Chihuang, whose face had turned ashen with rage, and unconsciously stepped back half a pace.
“Y-Yes,” under Jiang Huai’s encouraging gaze and Chihuang’s nearly fiery glare, Chi Lian’s voice was as thin as a thread, nearly inaudible.
But in the end, she summoned her courage and placed her cool, faintly dragon-scaled hand gently into Jiang Huai’s warm palm.
“Please come with us.”
“With pleasure. I’ll do my utmost to protect the Saintess.”
Chihuang stood where she was, watching those joined hands and Jiang Huai’s attentive treatment of the “Saintess,” feeling a rush of nameless anger and unspeakable sourness surge straight to her head.
All her earlier struggle over “stooping down” and preparing her “invitation” now seemed like a joke.
Am I just the stand-in now?
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.